Let’s face it: it’s very hard to keep an impressive physique and strength over the years as you reach a certain age. The same is available for the human mind, as it needs training just like our muscles. But nature doesn’t spare anyone, and at a certain age, we begin to not have the same agile mind as we did when we were younger.
According to The Guardian, a new study involving over 1 million people brings a shocking conclusion: the speed of our mental processes will start to slow down only after the age of 60 years old. This is indeed surprising, and it gives hope to a lot of people. If you feel that your mind is slipping even though you’re less than 60 years of age, it might be that a little daily exercise for your brain will fix the issue. Just go ahead and play some Sudoku or Chess every day and see the results afterward!
Our brains DON’T slow down after reaching their peak during our ’20s
It was previously considered that as soon as we reach our ’20s, that’s our peak when it comes to the speed of the brain’s processes. Afterward, that speed will start to decline. But that assumption is contradicted by the new study.
Dr. Joshua Hartshorne, who’s a psychologist from Boston College, declared as declared by The Guardian:
This joins a body of work suggesting that the way mental abilities change throughout life is complicated and we don’t really know what’s going on,
But whatever’s going on, it’s definitely not that we peak at 20 and go downhill from there.
Dr. Mischa von Krause, the first author of the new work, said as quoted by the same source:
Our finding is encouraging, as our results show that average levels in mental speed in contexts demanding fast and forced decisions do not decline until relatively late in the lifespan.
The new study was published in Nature Human Behavior.
