Older people who feel young show fewer signs of brain aging

July 3, 2018

As everyone grows up, not everyone feels their age. A recent study shows that such feelings, called subjective age, may reflect aging of the brain. With the help of MRI, the researchers found that older people who feel younger than their age have fewer signs of brain aging, compared to those who feel older or older than their age. . Published in the Open Access Journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience This study is the first to find a link between subjective age and brain aging. The results suggest that older people who feel older than their age should consider taking care of their brain health.

We tend to view aging as a fixed process, where our body and mind change regularly. However, the passing years affect everyone differently. The age we feel, which we call our subjective age, also varies from one person to another – many feel older or younger than their actual age.

But subjective age is there only a feeling or an attitude? to grow old? This question intrigued Dr. Jeanyung Chey of the Seoul National University in Korea

"Why do some people feel younger or older than their actual age?" Chey asks. "Some possibilities include depressive states, personality differences or physical health, but no one has studied brain aging processes as a possible reason for subjective age differences."

People often experience cognitive impairment with age. In fact, the brain shows a variety of age-related changes that reflect declining neuronal health, including reductions in gray matter volumes. Newly developed techniques can help researchers identify brain features associated with aging, to provide an estimated brain age.

Chey and his colleagues applied these techniques to study the connection between subjective age and cerebral aging. They performed brain MRI in 68 healthy people aged 59 to 84 years and examined gray matter volumes in various regions of the brain. Participants also completed a survey that included questions about their age and age and questions that assessed their cognitive abilities and perceptions of their overall health.

People who felt younger than their age were more likely to have a memory test, felt that their health was better and was less likely to report depressive symptoms. From a critical point of view, those who felt younger than their age showed an increase in gray matter volume in key regions of the brain. Researchers used MRI data to calculate estimated brain ages for participants.

"We found that people who feel younger have the structural features of a younger brain," Chey said. "Importantly, this difference remains robust even when other possible factors, including personality, subjective health, depressive symptoms, or cognitive functions, are taken into account."

The researchers assume that those who feel older can feel the aging process in their brains, as their loss of gray matter can make cognitive tasks more difficult.

However, at present, researchers do not know for sure if these brain features are directly responsible for subjective age and will have to perform long-term.

An intriguing possibility is that those who feel younger are more likely to lead more active lives physically and mentally, which could lead to improvements in brain health. However, for those who feel older, the opposite might be true.

"If someone feels older than his age, this could be a sign for him to evaluate his lifestyle, his habits and his activities that could contribute to brain aging. "The research is part of a special collection of articles on the assessment of brain aging throughout life.