“My God, do not take me with me in my middle age. Your years are from generation to generation without end.” -Psalm 102:24
In middle age, the nutritional factors needed by the brain begin to decline. Plants need nutrients to grow and grow, and the brain also needs nutritional factors. The most representative of the nutritional factors in the brain is a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). It is also called brain-derived neurotrophic factor. It is most distributed in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. However, the more BDNF in the hippocampus, the more it inhibits the secretion of adrenocorticotropic hormone-releasing hormone (ACTH) secreted from the hypothalamus. Simply put, when stress comes, it goes through the hypothalamus, which plays a role in preventing stress in advance. When BDNF is secreted from the hippocampus, it is very important because it plays a role in preventing all stress.
However, in middle age, the hippocampus weakens. When the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory, begins to atrophy, it starts to cause problems. As we age, the hippocampus, which secretes BDNF, begins to shrink, resulting in memory impairment. This becomes Alzheimer’s disease in old age. The most important role of BDNF is to grow nerve cells and make synapses. That is why brain nutritional factors and brain-derived neurotrophic factors are important.
In middle age, the memory system weakens. First of all, working memory is weakened, and mobility function is also weakened.
Then there are three growth factors in the brain. Fibroblast growth factor, insulin-like growth factor, and vascular endothelial growth factor. The place where it is produced is the astrocyte, and when it comes to middle age, this astrocyte is gradually reduced and eventually all growth cells are reduced. These growth factors always check the level of the stress hormone cortisol and play an important role in protecting the brain from damage. Insulin is secreted by the pancreas, and insulin-like growth factor’s (IGF) are secreted by the liver and pituitary gland. This is what decreases with age.
Humans will die if there is no glucose in the nerve cells. Oxygen and glucose are the most important. Glucose is supplied to nerve cells, leading to cell development, neurogenesis in which new nerve cells are created, neuroplasticity, which is the flexibility of the brain, and myelination. A water plant is no different from a film if you say it as a wire. Brain cells and glial cells that connect brain cells are axons, and the membrane surrounding the axons is myelinated. It is insulin-like growth factor that helps these nerve cells, and it helps BDNF to strengthen synapses and helps to produce serotonin, so insulin-like growth factor is very important.
Second, it is a vascular endothelial cell growth factor. The vascular endothelium is very important. If cholesterol is stuck there, blood vessels are blocked and blood clots can occur. In addition, the place where the blood flow is well controlled is the vascular endothelial cell, where nitric oxide (NO) must come out. Vascular endothelial growth factor regulates vascular permeability and opens the blood-brain barrier. So, it has a function of preventing blood coagulation and helps insulin-like growth factor to enter and exit. If you get heart disease in middle age, it’s usually a problem with blood vessels. Vascular endothelial growth factor plays a very important role in vascular health.
Third, FGF (fibroblast growth factor). FGF strengthens synapses to help learning ability and increase concentration. After breakfast, two hours later, seven times more fibroblast growth factor is secreted. So, concentration, learning ability, mathematical calculation ability, etc. are strengthened twice as much. When students go to school to take an exam or study, it is most effective to go two hours after eating breakfast to study. Whether you go to an academy or go to school, if you eat at 8 o’clock, classes from 10 o’clock are the most effective. In the afternoon, the quality deteriorates, which can lead to poor concentration.
But as we get older and enter middle age, the number of star-shaped astrocytes that produce fibroblast growth factor decreases. With aging, the production of new neurons in the dentate nucleus of the hippocampus is reduced, causing problems such as memory impairment. The important thing is that when you exercise, BDNF comes back to life. Also, insulin-like growth factor, fibroblast growth factor, and vascular endothelial growth factor are all increased. So, exercise is very important in middle age.
If you do not have working memory, you cannot go about your daily life properly even for a moment. It is all thanks to working memory that we hear, understand, and learn what the other person is saying in our daily lives.
In middle age, the memory system weakens. The memory system can also be talked about in two ways. In middle age, working memory weakens first and mobility function also weakens. Working memory is used when talking, calculating, making phone calls, and performing daily activities. Working memory is the ability to recall information for a brief period of 20 to 30 seconds.
Working memory allows us to live our daily lives properly. Working memory is also needed when talking and buying and selling things. If you sell an item worth 8,000 won and the other party gives you 10,000 won, you must leave 2,000 won. This is possible because of working memory. If you do not have working memory, you cannot go about your daily life properly even for a moment. In our daily lives, understanding language, hearing, understanding, and learning what the other person is saying is all thanks to working memory. In addition, working memory is a brain system that temporarily stores and processes information in order for the brain to reason and perform cognitively complex tasks.
However, when we reach middle age, this working memory system suffers from problems. Waking up in the morning and going through the day, meeting someone, talking, buying something, making phone calls, working, going to the bank and finding money are all done with the help of working memory, but in middle age, the weakening of working memory occurs. There is a brain involved in concentration and working memory. Among the frontal lobes, entering the prefrontal cortex, the systems of the dorsal prefrontal cortex eventually begin to weaken one by one. The dorsal prefrontal cortex actually grows until the early 30s. The part of our brain that develops the last is the dorsal dorsal prefrontal cortex.
It is said that the prefrontal cortex of the frontal lobe is fully formed between the ages of 18 and 25, but when you go deeper, the dorsal prefrontal cortex develops later. But at the age of 60, this already shrinks. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which was the last to develop, is the first to break down at the age of 60. Therefore, it causes problems in the memory system and makes it difficult to do everyday life.
For example, storing something very valuable and forgetting it. A middle-aged woman puts her valuables in her house in her old bag and forgets them. And after a while, she throws it in the trash because the bag is shabby. Also, when she moves, she doesn’t remember where she puts her important items. She goes to the bank to get money, puts her card in, takes out the money and comes back with just the card. This is a problem of working memory, not dementia. When there is a problem with the working memory system like this, it causes problems in daily life.
There are people who have very developed working memory. They are interpreters. They do a good job of listening to what someone is saying and conveying it to the other person. Even if you are very good at studying English, you may not be good at interpreting. Interpretation is not for everyone. This is because the dorsal prefrontal cortex must be well developed. Of course, because interpreter training strengthens the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, you will become good at interpreting, but being good at English does not mean you are good at interpreting. The dorsal prefrontal cortex needs to develop healthy to be able to interpret. It is because the dorsal prefrontal cortex works well that you hold what you have just heard for a few seconds and then pass it on to the other person, in other words. But as we get older, these things cause problems. Some people even hold the car key in their hand and look for it, asking, “Where did the car key go?”. This is what happens when you reach middle age and have problems with your working memory. It is a phenomenon that occurs from middle age because the dorsal prefrontal cortex, which develops the latest among the frontal lobes of the brain and atrophies the fastest, is disturbed. That’s why brain health in middle age shouldn’t be taken lightly. <계속>
Dr. Son Mae Nam
Korea Counseling Development Institute Director
Kyonggi University Brain and Psychological Counseling Research Institute Director
Cohen University International President
President of the International Brain Healing Counseling Association
#Brain Healing Counseling #middle age #Dr. Sonmaenam
