Each week, OMRF Chief Medical Officer Dr. Judith James opens “Adam’s Journal” to answer a medical question from Adam Cohen, OMRF’s senior vice president & general counsel.
Adam’s Journal
I read recently that 4 in 10 people 65 and older suffer from some form of memory loss. And I assume that our brains, like so many other organs in our body, generally slow down as we age.
Still, we all know people who seem to defy the cognitive gravity of time, remaining mentally engaged until the ends of their lives. Is there anything we’ve learned from individuals like this that can help us all as we age?
Dr. James Prescribes
Neuroscientists have been studying so-called “super-agers” for more than a decade. Although there is no hard and fast definition of this group, they are usually characterized as people aged 80 and up whose memories function as if they are two or three decades younger.
A study published this year in the Journal of Neuroscience examined a group of these super-agers and compared them to typical adults in their age group. Researchers found that the super-agers had more volume and neural connectivity in areas of the brain that are important for memory and cognition.
At first blush, this would almost seem obvious, like finding that people who could lift heavier weights also had bigger muscles. But it also points to something more striking: The cognitive differences we see seem to be based in physical differences in people’s brains.
Put simply, the super-agers’ brains aged more slowly.
Of course, that leads to a big question: Why?
The super-agers had slightly better physical health – lower blood pressure and better glucose metabolism, as well as superior results in mobility testing. They also tended to have stronger social relationships.
However, researchers were surprised by what they didn’t find. Some super-agers exercised regularly, while others never had. Some ate a healthy Mediterranean diet; others stuck to processed foods. A few even smoked.
Ideally, the researchers would have identified a single behavior – or set of behaviors – that we could all emulate. Instead, the study points to some sort of molecular mechanism or predisposition that we haven’t yet identified. This is precisely the sort of question scientists in the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation’s Aging & Metabolism Research Program will continue to probe.
In the meantime, we do know that there are plenty of things we can do to give us the best chances for healthy and happy aging: Eat healthily, stay active, control your blood pressure and blood sugar, get ample sleep, keep learning, get fitted for and wear hearing aids if you need them, and maintain robust social networks.
–
James is executive vice president and chief medical officer of the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. Cohen, a marathoner, is OMRF’s senior vice president and general counsel. Send your health questions to contact@omrf.org.
