Exercise your body, eat fiber-rich foods, stay social and do hard things. These are some of the habits of “SuperAgers.” They are the “Betty Whites of the world,” says Emily Rogalski, a cognitive neuroscientist at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
Rogalski was part of the research team that coined the term “SuperAgers” 15 years ago. It describes people older than 80 whose memory is as good as those 20 to 30 years younger, if not better.
What researchers are learning from SuperAgers could allow us to discover new protective factors in lifestyle, genetics and resilience for common changes that arise with aging. Becoming a SuperAger is probably partly because of the genetic lottery, but our lifestyle choices — food, exercise, social connections and taking on new challenges — can also make a difference in our cognitive health span as we age.
