A handful of factors, including education, income and type of job, may increase the likelihood that people in their 50s will remain mentally sharp, a new study finds.
An analysis of data from more than 7,000 American adults showed that these factors could explain nearly 40% of the differences in the amount of cognitive ability that people had lost by age 54. Education, particularly if a person had finished college, made the biggest difference in cognitive skills such as memory, judgment and concentration, Ohio State University scientists reported Wednesday in a scientific newspaper.
The researchers analyzed data from the University of Michigan Health and Retirement Study, which has been tracking more than 20,000 participants for more than 20 years. The study database includes information on participants’ income, occupation, and education, along with personal information such as marriage history, religion, depression, and cognitive abilities, as well as body mass index, activity levels, smoking history and other physical health details.
The data that the researchers included in their analyzes came from a single set of 7,068 adults who were between the ages of 54 and 65 in 1996 and then 20 years later.
Study co-author Hui Zheng, a sociology professor, suspects that the reason people with a college degree do better cognitively in their 50s is that they’re more likely to end up with a career that makes them use their brains. .
“If you have a job that is mentally challenging, you’re in luck, because you’re using your brain all the time,” he said. “The more mental challenges there are in your work, the better.”
Still, going to college in your 20s isn’t the only way to avoid cognitive decline before people hit their 50s. Previous research has shown that having brain-boosting hobbies and interests, such as learning a new language, painting, and writing, can also be protective.
While the researchers looked at a wide range of things that influence our brain health as we age, the study didn’t address the influence of genetics, which could play an important role in cognitive function, experts say.
There has been previous research showing that education, household wealth and access to healthcare are connected to brain resilience, he said. Dr. Thomas Wisniewski, neuropathologist and director of the NYU Langone Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and its Center for Cognitive Neurology.
Still, aside from genetics, the finding that factors people can mostly control could explain up to 40% of the differences in cognitive ability loss at age 54 is “good news,” he said.
The Ohio study indicated that lifestyle factors, such as maintaining a healthy weight, avoiding smoking and engaging in vigorous exercise, had little impact on the rate of cognitive decline after age 54. However, Wisniewski, who was not involved in the study, is not. You’re not convinced that “there’s nothing you can do about it.”
“That is not true in my experience as a doctor and it is not what has been shown in other studies,” he said.
More on brain health and memory
When it comes to slowing cognitive decline, physical activity and a healthy diet can go a long way, Wisniewski said. Managing medical conditions such as obstructive sleep apnea, diabetes, high blood pressure, and cholesterol are also protective.
To illustrate the power of vigorous physical activity even in people in their 70s, one of his recent studies points out documents which described two patients who had been diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment and who also had biomarkers that suggested they would develop Alzheimer’s disease.
Once the patients retired or reduced the time they spent at work, they had more time for vigorous exercise. And both increased the amount of time spent exercising. Over the course of 15 years in one patient and 18 in the other, there were no signs of cognitive decline. In fact, one patient’s cognition improved slightly.
“What’s good for the heart is good for the brain,” Wisniewski said.
