Could Gadgets Be Making Us Younger?

Posted on Sep 4 2015 - 5:49pm by Robert

A fascinating new report carried out by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis from Austria suggests that modern technology could be making our brain stay younger for longer.

They surveyed UK people over the age of 50 and then compared the results to similar tests they carried out on younger people, which were done 6 years ago. The headline result from all this testing is that someone aged 50 now has a similar mental fitness to a 42 year old of a years ago.

The tests involved checking for the overall mental health and fitness of the subjects, including the likes of their brain processing speed. It also covered physical health too, where the news wasn’t quite so good.

The feeling of the researchers is that the improvement in mental fitness seen in the last few years is at least partly due to the need to keep up to speed with ever-changing modern technology and gadgets like smartphones and computers.

Technology Isn’t Making Us Stop Thinking After All

_83005758_oldmanbabyimage courtesy of BBC

In fact, the discovery that people over 50 are now mentally sharper than before goes against the commonly held belief that modern technology would eventually make us lazier and cause us to think less.

Of course, these days we all need to remember a bunch of different passwords, learn new commands and deal with ever-changing formats and programs. These demands are believed to be what has helped the cognitive scores on these 50-something subjects to stay high. The downside is that a lack of exercise we now get has seen physical fitness levels fall in the same time period.

How do you feel that technology affects your brain and lifestyle?

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