Much of the discussion on the upcoming U.S. presidential election revolves around issues of age : Donald Trump is 78 and Joe Biden is 81.
That begs a question: Just what is the perfect age to be president—or any high-stakes leader , for that matter? That’s a question that has been well-studied by many scholars over the years, Dr. John Rowe , a Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health professor of health policy and aging, tells Fortune . But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to pinpoint an ideal number.
“First, cognitive function and behavioral functions include a variety of different specific functions, such as fluency, short-term and long-term memory, problem solving, speed ...
and there’s a fair amount of variability in the effects of aging on these different functions,” he says. “So it’s not a monotonic everything-gets-worse-at-the-same-rate.” Michael Snyder, PhD , chair of the genetics department at the Stanford University School of Medicine , agrees that cognitive decline is highly variable and specific to each individual.
“That can go pretty late for a lot of people,” he tells Fortune . “We all know people in their 90s who are still super, super sharp . And, likewise, we know people who hit their 60s who slow down a lot.
” Rowe adds that, cognitively, “all 40-year-olds are mostly the same, but when you get up to 80 , there are people who are very, very good and some who are not so good.” Loss of cognitive function exceeds after age 65.
