Yale University researchers found that nearly half of adults 65 and older showed improvement in cognitive function, physical function or both, using more than a decade of data from a large, representative study of older Americans. The research, published in the journal Geriatrics, relied on data from the Health and Retirement Study, a federally supported, long-running survey of older Americans.
Researchers tracked changes in cognition using global performance tests and measured physical function based on walking speed, which was seen as a “vital sign” because of its strong links to disability, hospitalization and mortality. Over a 12-year period, 45% of participants improved either mentally or physically. About 32% showed cognitive gains, while 28% improved physically. Lead author Becca Levy, a professor of social and behavioral sciences at Yale, noted: “In contrast to a predominant belief or stereotype that age is a time of continuous and inevitable decline, we found evidence that a meaningful number of older persons actually show improvement over 12 years in cognitive and/or physical health.”
Role of Mindset
A participant’s beliefs about aging appeared to influence the results, as those with more positive age beliefs were significantly more likely to show improvements in both cognition and walking speed. This remained true even after accounting for factors such as age, sex, education, chronic disease, depression and the length of follow-up. Improvements were seen even among participants who started with “normal” levels of function, not just those recovering from injuries or illness.
According to Levy: “Individuals who have taken in more positive age beliefs … tend to have a lower stress response and lower stress biomarkers.” Because age beliefs are modifiable, she noted, there could be a capacity for improvements later in life. The study did have limitations; it didn’t look at how muscles or brain cells change and adapt, which could help explain improvements. Future studies should examine improvement patterns for other types of cognition such as spatial memory, and additional cohorts with greater representation of different ethnic minority groups.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.foxnews.com/health/nearly-half-seniors-improve-age-researchers-think-know-why