Feeling young could mean your brain is aging more slowly

The first study to link subjective age to biological age shows that elderly people who feel younger have less signs of brain aging

Science Daily/July 3, 2018

Frontiers

While some people are young at heart, others feel older than their age -- and a recent study finds that this 'subjective age' may reflect brain aging. Researchers found that elderly people who feel younger than their age had a younger estimated brain age, compared with those who felt their age, or older than their age. The study is the first to find a link between brain aging and subjective age.

While everyone gets older, not everyone feels their age. A recent study finds that such feelings, called subjective age, may reflect brain aging. Using MRI brain scans, researchers found that elderly people who feel younger than their age show fewer signs of brain aging, compared with those who feel their age or older than their age. Published in 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 elderly people who feel older than their age should consider caring for their brain health.

We tend to think of aging as a fixed process, where our bodies and minds change steadily. However, the passing years affect everyone differently. How old we feel, which is called our subjective age, also varies between people -- with many feeling older or younger than their actual age.

But is subjective age just a feeling or attitude, or does it reflect how our bodies are actually aging? This question intrigued Dr Jeanyung Chey of Seoul National University in Korea.

"Why do some people feel younger or older than their real age?" asks Chey. "Some possibilities include depressive states, personality differences or physical health. However, no-one had investigated brain aging processes as a possible reason for differences in subjective age."

People frequently experience some cognitive impairment as they age. In fact, the brain shows a variety of age-related changes that are reflective of declining neural health, including reductions in gray matter volumes. Recently developed techniques can help researchers to identify brain features associated with aging, to provide an estimated brain age.

Chey and her colleagues applied these techniques to investigate the link between subjective age and brain aging. They performed MRI brain scans in 68 healthy people whose ages ranged from 59-84 years and looked at gray matter volumes in various brain regions. The participants also completed a survey, which included questions on whether they felt older or younger than their age and questions assessing their cognitive abilities and perceptions of their overall health.

People who felt younger than their age were more likely to score higher on a memory test, considered their health to be better and were less likely to report depressive symptoms. Critically, those who felt younger than their age showed increased gray matter volume in key brain regions. The researchers used the MRI data to calculate estimated brain ages for the participants.

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

The researchers hypothesize that those who feel older may be able to sense the aging process in their brain, as their loss of gray matter may make cognitive tasks more challenging.

However, at present the researchers do not know for sure if these brain characteristics are directly responsible for subjective age and will need to carry out long-term studies to understand this link further.

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

"If somebody feels older than their age, it could be sign for them to evaluate their lifestyle, habits and activities that could contribute to brain aging and take measures to better care for their brain health," said Chey.

The research is part of a special article collection on assessment of brain aging across the lifespan

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180703110014.htm

Perceptions of old age change as we age

February 26, 2018

Science Daily/Michigan State University

Does life really begin at 40? Is 50 the new 30? For people in these age groups, the answer appears to be yes.

But for young adults in their teens and early 20s, turning 50 equates to hitting old age.

A new study of more than a half-million Americans led by a Michigan State University scholar shows just how skewed views of aging can be -- particularly among the young. The findings come as people are living longer than ever; life expectancy in the U.S. was about 79 years in 2015 -- up nearly nine years from 1965.

But perception may not be keeping up with reality. Nearly 30,000 people in the study thought middle age starts at 30.

"I find it interesting that there's a ton of people who have skewed perceptions about aging -- mostly young adults," said William Chopik, assistant professor of psychology and principal investigator of the research.

The study, published in Frontiers in Psychology, is the largest investigation to date of age perceptions, with 502,548 internet respondents ranging in age from 10 to 89.

A key finding: People's perception of old age changes as they age. Essentially, the older we get, the younger we feel.

"I think the most interesting finding of this study is that our perceptions of aging aren't static -- they change as we change ourselves," Chopik said. "What you consider to be old changes as you become old yourself."

Part of this is understandable, he said. People view older adulthood as a negative experience and want to avoid it because it's painful to think of ourselves as old.

"But, of course, older adults actually have really enriching lives and some studies suggest that they're happier than young adults," Chopik noted.

Interestingly, when asked how long they wanted to live, the different age groups gave different answers. While kids and young adults wanted to live into their early 90s, that ideal age dropped among the 30- and 40-year age groups, hitting a low of about 88. But the ideal age started rising steadily starting with 50-year-olds and reached about 93 among 80-year-olds.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180226122517.htm