Some old people can remember things just as well as those nearly half their age. Due to their ability to stay sharp in old age, scientists have nicknamed them “super-agers.”
Several months ago, researchers discovered at least one physical basis for these differences that has to do with the thickness of the outer layer of their brains. However, in a small study published in October in the Journal PLOS One, Researchers decided to take a look at whether there was a social side to these differences as well.
Sure enough, after analyzing 31 super-agers over the age of 80 as well as 19 cognitively average people of the same age, they found that the super-agers tended to have more satisfying and high-quality relationships than their normal peers.
Emily Rogalski, an associate professor of cognitive neurology at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine and lead author of the study, stated that “you don’t have to be the life of the party, but this study supports the theory that maintaining strong social networks seems to be linked to slower cognitive decline.”
To come to their conclusions, the researchers had all the participants complete a standard questionnaire designed to assess their general happiness and level of life satisfaction. Despite getting similar scores to their peers, the super-agers stood out in terms of how they evaluated their friendships with others.
Rogalski goes on to state that “it’s not as simple as saying if you have a strong social network, you’ll never get Alzheimer’s disease. But if there is a list of healthy choices one can make, such as eating a certain diet and not smoking, maintaining strong social networks may be an important one on that list.”
Thanks to other research, scientists were already aware that the brains of super-agers were different – physically speaking – from normal brains belonging to people of the same age group. They’re slightly larger, especially in the outer cortex – the part of the brain that consists mostly of gray matter and is rich in neurons. However, what scientists didn’t know until a few months ago was whether that was because super-agers had bigger brains to begin with or if they were somehow protected from the decay that comes with aging.
After comparing the brains of 24 super-ager men and women to those of 12 of their normal peers using MRI, the researchers found the answer came down to age-related shrinkage. Over the course of this 18-month study, the scientists saw the brains of the average study participants atrophy at more than twice the rate of the brains of the super-agers.
Together, the two recent findings add several important new pieces to the puzzle of what makes a super-ager – and provides insight into how age and social networks may affect the brains of regular people as well.
As we age, the gray matter in our brains – the stuff we rely on for seeing, hearing, processing emotions, learning new information, and exerting self-control – shrinks and degrades. So too does the brain’s white matter, which contains the complex web of twisting fibers that carry information across different parts of the brain.
A 2014 study published in the journal Nature Communications suggested that in some elderly people, white matter may act as a backup generator that can fire up when grey matter runs down. However, if this doesn’t occur, then the person experiences the typical effects of aging – fuzzy memory, difficulty learning new skills, and a harder time paying attention.
Super-agers are rare, but some research suggests that there are things we can all do to stay sharp as we age. This includes getting regular exercise, maintaining strong bonds with friends and family, quitting or not smoking, and making the effort to learn new things.
So, if you’ve been meaning to meet up with some old friends or have been putting off joining that yoga class, there’s definitely no time like the present!
Source: sciencealert
Images: depositphotos
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