"Help – My Brain is Shrinking!"

Have you measured your brain lately? A very significant predictor of mental function is change in brain size.

  • Some body parts continue to grow in adulthood, for example our nose and ears and unfortunately, often our stomach!
  • Some parts shrink like the disks in our spine and the thymus gland.
  • Our brain also shrinks – and at an alarming rate – at least 1 1/2 percent per year.

Use your brain right now and do the math. Get out paper and pencil and work it out. We’ll wait for you…

In 20 years, that’s nearly one-fifth of your brain shrunken.  Its gone, disappeared, poof!!

This shrinkage begins around age 30 and occurs all throughout the brain. There’s a solid connection between this shrinkage and a decline in thinking/cognitive abilities; in patients with only mild cognitive impairment the rate of shrinkage can be closer to two percent per year.

No matter what size an individual’s brain is to begin with, as it shrinks, one begins to see declines in memory, concentration, and other measures of cognitive function. And a sure-fire foundation for dementia and Alzheimer’s.
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