Engaging with the arts and culture and pursuing creative endeavors are beneficial for the soul, but may they also assist maintain physical fitness? According to a recent study from University College London (UCL) in the UK, such appears to be the case.
According to the study, contact with the arts and culture is linked to a slower rate of biological aging. The results are published in the journal Innovation in Aging.
Creativity has been linked to improved cognitive health in other research. For example, a study that was published in October 2025 in Nature CommunicationsTrusted Source revealed that indulging in visual arts and dancing could prolong the brain’s youth.
However, it is possible that engaging in artistic and creative pursuits can assist the body as a whole retain its youthfulness in some way.
One of the study’s authors, Feifei Bu, PhD, principal research fellow in statistics/epidemiology within the Social Biobehavioural Research Group in the Department of Behavioural Science and Health at UCL, told Medical News Today that the research team was very interested in finding out how artistic interest can truly affect our health throughout our lives.
Slower aging is associated with more frequent creative engagement
The UCL researchers evaluated blood test results from 3,556 people with an average age of roughly 52 years, as well as survey replies about their participation in the arts and culture. The remaining participants were male, with just over half being female.
The UK Household Longitudinal Study provided the data.
To put it succinctly, the researchers sought to determine the relationship between participation in the arts and culture and epigenetic aging (DNA alterations that affect the rate of biological aging).
In their study, they employed a minimum of seven epigenetic clocks, which are instruments for evaluating DNA alterations associated with aging.
Specifically, DunedinPoAm and DunedinPACE, two younger-generation epigenetic clocks, aid in estimating an individual’s rate of aging. A person is more likely to develop age-related problems the faster they age.
The researchers were able to determine people’s biological ages with the aid of PhenoAge, another epigenetic clock.
Overall, testing employing the three next-generation epigenetic clocks revealed that people’s estimated biological age was younger and their rate of aging was slower the more artistic and cultural activities they participated in and the greater the range of their cultural-arts interests.
Cultural interaction is just as healthy as regular exercise
Interestingly, these favorable correlations seemed to be comparable to the positive effects of exercise on aging, since the researchers also discovered that weekly exercisers aged more slowly.
These correlations held true in terms of biological age: PhenoAge testing revealed that those who embraced artistic endeavors on a weekly or more frequent basis were, on average, one year younger than those who did not.
Similar correlations between biological age and weekly or more frequent exercise were observed by the researchers.
Even after the researchers took into consideration confounding variables like body mass index (BMI), smoking status, education, and income level, these relationships remained highest for people 40 years of age or older.
There were no correlations seen in the older epigenetic clocks between exercise and aging pace or between more frequent cultural involvement and slower aging pace. The older generation of epigenetic clocks may be less sensitive predictors of age-related changes, according to the study’s authors.
Şebnem Ünlüişler, a genetic engineer and Chief Longevity Officer at the London Regenerative Institute in the United Kingdom, commented on the study and stated she was encouraged by the results.
Similarly, Opel Baker, MBChB, DipOccMed, MRCGP, a general practitioner at the Mayfield Clinic in Brighton and Hove, UK, who was not engaged in the study, said he thought the work was “very fascinating.”
According to Baker, “studies like this are tremendously important because they remind us that health is formed by how we live, interact, and engage with the world around us, not just by medicine.”
As a family physician, he said, he has personally seen “the enormous influence that artistic and creative endeavors can have on both mental and physical welfare.”
According to Ünlüişler’s hypothesis, stress reduction is a crucial mechanism that mediates the relationship between regular cultural participation and a slower rate of aging.
“Activities like music, painting, or dancing may improve relaxation and emotional regulation, but chronic stress might accelerate aging through higher cortisol levels, inflammation, and nervous system dysregulation,” she said.
According to Ünlüişler, “arts engagement may also boost brain health through cognitive stimulation and neuroplasticity,” which is the brain’s capacity to create new connections between neurons.
Additionally, she noted that engaging in social and artistic activities is linked to better mood, lower inflammation, and a greater sense of purpose—all of which are associated with healthier aging.
Similar to Bu and Ünlüişler, Baker concurred, highlighting the value of reducing stress and fostering a feeling of community via artistic endeavors.