It’s a commonly held belief that as we age that we lose the ability to regenerate cells and tissues in our bodies and mind.
In this extended research, healthy adults in the 60-90 age range were shown to have active neurogenesis (the process of new neurons being produced by neural stem cells) in line with much younger people.
The cells produced have the same neuroplasticity after production and the same capability to make new memories in the Hippopotamus…, erm I mean Hippocampus (haha).
Great news!
So it seems then that older people have just as much chance in a neurological sense to form new memories, habits and skills.
Why then, does it seem that older people often have more trouble with memory related tasks?
It seems that the problem may lie in blood flow in the brain and interconnectivity between different parts of the brain.
I suspect also that with a lack of need or desire to spend significant amounts of time in the brainwave states conducive to both working memory and memory consolidation.., as well as interrupted sleep patterns where most memory consolidation occurs.., that it becomes a downward spiral of effects leading to less and less use and therefore less and less access to these states.
Going out on a limb here, let me ask you.., what are two of the reported effects of brainwave entrainment?
Increased blood flow in the brain.., and inter-hemisphere/whole brain connectivity and synchronisation!
So I’m not making any claims here. But I find that idea interesting.
And there are in fact studies showing improved mental processing ability from audio visual entrainment and brainwave entrainment. Not to mention the ongoing studies on using 40Hz Gamma stimulation as a way to clean the brain of the brain plaques that are suspected to play a big part in age related challenges like dementia and Alzheimer’s.