Build up a brain buffer!
Mental processing speed starts to slow down as early as our thirties, so that is the time to start making deposits into the brain account. With a large cognitive reserve, the brain has a better chance of finding ways to compensate for ageing, helping us keep it in shape.
A healthy brain is a prerequisite for a long life. Dementia is not just about forgetfulness; it also involves the destruction of nerve cells in the brain, gradually impairing its control over the body’s functions. But even normal ageing means that mental processing slows down. As early as our thirties, the brain’s ability to receive, interpret and respond to information – our processing speed – begins to decline. With increasing age, it becomes harder to juggle many things at once and to remember personal events, such as what you had for dinner. But how we cope with an ageing brain is influenced by how we have trained it throughout life.
A healthy brain is a prerequisite for a long life
“You can have disease processes in the brain as you grow older without them showing outwardly, if you have a cognitive reserve,” says Marie Claire Overton, who researches ageing and cognition at Lund University and Skåne University Hospital as part of the GÅS study, Good Ageing in Skåne.
In increasingly better shape
The study began in 2001 and has now included more than 6,000 participants aged 60 to over 100. Every six years, the physical health, cognition, mental health and ability to manage everyday tasks of people aged 60 and over are assessed, while they are also asked about quality of life. Participants aged 80 and over undergo the same comprehensive medical examination every three years. New participants are also added to the study every six years, making it possible to compare generations. And the trend that is emerging is a hopeful one.
“More recent generations are in better physical and mental shape. They smoke less, are less sedentary and less depressed. They are more active, faster and stronger – except when it comes to grip strength, which has remained the same over time.”
For a long time, we have been getting healthier and living longer thanks to better living conditions and healthcare. The fact that more people discover high blood pressure and start medication in time also helps. But one cause for concern is that today’s 60-year-olds and 81-year-olds weigh more than earlier generations.
“Obesity and a higher BMI weaken the protective factors for healthy ageing and increase the risks to cognition.”
Men get hearing aids too late
Getting a hearing aid in time has also proved important for keeping cognition intact. Here, men stand out for not addressing hearing problems early enough, before cognition is affected by the overload caused when the brain has to work harder to interpret sounds and speech. This constant effort draws resources away from other cognitive functions. But overall, the GÅS results show that a range of abilities linked to memory, attention and problem-solving are improving at group level.
“Older people today are quicker at solving cognitive tasks and have slightly better episodic memory, meaning they remember events better.”
This may be because more and more people have a higher level of education, which is a known protective factor for cognition. The brain is malleable, plastic, and the more it has been trained to structure and process different kinds of information, the better. All physical activity, and endurance training in particular, also benefits memory and concentration. Social life is also of central importance.
“Through social interaction, we build a cognitive reserve that helps us manage stress and reduce depression, two factors that impair our cognition.”
Marie Claire Overton has also researched the importance of sleep. The older we get, the worse we sleep. We become more easily disturbed, and needing to get up during the night to use the bathroom is normal. In that case, a daytime nap can often seem tempting.
“A power nap of no more than half an hour is fine, as early in the day as possible and preferably before 14:00. You should avoid falling into deep sleep and waking up groggy, because that will disturb valuable night-time sleep.”
If you need to sleep more than nine hours a day, there is an association with developing dementia. Too little sleep, less than seven hours, has also been linked to poorer cognition and dementia.
Cognitive sex differences
There are sex differences in cognition, and in cognitive tests women perform better in verbal fluency and episodic memory. Men, meanwhile, perform slightly better in spatial ability and digit span. These differences are also clear at an advanced age. But for both men and women, a holistic view of health is needed in order to make regular deposits into the brain account.
“It’s the interplay between the different factors that matters. Looking after your sleep, being physically and socially active, keeping track of your blood pressure, and seeking help in time for both mental ill health and hearing problems. We need all of these elements for healthy ageing.”
Text and photo: Jenny Loftrup
The article was previously published in the journal Vetenskap & Hälsa, 2026.