Singing, painting and visiting museums linked to slower biological ageing, study suggests
New research by a team at University College London suggests that arts and cultural activities may support healthier ageing, with benefits comparable to physical activity.
The research, published in Innovation in Aging, used data from 3,556 adults in the UK Household Longitudinal Study to explore whether arts and cultural engagement was associated with biological ageing. The study looked at activities including singing, dancing, painting, photography and crafting, as well as attending arts events, visiting heritage sites and going to museums, libraries and archives.
Researchers found that people who engaged more frequently or more widely in arts and cultural activities showed signs of slower biological ageing in some of the measures used. The effects were comparable in scale to those associated with physical activity.
The study used blood-based biological markers known as epigenetic clocks. These are designed to estimate aspects of biological ageing by measuring patterns in DNA methylation. The researchers examined seven different clocks and found associations in three of them: PhenoAge, DunedinPoAm and DunedinPACE. No association was found in the other four clocks measured.
The authors say the findings provide the first evidence that arts and cultural engagement is associated with epigenetic ageing. They also note that the results were generally stronger among adults aged 40 and above.
Arts and cultural engagement was relatively common among the study participants, with more than three-quarters reporting monthly or weekly engagement. The research found evidence across both frequency and diversity of engagement, suggesting that taking part regularly and engaging in a range of activities may both matter.
The findings add to a growing body of research on the relationship between the arts and health. The authors suggest that arts and cultural activities may support health through several routes, including social connection, mental stimulation, creativity, reduced stress and possible effects on inflammation.
The study does not prove that arts engagement directly slows ageing or increases lifespan. The authors acknowledge limitations, including reliance on self-reported activity data, the possibility of unmeasured factors influencing the results and the use of survey data collected between 2010 and 2012. However, they argue that the findings support further investigation into arts and cultural engagement as part of public health approaches to healthy ageing.
Professor Daisy Fancourt, one of the authors of the paper, was recently named the Royal Albert Hall’s first Associate Scientist. In that role, she will lead a programme linking the arts with science and serve as senior scientific adviser to the Hall’s Creative Wellbeing programme.