Age-Related Brain Atrophy Is Not Inevitable. Learn how to protect your Brain

By Barry Volk

  

Even if you seem perfectly healthy, you may be losing as much as 0.4% of your brain mass every year.^1,2 The rate of brain shrinkage increases with age and is a major factor in early cognitive decline and premature death.
 
Studies show that older adults with significant brain shrinkage are much more likely to have cognitive and movement disorders than similarly aged people with normal brain size. They are also at an increased risk of vascular death and ischemic stroke.
 
In addition, atrophy of specific brain regions has been associated with a variety of cognitive, behavioral, and mental health problems. Shrinkage of the temporal lobes, for example, is associated with a 181% increase in the risk of major depression.
  
Perhaps most alarmingly, brain shrinkage sharply increases risk of early death:

• Younger individuals with overall brain shrinkage have as much as a 70% increase in the chance of dying,
• In a study of people aged 85, temporal lobe atrophy is associated with a 60% increase in the risk of dying,
• Severe atrophy of the frontal lobe (behind the forehead) increases the risk of death by 30%.

Brains also shrink from the inside out, resulting in enlargement of the fluid-filled ventricles, or hollow spaces on the interior of the brain; such shrinkage has its own modest effect on early death.
Even though brain shrinkage is progressive, a growing number of neuroscientists believe...
that brain shrinkage can be slowed or even reversed. In this article, we will share with you how lifestyle changes and proper supplementation can help prevent this devastating cause of cognitive decline and premature death.

Brain Shrinkage Is Not Inevitable

Like so many of the symptoms of aging, brain shrinkage was long thought to be simply an inevitable consequence of growing older. However, we are learning that brain atrophy is by no means inevitable. A host of conditions—from cardiovascular disease and diabetes to sleep and anxiety disorders to lifestyle choices—have been associated with brain shrinkage. Since many of these are reversible or at least preventable, it’s important to ...

Read the full article here:  lifeextension.com