Just One More Reason Why To Use Your Abstract Art as Compost

With my current computer woes, I had almost completely forgotten about Blog Action Day (technically Oct. 15.)

However, since it was my intent to participate, I felt I had to throw something in this post that could combine my usual blogging nonsense with something about Blog Action Day's topic: The Environment (a.k.a., the serious issue that has recently transformed Al Gore into someone far beyond mere Creator of the Internet.)

But rather than reiterate news of the ever-debated issue of global warming, I offer this one simple suggestion for helping the environment while boosting your own health:

Recycle your abstract art: Use it for compost.

Why?

Nature helps us heal. Research has found abstract art makes us ill.*

Plus, seriously, which would you rather have or admire, fresh fruit and vegetables, or Kasimir Malevich's "Black Square"?

*"A landmark study by Roger S. Ulrich, published in the April 27, 1984, issue of Science magazine, found strong evidence that nature helps heal. Ulrich, a pioneer in the field of therapeutic environments at Texas A&M University, found that patients recovering from gallbladder surgery who looked out at a view of trees had significantly shorter hospital stays, fewer complaints, and took less pain medication, than those who looked out at a brick wall. More recently, studies presented at the 1999 Culture, Health, and the Arts World Symposium in England also found beneficial effects of looking at nature.

In one study, conducted in Uppsala, Sweden, 160 postoperative heart patients were asked to look at a landscape, an abstract art work, or no picture. Those who looked at the landscape had lower anxiety, required less pain medicine, and spent a day less in the hospital than the control group patients.

The abstract art, however, made patients feel sicker. The health outcomes of those viewing the abstract art was worse than if they saw no art at all. They were more anxious and initially took more pain killers than the control patients."

Source: MedicineNet.com

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=51498

See also: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A54318-2002Jun3"

Next time you're in your doctor's office, examine the paintings on the walls, my friends. And take heed.