A study from the University of California (United States) published in the PlosOne review suggests that the aging brain could start much sooner than you imagine.
According to Dr. Arun Karlamangla, lead author of the study, the decline in mental acuity and cognitive abilities would start as soon as women reach their fifties.
Verbal memory declines faster
For their study, the researchers followed for 10 years a group of 2,124 healthy women who were in their late 40s or 50s at the start of the study. They were seen every two years to perform cognition tests.
“Cognitive functioning was measured based on two main domains: processing speed (an indication of the speed of perception and reaction) and verbal memory, which tests memory for words and language.” explain the researchers at Huffington Post.
Processing speed decreased by about 1% every two years, and verbal memory decreased by an average of 1% every five years.
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The results also showed significant individual variations. “Some women decline more slowly and others have declined more rapidly. The next step will be to determine if there are any factors that influence the rate of decline.” the researchers conclude.
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