The Anti-Ageing Power of Art and Literature
Literature as a longevity practice
There is a particular kind of time that opens up when we enter a gallery, sit in a theatre, sing with others, or lose ourselves in a novel. It is not productivity time. It is not screen-scrolling time. It is not the adrenalised time of errands, inboxes and appointments.
It is slower time. And according to a growing body of research, that slowing may not only be psychological. It may also be biological.
A new study published in Innovation in Aging by Daisy Fancourt (you can listen to my podcast interview with here here) and colleagues asks a quietly radical question: does engagement with the arts affect the pace at which our bodies age? The researchers used data from 3,556 adults in the UK Household Longitudinal Study and examined seven epigenetic clocks: biological markers based on DNA methylation that estimate aspects of ageing inside the body. Their finding was striking: arts and cultural engagement was associated with slower epigenetic ageing on several clocks, including PhenoAge, DunedinPoAm and DunedinPACE. The effects were comparable in size to physical activity, and were strongest among adults aged 40 and above.
That does not mean that reading a poem reverses wrinkles, or that visiting the Tate is a substitute for sleep, vegetables, movement or medical care. The study is observational, so it cannot prove causation. But it does suggest something important: the activities we often treat as ornamental may be woven into the biology of healthy ageing.
For years, we have been told that longevity belongs to the gym, the supplement shelf, the fasting window and the wearable device. But perhaps the library, the theatre, the concert hall and the kitchen table book club deserve a place in the conversation too.
Ageing is not only a number
Chronological age is simple. It is the number of birthdays you have had.
Biological age is more complicated. It asks how old your body appears to be at the cellular, molecular and physiological level. Two people can both be 60, but one may have the cardiovascular health, immune resilience and metabolic profile of someone much younger, while the other may be ageing faster under the surface.
Epigenetic clocks are one way researchers try to measure this. They look at chemical modifications to DNA that change with age and are associated with disease risk, mortality and physiological decline. In the new Fancourt study, arts and cultural engagement was not linked to every clock measured, which matters. Science rarely gives us a neat fairytale. But on clocks associated with healthspan and pace of ageing, the association was consistent enough to make the arts look less like a luxury and more like a possible longevity behaviour.