Art Engagement and Slower Biological Ageing: What a New UCL Study Found
A new University College London study suggests that art may do more than enrich daily life. It may also be associated with slower biological ageing. Published this week in Innovation in Aging by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Gerontological Society of America, the research found that people who engage with art, whether by making it or observing it, tend to show younger biological ages than their chronological ages.
The study was led by professor Daisy Fancourt and researchers from UCL’s department of behavior science and health and its division of psychiatry. Using blood samples from 3,556 adults in the United Kingdom, the team compared biological age with chronological age and paired that data with survey responses about arts participation.
The survey measured engagement across four categories: participating in art, such as painting, singing, or dancing; receiving art, including attending exhibitions or events; visiting heritage sites, such as historic buildings or monuments; and other cultural activities, including visits to archives or libraries. Researchers also tracked how often people took part and how varied their cultural habits were.
That variety proved important. Weekly arts engagement was associated with a biological age 1.02 years lower than engagement once or twice a year. Monthly engagement was linked to a biological age 0.8 years lower. The findings suggest that frequency matters, but so does range: a broader mix of activities appeared to offer the strongest association.
Fancourt said the effect may stem from the different ways arts activities work on people. “Each type of arts activity — reading, making music, going to cultural performances, visiting heritage sites etc — has different effects on us cognitively, emotionally and physiologically,” she said. “So engaging in a diverse range of activities — just like having lots of different plants in our diets — is most beneficial for our health.”
The researchers were careful to note the limits of the study. It examines biological ageing, not whether arts engagement extends lifespan. Even so, the findings add a new layer to long-running arguments for the value of cultural participation, placing museums, galleries, performances, and heritage sites within a broader conversation about health as well as enrichment.
