It would be tempting then to try to link human mental faculties with longevity. In other words we could ask if intelligence serves only as a weapon against external adversity or if it may serve also on the internal bodily front. In the affirmative case the prolongation of youth and life could be a psychosomatic affair. The human could have developed this self defence mechanism because, among species, he is perhaps unique in predicting death and living constantly in its shadow. The pulse beats slowly, regularly.
Digestion is easier.
Thus, this passion is good for the health. Le Bel is perhaps the first observer of psychosomatic phenomena who makes us think that creativity plays an organic role. As for the creators themselves, contrary to the exceptional Le Bel, they are preoccupied with their creation more than with the observance of its effect on themselves. If aging is a sickness as gerontology considers it, it's a painless sickness. We don't feel the process of aging, only its most advanced consequences.