Lifestyle determines mental sharpness
A Queensland professor is collaborating with British scientists to determine how a person can “age well” cognitively or, if possible, keep the same level of cognition over their lifespan. University of Queensland’s Professor Peter Visscher tells DPS News they were “looking for a change” in a person’s intelligence over time.
A Queensland professor is collaborating with British scientists to determine how a person can “age well” cognitively or, if possible, keep the same level of cognition over their lifespan.
University of Queensland’s Professor Peter Visscher tells DPS News they were “looking for a change” in a person’s intelligence over time.
The findings revealed lifestyle factors largely account for why some people stay mentally sharper in old age than others.
Researchers found genetic factors account for 24% of changes in intelligence over a person’s lifestyle, meaning the “biggest effect” was environmental.
UK and Australian scientists combined DNA analysis with data from people who took intelligence tests at age 11 and again at 65 to 79 years.
Tackling questions which were “not answerable” before, Professor Visscher says the research helps to understand how healthy brain ageing works and why there is a difference between people.
“How you perform in intelligence tests in early life is predictive of what happens to you later in life. By studying a healthy ageing brain, it helps to tell us some clues when things go wrong with the brain like dementia.
“It’s really important to understand how people age and how well they keep performing in cognitive decline as the population rapidly ages,” he says.
While they are yet to identify the specific environmental factors which brought about their findings, Professor Visscher confirms the next phase of the research will involve studying the environmental factors more carefully.
