Yale Study Finds Nearly Half of Older Adults Improved With Age
June 21, 2026 | Source: Science Daily | by Yale University
Aging isn’t always about decline—nearly half of older adults in a major Yale study actually got sharper, stronger, or both over time. Credit: Shutterstock
The research was supported by funding from the National Institute on Aging.
Both physical and mental abilities. However, new research from Yale University paints a far more optimistic picture. The study found that many older adults actually improve over time, and their beliefs about aging may play an important role in those gains.
Drawing on more than a decade of data from a large, nationally representative study of older Americans, researchers discovered that nearly half of adults age 65 and older experienced measurable improvements in cognitive function, physical function, or both.
The findings suggest that improvement in later life is far more common than many people realize.
“Many people equate aging with an inevitable and continuous loss of physical and cognitive abilities,” said Becca R. Levy, lead author of the study and professor of social and behavioral sciences at the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH). “What we found is that improvement in later life is not rare, it’s common, and it should be included in our understanding of the aging process.”
The study was published in the journal Geriatrics.