University College London Study Links Arts Participation to Slower Biological Aging
A new University College London study suggests that the time spent in a gallery, rehearsal room, or craft workshop may register in the body as well as the mind. Researchers found that regular participation in arts and cultural activities was associated with slower biological aging among adults in the UK, using blood-based measures known as epigenetic clocks.
Published in Innovation in Aging on May 11, the study examined 3,556 adults and compared how often they engaged in creative and cultural activities. Those who took part monthly had biological ages 0.8 years lower than people who participated only once or twice a year. Weekly participants showed an even larger difference, at 1.02 years lower.
The activities studied were broad: singing, dancing, painting, crafting, reading, attending cultural performances, and visiting exhibitions, heritage sites, museums, and libraries. That range mattered, according to Daisy Fancourt, the study’s lead author and head of the Social Biobehavioural Research Group at UCL. She said the findings point to the value of variety, not just frequency, comparing a mixed arts diet to the benefits of eating a wide range of plants.
The research also found that the association between arts engagement and biological aging grew stronger with age. Fancourt said the results suggest creative activity should be treated as a health-promoting behavior rather than a discretionary extra, and that regular, ideally daily, engagement deserves the same kind of public encouragement given to exercise or nutrition.
The study adds to a growing body of work examining the relationship between culture and health, including research associated with the Jameel Arts & Health Lab. It is also part of a £3.5 million, seven-year program funded by Wellcome and led by UCL to investigate the global and molecular impact of arts engagement.
For museums, libraries, performance venues, and community arts spaces, the findings offer a sharper frame for an old intuition: cultural participation may shape not only how people feel, but how they age.
