Scientists from Harvard Medical School and Hebrew SeniorLife in the USA stated that walking and speaking skills begin to decline at an average age of 55, so research should start at middle age, rather than basing dementia at 65 years of age.
“We evaluated a large number of people aged 40 to 64 years and observed that the ability to walk under normal, quiet conditions remains relatively constant in this age range,” lead researcher Junhong Zhou said in a statement.
“However, even in this relatively healthy population, we were able to observe subtle but significant changes in gait from the middle of the sixth decade of life when we asked participants to walk and perform a mental arithmetic task at the same time.” said.
640 PEOPLE REVIEWED
Researchers observed 640 Spanish participants attempting to multitask between May 2018 and July 2020. The study was published last week in The Lancet Healthy Longevity.
“Dual-task performance in the fields of neurology and aging is an important indicator of brain health. This age-related decline in double-duty walking may indicate at a much earlier age when interventions should begin.” said.
The researchers explained that they attributed the decreased cognition and memory to the shrinking of the frontal lobe and hippocampus, and to a slowdown in the production of chemical messengers in the brain as people age.
“We hope our work will spur future research to explore lifestyle and other modifiable factors that support maintenance of dual-task performance into old age, and interventions that target these factors,” Zhou said. he added.
