New research on the impact of creative arts on brain aging is showing some very exciting results. Researchers from Trinity College Dublin and the Latin American Brain Health Institute in Santiago, Chile looked at the impact of creative arts such as dancing the tango, playing a musical instrument, or playing a video game (an expansive definition of creative arts at that) to assess the impact on brain health. Previous studies have found a positive correlation between creative arts and cognitive health generally, but this study took it one step further by using neuroimaging and brain clocks to assess deviations between brain age and chronological age.
The researchers found significant brain age gaps for those engaged in the creative arts, with increasing gaps at higher levels of expertise. The group that did the best? Expert tango dancers whose brains were seven years younger than their brain clock. The good news is that Andy Richter is going to live forever.