You don’t have to wait to turn sixty. Certain brain functions such asmemory, reasoning and understandingthey canbegin to deteriorate after 45 years of age, as suggested by a study published in the journalBritish Medical Journal(BMJ).
The authors of the research, led by Archana Singh-Manoux, of the French Center for Research in Epidemiology and Public Health, and the University College of London (United Kingdom), affirm that understanding cognitive aging will be one of the challenges of this century, especially if life expectancy continues to rise. And they add that it is important to investigate the age at which cognitive decline begins, because medical interventions produce better results at an early stage of mental decline.
After studying the health of 5,198 men and 2,192 women, the results show that cognitive scores decreased in all categories (memory, reasoning, phonological and semantic fluency), except in vocabulary, and there was no faster decrease in people greater. Likewise, they also reveal that, during the study period of 10 years, there was a decrease of 3.6% in mental reasoning in men between 45-49 years and a decrease of 9.6% in those of 65- 70. The corresponding figures for women were 3.6% and 7.4%.
The authors argue that the evidence for cognitive decline before the age of 60 has important implications, as it demonstrates the importance of promoting healthy lifestyles, particularly cardiovascular health, as, according to recent studies, “what’s good for the heart is also good for the head“.
