Forget the fountain of youth — the secret to staying young may lie in how you spend your free time.
New research has identified a series of fun activities that appear to help slow how quickly the body ages, with effects similar to those linked to exercise.
But don’t expect one afternoon to turn back the clock. The strongest effects were seen in people who did them regularly and mixed up their day-to-day routines.
“These results demonstrate the health impact of the arts at a biological level,” Daisy Fancourt, lead author of the study and a professor of psychobiology and epidemiology at University College London (UCL), said in a press release.
“They provide evidence for arts and cultural engagement to be recognized as a health-promoting behavior in a similar way to exercise.”
Importantly, the study didn’t focus on chronological age — the number of years you’ve been alive — but biological age, which measures how much wear and tear your cells and tissues have actually experienced over a lifetime.
Unlike the candles on your birthday cake, biological age can be influenced by factors like genetics, sleep, stress, diet and environmental exposures.
To see whether participation in arts and cultural activities made a difference, Fancourt and her colleagues surveyed more than 3,500 adults in the UK about how often they engaged in them.
The list included hobbies like singing, dancing, painting and photography, as well as outings to museums, art exhibits, libraries and historic sites.
Researchers also ran participants’ blood samples through seven different “epigenetic clocks” — tests that use specialized algorithms to detect subtle DNA changes linked to aging.
The results painted a compelling picture.
The researchers found that participants who participated in at least one artistic or cultural activity each week had slower signs of aging compared to those who rarely engaged in them.
One of the epigenetic clocks found that taking part in an arts activity at least three times a year was associated with a 2% slower rate of aging.
Monthly participation was tied to aging 3% slower, while weekly participation was linked to a 4% slower rate compared to those who took part fewer than three times a year.
Another test found that people who took part in arts and cultural activities weekly had a biological age about one year younger, on average, than those who rarely did so.
By comparison, those who exercised at least weekly were just over half a year younger on average.
“Our study provides the first evidence that arts and cultural engagement is linked to a slower pace of biological ageing,” said Dr. Feifei Bu, a principal research fellow in epidemiology at UCL who served as senior author of the paper.
“This builds on a growing body of evidence about the health impact of the arts, with arts activities being shown to reduce stress, lower inflammation and improve cardiovascular disease risk, just as exercise is known to do.”
The study also hinted that variety may be the spice of longer life.
Researchers found that mixing up arts and cultural activities appeared to be more beneficial than sticking with the same hobby over and over.
“This may be because each activity has different ‘ingredients’ that help health, such as physical, cognitive, emotional or social stimulation,” Fancourt explained.
The anti-aging links were strongest among adults 40 and older and held up even after researchers adjusted for factors that could skew the results, including BMI, smoking, income and education level.
But not every epigenetic clock showed the same effects. When researchers used some older models, they found no clear perks tied to arts engagement — though those same tests also failed to detect benefits from exercise.
The team suggested those older clocks may simply be less sensitive at measuring age-related decline.
Ultimately, the researchers said their findings highlight the potential value of incorporating arts and cultural programs into public health initiatives.
Looking ahead, they hope future studies will dig deeper into which lifestyle habits may help slow — or even reverse — epigenetic aging.
