
The Neurofix - Hooke
https://aeon.co/essays/will-stem-cell-grafts-offer-chicken-soup-for-the-ageing-brain
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Xcelerate
That was a rather sad article. The juxtaposition of how her parents were in
their younger years to how they were later in life is disconcerting. As a 25
year old, I don't think my fear of death is necessarily greater than the
average person, but I do seem to have a stronger fear of _aging_ than most
people my age. And that fear is almost entirely due to the way the human brain
changes as it ages. I could handle a deteriorating body, but a deteriorating
mind is a horrifying thought, since the mind essentially constitutes who I am.
Alzheimers and dementia unnerve me. Less acutely, even the way that people
tend to get "stuck in their ways" and quit trying new things later in life
scares me as well. I make a conscious effort to keep trying new things, even
if I think I won't like them. Some people are afraid of change, but I'm afraid
of monotony, boredom, and routine — traits that characterize the concluding
years of many lives that were formerly full of excitement.

~~~
ideonexus
I think your fear is healthy if it motivates you to fight the effects of
aging. I know many people in their 60s and 70s and it's amazing the effect
lifestyle has on where you end up. I know 60-year-olds who are senile and
frail after a liftime of recreational drinking, poor eating, and inactivity. I
also know 80-year-olds who are sharp as me, learning new things, and biking,
hiking, or running more than ever to stay young. My 70-year-old mother just
got her PhD and teaches nursing thanks to a liftime of healthy eating and
intense exercise. Those are the seniors I think of when I go to the gym and
choose salad over my craving for burgers and fries when out to eat.

~~~
drone
Sadly, even exercise and good living doesn't always work. I have a family
member living with dementia right now who lived a model life as far as diet
(vegetarian), exercise (daily for life), no drinking or drugs, and an overall
focus on doing everything possible to be as healthy as possible. Conversely,
my own grandfather watched all of his coworkers die from cancer due to the
chemicals they worked with, was generally sedentary, and lived into his
nineties with no major degenerative diseases.

That said, I agree that one is more likely to have positive late-life outcomes
if one chooses to live more healthfully in younger life.

~~~
ideonexus
Thank you for pointing this out. I almost went back and edited my original
post to add this qualification. There are absolutely exceptions to the trends,
and just because someone is having health or cognitive issues in their senior
years, we should not assume it's because of their lifestyle. I think you
stated this fact very well and I appreciate it.

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kough
As someone who hasn't read much about this sort of research, I'm impressed and
hopeful for the future based on the advances described here. I just watched my
maternal grandparents go through the sort of horrible, prolonged, process of
slow brain-death (alzheimers, parkinsons) and general neural decay before
death. Heart breaking. For those who know more about this: how far out are we?
Tens of years? Hundreds? What stands in the way?

~~~
volkk
as far as i remember reading somewhere, i think one of the main problems is
that we don't really know what Alzheimer's disease is. We know the symptoms
and we know what the brain looks like after the disease comes (in an autopsy
once the person is dead) which makes diagnosing very difficult as well. But
mainly we don't really know how and why or what it is.

