Alex Ritson

So we can look at these patterns to see if someone is older or younger than the number of birthdays they've had.

And we found that people who engage more in the arts have got this younger epigenetic age.

Lifestyle, age, geography and so on.

You've done that, have you?

Exactly.

That's been a big part of this study is considering the demographic and socioeconomic factors that could actually explain this relationship.

but also disentangling this from the other kinds of lifestyle and behavioural factors that we already know influence epigenetic ageing.

But interestingly, the relationship is there independent of those.

And it's actually the same effect size for arts engagement that we see for physical activity.

That's fascinating.

Well, let's drill down a bit on what you mean by engagement.

Do you literally mean if I read 10 pages before going to sleep or have the radio on, or do you mean that I have to go and sing in a choir?

We've looked at a really broad range of activities within the index.

So we looked at performing arts, so making things, crafts, music, dance, as well as people going to cultural events, whether that's museums or libraries or carnivals.

gigs festivals we used a very broad inclusive index that captured a lot of modern and digital participation as well but we found it's not just about frequency of engagement diversity of engagement also appears really important so doing different things not just the one thing that obsess you and if people want some advice really i mean i know you're not there to give advice what would you say

We're all used to the kind of advice we have for diet and physical activity, like get your five a day of vegetables and fruit or get your 10,000 steps.

And I think it can be helpful if we start to frame arts engagement in a similar way behaviourally.

So trying to find a rule for ourselves that tries to prioritise even small amounts of engagement, but on that regular basis, ideally on a day to day basis.

Professor Daisy Fancourt talking to Nick Robinson.

And that's all from us for now.