2024-02-12 10:39:14
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – Concerns about age and mental fitness are a recurring theme during the past US presidential elections, and are set to escalate in 2024 as two of the front-runners approach or pass the age of 80.
If he is re-elected next November, US President Joe Biden will remain in the White House until he is 86 years old. While former President Donald Trump will turn 82 years old at the end of his second term.
But what does science tell us about aging and what does a typical level of cognition look like at age 80?
How do we change as we get older?
Dr. Emily Rogalski, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Chicago, explained that cognitive decline is a normal part of healthy aging. In general, cognition peaks in your 30s and then gradually declines over time.
Common changes in thinking as people age include slower recall of words and names, difficulty multitasking, and a slight decrease in attention span, according to the Center on Memory and Aging at the University of California, San Francisco. These skills are part of what scientists call fluid abilities, which decline regularly throughout our lives.
“Fluid abilities are actions like processing speed, attention, and working memory. They all require cognitive competence,” said Dr. Molly Mather, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
Natural changes occur in the brain as a person ages. Some parts important for learning and other complex mental activities shrink, communication between nerve cells may become less effective, blood flow may decrease, and inflammation may increase, according to the National Institute on Aging.
Dr. Angela Roberts, an assistant professor of communication and computer science at Western University who researches aging and factors in cognitive decline, noted that “being confused with nouns or having difficulty retrieving the nouns, especially if the nouns are similar or if you associate two people together in your mind, “It’s not necessarily something unusual as we get older.”
Although they are frustrating experiences, they do not necessarily indicate a broader problem with perception or memory per se if they occur from time to time, according to Roberts.
Even from day to day, our thinking abilities can change radically, and are affected by factors other than age, such as illness, stress, distraction, and lack of sleep.
Mild cognitive impairment is clinically diagnosed when cognitive difficulties become frequent and fall outside the range of what is considered normal aging.
If these difficulties become so pronounced that they affect everyday abilities such as getting dressed or going to the bathroom, a clinical diagnosis of dementia can be made, according to the Center for Memory and Aging at the University of California, San Francisco.
There are many causes of dementia, but Alzheimer’s disease is the most common among them.
In contrast to “fluid abilities,” some “crystallized abilities” improve with age, and Roberts explained that this includes knowledge that comes from learning and gaining experience, such as learning new vocabulary.
How is cognitive perception tested?
Assessing cognition can be difficult, even for doctors, and they can use several different methods to determine if someone has cognitive problems that fall outside the range of normal aging. Such as assessing any unusual changes in the patient or asking relatives or close friends if they have noticed these changes.
Doctors order brain imaging and other medical tests, such as a blood test, to rule out other factors that can lead to cognitive decline, such as infection or vitamin deficiency. They use cognitive tests, such as the Mini-Mental State Examination, to evaluate performance in different cognitive domains.
As for the mini-mental status test, which consists of 11 questions, patients are asked to remember today’s date and where they are, and to identify three words to remember later after a few minutes. Their attention span is assessed by asking them to spell a word backwards. Additional tasks test language skills, including following commands, repeating words, reading, and writing.
Different aging pathways
Experts say there is great variation in how people age.
“Chronological age does not necessarily reflect biological age,” said Dr. Nir Barzilai, director of the Institute for Research on Aging at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and scientific director of the American Federation for Research on Aging.
Although population-level data link aging to cognitive decline, the actual manifestation of aging is highly variable at the individual level, Rogalski explained.
Rogalski is leading a research study collecting data on “super-elders,” people in their 80s who have brains as sharp as those under 30.
Researchers have been studying the category of “super-elders” to try to understand genetic and environmental protective factors that could help stave off aging.
Through brain scans, they found that the “super-elderly” had more gray matter than ordinary elderly people in areas of the brain responsible for cognitive performance and memory. They also had, on average, larger and healthier cells in the entorhinal cortex, one of the first areas of the brain affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
In terms of lifestyle, “super seniors” tend to report strong social relationships, live active lifestyles, and continue to challenge themselves.
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