Research shows creativity boosts happiness, slows ageing, and even lowers disease risk.

Research shows creativity boosts happiness, slows ageing, and even lowers disease risk.

Engaging in creative arts is emerging as a powerful, evidence-based strategy for improving both mental and physical health across the lifespan. 

Drawing on large cohort studies, Daisy Fancourt shows that people who frequently participate in activities such as music, dance, crafting, theatre, reading, and writing report greater happiness and life satisfaction, and have lower risks of depression, loneliness, antisocial behaviors, and even some physical conditions as they age. Arts engagement in childhood is linked with better prosocial skills and fewer behavioral problems in adolescence, while older adults who maintain hobbies and attend cultural events show better self-rated health, sleep, cognition, balance, less frailty, and even reduced risks of diseases like diabetes. Biological data suggest that regular artistic activity is associated with lower blood pressure, healthier immune and inflammatory profiles, lower body mass index, slower biological ageing, and brains that appear younger than a person’s chronological age.

Fancourt argues that the arts should be treated as a core “health behavior,” similar to exercise, nutrition, and sleep, rather than as a luxury or something reserved for illness. She recommends approaching creativity like a healthy diet: build small, regular “doses” of real-world, offline arts into daily life—such as 10 minutes of writing before work, a brief crafting session in the evening, or swapping a routine night out or workout for live music or a dance class. Variety and moderate novelty are key, as different creative experiences stimulate distinct sensory and psychological benefits, while heavily screen-based artistic consumption is likened to “ultra-processed foods.” 

References (APA style)

Fancourt, D. (2025, December 23). How to extend and improve your life by getting more creative. New Scientist.