Degenerating intellect after 40's?

[Peon666]

Is there any such thing that human ability to reason or human powers of intellect or wisdom starts decaying after 40 years of age? If yes, what's the reason?

 

[Evo]

There are many studies with different results. Of course different people will age differently. If you go to google, you will find hundreds of different studies. I had read studies though that brain volume decline begins in the early 30's. Here is one such study.

http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/abstract/64/6/1032

An easy article about cognitive decline.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/90880.php

 

[Michael Bryn]

Do you think with the craze of a few online brain exercises that the degeneration of intellect will be slowed. I have been reading a lot on this lately and get mixed reviews. Most are leading towards saying how the more you use it the better it gets. For instance, I like playing on http://www.fitbrains.com/games. Will this type of stuff help?

 

[Danger]

Welcome to PF, Michael.
Pretty much anything that exercises your brain will help. I've never looked into the kind of thing that you're talking about, but crossword and jigsaw puzzles seem to help me. I also like to watch Jeopardy and try to beat the contestants to the answers.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Fitbrain.com is awesome, I play a few games a day. It really does help keep you sharp.

 

[Andre]

I favor thinking games, chess, checkers, bridge, go. Don't stick to one.

 

[jreelawg]

I'm planning on looking into what comes out of this hopeful solution.

"The Anti-Dementia effect of Lion's Mane mushroom and its clinical application - Hericium erinaceum - Lion's Mane"...

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ISW/is_249/ai_114820665/pg_2?tag=artBody;col1

 

[Proton Soup]

degeneration is multifactorial. one issue is nutritional. old people have reduced capacity to digest their food. for example, reduced stomach acid leads to cobalamin remaining bound to the protein in meat, which results in B12 deficiency.

maybe not the best examples, but a couple i found quickly:

Dig Dis. 2007;25(2):144-50.Click here to read Links
Intestinal malabsorption in the elderly.
Holt PR.

Strang Cancer Research Laboratory, Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10021, USA. holtp@rockefeller.edu

BACKGROUND: Intestinal malabsorption in the elderly is infrequent, and clinical features are muted so that the diagnosis is often missed. Physiologic changes with aging are restricted to altered absorption of calcium and perhaps zinc and magnesium; however, achlorhydria can lead to impaired absorption of vitamin B(12), folic acid, and calcium. METHODS AND RESULTS: Small bowel bacterial overgrowth occurs more commonly in elderly than in younger patients, accompanying gastric hypochlorhydria, altered intestinal motor activity, or diseases such as Parkinson's disease. Changes in pancreatic anatomy and secretion occur but are insufficient to produce macronutrient malabsorption. In addition to pancreatic cancer and pancreatic stones, older patients may present with severe pancreatic insufficiency of unknown etiology. Celiac disease is recognized as very common at all ages and may not become evident until late in life. Manifestations of celiac disease in the elderly are occult and the diagnosis often is not considered until serologic tests are performed and confirmed by upper small intestinal biopsy. Associated intestinal lymphoma, esophageal carcinoma, intestinal pseudo-obstruction, and splenic atrophy may be more common in the elderly. Treatment of older patients with celiac disease with a gluten-free diet may be difficult, and intensive vitamin and micronutrient replacement is mandatory. A pragmatic approach to the evaluation of malabsorption in elderly patients is discussed. Copyright 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel.

PMID: 17468550 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE

Age Ageing. 1986 Jul;15(4):235-40.Click here to read Links
Causes of malabsorption in the elderly.
Montgomery RD, Haboubi NY, Mike NH, Chesner IM, Asquith P.

The pathogenesis of malabsorption has been studied in 70 patients who presented over the age of 65 years and who were referred to a special investigative unit. Often more than one cause was apparent. Fourteen patients had pancreatic insufficiency, most of whom had no history of pain, alcoholism or gallstones. Twenty-three patients had the postgastrectomy syndrome or small-bowel diverticulosis or both. There were eight coeliacs aged 65-72 years at diagnosis. Fifteen patients had an anatomically normal small bowel; eight of these were over 80 years old, and 10 had vitamin B12 deficiency of whom five had confirmed pernicious anaemia. Enterobacterial overgrowth was a feature of all diagnostic groups except pancreatic and coeliac disease. Vitamin B12 deficiency may be an effect of malabsorption, but can also be a cause through impairment of enterocyte function. The association of pernicious anaemia and B12 deficiency with otherwise unexplained malabsorption and bacterial overgrowth suggests that gastric atrophy is a major causal factor in this syndrome, combined in some cases with a 'vicious circle' of B12 malabsorption and deficiency.

PMID: 3092595 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE

 

[harborsparrow]

the studies I've seen show that people lose some computational speed and agility as they age, but they also may develop new ways to utilize past experience and as such, may actually perform better in certain situations where computational speed is not the only factor leading to "success" (whatever that is).