[ramraj07]

Do you have advice on how to keep your intellect intact? Many of my older relatives can barely think through things at 0.1x the speed they had even a decade back, if they even bother to think through anything. However, very old people in academia seemed to remain very sharp well into their seventies (some study suggested that they can be as sharp as a regular 25 yo). I guess it's good to keep reading and constantly use your brain, but any more solid actionable habits might be useful!

[every]

Anything I can offer will be anecdotal. I have been placed somewhere on the autistic spectrum so perhaps that is a factor. People who constantly think and wrestle with things are driven to do so. Those who don't, aren't. I know of no way to manipulate or adjust this difference. I would say the thing to avoid at every turn is calcification, if you can...

[nradov]

Keep your cardiovascular system healthy. In many older people the loss of intellect is simply caused by insufficient glucose and oxygen reaching the brain. Everything is connected; intellect isn't some separate quality that can be maintained on its own.

Of course some people start from a higher baseline and so a slight loss of intellect is less noticeable.

[travisjungroth]

There might be a bit of circular reasoning about the old academics. People who lose their cognition don’t stay academics. It’d be interesting to see a cohort analysis starting at 40.

[naasking]

Exactly, survivorship bias.

[Mikeb85]

I only have anecdotes but most of my older relatives have reached 90+ years old and none lost their cognition. They all stayed pretty active (Ukrainian farmers and housewives) and independent. All were also quite social, inquisitive despite not being educated, ate pretty traditional diets, etc... There's definite links between cognition and physical exercise so I'm thinking that probably plays a pretty big role.

[rramadass]

There have been studies done on healthy and long lived Okinawans from Japan and people from certain mountainous villages in Italy (see youtube for videos). The current consensus seems to be;

* A healthy and controlled diet.

* Regular activity of various kinds.

* A inclusive and healthy social life.

* A positive frame of mind with less worries.

The above may seem simplistic, but if you think about it that is all it takes.

[danbmil99]

you should try to separate mental speed from intellectual capacity. Many older folk are perfectly capable of understanding things, but their minds don't necessarily operate at the same clock speed they did when they were in their 20s.

[scollet]

Well I'm not in that age group, but my dad reads every day and does some Python on the side. I don't think he's ever coded before, but he's interested in new things every day.