Building habits to age well

What predicates how well we age? We know that socio-economic factors play a role, as do genetics. We may also experience good or bad luck, accidents, better or worse medical provision. But, ultimately, many of our health outcomes come down to habits.

We also know that superagers – broadly defined as people over 80 with brains 30 years younger – have very consistent habits. Annabel interviewed several for our book The Age-Well Project. Among them, Sam swam five days a week, Douglas worked every day, Kenya walked every day, and so on. Consistent habits are our greatest self-determined age-well tool.

SUPERAGER BRAINS

Research published a few weeks ago in the Journal of Neuroscience shows that superagers have better microstructure in white matter fibres in the brain’s frontal region than average people their age. This knowledge will help neuroscientists, ‘understand which brain structures are important to have a good memory as we age. The identification of these structures could potentially help to inform brain stimulation treatments’, explained the lead researcher.

And what does it tell us? Either that superagers start off with superior brains, or – more interestingly – their lifestyle has a physical effect on brain structure. When the lifestyle of the same cohort of superagers was studied they were found to have better mobility and better mental, metabolic and cardiovascular health. They also had a higher interest in music than the control group (fascinating!). That doesn’t mean those factors caused their brains to change structure – correlation not causation – but they do all contribute to healthy ageing.

HABIT CHANGE

We know too, that habit formation has a structural impact on the brain. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology study, on mice, found that our neural networks behave differently once they have consolidated new information into a habit. Sets of movements (like locking the front door, for example) are ‘chunked’ into blocks so they can happen effortlessly. The research found that neurons in a region of the brain called the striatum act as ‘bookends’, bracketing together patterns so that a behaviour can be served up effortlessly when needed.

I’m so enthralled by the role of behaviour change in ageing well and reducing dementia risk that earlier this year I completed a habit coach certification. It taught me the key tenets of habit formation, and how to use them with my coaching clients. Let me give you a quick primer. It all starts with the ABC model of behaviour change, where ABC stands for:

Antecedent: moves  us towards taking action

Behaviour: what we actually do next

Consequence: after every behaviour

Whatever action we take, we do it because we’re trying to solve a problem. It’s the best strategy we’ve learned to solve a problem, even if it’s not the best strategy overall. It applies equally to a habit of having too much wine to relax after a hard day at work, or to heading out for a walk early each morning because we’ve learnt we sleep better as a result. Each habit is trying to solve an underlying problem, and we see the action we take as a good solution to that problem. The secret to changing behaviours, whether that’s dropping a bad habit or building a good one, is understanding why it happens.

And once we understand that, we need to take steps to ensure the action happens. We need to be cued to do it, to make it as easy as possible and find it rewarding to do. Let’s take as an example building the habit of strength training. Say you’ve read the research published this week that heavy resistance training may help preserve long-term muscle function for older adults. You know that muscle is a key driver of healthy ageing, and you’d like to build more. In the study, the high-resistance training group worked in a gym three times a week, using machines for exercises like leg and chest presses, and leg curls.

MAKING IT HAPPEN

It sounds good, but what would make it happen? You need something to trigger you to get to the gym – that could be scheduling time in your diary, arranging to meet a friend there or setting an alarm. You want to make it easy by having access to a gym, a clearly defined routine and, if possible, someone to hold you accountable. Building muscle and feeling good would of course be its own reward. But there are other carrots you could offer yourself.

A 2014 study from University of Pennsylvania examined the power of ‘temptation bundling’ by combining activities that participants ‘want’ to do (listen to their favourite audio books) with activities they ‘should’ do (exercising). Study participants who were only allowed to listen to audio books (Hunger Games was a particular favourite) in the gym, found their attendance rocketed by 51%. Hunger Games may not be your thing – it’s not ours – but the motivation clearly worked!

Let us know how you build age-well habits in the comments below.

FEED YOUR BRAIN BETTER

I’m running a short course on how to eat for better brain health and reduced dementia risk later this month.

There are three live sessions, via Zoom, on July 23/24/25, at 1pm BST / 8am EDT. They’ll be recorded so you can watch at any time that suits you.

It’s not just on what to eat for your brain, but how to make it work in your own life (and kitchen). You’ll build healthy eating habits to support your brain, and shift the ones that don’t.

All the details are here:

FEED YOUR BRAIN BETTER 

Susan