By the age of 40, your brain begins to make small mistakes, faults every now and then. You do not realise it, but perhaps you forget what is on your grocery list, or you walk into a room and forget what you came looking for.
Typically, we restrict memory and brain power issues to health problems like Alzheimer’s, much rarer to have, but most of the time it is not so.
Most of the time, our processing speeds and memory both begin to decline with age, says Matt Huentelman, a professor at the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix.
Huentelman ran MindCrowd, a free online cognitive test that has been taken by more than 700,000 adults, focusing on the differences between every individual’s brain power, NPR reported.
Around a thousand people in a recent study had brain test results suggesting their cognitive function was exceptional, performing like someone 30 years younger. While genetics played a part, researchers like Matt Huentelman are studying lifestyle factors that may help preserve brain health.
He says these exceptional individuals can teach us how to maintain memory and mental agility with age.
Initial findings point to habits like good sleep, regular exercise, and not smoking as key contributors. At a brain ageing conference in Miami, hosted by the McKnight Brain Research Foundation, experts emphasised the importance of quality sleep.
Dr Christian Agudelo explained that high-quality sleep supports brain function. Waking up at the same time daily and staying socially and physically active can help improve sleep by increasing “sleep pressure,” making it easier to fall into deep, restorative rest.
Brain ageing is also shaped by vascular health. Dr. Charles DeCarli highlighted how factors like high blood pressure and diabetes can age the brain even in the absence of strokes or heart attacks. His research shows that managing these conditions may result in healthier, younger-looking brains, reinforcing the connection between body and brain health.
“The size of the brain, the shape of the brain, the tissue integrity of the brain looks older in people who have these risk factors than in people who do not have them,” he says.
DeCarli, alongside researchers, is studying the possibility of protecting the brain by targeting conditions that affect the circulatory system.
“The question is, if you have these diseases and they are well controlled, will you have a younger-looking brain?. And the answer seems to be yes,” he says.
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