The hand-brain connection: Making things with your hands isn't "self-care" - it's how we stay human in an increasingly inhuman world
The science behind creativity's unique "hand-brain connection" and why physical, analog creation is a non-negotiable for your Creative Health.
Deep Dives is where we go deeper into the science of Creative Health: exploring how our brain, body, and imagination actually work - and exactly how to bring them back online in an over-optimized world. Think of it as your Creative Health curriculum: part psychology, part neuroscience, part rebellion 🧠
Total reading time: ~10 min.
Synopsis: We all want to make things in the real world more often, but we tend to spend our days scrolling, typing and swiping instead. This Deep Dive unpacks the specific, scientific reasons why our hands are the most effective extension of our creative brains - and the real advantages that physical, creative expression has on our health, longevity, emotional resilience and imagination.
THE ANALOG REVOLUTION ISN’T NOSTALGIC - IT’S BIOLOGY 🧪
We all know we should be making more things offline.
I know you’ve heard the research. You’ve probably even felt it yourself - even with all the digital creation in your day (the emails, the content, the slides, the scrolling 😅), there’s a nagging sense you aren’t satisfying some distant, deep, human craving.
So, you tell yourself in the midst of answering emails: I should knit more. I should bake bread. I should draw again.
And then, it somehow falls to the bottom of your to-do list.
As a Creative Health Scientist who has worked with thousands of people on their creative habits at Daydreamers, I’ve seen this exact experience over and over. But, the reason making things with your hands keeps getting deprioritized isn’t because you’re too busy or too tired. Or even that you’re “not creative” enough.
It’s so much bigger than that: We’ve been told for decades that the very creative acts that make us human - making, building, creating with our bodies - is somehow less important than optimizing and producing online.
And so, expressing ourselves in the real world becomes optional. It’s treated like “self-care.” Like something you do after everything else is done.
But, here’s what I wish I could shout from the rooftops: Physical, analog creative expression isn’t a silly little hobby. And frankly, it can’t be optional any longer.
It’s a fundamental, essential component of our well-being. And without it, our brains are paying the price: Not only are they getting weaker (literally)1, but they’re cut off from the natural ways we cultivate resilience, power and freedom.
This is so important to me that this entire month at Creative Health, we’re exploring the science behind why physical creative expression - making things with your hands in the real world - isn’t some trend that can fade into the background.
It’s how our brain restores itself. How we rebuild our sense of agency. How we remember to feel alive.
By the end of this month, you’ll understand why the “Analog Revolution” I’ve been advocating for isn’t about being anti-technology. Instead, it’s finally noticing that something fundamental is missing from our lives - and it’s about time we all get it back.
Our first step: Understanding why creating offline uniquely restores and strengthens specific components of our Creative Health we can’t get elsewhere.
Now, let’s dive into the science 🤓
OUR (ANCIENT) HAND-BRAIN CONNECTION 👋🏽-🧠
