For many people as they get older, their family structure changes as children leave home and spouses die. Also, as their friends die, the networks of older persons shrink.

As you might expect, most children and adolescents feel older than they really are. But this switches at around 25, when the felt age drops behind the chronological age. By age 30, around 70% of people feel younger than they really are.

As we age our brains shrink in volume, particularly in the frontal cortex. As our vasculature ages and our blood pressure rises the possibility of stroke and ischaemia increases and our white matter develops lesions. Memory decline also occurs with ageing and brain activation becomes more bilateral for memory tasks.

During late adulthood the skin continues to lose elasticity, reaction time slows further, muscle strength and mobility diminishes, hearing and vision decline, and the immune system weakens.

From birth to age 5, a child’s brain develops more than at any other time in life. And early brain development has a lasting impact on a child’s ability to learn and succeed in school and life.

Here are some activities you can do to improve various areas of your intelligence, from reasoning and planning to problem-solving and more.

1. Memory activities.
2. Executive control activities.
3. Visuospatial reasoning activities.
4. Relational skills.
5. Musical instruments.
6. New languages.
7. Frequent reading.
8. Continued education.

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