Arts Engagement Can Slow Biological Aging According to Data
The University College of London is researching just how much the arts can slow down the aging process.
Add participating in the arts to your health care list, in addition to eating well and exercise if you would like to live a longer life. Researchers at University College London delved deeper into the impact that creative expression and making art can have on the human body.
According to NPR, the research team examined data and blood samples from 3,500 adults who were part of a long-term study in the United Kingdom - which included participants who took part in the arts, as well as those on the other end of the spectrum. Further, they used epigenetic clocks to evaluate participants' rate of aging.
Epigenetic clocks analyze patterns of DNA methylation. With aging, chemical tags called methyl groups latch to DNA. The pattern of these tags signal to researchers an indicator of the person's biological age.
The University College London case study propose a deeper look at the health benefits of the arts.
The survey data included only a small portion of the participants' activity in the arts - as they were only asked about certain artistic hobbies they participated in over the last twelve months. "It's an intriguing observation, but it definitely needs to be replicated," says Steven Horvath, who is a geneticist and biostatistician at UCLA who developed the Horvath aging clock - which is a tool researchers can use to examine biological age based on specific chemical changes to their DNA.
"We found in this study that 'arts engagement' was related to 4% slower aging rates, meaning people were about a year younger, biologically, if they were regularly engaged in the arts," researcher Daisy Fancourt explicates. "This is actually the same reduction in biological aging that we saw for physical activity," she says.
All of the findings of the study can be found on the Oxford Academic website. While there are still questions regarding the effects of lifelong arts participation versus taking up the arts later in life, researchers have not yet been able to clearly distinguish the differences. For instance, whether someone who is not currently active in the arts could begin a new music or art hobby in midlife and experience a slowdown in aging, or how frequently they would need to participate for it to make a measurable impact.
"The arts, or being creative or enjoying the arts, is a non-pharmacological intervention," states Doug Vaughan, a Cardiologist of Northwestern University.
Videos
