If we share anything as human beings, it is the desire to retain our mental faculties as we age. So a new study will be of interest to everybody as it shows two lifestyle choices that can help keep your brain young as measured by its amount of grey matter. The good or bad news, depending on how you look at it, is that one of the choices can be implemented at any age but the other needs to be put in place when you are young.
The study used MRI to measure the volume of grey matter in the brains of 331 adults aged 19 to 79. Just in case you were wondering, grey matter serves to process information in the brain. It is mainly composed of neuronal cell bodies and unmyelinated axons. Axons are the processes that extend from neuronal cell bodies, carrying signals between those bodies. The structures within the grey matter process signals generated in the sensory organs or other areas of the grey matter. This tissue directs sensory (motor) stimuli to nerve cells in the central nervous system, where synapses induce a response to the stimuli. These signals reach the grey matter through myelinated axons that make up the bulk of the white matter in the cerebrum, cerebellum and spine. Also found in the grey matter are the glial cells (astroglia and oligodendrocytes) and capillaries. The glial cells transport nutrients and energy to the neurons and may even influence how well the neurons function and communicate. Since axons in the grey matter are mainly unmyelinated, the greyish hue of the neurons and glial cells combine with the red of the capillaries to give this tissue its greyish-pink color (after which it is named). Grey matter was measured in this study because loss of grey matter, caused by loss of neurons or neuron shrinkage, is a very visible sign of the chronological ageing process in the brain.
Changes in grey matter volume were then compared to lifestyle factors and there was a link to both number of stairs climbed and years of schooling completed.
The results showed that the more flights of stairs climbed and the more years of schooling completed, the younger the brain as measured by a larger volume of grey matter. So both physical activity and education can reduce the physiological age of your brain independent of its chronological age. You have to make decisions about education relatively early in life, although other research has shown that learning new skills at any age can help keep a brain young. Taking the stairs is also an easily accessible form of exercise as you age. In many ways, the age of your brain is up to you and not the clock.
