Forty is the new 30. Fifty is the new 40. Sixty is the new – well, whatever. That type of spin is on everything from cosmetics to sports equipment. The idea is that we, as a generation, are “younger” than previous generations were at the same age.
While I’m really quite tired of the same old spin, I am very happy that we are now proven younger than our parents were at our age. I know I feel younger than my parents acted, but I thought that may be merely delusion or denial on my part. Now, a study actually backs up that gut feeling.
An article published on www.eurekalert.org, titled 70-year-olds smarter than they used to be, reports on new research from the University of Gothenburg Sweden. The results are based on the H70 study, which “provides data on cognitive symptoms that researchers have used to predict the development of dementia, and also to investigate whether the symptoms have changed in recent generations.” The study started in 1971 with an examination of 70-year-olds who were then regularly followed over a period of 30 years. A new H70 study started in the year 2000, and is still ongoing.”
The H70 study measures memory, speed of thought, language, logic and spatial awareness of the participants. The newest results were published recently in the American journal Neurology.
The study authors feel that much of the improvement over the generations can be “partly be explained by better pre- and neonatal care, better nutrition, higher quality of education, better treatment of high blood pressure and other vascular diseases.”
The researchers also credit the “higher intellectual requirements of today’s society”, including our use of advanced technology, such as computers.
So, onward elder-geeks! Those of us who use computers are exercising our brains and exercising our brains is said to be one way to stave off Alzheimer’s. Exercising our brains, though computer use, doesn’t even require us to play brain games, though some people do enjoy the challenge of competing with themselves through the use of online games. Apparently, simply surfing the Web can do it.
Since I don’t enjoy games very much, and don’t have time for them, I was thrilled to learn that just “Googling” for information is as good, if not better, than playing structured games. Since I spent a number of years as a news librarian and did online research as part of my job, this is good news to me.
I still research for business and personal reasons, using the Internet daily. A majority of boomers do. Just think, you may be younger than your parents were at your age because you like to surf the ‘Net.
To further promote anti-aging potential, add this to eating the right foods as mentioned in More Evidence Points to Antioxidants in Fruits as a Way to Slow Aging and good exercise, as mentioned in Study Shows Walking Helps Preserve Brain Tissue. Who knows? Eighty may be the new, um 65?
Posted in Alzheimer’s, Diet, Exercise | No Comments »Tags: aging, study, Technology
