Gaby
Among the elderly, there are some individuals whose minds seem untouched by the passage of time. Remarkably, their brains resist the effects of aging. There are many potential reasons for this phenomenon, ranging from genetics to the very essence of their personalities. However, a recent Spanish study—one of the longest and most comprehensive of its kind—has uncovered several traits that may explain how these seniors maintain sharp minds and memories.
How Was the Supercentenarian Study Conducted?
As noted by lead researcher Marta Garo-Pascual, scientists have approached one of the biggest questions surrounding supercentenarians: Are they truly resistant to age-related memory decline, and do they possess coping mechanisms that help them navigate this decline better than their peers?
Supercentenarians are rare elderly individuals aged 80 and older whose memory rivals that of people 20 to 30 years younger. In the new study, researchers examined two groups of people. The first group consisted of 64 supercentenarians, while the second included 55 typically healthy older adults. The average age of participants in both groups was 82 years.
Ms. Garo-Pascual and her colleagues sought differences in brain scans, mobility tests, clinical mental health assessments, lifestyle surveys, and blood samples. If their findings are representative of supercentenarians in other countries, the results suggest that the sharp minds of these seniors may be linked to their flexible bodies.
Over six annual visits, researchers tracked lifestyle factors of participants, scanned their brains, collected blood samples, and conducted mobility tests, feeding the data into a machine learning model designed to uncover the secrets of longevity and sharp minds among supercentenarians.
True Super Seniors
According to previous research, MRI scans have shown that the brains of these elderly individuals shrink more slowly than those of their contemporaries over a five-year period in areas related to memory and movement. Overall, supercentenarians were more active in middle age and reported better sleep quality in their later years. They exhibited better mental health and demonstrated greater independence in daily life—likely due to their ability to move, balance, and remember things.
Supercentenarians also stood up from a chair more quickly in the “Get Up and Go” test and displayed better fine motor skills. However, there was no significant difference in overall activity levels reported by both groups of study participants.
Sciencealert, longer and larger studies on supercentenarians may provide more data to clarify their secrets of longevity and sharp minds.
