A team from the Center for Biomedical Technology, at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain, has turned the spotlight on a fascinating group of people.
These folks, known as superagers, have memory skills that refuse to slow down with age. Just like a 20 to 30-year-old person, they remember personal life experiences very well.
This type of memory is called episodic memory. It often gets worse as people grow older and is heavily affected by diseases like Alzheimer’s. But superagers are different. Their memory doesn’t seem to weaken.
The scientists wanted to find out what makes superagers unique. To do this, they compared their brains and lifestyles to people of the same age group but with typical memory abilities.
The Study
The scientists used data from a study called the Vallecas Project. This study had been tracking the health of a group of 70 to 85-year-old individuals who had no brain or mental health disorders.
From this group, the researchers identified superagers. These were people aged 80 or more whose memory abilities were similar to those 20 to 30 years younger.
The team compared 64 superagers to 55 older adults with usual memory abilities. They performed various tests, took brain scans, and collected blood samples.
Interestingly, both superagers and the regular group had the same genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s. Their blood also showed similar signs of dementia.
This suggested that being a superager didn’t just mean they were at a different stage of a dementia-related process.
Certain lifestyle factors linked with delaying or preventing dementia appeared to be associated with superagers. Physical activity, level of education, and socioeconomic status were important. Superagers were more likely to have a background in music.
They were also more likely to be separated or divorced than married or living with someone. The researchers thought that playing music could be like a mental exercise that helped brain health.
The reasons behind being separated and living alone were less clear. Perhaps, being self-reliant or not having to care for a partner who wasn’t a superager could be factors.
In terms of brain structure, superagers had bigger hippocampi (a part of the brain crucial for memory) and thicker anterior cingulate cortices (which plays a role in cognition and emotion), and less brain shrinkage compared to the regular group.
This suggested that superagers’ brains were resisting the typical decline in memory.
Superagers also showed better physical speed. They could walk and tap their fingers faster. They had better mental health, too, with less anxiety and depression.
What’s Next?
Though these findings are fascinating, more work is needed. The researchers aim to study how to encourage the superager traits in more people.
They also want to better understand how lifestyle and cognitive abilities in later life are connected. This research may pave the way for enhancing brain health and memory in our aging society.
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The study was published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity.
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