With over three quarters of adults reporting feeling regularly stressed, it’s no wonder that our social media feeds are packed with ways to reduce the pressure on our minds.

But that’s part of the problem; we’re scrolling through these stress-relieving tactics, but never actually putting them into practice with the half-focused doom scroll seemingly easier for our tired little brains.

And this only gets worse and worse the more stressed you get.

However, a new study has found a tangible way for the reduction of stress-hormones including cortisol in your body – but it does require putting your phone down for a little while and getting creative instead.

According to a new paper published in the journal Art Therapy, not only does making art – no matter your skill level – reduce stress hormones, it also leads to participants feeling much happier and healthier too.

In the study, researchers from Drexel University observed the cortisol levels in a person’s saliva after participating in 45 minutes of art projects. Their saliva was taken both before and after their participation, after which point the team searched the samples for biomarkers of stress.

The participants – 39 of them, ranging in age from 18 to 59 – were able to use pens and paper, create clay models, and even put together collages as they wished.

Though many of the participants had little to no experience or perceived skill in art, the results were astounding.

Three quarters of the participants saw a drop in their cortisol levels, with the other 25% actually increasing their levels, with Professor Girija Kaimal, who led on the study, suggesting in a statement that this could be a natural sign of their engagement in their art:

“Some amount of cortisol is essential for functioning. For example, our cortisol levels vary throughout the day — levels are highest in the morning because that gives us an energy boost to us going at the start of the day. It could’ve been that the art-making resulted in a state of arousal and/or engagement in the study’s participants.”

Though the researchers initially believed that different kinds of art materials and projects could have differing effects on cortisol levels, this wasn’t reflected in their findings. However, they did learn that younger participants were more likely to see the drop in cortisol, as Kaimal continued:

“I think one reason might be that younger people are developmentally still figuring out ways to deal with stress and challenges, while older individuals — just from having lived life and being older — might have more strategies to problem-solve and manage stress more effectively.”

Importantly, the team underscore the lack of correlation between skill level and stress reduction; in other words, it doesn’t matter whether you’re good at art, just having a go could help you chill in no time.

If you found that story interesting, learn more about why people often wake up around 3 AM and keep doing it for life.