Our Aging Brains and Bodies: The Good, the Bad, and the Inevitable (What to expect and what we can do about it)
By: Amanda Gillis-Furutaka
We can change our hair color, strengthen our abs and pecs, undergo cataract and/or laser eye surgery, use an almost invisible hearing aid, study a new language, work on word and math puzzles, but what we cannot do is stop the march of time. And the passing years take a toll on our bodies and our brains. My goal is not to fill you with gloom about what is to come, but with a better understanding of the facts, and with the knowledge that good things also await you as you advance towards the later stages of life. We will look at changes in our brains that are good and not so good and then at the relationship between some inevitable changes in our bodies and our brains and ways in which we can mitigate and/or adapt to them. Finally, we will review the latest findings on the extent to which our genes’ influence alone determine our longevity.
A theory called stereotype embodiment, proposed by Yale psychologist Becca Levy (2009), says that many cultures present older people as moving slowly, being hard of hearing, talking too loudly, and unable to read small print. These stereotypes may be amusing when we are young, but when we grow old and enact them, they undermine our sense of well-being or worse. (See this New York Times article by Paula Span (2025) expressing concern about older people refusing to get assistance when they really need it.)
I hope that, after reading this article, you will challenge the stereotypes of old age in your culture and embrace the positive aspects of growing older and wiser!
Changes in our brains
Good news
There are some activities, such as mentoring and solving puzzles, in which we get better with age. Why is this? Journalist and author Alec Wilkinson discovered the answer when, at the age of 65, he decided to try to learn the high school math he had never mastered as a teenager. It was proving a struggle, and so he investigated findings in brain science and discovered that brain scans reveal that older people engage more of their faculties in solving a problem than younger people do. “Older brains might be less robust, but they may also have become more efficient” (Wilkinson, 2022, p. 47). This can be explained by the Scaffolding Theory of Aging and Cognition (Park & Reuter-Lorenz, 2009), which proposes that brains respond to declines by recruiting assistance. In other words, they replace a response typically using a single brain area with a pattern of layered responses involving several areas. “Scaffolding is protective of cognitive function in the aging brain, and available evidence suggests that the ability to use this mechanism is strengthened by cognitive engagement, exercise, and low levels of default network engagement” (Park & Reuter-Lorenz, 2009). In 2002, Cabeza reported another intriguing finding about brain plasticity in old age. It appears that brain activity tends to be less lateralized in older adults than in younger adults. An acronym has been adopted to label this phenomenon: HAROLD, which stands for Hemispheric Asymmetry Reduction in Old Adults.” Cohen (2006) explains the implications of this change in the aging brain to support his advocacy for the importance of people engaging in creative activities when they are aging. It seems that the brains of older people enlist areas in one brain hemisphere that usually have one function to collaborate with another function located in the other hemisphere (a process known as bilateralization). This integration of brain areas is called “chocolate to the brain” by Cohen (2006, p. 10), while Wilkinson (2022) likens this to shifting to an all-wheel drive!
These findings are supported by an earlier study at the University of Toronto (Hasher & Zacks, 1988) which found that older people performed as well as younger ones on visual tests of short-term memory. Intriguingly, the areas of the brain that younger people used were weaker in older people, and so older people engaged other brain areas. One of these other brain areas was the hippocampus, which is more usually used for tasks like learning a long speech.
In addition to our brains actively repurposing or multipurposing certain areas, Burnight (2025) tells us that our cognitive abilities related to accumulated knowledge and experience remain stable or can even improve with age. We can draw upon accumulated knowledge and skills from past experiences to resolve new challenges. When you have lived a long time, you can see patterns in life and find that most problems are not new—they are only new to the people experiencing them for the first time!
Vocabulary also tends to increase with age as older adults continue to acquire and use more words over time. (Longitudinal studies have shown that older adults often perform better on vocabulary tests than younger adults.) Older people are also able to recognize the perspectives of others, acknowledge the variability of life, and deal with social conflicts in ways that benefit long term social harmony (Burnight, 2025).
Not such good news is that our brains decline in old age—we lose processing speed, working memory, executive functions, and language because of slowing nerve impulses and atrophy in the cerebral cortex. Our ability to collect new memories diminishes. Learning also takes longer. “Learning is a form of adaptation and receptivity. Learning math more complicated than arithmetic means absorbing and remembering a wagonload of information and then using it with reason” (Wilkinson, p. 46). The ability to learn math is thought to decline around the age of 40 when the brain starts to slow its handling of procedural operations such as calculating. Older people learn and forget at about the same pace as younger people do, but calculating takes an older person longer.
On a more positive note, Wilkinson (2022) refers to experimental findings by Charness and Campbell (1988) which tell us that all is not lost! With practice, middle-aged people can perform as younger ones do, but without practice, they perform like older people. If speed is valued more than accuracy, the decline is obvious. But if accuracy is of greater importance, the decline is less obvious. Moreover, younger people read faster than older people, but older people remember more of what they have read.
Wilkinson (2022) says that his capacity to think more slowly, to keep an idea longer in mind, and to treat it more deeply has grown. At the age of 65, he appreciates “the wealth and depth of experience and learning and sometimes wisdom that an older person brings to a conversation” (p. 50). As we grow older, we can draw on our extensive knowledge and experience to solve problems. We also have greater patience and stamina to work through things slowly and systematically—hence we can become great counselors, or simply people that others turn to for advice and guidance.
Bad news
Dementia is an illness I am sure we all fear. It is such a huge topic that it should be reserved for another Think Tank issue. There is general consensus, however, that the onset of dementia can be delayed, by certain lifestyle choices related to sleep, exercise, diet, social life, and learning new skills, which will be addressed later in this article.
Inevitable changes in our bodies and brains
One of the first things we notice with the passing of years is that our memory fails us—we cannot recall names of places, people, titles of books, films, shows, etc. They’re on the tip of our tongue but elude us until several minutes later, and when they percolate through, the conversation has moved on…. But be reassured that this is a normal part of aging and not a sign of the onset of dementia.
Another inevitable change is loss of hearing. This is also a normal part of aging. We are unable to hear higher pitch sounds at first. The loss can be so gradual that we are not aware of it at the onset. In the last two or three years as a full-time teacher, I found that I couldn’t understand what my students were saying as well as I had before, especially when there was a lot of background classroom noise. One of my colleagues, who works in radio, and is about my age, showed me that he had been wearing a hearing aid for several years already. He has studied the science of hearing loss, which shows that you should not put off wearing a hearing aid, because when the electrical signals from your ears are no longer stimulating the receptor neurons in your brain, these neurons will die and, as a result, your ability to hear sounds at that frequency will be lost. To preserve your hearing, it is wise to have regular checks after you turn 65. Hearing aids (especially the most imperceptible and sophisticated ones) are costly, and take time to adapt to, but they can help you retain your hearing range and enjoy conversations, television, and music as you have always done.[1]
[1] An online talk given by my colleague to the Counterpoint (Support Network) is available on request. Please send an email to counterpointjapan@gmail dot com
Loss of vision (especially close vision) is another normal change, and, like hearing loss, it can impact both your cognition and quality of life. It is important to get regular checks and to wear glasses and have cataract surgery, if needed.
Muscle mass and strength loss is normal and the result of a reduction of muscle-building hormones. We can, however, avoid or delay a lot of age-related muscle loss by regular resistance and strength training. It is important to maintain our strength so that we can live independently, fall less, and recover faster from injuries. (For more information on the importance of physical activity and how to exercise, please see the additional reading section at the end of this article.)
Bone weakening and loss of bone mass are also normal, especially among women, owing to drops in estrogen. It is a good idea to get your bone density checked after 65 (70 if you are male).
Not only our hair, but also our skin gets thinner and less elastic, so we bruise more easily, and cuts take longer to heal. We should check for skin cancer and be careful not to overheat as we sweat less when older.
The shape and strength of our heart and blood vessels change. Blood vessels get thicker and stiffer, making it harder to push blood through our body, causing high blood pressure—the most common heart condition for people over 75.
Our metabolism slows and this affects our digestive system. Weaker muscles in our lower throat can lead to heartburn. Our blood sugar may spike after a meal, and this can lead to diabetes. Food might move through our intestines more slowly leading to constipation. It is important to stay hydrated, eat plenty of fiber, and be physically active.
Language decline (especially in additional languages) is well documented but a very complicated issue because we learn and use additional languages in different ways and at different stages of life. Many readers of this magazine speak more than one language because you teach an additional language and/or because you don’t live in the country of your mother tongue, or for a wide variety of other reasons. Language attrition occurs in both healthily aging monolinguals and bilinguals: “…both bilinguals and monolinguals show a generalised slowing in speech production, reduced verbal fluency and a high number of tip-of-the-tongue states with age—suggesting problems in lexical and phonological retrieval” (Nickels et al., 2019).
There is a broad consensus in the research data I have examined that during normal aging there is a more rapid decline of the L2 than the L1, and older people tend clearly to prefer using their L1. “It is well known … that the ability to maintain fluency in more than one language decreases with aging. With advancing age, people may tend to retreat to a single language, regardless of a life-long history of bilingualism” (Ardila & Ramos, 2008). I have also personally witnessed this in my interactions with older non-Japanese friends who live in Japan, and it is commonly reported by caregivers of elderly citizens with non-Japanese roots at symposiums I have attended.
This is a reality that those of us living overseas need to embrace and prepare for. In Japan, there is a rapidly increasing number of elderly people who do not speak Japanese as their first language, and their physical and psychological/neurological needs cannot be accurately assessed when communication is inadequate. More importantly, their emotional needs cannot be addressed when they can no longer communicate their feelings and wishes effectively. Language support for such people is as vital as medical support. In my own small way, I have been able to provide such support for a couple of people so far. I urge others, especially those who speak languages that are rare in their community, to offer their services to the elderly speakers of their language.
Loss of mobility can lead to drastic changes in lifestyle, especially in our level of independence and can severely impact our emotional health. Adaptation to new circumstances requires flexibility, creativity, and the ability to learn from and respond to change. Adapting successfully is all about adjusting to a new way of experiencing life and finding the positives, not dwelling on the negatives.
The importance of our willingness to accept and adapt to change
Growing older entails many changes and readjustments to our self-image. Burnight (2025) tells us that self-acceptance is facilitated by learning to see ourselves not in terms of our societal roles (career or family) but more in terms of our internal qualities and personal values. If we can move beyond the roles that defined us in youth, we can focus on qualities like wisdom, patience, compassion, and can embrace the richness of our experiences. We should forget about trying to preserve a youthful appearance and nurture ageless qualities instead, such as kindness, curiosity, warmth, humor, generosity, strength, and resilience. People are drawn to you not by how you look, but by how you make them feel (Burnight, p. 81).
Moreover, our sense of humor gets better as we grow older! This is great news as laughter reduces stress, boosts the immune system, and even improves pain tolerance. Why does humor get better with age? Experience provides perspective. “Life’s ups and downs teach us that most challenges are temporary, and many are beautifully absurd in hindsight” (Burnight, p. 188).
The importance of Joyspan
I’d like to introduce a concept that I believe to be highly relevant to how we approach changes such as the loss of the faculties and abilities described above. In the February Think Tank, I reviewed a book called Joyspan: The Art and Science of Thriving in Life’s Second Half by Kerry Burnight (link). I have already referred to this book many times in this article. The author draws on 30 years of research and her own experience as a gerontologist to explain the importance of maintaining a positive mindset about aging and the losses we will inevitably face as the years pass. She has coined the term “joyspan” to accompany the familiar terms “lifespan” (the number of years we live) and “healthspan” (the number of years we are in good health). “Joyspan is the experience of wellbeing and satisfaction in longevity” (Burnight, p. xiii). It is more than just physical fitness, it is inner strength and emotional well-being. Joy is the feeling that comes from a sense of well-being or satisfaction, and it is different from happiness, which comes and goes, and is often dependent on external circumstances. Joy can be experienced even when someone is in unhappy circumstances. It is closer to contentment than to ecstasy. It comes from within and includes gratitude and meaning and is unconnected with our external circumstances. In Burnight’s words, joy “encompasses quality of life and the ability to contribute to the world with a sense of meaning and purpose” (p. 12).
Neuroscientists have identified how joy activates key areas in the brain and affects behavior and emotional well-being. Joy is linked to two neurotransmitters, serotonin and dopamine. Dopamine surges in the nucleus accumbens during positive experiences which reinforces the behaviors which lead to joy and motivates us to undertake similar activities in the future. Functional MRI studies have shown that joy also activates the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala, two parts of the brain that are associated with emotions and positive experiences (Burnight, 2025).
What can we do to preserve our quality of life (our Joyspan)?
Burnight explains in detail the roles of diet, exercise, sleep, learning new skills and knowledge, social interaction, giving, and willingness to adapt. There is also plenty of guidance in the media these days (please see the suggested additional readings after the references).
A big question currently under debate is the extent to which we can influence our longevity through lifestyle choices and practices and the extent to which our lifespan is determined by our DNA. A New York Times report (Kolata, 2026) about a recently published study suggests that the current consensus that our genes influence only about 25% of our longevity may be wrong and that genes may, in fact, influence as much as 55% of our longevity. I invite you to read the paper on which the newspaper article is based. I couldn’t follow the math involved, but it seems that previous research into longevity has not taken into full account extrinsic mortality. This means that when the people being studied died from causes outside their body (an accident, a virus, a natural disaster, etc.) were corrected for, the the estimate for the heritability of human life span in twin and sibling studies rises to 55% (Shenhar et al., 2026). According to the newspaper article, when it comes to living to a very old age—well over 90, or even 100, or more—genes are important contributors. However, even if we feel we have won the genetic lottery (because our predecessors were long-lived), we should not kick back and relax because it is easy to shorten your life, but lengthening it requires some effort.
Conclusion
Aging is certainly not easy, but we can take action to prevent it from feeling like a humiliating and relentless downward slide. We can pay attention to what we eat and drink, how long we sleep, and how much exercise we take each day to nurture our positive body-brain connections. We can learn new skills, acquire new knowledge, and keep in close touch with all the people who are important to us. Let’s aim to thrive in old age, to live a fulfilling, purposeful, satisfying life while experiencing the challenges that old age brings by maximizing our “physical health, cognitive function, emotional well-being, social connections, and a sense of meaning” (Burnight, p. xiii).
References
Ardila, A. & Ramos, E. (2008). Normal and abnormal aging in bilinguals. Dementia & Neuropsychologia, 2(4), 242–247. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1980-57642009DN20400002
Burnight, K. (2025). Joyspan: The art and science of thriving in life’s second half. Worthy Books.
Cabeza, R. (2002). Hemispheric Asymmetry Reduction in older adults: The HAROLD model. Psychology and Aging, 17(1), 85-100.
Charness, N., & Campbell, J. I. D. (1988). Acquiring skill at mental calculation in adulthood: A task decomposition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 117(2), 115–129. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.117.2.115
Cohen, G. D. (2006). Research on creativity and aging: The positive impact of the arts on health and illness. Generations: Journal of the American Society on Aging, 30(1), 7-15.
Hasher, L., & Zachs, R. T. (1988). Working memory, comprehension, and aging: A review and a new view. Psychology of Learning and Motivation, 22, 193–225. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079-7421(08)60041-9
Kolata, G. (2026, January 26). Genes may control your longevity, however healthily you live. New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/29/health/longevity-lifespan-age-genes.html
Levy, B. (2009). Stereotype embodiment: A psychosocial approach to aging.” Current Directions in Psychological Science 1, 18(6), 332–336. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2927354/
Nickels, L., Hameau, S., Nair, V. K. K., Barr, P., & Biedermann, B. (2019) Ageing with bilingualism: Benefits and challenges.” Speech, Language and Hearing, 22(1), 32–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/2050571X.2018.1555988
Park, D. C., & Reuter-Lorenz, P. (2009). The adaptive brain: Aging and neurocognitive scaffolding. Annual Review of Psychology, 2009, 60:173–196. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093656
Shenhar, B., Pridham, G., Lopes de Oliveira, T., Raz, N., Yang, Y., Deelen, J., Haag, S., & Alon, U. (2026, January 29). Heritability of intrinsic human life span is about 50% when confounding factors are addressed. Science, 391(6784), 504–510 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adz1187
Span, P. (2025, November 11). Wheelchair? Hearing Aids? Yes. “Disabled”? No Way. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/health/older-people-disability.html
Wilkinson, A. (2022). A divine language: Learning algebra, geometry and calculus at the edge of old age. Picador. Kindle version Farar, Strauss and Giroux ebook. usmacmillan.com
Additional Reading
Aron, I. (2026). Lajuana is 89, with the body and mind of someone decades younger. What are the secrets of the superagers? The Guardian Newspaper: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jan/24/secrets-superagers-people-body-mind-decades-younger
Smith, D. J. (2026). Are you aging well? Try these simple tests to find out: : Simple tests of strength, walking speed, balance, grip can predict how well you are aging The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/22/well/aging-tests-longevity.html
(Amanda Gillis-Furutaka) is a Professor Emerita at Kyoto Sangyo University in Japan. Since April 2025, she has been discovering the joys of retirement and learning how to make the most of this later, glorious stage of life.