For the little grays too, the right timing is crucial for how things progress. The timing of when the effects on the brain occur has a lot to say about how cognition and intellect will function in the future. A lot has already happened before we come out of our mother’s womb. The genes we are born with play a big role in which disorders and diseases we get later in life. This also applies to our brains. Norwegian researchers have now investigated which factors can be proven to affect our brain health throughout life. The researchers summarize 25 years of brain research in a study recently published in the renowned American journal “Trends in Cognitive Sciences”. What can we actually do ourselves? Professor Kristine Beate Walhovd at the University of Oslo is the lead author of the study, which she has written together with Anders Martin Fjell and Martin Lövdén from Gothenburg University. Professors Anders Martin Fjell and Kristine Beate Walhovd received the Dementia Research Award in 2020. Photo: The National Association for Public Health / Anne Elisabeth Næss – We don’t have a good knowledge base to say that we can do a lot with our brain health when we get older, says Walhovd. She says that the largest proportion of differences in brain function among the elderly has also been there earlier in life. We carry the individual differences in the brain with us throughout our lives, and they have consequences when we get older as well. It is common for memory to weaken as we get older. But if you remember worse than your peers when you’re young, there’s a good chance you’ll also remember worse than them when you get older, explains Walhovd. She meets many elderly people who are worried and have a bad conscience because they are starting to remember less, and who ask what they can do with their lifestyle to remember better. – It is not certain that they can do much about it, and then we have to be honest and not exaggerate the effects of what we can do ourselves, she says. The brain researcher believes that it is a mistake when the elderly believe that they have their fate in their own hands and feel that they themselves must take responsibility for the development of dementia. – When we get scared, we often remember worse too. In order to function well, one must not worry so much, that is an important message, says Walhovd. We get better as we train at Walhovd is careful to emphasize that this does not mean that training the brain does not work when we get old. The brains of five different 70-year-olds, photographed after five and ten years. The individual differences are greater than the changes that occur over time. Illustration: Kristine Beate Walhovd, Inge Amlien / UiO She points out that even older people get better at what they train, without necessarily having such great transfer value. – If you solve a lot of crosswords, you’ll get good at exactly that, but we can’t say that this will prevent you from getting dementia, says the neuroscientist in Oslo. – But is it the genes we are born with that determine everything? – No, the genes always work together with influences from the environment around us. But when we look at which environmental factors can contribute to the development of dementia, the period as a fetus and infant is particularly important, says Kristine Beate Walhovd. It is during this period that our brain is built and formed. Then we are particularly sensitive to external influences, and Walhovd mentions drugs, poisons and lack of nutrition as particularly harmful. Kristine Beate Walhovd is head of LCBC, Center for Life Course Changes in Brain and Cognition in Oslo. Photo: UiO An important point in the study is that individual differences in brain function, where much is in place early on, often have a greater significance for the development of dementia than influences and changes later in life. Much uncertainty about the causes Professor and psychiatrist Geir Selbæk is head of research at the National Center for Aging and Health. He has done a lot of research on dementia among the elderly, and is excited about the study. – I think the article is balanced and well written. It brings out the uncertainty both when it comes to prevention and the causes of dementia throughout the life course, says Selbæk. Professor Geir Selbæk thinks it’s smart to do brain teasers, if you enjoy doing it. Photo: Martin Lundsvoll / Martin Lundsvoll He emphasizes how difficult it can be to establish what leads to dementia for each and every one of us. There are so many individual factors that can affect us from cradle to grave. Selbæk agrees that what happens earlier in life probably means more to most people than what we have to do with our lifestyle when we retire. Exercise is good for the brain But neither Kristine Beate Walhovd nor Geir Selbæk think you should stop exercising if it gives you joy and well-being. If you like singing in a choir, you should definitely continue with it. Both believe that the most important thing is to use your head on activities you enjoy. Not so that you will avoid dementia in 10-20 years, but so that you will be well today and tomorrow. That is probably the most important thing you can do for your brain anyway.
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The most important causes of dementia are in place long before we become adults
