Creativity and Perimenopause: Why Making Things Helps More Than You Think

Why Perimenopause and Creativity Are More Connected Than They Seem

Perimenopause is not typically discussed as a creative turning point, but for many women, that is exactly what it becomes. The same hormonal shifts that produce hot flashes and sleep disruption also reduce the social anxiety and approval-seeking that can suppress creative impulses for decades. Some researchers and clinicians who work closely with midlife women have begun paying attention to what they describe as a creative surge that many women experience in perimenopause and early menopause.

This does not happen for everyone, and it does not look the same across different women. For some it is a return to an art form they abandoned decades earlier. For others it is a first attempt at something creative with no prior experience. For still others it is simply a stronger drive to make things, to write, to garden, to cook with attention, to build something with their hands. Whatever the form, the emerging research on creative activity and stress suggests that engaging in making has measurable physiological and psychological effects.

The Research on Creativity and Stress Hormone Reduction

Studies on creative activity and cortisol levels have found that engaging in art-making, even for relatively short periods, reduces salivary cortisol, a marker of physiological stress. A 2016 study published in Art Therapy found that 45 minutes of art-making significantly reduced cortisol in 75 percent of participants regardless of prior art experience. The reduction was comparable across experienced artists and complete beginners, which is important because it suggests the benefit comes from the act of making rather than from skill or performance.

This matters during perimenopause because cortisol is not simply a stress marker in isolation. Elevated cortisol interacts with the hormonal fluctuations of perimenopause in ways that can worsen hot flashes, disrupt sleep, and amplify mood symptoms. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis that governs cortisol production is closely intertwined with the reproductive hormonal system. Finding reliable ways to reduce cortisol through enjoyable activities is therefore not just about feeling better in the moment; it may have downstream effects on vasomotor symptom severity.

Other research has found that creative engagement activates reward circuits in the brain, producing dopamine release that supports motivation and positive mood. In the context of perimenopause, when mood disruption and motivational changes are common, activities that reliably activate the brain's reward system have real clinical value.

How Perimenopause Can Unlock Creative Impulses

The social psychology of midlife in women involves a genuine shift in orientation. Research has documented that women in their forties and fifties tend to show reduced concern with external approval and increased orientation toward their own values and priorities. This shift, which some researchers link to hormonal changes and some attribute to life stage and accumulated experience, can create conditions in which creative expression feels more available and less scary than it did earlier in life.

The self-consciousness that makes many people reluctant to draw, paint, write, or make music, the fear of being bad at it, the worry about what others will think, can lift in perimenopause in ways that surprise women who had long considered themselves non-creative. This is not universal, but it is common enough to deserve recognition rather than being dismissed as coincidence.

There is also something about the perimenopause transition itself that creates an internal pressure to express and process what is happening. The experience of physical and emotional change, the reckoning with time and identity that the transition often prompts, generates material that wants to be expressed somehow. Creative outlets give that expression a form and a container, which is part of why art therapy has been used clinically for life transition processing for decades.

Art Therapy as a Clinical Modality for Life Transition

Art therapy is distinct from simply making art for pleasure, though the two share some benefits. Clinical art therapy involves working with a credentialed art therapist who uses art-making as a therapeutic tool within a structured therapeutic relationship. Art therapists typically hold a master's degree and are credentialed through the Art Therapy Credentials Board.

Art therapy has been studied for its effectiveness in managing anxiety, depression, trauma, and major life transitions. While specific trials in perimenopausal populations are limited, the broader evidence for art therapy in anxiety and life transition is substantial. For women who are struggling with the emotional dimensions of perimenopause, the identity questions it raises, the grief for aspects of life that are changing, and the anxiety that often accompanies it, formal art therapy offers something that cognitive therapy alone may not: a non-verbal channel for processing experience that does not require articulating everything in words.

Informal creative practice, pursued independently, shares some but not all of the clinical benefits of formal art therapy. The therapeutic relationship and the trained guidance of a certified art therapist add dimensions that self-directed making does not have. If you are dealing with significant emotional distress during perimenopause, asking your healthcare provider or therapist about referral to a certified art therapist is a reasonable option to explore.

Creative Practices That Are Accessible Regardless of Experience

One of the most common barriers to creative engagement is the belief that you need to be good at something before you can enjoy it. This confuses skill with value, and the evidence on creative engagement for wellbeing consistently shows that skill level does not predict benefit. What matters is engagement, attention, and the act of making.

Journaling is perhaps the most accessible entry point for most people. Research on expressive writing, developed by psychologist James Pennebaker, has found that writing about emotionally significant experiences for fifteen to twenty minutes several times per week reduces psychological distress and even has measurable physiological effects. You do not need to write beautifully or carefully; the benefit comes from honest expression rather than polished writing.

Visual art-making with basic materials, pencil sketching, watercolor, collage, simple pottery or ceramics, provides a tactile engagement that is qualitatively different from writing and appeals to women who process experience more spatially than verbally. Many community centers, adult education programs, and art studios offer beginner classes in these media at modest cost. The social dimension of taking a class also provides connection, which is its own benefit during perimenopause. Fiber arts including knitting, weaving, and embroidery have the additional benefit of repetitive rhythmic movement, which some research associates with relaxation response activation.

How Making Something Provides Different Satisfaction Than Achieving

The perimenopause years often involve a reassessment of the achievement-oriented identity that many women have built and sustained through their careers and family life. Achievement satisfaction, the satisfaction that comes from accomplishing goals, meeting targets, or being recognized for performance, is a particular kind of pleasure that depends heavily on external validation and outcome. Making something offers a qualitatively different satisfaction.

The satisfaction of creative making is more intrinsic, rooted in the process itself and in the relationship between yourself and the material you are working with. A drawing that no one else ever sees can still provide genuine satisfaction through the act of attending carefully to what you are trying to represent. A piece of writing that is never published can still process something real and make you feel lighter for having written it. This intrinsic satisfaction is available regardless of skill level, audience, or outcome.

This distinction matters during perimenopause because many women find themselves re-examining what actually brings them pleasure and meaning, separate from what they have been oriented toward for the previous two decades. Creative practices often reveal themselves as genuinely satisfying in ways that other activities do not, and that satisfaction does not require external validation to sustain.

Starting When You Think You Are Not Creative

The phrase "I am not creative" is one of the most common self-assessments that keeps women from engaging with creative practice, and it is worth examining carefully. Creativity, in the sense that matters for wellbeing, is not a talent some people have and others do not. It is a capacity for engagement with making that is present in everyone to some degree, often suppressed by schooling, comparison, or simply lack of opportunity.

Starting very small removes the pressure that tends to activate the self-censoring inner critic. Spending ten minutes doodling without any intention of producing something good, writing three sentences about how you feel without worrying about whether it is interesting, or taking five photographs of things in your immediate environment are all legitimate starting points. The goal is engagement rather than outcome, and the bar for engagement is very low.

If the idea of beginning alone is daunting, a class, a community group, or even a single friend willing to try something creative alongside you lowers the activation energy considerably. Many women describe a creative practice as one of the most sustaining things they found during perimenopause, not because it solved their symptoms, but because it gave them something that was entirely their own at a time when many things about themselves were changing.

Integrating Creative Practice into a Perimenopause Wellness Routine

Creative practice does not need to compete with other perimenopause management strategies. It integrates naturally alongside exercise, sleep hygiene, and any medical treatment you might be using. Even thirty minutes per week of genuine creative engagement provides measurable wellbeing benefits based on the available research.

Finding your creative window, the time of day when your energy and attention are available for it rather than depleted by other demands, matters for sustainability. For some women, this is morning, before the day's demands begin. For others it is evening, as a way to decompress and transition out of work mode. For women with significant fatigue from perimenopause, shorter sessions more frequently are often more realistic than lengthy weekly blocks.

The most important thing is that the practice feels genuinely yours rather than like another obligation on the wellness checklist. If knitting feels like a chore, try watercolor. If journaling feels exposing, try collage or photography. The specific medium matters less than finding one that you actually return to voluntarily, because that voluntary return is what generates the cumulative benefit.

Medical Disclaimer

This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Creative practice and art therapy are not replacements for medical care for perimenopause symptoms. If you are experiencing significant depression, anxiety, or other mental health symptoms during perimenopause, please consult a qualified healthcare provider. Do not delay seeking medical care based on information in this article.