So the latest theory is that the brain doesn’t need to lose nerve cells as it ages, this not as much as once thought. What was originally speculated was up to 1% percent of neurons was lost every year once reaching the age of 25. This is now thought to be false, this for certain neurodegenerative diseases.
The thinking now is there’s no need to lose any mental function as the aging process sets in. Although you might slow down a bit, it’s thought you won’t dumb down. There is a “but,” a disclaimer to this however, and that you won’t lose any of your cognitive abilities provided that you treat your brain right.
What’s known is that brain tissue is a big blob of muscle, this similar to your biceps, and all it comes down to is, use it or lose it. Pumping up our biceps by lifting weights is easy because we can visibly see the progress, but with the brain, not so much.
Working Out Our Brain Muscle
What we never see is our brains, so we’re not aware that they’re capable of literally growing with the right exercise, while shrinking without active stimulation. What aging slower or faster depends on is whether we actively do or don’t exercise our brain tissue.
What’s now known is that the brain, this regardless of what age you are, is capable of physically growing with constant use.
But this growth can also slow down and at times even reverse, if detrimental brain aging habits are active. There are also certain parts of the brain that can grow, while other parts can shrink without use.
So the brain can look and function similar to the images of those elderly weight lifters we see. What it comes down to is applying the proper type of brain “workouts,” which can potentially slow down the progression of certain aging diseases, such as Dementia.
Take The How Old Is My Brain Test
So the first step is finding out the shape that your brain is currently in. Is it closer to its biological age, or more its chronological age.
Click Here To Test How Old Your Brain Is, which is a short test that will estimate your brains true age. This test assesses your brains age by gauging its speed.
What’s known is that the neurons found in the cerebral cortex (your IQ), doesn’t decrease that much with age. It’s the axons, which are known as the nerve fibers of the brain cells, is what loses myelination, which provides nerve fiber insulation.
What this loss does is slows down nerve conduction along with cognitive processing speed. What’s also a factor are the number of connections or synapses found among the nerve cells, which can decrease with age, which further slows down mental reaction time.
Keeping The Brain Sharp
So if the test revealed that your brain is older than it should be, there are certain steps that you can take.
You mostly likely have certain “bad” behaviors, but since their habits, you’re not willing or wanting to change them. Also make sure you continue to take the brain age test (TMT) every few months.
Remain mindful by actively using your brain. Similar to lifting weights, what applies is “no pain no gain.” Realize that if you’re not putting any pressure on your brain by doing things that are a little difficult, you’re brain tissue isn’t growing.
To Slow Down Brain Aging
Get regular routine physical exercise for at least 30 minutes every day. What physical activity also does is works out the brain muscle. What the brain neurons does is commands movement, which literally exercises itself when your muscles move.
What any form of exercise does is also increases blood circulation in the brain, which prevents the neurons from being deprived of oxygen. What this improved brain circulation does is flushes out toxins which are known to eliminate brain cells.
Expose your brain to plenty of variety and novelty, constantly introducing it to new combinations of sights, smells, tastes, and sounds.
Find a different route to work, burn different types of incense, engage in plenty of learning by reading, learn a new foreign language, learn computer programming, write content.
Remain social by engaging often with friends, family, coworkers, and even strangers. Playing, talking, traveling to new exciting places does is automatically stimulates the brain neurons.
What Causes Brain Aging
• Being a classic lazy couch potato results in high blood pressure, obesity, and poor circulation, which accelerates your brain to get older quicker
• Smoking cigarettes is. bad for circulation, and detrimental to the brain as it kills off cells with every inhale. Other vices to rid of is excess alcohol consumption, and processed empty sugars and fats
• Avoid chronic constant stress and anxiety. Stress hormones like cortisol are extremely damaging to brain cells
Working Out Your Brain
It can become easy to start preserving your brain, beginning by ridding of all your vices, which can save your brain cells. Learn to work out your brain much like another muscle, while avoiding all the habits such as alcohol, tobacco, and sweets.
Work out your brain by playing board games with friends, go take dance lessons which exercises the brain and body, go for a run or a bike ride.
It can be as simple as just knowing what will age the brain quicker, the things that we did in our youth, ironically so we could grow up and age quicker.
What’s known is that keeping active does is pays off in the future; while being lazy does is pays off right now. So just mindfully find ways to keep your brain young, keep it active, and have fun working it out.