‘SuperAgers’ over 80 share strong memory and social lifestyles, Northwestern study finds

Nearly 300 people who have participated in the Northwestern University SuperAging Program since 2000 have helped show impaired memory isn’t always part of aging.

Sel Yackley is a busy woman.

She makes jewelry, sings in a choir and knits hats and scarves for the homeless. She also reads with her book club, goes to the gym a few times a week and is active in several civic organizations. According to her Fitbit, she still manages to sleep an average of 7½ hours a night.

At 85, Yackley is a “SuperAger.” That is, someone who is 80 or older and retains the memory capacity — based on delayed word recall testing — of a person at least two to three decades younger.

Dr. M. Marsel Mesulam, who founded the Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in the late 1990s, first defined a SuperAger. Mesulam Center researchers reflected on a quarter-century of SuperAger study in an analysis published Thursday in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.

“Take good care of your health and eat right and be sociable,” says Sel Yackley, 85, one of the participants in the Northwestern University SuperAging Program. Courtesy Sel YackleyYackley, who is among the nearly 300 people who have participated in the Northwestern University SuperAging Program (NUSAP) since 2000, is proof that impaired memory isn’t always a hallmark of aging.