Gaby
Among older adults, some minds seem untouched by the passage of time. Remarkably, their brains resist the effects of aging. There are many possible reasons for this, from genetics to personality. But a recent Spanish study—one of the longest and most comprehensive of its kind—has uncovered several traits that may explain how these seniors keep sharp minds and memories.
How Was the Supercentenarian Study Conducted?
Lead researcher Marta Garo-Pascual framed one of the study’s central questions this way: Are supercentenarians truly resistant to age-related memory decline, and do they have coping strategies that help them navigate that decline better than their peers?
Supercentenarians are rare older adults aged 80 and older whose memory rivals that of people 20 to 30 years younger. In the new study, researchers examined two groups. The first group included 64 supercentenarians; the second included 55 typically healthy older adults. The average age of participants in both groups was 82 years.
Garo-Pascual and her colleagues looked for differences in brain scans, mobility tests, clinical mental health assessments, lifestyle surveys, and blood samples. If the findings hold true in other countries, the results suggest that these seniors’ sharp minds may be linked to better mobility.
Over six annual visits, researchers tracked participants’ lifestyle factors, scanned their brains, collected blood samples, and conducted mobility tests, then fed the data into a machine learning model designed to uncover the secrets of longevity and sharp minds among supercentenarians.
True Super Seniors
Previous research shows MRI scans of these individuals indicate slower brain shrinkage than in 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 later life. They showed better mental health and greater independence in daily life—likely because they could move, balance, and remember more effectively.
Supercentenarians also rose from a chair more quickly in the “Get Up and Go” test and demonstrated better fine motor skills. However, the two groups reported similar overall activity levels.
As ScienceAlert reported, longer and larger studies on supercentenarians may provide more data to clarify their secrets of longevity and sharp minds.
