When it comes to slowing down biological aging, Engaging in arts and culture is as beneficial as physical activity, suggests a new study.
Researchers at 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 — from more than 3,500 people in the United Kingdom, according to a study published Monday in the journal Innovation in Aging.
Study co-author Feifei Bu, a researcher in UCL’s department of behavioral sciences, told CNN that the study found that both frequency how people engage with the arts and how they different shapes by which they do so can slow down the aging process. The results didn’t surprise researchers, as previous studies have demonstrated links between cancer and better health outcomes in areas such as cognition, depression and mortality, she explained, but this is the first to examine it.
“Theoretically, one of the ways in which arts can affect health is through biological processes“, Bu said in a statement on Tuesday (12). “Our study provides evidence that supports this.”
She explained that the arts encompass 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 size effects” between activity and engagement with the arts.
The “results were generally strongest among middle-aged adults and seniors ages 40 and older,” and the data was controlled for income and a number of other factors. “Our research shows that both frequency and diversity matter. The ‘best’ way would depend on the individual — their interests, what is available to them, and what they like to do consistently,” Bu said.
She emphasized that the study builds on existing research, “highlighting the potential value of integrate the arts to strategies and initiatives public health“. Next, the team plans to analyze similar data across different countries and populations, as well as examine how other biological outcomes could be affected by cultural engagement, Bu added.
James Stark, a professor of medical humanities at the University of Leeds in England who was not involved in the study, told CNN that the research is “detailed and robust.” “It is based on cutting-edge tools for measuring biological aging and uses a large amount of real-world data,” he told CNN on Tuesday (12).
“In addition to confirming the positive effects of cultural participation on our health, it validates the importance of investing in arts and cultureand shows that these are not mere incidental additions to our lives, but make a real difference in our health” Stark added.
Another scientist who was not involved in the study, Eamonn Mallon, professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Leicester in England, said the “carefully conducted” research is “the first to question whether cultural activities may be associated with slower biological aging at the molecular level.”
“The main conclusion is that they are, and in approximately the same proportion as physical activity,” he told CNN on Tuesday (12), before highlighting a caveat. “This is a unique snapshot in time, so we still can’t say that visiting a museum makes you age more slowly. It’s possible that people who are biologically younger for their chronological age are simply more likely to go out and do things,” Mallon said.
