Dementia: 'Superagers' have more gray matter in their brains
Share on Pinterest Gerson Sobel, 93, of Rockville Center, New York swims his morning laps at the Freeport Recreation Center on February 6, 2004, in Freeport, New York. Al Bello/Getty Images An observational study looked at how superagers—people ages 80 and older with the memory function of people decades younger than them— may be resistant to age-related memory decline. Researchers saw that the octogenarians with sharp memory retention also moved quicker and had lower rates of anxiety and depression compared to older adults with cognitive decline. MRI scans also showed that superagers had more gray matter in key brain areas linked to memory. Superagers are older adults over age 80 whose memories of life experiences are as sharp as those of people 20 or 30 years younger. The mechanisms of superaging are a growing area of interest in scientific research. A new study found that octogenarians with sharp memory retention also perform better on movement tests and have lower rates of anxiety ...