• Question: why do people loose their brains as they get older?

    Asked by ninjanae to Tim, Suzi, Damien on 23 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by kianared13.
    • Photo: Tim Fosker

      Tim Fosker answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      Hi @ninjanae and @kinanared13

      I wouldn’t say that people lose their brains when they get older, at least not in the same way that some people lose their glasses 😉

      However, it is true that the brain doesn’t seem to function as well in old age. There seems to be a number of reasons for this, but it is mainly because there is a decline in the number of connections between different parts of the brain as neurons die. This is even more advanced when age-related disorders like Alzheimer’s disease are involved, which can result in neurons dying quite quickly. Generally the neurons that die are in the ‘cortex’ the part of the brain that is involved in thinking and language. The evolutionarily older parts of the brain that control breathing and your heart rate are far less affected when you age.

      I hope that answers your question.

    • Photo: Suzi Gage

      Suzi Gage answered on 23 Jun 2011:

      Hi @ninjanae and @kianared13
      Thanks for the question.

      Recently I conducted some work to see whether small amounts of alcohol may in fact protect the brain against ‘cognitive decline’ or dementia. Unfortunately it seems like it probably doesn’t, alas.

      Even without a neurodegenerative illness such as dementia or Alzheimer’s, people still get slower and more forgetful as they get older, and as Tim says this is due to neurons dying in the brain and not being replaced. This is not so surprising, as we get older a lot of changes happen to our body, like we lose the pigment from our hair, or even lose our hair completely, our muscles become weaker and we become frailer. Unfortunately old age takes it’s toll on both our body and our brain.

      Hope this answers your question.

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