Feeling young would help keep a brain healthy

Feeling younger than one's age could have a beneficial effect on the brain, according to a South Korean scientific study. Unless it's the other way around. Explanations.

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And if the subjective age, that is to say the age that one feels, did indeed have a link with the age of our body, including our brain?

According to a new study conducted by South Korean researchers and published in the review Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience feeling more young would translate good cerebral health More specifically, the team found that people who perceive themselves younger than their actual age had, among other things, more gray matter in key areas of the brain, which is indicative of good brain health. [19659005GraymatteriscomposedofneuronalcellbodieswhichreceiveandbadyzeneuronalinformationItopposesthewhitematterwhichmainlyplaysaroleofsupportandprotectionofneurons

To badyze the relationship between subjective age and brain health, the researchers recruited 68 people aged 59 to 84, to whom they asked to give the age he perceived, and badyzed the MRI of the brain. Scientists were able to correlate the estimated age of brain status, and found that participants feeling younger than their age had brains with structural characteristics younger than normal. In addition, the study found that people who felt younger had better results than others in memory tests, and less likely to suffer from depression.

" We found that people who felt younger had the structural features of a younger brain "said Dr. Jeanyung Chey, of Seoul National University. " Importantly, this difference remains robust even when other possible factors, including personality, subjective health, depressive symptoms, or cognitive functions, are taken into account ", he added.

" Our results suggest that the subjective experience of aging is closely related to the aging process of the brain ," conclude the authors. On the other hand, feeling older than one's age could be an indicator of poor cerebral health, dementia, or depression scientists suggest. If these results are confirmed, subjective age could be considered as a good indicator of cerebral health, and help diagnose certain pathologies related to aging of the brain.

It is also possible that feeling young pushes for more healthy behaviors, such as sports, which indirectly benefits brain health

Source: Eurekalert