An ageing brain becomes less capable of perceiving sensations, processing information, creating and storing memories, and learning, as some neurons die due to normal aging, disease, or injury.

However, maintaining a healthy brain through physical and mental exercise, as well as medical treatments, can improve life in later years. Education, sensory challenges, cognitive puzzles, and exercises to improve blood flow, balance, and muscle mass help the body’s most important organ. Learn how our senses change as we age.

Vision and hearing

The eyes and ears suffer most dramatically over the years. Almost everyone over the age of 55 needs corrective lenses, at least part-time. Some studies have found that vision problems in older people are associated with mental decline. The reason is unclear, but logic suggests that deteriorating vision in reading and hand-eye coordination may limit the ability to do brain-strengthening exercises.

Hearing also worsens, and the ability to hear high-pitched sounds is the first to disappear.

Smell and taste

Smell and taste are closely related, and after the age of 50, both begin to gradually diminish. The membranes that cover the nose become thinner and drier, and the nerves responsible for smell deteriorate. Elderly people can detect strong odours, but detecting subtle odours is more difficult.
As people age, the number of taste buds also decreases, and those that remain become less sensitive. These changes tend to reduce the ability to taste sweet and salty more than acid and bitter. Therefore, some foods may taste bitter.

Due to the decline in smell and taste as people age, many foods may seem bland. The mouth tends to become dry more frequently, further reducing the ability to taste flavours. Additionally, many older adults have illnesses or take medications that contribute to dry mouth. Due to these changes, elderly people may eat less, which may lead them to situations of nutritional risk.

Memory

Ageing weakens memory. Normal memory degradation affects both recent and distant past events. Elderly people also lose some working memory, the “mental desktop” that allows them to hold and manipulate information for a few seconds.

An older brain may try to force itself to remember uncertain information by turning to the frontal lobes to aid memory, but PET scans reveal that they have a harder time activating them. However, there are practical ways to combat memory loss, including physical exercise.

Interestingly, aerobic exercise seems a little better for verbal memory, and weight training a little better for associative memory, that is, the ability to remember things in context.

Despite the gradual decline of our senses as we age, except for decreased processing speed, a healthy mature brain performs as well as a younger one in any task that requires planning, analysing, and organising information. Some areas of mental capacity even increase with age. For example, in the absence of disease, an older brain has more vocabulary and finer language skills.
And here’s something that deserves our full attention: optimistic older people live longer than pessimistic ones.

For more information please contact Grupo HPA Saude on (+351) 282 420 400.