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When you were young, you never forgot your best friend’s name or where you put your glasses. Now, it seems to happen every day. What causes these “senior moments”? And do they signal the beginnings of a more serious brain illness, such as Alzheimer’s disease? New research may have the answer.
As we age, the different areas of our brain have more trouble communicating with one another, says a study in the journal Neuron. Researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the brains of adults ages 60 and over and 35 and younger. The fMRI analysis found that the white matter of the brain, which connects different brain areas, had deteriorated in the older subjects. This could explain mildly impaired cognitive function, leading to those annoying senior moments. But this deterioration is a normal sign of aging, not a precursor to dementia, the researchers found.
Not everyone experiences this white matter deterioration, and they don’t always cause the same degree of forgetfulness. More importantly, the researchers note that it may be possible to slow this process down with healthy lifestyle habits such as diet and exercise.
Knowing more about the differences between normal aging and cognitive disease may help scientists focus their attention on curing Alzheimer’s—leaving you to find your glasses on your own.
SOURCE: Neuron, Dec 6, 2007, National Library of Medicine 44818
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