“Age is in the head” or “You are really 2 years of mental age”. Who has never heard these phrases? A lot of people feel younger or older than they are, this is called “subjective age”. But is it really a simple feeling, or does it reflect the aging of our bodies? According to researchers at Seoul University in Korea, subjective age is indeed well linked to brain aging. The results of their study appeared in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.
What makes us feel younger or older than our age? The authors of the study explain that the Depression, personality or physical health could be an answer, but so does the aging of the brain! To dig this lead, the researchers performed brain MRI scans on 68 healthy people, aged between 59 and 84. The volunteers had previously answered questionnaires to specify their age, their subjective age, assess their cognitive abilities and their perception of their state of health.
Feeling old, the fault of our brain?
At first, those who felt younger than their age were likely to score higher on the memory test, to feel that their health was better and to show fewer depressive symptoms. Secondly, MRI revealed an increase in the volume of gray matter in the “young” group. “We have found that people who feel younger have the structural characteristics of a younger brain,” said in a statement Dr. Jeanyung Chey, lead author of the study. “Our results suggest that the subjective experience of aging is closely related to the aging process of the brain.”
Researchers now hypothesize that those who feel older may be able to sense the aging process in their brains, as their loss of gray matter can make cognitive tasks more difficult. Another possibility, those who feel younger, lead a more active life physically and mentally, which could improve the health of the brain and thus fuel the feeling of being younger than his age: the circle is closed. However, at present, scientists are uncertain whether the volume of gray matter is directly responsible for subjective age. Further long-term studies are needed to better understand this link.
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