How To Academy Podcast Psychobiologist Daisy Fancourt – How the Arts Can Transform Your Health
14 snips
Feb 3, 2026 
Daisy Fancourt, psychobiologist at UCL and author of The Art Cure, studies how arts shape brain, body and population health. She explores music’s rhythmical power, storytelling’s role in empathy, biological mechanisms from dopamine to gene expression, and why participatory and live arts often beat passive consumption. Practical tips for squeezing art into daily life and tackling access barriers are also discussed.
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Arts Change Biology, Not Just Mood
- Arts engagement has measurable effects on the brain, body and even gene expression.
- Understanding how and why helps tailor art activities for specific health outcomes.
NHS Work Sparked The Research
- Daisy describes working in the NHS delivering arts programmes in hospitals and seeing dramatic patient benefits.
- Examples include children avoiding morphine during theatre distraction and dementia patients singing along to songs.
Match Art Form To Health Need
- Different art forms suit different health needs because of their unique ingredients.
- Music's rhythm makes it especially effective for movement disorders and memory in dementia.
