It’s common for our brains to experience shrinkage as we get older, but some behaviors might be accelerating this process.
In our 30s and 40s, the brain starts to gradually deteriorate due to cell degeneration.
The habits we engage in daily can significantly influence this degeneration, emphasizing once again the importance of maintaining our health.
Harvard University has identified four major habits that can contribute to brain shrinkage, and unfortunately, they are quite prevalent, especially in our tech-driven world.
This is a test where scoring high is not in your best interest…
According to the CDC, about a third of adults in the United States do not get the seven to eight hours of sleep recommended each night.
Alarmingly, a study featured in the December 2018 issue of Sleep highlighted that cognitive abilities, such as problem-solving, reasoning, and memory, decline when individuals sleep less than seven hours per night.
A 2024 sleep study by the University of California San Francisco also noted that sleep difficulties could lead to brain atrophy.
As detailed in a press release from the university, related to the study published in Neurology: “To estimate the effects of sleep quality on the brain, the researchers surveyed approximately 600 adults on how well they slept.
“The participants were asked the same questions five years later and underwent brain scans 10 years after this.
“They found that even after adjusting for age, sex, education, health and lifestyle factors, the brains of those participants who slept poorly were more atrophied than those who slept well.
“Compared to the 70 percent of the sample who reported having little trouble sleeping, those with moderate difficulty (22 percent) had brains that were 1.6 years older, while those with the most difficulty (8 percent) had brains that were 2.6 years older.”
A 2024 study conducted by Harvard revealed that adults typically spend around 10.4 hours a day sitting, which surpasses the time they spend sleeping (7.7 hours).
An investigation published in 2018 in PLOS One discovered that excessive sitting is associated with ‘changes in a section of the brain essential to memory,’ as reported by Harvard in 2022.
Researchers employed MRI scans to assess the medial temporal lobe (MTL), the brain region crucial for forming new memories, in adults aged 45 to 75, comparing these images with the hours each person usually spent sitting daily.
The findings indicated that those who sat for prolonged periods had a thinner MTL.
Thinning in this brain region is connected to early signs of memory problems and dementia, prompting researchers to suggest that excessive sitting may heighten the risk of cognitive decline.
It’s well-known that stress can negatively impact both our mental and physical health.
Therefore, it might not come as a huge surprise that chronic stress can contribute to brain shrinkage. Harvard notes that stress can also reduce the size of the prefrontal cortex, which is vital for memory and learning.
This underscores the importance of stress-relieving activities such as exercise, meditation, and social interactions.
Speaking of which…
It turns out that chatting is beneficial for your health, despite what others might say!
According to a study published in July 2021 in The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, ‘less socially active people lose more of the brain’s gray matter’.
So, that small talk with your colleague by the water cooler is more than justified…
In 2023, Harvard discussed a five-year study involving 1,100 adults, averaging 80 years old, that found ‘the people who were the most socially active had 70 percent less cognitive decline compared with those who had the lowest rates of social activities.’
Additionally, loneliness is associated with depression and a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease.