Elena Komleva on Brain Development Before and After 25.

Does the Brain Largely Stop its Development After Age 25?

💡🧠 👉🏼There’s a well-known observation in psychology/neuroscience nowadays that our brain development largely stops around age 25 (and not at 18 as previously believed). At this point, our attention, impulse control, risk assessment as well as logical abilities (including the ability to do math and write well) are at their optimal level (so, in many ways, 25 is the new 18). After that age, very slowly, the abilities start to decline. However, what a number of cognitive researchers point out is that there is a very close correlation between age 25 (or about 25) and the time when most people finish their formal education and get settled in their jobs. When most people settle into a routine with a stable job, what happens is that they usually stop dedicating much or any time to learning anything new and cognitively demanding on their own in their free time. Simply put, the only things most people want to do after a busy day of a usually more-or-less routine work is cook something to eat, watch some tv, spend some time on social media and maybe do some other routine chores before going to bed. And that regardless of whether or not their job requires any cognitive exertion or not. And it is for this reason, not because of any innate, irreversible “solidification” that takes place in our brain that around the age of 25 years that our mental abilities start to decline at this point instead of continuing to increase or remaining stable. On the other hand, another finding (and fact) is that our brain can actually produce new neurones and new connections and neurocircuits throughout our life, if we do bother to exert our brain on something intellectually demanding, something more than routine daily obligations and auto-piloting through life. Moreover, for example, speaking more than one language and learning new languages at an older age can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease by as many as 5-6 years, all because of how many more active neuronal networks and connections are in the brain of such a person as opposed to the brain of someone who does not do that! So it is really sad that the overwhelming majority of the population just stagnates and deteriorates at routine and not very intellectually-demanding jobs and then, later in the day, at TV and phone screens, mindlessly scrolling through social media and the like. So much of the full human potential is wasted and most people function only as bio-robots at a base level, slaving for a paycheck and not having much desire, time, energy or neither of the three to fulfill their full humanly potential. That should change! It is just not right!

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