science

Some people just seem to age, for lack of a better term, better than the rest of us. Take Paul Rudd, who hasn't aged a day in 30 years and may actually be getting visibly younger in front of our very eyes.

But aging gracefully goes far beyond just how you look or even move. The thing we really want to keep as we get older is our brain power, our mental faculties, and specifically our memory. When humans get into their 80s and beyond, these become incredibly precious.

There's actually a name for people over the age of 80 whose cognitive abilities and memory rival the average 50-year-old. They're called SuperAgers.

SuperAgers have been a source of fascination in the scientific community for a long time, as they may hold the answers for how all of us can live not just longer, but healthier and happier lives.

One research team at Northwestern University has been studying the brains of SuperAgers for the last 25 years. They just recently published their first batch of findings in the Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association.

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The team identified SuperAgers primarily using a delayed word recall test. It's a commonly used assessment in identifying Alzheimer's Disease and involves subjects being presented with a list of words and asking them to recall them after some amount of time has passed, often around 10 minutes.

According to the study, your average 80-year-old does about half as well as your average 50-year-old on these kinds of recall tests.

There are many different kinds of memory and cognitive function that can be measured, but the researchers focused on this one, called episodic memory, because "Episodic memory function ... is the faculty with the most decline during average aging and also the area of cognition that triggers frequent complaints in older individuals."

Tamar Gefen, one of the authors, says less than 10% of people over the age of 80 are SuperAgers. But, wow, are they impressive. CNN recently highlighted a woman named Carol Siegler who won her age group in the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament at 82-years-old and regularly auditions for Jeopardy! despite closing in on her 90th birthday.

So what are the SuperAgers doing right that the other 90% of us aren't? Here are some highlights from the study:

1. SuperAgers both drank alcohol and abstained. They ate clean and nutritious, or they ate lots of junk. Some exercised regularly and others did not. Overall, the subjective "health" of their lifestyle was not a major factor.

Exercise is great for your health, but not all SuperAgers were fitness nuts. Photo by Joseph Corl on Unsplash

You've heard of the health nuts that live long and virile lives, but you've probably also heard of the 100-something-year-old man who swears by a bottle of whiskey a day. The Northwestern research backs up both stories.

At least when it came to their brains and cognitive function, SuperAgers haven't done anything drastically different than the average person—which is an encouraging sign. After all, nobody's perfect.

2. There were two major things most of the SuperAgers had in common: They were outgoing and often involved in many activities.

The study specifically observes that most of the participants were "gregarious."

It's a chicken-and-the-egg scenario, for sure. Whether they were an outgoing bunch because of how sharp their brains still were, or whether their penchant for joking around and trying new things somehow helped them age better isn't for certain. But it's extremely intriguing that the correlation was so strong in the findings.

3. Much of the difference between SuperAgers and average agers came down to biological differences in the brain.

The brains of SuperAgers were different in a few key areas. Photo by Shawn Day on Unsplash

Our brain mass decreases overall as we age, particularly in the cerebral cortex which is involved in memory, learning, and cognitive function. It's a process called cortical thinning.

The researchers at Northwestern were able to determine that SuperAgers experienced less cortical thinning than their peers, so they were able to maintain more brain mass through aging. It's possible they are also born with larger brains and able to withstand more of the loss. Some areas of the SuperAgers brains were even thicker and more developed than adults 30 years younger, particularly an area associated with "homeostasis; motivation; emotion; and, most importantly, social networking and affiliative behaviors."

Finally, SuperAger brains are somehow better able to protect themselves against Alzheimer's Disease.

"What we realized is there are two mechanisms that lead someone to become a SuperAger," author Sandra Weintraub said. "One is resistance: they don't make the plaques and tangles [key components of Alzheimer's Disease]. Two is resilience: they make them, but they don't do anything to their brains."

This isn't something your average person can replicate, most likely, but don't fret: It could open up exciting new doors into Alzheimer's Treatment and prevention one day if this ability could be harnessed in some kind of medication or therapy.

80-year-olds that have the brain power and memory of people half their age definitely seem to have some biological advantages. But that doesn't mean it's all sheer luck.

There are steps anyone can take to maintain their brain function as they get older. Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

Lee Lindquist, a geriatrician at Northwestern, recommends a few habits that can help anyone age more gracefully and stay sharper for longer.

Though not always a major factor for SuperAgers, other studies have shown that poor physical fitness and BMI can heighten your chances of getting Alzheimer's Disease, so regular exercise and activity is still important.

Next up: Continue to challenge yourself. Famously, Dr. Sanjay Gupta says that discovering new things and "stretching" the brain is key to brain health as we get older. It helps create new neural pathways instead of letting them corrode. Lindquist agrees, writing, "Try reading an article on a subject with which you’re unfamiliar, or take classes that put you outside your comfort zone." Or, you could always try out for Jeopardy!

Third, it's important to prioritize social connection as we get older. The SuperAgers are social butterflies, which might just come naturally to them or could be related to how their brains age, but either way, we know that loneliness is horrible for your health in the long run.

"While we can’t guarantee that you’ll never get Alzheimer’s Disease if you have a strong social network, it’s an important part of the lifestyle decisions we can make—like diet and exercise—that can contribute to living better, longer,” says Dr. Lindquist.

Finally, remember that it's OK to indulge sometimes, in moderation. SuperAgers with razor sharp brains rarely abstained from sweets and alcohol or lived in the gym. A healthy lifestyle and diet is important, but not at the cost of finding joy, fun, and social connection in everyday life.

It's safe to say that most of us would like to live a long life, especially if our brains stay sharp and active into our twilight years.

We'd like to remember our lives vividly, have strong friendships, enjoy hobbies, and form connections with our grandkids and great-grandkids and maybe even great-great-grandkids one day. There's no guarantee any of us will win the genetic lottery when it comes to our brain structure, but there are things each of us can do to ensure we have the best chance at such a future.