Engaging with arts and culture can slow biological aging as much as exercise, study suggests
When it comes to slowing down our biological aging, engaging with arts and culture is as beneficial as physical activity, a new study suggests.
Researchers from University College London (UCL) analyzed data from seven different aging clocks — which measure the accumulation of different biomarkers to determine a person’s biological age — of more than 3,500 people from the United Kingdom, according to a study published Monday in the journal Innovation in Ageing.
Study co-author Feifei Bu, a research fellow in UCL’s department of behavioral science, told CNN the study found that both the frequency with which people engage with the arts, as well as the number of different ways in which they do so, can slow the aging process.
The results didn’t come as a big surprise to the researchers, as previous studies have demonstrated links between cultural engagement and better health outcomes in areas such as cognition, depression and mortality, she explained, but this is the first one to examine biological aging.
“Theoretically, one way the arts could affect health is through biological processes,” Bu said in a statement Tuesday. “Our study provides evidence supporting this.”
She explained that the arts cover a wide range of activities, with different “active ingredients,” such as aesthetics; sensory or physical stimulation; and social interaction.
According to the study, there were “comparable effect sizes” between physical activity and engagement with the arts. The “findings were generally stronger amongst middle-aged and older adults aged 40 or above,” and the data was controlled for income and a number of other factors.
“Our research shows that both frequency and diversity matter,” Bu said. “The ‘best’ way would depend on the individual — their interests, what’s available to them, and what they enjoy doing consistently.”
She emphasized that the study builds on existing research, “underscoring the potential value of integrating the arts into public health strategies and initiatives.”
Next, the team is planning to analyze similar data across different countries and populations, as well as looking at how other biological outcomes could be affected by cultural engagement, Bu added.
James Stark, a professor of medical humanities at the University of Leeds, England, who was not involved in the study, told CNN that the research is “detailed and robust.”
“It draws on cutting-edge tools for measuring biological ageing and uses a large swathe of real-world data,” he told CNN on Tuesday.
“As well as confirming the positive effects of cultural participation on our health, it validates the importance of investment in the arts and culture, and shows that these are not just incidental additions to our lives, but make a real difference to our health,” Stark added.
Another scientist who wasn’t involved in the study, Eamonn Mallon, professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Leicester, England, said the “carefully conducted” research is “the first to ask whether cultural activities might be linked to slower biological ageing at the molecular level.”
“The headline finding is that they are, and by roughly the same amount as physical activity,” he told CNN on Tuesday, before highlighting a caveat.
“This is a single snapshot in time, so we can’t yet say that visiting a museum causes you to age more slowly. It’s possible that people who are biologically younger for their chronological age are simply more likely to get out and do things,” Mallon said.