A new international study led by Trinity College Dublin and published in Nature Communications has found that creative activities — like music, dance, painting, and even certain games — can slow brain aging and improve mental health. Researchers analyzed brain scans from more than 1,400 people and found that sustained creative engagement kept the brain “younger,” especially in regions vulnerable to neurodegeneration.

The authors suggest that creativity should be prescribed like exercise — a low-cost, accessible, and powerful way to protect brain function. Dr. Agustín Ibáñez of Trinity called its effects “comparable to exercise or diet.”

At Burble Creativity, we see this as validation of what drives our work: immersive storytelling and Minimally Defined Immersion (MDI™) experiences that nurture creativity through imagination — not screens. When children engage with light, sound, and open-ended story cues in a Burble StoryTent, they’re not just being entertained — they’re building new neural pathways tied to calmness, focus, and imaginative problem-solving.

Where screens deliver content, Burble delivers imaginative engagement — the kind that neuroscience now tells us literally helps the brain stay young. In an era of overstimulation, reintroducing calm creative play may be one of the most scientifically sound interventions we can offer.

So maybe it’s time to take the scientists’ advice: prescribe creativity daily — for children, families, and communities — and let imagination do what medicine alone cannot.