People who sing, paint, or regularly visit exhibitions and museums show a slower pace of , a new study from University College London (UCL) found.
The study’s lead author, Professor Daisy Fancourt, head of the social-biobehavioral research group at UCL, said: “These results show the impact of the arts on health at a biological level. They provide grounds to consider arts and cultural engagement as a health-promoting behavior, similar to physical activity.”
How the researchers measured biological aging
The study, published in the journal Innovation in Aging, analyzed blood samples and survey responses from 3,556 adult participants in the UK Household Longitudinal Study. Using those biological samples, the authors estimated the respondents’ and the pace of their aging with “epigenetic clocks,” which are markers that correlate with disease risk and mortality.
Participants were asked how often in the past year they had been singing, dancing, painting, taking photographs, or doing crafts, and whether they had visited exhibitions, landmarks and historic sites, museums, libraries, or archives.
Key findings
- People who took part in arts activities showed the biggest slowdown in the pace of biological aging. By one measure, people who engaged in the arts at least once a week slowed their pace of aging by about 4%; people who participated monthly slowed it by about 3%.
- Another test found that people who practiced the arts weekly were, on average, about one year biologically younger than people who rarely took part in those activities. By comparison, people who did physical activity once a week were about six months younger on that same measure.
- The authors estimated that the aging‑pace advantage associated with arts participation was as large as the difference between current smokers and people who had quit smoking.
What this means — and the caveats
The researchers emphasize that slower biological aging does not necessarily mean a longer life. Epigenetic clocks predict risks of disease and premature death, and previous studies have linked arts activity to longer lifespans, but establishing a causal relationship will require further research.
Co‑author Dr. Feifei Bu said: “Our study is the first to show a link between arts and culture and a slowed pace of biological aging. It adds new evidence that artistic activity reduces stress, lowers levels of inflammation, and reduces cardiovascular disease risk — similar to what we know about physical exercise.”
Evidence is mounting that can improve both mental and physical health. In 2019 the World Health Organization published a report prepared by Daisy Fancourt and Saoirse Finn that included examples such as using music for patients before surgery and running programs for people with dementia.
In the new study, the largest effects from arts participation were observed among middle‑aged and older adults (age 40 and over).
Based on reporting by The Guardian
Photo: Unsplash
