Study indicates mental decline may actually begin during middle age

A new study out of Europe indicates that some forms of mental decline may actually begin in middle-age, which is significantly earlier than the common conception among health experts.

The study reports our brains may begin to deteriorate from as young as 45, as opposed to the previously thought age of 60.

Memory, reasoning and comprehension skills, generally referred to as cognitive functions, begin to decrease as we enter middle age, according to the study.

The study did find full-blown dementia is confined to the more elderly, but the study author says it adds weight to evidence which suggests the disease develops slowly over several decades.

Before this study there had been little evidence of cognitive decline before the age of 60.

The lengthy study tested the mental abilities of more than 7,000 civil servants aged 45-70 between the years of 1997-2007. Participants took a test at both the beginning and end of the 10-year-period.

The researchers discovered those aged 45-59 in 1997 experienced an average 3.6 per cent decline in cognitive function over the decade.

The research also found mental decline occurred more quickly with age, noting that those in their late sixties in 1997 saw an average drop of 8.5 per cent over the decade.

The research did not take into account each participants general health, however.