Full transcript
0:00These 80 year olds were growing up to
0:02two and a half times more new neurons in
0:05the memory centers of their brains. And
0:07we're testing with a memory test
0:09equivalent to people up to 30 years
0:11younger. Now we're starting to
0:13understand exactly why that may be the
0:15case. I'm Dr. Austin Prometer. If you
0:17care about your brain and like learning
0:18about the growth of new brain cells, be
0:20sure to follow this channel. Over the
0:22last several years, researchers at
0:23Northwestern University have been
0:24studying the so-called super aers. These
0:27are people who make it to age 80 and
0:28beyond, but who have memory testing
0:30equivalent to people who are 30 years
0:32younger. What they found when they did
0:34biopsy samples of the brain's memory
0:36center is that these super aagers were
0:38growing a dramatically higher number of
0:40new neurons in the hippocampus. Now,
0:43that was up to two and a half times more
0:44than people with Alzheimer's and around
0:46two times more than people who were just
0:48cognitively normally aging. Why is this
0:50the case? We still are learning the
0:52mechanisms and the correlations here.
0:54But what was very interesting is two
0:56things. One is when you look at the
0:58super aers and what they had in common,
1:00the prevailing theme wasn't something
1:01about diet and exercise. It was actually
1:04that they had great interpersonal
1:06connection that they were very socially
1:08involved. The other thing that was just
1:10published is when we look at mechanisms
1:12behind why certain people may grow new
1:14neurons and specifically why Alzheimer's
1:17patients may have trouble with the
1:19expansion of their neural stem cells
1:21into mature neurons. The mechanism
1:23appears to be epigenetic. Epigenetic
1:26meaning that there are various things
1:28that influence how our DNA is being used
1:30and some of these may be influenced by
1:32things like lifestyle factors. Now, if
1:35you tie these two things together, we
1:37say that a certain group of people who
1:39are more socially connected seem to have
1:40better brain function. You could ask the
1:42question, well, maybe they have better
1:43brain function and therefore they have
1:45better social connection, which is a
1:46reasonable question. But a ton of other
1:48data suggests that when we engage in
1:50social connections, it can actually be
1:51protective for our brains. Tethering
1:54that to epigenetics, however,
1:56epigenetics can be modified by social
1:59connection. And just to bring one
2:00specific example in here, when you look
2:02at an animal model, when moms were given
2:04oxytocin, which we often call the
2:07bonding or social hormone, it actually
2:09changed epigenetics in the brains of
2:12offspring and led to them being more
2:14socially integrated. So oxytocin can
2:17epigenetically reprogram the brain. And
2:20what all of this suggests basically, of
2:21course, is that lifestyle is a major
2:23role in our brain health, but that
2:25social connection in particular may be
2:27one of the things that can program our
2:29brains towards better health and
2:31potentially help to decrease risk of
2:33conditions like Alzheimer's disease. I
2:35know that was a lot of science, so let
2:37me know what questions you have. And if
2:38you'd like to continue to learn about
2:40these types of themes, be sure to follow
2:42my channel. I'm Dr. Austin Proter and
2:43I'll talk to you again