How Our Cognitive Abilities Decline as We Age – And 8 Things We Can Do About It

Keith Richards once described getting old as “fascinating.” “The older you get, the older you want to get.”

Richards, who recently turned 80, may be fascinated, but many of the rest of us are worried about aging and the challenges that come with it. In fact, two-thirds of Americans, responding to a recent MDVIP/IPSOS survey, said they’re concerned about Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

While dementia and Alzheimer’s are not natural parts of aging, some slowing down is. Like our physical health, aging affects our cognitive health. But how much is somewhat under our control.

First, what actually happens to our cognitive abilities as we age? Normal age-related declines are fairly subtle and generally affect the speed of our thinking and our ability to focus or pay attention. And, of course, they affect our memory and recall.  

As we age, our processing speed declines. Think of this like a computer — the older it gets, the more time it takes to analyze and respond to information. Our reaction times slow, possibly due to the aging of our nervous system. More complex tasks can also slow our performance. Some experts also think our attention span and ability to concentrate also wane with age, a hypothesis called inhibitory deficit. Researchers think we may struggle to tune out unnecessary information, a process that’s easier in our youth.

When this happens, aspects of our memory may begin to suffer in varying degrees: the encoding, storage and retrieval processes required for long-term memory; working memory and our ability to register information into consciousness; the part of our brain that’s active at rest while processing internal stimuli known as the default network; and our episodic memory and ability to recall events.

We may also suffer declines in our implicit, source and prospective memories. Implicit memories are information that we retain unconsciously. For example, riding a bike, remembering the words to a song when someone else first sings a few words or buttoning a shirt. Source memories are things we remember based on an experience. And prospective memories are our memories of things we plan to do in the future – pay a bill, call a friend or make an appointment.

We might also struggle with our ability to quickly retrieve information. There’s actually a “clinical” term for this: Tip of your tongue. We may also forget related things while retrieving something else, a phenomenon known as retrieval-induced forgetting.

Language is another core cognitive function that may show some decline as we age. Research shows that our abilities to converse, read and write at a basic level remain mostly intact. But our speaking and writing becomes simpler, our processing speed as we read slows, we remember fewer details while retaining the gist. Rambling and verbal perseveration, when someone fixates on words or an idea, may increase, and we may experience an increase in words we let slip that we would normally hold back.

These are all examples of cognitive challenges that are may happen with aging. But they may be episodic or affect people differently. Or they may not happen at all. Here are some steps, the National Institute on Aging says you can take to prevent these cognitive challenges:

Take care of your whole body: 
Get recommended health screenings. Managing chronic conditions like diabetes and heart disease. Work with your doctor to make sure you’re on the right medications and dosages and that you’re taking them at the right times. Treat hearing and vision loss. Get enough sleep, reduce your risk of falls and stop smoking if you currently do it.

Manage hypertension: 
High blood pressure in your 40s, 50s and 60s can lead to cognitive decline later in life. Get your blood pressure screened at least once a year with your doctor. Treatment can lower cognitive risks — especially dementia — substantially.

Eat a healthy diet:
Eating a balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lean meats like fish and poultry can keep your brain healthy. Take it easy on solid fats, sugar and salt, while controlling portion sizes.

Keep exercising:
You should get at least 150 minutes of exercise every week. Your doctor can help you determine what’s best for you. Exercise has been shown to reduce dementia risks and boost cognitive function, increasing the size of the hippocampus and improving memory.

Stay mentally engaged:
Try a new hobby or language — studies show that older adults who kept learning performed better cognitively than those who stopped.

Stay socially active:
Having regular contact with family, friends and others in your community ward off loneliness and depression, both of which are linked to cognitive decline. Studies show that even digital connections – Internet calls and some types of social media can help you stay connected and reduce risk.

Take care of your mental health:
Poor mental health can steal years from our life. People who suffer from mental health conditions live on average 10 years less – and also suffer worse cognitive outcomes. Don’t ignore depression, anxiety or stress.

Understand how medicines can affect the brain
Often, cognitive issues in older adults can be related to medications. Allergy meds, sleep aids, muscle relaxers, antipsychotics, urinary incontinence meds and even drugs that relieve stomach cramps can affect cognitive health. Talk to your doctor about the medications you take.

There are no guarantees that you won’t experience some cognitive changes as you age — but working with your primary care doctor and following the tips above can help.