Sorry men, but a new study suggests that women really do age gracefully, and in some cases, better than men.
Going against predictions that the rate of dementia will increase as people begin to live for longer, a recent study from Newcastle and Cambridge Universities revealed that women’s brains age better than men’s.
Unfortunately for the male participants of the study, their total time spent in a state of 'mild cognitive impairment' (which is linked to dementia and Alzheimer’s), increased slightly over time.
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Although scientists couldn’t explain their findings, they do believe that people who use their brains more for complex thinking are likely to shun dementia later in life. And the accessibility of improved education for women, and more women going to univeristy, may just be the reason why our brains are just a little sharper with age.
‘It is promising to see that increases in life expectancy seem to have gone hand-in-hand with increases in years free from problems with memory and thinking,’ Hilary Evans, chief executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK told the Daily Mail.
However before men start panicking, we promise it's not all bad. Data compared from 1991 and 2011 saw men's life expectancy grow by 4.5 years, and women's only 3.6, and men on average were staying 'disability-free' until nearly 78 years old, while for women it was around the age of 76 they started experiencing disability.
So all-in-all, we may be gloating just a little bit, but it's great to know that there is evidence that having memory problems when we're older is less likely than it was previously. Maybe we should all be downloading a few brain training apps onto our phone then!
