Creative Activities May Keep the Brain Biologically Younger, International Study Finds

A groundbreaking international study has found compelling evidence that regular engagement in creative activities—including music, dance, painting, and even certain video games—may help maintain a biologically younger brain.

Researchers from 13 countries, with teams from Trinity College Dublin in Ireland and SWPS University in Poland leading the effort, analyzed brain data from more than 1,400 adults worldwide. Their findings, published in the journal Nature Communications in October, revealed that individuals who regularly pursue creative hobbies displayed brain patterns that appeared younger than their chronological age.

“Creativity emerges as a powerful determinant of brain health, comparable to exercise or diet,” said senior author Dr. Agustin Ibanez of Trinity College Dublin. “Our results open new avenues for creativity-based interventions to protect the brain against aging and disease.”

The comprehensive study collected brain data from both experts and novices in various creative fields—tango dancing, music, visual art, and strategic gaming. Researchers also recruited a third group of beginners who underwent short-term training in StarCraft II, a strategy video game, to observe how learning a new creative skill affects the brain over just a few weeks.

All participants underwent EEG and MEG brain scans, with the results fed into machine-learning “brain age” models, which estimate biological versus chronological brain age. Using advanced computer models, the researchers explored why creativity might protect the brain and discovered that these activities help strengthen neural networks responsible for coordination, attention, movement, and problem-solving—areas that typically weaken with age.

While those with years of creative practice showed the strongest reductions in brain age, even beginners saw improvements. Strategy game players, for instance, exhibited boosted brain-age markers after approximately 30 hours of training.

“One of our key takeaways is that you do not need to be an expert to benefit from creativity,” explained Dr. Carlos Coronel, first author and postdoctoral fellow at the Global Brain Health Institute, Trinity College Dublin and Universidad Adolfo Ibanez. “Indeed, we found that learners gained from brief video game training sessions.”

This represents the first large-scale evidence directly linking multiple creative fields to slower brain aging, though previous research has connected creativity to improved mood and overall well-being.

Dr. Aneta Brzezicka of SWPS University suggested that these findings indicate creative pastimes should be incorporated into educational and healthcare programs as tools to support brain health. The study also demonstrated that brain clocks—a relatively new tool gaining prominence in neuroscience—can be used to monitor interventions aimed at improving brain health.

However, the researchers cautioned that these results come with certain limitations. Most participants were healthy adults, many subgroups were small, and the study didn’t track people long-term to determine 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,” said Dr. Jon Stewart Hao Dy, a board-certified adult neurologist from the Philippines not involved in the study. “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.”

The researchers acknowledged that creative people often have other advantages, such as higher education, robust social lives, and better access to arts and activities. The study couldn’t fully separate these factors from the effects of creativity itself.

“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,” Dr. Dy noted, adding 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.”

Funded by academic and public research bodies, this work will now be followed by more comprehensive studies incorporating additional creative fields and linking brain-age measures to real-world outcomes such as memory, thinking skills, and disease risk.