In a previous post we shared the scientific bombshell that when grandmothers see photographs of their grandchildren their brains fire up in areas linked with emotional empathy. That means grandmothers actually feel what their grandchildren feel.

We saw that grandmothers’ brains don’t respond like that even when they see photos of their own children. Instead, those photos activate areas linked with cognitive empathy. Grandmothers want to understand their children’s feelings but don’t feel them. For their grandchildren only, grandmothers’ brains are ablaze with empathy.

Get ready for the next scientific bombshell about grandmothers’ brains:

They defy aging.

How Do We Know This?

Aging changes the brain. Over time, gray matter and white matter shrink, while fluid-filled spaces called ventricles grow. Structural brain MRIs can detect these changes.

In 2010, scientists developed an algorithm called Brain Age Gap Estimation (BrainAGE) that uses a person’s brain MRI to calculate the difference between their actual age and their biological (or “estimated”) brain age. A person with fewer-than-average brain changes has an estimated brain age lower than their actual age. A person with more-than-average brain changes has an estimated brain age higher than their actual age.

Last year, for the first time, researchers used BrainAGE to calculate the brain age of grandmothers compared with non-grandmothers.

What they found was astonishing:

Grandmothers’ brains were 5.5 years younger.

Grandmothering, the researchers said, appeared to “actually slow the aging process.”

And the more grandmothering, the more protection. Grandmothers who spent more time with their grandchildren and were more positively engaged with them had lower brain ages than grandmothers who spent less time and were less positively engaged.

But too much of a good thing is not good for grandmothers.

The age-defying benefits experienced by grandmothers who care for their grandchildren part time elude those who provide full-time care. A grandmother becomes the full-time caregiver under often tragic circumstances, like the death or incapacity of the parents, and sadly that stress can deplete rather than fortify the grandmother. As we’ll discuss in a future blog post dedicated to these custodial grandmothers, they are true superheroes, giving wholly of themselves to ensure their grandchildren’s survival.

But for the vast majority of grandmothers, those who don’t take full-time care of their grandchildren, grandmothering literally makes their brains younger. And the more invested and happier they are while doing it, the younger and sharper they get to be.

How Is This Possible?

Because grandmothering is cross-training for the brain. Research shows that to maximize our brain health over time, we need “cognitive enrichment,” meaning beneficial intellectual, physical, and social activities. Grandmothering encompasses all three. Grandmothering is a cognitive grand slam.

Intellectual

Grandmothering includes all kinds of brain-stimulating activities: putting together puzzles, telling stories, playing games, making music, reading books, and helping with homework. For those of us with toddler grandchildren, simply trying to answer their questions can be more intellectually stimulating than solving a Rubik’s Cube. From the existential: “Where was I when you were a little girl?” To the Shoot-I-Should-Know-This: “How does a TV work?” To the negotiatory: “If I eat three pieces of broccoli will you give me five M&Ms?” To the humiliating: “Did you just fart?”

The boisterous mental activity of grandmothering fortifies our minds.

Physical

Grandmothering involves tremendous physical activity just to care for a child’s body. Grandmothers lift, bend, lug, shuffle, chase, and repeat… Add to that the physically stimulating grandmother extracurriculars — like doing household tasks, gardening, walking, biking, and romping around the park. Unless their grandchild is sleeping, grandmothers are on the move, and their brains are all the stronger for it.

Social

Given our extraordinary empathy-fueled bond, nothing is more socially stimulating than interacting with our grandchildren. Even if our grandchild is pre-verbal, or the conversation is a perpetual loop involving a sheep named Woolly who can’t count, or the afterschool debrief is a string of gripes, we are in there with them. 

As the millennials say, we’re feeling the feels. 

Longitudinal studies, which follow the same people over many years, show that close relationships are key not only to happiness, but also to brain health. Grandmothers cleave to their grandchildren, as connected to another human being as one can be. Grandmothering bestows on us the ultimate social enrichment.

Our Brains Look Amazing for Their Age

Just when becoming a grandmother might make us feel old, we now know it’s in fact the fountain of cognitive youth. When we hug our grandchild, smile at their smile, tell them a story, shake it all about, admit to a fart (or don’t), we can’t help but enter their world. And there we find joy, defy time, and beautify our minds.