Older people are now cleverer than ever before, but, while today’s over-50s may be the brightest in history, their health is getting worse, according to studies.
Researchers believe an increase in the use of technology, more intellectually demanding jobs and more years of education have kept older brains sharper.
Only the first listed reason for brain advancement relates to me. I use the internet. I can look up whatever I want with the touch of my finger. Fifteen years ago, I worked in catering, which didn't challenge my intellect much, and I left school at sixteen, way back in 1958.
However less physically demanding jobs and lazier lifestyles are also making our muscles wither and waistlines grow flabbier as we age.
Yep! That applies to me right now. I only eat a small amount of healthy food, yet my waistline is expanding. Why do older people develop a protruding stomach?
The Austrian-based International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis used two separate studies on Britons and Germans aged between 50 and 90. Researchers tested participants’ cognitive and perceptual functioning in 2006 and again in 2012.
They found that cognitive test scores increased significantly within the six year period for men and women of all ages.
Yay for the oldies!
The German study also assessed participants’ physical health in a questionnaire looking at bodily pain, general health perceptions, energy and vitality.
Results, published in the journal PLOS One, found physical functioning and mental health declined over the six years across all ages, although men were more adversely affected than women. The steepest decline came from men with lower levels of education between the ages of 50 and 64. Source: Daily Mail.
My 77 yr-old husband is decrying his memory loss at the moment. His powers of recall used to be for superior to mine, but his is fading fast.
Perhaps giving my view on news daily is contributing to my grasp on current life. There has to be a bonus for writing a daily report when I'd 'druther' concentrate on my memoirs. Of course, for that, I need a good memory. But, if I don't capture events in my past now, they'll be lost forever.
Here's my earliest memory from 70 years ago:
Researchers believe an increase in the use of technology, more intellectually demanding jobs and more years of education have kept older brains sharper.
Only the first listed reason for brain advancement relates to me. I use the internet. I can look up whatever I want with the touch of my finger. Fifteen years ago, I worked in catering, which didn't challenge my intellect much, and I left school at sixteen, way back in 1958.
However less physically demanding jobs and lazier lifestyles are also making our muscles wither and waistlines grow flabbier as we age.
Yep! That applies to me right now. I only eat a small amount of healthy food, yet my waistline is expanding. Why do older people develop a protruding stomach?
The Austrian-based International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis used two separate studies on Britons and Germans aged between 50 and 90. Researchers tested participants’ cognitive and perceptual functioning in 2006 and again in 2012.
They found that cognitive test scores increased significantly within the six year period for men and women of all ages.
Yay for the oldies!
The German study also assessed participants’ physical health in a questionnaire looking at bodily pain, general health perceptions, energy and vitality.
Results, published in the journal PLOS One, found physical functioning and mental health declined over the six years across all ages, although men were more adversely affected than women. The steepest decline came from men with lower levels of education between the ages of 50 and 64. Source: Daily Mail.
My 77 yr-old husband is decrying his memory loss at the moment. His powers of recall used to be for superior to mine, but his is fading fast.
Perhaps giving my view on news daily is contributing to my grasp on current life. There has to be a bonus for writing a daily report when I'd 'druther' concentrate on my memoirs. Of course, for that, I need a good memory. But, if I don't capture events in my past now, they'll be lost forever.
Here's my earliest memory from 70 years ago:
In one very early episode, we lived beside stop four on the tram run from Adelaide to Glenelg at Forestville in South Australia. I stood on a slatted wooden seat in the back yard beside my parents saying, 'Ta I dump?' (Shall I jump?) I must have been about three. My mother told me the story several times over the years, which helped cement it in my mind. I felt proud and adventurous, knowing my jump might go wrong and I'd end up hurting myself. It's only looking back that I see what courage I showed. I didn't know that other people could do the same thing without pain. But I experienced a twinge in my hips each time. You see, I'd been born with malformed hips, a condition that the midwives didn't test back then.
And here I am faced with a balance again: news or memoirs. Maybe I need both.
What do you do to keep your mind active?
What do you do to keep your mind active?
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