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CReactive experiences can boost brain health, which may slow brain aging.
This is according to a study by a group of international scientists from 13 countries.
They found that creative activities, such as dance classes – tango proved particularly effective – or art classes or music classes or hobbies such as gaming, had a positive effect on the artificial intelligence (AI) “brain clock”. And the more the participants practiced their art, the “younger” their brain clocks were.
We asked the lead researchers, neuroscientists Carlos Coronel and Agustín Ibáñez, to explain their study.
What is brain health?
Brain health is a state of cognitive, emotional and social functioning that allows people to realize their potential, maintain their well-being, and adapt to changes over the course of life. It is not defined by the absence of disease, but by the brain’s ability to maintain efficient, flexible, and integrated activity that supports everyday life.
Brain aging is the biological and functional changes that occur in the brain over time. This involves changes in structure, connectivity, and metabolism that may or may not impair performance. Although some decline is natural, the rate and patterns of these changes vary greatly between individuals, reflecting both vulnerability and resilience.
“Brain clocks” are machine learning (AI) models designed to predict how old the brain looks based on brain scans or neural activity patterns. They compare neuroimaging, electrophysiological, or neuromolecular data to normal brain patterns across the lifespan.
So, using the brain clock we can try to understand what makes the brain more flexible and what makes it age faster.
What did you want to know?
We wanted to find out whether being creative is not just fun or emotionally rewarding, but actually biologically good for the brain. There is growing evidence that arts engagement supports well-being, but we still do not have a solid understanding of how creativity might shape brain health.
Many people believe that art is too mysterious and abstract to study scientifically or make biological differences. We wanted to challenge both ideas.
Can creative experience, something that feels pleasurable and deeply human, even be measured in the brain? Could they help slow brain aging in the same way that physical exercise helps the body?
Our study tested whether creativity could affect the brain clock. If your brain clock tells you that you are younger than your actual age, it means that your brain is functioning more efficiently than expected.
About the authors
Carlos Coronel is a postdoctoral researcher, Latin American Brain Health Institute, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Chile. Agustín Ibáñez GBHI is Professor in Global Brain Health at Trinity College, Dublin. He was behind the research. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. read the original article
How did you do it?
We collected data from about 1,400 people from different countries. Some experts were tango dancers, musicians, visual artists or gamers. The others were non-experts who were matched on age, education and gender from the same countries. Non-experts had no prior experience in different subjects.
We recorded their brain activity using techniques called magnetoencephalography and electroencephalography. These can be used to measure brain activity in real time. We then trained a computer model (machine learning model) to generate a brain clock for each participant.
Models can be trained in less than an hour. The challenge was to collect data from hundreds of participants from Argentina to Poland. This would be impossible without the collaboration of many researchers and institutions around the world.
So we used brain clocks to estimate each person’s age from their data. If someone’s estimated brain age was lower than their actual age, it meant that their brain was aging more slowly.
Finally, we used something called biophysical modeling. These models are “digital brains,” and we used these virtual brains to understand the biology behind creativity.
The problem with machine learning models (“brain clocks”) is that, although they can learn patterns in the data to make predictions, they cannot reproduce actual brain activity. Biophysical models, on the other hand, are “real” brains in the digital world, that is, they are a mirrored copy of the brain inside a computer. These models use detailed biological and physical rules to simulate how the brain works. So, they are not AI models. They are “generative models” that can, in fact, generate brain activity from mathematical equations.
While brain clocks can be used to measure brain health (accelerated or delayed brain aging), biophysical models can explain why creativity is linked to better brain health.
What did you find?
In each creative area, the pattern was surprisingly consistent: Creativity was linked to a younger-looking brain.
Tango dancers’ brains appeared to be more than seven years younger than their chronological age. The brains of musicians and visual artists were about five to six years younger. Gamers, about four years younger.
We also ran a small experiment where non-experts trained for only 30 hours in the strategy video game StarCraft II to see if short-term creative learning could have a similar effect.
Even in a short-term experiment, after just 30 hours of creative training, participants’ brain clocks ticked back, resulting in a two to three year reduction in brain age.
The more people practice their art, the stronger the effect. And it doesn’t matter what kind of art it was. It could be dancing, painting, music or gaming. All helped key areas of the brain work better together.
These areas important for focus and learning usually get older at first, but creativity keeps their connections stronger and more resilient.
We found that creativity protects areas of the brain that are sensitive to aging and makes brain communication more efficient (similar to building more, larger, and higher quality roads for communication between cities in a country).
Why is this important?
Art and science, often seen as opposites, are actually allies. Creativity shapes not only culture but also biology. Our study shows creativity as a biological pathway to brain health and resilience, not just a cultural or psychological phenomenon.
By showing that artistic engagement can delay brain aging, this research helps us reimagine the role of creativity in education, public health, and aging societies.
In the big picture, this expands our understanding of healthy aging beyond disease prevention. This highlights creativity as a scalable, accessible, and profound human mechanism for maintaining cognitive and emotional well-being across diverse populations and lifespan.
So if you’re wondering if being creative is “good for you,” the answer appears to be “yes.” Scientifically, quantitatively, and beautifully. Your next dance step, brush stroke, or musical note may be helping your brain stay a little younger.