A: Think

A new study published in the journal Psychology and Aging found that older adults between the ages of 60 and 82 did their best thinking in the morning. The study found they were less distracted and better able to perform cognitive tasks between the hours of 8:30 and 10:30am than in the afternoon, when their brains started “idling.” Using a sample of 16 older adults and 16 younger ones ages 19 to 30, researchers had participants play a memory game of sorts, taking brain scans of the subjects as they were shown picture-word combos on a computer screen — interspersed with unrelated, purposefully distracting pictures and words — and then asked to recall the combinations. During testing between 1 and 5pm, the older adults were 10% more likely than the younger ones to lose focus. One researcher noted, “Our research is consistent with previous reports showing that at a time of day that matches circadian arousal patterns, older adults are able to resist distraction.” (Medical News Today)