Dr Dougal Sutherland: SuperAgers and how to become one

What is a SuperAger and how do you become one?  A SuperAger is someone over 80 with an excellent memory, particularly for everyday events and personal history.  What we know about them:   They produce twice as many young brain cells as people in their 30s and 40s New brain cells are more adaptable or plastic and can help rewire and repair the brain when needed   Genetics do play a part, but so do lifestyle factors like a good diet, lowering your stress, and having good sleep patterns     There are also some psychological tools you can adopt that help develop SuperAging:   Developing an optimistic view of the world and people around you – if we break this down, optimistic people have the following pattern:   When something bad happens, they are less likely to blame themselves and see the problem as temporary   When something good happens, they are more likely to take credit for it, feel that it’s partly in their control, and that good things are likely to continue   It’s not about pretending stress or bad things don’t happen   It is something you can train yourself to do – easy practical way of doing this is taking 15-20mins a week and think of your “Best Possible Self” in the future when you have achieved all your life goals and resolved all your problems. Be very specific about what this would look like and make sure to include how that would feel for you.   Another way is “grace for atheists” where you spend time before the start of your evening meal deliberately bringing to mind and being thankful for several things that have occurred that day. Some days will be easier than others, but over time you can help train your brain to pay attention to these positive things. Your brain doesn’t need any practice looking for negative things – it does this automatically!   Regularly practising the Best Possible Self and grace for atheists exercises can help develop an optimistic mind-set, and increase your chances of being a SuperAger.  LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.