Brains Work Best At Age of 39 267
Scientists at the University of California Los Angeles are reporting that while some people may think "life begins at 40," all it seems to do is slow down. According to recent research, at age 39 our brain reaches its peak speed, and it's all downhill after that. "The loss of a fatty skin that coats the nerve cells, called neurons, during middle age causes the slowdown, experts say. The coating acts as insulation, similar to the plastic covering on an electrical cable, and allows for fast bursts of signals around the body and brain. When the sheath deteriorates, signals passing along the neurons in the brain slow down. This means reaction times in the body are slower too."
Speed of life and life itself are different things (Score:5, Insightful)
some people may think "life begins at 40," all it seems to do is slow down
There is no contradiction, IMO. I know people who are so fast they don't have time to live, they are always five minutes late for something. Life begins when you can slow down, relax and think.
speed isn't that important (Score:5, Insightful)
Once, over a period of a week when I was in my twenties, I got repeatedly destroyed at chess by a guy in his eighties. Seriously, I have never been so utterly unable to outthink anyone in my life, and I'm a pretty good chess player.
He started playing chess as a boy, and while he did tend to ramble on a bit, if his mind wasn't as sharp as it used to be, it must have once been able to cut diamonds...
Brain works worst... (Score:2, Insightful)
Ahem ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Science at its best.
CC.
Just the speed of reaction (Score:3, Insightful)
From what I have read, this only appears to apply to the speed of thought, which impacts on our reaction speeds. This would chime with most people's experience of ageing.
What I would be interesting in is whether it actually has a knock-on effect on the quality of cognitive ability. Does thinking faster equal thinking better?
Also, I wonder if the increase in experience is enough to overcome the reduction in reaction speeds. For example a 17 year old may have a great reaction speed, but that doesn't automatically make them a better driver than a 40 year-old with 20+ years of predicting the motion of objects travelling at speed and planning accordingly.
Re:Damn (Score:3, Insightful)
More than likely you are now wise enough to know that you don't know everything.
Re:Relates to neurological disease as well (Score:5, Insightful)
could we keep people's brains working better for longer?
To be honest, given that we have no real definition of what "intelligence" is, to say that people get less intelligent in some way once they get past 40 is reaching a bit. Granted there is a physical effect being observed, but people have lost significant hunks of their brains with little detrimental effect.
Re:Ahem ... (Score:4, Insightful)
It's still _BAD_ science.
Re:Just the speed of reaction (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Relates to neurological disease as well (Score:2, Insightful)
You mean raises the question.
Bad reporting, more like (Score:5, Insightful)
That story is a creation of the media which have decided to run with "brains work best at age of 39" for no readily appreciable fucking reason. Next time, hacks, save some effort and just put a bunch of words in a hat and make up the story based on those.
Re:Relates to neurological disease as well (Score:4, Insightful)
Interestingly, AFAIK, myelin breakdown due to a malfunctioning immune system is very much related to diseases like MS and ALS, among others.
Which brings up a point - no two people are alike. No two people age the same way. I know guys fifteen years younger than me who look older than I am.
My uncle died of ALS (Lou Gherig's Disease). Most people are dead of this disease before age 65, he didn't even show symptoms until his eighties.
Spme people's brains peak at age 30, some people's brains peak at 50. To say everyone's brains are the same at any given age is stupidly ludicrous.
Coding too (Score:4, Insightful)
But that might also be because by age 40 you'd probably have diverted into management if you were no good at coding.
Re:Ahem ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Don't expect EVERY study to involve thousands of people...
Just the good ones.
Fastest != Best (Score:4, Insightful)
Just because older brains don't necessarily work as fast as younger ones doesn't mean they don't work better. Plenty of better thinking is slower than the fastest stuff, like jumping to conclusions. And the older brains have lots more information and habits that can be more powerful than the newer ones. This is known to humans as "wisdom".
Besides, just getting to the wrong answer faster is not "better".
Just some more reasons people say "age and guile will beat youth and talent any day". Even if younger people just zip around without realizing it.
Re:...and they said.... (Score:2, Insightful)
- reaction time peaks at 30
That's cool to know. In online FPS games, people always whine about the reflexes of the 12-17 year olds and so on, but I've always felt like it was because older gamers just didn't devote the time into games to get as good. Now that the crowd of mid-20 gamers has had years of experience in these games, they are still the majority at the top level of competition. (There are exceptions, but I'm just pointing out that once you are past 17, that doesn't mean you won't be able to compete with younger gamers anymore on the grounds of reflexes.)
Re:Dick works best... (Score:3, Insightful)
Unfortunately in the current economy that 65 year old will have to wait until they're 95.
If true, how do you explain mathematicians? (Score:4, Insightful)
Historically, their most significant work is done before age 30.
Re:If true, how do you explain mathematicians? (Score:3, Insightful)
That's probably true for most people. After 30, most folks have settled into raising a family, etc. and that takes time away from work.