Can Our Mental Skills Fade Before Old Age?
Reported August 31, 2008
When it comes to getting older, is there a certain point when our mental skills start to fade? If this is true, is there anything we can do about it?
To test this theory, researchers gathered 288 people, 126 men and 162 women, from one community in Sweden to get the answers. When this study first began, none of the participants had any form of dementia. The participants were test approximately 12 times from the age of 70 until the day of their death and researchers gauged how well they did in three particular categories.
They were measured in the following three areas:
* Perceptual Speed: This is how fast they were able to match certain figures that were in a line of other figures.
* Verbal Ability: This tested how well they were able to understand ideas expressed in words with synonyms.
* Spatial Ability: This was tested by using two-colored blocks to build a replica of a model design that they were shown.
The results of these test when those three skills started to decline are as follows:
* Perceptual Speed: The difference was seen almost 15 years before their death.
* Verbal Ability: The participants showed a “change point” for a decline almost 7 years before their death.
* Spatial Ability: This ability changed approximately 8 years before their death.
The studies lead author, Valgeir Throvaldsson of Gotenberg University in Sweden, said, “These changes are different and separate from the changes in thinking skills that occur as people get older. We found that accelerated changes in people’s mental skills that indicated a terminal decline phase years before death.”
Is there anything that we can do about this? Are there any particular reasons why this may be happening to us?
Thorvaldsson stated that our health conditions could contribute to this decline. He also said that cardiovascular conditions like dementia or heart disease that is too early for detections could also be factors.
He claims that “increased health problems and frailty in old age often lead to inactivity, and this lack of exercise and mental stimulation could accelerate mental decline.” He also speculates that doctors may want to watch for the changes in verbal ability, like being able to stay sharp at recognizing ideas expressed by words, as a warning sign of a decline in health since the study found that the verbal skills took a sharper fall in the years before death.
If you would like to further information on this research, the findings of this study appears in the August 27th online edition of Neurology.