"The view of aging is far too negative," says brain researcher Martin Korte. He has good news for employees over 50, offers tips on how to stay mentally sharp—and explains why early retirement can be very harmful.
Mr. Korte, is the impression correct that the brain begins to decline around the age of 50?
In fact, brain aging progresses more rapidly in two phases. One is between 45 and 50, and the other between 60 and 65. But the brain already begins to age around the age of 25, when it has reached its maximum number of connections, nerve cells, and supporting cells. We just don't notice this for decades because brain performance remains stable in terms of speed and also in terms of what the nerve cells have to perform.
Life is particularly hectic around the age of 50. What impact does this have?
A fifty-year-old brain is much more challenged than a young brain because For example, at this age, you know many more people, have accumulated much more knowledge, and have to be active in many more life situations than in younger years. Therefore, it becomes more obvious that there are deficits in one area or another. And once you're in this state of observation that everything is getting worse, you also focus on it – individuals, companies, and society focus too much on the deficits of old age and too little on what remains stable, what is even improving, and what can be improved with training.
First, the unpleasant part – what exactly is getting worse?
It becomes more difficult for memory to access information precisely; it takes us longer to find details, and it's harder for us to find them. This is partly due to the mechanics of the brain; it has a slower clock speed in older people. The axons – the cables that transmit information – are surrounded by oligodendrocytes, supporting cells. The better the axons are surrounded, the faster they transmit information. But these sheaths develop holes, the first time. Some around the age of 50, and then even more around the age of 65; after that, it steadily increases. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that memory is getting worse; it just takes longer. And many don't have the patience to wait calmly to find information.
What else is there?
To access detailed information, we need the hippocampus, and it ages particularly rapidly. This thumb-sized structure below the temporal lobe is important for storing information; it's important for short-term memory, which deteriorates, and for compiling information. New neurons are constantly being formed in the hippocampus, but the rate of formation slows with age—computing capacity declines.
Older people, on the other hand, have much more life experience. How does this affect the brain and memory?
The brain of a fifty-, sixty-, or seventy-year-old has a much larger data storage capacity, a larger memory volume, compared to a young brain. You've met a hundred times more people, you've stored a thousand times more knowledge, you've learned a thousand times more names. And in fact, it takes longer and becomes less precise to access information in such a vast data space. Older people actually have the best memories on the planet because they have the largest.
That sounds motivating. What about creativity? Can older people still be creative at work?
Older people are somewhat less flexible in their thinking. They find it harder to abandon habits of perception, thinking, and acting and explore new paths. They are less likely to take risks. The myth that older people are no longer creative is, however, untrue, even if it has some basis. The fact that it's harder to adapt to new situations is because the brain has become so effective at thinking quickly in familiar ways—which is also a positive thing. And because older people have stored so much knowledge, they can intuitively assess an incredible number of situations quickly and accurately. They can also separate important from unimportant information more quickly.
How does this affect their careers?
Many older employees are better at assessing complex situations than younger ones. - because they know what they don't need to pay attention to. They focus on the important variables. However, this can also be misleading if the situation is completely new. Then you analyze the wrong things with your knowledge systems and may come too quickly to the conclusion that you've already experienced something. But that's not true if something is completely new, disruptive. Then you have to encourage older employees to deviate from their usual ways of thinking. However, in normal working life, older employees are more productive than younger ones because they have this vast wealth of knowledge.
That's a really positive perspective on aging.
There's more: Memory doesn't just deteriorate—our language and verbal memory improve. Older people are more likely and better able to summarize and remember a story. They have spent a lifetime listening to and speaking language, training their language memory and language skills. They are also better at describing something precisely.
Do you have any more good news?
I do. "Fluid intelligence," the pure mechanics, does deteriorate, but "crystallized intelligence," namely our expert knowledge in a field, can increase at least until the age of 80. That's why it's important to stay active in your job, to question things, and to always be willing to learn new things.
What about emotions?
Older people are better in this regard, too. They have experienced, analyzed, and evaluated ten thousand times more social interactions and are therefore better able to assess what others think and feel, and which arguments they are more receptive to. And because I can better assess the emotions of others, I can also better assess and control my own.
In teams, older colleagues are often more relaxed, while younger ones have such drive. Are mixed-age teams recommended?
This diversity is precisely the strength of young-old teams, which I highly recommend – under certain conditions: Older people must be sympathetic to the strengths of younger people; just because you've been in the job longer and earn more doesn't make you better or smarter. And younger people must put aside their prejudices against older people. When I visit companies, I repeatedly experience that older people have invisible stripes on their shoulders and think they should say more in meetings. Hierarchical teams are evaluated less favorably than teams in which the hierarchy levels are as invisible as possible and where communication doesn't always focus on one person.
Back to creativity: Can it be learned, or is it innate?
You can't learn creativity from books or PowerPoint slides; yet, creativity requires knowledge. This explains why older people can still be creative. To be able to think of new things, you have to know a lot. There are different forms of creativity: it can be disruptive – everything has to be completely different – or associative: you re-associate what you already know, thus generating something new. Older people can be exceptionally creative because they have so many elements of knowledge.
But are they?
Unfortunately, often not, because it requires them to be willing to take new paths and make mistakes. Unfortunately, mistakes have a negative connotation in our culture, which is why many older people don't want to learn anything new: They're afraid of making mistakes, because they make more of them in the beginning. A corporate culture that allows for mistakes is important.
Can older employees even be given completely new roles?
I would be cautious about that. Someone who has worked in an office for 30 years, which corresponds to their personality structure, shouldn't be put into field service. However, it might be sensible to send someone who has always been an insider to the outside world for a while. But personality structure can't be changed; it has a strong genetic component.
What can older people do to stay mentally sharp, including for their careers?
They can do a lot. Just like in a house that's getting increasingly crowded, you should take stock: What are the important activities I want to pursue? What are my outstanding skills? What deficits do I want to work on? The next point is: Older people are more easily distracted due to the lower processing capacity of their attention and memory systems. This makes it all the more important for them to put away digital devices from time to time.
What role does the body play?
A very large one. Exercising and moving regularly trains the brain and, besides learning, is the only factor that promotes the formation of new neurons in the hippocampus. Three to four times a week, you should have an elevated heart rate for at least 40 minutes. Do you really need to drive to work and take the elevator instead of the stairs? According to the Lancet Commission, 14 factors slow the aging process in the brain – exercise is the most important. The second most important is avoiding excess weight.
What else is recommended?
It's also important to get enough sleep. Over the course of your life, you sleep less and less if you're not careful. It's not, as some multi-billionaires would have it, particularly good to sleep very little, but rather it's particularly stupid, because the brain ages particularly quickly and because at night we re-store the things we learned during the day particularly well. So, we're practically given working time at night.
Quite a few companies offer employees in their 50s and 60s severance packages to get rid of them.
I don't think much of that. Brains that remain connected, whose daily lives still have structure, that are needed and challenged, age more slowly. Nor can we as a society want the opposite. Companies are doing themselves no favors by treating older employees like elite athletes and saying, "They don't run the 100 meters as fast anymore, so we don't want them anymore." They should consider that they could become coaches or supervisors, that they have an important mentoring and role model function. For older employees, this means they have to become more flexible in their work assignments.
But why, despite the significant disadvantages, are so many forced into early retirement?
In my opinion, this has to do with the many prejudices about aging, which overemphasize the shortcomings and underestimate what older people can still achieve.
At 66, and soon at 67, it's finally over. As a brain researcher, what do you think of such a rigid statutory retirement age?
I would like to see this made more flexible, so that the transition to retirement and pension age becomes much more gradual. One could retain older employees through contract work, shorter-term employment contracts, or part-time work. This would be very beneficial for companies and individuals, too. The unions that advocate that it's so important for everyone to retire at 67 don't consider the health and, above all, brain-related consequences this has. Because, for example, many people fall into depression. They miss the regularity of their daily work routine. Loneliness is also a huge problem. Loneliness causes chronic stress for the human brain. This leads to increased susceptibility to disease and the loss of nerve cells.
If you really want to retire: How can I plan for that, including for my brain?
If you constantly lie on the couch and watch TV, your brain ages particularly quickly, and the likelihood of developing Alzheimer's disease is significantly higher. Preparing for old age includes maintaining your circle of friends. The next step is to find a club or club activity. And being willing to learn new things. Maybe I used to play a musical instrument and am doing it again now – you can build on structures that actually still exist, even if you haven't used them for 40 years.
And, of course, exercise.
Absolutely, but not just Nordic walking, but also going to the gym to build muscle. You lose 50 percent of your muscle mass. And muscles are not only important for posture and steady gait, they also send signals that slow brain aging.
Are you happier that way?
It's been proven that people are happier if they exercise regularly, and especially if they're socially integrated. Loneliness must be understood from an evolutionary perspective. A person who was lonely in the Stone Age died because they couldn't defend themselves against the much stronger predators. Loneliness is perceived as an extremely stressful situation, and chronic stress literally causes brain damage.” [1]
1. "Ältere haben das beste Gedächtnis". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; Frankfurt. 23 Aug 2025: 29.
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