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How You Can Prevent Senility During Your Old Age

By: Christian Goodman You know the meaning of 'old sayings'. They use that when a saying has been proven to be true and have been passed around for years. One such old saying is "You learn something new every day".

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.

But scientists, in their quest for learning, have produced recent studies that show new brain cell growth in adults, particularly in the hippocampus area of the brain, where learning and memories are stored. Another study shows that even 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.

The main reason why our brain functions reduce as we get old is the change in the dendrites and their decrease in numbers. Dendrites are the once that connect neurons to each other, just like entrance ramps connecting surface roads to the interstate. If these entrance ramps are not in good condition, it will make it difficult for you to reach your destination.

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.

Disuse is often the cause of brain function and dendrites deterioration. Another old saying referring to this is, use it or lose it. This is true especially when it comes to our body. If neural pathways become inactive, their strength and function will gradually decrease until they can no longer function properly.

For example, do you know the biggest reason so many elderly people can't sit in the floor? Because at some point in their lives, they stopped sitting in the floor. In order to make a particular movement, the brain combines the electrical signals of many neurons and makes a muscle movement. If the movements required to lower oneself to the floor are never used, those pathways between neurons become too weak to carry the signal and the brain's memory of how to perform that movement is not able to be recovered.

In order to promote neurogenesis (the making of new brain cells), we need to stay mentally and physically active. Note that stress can inhibit the formation of brain cells. Do you know what enhances it? Physical exercise.

We can stay active mentally by doing mentally challenging things, like crossword puzzles and brain teasers. By staying mentally and physically active, we can make the brain continue generating new brain cells and reduce our changes of suffering from senility.

Warm regards,

Christian Goodman

Article Source: http://www.lifeweightloss.com

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

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