How The Arts Slow Biological Aging

We’ve previous discussed some specific health benefits (especially brain health) of some specific arts, for example:

• The Music That Keeps Dementia At Bay
• Dancing vs Parkinson’s Depression ← this article is about a rather fun study, and the results were very predictable (i.e: it helps), and/but the mechanism of action is not necessarily something that people might think of in advance!
• How To Engage Your Whole Brain

…as well as occasional guest articles, such as: Lost for words? Research shows art therapy brings benefits for mental health

But what of the arts in general, as a category, and healthy aging beyond “just” brain health?

Artfully dodging aging

Researchers (Dr. Daisy Fancourt et al.) analyzed data from 3,556 UK adults and found that more frequent and more diverse arts and cultural engagement—such as reading, listening to music, or visiting museums—was associated with slower biological aging based on DNA methylation markers.

And yes, Dr. Fancourt and her team did control for such things as wealth, income, educational level, and other potential confounding variables that may have otherwise caused misleading results of the kind that lead to headlines such as “Horse-riding found to be the sport that most extends longevity”. Should we all take up horse-riding to increase our lifespans? Probably not; the reality is that people who can afford horses can probably afford better than average healthcare, and lead easier, less stressful lives overall. The fact that people with horses typically have wealthier lifestyles than those without, is the confounding variable here.

You can learn more about this sort of thing here: How Science News Outlets Can Lie To You (Yes, Even If They Cite Studies!)

Back to Dr. Fancourt’s study that did better than that and did control for the confounding variables (and yes, in this case, the associations held regardless of those other factors, indicating it really was the arts engagement that made a difference), she and her team found the following outcomes:

• Those who engaged in arts activities at least weekly appeared to age4% more slowly (a benefit comparable to exercising at least weekly versus doing no exercise).
• On the PhenoAge clock (see link below for more on that),weekly arts engagement was associated with being biologically about one year younger on average than rare engagement, while weekly exercise was linked to being just over half a year younger.
• These associations were most pronounced in people aged 40 and older, suggesting arts engagement becomes especially relevant in midlife and later years.

As for how it works, it’s not known for sure, but hypotheses so far include that arts engagement, especially if varied, combines cognitive, emotional, social, and sometimes physical stimulation, reducing stress, inflammation, and cardiovascular risk—all of which have big implications for health and healthy aging, of course.

You can read this paper in full, here: Does leisure activity matter for epigenetic ageing? Analyses of arts engagement and physical activity in the UK Household Longitudinal Study

Want to learn more?

You might like this book we reviewed a while back:

This Is Your Brain on Music – by Dr. Daniel Levitin

Enjoy!