Efforts to reduce biological age are usually linked to eating a healthy diet, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep. But surprising new research suggests that engaging in the arts may have a similar effect on your biological age.
The findings suggest that regularly going out and getting a little culture may be just as important as exercise — maybe even more important, says study coauthor Feifei Bu, PhD, a principal research fellow in the department of behavioural science and health at University College London.
“Arts and cultural engagement is a healthy behavior,” she says. “It offers an accessible, enjoyable, and enriching path to healthy aging.” Here’s why.
Enjoying Arts Linked to DNA Changes
Published in the journal Innovations in Aging, the study analyzed data from more than 3,500 adults who participated in the long-term UK Household Longitudinal study. Participants gave blood samples and answered surveys about their lifestyle habits.
Participants reported how often over the past year they had taken part in artistic activities like singing, dancing, photography, painting, or crafting. They were also asked how often they had attended an art exhibit or event, visited a historic building or park, or been to a museum or library.
To determine the potential impact of the arts on aging, the researchers used seven different epigenetic clocks, which are tests that analyze age-related DNA changes. Each test measured a process called methylation, which is where a methyl molecule attaches to a DNA building block called a nucleotide. Increased methylation in some areas of DNA is a hallmark of biological aging.
In one epigenetic clock, known as the DunedinPACE clock, doing an artistic activity at least three times a year was tied to a 2 percent slower pace of aging. This included practicing an art, like singing in a choir or painting, and observing art, like listening to music or visiting a museum.
Compared with adults who got creative less than three times a year, those who did something artsy at least once a month had a 3 percent slower pace of aging. Those who did weekly had a 4 percent slower rate.
The researchers wrote that the difference between enjoying the arts often and not much at all is similar to the pace of aging between current and former smokers.
By One Metric, Arts May Slow Aging More Than Exercise
Another clock called the PhenoAge test, which estimates a person’s biological age by how fast cells and tissue ages, found that those who enjoyed the arts and other cultural activities at least once a week were a year younger on average compared with those who rarely enjoyed the arts.
By comparison, people who exercised at least once a week were half a year younger on average. Overall, the impact of arts engagement was greater in middle-aged and older adults compared with those who were younger.
Ultimately, the findings suggest that engagement in the arts is a “potential contributor to healthy aging at the biological level, supporting its inclusion in public health strategies,” the researchers wrote in the study.
There May Be a Few Reasons for This Link
The study didn’t definitively prove that engagement in the arts caused a slower pace of aging or younger biological age. It simply found a link between the two. However, doctors say there may be something to this.
“We’ve always known that exercise is very good to slow the progression of aging, but engaging in meaningful, creative activities may help as well,” says James Powers, MD, a professor of geriatric medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee.
Different art activities can provide a range of “active ingredients” for health, like aesthetics, sensory or physical stimulation, social interaction, and emotional evocation, Dr. Bu says. All of these have the potential to support health in general, she adds.
“When it comes to slowing biological aging as measured by epigenetic clocks, a likely explanation is that the arts help reduce stress and inflammation,” Bu says.
“The arts seem to reach all areas of the brain, and support health in general,” Powers says.
The link between arts engagement and a slower pace of aging appears to be especially strong for people after middle age. “The aging process accelerates after middle age,” Bu says. “That acceleration may make the protective effects of arts engagement more noticeable in this group compared to younger adults.”
The Study Has Some Limitations
The latest research used a cohort study that looked at a range of behaviors. It also analyzed DNA from blood tests to determine biological age and pace of aging through several epigenetic clocks.
But the study had some limitations. The participants self-reported their behavior, including their engagement with the arts, which opens the data to the potential of recall bias (trouble remembering events clearly), along with the risk that participants might report things incorrectly.
The researchers also noted in the study that there is the possibility of other factors involved in the link between engagement in the arts and a lower biological age that haven’t been identified yet.
There Is a ‘Right’ Way to Engage in the Arts
The arts cover a wide range of activities, giving people plenty to choose from. “Our research shows that both frequency and diversity matter,” Bu says.
People also will get the most benefit when they interact with art that really speaks to them. Powers doesn’t recommend listening to certain music or looking at art simply because critics say it’s good. Instead, he says the “real value” is in enjoying and engaging with the art forms and styles you love the most.
Bu agrees, saying, “The ‘best’ way would depend on the individual — their interests, what’s available to them, and what they enjoy doing consistently.”
Powers stresses that engaging in the arts is just one way to lower your biological age and slow the pace of aging. But it’s not the only thing you can do. “We can’t say that something like exercise is more important than engaging in the arts,” he says. “But they can compliment each other. Together, they can show many benefits for aging, both cognitive and physical.”
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