Health
Creative hobbies keep the brain young, study finds; here are the best ones to pursue
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A large-scale international study found that creative activities such as music, dance, painting and even certain video games may help keep the brain biologically “younger.”
Researchers from 13 countries — including teams at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland and SWPS University in Poland — analyzed brain data from more than 1,400 adults of all ages worldwide and found that those who regularly pursue creative hobbies show brain patterns that appear younger than their actual age.
Even short bursts of creative activity, such as a few weeks of strategy-based video gaming, had noticeable benefits, according to the study, which was published in the journal Nature Communications in October.
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Scientists collected brain data from people with advanced experience in tango, music, visual art and strategy gaming, but they also recruited non-experts for comparison. In addition, a third group of beginners underwent short-term training in StarCraft II, a strategy video game, so researchers could see how learning a new creative skill affects the brain over just a few weeks.
A new study found that creative activities can help the brain stay biologically younger. (iStock)
All participants underwent EEG and MEG brain scans that were fed into machine-learning “brain age” models, or brain clocks, which estimate how old the brain appears biologically versus chronologically. Researchers then used advanced computer models to explore why creativity might protect the brain and found that the hobbies help strengthen the networks responsible for coordination, attention, movement and problem-solving, which can weaken with age.
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People with years of creative practice showed the strongest reductions in brain age, but even beginners saw improvements, with strategy games boosting brain-age markers after roughly 30 hours of training.
“One of our key takeaways is that you do not need to be an expert to benefit from creativity,” Dr. Carlos Coronel, first author and postdoctoral fellow at the Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin and Universidad Adolfo Ibanez, said in a statement. “Indeed, we found that learners gained from brief video game training sessions.”
The findings show that creativity may be just as important for brain health as exercise and diet. (iStock)
According to the researchers, this was the first large-scale evidence directly linking multiple creative fields to slower brain aging, though previous research has linked creativity to improved mood and well-being.
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“Creativity emerges as a powerful determinant of brain health, comparable to exercise or diet,” senior author Dr. Agustin Ibanez of Trinity College Dublin said in a statement. “Our results open new avenues for creativity-based interventions to protect the brain against aging and disease.”
Dr. Aneta Brzezicka of SWPS University added that the findings suggest that creative pastimes should be incorporated into educational and healthcare programs as tools to support brain health.
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The study also showed that brain clocks, a relatively new tool gaining steam in neuroscience, can be used to monitor interventions aimed at improving brain health, Ibanez said.
Brain scans revealed that creative activities strengthen key neural networks involved in attention, coordination, movement and problem-solving. (iStock)
The researchers cautioned, however, that the results are early and come with caveats, including that most participants were healthy adults, many subgroups were small and the study didn’t track people long-term to see whether younger-looking brains actually lead to lower dementia risk or better daily functioning.
“The brain clock, in preliminary studies, shows promise and accounts for the diversity of the factors that can contribute to that wide disparity between our brain age and chronological age,” Dr. Jon Stewart Hao Dy, a board-certified adult neurologist from the Philippines, told Fox News Digital.
“However, it’s important for the public to know that brain health is influenced by a multitude of factors that cause a wide brain age gap,” added Dy, who was not involved in the study.
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Creative people often have other advantages, the researchers noted, such as higher education, robust social lives and better access to arts and activities, and the study couldn’t fully separate those factors from the effects of creativity itself.
The new research suggests that picking up a new creative hobby at any age could help keep the brain healthier. (iStock)
“Evidence shows that dancing, painting, pottery, embroidery and even museum visits confer the greatest neuroprotection in preserving cognition and improving cognitive function in older adults,” Dy said.
And he agreed that the science is strong enough to justify action.
“It’s a matter of translating it into public policy that will fund and support these programs,” he said.
The work, funded by academic and public research bodies, will now be followed by more comprehensive studies that add other creative fields and link brain-age measures to real-world outcomes such as memory, thinking skills and disease risk.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the study authors for comment.
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A new report by the American Heart Association (AHA) included some troubling predictions for the future of women’s health.
The forecast, published in the journal Circulation on Wednesday, projected increases in various comorbidities in American females by 2050.
More than 59% of women were predicted to have high blood pressure, up from less than 49% currently.
The review also projected that more than 25% of women will have diabetes, compared to about 15% today, and more than 61% will have obesity, compared to 44% currently.
As a result of these risk factors, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7%.
The prevalence of cardiovascular disease and stroke in women is expected to rise to 14.4% from 10.7% by 2050. (iStock)
Not all trends were negative, as unhealthy cholesterol prevalence is expected to drop to about 22% from more than 42% today, the report stated.
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Dr. Elizabeth Klodas, a cardiologist and founder of Step One Foods in Minnesota, commented on these “jarring findings.”
“The fact that on our current trajectory, cardiometabolic disease is projected to explode in women within one generation should be a huge wake-up call,” she told Fox News Digital.
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“Hypertension, diabetes, obesity — these are all major risk factors for heart disease, and we are already seeing what those risks are driving. Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, eclipsing all other causes of death, including breast cancer.”
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for women in the U.S. and around the world. (iStock)
Klodas warned that heart disease starts early, progresses “stealthily,” and can present “out of the blue in devastating ways.”
The AHA published another study on Thursday revealing one million hospitalizations, showing that heart attack deaths are climbing among adults below the age of 55.
The more alarming finding, according to Klodas, is that young women were found more likely to die after their first heart attack than men of the same age.
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“This is all especially tragic since heart disease is almost entirely preventable,” she said. “The earlier you start, the better.”
Children can show early evidence of plaque deposition in their arteries, which can be reversed through lifestyle changes if “undertaken early enough and aggressively enough,” according to the expert.
Moving more is one part of protecting a healthy heart, according to experts. (iStock)
Klodas suggested that rising heart conditions are associated with traditional risk factors, like smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.
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Doctors are also seeing higher rates of preeclampsia, or high blood pressure during pregnancy, as well as gestational diabetes. Klodas noted that these are sex-specific risk factors that don’t typically contribute to complications until after menopause.
The best way to protect a healthy heart is to “do the basics,” Klodas recommended, including the following lifestyle habits.
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Klodas especially emphasized making improvements to diet, as the food people eat affects “every single risk factor that the AHA’s report highlights.”
“High blood pressure, high blood sugar, high cholesterol, excess weight – these are all conditions that are driven in part or in whole by food,” she said. “We eat multiple times every single day, which means what we eat has profound cumulative effects over time.”
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health,” a doctor said. (iStock)
“Even a small improvement in dietary intake, when maintained, can have a massive positive impact on health.”
The doctor also recommends changing out a few snacks per day for healthier choices, which has been proven to “yield medication-level cholesterol reductions” in a month.
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“Keep up that small change and, over the course of a year, you could also lose 20 pounds and reduce your sodium intake enough to avoid blood pressure-lowering medications,” Klodas added.
“Women should not view the AHA report as inevitable. We have power over our health destinies. We just need to use it.”
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Nearsightedness (myopia) is skyrocketing globally, with nearly half of the world’s population expected to be myopic by 2050, according to the World Health Organization.
Heavy use of smartphones and other devices is associated with an 80% higher risk of myopia when combined with excessive computer use, but a new study suggests that dim indoor lighting could also be a factor.
For years, scientists have been puzzled by the different ways myopia is triggered. In lab settings, it can be induced by blurring vision or using different lenses. Conversely, it can be slowed by something as simple as spending time outdoors, research suggests.
Nearsightedness occurs when the eyeball grows too long from front to back, according to the American Optometric Association (AOA). This physical elongation causes light to focus in front of the retina rather than directly on it, making distant objects appear blurry.
The study suggests that myopia isn’t caused by the digital devices themselves, but by the low-light environments where they are typically used. (iStock)
Researchers at the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Optometry identified a potential specific trigger for this growth. When someone looks at a phone or a book up close, the pupil naturally constricts.
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“In bright outdoor light, the pupil constricts to protect the eye while still allowing ample light to reach the retina,” Urusha Maharjan, a SUNY Optometry doctoral student who conducted the study, said in a press release.
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“When people focus on close objects indoors, such as phones, tablets or books, the pupil can also constrict — not because of brightness, but to sharpen the image,” she went on. “In dim lighting, this combination may significantly reduce retinal illumination.”
High-intensity natural light prevents myopia because it provides enough retinal stimulation to override the “stop growing” signal, even when pupils are constricted. (iStock)
The hypothesis suggests that when the retina is deprived of light during extended close-up work, it sends a signal for the eye to grow.
In a dim environment, the narrowed pupil allows so little light through that the retinal activity isn’t strong enough to signal the eye to stop growing, the researchers found.
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In contrast, being outdoors provides light levels much brighter than indoors. This ensures that even when the pupil narrows to focus on a nearby object, the retina still receives a strong signal, maintaining healthy eye development.
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The team noted some limitations of the study, including the small subject group and the inability to directly measure internal lens changes, as the bright backgrounds used to mimic the outdoors made pupils too small for standard equipment.
Researchers believe that increasing indoor brightness during close-up work could be a simple, testable way to slow the global nearsightedness epidemic. (iStock)
“This is not a final answer,” Jose-Manuel Alonso, MD, PhD, SUNY distinguished professor and senior author of the study, said in the release.
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“But the study offers a testable hypothesis that reframes how visual habits, lighting and eye focusing interact.”
The study was published in the journal Cell Reports.
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