How You Can Prevent Senility During Your Old Age

An 'old saying' is when something has been proven to indeed be true, and is handed down from one generation to the next. The saying 'you learn something new every day' is one such saying.

It's fortunate for us that scientists are among the foremost people who actively pursue learning something new every day. Case in point: for years, most people have understood and accepted the fact that our brain cells die as we age and cannot be regenerated.

Scientists however have discovered that brain cells do grow in adults, specifically in the area of the brain called hippocampus, which is responsible for learning and memories. They've also discovered that 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.

The same thing happens when dendrites are destroyed or in poor condition. Nerve impulses have a similar difficulty continuing on their path and often meet a literal 'dead end'. The good news is our brain cells don't have to deteriorate just because we get older.

When brain function, and dendrites are not used, they deteriorate. Use it or lose it, another old saying goes. This is particularly true of our body. Inactive neural pathways will slowly decrease in strength and function and will eventually stop performing correctly.

An example would be elderly people's difficulty in sitting on the floor. The reason for this is that they stopped sitting on the floor at some point in their lives. Movements are made when the brain combines the electrical signals of many neurons and makes a muscle movement. If the movements needed to make one sit on the floor is not used, those pathways between neurons become too weak to carry the signal and the brain's memory of how to sit on the floor is forgotten.

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.

Staying mentally active, through learning new things, doing crossword puzzles or brain teasers, and staying physically active, can keep your brain regenerating new cells and diminish your chances of suffering decreased brain function for the rest of your life.

Warm regards,

Christian Goodman

By: Christian Goodman

Christian Goodman is a popular researcher and the creator of the alternative health Blog. His different guides has already helped thousands of people who have hypertension, weight loss problems, TMJ, vertigo, and other diseases.

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