Posted on 03/16/2009 7:34:32 PM PDT by neverdem
Mental powers start to dwindle at 27 after peaking at 22, marking the start of old age, US research suggests.
Professor Timothy Salthouse of Virginia University found reasoning, speed of thought and spatial visualisation all decline in our late 20s.
Therapies designed to stall or reverse the ageing process may need to start much earlier, he said.
His seven-year study of 2,000 healthy people aged 18-60 is published in the journal Neurobiology of Aging.
To test mental agility, the study participants had to solve puzzles, recall words and story details and spot patterns in letters and symbols.
The same tests are already used by doctors to spot signs of dementia.
In nine out of 12 tests the average age at which the top performance was achieved was 22.
The first age at which there was any marked decline was at 27 in tests of brain speed, reasoning and visual puzzle-solving ability.
Things like memory stayed intact until the age of 37, on average, while abilities based on accumulated knowledge, such as performance on tests of vocabulary or general information, increased until the age of 60.
Professor Salthouse said his findings suggested "some aspects of age-related cognitive decline begin in healthy, educated adults when they are in their 20s and 30s."
Rebecca Wood of the Alzheimer's Research Trust agreed, saying: "This research suggests that the natural decline of some of our mental abilities as we age starts much earlier than some of us might expect - in our 20s and 30s.
"Understanding more about how healthy brains decline could help us understand what goes wrong in serious diseases like Alzheimer's.
"Alzheimer's is not a natural part of getting old; it is a physical disease that kills brain cells, affecting tens of thousands of under 65s too.
"Much more research is urgently..."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
lol.
we should ask Einstein and many of the other great thinkers of history about that.... and then ask public school kids to invent something.
Well, crap... I’m 26.
*shrug* - As good a reason as any to go get a beer.
No. Brain decline begins at Budweiser.
Great, I turned 48 today.
Whuh?
I don’t understand this.
.....?????...where the hell did they find all those old mice?
“’Brain decline’ begins at age 27”
Rut roh. I started at age 14.
LOL...the 22-year-olds I know will be in SAD shape if that is the height of their mental powers.
Nah. I did my own study on 3 subjects. Decline begins around 14 or 15. It completely reverses by 21 though.
Oh, age.
never mind.
If you can contact Einstein, I can stop worrying about old age altogether.
It begins, actually, after birthing children. ‘After the afterbirth goes the brain’. Srsly. ;)
What if you didn’t have one to begin with, like the Obama voters?
I can’t get my brain around that one... decline of cognitive recollection recall introspection.
Happy Birthday!
I’m 60 and ah.... hey, does anybody know where I put my teeth, anybody, anybody?
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