Blaise Tapp: Still losing my keys, but I’m apparently getting smarter
In our house we regularly play the game 'hunt for Dad's keys', usually when we are already five minutes late for the school run.
There are a number of variations of this long held tradition, including 'where's his mobile phone this time?' and the family favourite 'who's hidden his belt?' Although I'm a seasoned veteran when it comes to misplacing everyday essentials - I once 'lost' a whisk a mere 30 seconds after I'd used it - the frequency of these mishaps has increased with the passing of time.
Like millions of middle aged types, I’ve long been at peace with the fact that there are things I can’t do as well as the 25-year-old me could do with great ease. It’s not that I’m slowing down - I’m arguably juggling more than ever - but I’d begun to accept that if I haven’t peaked already then I’m pretty close to being at the point where life is as good as it gets. Apparently I’m wrong.
In fact, a newly published long-term medical study has shown that the human brain functions at its zenith when we reach our late 50s, which means I have at least another decade left before I can claim that I’m firing on all cylinders, which puts an entirely new perspective on the ageing process.
According to the research, crystalised intelligence, which is the build up of knowledge and experience, increases the older we become, while we are much more likely to see things through to the end when we are at an age where we start every other sentence ‘do you remember when?’ Then there’s the fact that those in their sixth and seventh decades are much better at making a moral judgement than they were and older people tend to be better with money than younger generations.
Of course, the young ‘uns do have the edge over us mid-lifers in some departments, such as quickness of thought and the ability to retain useless facts, although my head is full of details about football matches from the '80s and '90s.
The study, which claims to be the first time that data has proved what many of us had long suspected, also shows that younger people are, generally speaking, better at empathy than us older types.
It’s good to know that there’s now solid proof that experience counts for more than remembering obscure indie bands from 30 odd years ago but it still doesn’t help me with finding my car keys.