mind & body
The Aging Brain
Why Older May Be Better
by Sandra Bond Chapman, Ph.D.
hen do you think your brain
was operating at its peak
performance? I ask this
question frequently because
it always amazes me how
people respond. Invariably, they throw out
ages at least ten to twenty years younger
than they are currently. “When I was fifty,”
W
The typical reaction reflects the assumption
that our best brain years are behind us:
I was smartest twenty years ago, when I
could remember phone numbers without a
second thought.
I was smartest when I was in college, when
I could absorb facts like a sponge.
We live believing our best brain years are in the past.
say some, while others say, “When I was
twenty-five,” and still others, “When I was
six years old”— all are ages that I frequently
hear.
I was smartest when I
was in my thirties, with
intellectual energy that
never waned.
I was smartest when I
was three years old; every day my knowledge increased dramatically.
Then I ask people, if you think you were
smarter back then, could you perform what
you are doing today, say, some twenty or
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thirty years ago? Not likely. Then why do
we think we were sharper back then and
not now? It is appalling that in a world
where more people are living to be older
than ever before, aging is still seen as a
form of disease. We have grown to fully
expect that cognitive decline is an inevitable
consequence of aging, even though the
majority of seniors aged eighty-five and
older manifest a potential for well-preserved intellect, capacity for new learning,
and sound decision making. We live believing our best brain years are in the past.
Brain aging is not, in fact, a vexation to be
avoided; rather, it is a developmental
process that adds valuable perspective to
the brain’s existing higher-order thinking
abilities. Your brain may be getting older;