Ian Deary at Age UK's For Later Life conference on 1 July 2014. Read more on http://www.ageuk.org.uk/forlaterlife

1. Maintaining positive cognitive
health
Ian Deary

2. Healthy cognitive ageing
Ian Deary

3. 0. Only in Scotland

5. Lothian Birth Cohort 1921

7. Lothian Birth Cohort 1936

9. 1. It doesn’t all go when it goes

10. Salthouse (2004) Intelligence, 32, 541-561.
Episodic
memory

11. Salthouse (2004) Intelligence, 32, 541-561.
Reasoning

12. Salthouse (2004) Intelligence, 32, 541-561.
Perceptual
speed

13. Salthouse (2004) Intelligence, 32, 541-561.
Vocabulary

15. 2. We don’t all follow the crowd

18. 3. Fate or providence (or chance)?

19. Good
cognition
in
older age?

20. Good
cognition
in
older age?
Good cognition
at age 11

21. “Old age is like
everything else.
To make a success of it,
you’ve got to start
young.”
Fred Astaire
(1899-1987)

22. Good
cognition
in
older age?What
else?
Good cognition
at age 11

23. • Genetics
• Caffeine
• Alcohol
• Other dietary
intakes…
• Body mass index
• Cholesterol
• Engagement
• Smoking
• Activity
• Physical fitness
• Occupation
• Sex
• Education
• Bilingualism

24. 4. Mens sana in corpore sano?

25. 4. Healthy mind in a healthy body?

26. “You should pray for a healthy mind in
a healthy body.
Ask for a stout heart that has no fear
of death…”
Juvenal
Satire X

28. Gow et al. (2012) Neurology, 79, 1802-1808.

29. 5. Panning for dust, not nuggets

30. Good
cognition
in
older age?What
else?
Good cognition
at age 11
Small effects of: gene(s), sex,
education, smoking, fitness etc.
Big effect

31. 6. Replication, replication, replication

32. 6. Replication, replication, replication

33. 6. Replication, replication, replication

35. 7. Look behind you

37. Good
cognition
in
older age?
Socio-
intellectual
activities

38. Good
cognition
in
older age?
Socio-
intellectual
activities
Good cognition
at age 11

39. Good
cognition
in
older age?
Something we
think is good
for you
Good cognition
at age 11

40. • Caffeine
• Alcohol
• Other dietary
intakes…
• Body mass index
• Cholesterol
• Engagement
• Not smoking
• Physical activity
• Physical fitness
• Occupation
• Sex
• Education
• Bilingualism

41. • Caffeine
• Alcohol
• Other dietary
intakes…
• Body mass index
• Cholesterol
• Engagement
• Not smoking
• Physical activity
• Physical fitness
• Occupation
• Sex
• Education
• Bilingualism

42. 8. The (Dis)connected mind?

43. 8. The (Dis)connected mind?

44. 8. The (Dis)connected mind?

45. 9. Cruising or racing?

46. 9. Cruising or racing?
Knowledge
Working out new stuff

47. 10. There’s more to life than thinking

48. “I cannot preserve more than a few
fragments of what I read, yet read I shall,
persistently, rejoicingly… Indeed, it no
longer troubles me that I forget. I have the
happiness of the passing moment, and
what more can mortal ask?”
George Gissing
The Private Papers
of Henry Ryecroft

49. Come to me a moment, stand,
Ageing yet lovely still,
At my side,
R. S. Thomas, Birthday

50. Come to me a moment, stand,
Ageing yet lovely still,
At my side, let me tell you that,
With the clouds massing for attack
And the wind worrying the leaves
From the branches and the blood seeping
Thin and slow through the ventricles
Of the heart,
R. S. Thomas, Birthday

51. Come to me a moment, stand,
Ageing yet lovely still,
At my side, let me tell you that,
With the clouds massing for attack
And the wind worrying the leaves
From the branches and the blood seeping
Thin and slow through the ventricles
Of the heart, I regret less,
Looking back on the poem's
Weakness, the failure of the mind
To be clever than of the heart
To deserve you as you showed how.
R. S. Thomas, Birthday

52. Life Satisfaction in Lothian Birth Cohort 1921, age 90
Disagree
Agree
Strongly
agree

54. • “It is anticipated that initial data
collection and analysis will focus on…
participants who mostly will not
have clinical symptoms”

55. Healthy cognitive ageing
i.deary@ed.ac.uk
www.ccace.ed.ac.uk