I just read about a new study published in Scientific American, When Does Intelligence Peak? (https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/when-does-intelligence-peak/)
It is worth reading although a bit dry, but stick with it. Because the gist of it is what you learn from now on might be more important than what you learned in school. Yes, instruction is critical, whether it be from elementary school or college. But you can’t go back to grade school just like you cannot repeat your first job to see if you could have done it better.
Instead, a lifetime of learning is more important to health and wellness than just trying to survive on what you learned years ago. It just means stay curious, keep your mind sharp and you might just enjoy it. What is key about this to me is you get to select your curriculum. That’s right, you learn what benefits you and stretches you.
Sure, you should look beyond just your career to learn about the world. As the author of the article, Scott Barry Kaufman writes, “Most IQ tests, which were only ever designed for testing schoolchildren, don’t include the rich depth of knowledge we acquire only after extensive immersion in a field. Sure, measured by the standards of youth, middle-aged adults might not be as intelligent as young adults, on average. But perhaps once dark matter is taken into account, middle-aged adults are up to par.”
According to Phillip Ackerman who administered the study and analysis of 288 adults, “Certain measures of personality, such as intellectual curiosity, were related to domain specific knowledge above and beyond the effects of standard measures of intelligence.”
Giyeon Kim and colleagues conducted recent research that found “purpose in life acted as a protective factor against cognitive decline.” And according to Ackerman, “past a certain age it might make more sense to view adult intelligence not through the lens of youthful general processing speed and reasoning, but through the lens of expertise, wisdom and purpose.” He added, “greater purpose in life has been linked to reduced…cardiovascular problems, increased longevity, maintenance of general physical functioning, reduced risk of stroke.”
I got to thinking about my own schooling when I was struggling with the maths and sciences. I love that I took these courses but they were challenging and I understand why so many fellow classmates chose not to take all of them since they reasoned they wouldn’t need them in their career. I remember powering through the courses and being in 11th grade taking College-level Trigonometry and Algebra. I was so proud back then. Now? I can’t remember most of the complicated equations beyond basic algebra. Sure, I’m glad I took it but I never really used much of it ever again.
However, years later, I would spend about half my career in market research, a field requiring strong math, statistical and analytic skills. So although I might not have used all those trig functions, my brain had already gone through the training (or what Kaufman calls the dark matter) to navigate through building multi-level studies and industry surveys. While writing this piece, I talked to my daughter Kate who is a Senior Scientist for an environmental organization. As she observed about the study, “I like how they talk about the differences between measuring intelligence in children versus adults. As you get older, what you need to know becomes more specialized.”
So now I still learn but I am the one who decides the next course. I enjoy listening to Robert Shiller, the Yale Economist and author (Irrational Exuberance, Narrative Economics, Market Volatility and many more books). So a few years ago I took an online course and listened to his lectures (Yale made them available for free). I did not receive or want a grade. I just wanted the experience of listening in on an Economics course taught at Yale.
Writing and reading are important, as we all know. If you don’t write, perhaps you make music or art or build interesting projects. Keep creating. You can always begin a journal, just write down a few thoughts and do as much or as little each day or week as you want. It’s the curiosity that stimulates your brain, not the sales of your diary!
My mom is now 94 and she reads every day. Yes she is in “cognitive decline”; her memory is not what it once was. But we still maintain interesting conversations including about events from 50 years ago. She might not have the same sharp memory for detail but she remembers a lot and we often laugh together about things that once seemed so serious.
So don’t think you don’t need to do much now that you are older or retired. Pick and choose an online course or adult ed class or video from your library that really interests you. Learn why the Ice Age occurred 100,000 years ago – there are great simulations that show how Earth became covered by one mile thick ice sheets.
Or if history is your thing, watch a documentary or read a book about Genghis Khan. Or how the Ottoman Empire came to power – and how it has evolved as borders have changed and the world powers have evolved.
Read a biography on Henry Ford or any of the robber barons of the late 1800s (Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Morgan, et. al) or if Hollywood is your thing, there are tons of books and biographies on movies, screenwriting or Hollywood history.
It’s not about you going back to school – hell, you’ve done that enough. It’s about learning with fun and purpose in mind.
And of course physical activity is critical as well, if you are healthy enough. I joined the gym, Planet Fitness, last March and I just turned 69 and in the process, I’ve lost 13 pounds. I am more fit than I’ve been in years. Older yes, but my body is now more toned than it was in my 30s and 40s. What changed? After retirement two years ago, I found I had time for the gym. I figured I’d last one or two weeks. Now, I have not missed a Monday, Wednesday or Friday since I joined except for the three weeks my wife and I traveled to the Pacific Northwest for a journey.
For me, one of the biggest takeaways of the study is purpose in life protects against cognitive decline. And intellectual curiosity can go in any direction you want it to: you get to control what you want to study or learn from now on. It doesn’t matter what the subject is; what matters is the thirst to learn more.
I’ll finish with an excerpt from one of my favorite John Mellencamp songs, Your Life is Now.
In this undiscovered moment
Lift your head up above the crowd
We could shake this world
If you would only show us how
Your life is now, your life is now.
Chris Ebel
10/30/22
Illustration credit: @jemastock