HOW THE BRAIN AND NEUROLOGICAL SYSTEM AGE
From the day we’re born, the motor skills and psychological development each of us is given vary to some degree. Though children can be expected to develop at more or less the same rate when it comes to acquiring skills such as walking and talking, when we reach our 50s, a gap begins to form. Among people over 65, the differences in ability between people of the same age can be quite striking. For instance, on the one hand, there’s George Burns, who’s been active for so long that he’s been compared to the Duracell bunny: he just keeps going. On the other hand, there are thousands of beds in nursing homes that contain men and women twenty and thirty years younger than Mr. Burns.
However, the vast majority of seniors are able to function at high levels of ability, due in part to the dramatic increase of 25 years in life expectancy in the United States since 1900. And as a result, the numbers of Americans over the age of 65 over the next 50 years will increase as well; today, there are nearly 3 million Americans 85 years of age or older; less than a quarter of them are living in nursing homes. In fact, contrary to popular belief, only 5% of Americans over the age of 65 are in nursing homes. Your golden years can be active, happy ones if you stay healthy and follow good habits—like proper diet and exercise. Genetics can help, but you can improve your chances for living well into your 90s if you take care of your health when you’re still in your 40s.
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