Researchers have long thought that cognition — the means of
acquiring and processing information about ourselves and our
surroundings, which includes memory and other functions we take
for granted — starts gradually declining when individuals reach
their late 70s. Poor cognition is regarded as one of the most
disabling conditions affecting the elderly and is typically
associated with other age-related health problems, such as
dementia. Scientific literature has typically concluded that
little evidence of cognitive decline before the age of 60
existed, although that opinion was not universally accepted by
experts. There were reportedly frequent debates as to the age
when cognition began diminishing. A new study, published in the
British Medical Journal, finds that cognitive decline begins at
45. Because there have been few studies examining data regarding
age-related decline gathered over several years, this is exactly
the information researchers from Inserm and the University
College London wanted to gather a