Creative pursuits may delay brain aging by up to 7 years |
Long-term engagement in creative activities — from dancing to playing strategy video games — correlates with patterns of brain activity that appear younger than age-matched peers, according to an analysis of brain scans from more than 1,400 people across 13 countries.
The study, published in Nature Communications, used computational “brain clocks” — mathematical models that learn how brain activity typically changes with age — to analyze electrical brain activity and estimate biological brain age.
Experts in tango dancing, music, visual arts, and strategy video games showed brain activity patterns that averaged 4 to 7 years younger than those of nonexperts of the same age, sex, and educational level.
“Creative and artistic activities naturally combine many ingredients that are beneficial for the brain: They are cognitively demanding, emotionally engaging, often social, and they require fine motor coordination,” explained lead author Aneta Brzezicka, PhD, head of the Center for Neurocognitive Research at SWPS University in Poland.
Even short-term engagement showed benefits. Participants who completed 30 hours of strategy video game training shifted their brain-age estimates roughly 3 years in the “younger” direction and showed improvements in attention tasks. “The adult brain remains highly plastic and can show measurable changes over a relatively short period of intensive training,” Brzezicka noted.
The effects appeared strongest in fronto-parietal brain regions involved in attention, coordination, and complex decision making, areas that are particularly vulnerable to aging.
To discover which creative activities experts recommend and how to get started with brain-protective hobbies, jump to “Dancing, reading, and video games could help delay brain aging.”
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