Episode 61
Morning 6-Pack - Aging Like Fine Wine... or Sour Milk? š·š„
Yo, folks! Weāre diving into the wild world of aging and brainpower today! So, hereās the scoop: a new study says our brains hit peak performance between 55 and 60, but letās be realāour reasoning and memory start taking a nosedive in our 20s! š Weāre serving up the top 6 signs that your brain might be waving the white flag, like misplacing your keys while theyāre chilling in your hand (seriously, who hasn't done that?!). Get ready to laugh as we chat about how some things get better with age, like emotional stability and financial smarts, while others, like cognitive flexibility, kinda take a dirt nap. So grab your coffee (and maybe a snack or two) and letās kickstart your day with some giggles!
Gather 'round, snack lovers! Weāre diving into the wild world of aging brains, and let me tell ya, itās a rollercoaster of laughs and 'oh no, did I forget my keys again?' moments. Haystack and the crew kick things off with some giggles about Hallmark cards that preach about wisdom with ageāyeah right! A new study's got some science behind how our smarts evolve over time, and spoiler alert: we peak in our 50s. But hold your horses, because our reasoning and memory? Those hit their high notes in our 20s and then start to take a nosedive. Yikes! But fear not, because all that life experience means we get smarter in emotional stability and moral reasoningāwho knew getting older could be so enlightening?
Now, it wouldnāt be a Haystack show without some classic chuckles, so we roll out the āMorning 6-Packā which highlights the everyday things that scream āmy brain is on vacation!ā From the classic āwhere are my keys?ā with them snugly in your hand, to pressing elevator buttons like they owe you money, itās all relatable gold. And just wait till we hit the number one spotābecause nothing says cognitive decline like being too open-hearted. Oops! Did I say that out loud? Cue the laughter, folks! So grab your favorite snack and get ready to giggle while you learn about the brainy bits of agingāit's a blast!
Takeaways:
- We all know that feeling when you can't find your keys while they're in your hand! Classic brain fog moments!
- According to a new study, our brain peaks at 55-60 years, so age is just a number, right?
- Moral reasoning gets better with age, so older folks might just have us all figured out!
- Financial smarts get sharper as we ageāwho knew handling bills could lead to wisdom?
- Cognitive flexibility might fade, but hey, we can still adapt, right? Just takes a little longer!
- Letās face it, we all do silly things that show our brains are on declineālike saying 'you too' after ordering coffee!
Transcript
Good morning.
Speaker A:It's Haystack.
Speaker B:And there are a lot of, you know, Hallmark birthday cards about getting older and wiser.
Speaker B:But let's be honest, no one is at their peak mental acuity at 85 years old.
Speaker B:There's actually a new study in a journal called Intelligence, and it's about this metric that they have designed called Cognitive Personality Functioning index.
Speaker A:And it is a measure of how.
Speaker B:Intelligence, judgment, and other key traits evolve.
Speaker A:Over the average lifespan.
Speaker A:And this is not just some random theory.
Speaker B:This is based on concrete psychological research.
Speaker A:Over the course of decades, and it shows some very clear patterns.
Speaker A:The overall functioning of the human brain reaches its peak between the ages of 55 and 60.
Speaker B:Now, not everything, though, follows the same trajectory.
Speaker B:Reasoning, memory, and processing tends to peak in your early 20s and then steadily decline.
Speaker A:Something they call crystallized intelligence, which is basically the accumulation of knowledge and experience, continues to build.
Speaker A:As you continue to add experience and accumulate knowledge, your personality traits tend to.
Speaker B:Mature and increase through early adulthood and.
Speaker A:Then level off later in life.
Speaker A:Emotional stability, for instance, the ability to keep calm levels off later in life.
Speaker A:Moral reasoning, the ability to weigh competing principles deepens with the amount of experience you have.
Speaker A:So it gets better as you get older.
Speaker A:Financial literacy also builds late into the 60s, into the late 60s, as a matter of fact.
Speaker A:As you deal with bills over the course of a lifetime, people get better at avoiding something called the sunk cost fallacy, which is the tendency to throw good money after bad.
Speaker A:And lastly, your cognitive flexibility, your ability to shift smoothly between tasks or strategies when circumstances change, well, they fade with age.
Speaker A:We don't like change.
Speaker A:The older we get old, the more we.
Speaker A:The older we get.
Speaker B:I'll spit it out.
Speaker A:Throughout middle age, though, we find the late 50s is kind of the sweet spot for most of us now.
Speaker A:It's not.
Speaker A:It's not all of us.
Speaker B:For some of us, we know that our brains are already declining.
Speaker A:I mean, I. I guess I should just speak for myself, but I.
Speaker A:To me, if you can relate to.
Speaker B:Any of these things, you know your brain is already declining, regardless of your age.
Speaker C:Best way to start your day.
Speaker C:These six jokes.
Speaker C:He's about to say, listen up for old Haystack.
Speaker C:Crack open the morning six pack.
Speaker B:This is a morning six pack of the top six everyday things that we do that remind us our brain is no longer in peak condition.
Speaker B:Number, looking for our car keys while they're still in our hand.
Speaker B:Number five, waiting for the stop sign to turn green.
Speaker B:Number four, pressing the elevator button repeatedly even though it's already lit up.
Speaker B:Number three, eating scalding hot food and moving it back and forth in our mouth so it doesn't touch our tongue long enough to burn it.
Speaker B:We've all done that.
Speaker A:Don't deny it.
Speaker B:The top six things we do that remind us our brain is already declining.
Speaker B:Number two.
Speaker B:Say you too, when the barista tells us to enjoy our coffee.
Speaker B:And the number one thing that shows our brain is in decline?
Speaker A:Open our heart to another human being.
Speaker A:Because we think they will be with us forever.
Speaker B:Oh.
Speaker A:Oops, sorry.
Speaker B:Did I say that out loud?
Speaker C:I'm sad.
