Does age affect learning ability?

The health of the brain, not age, matters when it comes to learning abilities. In some cases, older people may learn faster than younger people. An unhealthy brain, however, may deteriorate with age.

As people grow older, the millions of neural connections in the brain are also affected. These connections become slow and some even die. New neural connections are difficult to form in an older brain.

With good nutrition and ample exercise, however, it is possible to keep the brain healthy. A healthy brain can form new neural connections allowing it to learn better. Diseases such as Alzheimer’s, which commonly affect older people, ravage the brain and make it impossible to learn.