How You Can Prevent Senility During Your Old Age
The reason ‘old sayings’ become ‘old sayings’ is because they’ve been proven to be universally true and because they’re true, they’ve been handed down and passed around for generations. One such old saying is “You learn something new every day”.
We should be thankful that scientists are among the leading advocates of learning something new every day. Case in point: We’ve always believed that our brain cells die and stop regenerating once we get old.
But scientists, in their quest for learning, have produced recent studies that show new brain cell growth in adults, particularly in the hippocampus area of the brain, where learning and memories are stored. Another study shows that even senior citizens can have the same number of brain cells as they did as teenagers.
The brain does shrink in size over time. After reaching full size at around age 20, it begins to shrink by about 1% every year. The decrease in size is not due to neuron (nerve cell) death, but rather to changes of the dendrites that branch out from the neurons and the synapses (the spaces between adjacent neurons) between them.
When dendrites change and their number decreases, brain function is reduced as we age. Neurons are connected to each other by dendrites, something like entrance ramps that connect surface roads to the interstate. When these entrance ramps are destroyed or are dilapidated, you will not be able to continue your journey.
When nerve impulses are also destroyed or are in poor condition, they similarly have a hard time continuing on their path and reach a ‘dead end’. The good news is that we don’t have to suffer from brain cell deterioration as we get older.
Brain function in general and the dendrites in particular, deteriorate because of disuse. Which may bring to mind another ‘old saying’; use it or lose it. This is especially true when it comes to our body. If neural pathways are not kept active, they will gradually decrease in strength and function until they are no longer able to perform properly.
For example, do you know why elderly people have a hard time sitting on the floor? It is because at some point in their lives, they stopped sitting on the floor. When that happens, the movements required to lower oneself to the floor are not used, and the electrical signals of many neurons required for that movement become too weak and cannot carry the signal and the brain’s memory of how to sit down can no longer be performed.
In order to promote neurogenesis (the making of new brain cells), it’s important to stay active, both mentally and physically. An interesting note is that stress inhibits the formation of new brain cells. Can you guess what enhances it? If you guessed physical exercise, you’re right.
We can stay active mentally by doing mentally challenging things, like crossword puzzles and brain teasers. By staying mentally and physically active, we can make the brain continue generating new brain cells and reduce our changes of suffering from senility.
Warm regards,
Christian Goodman
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