How does the brain age across the lifespan? New studies offer clues.

[Zorro]

Our brains are built to change over our lifetime, meeting the challenges set by every life stage.

Do brains peak in childhood? Is it all downhill after 30? Can a 65-year-old brain keep up with an adolescent?

While growth charts tracking metrics like height and weight give a relatively clear picture of the range of human physical development, less has been known about the key milestones of normal brain aging.

To find out more, an international team of researchers collected brain scan data from multiple studies representing 101,457 brains at all stages of life. The youngest scan in the study came from a 16-week-old fetus; the oldest was from a 100-year-old.

Across this large data set, some striking milestones emerged.
- The thickness of the cerebral cortex, the wrinkled outer layer of the brain, peaks at about age 2 — the region is involved in processes like perception, language and consciousness.
- Gray matter volume, which represents the overall number of brain cells, peaks in childhood about age 7.
- White matter, made up of the connections between neurons that allow for regions of the brain to quickly communicate, is at its highest volume at about age 30 and begins to decline in later adulthood.
- The volume of ventricles, fluid-filled cavities within the brain, increases rapidly at later age — larger ventricle size has been associated with some neurodegenerative diseases.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/02/28/brain-aging-childhood-teens-adults/