The brain as an organ in the body weighs about three pounds. It has roughly one trillion (1,000 billion) nerve cells called “neurons.” EACH of these cells has connections to 10,000 other neurons in the brain.
Undeniable changes
There are undeniable changes in brain structure and how the brain operates over time. Mental decline, however, is not a given. Processing speed slows down for sure. It takes more time to learn new things than when we were younger. We may be more easily distracted as we get older. And multitasking may not be an effective strategy.
Still able to grow and change
That said, the brain is remarkably versatile. Unless there is disease present, the brain has the ability to regenerate itself, even in old age. We never stop building new neurons. If we stimulate the brain to learn new things, it is remarkably compliant. We may not be as speedy, but age in and of itself does not make us any less smart or creative than we were in our younger years.
There are many components to mental activities. Here are a few that are especially important in aging:
There are many, many conditions that contribute to memory issues. And age is certainly a “risk factor” for Alzheimer’s, stroke, and other brain illnesses. While some memory loss comes with age, absent disease, the symptoms referred to as “dementia” are not a normal part of aging.
What happens to memory in the normally aging brain?
Short-term or “working memory” does decline Absent a brain disease, there are aspects of memory that decline with normal aging. Working memory, for instance, is your personal “RAM” (random access memory). It’s the processing power for topics that we are currently thinking about—for instance, when we are receiving new instructions or juggling multiple inputs to make a decision. That’s why learning new tasks or making decisions on the fly may seem more taxing as we get older.
The normal forgetfulness of agingForgetfulness is the inability to retrieve information we think we have committed to memory. Normal forgetfulness falls into two basic categories:
Can’t retrieve it quickly. It’s not that the fact or the recollection of an event is gone altogether. With the normal forgetfulness of aging, that stored item just isn’t as easy to find as it used to be. The older brain quite simply has more to sort through than a younger brain does. And the speed of the sorting is slower. Often a person will remember the “lost” word later in the conversation or the next day, when the pressure is off.
Had it, but it slipped away. This is what is called “short-term memory” or “working memory.” And it definitely gets shorter and less reliable as we age. It’s what causes us to forget what we went into the bedroom to retrieve. Or why we have to write down a phone number or look twice as we key it in. Our personal RAM simply isn’t what it used to be. Inconvenient, yes. Frustrating, sometimes. A sign of a larger problem, no.
Forgetting serves a purpose It’s important to keep memory in perspective. This is not to deny the impact of a brain disease. But a little forgetting is not a terrible thing. It’s actually quite healthy in a normal brain.
Not all memories are worth saving or retrieving!
Our brains continue to take in new data all the time.
There simply isn’t room to store all the details of all the things we have ever experienced over all the years.
It’s quite adaptive of the brain to jettison some facts or events in favor of keeping others that are much more critical to our survival.
What types of memory stay the same or improve? While short-term memory declines with age, other types of memory stay the same. Barring a brain disease, these types of memory tend to be pretty stable over the years:
Memories of major emotional events. Those turning points in life where we suddenly realized things were quite different than we had thought. They can be happy strokes of joy or insight, such as the day we got married or the birth of a child. Or they can be sad or upsetting events (9/11, or the day President Kennedy was shot).
Skills that become second nature. Taking a shower, tying a shoelace, or riding a bike. We don’t even have to engage our conscious mind to do them much. We have a body memory of how to do them. We may be slower, but we haven’t forgotten how.
Accuracy improves. While memory recall is slower for older adults than for those who are younger, speed is not everything. It turns out that older adults are more cautious and focus on accuracy. As a rule, older adults remember facts more accurately than do people of younger generations.
When memory loss is a problem
There is no denying that brain conditions that affect memory are more common in our later years. They are not a “normal” part of aging. They are a sign of a brain disease.
Signs that something more serious may be going on include
difficulty with a common task, such as cooking a meal
trouble balancing the checkbook when it used to be easy
not recognizing people you see regularly
problems judging distance, even with glasses
putting things away in odd places
fairly sudden mood swings or personality changes
changes in personal hygiene
Of the many conditions that produce dementia symptoms, some may be treatable—depression, side effects from a medication, a surgically removable brain tumor. Common conditions that result in dementia are
Alzheimer’s disease (the most common)
Strokes that affect the memory part of the brain (vascular dementia)
Lewy body dementia
Parkinson’s disease
If you are concerned, get a full neurological workup. We can help you find the appropriate doctors and be sure you get all the tests needed to paint an accurate picture.
What is intelligence? It’s not just book learning or the ability to take tests. (Although, ironically, books and tests do tend to be the way we measure intelligence!) In reality, intelligence is much more than memorizing facts or solving math problems. It’s about how we navigate the world—how we solve problems, make decisions, and adapt to change. As we age, these abilities don’t just fade. In many ways, they can get sharper or at least stay the same.
So what exactly is intelligence, and how does it evolve over time?
A definition At its simplest, intelligence is the ability to perceive what is around us and process many different types of input. Based on what we notice, we then make decisions about what we want to do to achieve a desired goal.
Types of intelligence Intelligence involves logic and language. Planning and problem solving are also part of the intelligence equation. Howard Gardner, a professor of education at Harvard, found IQ tests too limiting in what they measured. He proposed multiple types of intelligence:
Changes in mental processing As mentioned in the context of memory, the speed of our brains definitely slows down with age. It takes longer to learn new things.
In a normal aging brain, reasoning and solving problems—especially if they require new skills or new information—take a hit on timed laboratory tests.
Attention span gets shorter as we age.
Concentration can become more difficult. It’s easier to get distracted and move our focus to something new. This may be part of the problem with short-term memory. We drop what we were working on and replace it with a new item of interest.
Mental abilities that defy even brain disease With so much fear about Alzheimer’s and memory loss, people forget that there are different aspects to our mental capabilities. These mental skills remain and sometimes get keener, even in the face of dementia:
Music and singing! In this case, even people with advanced dementia who are unable to talk much can still sing along with a favorite song. And someone who was musically inclined in youth will retain that gift unless other nonmental diseases get in the way (arthritis, for instance).
Intuition or emotional perception. If you have ever spent time with an older relative who has moderate dementia, you will recognize that they become very perceptive emotionally. While they may not follow words as much, they definitely track tone of voice. Adult children who adopt the view that they are “parenting their parent” quickly get called up short on that one. A parent will always be a parent. And people with dementia, unless it is quite advanced, know what disrespect sounds like. That skill does not go away.
What stays the same or improves?
Our vocabulary and ability to process language stays the same or even expands as we get older. Retrieval may slow down. And hearing impairments may bring challenges to verbal communication. But the core language faculties in the brain stay the same.
The physical skills we have learned and use regularly tend to stay the same. (Think of riding the proverbial bicycle.) Absent a brain disease, it’s generally problems of arthritis or balance that get in the way of performing well-practiced activities.
Comparing and contrasting stays the same. In fact, as we age, we have so much more to draw upon that we often rise to the overview. We notice similarities and draw associations more effectively than do younger adults.
The joy of learning remains. Unless there is a brain disease, most people continue to enjoy learning. As long as the environment is safe and there’s no pressure, we get the same delight in a new perspective or hearing a new story that we experienced as younger adults. Plus, we even enjoy revisiting old stories. Our thinking deepens and we see the value in reflection, even on the familiar.
Challenging the brain to grow Because the brain responds well to new stimulation, you can help your mental capabilities by trying out new things.
Habits are handy. They allow us to do things by rote. We don’t have to take up precious energy focusing on the mundane. Over time, we have learned what we like. And we know the easiest way to achieve it. We are not challenged much and we don’t feel stupid if we do the same things the same way. Very efficient!
Change is stressful. It takes us out of our comfort zone. Change may actually signal a threat. And at the least it can threaten our confidence in our abilities. We know we can cope with the tried and true. We may or may not have the resources or confidence to effectively address a new situation.
If we expose ourselves to new activities, the brain expands. Many people find travel stimulating for this very reason. It brings in new sights, sounds, tastes, and smells. Travel also forces us to do our normal routines in different ways.
We don’t have to travel to break up our routines, however. Walk or drive on a different route now and then. Prepare a new meal. Mix up your daily grooming pattern. Explore a new hobby.
Remember, intelligence is the ability to take in information and process it to reach a desired end. Things are always changing as we age, so staying nimble in the face of change—thinking creatively—is to your benefit. Challenging your brain to look at the same activities in new ways is a great technique for keeping your mind sharp. And creative thinking does not decline with age.
Defining creativity
There are many definitions of creativity. It can be loosely defined as the ability to solve a problem by taking insights from one situation and applying it to another. Artists may do this with a design or aesthetic problem.
Frank Lloyd Wright, for instance, had the problem of how to provide lots of wall space for hanging and viewing art in the Guggenheim Museum. He did not want a building made up of small rectangular rooms. As an answer to that challenge, he designed the now famous spiral building in New York City. He was eighty years old when he designed this masterpiece.
Creativity does not expire Creative thinking is a component of intelligence that does not diminish in the aging brain! There is no expiration date on creativity.
In fact, older adults have so many more experiences to draw from, they have an advantage. With such a superb inventory, they can bring thinking or strategies from one context and apply it to another.
Famous older artists
Verdi was age seventy-two when he composed Otello and seventy-six when he wrote Falstaff.
Picasso painted until he died at age ninety-two.
Bach, Stravinsky, Beethoven, and Monteverdi also composed with innovation right up to the year of their passing.
And physical handicaps do not need to get in the way.
The Spanish painter Goya was very productive in his sixties and seventies despite deafness and needing two pairs of glasses to see.
Georgia O’Keefe did not let failing eyesight get in her way, either. She painted well into her late nineties.
Creativity is not just for artists We don’t have to be artists or musicians to exhibit creativity. Our everyday lives provide numerous opportunities for creatively addressing problems.
Creative thinking in daily life
Dr. Mark E. Williams, author of The Art and Science of Aging Well, tells the story of an older couple in New York. They took the subway late one winter afternoon to get to their son’s apartment for dinner. As they emerged from underground, they realized that the snow was coming down too hard. They would not be able to walk to their son’s apartment. No one was home just yet. And all the taxis were already full with commuters. The gentleman in the couple spied a pizza parlor that advertised home delivery. They went to the restaurant and ordered a pizza to go. When the cashier asked for the address to deliver the pizza, the man asked to ride with the delivery person to their son’s house. They arrived warmly and safely and with dinner in tow. That is creative thinking!
