Secrets of super-agers still razor sharp in their 80s
LOS ANGELES: Super-agers who preserve a rapier-sharp memory well into their 80s are less anxious and depressed than their peers, and tend to move faster too, according to a study published by the prestigious journal, The Lancet Healthy Longevity.
The study, one of the largest analyses of super-agers, teases out characteristics that may have a role in promoting their resistance to age-related memory loss.
A decline in episodic memory, the memory of personal life experiences, is an expected part of normal ageing, but in super-agers it is at least as good as that of healthy adults 20–30 years younger.
While being married or cohabiting with a partner is associated with better cognitive health later in life, the study found super-agers were more likely than typical older adults to be separated or divorced.
Compared with their peers, they also demonstrated greater independence in their day-to-day living, scored higher in intelligence tests, were less likely to have a history of glucose disorders or high blood pressure and reported having been more active in midlife.
As the Spanish study was observational, it does not infer causality. It compared one group of 64 super-agers with a group of 55 typical older adults. All participants came from the Vallecas Project, an ongoing longitudinal study of white, community-dwelling individuals aged 70 to 85, independent in activities of daily living, with a survival expectancy of at least four years and no neurological or psychiatric disorders. While more years of formal education are commonly thought to build ‘‘cognitive reserve’’ and reduce the risk of dementia, the study found this was not significant for super-agers. The authors suggest superior memory unlikely a direct product of years of general education.
But a musical education seemed to matter. Super-agers were more likely to have a musical background. This reflected reports early to midlife formal musical training is associated with more grey matter volume and improved late-life memory. Sleep, however, seemed to matter less. While average sleep duration for both groups was within non-deleterious range, super-agers complained less about not getting enough sleep.
Faster movement speed and better mental health were the strongest factors associated with super-agers.
Despite no differences in self-reported exercise levels, tests showed super-agers had better mobility, agility and balance.
In clinical tests to measure levels of anxiety and depression, they scored lower than their peers.
That both groups had similar concentrations of dementia blood biomarkers, suggested that super-agers had some resistance to typical age-related memory decline, rather than two groups being at different points of a dementia-related process. The authors acknowledged additional factors, possibly genetic, were linked with super-ageing.