With mean survival  age on its rise, Quality of life is of importance than the quantity of life .Remaining mentally active at 65yrs depicts our life 6 years later. Here is a reason to keep your grey cells always active!

Background: Preservation of cognitive abilities is required to have a good quality of life. The predictive value of cognitive functioning at 65 years old on successful ageing 6 years later is not established.

Methods: Nine hundred and seventy-six questionnaires were sent by mail to a sample of healthy and voluntary French pensioners. Successful ageing was defined through health status and well-being. Cognitive abilities had been assessed 6 years earlier according to an objective method (Free and Cued Selective Recall Reminding Test (FCSRT), the Benton visual retention test and the similarities subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised) and a subjective one (Goldberg’s anxiety scale, Mac Nair’s scale and a Visual Analogue Scale to evaluate memory abilities change in the last 5 years).

Results: Six hundred and eighty-six questionnaires could be analysed. The mean age was 72.9 ± 1.2 years old. Well-being was negatively correlated with the FCSRT  but positively related with the Benton  and the similarities tests . There is a negative correlation between anxious and cognitive complaints measured at baseline, and successful ageing indicators 6 years later.

Conclusion: Preservation of cognitive abilities at the age of retirement can predict a successful ageing 6 years later.

Ref: http://ageing.oxfordjournals.org/content/40/2/259.abstract

For:  Allopaths, AYUSH