A new study suggests that people who say they feel younger than their actual age really do show less brain aging.
Researchers at Seoul National University in Korea assessed the personal perceptions and cognitive skills of older subjects for the study.
For the research the team recruited 68 healthy people aged 59 to 84 and gave each person MRI brain scans in order to assess the volume of gray matter in various brain regions.
Participants were also asked to complete a survey which assessed their cognitive abilities and perceptions of their overall health and asked whether they felt older or younger than their age.
People who felt younger than their ages scored higher in mental fitness. That is, they had more youthful brains.