The Healthiest "Super-Agers" Have One Thing in Common, According to a 25-Year Study

The Healthiest "Super-Agers" Have One Thing in Common, According to a 25-Year Study

Memory is the glue of life. Without it, our focus softens, our experience of the world blurs, and our identities melt away. But as people age, their memory declines. Many billions of dollars have been spent to understand the biological basis of dementia and to devise a cure. In most cases, they have failed spectacularly. But what if, rather than study the brains of people with advanced memory loss, we instead studied the brains of people with the opposite condition: extraordinary memory and brain health in old age? For the past few decades, Sandra Weintraub, a scientist at Northwestern University, has been part of a team studying the brains of "super-agers," people 80 and older who have the memory ability of people in their 50s. In a new paper published this year to considerable fanfare, she found that super-agers didn't have much in common. They didn't share a diet, or an exercise regimen, or a set of maladies or medications. One thing, however, united them: their social relationships. Today's guest is Sandra Weintraub. We talk about the science of memory and the brain and the protective benefit of social connection for our minds and ourselves. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com. Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Dr. Sandra Weintraub Producer: Devon Baroldi Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episoder(348)

Why Everybody Is Wrong About a Recession and Housing’s Great Comeback

Why Everybody Is Wrong About a Recession and Housing’s Great Comeback

Last fall, three-quarters of voters told CNN that the U.S. was in a recession. A Bloomberg economic model said that the odds of a recession by the fall of 2023 were 100 percent. But we’re not in a rec...

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The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Fake Meat in America

The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Fake Meat in America

For the past 50 years, Americans have basically responded to the case against eating animals by eating more animals. The share of Americans who call themselves vegan or vegetarian hasn’t increased in ...

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China’s Spy Balloon Is Down. Cold War 2.0 Risks Are Rising.

China’s Spy Balloon Is Down. Cold War 2.0 Risks Are Rising.

If we’re being honest, the whole thing is kind of funny. A Chinese spy balloon floated across the U.S. Nobody died, unless we count the balloon itself. In a saner age, this story would be over. But ba...

7 Feb 202343min

Econ Megapod: The Debt Ceiling Is Dumb, and the Inflation “Crisis” Might Be Over

Econ Megapod: The Debt Ceiling Is Dumb, and the Inflation “Crisis” Might Be Over

We’ve got a double-barrelled podcast for you. Jeanna Smialek, economics reporter for the ‘New York Times,’ joins us to break down the debt-ceiling showdown that’s enveloping Washington. Plus, economis...

3 Feb 202357min

The Dark Side of Being Obsessed With Productivity

The Dark Side of Being Obsessed With Productivity

"Productivity is a trap. Nobody in the history of humanity has ever achieved work-life balance. The real problem isn’t our limited time. The real problem—or so I hope to convince you—is that we’ve unw...

31 Jan 202348min

How AI Could Change Apple and Google, Writing and Music, and Everything Else

How AI Could Change Apple and Google, Writing and Music, and Everything Else

“The story of 2022 was the emergence of AI," wrote Ben Thompson, the author of the Stratechery newsletter and podcast. "It seems clear to me that this is a new epoch in technology.” Ben and Derek talk...

27 Jan 20231h 1min

Why Big Tech's Jobs Bubble Burst. Plus, SBF's Scandal Deepens.

Why Big Tech's Jobs Bubble Burst. Plus, SBF's Scandal Deepens.

Derek breaks down the biggest economic mystery of the moment: Why are the most successful tech companies collectively laying off more than 130,000 people if the overall unemployment rate is still hist...

24 Jan 202347min

America Isn’t Ready for the Weight-Loss-Drug Revolution That’s Coming

America Isn’t Ready for the Weight-Loss-Drug Revolution That’s Coming

We have historically thought about weight as the mere outcome of our deliberate choices about diet and exercise. We have not typically thought about weight like a disease. But in the past 18 months, t...

20 Jan 202353min

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