Summary
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Boomers are experiencing a greater cognitive decline than older generations did when they were both in their early 50s, according to a new study.
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The study compared data from a sample of 30,000 Americans but only looked at younger Boomers as there was insufficient data for Boomers over the age of 54 to accurately draw comparisons.
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Many factors may be responsible for this worrying trend, such as higher levels of loneliness and depression and lower household wealth than some previous generations.
Boomers are experiencing a greater cognitive decline than older generations did when they were both in their early 50s, according to a new study.
The study compared data from a sample of 30,000 Americans but only looked at younger Boomers as there was insufficient data for Boomers over the age of 54 to accurately draw comparisons.
Many factors may be responsible for this worrying trend, such as higher levels of loneliness and depression and lower household wealth than some previous generations.
Baby Boomers’ cognitive function is declining at a faster rate than the generations that came before them, according to new research that looked at data relating to circa 30,000 Americans aged 51 to 54.
The study was published in Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences and its authors described the trend it revealed as “clear and alarming.”
Hui Zheng, a sociologist at the Ohio State University and the study’s lead author, said, given the United States’ aging population, an increase in the number of people suffering from dementia was expected. Still, the study’s findings have highlighted something more worrying.
“With the aging population in the United States, we were already likely to see an increase in the number of people with dementia. But this study suggests it may be worse than we expected for decades to come,” Zheng said.
Why is This Study’s Findings a Cause For Concern?
Baby Boomers seem to be experiencing a decline in their cognitive function at an earlier stage in their lives than older generations – and while this is clearly bad news, you may be unsure about what the implications of this are in practice.
The greatest cause for concern is the fact that cognitive decline can, in some cases, be an early indication of someone developing dementia or another type of mental illness (not just ailments which affect patients’ memory in particular.)
Specifically, Zheng said the study found that “Baby boomers already start having lower cognition scores than earlier generations at age 50 to 54.”
The researchers were unable to see if the trend also stood true for older Boomers due to their not being sufficient data for Baby Boomers outside of the aforementioned age range.
The researchers believe that it’s likely to be a similar situation for older Boomers despite them being unable to confirm this in their study.
Will This Trend Continue in Younger Generations?
You may be wondering if this study indicates that cognitive decline will get increasingly profound from generation to generation. The good news is this study doesn’t suggest that that will necessarily be the case, so it’s not a given that Millennials will experience cognitive decline at an earlier age than Boomers.
This study was solely focused on comparing the cognitive decline of younger Boomers to members of the Silent Generation (when they were the same age, so the comparison is fair and representative.)
Researchers believe that loneliness, depression, single, and lower household wealth could all be responsible for this trend.
Zheng stressed that the situation could have been worse if Boomers hadn’t had good health in childhood, among other things.
“If it weren’t for their better childhood health, more favorable likelihood of having a white-collar occupation, Baby Boomers would have even worse cognitive functioning,” Zheng noted.
