The Science Behind Aging Brains

Aging BrainsWhat Happens To Our Minds As We Grow Old?

It’s natural for us as human beings to grow old and that includes our brains as well. This article goes over the science behind our aging brains because everyone deals with the process differently. Some signs could be from genetics, some could be from the lifestyle we had growing up and some just naturally come because of old age. The factors really are endless and it’s important to consult with your family doctor to find out what you could be potentially suffering with as you get older.

Our loss in cognitive performance can sneak up on us and some signs might include, memory loss, hearing loss, lack of concentration, lack of energy, and so much more. There’s more than just those signs that show up, our reflexes tend to slow down, we walk and act slower, we even talk slower. There’s a whole lot that goes on when we have aging brains and it’s important to keep our brain intake before we end up with serious health problems!

What Is The Science Behind Our Aging Brains?

According to Psychology Today, this is the brutal truth behind our aging brains. Societies as a whole are being affected in major economic and social ways in countries where the populations are rapidly aging. In Japan that 23% over 65, Germany 20.5%, Italy 20.4%, and the US 13%. The obvious consequences of these are a shrinking labor force and shifting of a nations wealth to health care.

So now that we can understand how our brains affect people all over the world, what exactly goes on in our brains as we do age? What happens is our brains begin to shrink, we lose those cognitive functions as I had listed earlier and we see an overall deterioration in cognitive function. These day’s people are beginning to live longer and this had also lead to a number of cases of dementia and other brain health issues to rise today.

Is There A Way To Prevent Aging Brains?

Because this is a natural process, you prevent aging from effecting your brain. However, there are ways of coping with it depending on the severity of the aging process on your brain. It’s important to keep your brain staying active to avoid health problems such as, degenerative disease, mental health conditions and many more. Listed below are some simple and easy ways of keeping your brain active and healthy:

  • Keep On Learning! Experts think that advanced education may help keep memory strong by getting a person into habit of being mentally active. Challenge your brain with different exercises that tackle various areas of your brain.
  • Use All Of Your Sense! The more senses you use in learning something, the more of your brain will be involved in retaining the memory!
  • Have Faith In Yourself! It has been studied that many middle aged to older learners do worse on memory tasks when they’re exposed to negative stereotypes about aging and memory. People who believe that they are not in control of their memory function are less likely to work at maintaining or improving their memory skills.
  • Prioritize Your Brain Use! If you don’t need to use your mental energy remembering things you’ll be better able to concentrate on learning and remembering new and important things. Take advantage of calendars and planners or maps and shopping lists.
  • Repeat What You Want To Know! When you want to remember something you’ve just heard, read or thought about, repeat it out loud or write it down! This way you reinforce the memory or connection!
  • Space It Out! Repetitions is most potent as a learning tool when it’s properly timed. It’s best not to repeat something many times in a short period, as if you were cramming for an exam.