From telegraph.co.uk
These high-functioning adults have found ways to boost their intelligence, memory and problem-solving skills – and feel sharper than ever
Most people accept that with ageing comes the inevitable decline of our brains. But now, fascinating new research is challenging this assumption. A study from the University of Glasgow found that 55 to 87-year-olds did better at tasks that require concentration – because they take their time and think strategically – than those in the 18-27 age bracket.
Meanwhile, another study, published in the journal Nature, centred on “super-agers” – people who are 80 and over and have the memory ability of someone 30 years younger.
The team found that this group – believed to be less than 10 per cent of the population – produce more new neurons (cells which send messages and process memory) in the part of the brain responsible for learning than the average older adult.
Here, writer Jenny Tucker meets four “super-agers” who believe their brains have only improved with the passage of time.
‘I just passed Latin GCSE with flying colours’
Fran Shelley, 76, has lived most of her life on the Isle of Wight. Before retirement, she worked as a community development manager, and continues to deliver Suit Yourself confidence-building courses for women.
“I would describe myself as someone who enjoys a challenge. I do Wordle every day, my husband and I go to a weekly pub quiz, I belong to a monthly book club and we are regular watchers of shows like University Challenge and Mastermind.
When I was younger, I was very average at school. It was the 1960s and there were too many other exciting distractions. But with age, I’ve developed more focus and application. My memory has improved and I have a better ability to recall facts.
Languages have always fascinated me, and a couple of years ago I suddenly had the desire to learn Latin. A friend who is a complete genius and taught herself Greek suggested we study together. We each bought the Latin to GCSE textbook and committed to weekly meetings. We also studied individually and made a pact to always complete specific homework.
Over time I became more confident, so after about 18 months I decided to sit my Latin GCSE. I wanted something to show for my hard work.
I was extremely disciplined and focused. My improved memory was useful with tough Latin verb conjugations – of which there were numerous. Last summer I sat the GCSE exam and passed with a Grade 6, which is an equivalent of a B.
Noticing an improvement in my cognitive thinking has had a positive impact on my confidence. I’ve proved to myself that I can do it. There can be negative assumptions about older people, that your brain will deteriorate and learning anything new is a chore. I’ve experienced the mental benefit of challenging that idea.
I went to Rome last year because I wanted to see the Latin inscriptions. I loved it so much. Now I meet a few friends once a week to learn Italian. I’m having to push myself again, but it’s so much fun and I enjoy every minute.”
‘Tinkering with classic cars pushes my problem-solving skills’
Chris Broom, 64, is a retired IT product designer from the Isle of Wight. He believes teaching himself to restore classic cars has sharpened his mind.
“I’m someone with a logical brain, so working towards a solution has always felt normal to me. But with age, I’ve become even more focused and detailed.
I’ve always loved classic cars, but when I was employed I would take them to be repaired at the garage. Retirement meant I had less money and more time – and I wanted a project that would challenge my brain, so I started tinkering.
You can learn a lot about restoration on YouTube, but more by actually doing it and thinking things through. When I’m out on my bike every morning I find myself pondering tricky car dilemmas. At the moment, it’s how I’ll fix a small leak in a fuel tank.
As I’ve got older, I’ve got more into pondering. When I was younger, I was impulsive and just wanted quick results. Now I sit and think, and think. I might spend three or four days deciding how to fix a temperamental semaphore indicator, for example, but you can bet your life I’ll reach an answer.
My latest renovation is a 1972 Vanden Plas Princess 1300. It was very unloved when I bought it at auction. I’ve spent hours cleaning it, dealing with technical issues to get it to run smoothly, flushing the cooling system, changing all the fuel pipes, tweaking the carburettors. One of the fiddliest jobs was installing new carpets. That might sound simple, but it’s extremely complicated and precise – this is when a logical brain is your most useful faculty, it takes determination and patience to get it right.
I’ve noticed that my older brain is calmer, less distracted and more positive. It operates very differently to when I was younger, when being hasty didn’t always serve me well. Being slower and more controlled now feels a bonus. In fact, I’d say my 60s brain is my most competent yet.”
‘I focus better, I’m more alert – and puzzling de-stresses me’
Credit: Jeff Gilbert
Mollie Barnes is 85 and lives in Hampshire. She is a committed puzzler, regularly doing Wordle and Sudoku, but she particularly loves jigsaws.
“I’ve been doing jigsaws since I was about five years old; I’ve always loved them. We didn’t have a TV, so entertainment was either cards or games. Back in those days, toys weren’t in abundance, and I remember my father created homemade jigsaws by sticking covers of magazines on wood and then cutting them up. I thought they were fantastic.
Then once I was married, my late husband regularly bought me new jigsaws – often puzzles with 5,000 or 6,000 pieces – because he appreciated how much I enjoyed them. He was a keen antiques collector and discovered these old dissection puzzles, which didn’t interlock and simply butted up to each other.
They were first created in the mid-18th century as educational tools. Over the years we built up a wide collection and then, in 1985, we were two of the founder members of the Benevolent Confraternity of Dissectologists (BCD), a club for jigsaw enthusiasts. We have over 300 members and last year I travelled to a weekend meeting in Coventry, where we spent the entire time doing jigsaws and chatting about our shared passion.
Puzzles de-stress me. If I have things on my mind, concentrating on what piece goes where distracts me from my worries. I’ve noticed my ability to work out a puzzle has improved as I’ve aged. I am quicker to assemble them and rarely refer to the guidance picture. I’ll happily do a complicated jigsaw that turns up as a bundle of pieces in a plastic bag with no picture.
At home, I tend to spread my puzzle out on a table, regularly coming back to it to have another go. My preference is a 1,000-piece modern jigsaw, but my son recently gave me a 30-piece one which was totally black… It was tricky, but I managed it.
I also play bridge, and in recent years the bidding sequence has become more complex, but I find I am able to understand these different systems, which means I am regularly learning something new. And the more I practice this, my ability to remember is noticeably better.
Our gaming can go on for up to three hours and I’ll be totally immersed. I have the patience to keep going and the motivation to do well. Keeping my brain active keeps me more alert generally in my day-to-day life. I seem able to focus better overall on tasks like sorting my finances or upgrading the cable TV box. I probably spend more time now on jigsaw puzzles than I did when I was younger. It’s a classic case of the more you do, the more you do.
‘Working in my late 70s keeps my mind agile and hungry to learn’
“My brain has always been agile, but I’d say my ability to grasp the meaning of people’s stories has sharpened with age.
These days, my brain isn’t clogged up with the minutiae of life. As we get older, our existence tends to become simpler; there are no longer young children to ferry around and dinner parties for 10 are a thing of the stressful past. Older age usually means there is space and time to concentrate. It means my memory is fully firing, so I can remember the details of what a person is going through.
In any one week I might have up to 20 cases and it’s very important that I hold people in my mind in order to support them with compassion. If they return, even after some years, I can usually recall their stories in detail, so perhaps my work quite naturally sharpens memory. It’s a different pathway from being made to learn chunks of poetry by heart at school.
I find I am quick to “scan” a couple. They bring their history into the counselling room and I must listen intently to what they are saying – and not saying. My mind is considering their words, also picking up on unspoken visual clues and body language. There may be fierce arguments, but I’ll be wondering if behind the anger there is fear or sadness? I must be an observer of people and to be good at that, I need a brain that is alert and emotionally intelligent.
My work does for me what others at my age might get by playing bridge or learning a new language. As a counsellor, you are always learning. From clients certainly, but academically too. I recently took an extra course on grief.
I’m reading about intergenerational trauma and how autism presents in girls and women. As my head teacher used to say, “learning is lifelong”. If you keep that habit, you will always be curious about what’s going on. And I am hungrier these days to learn than when I was younger. My inner voice says, ‘Yes you can do this at your age, even your age’.
I love my work with all its challenges and, heading into my 80s, it’s a privilege to have a purposeful, people-centred career that no one has told me I must end. I couldn’t wish for more.”
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