OT: Today I Turn 33...!

[Paul King]

> David J Patrick <djp at ...> writes:
> > Just face it Tyler, the brain is at it biggest and best at about age 9.
> > It's downhill from there, compensated by experience.
> 
> Some people who study this kind of thing for a living, in educational circles,
> strongly believe that the brain peaks at about 21 to 24 years of age, and then
> drops by about 10% for every 10 years over that. I tend to agree, but the decay
> applies only to things one does not refresh or use. Those one does use and
> refresh, get better indefinitely or until Alzheimer offsets all the efforts :)
> 
> Peter
> 
But David is right. At around age 9, the head of the child is disproportionally 
larger than the rest of the body, then stops growing as the rest of the body 
catches up (and the skull closes over the developing brain, placing an absolute 
limit on its growth). At 9-11 or so, brain cells are dying and being generated 
at equal rates. As puberty sets in, brain cells begin to die faster than they 
are being generated. Your body is at its physical peak at around 21, which also 
means you are alert and have great stamina for things like university. But you 
will never learn things at the same rate as a prepubescent child, or for that 
matter, an infant or toddler.

Does it take away any credence from people on this list who claim to not notice 
any loss in mental agility at age 60? Probably not. We only ever use a small 
percentage of our brain cells anyway (less than 20% I hear), so the best thing 
to do is to make the best use of what you have, learn as much as you can 
throughout life, since that maximizes connections between brain cells. We have 
more brain cells than we can possibly use, but to not learn new things 
throughout life will accelerate the deterioration, and possibly lead to forms 
of senility and dementia in old age. You also have to keep your body fit too.

Paul King

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