Aging is a complicated thing, and no two people age in the exact same way. You might encounter someone in their seventies who seems decades older; you might also take in a jazz performance by a centenarian saxophone player. A few weeks ago, I saw Willie Nelson, still crooning and playing the guitar at the age of 92. Not everyone has the same support infrastructure as a touring musician — but that doesn’t mean there aren’t applicable lessons to be learned here.
Earlier this month, the journal Nature Communications published a paper titled “Creative experiences and brain clocks.” Its subject: how different creative experiences — including playing musical instruments, dancing the tango or playing video games — can affect the brain as it ages.
“[C]ross-domain creative experiences are associated with delayed brain aging as measured by [brain age gaps],” the paper’s authors noted. In this case, they defined “brain age gaps” as “deviations between chronological age and brain age.”
What were some of the takeaways from the scientists’ research? One is that experience matters. “The higher the level of expertise and performance, the greater the delay in brain age,” the paper’s authors wrote. It’s also worth pointing out that these researchers used a broad definition of creativity, here using it to mean “the ability to produce ideas or solutions that are both novel and effective using one’s imagination.” That could mean an epic guitar solo; it might also involve a deep run in Caves of Qud. (Or StarCraft II, which the researchers conducting the study used.)
What Can the World’s Oldest People Tell Us About Aging Well?
Lessons from the life and genes of a 117-year-old“You don’t need to be Da Vinci to have healthy effects,” one of the study’s authors, Agustín Ibáñez, told Nature. Nature‘s Gemma Conroy also pointed out the most significant impact on aging came from the “expert tango dancers” who took part in the study, whose brains were an average of “seven years younger than their chronological age.” All of which means that if you’ve ever considered taking up the tango, you might have the perfect reason to do so.
More Like This
The Charge will help you move better, think clearer and stay in the game longer. Subscribe to our wellness newsletter today.