Want to live to a ripe old age? Personally, I'm very keen on the idea. So I'm intrigued by a new study from University College London, which found that singing, painting, visiting galleries and attending cultural events actually slow your biological ageing. Not metaphorically. Not anecdotally. At a cellular level, measurable in your blood.

The research, published in the journal Innovation in Aging, found that people who took part in arts and cultural activities at least once a week were, on average, a year younger biologically than those who rarely engaged. Those who exercised once a week? Only six months younger by the same measure. The arts, in short, outperform the gym.

What's stopping us?

The study covers singing, dancing, painting, photography, crafting, attending exhibitions, visiting museums, libraries and heritage sites. The kinds of things that most of us love… and yet most of us don't do nearly enough of.

Given a free evening, most of us simply crash on the sofa. We're tired. We'll go next week. Then we open our phones "for five minutes" and resurface an hour later. Having learned nothing, felt nothing and gained nothing, other than a sense of vague disorientation and emptiness.

The gap between knowing and doing

If we're honest, the problem isn't access to culture; at least not for most of the people reading this. It's inertia.

The algorithm is designed to keep you scrolling, and it's as addictive as crack cocaine (seriously). Culture, in contrast, requires you to get up, get out and show up. It creates friction. And friction, in the age of infinite on-demand content, can feel like a huge mountain to climb.

But that friction is precisely the point. The effort of turning up, being present, engaging with something made by human hands and human minds, is what makes life worthwhile. And now it turns out, it could also help you reach your 90s… and beyond.

Make it a practice, not a treat

So my key takeaway? Treat the arts like exercise. Schedule stuff in the diary. Go to the exhibition you've been meaning to see for months. Book the life-drawing class. Join the choir. Say yes to the thing outside your comfort zone.

Life is short, and you only get one of them. The clock is ticking. But culture, it turns out, is one of the most effective ways to slow it down.