Synapses and molecules
That going to a museum or concert is an act that benefits the spirit is a truism. Now we know that it is also good for the body. This is revealed by a long-term study conducted by a group of English researchers, who monitored the state of health of a sample of people with different habits of using their free time. Numerous previous studies had already shown that art and music help relieve chronic pain, keep dementia-like symptoms and Alzheimer's disease at bay. Art and music also help speed up brain development in young children. Now, there is evidence that simply being an art viewer can help people live longer.
Will we become immortal?
Life expectancy is one of the most important measures of a community's level of civility. Lengthening it is also one of the greatest challenges of this century. Naturally, the first to accept it were the technologists of Silicon Valley. In particular, Google has a specific moonshot dedicated to this theme. Peter Thiel, the most politically exposed entrepreneur in the Valley, has several investments in start-ups aimed at researching molecules capable of halting ageing. A great profusion of means to create the homus deus in vitro (from the title of a successful book by the Israeli sociologist Yuval Noah Harari), which can also arouse some amused teasing. But it is not a trivial dream of human beings, looking at what is happening.
The lowering of life expectancy
In almost all developed countries, and especially in the United States, since 2008 life expectancy has been falling significantly or, in the best case scenario, has stagnated at the levels reached at the threshold of 2000. There are many causes, not least the massive and indiscriminate use of opioids. A problem of such social significance as to be in the United States high on the agenda of Congress and presidential candidates. Will Americans all become miserable, despite the purposes of their founding fathers? Existential depression, especially in old age, can be treated with drugs, but also with healthy activities that act on the mind and body, understood as a single and inseparable unit, as Eastern medicine and all the thought of that continent teach us.
The University College London study
Researchers at University College London monitored the lifestyle habits of a panel of thousands of people aged 14 and over for 50 years. At the end of 2019 they made the results of this investigation public. Well, the results show that those who, at least once or twice a year, visited a museum or attended a concert lived longer (14%) than participants who did not engage in the same activities. Furthermore, people who went to a museum or theater on an ongoing basis, i.e. at least once a month, saw their life expectancy increase by 31%. Quite astounding! The results of the study were published in December in the British Medical Journal, the official publication of the British Medical Association, which commissioned the survey from the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health at University College London.
A variant of Stendhal syndrome
The study considered some socio-economic parameters of the participants, including income, level of education and mobility. Holding these parameters in place, the study noted that there is a different result on life expectancy based on whether or not you come into contact with art and, more generally, with the world of culture. The study didn't look at what kind of art, music, or stage performance might lengthen life. It was not possible to say whether it was watching Valkyrie or Hamlet or stopping to admire the Virgin of the Rocks that helped the subjects. The identification of the type of work of art capable of producing the auspicious result does not, moreover, fall within the aims of the study. But certainly one can include those works by simple inference. Contact with beauty relieves headaches or can make you dizzy, as happened to Stendhal in Florence. But the great Grenoble writer was excessively psychosomatic to be paradigmatic. The placebo effect of art is indisputable.
Give life a purpose
In any case, for the London researchers it is quite proven that exposure to the arts helps people to be more active and to include themselves more in the world. "We know that giving life purpose is important," said Andrew Steptoe, co-author of the study, during the research presentation. “Being involved in the arts and being passionate consumers of them helps maintain a purpose in life and strengthens the sense of belonging,” he concluded. The study also found that engaging in the arts can reduce feelings of loneliness, promote empathy, and promote emotional intelligence. It also prevents people from becoming sedentary. All factors, these, are decisive in lengthening life.
The healing effect of the arts
Many other studies have examined the positive effects of art on older men. For example, in the United States, people over the age of 55 who are agnostic to the visual or performing arts are known to have a higher rate of hypertension and cognitive decline. This was reported by a 2017 study by the National Endowment for the Arts which took into consideration a panel of 1500 people. Similar studies have demonstrated the significant benefits of art exposure for children and adolescents. Researchers at the University of Arkansas found that children who went to museums on a school trip performed better and scored higher on cognitive tests than those who attended schools that did not take such initiatives. In any case, the research by University College London is the first to seriously and documentedly examine the effects of art on life expectancy.
More than ten years of monitoring
From 2004 to 2005, the London researchers collected information from 6710 people who answered questionnaires about their attendance at concerts, plays and operas, about their visits to museums, galleries and various exhibitions. The research didn't take cinephilia into consideration, because another study had already investigated its role in people's well-being. In addition to providing basic information such as age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, education level, occupation and income, participants also answered questions about their physical and mental health, medications , on any medical therapies followed and on the habit of drinking, smoking and physical activity. Over the next 14 years, nearly 2000 participants died of cancer, cardiovascular disease, respiratory problems, and other natural causes, according to the study. A small number of the participants died of accidental causes. This share was, however, included in the study. The researchers sifted through the collected data to look for patterns. The results suggest, without claiming to be definitive scientific proof, that exposure to the arts leads to a significant extension of life.
The drive to reform curricula
According to the London researchers, the study raises a number of questions for further investigation and, also, institutional interventions. For example, one possible future investigation could consider how engaging in the arts, from a young age, might influence a person's lifespan. The study also did not consider the effects of participants being actively involved in an artistic activity, such as playing music, composing music, dancing, painting, etc. However, the results have given wings to supporters of arts and drama education in schools. Many of them have been vainly fighting for some time to restore or introduce into school curricula activities, today stupidly marginalized, such as the teaching and practice of the visual and performing arts. Knowing that the arts play an essential role in living better and longer can help to re-evaluate them within the educational program. Let's hope it happens soon! What else is still needed?
The accessibility of art
Gabriella Souza, of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, rates the study's findings as surprising and incredibly encouraging. She and is, of course, agrees with researchers from London. She comments: “Art galleries are places of peace, serenity and intimacy. This is one of the reasons why more and more people decide to come and visit us”. Admission to the Baltimore museum is free, and 160.000 visitors stroll through its premises each year. Those who agreed to fill out a questionnaire distributed by the museum replied that the reason for the visit is that the place inspires "peace and rejuvenation". For this to happen more and more, it is necessary to be able to access art in order to unleash its therapeutic effect. Why don't we include visits to museums in the national health system, making admission totally free for over 55s? In Paris, no museum takes money from young people under 26. Why doesn't Macron extend this bonus to over 55s as well? Wouldn't the ticket exemption be a great tax measure? There would be important repercussions on public spending on health.
