50 is the new 42: recalculating chronological age (again) @Telegraph

Listening to Radio 4 on my commute this morning I was intrigued by a brief mention of new research that shows use of technology is impacting how our brains age.  This was also covered extensively in the press with an unsurprising use of the ‘is the new’ title cliche.

The Telegraph are among those covering the story (from which the 50 is the new 42 headline is taken).   They report that cognitive tests carried out show that the over 50s are scoring more highly than in previous research: “People over age 50 are scoring increasingly better on tests of cognitive function and researchers believe it is because of the increased mental stimulation of computers and mobile phones….A population study of English over 50s found that the test scores of people today were the same or better than those of people up to eight years younger, who were tested six years ago.”

So 50 – 8 gives you the headline 50 is the new 42!  The report suggests that the increase takes into account other influences on cognitive performance such as educational attainment.

It is not all good news however as the research summarised in the article finds that while cognitive health may be booming there is less good news regarding mental and physical health.

At this point I had planned to include a summary of some of the other articles reporting this research but I am struggling to access the relevant web pages.  Technology use might be keeping me young in principle but sometimes its exhausting whatever your age!

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