Impacts of Aging on Cognition
When we get older, our physical abilities can slowly start to decline. Sometimes, our cognitive abilities will degrade as well. Muscles and bones start to reduce in size as we age. As a result, our limbs’ density, flexibility, endurance, and strength are impacted. People can become a bit shorter with age or have severe bone and muscle damage, depending on the situation. In addition to the physical effects of aging, the brain is also affected by age. Things like short-term memory can be early signs of cognitive decline.
However, memory is just the start of some of the potential cognitive impacts of aging. While modern scientific breakthroughs are providing hope in things like the klotho protein to help mitigate the negative signs of aging, there are many impacts of aging that, for the time being, are a natural part of life.
Learning Ability and Aging
Our age has a direct impact on our ability to learn new things. An early example of this can be seen in our ability to learn a new language. As we age, the ability to learn and process a new language declines rapidly. Babies can become native speakers of more than one language early on, while adults can find it harder to pick up a second language later in life.
As we get older, more and more things become difficult to learn. For example, our reaction time and thinking speed slow down, and it can be more difficult to make original associations between objects and experiences. Luckily, when memory starts to decline we can combat some of the effects of aging by training our brain with mind games and staying healthy.
Sensory Perception and Aging
Sensory loss is a significant part of the aging process. Usually, hearing is the first sensory ability to go, starting sometimes as early as age 30. By 80 years of age, over 70% of hearing can be gone. This can result in sound discrimination and sound localization, which decreases hearing range significantly.
Our sense of taste, touch, smell, and sight can also start to be impacted as we age. This can result in the need for glasses later in life, often starting with reading glasses and eventually developing into bifocals or trifocals.
Multitasking With Age
Losing the ability to multitask effectively or split our attention is another area that can be impacted by aging. While we age, processing speed and attention span can be altered. For this reason, the ability to split attention between objects and experiences can be limited.
How Klotho Protein Might Help
Proteins make up our body and our brain. They are the building blocks of our biological cells that contain information, which also makes them vital in the aging process. You might think that protein only affects how much muscle you put on, but proteins are essential to your brain function as well. Klotho is one such protein that has been associated with cognitive function.
Studies have shown that those deficient in the klotho protein are more likely to develop cognitive impairments and a massive onset of aging resulting in cognitive impairment. Even muscle and bone density decline has been shown to be correlated to the amount of klotho we have in our systems.
As a result, klotho protein is being used to treat aging cognitive function and prevent terminal illnesses related to brain function such as Alzheimer’s or dementia. In addition, it has shown a remarkable ability to help those who take it prevent the early onset degrading of age-related cognitive impairment. Aging is a natural part of life. As we age our bodies and our minds change. Luckily, with modern science and technology, there is hope that we can mitigate the negative side effects of aging and live long and productive lives.
Sources:
https://theconversation.com/why-the-baby-brain-can-learn-two-languages-at-the-same-time-57470
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4906299/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6091049/
