When does the brain start to age? The “tipping points” occur between ages 66 and 83, according to a new study

We know people go through it different stages how the time flies. Both your body and your mental functions and structures are reconfigured, and this is also associated with cognitive, behavioral and psychological outcomes.

Now what would happen if we were told that the stages we know (childhood, adolescence, adulthood, old age) do not correspond exactly to age or brain stages? And that, for example, youth could last in this sense up to 32 years? When does the brain start to age?

Scientists at the University of Cambridge have not only described how these changes are generated at the neural level, but have also identified the times at which the changes occur. most important changesso-called turning points: children’s brains (up to 9), adolescent brains (surprisingly, up to 32), premature aging at 66 years and late aging at 83 years.

The study, published in Nature communicationcompared the brains of 3,802 people aged 0 to 90 using MRI datasets. So they were able to get one Mapping neural connectionsby tracking how water molecules move through brain tissue.

Duncan Astle, Professor of Neuroinformatics at Cambridge and lead author of the study, reflects on the fact that the phases we go through throughout life are “shaped” not only by those associated with the cultural and subjective level, but also with the biological level, and emphasizes their importance cognitive abilities in this context.

This is what happens when we look into the past. “Looking back, many of us feel that our lives were characterized by different phases. It turns out.” the brain It also goes through these phases,” he says.

And it explains how important it is to pay attention to this area: many neurological, mental health and neurodevelopmental disorders are related to it Brain configuration. In fact, these differences suggest difficulties with attention, language, memory, and a variety of behaviors.

“Understand that the Structural pathway of the brain “It’s not about constant progress, but rather several key inflection points. This will help us identify when and how your cabling is vulnerable to disruption,” he adds.

The four turning points Major pathways generate five major ages of neural wiring over the average human lifespan:

From birth until about age nine, when the first tipping point occurs, what happens in the brain is that the connections are then reconfigured the same pattern. The “topology” of the infant brain remains stable.

This phase is defined by what can be called “network consolidation”, as the richness of synapses, i.e. the connections between neurons, is preserved. According to reports, “overproduction” only occurs in a baby’s brain. the most active survive.

Now it is gray and white matter grow It rapidly increases in volume, leading to processes that stabilize the characteristic ridges of the outer part of the brain (“cortical folding”), and its thickness, which reaches a peak.

When you reach the age of nine, the brain enters the adolescent phase and you experience a radical change in cognitive abilitiesas well as an increased risk of suffering from mental disorders, they point out.

The volume of white matter continues to increase, improving the organization of the brain’s communication networks increasingly refined. In fact, this era is characterized by the efficiency of connections both within specific regions and rapid communication throughout the brain, which is linked to better cognitive performance.

“Neural efficiency is well connected by short pathways, and the era of adolescence is the only one in which this is the case.” Efficiency increasesexplains Alexa Mousley, a Gates Cambridge Fellow who led the research.

On average, these developments peak early 30 yearswhich represents the “strongest topological turning point” in all of life, the researchers say.

“Around age 32, we see this more changes of direction in the wiring and the largest overall change in trajectory compared to all other turning points,” differentiates Mousley.

Although puberty offers a clear beginning, the late adolescence It is much more difficult to determine scientifically. “Based solely on neural architecture, changes in brain structure similar to those in adolescence end around the age of thirty,” he says.

In the early thirties, the brain’s neural wiring transitions to adult mode. That’s that longest stagewhich lasted more than three decades.

Here is the brain architecture stabilized compared to previous phases, without major changes. This has consequences: This stage corresponds to a stagnation of intelligence and personality, according to researchers based on previous studies.

They also found that “segregation” is more noticeable during this time as regions slowly begin to separate. divide more.

The turning point at age 66 is much milder and is not defined by major structural changes, although researchers have noted significant changes with age Patterns of brain networks around this age.

“The data suggests a gradual restructuring “The development of brain networks peaked in the mid-1960s,” Mousley said. “This is probably related to age, as we get older.” reduced connectivity when the white matter begins to degenerate.

“This is an age when people stand in front of you higher risk suffer from a variety of health problems that can affect the brain, such as high blood pressure.”

The final turning point occurs around age 83 and the final era of brain structure begins. Although there is limited data on this era, the defining feature is a shift from the global to the local, as is the case Overall brain connectivity decreases all the more the stronger the dependence on certain regions.

“This study is the First “We have succeeded in identifying the main phases of brain connectivity throughout human life,” says Mousley proudly.

Understanding these phases provides important connections to the areas in which our brain might be located better or more vulnerable in different phases of our lives, says the researcher.

In fact, they could help understand why some brains develop differently at key moments in life, whether in childhood learning difficulties or others Dementia in old agehe concludes.

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