After age 40, individuals often experience a decline in reaction time and memory recall. While these changes can signal diseases like Alzheimer's, they typically reflect normal aging. Matt Huentelman leads a team studying exceptional cognitive performers who exhibit youthful brain function. Early findings suggest that good sleep, cardiovascular health, and lifestyle choices like avoiding smoking and limiting alcohol enhance cognitive longevity. Researchers emphasize the need to understand the mechanisms of brain aging, as discussed in collaborative studies dedicated to age-related cognitive decline.
Both of those things, memory and processing speed, change with age in a normal group of people, says Matt Huentelman.
We want to study these exceptional performers because we think they can tell us what the rest of us should be doing, he says.
To preserve cognitive function in later life, we're going to have to understand [brain] aging at a mechanistic level, says Alice Luo Clayton.
I think the value of sleep and sleep deprivation became true to me when I had kids, says Christian Agudelo.
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