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Are you super aging? What can you do to experience cognitive longevity?
On the Huberman Lab podcast, Dr. Andrew Huberman pointed to super agers—elders who remain cognitively sharp over time by leading vigorous, engaged lives. As researchers uncover why these exceptional individuals seem to defy aging’s cognitive decline, their lifestyles offer inspiration to all of us.
Read more to understand how continual learning and challenge-seeking habits can help you sustain mental fitness later in life.
Super Aging
On a podcast episode about increasing willpower and tenacity, Huberman referred to the concept of super aging. Super agers are people who lead vigorous, engaged lives. They often seek out new challenges that stoke mental sharpness and prolong vitality. As he noted, habits of continual learning and self-testing mark the trail toward cognitive longevity. This mental hardiness seems to take physical form in the brain itself, revealing itself in the preservation or growth of areas such as the anterior mid-cingulate cortex, which is tied to motivation and resilience.
Context
Super agers are a unique group of older adults who maintain remarkably youthful memory and cognitive abilities, performing on par with people decades younger despite their chronological age. While researchers are still investigating why these elders seem to defy typical age-related mental decline, super agers stand out from their peers in a few notable ways.
Compared to other seniors, these exceptional individuals tend to lead more active social, intellectual, and physical lifestyles into their older years. Super agers also demonstrate key differences biologically. Their brains seem to show fewer structural changes linked to aging, retaining thicker cortexes and more youth-like connectivity patterns. Certain genes involved in inflammation and neural growth might also lend them a protective advantage.
Though the term “super aging” specifically concentrates on superior memory abilities, scientific study suggests that super agers develop some cognitive skills such as complex reasoning more gradually. This elite group of elders simply seem to concentrate their “superpower” in particularly resilient mental faculties.
As researchers continue to uncover biological, lifestyle, and genetic contributors to super aging, taking inspiration from these model seniors might benefit cognitive health for more of us as we grow older. Incorporating more mentally stimulating hobbies and continual learning habits already demonstrates short-term memory gains. So, while not every aging adult will achieve the remarkable neurocognitive profile of confirmed super agers, tweaking our lifestyles to emulate the diligence of these exceptional individuals might pay dividends in sustaining mental fitness over the years.
More Perspectives
While continual learning and challenging oneself are touted as key factors in maintaining cognitive vigor among “super agers,” it’s crucial to consider other contributing factors such as genetics, lifestyle choices, and overall health. Cognitive longevity cannot be attributed to continual learning and challenges alone.
Similarly, while preserving or growing specific brain regions such as the anterior mid-cingulate cortex might have some correlation with cognitive longevity, brain health is a complex interplay of multiple factors that require further research for a comprehensive understanding.
Related Reading
Life-Long Learning Has Positive Impact on Brain Health and Aging
A new study found that taking an academic career path has a positive effect on brain health.
Whether you’re unhappy at work, interested in another field, or worried your job will become obsolete, it’s never too late to make a career change. Barbara Oakley asserts that whatever your age or occupation, you can have a mindshift, which means opening up new opportunities through transformative learning. In Mindshift, she writes that it’s possible to overcome perceived barriers—such as age, imposter syndrome, or a lack of money—and gain new skills so you can reinvent yourself.
Oakley is proof that it’s possible to make a big change and flourish despite presumed weaknesses. She grew up thinking she was bad at math and science but developed a passion for those subjects later in life, obtaining a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering.
In our guide to this book, we discuss why it’s important to have a mindshift in the modern world. Then we outline Oakley’s strategies for overcoming perceived limitations so that you can have your own mindshift. We also supplement Oakley’s ideas with other experts’ tips for supercharging your learning and maximizing your potential.
Our brains are uniquely complex information processors, yet most people know little about how they work. In Brain Rules, John Medina writes that, when we understand how our brains have evolved, we can use their natural impulses and tendencies to our advantage, improving our thinking and learning in all aspects of our lives.
John Medina is a molecular biologist who focuses on psychiatric disorders. Medina wrote this book in order to help the general public understand in a simple, accessible way how brains work and how the functions of the brain affect how we interact with the world. In our guide to the book, we discuss the 12 rules he’s identified that summarize the brain’s core functions, abilities, and limitations. We also offer ways to apply Medina’s principles in your daily life and discuss scientific and cultural ideas related to his brain rules.
The Expectation Effect by David Robson
What if you could think yourself to better health and a happier life—using the power of your brain and your body? Science writer David Robson argues in The Expectation Effect that your brain’s predictions about your body, your health, your intellect, and your emotions are so powerful that they create your reality. By changing what your brain predicts, you can change the reality your brain creates for you and the limits it sets for you.
Drawing on extensive scientific research, the book explores the expectation effects that shape your health, determine how well you age and how long you live, and influence how you respond to stress. Throughout our guide to this book, we look at the strategies Robson recommends for stopping the negative outcomes of expectation effects and creating positive outcomes, and we connect his ideas to what other experts say about how you can use these effects to improve your health and happiness.
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