Air date: January 29, 2012

Host: Jeremy Shere, PhD

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Did you Know? is presented by Wishard Health Services, becoming Eskenazi Health in 2014.

I’m Jeremy Shere.

It’s not uncommon for older brains to start slowing down a bit. Once we hit our late 60s, names, dates, and other details may not come to mind as easily as they once did.

But did you know that our brains may already be over the hill as early as age 45?

Over the past decade, European scientists studied the mental functioning of more than 7000 British Civil government employees. And they found that, on average, around age 45 many of the civil servants showed slight signs of decline in memory, reasoning, and verbal facility. Over the course of the study, their brains slowly but steadily continued to slow down.

So, should we all just give in to the inevitable atrophying of our grey matter? Not necessarily. Although the study may raise some alarm bells, it can also be taken as motivation. Other studies have confirmed that general physical health is strongly tied to how well the brain works. So the earlier we begin eating well and exercising, the better chance we have of delaying or avoiding brain problems later in life.

And now you know.

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Did you Know is presented by Wishard Health Services, becoming Eskenazi Health in 2014.

I'm Jeremy Shere.

Additional Resources:

• This interesting article at Common Health discusses this "landmark" British research on human cognitive decline.

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