Why do some elders remain mentally sound while others decline? “Superagers” are those whose memory and attention are above average for their age, more specifically on par with a healthy twenty-five-year-old. A study shows that a set of brain regions, particularly the midcingulate cortex and the anterior insula, distinguishes superagers from their counterparts. These regions were thinner for normal agers, but superagers had regions indistinguishable from those of young adults, untouched by time. Further, these are “emotional” regions, not “cognitive” regions. But, how do you become a superager? Work hard at something. Perform difficult tasks, physical or mental. It is essential, however, to push through bouts of unpleasantness with such intense effort—any superager would.
See Lisa Feldman Barrett, How to Become a ‘Superager’, N.Y. Times, December 31, 2016.
Special thanks to Naomi Cahn (Harold H. Greene Professor of Law, George Washington University School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.
