Want a Brain That’s 5 Years Younger? Neuroscience Says Take Up a Creative Hobby

Regular readers of my columns will know that I am something of a booster for hobbies. This isn’t just because I think many people are too obsessed with work and need to loosen up and have more fun. (Though I do think that.) It’s also because a boatload of research suggests having a creative hobby makes people happier, more resilient, and even ultimately helps you perform better professionally. 

But even me, a dedicated pro-hobby partisan, may have missed out on another huge benefit of finding yourself a creative outlet. Not only do hobbies bring you joy and success, a new study finds they also turn back the clock on your brain. 

The classic case for why you should have a hobby 

Before we get to the new findings about hobbies and brain aging, let’s quickly run through the classic case for why you really should have a hobby. 

Whether it’s knitting (like Olympic diver Tom Daley) or baking sourdough (like Taylor Swift), a creative outlet expands your sense of self. Having these diverse identities takes some of the pressure off in other areas of your life. If you’re doing badly at work or going through a rough patch at home, you can take comfort in your garage band prowess or latest culinary creations. 

By relieving the pressure we put on ourselves in this way, hobbies give us the space to stretch out and achieve more. Many, like climbing and cooking, force us to focus on the present. This acts as a form of everyday mindfulness, which also reduces stress.  

Also, they’re usually fun and a great way to meet people. 

Another neuroscience-backed benefit of creative hobbies

That’s a pretty strong case alone, but psychologists recently wondered what effect hobbies had on brain aging. To find out, two European neuroscientists used an AI-powered technique called “brain clocks.” This technology uses various data from brain scans to measure how fast a particular brain is aging. Does it look much younger or older than a typical brain of that age? 

The pair created brain clocks for 1,400 volunteers. Some were dedicated practitioners of a hobby like dancing or visual art. Others were similar in age and health but didn’t have a particular pastime. Did the scientists find a difference between those with creative pursuits and those without? 

“Across every creative field, the pattern was strikingly consistent: creativity was linked to a younger-looking brain,” Carlos Coronel and Agustín Ibáñez report on The Conversation. (You can check out their full paper in the journal Nature Communications here.) 

“Tango dancers showed brains that appeared more than seven years younger than their chronological age. Musicians and visual artists had brains about five to six years younger. Gamers, about four years younger,” they continue.  

The more time and energy a particular person dedicated to their hobby, the younger their brain was likely to appear. 

“Creativity, we found, protects brain areas that are vulnerable to aging and makes brain communication more efficient (similar to building more, larger, and higher-quality roads to communicate between cities within a country),” the scientists conclude. 

It’s not too late to slow brain aging

That will probably have dedicated hobbyists patting themselves on the back for their brain-health boosting ways. But what if you’re the type who struggles to find the time or motivation for hobbies? Is your brain doomed to age faster?

Not if you’re willing to start adding a little creativity into your life. In another part of the study the neuroscientists found that learning a new hobby (in this case the easily accessible strategy video game StarCraft II) had a clear impact on brain health. After just 30 hours at the controllers, study subjects’ brains looked two to three years younger. 

Which means it’s not too late to get started. Any kind of creative pursuit will make an impact. And you don’t have to be any good at it. Offkey warbling and wonky stick figures will help protect your brain from the ravages of time as surely as virtuoso performances. But if you want to have a brain that looks significantly younger, you should probably find time for creativity of some kind. 

The bottom line, according to Coronel and Ibáñez? “If you’re wondering whether being creative is ‘good for you,’ the answer seems to be ‘yes.”