Getting into music, dance, art, or strategy video games could help slow down your brain’s aging process, letting it work like it’s years younger, almost like rewinding a mental clock.
A fresh study involving more than 1400 people from 13 countries, from places like Argentina to Germany, reveals that those really skilled in these creative pursuits have brains that seem 5 to 7 years younger than their real age, based on a metric known as brain age gaps.
In simple terms, these gaps, figured out as the difference between someone’s actual age and the age their brain seems to be based on EEG brain wave scans, highlight brain health by indicating if aging is speeding up or slowing down compared to normal.
This points to creative hobbies offering protection against age-related brain decline, which could shape future health approaches to boost mental well-being via arts and games.
The study looked at brain wave patterns among 1,472 folks in varied fields such as tango dancing, playing instruments, creating visual art, or tackling games like StarCraft II.
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Folks with solid expertise in these fields had brains appearing younger—by around 5.5 years on average—versus their less seasoned counterparts, especially in areas linked to focus and strategy that fade over time, like sharpening a tool that dulls with years.
Even newcomers who did short video game training noticed their brain age eased back by about 3 years, with bigger benefits tied to better performance.
Researchers relied on advanced machine learning tools to estimate a person’s age based on their brain wave connections, achieving strong accuracy.
They put these models to the test with creative experts and learners worldwide, using network analysis methods to gauge how efficiently brain regions, especially frontoparietal hubs, work together and how strongly they connect.
These approaches handled issues such as varying scan quality through careful data standardization, showing how creative pursuits strengthen and flex brain networks.
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This research fills a gap in science: Until now, though creativity is recognized for lifting mood and sharpening thinking, its direct shield for brain health—particularly against quicker aging in conditions like dementia—hadn’t been clear.
Past studies, mainly on music, yielded mixed results and overlooked a range of hobbies or the root causes, such as the brain’s adaptation via plasticity over time, leaving room for this new dive.
The results aren’t set in stone—tinier group sizes per activity and depending solely on brain wave scans, minus tools like MRI, call for further research to verify them in wider groups.
Future work might dive into other creative outlets, such as writing, or try these concepts in health programs aimed at slowing brain aging. Who knows what else creativity can unlock?
Story Source: Coronel-Oliveros et al. (2025), published in Nature Communications. Read the study here.