Whether you’re turning 60, 70 or 80, everyone starts to feel ‘old’ at very different times.
But our brains go through three distinct ‘ageing peaks’ throughout our lives, according to a new study.
Experts have identified that levels of 13 proteins linked to brain ageing spike at 57, 70 and 78.
And this could mean these particular ages are crucial for interventions to help keep the brain healthier for longer, they said.
The team analysed the concentration of around 3,000 proteins in the blood plasma of nearly 5,000 British people aged between 45 and 82.
Analysis revealed that 13 proteins strongly linked with brain ageing were found to form three age-related peaks at 57, 70 and 78-years-old.
One protein in particular, called Brevican (BCAN), is associated with the onset of dementia, stroke and movement issues.
Another protein, called GDF15, has also been linked to age-related diseases.
The authors said that the peaks in these 13 proteins may reflect changes in human brain health at these specific ages.
And these could be important times to consider interventions in the brain ageing process, they said, that could help delay the onset of diseases such as dementia.
The research was led by a team from the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University in China.
Writing in the journal Nature Ageing they warned that by 2050, it is estimated that the number of people aged 65 years and above will exceed 1.5 billion globally – highlighting the need for a deeper understanding of the ageing process.
In the UK alone, nearly one million people have the condition, with numbers rising. It remains our biggest killer.
‘We found that the late fifth decade is a potential onset timepoint for brain ageing,’ they said.
‘In addition, our study suggested that the seventh and late seventh decades are also essential time points in brain ageing.
‘These findings contribute to bridging essential knowledge gaps in clarifying the molecular mechanisms of brain aging, with substantial implications for the future development of… biomarkers for brain aging, as well as personalised therapeutic targets for subsequent age-related brain disorders.’
The discovery comes just months after separate research also pinpointed the decades of life during which the body ages the most — blowing apart the idea that ageing occurs gradually.
In September team of Stanford scientists determined that age-related changes including slowing metabolism, wrinkling skin and increased proneness to diseases show significant peaks at age 44 and 60.
Such changes can lead to weight gain or stronger effects from drinking alcohol.
Dr Michael Snyder, Professor of Genetics at Stanford University and senior author of the study, said: ‘People assume everybody’s kind of aging gradually. It turns out that most changes are not linear.’
To offset the impact of these dramatic aging ‘waves’, the team suggests that people approaching the milestones of 44 and 60 exercise more often and adopt a healthier diet.
The team analyzed data from repeated collections of blood and stool samples and oral, skin and nasal swabs from 108 healthy people between the ages of 25 and 75 across California over a median period of 1.7 years.
During analysis, scientists noticed that 81 percent of the observed molecules including proteins and RNA changed in at least one wave.
The team ultimately concluded substantial dysregulation occurring at two major periods — with the age of 44 causing the biggest shift, and 60 also producing a significant uptick.
Dr. Steve Hoffmann, a computational biologist at Leibniz Institute on Aging in Germany told the Wall Street Journal: ‘These studies probably align very well with the experiences we have ourselves, or heard from others who perceive a sudden decline in physiological fitness.’
‘Identifying and studying these factors should be a priority for future research,’ said Dr Xiaotao Shen, a former Stanford Medicine postdoctoral scholar, and now an assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University Singapore.
In people in their 40s, significant changes were seen in the number of molecules related to alcohol, caffeine and lipid metabolism; as well as shifts in markers related to cardiovascular disease, and skin and muscle aging.
A similar but less pronounced ‘wave’ of aging was noted at age 60.
It’s possible some of these changes could be tied to lifestyle or behavioral factors that cluster at these age groups, Dr Snyder said.
