The show must go on, especially for healthy aging.<\/p>\n
New research\u00a0has identified a series of fun activities that appear to turn back time when it comes to how the body ages.<\/p>\n
More than just providing entertainment, the strongest effects of these activities were seen in those who regularly participated.<\/p>\n
caftor \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
New research has found a few fun activities \u2014 like going to the theater \u2014 that could slow down aging, especially if older adults regularly participate. Christopher Sadowski<\/p>\n
Some obvious mistakes \u2014 like smoking, unhealthy diet, poor sleep and physical inactivity, to name a few \u2014 can accelerate biological age<\/a>, or how cells and organs age.<\/p>\n But growing evidence has also shown that taking in a Broadway play or hitting up an art gallery could play an important role in aging well.<\/p>\n A study published in the\u00a0Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health<\/a> found that older adults who regularly enjoyed cultural activities had significantly younger physiological or biological ages.<\/p>\n Those who went to the movies, a museum, an art gallery, a concert, the theater or the opera tended to have bodies that functioned like those of younger people.<\/p>\n Researchers at the Institute of Science Tokyo in Japan analyzed data from 1,899 adults aged 50 and older participating in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.<\/p>\n They combined various measurements of physical health, such as blood pressure, cholesterol, body mass index (BMI), grip strength, walking speed and more, to find a single physiological age.<\/p>\n Concerts, museums and art galleries could slow biological aging by three years. Getty Images for Coachella<\/p>\n Those who went to these events every few months had an average biological age of 66.9 years. Meanwhile, those with lower levels of participation had a biological age of 69.9 years.<\/p>\n Unlike chronological age \u2014 which measures how many trips you\u2019ve taken around the sun \u2014\u00a0biological age can be influenced<\/a>\u00a0by factors like genetics, sleep, stress, diet and environmental exposures.<\/p>\n One possible explanation for the differences in aging is that cultural activities strengthen social connections, encourage healthier lifestyle habits and support better mental health.<\/p>\n All of these may contribute to slower physiological aging, especially socialization and strong connections<\/a>, which play key roles in predicting a long and healthy life.<\/p>\n The new study aligns with older research with similar findings. caftor \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n However, the team did also note that physically healthier people may simply be able to attend more cultural events and activities.<\/p>\n Even so, other studies have shown that engaging with culture as you get older has a positive impact on biological age.<\/p>\n Another study of 3,500 UK adults found that going to art museums or participating in creative hobbies like singing<\/a>,\u00a0dancing<\/a>, drawing and painting once a week showed slower signs of aging.<\/p>\n Monthly participation was tied to aging 3% slower, while weekly participation was linked to a 4% slower rate compared to those who took part fewer than three times a year.<\/p>\n The study also hinted that mixing up arts and cultural activities appeared to be more beneficial than sticking with the same hobby over and over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The show must go on, especially for healthy aging. New research\u00a0has identified a series of fun activities that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":775253,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[2594,21540,7069,690,97,2749,6049,3284],"class_list":["post-775252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-aging","tag-broadway","tag-concert","tag-culture","tag-health","tag-longevity","tag-museums","tag-study-says"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=775252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775252\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/775253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}