ILXors 35 and older: can you feel yourself getting dumber as your brain cells inevitably die?

Yeah yeah sure! I love it. I am getting happier too, as I think less and less. No wonder morons are always smiling.

kids are stupid, what are you talking about

Mine're already dead. I just keep them pickled.

I'm 28 and I think it's happening already.

you should not be needing more sleep as you get older. Maybe you're just drinking too much.

so being old is like being stoned all the time?

i cant wait

multi-tasking vs. focused-tasking innit?

I like to think some of these things are just based on perspective, though:

doing things in slow, methodical ways -- having to do so MANY different things in life that you can't just vent your fresh empty mind all over one?

increased inability to keep more than one subject in mind at once -- ditto, just in a different way; you accumulate enough stuff in your head that if you don't make yourself concentrate, you'll be screwed by it?

relying more and more on generalization -- having a broad enough experience that you can make big-picture generalizations that aren't entirely stupid?

needing more sleep at night -- realizing the stuff you do while awake is rarely worth losing sleep over, and is rarely anything you can't just do during a well-rested tomorrow?

I just turned 35 a few months ago - and I went back to college to get a nursing degree last year, too. I somehow have a 4.0 in school while paradoxically feeling utterly moronic about everything else. (I literally just called my husband because I couldn't find something in the kitchen... which wouldn't be so bad if it hadn't BEEN IN PLAIN SIGHT ON THE COUNTER!)

So... yeah.

I don't think the high grades are going to last, either.

I'm also becoming more ribald, like someone's embarrassing uncle. THAT was inevitable.

I have a hard time believing the brain actually loses any serious cognitive function at an age as early as 35 - any scientific evidence to back that up?

Look at a science journal now? Maybe when I was 24. I read my own publications from 1992 and they make no sense! You know what, I quite fancy the Snorg girl. It's the teeth I think.

neuroplasticity

feeling like you don't have any more potential, feeling bored, feeling meh are pretty much the enemies here, not the brain itself really

cognitive decline is not necessarily a function of aging

I read my own publications from 1992 and they make no sense!

Part of this really is just being out of practice with reading that particular type of material. Sometimes I look at stuff I wrote in college and think "whaaaaa?" - but if I started reading it every day, I think it would get easier.

True enough. In my case there may be factors other than aging involved with the cognitive decline, of course.

btw, thanks for starting this on my fucking 47th birthday. The brain cells that are about to die salute you.

I can't believe I spent my 20's in the library writing papers on philosophical problems when I could've been kissing girls. That is wisdom I suppose. It always arrives too late.

Uh, happy birthday Jaq?

srsly, happy birthday! your brain cells are not dying, they are LIVING!!

It's not just the brain cells, it's the connections.

Neural connections are the ENEMY with this stuff, though, aren't they? Or anyway I've seen a lot of popular-science stuff about deep/REM sleep lately, during which neural connections are actually broken down, and lots of it seems to be moving toward the conclusion that the brain needs to break down those connections to sustain any kind of adaptability, so that you wake up relatively less clogged with the minutae and patterns of the day before, and retain room to set up new connections and adapt to new patterns the next day. (All of which sounds just along the lines of the aging-brain issues laid out in the thread question, right?)

I know fuck-all about neuroscience and haven't chopped into Robyn's link, so pardon me if this is totally wrong or explained better by Wiki or whatever.

Happy birthday Jaq! My dead brain cells salute you oo. Remember, life is nothing more than a sprint race in a dream, with a coffin waiting for us at the finish line.

Argh, and the amount of REM sleep decreases with age!

less to dream about I suppose

Nabisco, this is my new excuse for a nap :)

I thought you're supposed to sleep less as you age?

Seriously though, I have noticed I stay more focused on things, less likely to get off-track and tangential, unless I want to or I'm drinking. And while I'm less likely to take on ridiculous amounts of multi-tasking, it's not because I can't, but because I'm better able to prioritize. (If I clear up task B, task C and F are taken care of too...)

I do think learning new stuff, finding things you are can really get interested in, is U&K to the brain. If it's sudoku, or building a website or playing music or just listening, really listening, to new music - whatever, as long as it's new to you and stretches your thinking.

I thought you're supposed to sleep less as you age?

This has not been my experience. I wake up fairly early, no matter what. It used to be I'd force myself to stay in bed on weekends, trying to fall back asleep. I might get another hour or so of actual sleep in. Now, I just cave and get up, but nap for a couple hours later in the day. Which is divine.

i'm 39, and the main thing i wish i had from when i was younger is the energy -- that sustained ability to stay up all night w/o coffee, just working intently on stuff. (ohh, and the much flatter stomach, i'd take that too.)

i quite like that my brain is a bit quieter than it used to be. i must have some sort of adult onset add or adhd. it's harder than ever for me to just focus and work on one project. (thankfully, i set my own hours, am essentially my own boss, & always have other projects to work on.)

cognitively, i'm sure i was quicker when i was younger; well, of course i was. i have a sleep disorder so i can't really comment on sleep differences too well -- seems all muddled up by the fact of my apnea.

I'm also becoming more ribald, like someone's embarrassing uncle

Hahah this sounds like me :)

I'm 36 and mentally I dont know if I feel slower or anything, though my years of wild hedonism (/futurama) have taken their toll a little.

I thought for a while there I had no spark or creativity left but I've realised thats about context and people around me, not me or my age. Right now I am feeling pretty spry :D

Hangovers have become a complete BITCH tho.

PS happy bday Jaq!

Neural connections are the ENEMY with this stuff, though, aren't they?

Oh shit, that's right, I forgot (yeah, I know, *snicker*) there's all that talk about not cluttering up your brain with too many connections. I think the important thing is quality connections. That's my new theory.

This thread has 35 answers...can it only get dumber from here?

it should start doing yoga

Aging is not the enemy, boredom is. :-/

kids are stupid, what are you talking about

-- Shakey Mo Collier

Mine're already dead. I just keep them pickled.

-- Ned Raggett

WTF Ned?!

MYTH PUNCTURED! I am less vulnerable to surges of dopamine than youse.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1297847/The-midlife-brain-surge-means-DO-grow-wiser-older.html

I stopped reading at 'dailymail.co.uk.'

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^wise

Anyway, I've noticed that I've been finding it harder and harder to form coherant thoughts when I go into depression.

I thought this was happening to me and I'm only in my early 20s! I think it's more a product of how complacent you get, how willing you are to push yourself, take it to the limit one more time.

take it to the limit one more time

i am over 35. i realize my memory is decaying as i age. but, iirc, this is a line from an eagles song.

i hate the eagles.

Yes. It doesn't bother me. I spent my childhood with people with chronic degenerative diseases, so I never actually thought things had a chance of getting better or going into remission for very long.

Avoid aluminum (implicated in Alzheimer's) and saturated fats (much, perhaps most dementia is not cellular aging, but asymptomatic micro strokes). I've met whip smart people in their 90s. They were thin, and active.