Does Creative Writing Release Endorphins?

I haven't had time to work on my novel-in-progress, but now that my life is settling down, I feel a great urge to get back to writing.  It feels like a hunger, a need: it's something I must do in order for me to feel I'm doing something productive with my time.



I have seen other writers pursue creative writing as if their lives depended on it. Some vouch they remain sane because of their writing.

I wondered if creative writing releases endorphins, the feel-good hormones that can diminish pain. Endorphins can be produced by exercising; laughing; eating chocolate, hot pepper, or your favorite food; petting a cat; and -- yes, engaging in sex.

I found an article in Atlantic Monthly that talks about endorphins being released when one performs music: "According to a study published in Evolutionary Psychology ... performing music ... releases endorphins, the body's natural opiates responsible for the famous runner's high."

I also came across a CNN article about crafting (knitting for example) which also produces endorphins and lessens the anxiety, depression or chronic pain of the crafters. The article refers to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihaly: "Flow: a few moments in time when you are so completely absorbed by an activity that nothing else seems to matter. Flow ... is the secret to happiness -- a statement he (Csikszentmihaly) supports with decades of research."

Csikszentmihaly said, "When we are involved in (creativity), we feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life... You know that what you need to do is possible to do, even though difficult, and sense of time disappears. You forget yourself. You feel part of something larger."

That is exactly how I feel when I'm writing (at least sometimes) -- I forget myself; I get lost in the world I'm creating; and I feel connected with something larger than myself.

Even without the scientific sources to cite, I feel I can say that creative writing (the type of writing that involves self-expression) does release endorphins.

Read also

Creative Writing: The Importance of Sensual Writing

Creative Writing: Journal Writing and my Pink Lock and Key Diary

Creative Writing: Your Writing Work Space (In My Case, Where My Cats Hang Out)

Creative Writing: Two Important Rules

Creative Writing: Explosion and Drawing as Writing Exercises

How to Write a Novel #1

How to Write a Novel #2

tags: writing, creative, literature, Muse, novel, book, author, workshop, #creativewriting
This is all for now,
Cecilia