Most of us dread the thought of getting older, but new research suggests an unexpected benefit of ageing: our mental functioning peaks between the ages of 55 and 60.<\/p>\n
While previous studies have found that humans reach their physical peak in their mid-twenties to early thirties, researchers in Australia found that our psychological processing abilities continue to improve. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s welcome news for those questioning whether it\u2019s too late to pivot careers or take up new hobbies, but also highlights the value older minds bring to society. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile several abilities decline with age, they\u2019re balanced by growth in other important traits,\u201d Gilles Gignac, co-author of the study and professor of psychology at the University of Western Australia, told The Conversation<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cCombined, these strengths support better judgment and more measured decision-making \u2013 qualities that are crucial at the top,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n The study, which was published in the journal Intelligence<\/a>, was conducted by first identifying 16 core psychological characteristics. These included cognitive abilities such as reasoning and memory, along with the ‘big five’ personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. <\/p>\n The researchers then used pre-existing data sets to measure how each trait evolved over lifespans, which in turn revealed a \u201cstriking pattern\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cOverall mental functioning peaked between ages 55 and 60, before beginning to decline from around 65,\u201d Gignac wrote. \u201cThat decline became more pronounced after age 75, suggesting that later-life reductions in functioning can accelerate once they begin\u201d. <\/p>\n Notably, certain individual traits peaked even later in life, including conscientiousness at 65 and emotional stability at 75. <\/p>\n Age is just a number<\/p>\n For a long time, it was believed that humans\u2019 cognitive abilities peaked in their 20s, plateaued in middle age, then gradually declined. A growing body of research has long since disproved this, showing evidence that the brain continues to change and develop throughout our lives.<\/p>\n However, the contexts and specificities of each individual\u2019s brain functions make it incredibly difficult to establish a broader consensus on when exactly our mental functions peak: while certain traits might strengthen for some, others will weaken. <\/p>\n \u201cIt is hard to decide which aspects of cognition are most important to study,\u201d Mischa von Krause, a researcher at Heidelberg University in Germany, told Euronews Health. \u201cTheir relative importance probably greatly depends on the context and research question at hand\u201d. <\/p>\n