For anyone over the age of 30 reading this article, here’s some bad news for you: Your brain is already on the decline.
The good(ish) news? From the brain’s peak performance in our mid-20s, that decline is gradual, said Stanford neurologist Sharon Sha, MD. Despite common lore about aging and major lapses in memory, the effects of healthy aging on cognitive functions are actually quite subtle.
For example, a young or middle-aged adult can remember a sequence of seven numbers, on average, while a person in their 60s without dementia can hold onto six digits. When asked to list as many animals as they can in a short time frame, a skill known as verbal fluency, adults over 55 can list about 4% fewerthan those under 55 years old.
“Around a generation ago, we assumed that when we get older, we dramatically lose our memory. That’s really not the case.”
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