{"id":111174,"date":"2020-02-10T10:44:36","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T16:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.artofmanliness.com\/?p=111174"},"modified":"2026-09-15T18:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T23:19:11","slug":"podcast-583-how-to-stay-mentally-sharp-and-fulfilled-as-you-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/strength\/health\/podcast-583-how-to-stay-mentally-sharp-and-fulfilled-as-you-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcast #583: How to Stay Mentally Sharp and Fulfilled as You Age"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Everyone gets old.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But not everyone experiences old age the same way. Some folks spend the last few decades of their life sick, sad, and stagnating, while others stay sharp and find great satisfaction in the twilight years of life.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>My guest today is a neuroscientist who has dug into the research on what individuals can do to increase their chances of achieving the latter outcome instead of the former.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>His name <a href=\"https:\/\/www.daniellevitin.com\/\">Daniel Levitin<\/a> and today we discuss his latest book&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3guBAd9\"><em>Successful Aging: A Neuroscientist Explores the Power and Potential of Our Lives<\/em><\/a>. We begin our conversation discussing the societal narratives we have about old age that don&#8217;t always hold true. We then dig into the fact that while the brain slows in some ways with age, it gets sharper in other ways. Daniel shares the personality trait that&#8217;s the biggest predictor of a successful elderhood, and the recognizable-yet-surprising reason the idea that memory declines with age is overblown. We also talk about what really works for preserving your memory and keeping your mind agile and keen, and no, it&#8217;s not doing puzzles and brain games. We end our show discussing the question of whether people get happier or sadder as they age.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Everyone gets old.&nbsp; But not everyone experiences old age the same way. Some folks spend the last few decades of their life sick, sad, and stagnating, while others stay sharp and find great satisfaction in the twilight years of life.&nbsp; My guest today is a neuroscientist who has dug into the research on what individuals [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":195118,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42265,156,42380],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-podcast","category-strength"],"featured_image_urls":{"large":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/583-538x280.png","medium_large":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/583-768x432.png","aom":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/583-372x230.png","reactor-320":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/583-320x180.png","reactor-640":"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/583-640x360.png"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.4 (Yoast SEO v28.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to Stay Mentally Sharp as You Age | Art of Manliness Podcast<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Everyone gets old.\u00a0But not everyone experiences old age the same way. Here&#039;s how to stay mentall sharp (as well as fulfilled) as you age.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/strength\/health\/podcast-583-how-to-stay-mentally-sharp-and-fulfilled-as-you-age\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Podcast #583: How to Stay Mentally Sharp and Fulfilled as You Age | The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Everyone gets old.\u00a0But not everyone experiences old age the same way. Here&#039;s how to stay mentall sharp (as well as fulfilled) as you age.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/strength\/health\/podcast-583-how-to-stay-mentally-sharp-and-fulfilled-as-you-age\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Art of Manliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/facebook.com\/artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-10T16:44:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-15T23:19:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/beta.artofmanliness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/583.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Brett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@artofmanliness\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Brett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/strength\\\/health\\\/podcast-583-how-to-stay-mentally-sharp-and-fulfilled-as-you-age\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/strength\\\/health\\\/podcast-583-how-to-stay-mentally-sharp-and-fulfilled-as-you-age\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Brett\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/84a51044fb965564cde35d18f7e0a832\"},\"headline\":\"Podcast #583: How to Stay Mentally Sharp and Fulfilled as You Age\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-10T16:44:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-15T23:19:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/strength\\\/health\\\/podcast-583-how-to-stay-mentally-sharp-and-fulfilled-as-you-age\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":221,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/strength\\\/health\\\/podcast-583-how-to-stay-mentally-sharp-and-fulfilled-as-you-age\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/583.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Health\",\"Podcast\",\"Strength\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2020\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/strength\\\/health\\\/podcast-583-how-to-stay-mentally-sharp-and-fulfilled-as-you-age\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/strength\\\/health\\\/podcast-583-how-to-stay-mentally-sharp-and-fulfilled-as-you-age\\\/\",\"name\":\"How to Stay Mentally Sharp as You Age | Art of Manliness Podcast\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/strength\\\/health\\\/podcast-583-how-to-stay-mentally-sharp-and-fulfilled-as-you-age\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/strength\\\/health\\\/podcast-583-how-to-stay-mentally-sharp-and-fulfilled-as-you-age\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/beta.artofmanliness.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/583.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-10T16:44:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-15T23:19:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.artofmanliness.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/84a51044fb965564cde35d18f7e0a832\"},\"description\":\"Everyone gets old.\u00a0But not everyone experiences old age the same way. 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