Greater cultural engagement can improve BP and other health markers
Promoting cultural activities like going to the cinema, theatre or a museum may help support health in older adults by slowing down physiological ageing, according to a study on English patients. Japanese. . .
Promoting cultural activities like going to the cinema, theatre or a museum may help support health in older adults by slowing down physiological ageing, according to a study on English patients. Japanese researchers from the Institute of Science Tokyo found higher levels of cultural engagement were significantly associated with lower physiological ageing. “Promoting cultural engagement may represent a promising strategy to slow the pace of physiological ageing”Study authorsAgeing is universal but not everyone experiences it in the same way, noted the researchers in an analysis published in theJournal of Epidemiology and Community Health. They also highlighted that a person’s physiological age – a measure that reflects how well the body functions – can be different from their chronological age. They acknowledged that cultural engagement, like going to the cinema, museum or theatre, had been widely linked with improved health outcomes and enhanced wellbeing amongolder adults. However, they said few studies had previously directly looked at the relationship between cultural engagement and physiological ageing or related markers. They believe theirs is the first longitudinal study to examine links between cultural engagement and physiological age, while controlling for confounding factors like income and other health conditions. They analysed data on 1,899 adults who took part in theEnglish Longitudinal Study of Ageing– an ongoing population-based study that follows a nationally representative sample of adults aged 50 or older. The participants had to have data collected on at least two occasions – during 2004-05, 2006-07 or in 2008-09. Nurses collected data on 10 physiological markers – pulse pressure, diastolic blood pressure, forced expiratory volume, haemoglobin concentration, fibrinogen, glycated haemoglobin, low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, body mass index (BMI), grip strength and walking speed. This data was then used by the researchers to produce a composite physiological age score. The study participants also completed a questionnaire which asked how often they went to the cinema, a museum or art gallery and a theatre, concert or the opera. For each item, respondents selected on a scale from zero (never) to five (twice a month or more) to produce a composite cultural engagement score ranging from zero to 15. Those with high levels of cultural engagement – doing something cultural every few months or more – had a physiological age of 66. 9 years, which was three years lower than those with lower levels. In addition, individuals with higher levels of cultural engagement were more likely to be women, have higher socioeconomic status, be in paid employment and have better health conditions. Further analysis by the study authors found that a one-point higher cultural engagement score was significantly associated with 31 days lower physiological age after adjusting for confounding factors. They suggest cultural engagement can strengthen social relationships, promote healthier lifestyle behaviours and improve mental health, all of which may help slow the pace of physiological ageing. The authors said: “This study found that more frequent cultural engagement was associated with lower physiological age after accounting for measured time-varying and unmeasured time-invariant confounders. “Promoting cultural engagement may, therefore, represent a promising strategy to slow the pace of physiological ageing and support healthy ageing in older adults,” they said. They added: “Further research is required to confirm the association between cultural engagement and physiological ageing across different cultural settings. ”