Feeling young could make your brain age slowly: Study

The saying goes, you’re only as old as you feel and while most people take this with a grain of salt, there’s now scientific evidence to prove it could really be the case.

While everyone grows old, not everyone feels their age. These feelings, known as “subjective age”, could influence the way the brain ages. Using MRI scans, researchers discovered elderly people who feel younger than their real age actually show fewer signs of brain ageing, compared with people who feel their age or feel older than what they are.

The study is the first in the world to find a link between subjective age and brain ageing, with results being published in the Frontiers in Ageing Neuroscience Journal. Researchers are now encouraging older people to start taking better care of their brain health.

“Why do some people feel younger or older than their real age?” asked Dr Jeanyung Chey from the Seoul National University in Korea. “Some possibilities include depressive states, personality differences or physical health, however, no one had investigated brain ageing processes as a possible reason for differences in subjective age.”

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It’s normal for some people to experience cognitive impairment as they age and new techniques have made it possible for researchers to identify brain features directly linked with ageing to determine an estimated brain age.

Dr Chey and other researchers performed MRI brain scans on 68 healthy people aged between 59 and 84 and looked at grey matter volumes in the brain – which are known to reduce in older age. Participants were also asked to answer questions about how old they felt, as well as questions that assessed their cognitive ability and perceptions of their overall health.

Those who felt younger than their actual age were more likely to score higher on a memory test, less likely to be depressed and to have overall better health. They also had increased levels of grey matter volume in key brain regions.

“We found that people who felt younger have the structural characteristics of a younger brain,” Dr Chey said. “Importantly, this difference remains robust even when other possible factors, including personality, subjective health, depressive symptoms, or cognitive functions, are accounted for.”

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Researchers believed people who feel older than their actual age may be able to sense the ageing process in the brain, with their loss of grey matter resulting in cognitive tasks becoming more challenging. Researchers don’t yet know for sure if it is these brain characteristics that are responsible for subjective age, noting more studies need to be carried out to understand the link.

Another hypothesis is people who feel younger are more likely to lead a more physical and mentally active life, which are known to improve brain health. Interestingly, the opposite can be said for people who feel older.

“If somebody feels older than their age, it could be a sign for them to evaluate their lifestyle, habits and activities that could contribute to brain ageing and take measures to better care for their brain health,” Dr Chey concluded.

What do you think? Do you feel younger than your actual age? Do you think it could make your brain healthier?