A study that got published in the British Medical Journal has acted as a myth breaker by revealing that senility is not an old age-related problem. The brain’s portion that is linked with memory, reasoning and comprehension starts withering even among those who are in their 40s.

Earlier, it was said that dementia or memory related problems are age related, but it is not and could start developing 15 years sooner in humans. The study was being conducted by the National Institute of Health and Medical Research in Paris, University College London, Harvard School of Public Health and other institutions in France and Britain.

In order to reach at the above conclusion, as many as 5,198 male and 2,192 female UK public servants were enrolled. From there, the researchers got to know that men’s mental performance capacity deteriorated by up to 3.5% in 10 years among those who were in their 40s. However, elderly men in their 60s lost at the rate of 9.6% in 10 years.

Coming to women, it was found that in younger women decay rate was 3.6% in 10 years while it was 7.4% in the older age group. The study has showed that there is need to look at ways to overcome this problem at right time.

The researchers also made it clear that they have taken a subset of a population, which are UK public servants. Therefore, there is a great possibility that cognitive decline could be less than their expressed value.

For this, further study needs to be done. But it is clear that there is need to adopt certain measures by which this problem could be solved. Cognitive ageing and dementia expert Perminder Sachdev said, “Nevertheless, there is enough evidence to show the importance of healthy lifestyles and cardiovascular risk factors in adulthood for dementia”.