Overview
- The peer‑reviewed paper, published Monday in Innovation in Aging, analyzed blood and leisure surveys from 3,556 UK adults in the Understanding Society cohort.
- People who took part in arts activities at least weekly showed roughly a 4% slower aging pace on newer tests and about one year younger biological age on another measure, a magnitude similar to regular exercise and to gaps seen between current and former smokers.
- The team estimated biological age using DNA methylation “epigenetic clocks,” which read chemical tags on DNA that shift with age and can indicate how fast the body is aging.
- Only the newer clocks detected links with arts engagement and with physical activity, while several older clocks showed no association, which the authors say likely reflects lower sensitivity to age‑related decline.
- The associations were strongest for adults 40 and older and held after adjusting for smoking, BMI, education and income, and the authors urged recognizing arts participation as a health behavior while noting the observational design and ongoing Wellcome‑funded work to test mechanisms and real‑world impact.