A fascinating study was reported a couple of days ago by the BBC. According to researchers at the University of Cambridge, our brains go through five distinct phases in life, with key turning points at ages 9, 32, 66 and 83. And not only that, but they showed that the brain stays in the ‘adolescent’ phase until our early 30’s … when we “peak”!
Around 4,000 people up to age 90 received a brain scan to show the connections between their brain cells. The results could help us understand the way mental health disorders and dementia can vary as we age.
Apparently our brains are constantly changing in response to new knowledge and life experience. But there are four clear change points, which break our brain life up into five distinct phases:
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- Childhood – from birth to 9
- Adolescence – from 9 to 32
- Adulthood – from 32 to 66
- Early ageing – from 66 to 83
- Late ageing – from 83 onwards
Of course we are not all exactly the same and ages can vary slightly from one person to another. But the researchers were struck by how clearly these ages stood out in the data.
The Director of the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, Prof Tara Spires-Jones, who didn’t work on the research paper, said: “This is a very cool study highlighting how much our brains change over our lifetimes.”
Read the full BBC article, which goes into the details of each stage, here. Read the original article here (NB only for those with time on their hands and a familiarity with neurological scientific terms!)