Brain peaks at 39 years of age and declines thereafter | Hacker News Reader

Brain peaks at 39 years of age and declines thereafter

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33 pointsnreece25 comments

I just turned 27. I've been told we learned more about the brain in the 90s than all previous history combined. My hope is the given the amount of research going into myelin breakdown because of diseases like MS, by the time I'm 39, that date can be pushed back a bit. Escape velocity with respect to anti-aging is a delightful idea.

The article says they found a striking correlation - I wonder how one gets to be one of the outlying data points (on the good side)?

What's the betting it can be affected with dietary changes?

I would bet on Omega-3 fatty acids. no proof, but enough correlation to raise my eyebrow.

I would bet on advancement in drugs used to treat MS. They would be applied more broadly in short order.

My hope is... that date can be pushed back a bit.

You and me both - else I have just over 5 years til my brain peaks.

'The Brain Trust Program', by McCleary, a neurosurgeon tells what is known that you can do now. Not that neurosurgery repairs myelin, just that he keeps up with the literature.

Have you read this yourself; and if so, how strongly would your recommend it?

Has anyone else here read this? Does it stand up to close inspection?

Wow, I don't check my comments, that's one of a few ways that HN could benefit by borrowing from Reddit.

Yes, I've read it. I'd recommend it, not that I've noticed any difference but, I'm old enough that I'm willing to take some pains wrt my brain. Exercise is a big one, btw. But yeah, it should be cheap or, even in a library. I remember there were a couple similar books that came out around the same time. But this biochemically based one, was what I picked.

As for the guy being a charlatan or something, calling it a 'program' is just his set of recommendations. He's got ~30 pages of journal citations, he was a neurosurgeon so he had to keep up. This kind of nutrition isn't an established science yet, you have to scrounge papers. If you're curious, if you stumble across it in a bookstore, where he talks about Acetyl-L-Carnitine is pages 104-105.

To quote him: (after much praise in general for ALC) "ALC also appears to retard the age-related drop in nerve growth factors, such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which helps rebuild new brain and nerve tissues. In addition, in structures that deteriorate over time, such as the myelin sheath, ALC appears to slow and perhaps even reverse the degenerative process - at least in mice". .. rec dosage: 100-500mg / day (1500-2000 has been used in Alzheimer's patients without side effects). It's expensive though, US $37 for 120 x 500mg. But /all/ books put exercise way up on the list; it can help regenerate .. I forget which brain structure but, they're all good :)

But _you_ probably won't see this reply either :/

This study is more rigorous than this title implies. It isn't about age vs. mental acuity; it's a test of myelin density vs. mental acuity. Myelin tends to disappear as we get older, after about age 39, so that is how these researchers got the connection to aging.

Actually, it's myelin density vs the neural processing speed. It doesn't say anything about whether your mental acuity declines after 39, just that it does things slower. (Which is good, I can deal with thinking slower as long as I don't get dumber. Hopefully my increased experience and accumulated wisdom will outweigh the slower cognitive processes... ;-)

I haven't read the article yet, so I may be off base here, but...

While I don't doubt their results, you make a good point that it's important to not over-generalize the results by mistaking neuronal processing speed for mental acuity. Motor control, maybe, and this may help explain why the elderly are frail and unsteady. However, to make any claims about reduced cognitive abilities, you need to show that neuroplasticity cannot compensate for the impaired processing speed.

However, even if it can be compensated for, it would still a case of "use it or lose it".

There is a direct link between processing speed and intellect. The faster you think the more things you can think about at the same time which is probably why reading faster increases comprehension. One of the ideas is that when you bring up a memory you keep it "alive" for a consistent fraction of a second, but if you can bring more things into focus you have more time to work out relationships before your first memory / idea times out.

PS: Think about what it's like once you "load up" a complex problem. You can't think about other things while coding, which is why people hate to be interrupted while coding.

Good thing sheer brain power is only a small part of achieving remarkable things.

You over 39?

I'm 23.

Young folk, don't be discouraged by this article. You don't have to wait until you're 39 to do great things.

Hmmm... when I was young I was told the peak is 25 not 39, go figure.

Does it mean we should not elect politicians who are over 39?

electing old people is another unavoidable problem with democracy. only the best connected can ever get serious backing, and it takes years to gain that kind of backing.

then there is the problem that the old are out of touch with the needs and desires of "normal people". People become strange once their sex drive deserts them. And it is the sex drive that forms society (desire for maximization of offspring survival encourages cooperation. Animals with extended gestation periods tend to be the most social. Of course it could be that being social allows for longer gestation. chicken and egg.)

There is such a thing as youthful folly, though. I have changed my mind on a lot of things, and I am only 35 yet. I think some experience is good for a politician.

Can you be sure your current views are better than those you held a decade ago?

In most cases, yes, because I see the broader picture and have information that I did not have as a young person. But of course experience tells me that I am mostly wrong at the moment, too.

I guess at my death bed I will convert to religion... (no, I hope not).

Most older people are concerned about the welfare of their offspring. "Protector" by Larry Niven is an allegory for this phenomenon.

This is why middle-aged guys are such horrible public servants. They have their families and future careers in mind and can't do anything to upset their billionaire patrons. Reckless young people or rich old farts who know they'll be dead soon enough are better.

Our government isn't really bottom up. And you've pointed to one of the reasons; it takes a while to become popular.

Otherwise, dynasties by inheritance interfere with what could come from the bottom up. And dynasties = popularity by brand.

And...

...I usually can't draw the further inferences in public (too heretical). But let's I'd like to see what happens on HN.

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