You superagers they are elderly people who basically don't feel the time pass. The term in English it has no translation into Portuguese, but it means “super age”, that is, elderly people who are above average because of their disposition. We prepared this article with a lot of information on this subject. Check it out!
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According to Northwestern researchers, to be a superagers you must be over 80 years old and pass the cognitive tests carried out. Approval in the tests only occurs with elderly people who have a memory at a comparative level. In other words, that of ordinary people who are still in their 50s and 60s.
Only 10% of people who take these tests are actually approved. Once they receive the expected “yes”, the superagers are subjected to color 3D scans of the brain. Every year, they perform new tests and brain scans so that researchers can continue to analyze them.
The results over the years have been amazing.
Why are superagers considered different from other seniors?
As people age, the common thing is for the brain to undergo a shrinking process; however, this process occurs more slowly in this group. According to studies, the cerebral cortex – which is the part responsible for memory, thinking and decision-making – remains thicker than that of “ordinary” elderly people.
Studies performed with brains donated from superagers show that they display healthy and larger cells in the Entorhinal cortex, which is one of the first brain areas to be “hit” by the disease Alzheimer's.
With that, after comparisons with cognitively normal brains, those of this group that were studied in laboratories showed that they have about three times less Tau tangles (characteristic sign of Alzheimer's and dementia), in addition to exhibiting a low incidence of abnormal protein cells within cells nervous.
