Ageing and brain health

 This is a decent article based on a new study:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgl6klez226o

I attended a neuroscience class in which the neuroscientists asked at what age neurons start to die. Students raised their arms and guessed mostly 20s. I raised my arm and guessed 40s. Self-satisfied the scientist declared it was shortly after birth. That was some time ago and it turned out that I was more right than him.

Knowledge changes as new studies and new technology add to previous knowledge. I have not read the actual Cambridge study yet, but it's heading in the right direction. But it's only 4000 people and 100000 is the general minimum to refect society. How many where healthy? How many were retired at 65? How many were lifelong learners? How many continued to learn new things? How was their nutrition to build those neurons? (Including glucose, the brain loves sweets to think and grow).

Science fact: While the brain is not a muscle it needs to be exercised. People who were polymaths as children and engaged in hobbies that ranged widely are less likely to get dementia and even less likely to get Alzheimers. So someone who knits their entire life and then takes a woodworking class would force new neuronal connections and it generally takes three months to do so. They would benefit more than someone who starts crocheting after knitting.

Whatever the new activity is it needs to be challenging.

The brain unfortunately prunes neurons that have not been used in a while and it may be the reason that we see a cognitive decline with aging. We also have a tendency to be less motivated, so it turns into chicken vs. egg scenario. People who enjoy hiking will continue to do it into old age, but might not be inclined to pick up something that they have not done before.

Complete myth: A very irritating and persistent myth is that we only use 20% of our brains and can unlock the potential..blah blah blah. If we used all of it at once it would be like jogging while figureskating at the same time painting and composing music while listening to a Playlist and reading a book. Neither possible nor desirable.

How intelligent someone is depends on a number of factors, but it is believed that it has a blue print where certain functions go, which vary from individual to individual. In highly intelligent people and individuals like Einstein or DaVinci the brain had more convolutions (increased number of folds). It was confirmed in Einsteins brain who donated his body to science.

Something that was discovered in the last decade is that memories are formed and stored all over the brain and likely closer to the area that usually processes that information. It goes beyond the basics listed here:

https://qbi.uq.edu.au/memory/where-are-memories-stored

The important thing is to learn new skills throughout one's life.