As children, many of us had a lot of creative hobbies.

With everything from after-school drama clubs to dance classes, learning to paint, or even to sing, our schedules were about making, doing, and enjoying.

Then adulthood hits, and besides perhaps painting a wall in your new house, it’s not uncommon for creativity to go completely out of the window.

But what if it didn’t? According to a new study, finding that creative spark again might be the best thing you could do for your mind and your longevity.

In a recent study from an international research team, recently published in the journal Nature Communications, 1,240 people were studied engaging in hobbies and non-work-related activities.

Of course, it has long been understood that creative pursuits are good for mental health and wellbeing.

This makes sense, since time switching off from the stress of everyday life and doing something entirely you-based is a big boost to the mind, morale, and self-esteem.

But this study went further, by measuring how hobbies – of all kinds, including knitting, gaming, learning a language, playing a musical instrument, and so on – affect how the brain ages.

After studying the brain ageing in this larger dataset, the researchers then took a deeper look into people engaging in four specific hobbies: playing video games, drawing, tango dancing, and making music.

And what they found was quite striking, with all participants showing a younger ‘brain age’ than their actual age, and those who had been participating in their hobby for the longest time, or who were more skilled at it, showing the ‘youngest’ brain ages in comparison to their own ages, as the researchers explained:

“The higher the level of expertise and performance, the greater the delay in brain age. Age-vulnerable brain hubs showed increased connectivity linked to creativity, particularly in areas related to expertise and creative experiences.”

With this in mind, why not pick up that dusty guitar or find your old paintbrushes out of that box they’re hidden in in the garage? Practice makes perfect, and it might also keep your brain young too.

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