The TED Radio Hour hosted by Manoush Zomorodi, is a source of podcasts spanning from sound and silence, gender, and conversations on the brain. We are born with a hundred billion neurons in our brain cells. In the first few months of life we generate between 250,000 to 500,000 new brain cells or neurons every minute. That’s a whopping 32,400,000,000 to 64,800,000,000 in the first three months of a baby’s life. The brain is very extreme.
This post reviews, or rather is a summary of the points I found interesting from experts talking to us about the stages of the brain. From the brain of a baby to, with particular emphasis on, the aging brain of a female body. Inserted with dashes of my own commentary, our life is more about brain health than the physical health of our body than we realise.
Don’t forget to check up on your brain. | (McCarthy 2021)
Review
“The brain can either flourish or decline”; a usage of words that has the potential of getting us hooked on a conversation about the brain. As you continue to listen further into the podcast, one realises that brain health is considerably overlooked in the discourse of visits to the doctor. I have at least not experienced a doctor telling me “Don’t forget to keep your brain healthy Rebecca!” Putting this imaginary enthusiastic doctor aside, it’s challenging to learn and understand the brain.
For 1.4 kilograms, or the equivalent weight of 3 ½ cans of 15 oz canned kidney beans, the brain is our powerhouse, or as I like to say, “It’s our superpower.” The brain develops from the back to the front, and regulates our behaviour and emotions. With a 100% availability, our brain is present both in relaxing and stressful situations. Whilst thinking hard to make a decision, digging deep into the regions of your brain, is the striatum that coordinates the various facets of thinking.
As we think and develop an identity that is different from our parents/parent figures, we start to calculate things differently as we grow older. This transitioning and development of identity is a very important part of our lives.
The brain is also the source of all our cravings. The brain is like a bartender, serving us hormones over the counter. The adolescent brain in particular, is doused in hormones. It would be untrue to say that as adults, we still carry our adolescent brain. But really, it’s because cravings persist well into adulthood. Nevertheless, the average teenage brain is pretty bounciful. Sugar highs, alcohol highs, risk highs: Fact being that a teenager takes bigger risks because the individual is less concerned about the consequences. “I’ll deal with that later, and I don’t care”, said 15 year old Janet. A teenage brain is more concerned with rewards and euphoria, making the striatum very happy indeed. However, teenagers are more likely to take risks when together. The process of establishing their independence is more likely to happen when surrounded by their peer group. Therefore, adolescents are more likely to make decisions together. The real risk is of not fitting in, which is the risk of not adding social capital to their “I’m cool” piggy banks. For the search of exhilaration and risk factor, the brain has a lot to do with the ways in which we behave. And really, it’s either or. You would have been “I’m totally in”, or “I’m not having it.” Anyways, let’s come back to collective decision-making. In the transition period of growing from an adolescent to an adult, we now need to take risks alone through the decisions we make for our careers, personal life, and well just life in general. As we think and develop an identity that is different from our parents/parent figures, we start to calculate things differently as we grow older. This transitioning and development of identity is a very important part of our lives.
Factors such as the effects of chronic stress and sleep deprivation take a toll on brain health, more so as we reach a later stage in life.
Our brain continues to grow and transform till about the age of twenty-six. But, neurons continue to form in our brain through our life span because of neurogenesis. Neuroscientist, Sandrine Thuret, explains adult neurogenesis (as opposed to prenatal neurogenesis), which continues well into our 90s. Thuret goes on to talk about the hippocampus, which in adults, works for memory formation, cognition, mood, and emotion. As we age, healthy neural growth in the adult brain is crucial to brain health, and subsequently, to mental and physical health. Factors such as the effects of chronic stress and sleep deprivation take a toll on brain health, more so as we reach a later stage in life.
Now to the ageing brain of a woman. Menopause is more associated with changes in the body than changes in the brain. In fact, the symptoms of menopause are more to do with changes that stem from the brain. As neuroscientist, Lisa Mosconi explains, menopause is more about neurological symptoms than the bodily symptoms that a woman physically experiences. That goes to say that women’s brains age differently than men. It’s not false to say that women are more complicated than men are. Because from a neurological perspective, women’s brains are more complicated. A lot of this has to do with the brain’s best friend: hormones. Throughout the course of a woman’s life, from puberty to menopause, the brain and her ovaries are in constant dialogue. Ovary health is linked to brain health. Via the HPG axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis), the brain remains connected to the reproductive system. Hormones play a huge role in brain function. What causes women to be labelled as “complicated”? Put very simply, women’s estrogen starts decreasing in mid-life as opposed to the longevity of men’s testosterone late into life. The levels of women’s and men’s hormones have great impacts on brain health, and thus emotional well-being and physical health. Concerning brain function, the changes that the ageing brain goes through are likely due to energy changes in the brain. These energy changes are caused by hormonal changes that men and women go through pronouncedly during the later stages of their life. At a cellular level, estrogen pushes neurons to burn glucose to make energy. Coming back to the neurological differences between males and females, the brain anatomy is different, respectively. For example, women have more complex brain functions that stay in communication with their reproductive system. A woman’s body and brain are biologically-able and expected to do much more than a man’s. The implications of pregnancy, childbirth, the reproductive system, and menopause is no joke.
Like in life, our ageing brain will go through several stages of development. Depending on how we look out for ourselves, our brain health will either flourish or decline. For example, being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s means that the individual had negative changes taking place in the brain years if not decades prior to the diagnosis. From our baby years, adolescence, adulthood, to our senior years, the brain is with us through all stages of life. Whether dealing with the cruciality of neurogenesis or the importance of neuroplasticity, both the abilities affect how our brains are exercised and ultimately whether we are left with a fit brain at the end of our lifetime.
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Reference
“Life Stages Of The Brain.” 2021. National Public Radio. https://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/973794057/life-stages-of-the-brain.
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McCarthy, Moira. 2021. “Can Type 1 Diabetes Really Mess with Your Brain Health?” Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/diabetesmine/can-type-1-diabetes-really-mess-with-your-brain-health.
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