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Much of the discussion on the upcoming U.S. presidential election revolves around issues of age<\/a>: Donald Trump is 78 and Joe Biden is 81.<\/p>\n That begs a question: Just what is<\/em> the perfect age to be president\u2014or any high-stakes leader<\/a>, for that matter?\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s a question that has been well-studied by many scholars over the years,\u00a0Dr. John Rowe<\/a>, a Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health<\/a> professor of health policy and aging, tells Fortune<\/em>.<\/p>\n But that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s easy to pinpoint an ideal number.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst, cognitive function and behavioral functions include a variety of different specific functions, such as fluency, short-term and long-term memory, problem solving, speed \u2026 and there\u2019s a fair amount of variability in the effects of aging on these different functions,\u201d he says. \u201cSo it\u2019s not a monotonic everything-gets-worse-at-the-same-rate.\u201d<\/p>\n Michael Snyder, PhD<\/a>, chair of the genetics department at the Stanford University School of Medicine<\/a>, agrees that cognitive decline is highly variable and specific to each individual.<\/p>\n \u201cThat can go pretty late for a lot of people,\u201d he tells Fortune<\/em>. \u201cWe all know people in their 90s who are still super, super sharp<\/a>. And, likewise, we know people who hit their 60s who slow down a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n Rowe adds that, cognitively, \u201call 40-year-olds are mostly the same, but when you get up to 80<\/a>, there are people who are very, very good and some who are not so good.\u201d<\/p>\n With increasing age, there is a greater likelihood of \u201cnon-normal loss\u201d of cognitive function, he says, either dementia, the prevalence of which is about 10% at 65 and quadruples by one\u2019s mid-80s, or mild cognitive impairment (MCI).\u00a0<\/p>\n Most people with dementia are 65 and older, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a> estimates nearly 14 million will be diagnosed with Alzheimer\u2019s disease<\/a> by 2060. \u201cObviously, somebody demented is not qualified to lead a country,\u201d Rowe says. \u201cSo let\u2019s just take that off the table.\u201d<\/p>\n But for those with MCI\u2014which occurs in 12\u201318% of people over 65 and causes behaviors such as forgetfulness and misplacing items\u2014things can get \u201cmore interesting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Among the cognitive functions that decline with advancing age, he says, the easiest to study is speed of functioning. But while a lab test might show impairment, it\u2019s usually just 10 milliseconds slower than the younger group, which may not be of much consequence. <\/p>\n For example, someone making a decision about international finance would have more than 10 milliseconds. \u201cSo some of the changes may not be functionally important,\u201d he notes.<\/p>\n Snyder stresses that people are living longer, healthier lives<\/a> than they were just a few decades ago. With that, they\u2019re retiring later<\/a>, and new research published in the journal Neurology<\/em><\/a> suggests people who had cognitively stimulating jobs from their 30s through their 60s are at a lower risk of MCI and dementia in their 70s and beyond.\u00a0<\/p>\n Plus, with age comes wisdom\u2014just one aspect of aging that might, in fact, be beneficial to a leader.<\/p>\n Some studies<\/a> have shown that people reach their cognitive \u201cpeak\u201d around age 35\u2014the minimum age requirement for U.S. presidents<\/a>\u2014and that it lasts until some point in their mid-40s, when effects of cognitive aging may start, according to Patricia Boyle, PhD<\/a>, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Rush University and a neuropsychologist with the Rush Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Center<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, every person has a different experience as cognitive health can be influenced by genetics, diet, exercise, blood pressure, connectedness with others, and keeping their minds active or inactive,\u201d she notes.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n But then there are the advantages of aging. Rowe says there are aspects of intelligence, like vocabulary, that improve with age. And that\u2019s not all. Studies have repeatedly shown older people have more emotional stability, he adds.<\/p>\n Rowe points to a pair of studies<\/a> from 2010 by Igor Grossmann, PhD<\/a>, then at the University of Michigan and now director of the Wisdom and Culture Lab<\/a> at the University of Waterloo in Canada. The research found that people 65\u201380 were much better at the following aspects of leadership: <\/p>\n \u201cSocial reasoning improves with age despite a decline in fluid intelligence,\u201d the research notes. \u201cThe results suggest that it might be advisable to assign older individuals to key social roles involving legal decisions, counseling, and intergroup negotiations.\u201d<\/p>\n Rowe also points to a 2020 report<\/a> by Laura Carstansen, PhD<\/a>, professor of psychology at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Center on Longevity<\/a>. Her study of 1,000 people aged 18\u201376 found that, during the early days of the pandemic, older adults reported more resilience than younger people.\u00a0<\/p>\n Older people were more likely to feel calm, interest, and appreciation, and less likely to feel negative emotions, like anxiety, Carstansen explained in an interview<\/a> for Stanford on the study, attributing it to experience and a shift in perspective.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople tend to view older people as frail and helpless, but there is enormous variability among older people, more so than younger people,\u201d Carstansen said. \u201cSome older people are quite infirm. As a group, however, older people are extraordinarily resilient and actually doing better than younger people in terms of emotional well-being.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Maddy Dychtwald<\/a>, author of Ageless Aging<\/em><\/a> who has been a thought leader in the field of aging and longevity for 40 years, says that\u2019s a gift of aging that cannot be overlooked.<\/p>\n If you feel more positive about life and are happier, \u201cyou bring that perspective to your leadership game,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n Rowe says it\u2019s his view that if older people are cognitively intact, they can be expected to have more emotional stability, better problem-solving skills, and better negotiating skills. <\/p>\n But he also acknowledges he would not appoint a 95-year-old as president because the likelihood of serious adverse medical issues increases with advancing age.<\/p>\n So would he count an elderly person out altogether?<\/p>\n Rowe doesn\u2019t think it\u2019s fair, given all the obvious exceptions. And different institutions have different leadership needs at different times, he adds, highlighting Winston Churchill, who became the U.K. prime minister at age 66. \u201cHe was perfect for World War II, but when the war was over they voted him out of office, because the problems the country had to solve were not the problems that Winston Churchill could solve.\u201d<\/p>\n Dychtwald points to many good examples of older leaders\u2014including Warren Buffett, Pope Francis, and Nelson Mandela, who came into office at age 75. \u201cI think they\u2019re older and wiser and have the maturity to make decisions based on experiences,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Regarding the current conversation around presidents and age, she thinks people are looking at it in a myopic way, noting that her book examines three different kinds of aging\u2014physical, psychological, and, of course, chronological.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s what people seem really zeroed in on right now,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m 74 and I don\u2019t think that defines me at all. In all modesty, I feel like I\u2019m at the top of my game.\u201d<\/p>\n\nLoss of cognitive function exceeds after age 65<\/h2>\n
The minimum age of a U.S. president is 35, the same age of typical cognitive \u2018peak\u2019<\/h2>\n
Wisdom that comes with age and experience can\u2019t be discounted<\/h2>\n
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