Lifestyle a key factor in staying sharp in later life

New findings from a major study underway at Edinburgh University have brought us a step closer to understanding why some people stay mentally sharper in old age than others.
 Researchers found genetic factors account for almost a quarter of changes in intelligence over a person's lifetime, meaning the biggest effect is the result of environmental and lifestyle factors. Identifying genetic influences on intelligence could help us to understand the relationship between knowledge, problem-solving and an individual's outcomes in life and why some people live their later lives to the full physically and mentally and others' are blighted by cognitive decline such as dementia. The new findings were possible because Scotland is an extremely rich source of cognitive test data. In 1932 and 1947 intelligence tests were carried out on the thousands of children born in 1921 and 1936 respectively. The results still exist and in 2005 about 2000 of these people were traced and re-tested in old age. This project, called ‘The Disconnected Mind' is led by Professor Ian Deary of Edinburgh University's Centre for Cognitive Ageing & Cognitive Epidemiology, who says: "Until now we did not know to what extent genetic differences affect how intelligence changes across a lifetime. "These results partly explain why some people's brains age better than others and suggest the importance of our environments and lifestyles in helping us stay sharp as we age." Age Scotland spokesman Lindsay Scott says: "Although neither the specific genetic nor environmental factors have been identified in this research, it's incredibly positive news in that it suggests that the individual can have a genuine influence on how their brain ages through lifestyle and other external choices. "The key now is to determine which of these factors are most important so that we can all do as much as possible to maximise our chances of ageing well as we move into and through later life." ‘The Disconnected Mind' is a unique project producing world-class research into cognitive ageing. Each member of the Age UK family contributes a percentage of its income to a central pot that funds all sorts of research, including bio-medical, much of it taking place at Scottish universities, and ‘The Disconnected Mind', which will last for eight years and cost £13 million, is by far the most ambitious. Since 2005 it has thrown up revelatory results such as that people with higher IQs tend to live longer than those with lower scores, and given some scientific credence to the old adage of  ‘a sound mind in a healthy body'. Professor Deary will be presenting finding from the research at the 8th World Congress on Active Ageing, taking place at the SECC in Glasgow between the 13th and the 17th of August 2012.
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