Aging Brain and Thinking

The brain controls many aspects of thinking — remembering, planning and organizing, making decisions, and much more. These cognitive abilities affect how well we do everyday tasks and whether we can live independently.

Some changes in thinking are common as people get older. For example, older adults may:

1. Be slower to find words and recall names
2. Find they have more problems with multitasking
3. Experience mild decreases in the ability to pay attention.

Aging may also bring positive cognitive changes. For example, many studies have shown that older adults have more extensive vocabularies and greater knowledge of the depth of meaning of words than younger adults. Older adults may also have learned from a lifetime of accumulated knowledge and experiences. Whether and how older adults apply this accumulated knowledge, and how the brain changes as a result, is an area of active exploration by researchers.

Despite the changes in cognition that may come with age, older adults can still do many of the things they have enjoyed their whole lives. Research shows that older adults can still:

1. Learn new skills
2. Form new memories
3. Improve vocabulary and language skills

Changes in the Aging Brain

As a person gets older, changes occur in all parts of the body, including the brain: 

1. Certain parts of the brain shrink, especially those important to learning and other complex mental activities.
2. In certain brain regions, communication between neurons (nerve cells) may not be as effective.
3. Blood flow in the brain may decrease.
4. Inflammation, which occurs when the body responds to an injury or disease, may increase.

These changes in the brain can affect mental function, even in healthy older people. For example, some older adults may find that they don’t do as well as younger individuals on complex memory or learning tests. However, if given enough time to learn a new task, they usually perform just as well. Needing that extra time is normal as we age. There is growing evidence that the brain maintains the ability to change and adapt so that people can manage new challenges and tasks as they age.

The Secrets of Cognitive Super Agers

Some people in their 80s, 90s, and beyond defy the common assumption that cognitive decline goes hand in hand with aging. These people, called cognitive super agers, have memory performance comparable to people 20 – 30 years younger. Research is ongoing to understand what sets these people apart to help others prevent (or reverse) age-related cognitive decline.

Therapies to help slow brain aging

Researchers have discovered several factors that speed up brain aging.

For example, obesity in midlife may accelerate brain aging by around 10 years, and both sugar and diet varieties of sodaTrusted Source are associated with poorer brain health.

A growing body of evidence suggests that people who experience the least declines in cognition and memory all share certain habits:

1. engaging in regular physical activity
2. pursuing intellectually stimulating activities
3. staying socially active
4. managing stress
5. eating a healthful diet
6. sleeping well

Recent research highlights a plethora of ways that people can actively take charge of their health and perhaps decrease the rate at which their brains age.

The following sections will look at some of these tips in more detail:

Exercising

One intervention that crops up time and time again to stave off age-related mental decline is physical exercise.

Performing a combination of aerobic and resistance exercise of moderate intensity for at least 45 minutes each session on as many days of the week as possible can significantly boost brain power in people aged 50 and over.

Likewise, other research by the University of Miami in Florida found that individuals over the age of 50 who engaged in little to no exercise experienced a decline in memory and thinking skills comparable to 10 years of aging in 5 years, compared with those who took part in moderate or high intensity exercise.

Essentially, physical activity slowed brain aging by 10 years.

Dancing may also have an anti-aging effect on the brains of older adults. A study by the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases in Magdeburg found that although regular exercise can reverse the signs of brain aging, the most profound effect was among people who danced.

Playing an instrument

Researchers at Baycrest Health Sciences in Toronto, Canada, revealed why playing a musical instrument may help older adults ward off age-related cognitive decline and retain their listening skills.

Researchers found that learning to play a sound on a musical instrument changes brain waves in such a way that improves an individual’s listening and hearing skills. The alteration in brain activity indicates that the brain rewires itself to compensate for disease or injuries that might prevent a person’s ability to perform tasks.

“It has been hypothesized,” says Dr. Bernhard Ross, a senior scientist at Baycrest’s Rotman Research Institute, “that the act of playing music requires many brain systems to work together, such as the hearing, motor, and perception systems.”

“This study was the first time we saw direct changes in the brain after one session, demonstrating that the action of creating music leads to a strong change in brain activity,” he adds.

Eating a healthful diet

A key component of brain health is diet. In 2018, researchers linked omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in the blood with healthy brain aging.

Research by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign discovered that middle-aged people with higher levels of lutein — which is a nutrient present in green leafy vegetables, such as kale and spinach, as well as avocados — had similar neural responses to younger individuals than those of people of the same age.

“As people get older, they experience typical decline. However, research has shown that this process can start earlier than expected. You can even start to see some differences in the 30s,” says first study author Anne Walk, a postdoctoral scholar.

“We want to understand how diet impacts cognition throughout the life span,” she adds. “If lutein can protect against decline, we should encourage people to consume lutein-rich foods at a point in their lives when it has maximum benefit.”

Sources: https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/how-aging-brain-affects-thinking#:~:text=Changes%20in%20the%20Aging%20Brain,may%20not%20be%20as%20effective.

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/exercise-and-depression