Why do people get smaller over the years? Character does change with age

As we age, getting a good night's sleep becomes increasingly rare. However, this may turn out to be an evolutionary remnant that helped our ancestors survive, and not insomnia, as most people believe.

While studying modern hunter-gatherer peoples in Africa, scientists found that family members of different ages living together have a sleep-wake schedule in such a way that at least one of them does not sleep or sleeps very shallowly.

Scientists suggest that thousands of years ago, when lions could roam around at two in the morning, this distribution of sleep was necessary for our ancestors.

"Older people complain to doctors that they wake up early in the morning and can't get back to sleep," says Charlie Nunn, a professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University in the US.

“But perhaps this is quite normal. It may be that some physical conditions that modern medicine regards as disorders are actually characteristics that gave a person an advantage in ancient times.

In a group of different ages, some always go to bed earlier, and some later. If you are older, you will most likely be a morning person; if you are younger, you will be a night owl.

Being in the light sleep phase, a person is more susceptible to various environmental hazards.”

Scientists decided to test their theory - the so-called "senile insomnia" hypothesis - on the Hadza people living in northern Tanzania, who still live by hunting and gathering.

The Hadza live and sleep in groups of 20-30 people. During the day, men and women disperse through the open forest of the savannah near Lake Eyasi in northern Tanzania in search of edible tubers, berries, honey and meat. In the evening the group reunites for the night's sleep near the fireplace or in the grass hut.

“These people are as modern as you and me, but their way of life is similar to the period of our past, when people hunted and gathered for their food. The lives of the Hadza people can tell us a lot about the course of evolution,” says study co-author Alyssa Crittenden, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

“They sleep on the ground and don’t have the artificial lighting or weather forecasts that characterized early humans.”

For the experiment, thirty-three healthy Hadza men and women between the ages of 20 and 60 agreed to wear a special wristwatch-like device that would count the number of times they moved during a night's sleep.

The results showed that the Hadza rarely slept at the same time. Some went to bed at 22.00 and woke up at 6.00, others dozed after 8.00, but they did not go to bed until 23.00.

Many dozed and often woke up during the night to smoke, approach a crying child, or urinate and dozed off again.

The observation lasted 220 hours. The scientists found that during all this time, all adult members of the group slept soundly for only 18 minutes at a time. On average, more than a third of the group were awake or sleeping very lightly.

Similar studies have been conducted previously on birds, mice and other animals. This phenomenon was tested in humans for the first time.

Sleep wisely | Seven steps to healthy sleep

Establish pre- and post-sleep routines as they directly affect the quality of your sleep and wakefulness.
Take tech breaks throughout the day.
Get up an hour and a half earlier than you need to to get ready for your day.
Don't reach for your phone! Before you send your first text message or respond to an email, make sure you are completely awake and thinking clearly.
The body's movement from warm to cool causes a natural drop in body temperature, which is necessary for sound sleep. A quick rinse in a warm shower and a cool bedroom will help.
Remove all unnecessary objects from the bedroom and dispel all unnecessary thoughts before trying to sleep.
Move gradually from light to dark in the evenings and from dark to light in the mornings.

Scientists have noticed that the shift in hours of sleep and wakefulness is associated with age: people aged 50-60 years old went to bed and woke up earlier than 20-30 year olds.

Researchers believe that throughout most of human history, in different age groups, the habit of sleeping at different times helped our ancestors remain alert during the night. Because of this evolutionary feature, the Hadza people do not need to specifically appoint someone to stand guard at night, scientists say.

“For some time there was an idea about the advantages of living together with grandparents. Scientists have extended this idea to vigilance during nighttime sleep, says study author David Samson of Duke University in North Carolina.

This study was preceded by earlier studies that found that arthritis and short stature were atavisms that helped our ancestors survive the Ice Age.

In all cultures, wisdom is associated with experience and is based on knowledge gained in the past. But are wisdom and knowledge the same thing? Nowadays young people are actively pursuing higher education and using the media. Before you know about anything, they will already have found everything on the Internet.

Andre Aleman, a neuropsychologist and author of the book “The Retired Brain,” is confident that wisdom is more about solving complex life problems and the ability to act in difficult situations, so age opens up very tempting prospects for us.

What is wisdom

At all times, in every culture, there were people who were perceived by their fellow tribesmen as guardians of wisdom. Usually they were gray-haired elders, valued for their religious knowledge and experience. They gave others answers regarding the main questions of life.

But how can a person whose brain cells die and whose level of attention and concentration decreases be wise? To answer this question, we first need to define what wisdom is and see whether it actually emerges with age. If this is true, we will have to compare this fact with the observed changes in the brain.

First you need to define the concept of wisdom -.

To try to establish what people understand by wisdom, one researcher developed a special questionnaire. It was completed by more than 2,000 GEO magazine readers. Many answers included: the ability to understand complex issues and relationships, knowledge and life experience, self-analysis and self-criticism, acceptance of the interests and values of another person, empathy and love for humanity, desire to improve, humor.

Although humor is not generally regarded as an important component of wisdom, a sense of humor is essential to self-knowledge - a necessary component of true wisdom. Jeanne Louise Calment, a French woman who lived 122 years, was distinguished by her wit. On her one hundred and twentieth birthday, the journalist, somewhat hesitantly, expressed the hope that he would be able to congratulate her next year.

“Why not,” Kalman answered. “You look quite young.”

We consider people wise if they are able to give good advice in difficult circumstances and if they are harmonious.

Brain, positivity and learning for the elderly

Four parts of the brain are related to wisdom.

First, there is the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which is involved in emotional relationships and decision making.
Second, the outer part of the prefrontal cortex (technically, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), which is responsible for rational thinking and identifying problem-solving strategies.
Third, the anterior cingulate cortex, which detects conflicts of competing interests and separates rational thinking and emotions.
And finally, located deep in the brain, the striatum, which is activated by reward-related stimuli.

Areas of the brain related to wisdom. Drawing from a book

Research has shown that older adults are more focused on the rewards that follow good decisions than on the negative consequences of mistakes. This means that they focus on finding the right answers more than on preventing mistakes.

If you want to teach a 75-year-old how to use a computer, it's better to focus on what he does well rather than constantly pointing out mistakes or reminding him how to do things differently.

Take your time

Paradoxically, this may all be the result of slower brain function, which makes older people less impulsive.

And since it takes them longer to make a decision, they receive more information on which to base their choices. In addition, older people use both hemispheres, which helps achieve excellent results.

The older, the wiser?

Is it true that we become wiser as we age? Unfortunately, not all of us. At any age there are people whose thoughts and actions cannot be called wise, although this does not mean that they have not become wiser. Wisdom makes up life's experiences, our ups and downs. But it is very difficult to measure.

According to one study by German scientists, if you present people with complex problems and ask them for optimal solutions, most older people will do no better than middle-aged people. Some older people, just like middle-aged people, will not engage in complex tasks that require specific solutions. This is because the process involves short-term memory and executive functions (such as the ability to plan and empathize).

For older people, who have lost certain skills over time, it is more difficult to come up with a series of solutions and compare them with each other - .

Although intact cognitive functions do not necessarily lead to wisdom, they do help solve complex problems.

You can remain wise, especially in familiar situations, even if your mental abilities have decreased. In fact, old age is not such a terrible thing. Humanity is simply fixated on intelligence and cognitive abilities. But this is not the most important thing in life. It's true?..

As people age, they not only gain weight, but also become shorter. This phenomenon is a normal process that occurs as we age and can be explained by three main reasons.

As we approach old age, we become shorter. First, it occurs due to dehydration of the discs between the vertebrae, causing them to become flatter and the overall length of the spine to decrease. The second cause of height loss is flattening of the arch of the foot. And the third is loss of muscle mass, especially in the abdominal area. This significantly worsens our posture, causes us to hunch over, and we become more and more like our grandparents, who once seemed short to us.

On average, a person loses about 0.6-0.8 centimeters in height every year after age 40. By the age of seventy, men become 3-4 centimeters lower, and women – 5 centimeters lower. This effect is less noticeable in men because they tend to have stronger bones and more muscle mass.

If you are losing height faster than normal, it may be a sign of osteoporosis, where your bones become too fragile. In addition, bad habits such as smoking, alcohol and coffee abuse, and lack of physical activity increase the effect of age-related height loss.

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Does eternal love exist? In search of an answer, psychologists from the United States observed the brain function of recently falling in love and long-time partners living together. Judging by the fact that the brain activity of spouses who have lived together all their lives is very similar, love does not die.

Currently, doctors do not have the ability to influence “internal aging”. However, the external factors that cause aging can be prevented or at least limited.

The older you get, the thicker you get?

The Japanese, the slimmest nation in the world, do not experience problems with excess weight, neither in youth nor in old age. Russians are also considered to be a slender nation, but if in their youth the majority of Russian beauties have good figures, then with age exactly the same majority become overweight. What is the matter - genetics, diet or psychological characteristics of our body?

Why are we getting better?

The first reason is to reduce energy consumption
Approximately every 10 years, a person’s energy consumption decreases by 10% (that is, the respiratory functions and cardiovascular system do not work as actively and metabolism slows down). Over the same 10 years, the average person's weight increases by 10%. The connection is obvious: if the level of metabolic processes in the body did not slow down with age, such a trend most likely would not exist. Because of this, both men and women recover equally. But women have other “reasons” for gaining weight.

The second reason is hormonal changes.
Weight gain occurs during pregnancy and lactation, when hormonal status changes and the body begins to “store” fat. Women who are prone to obesity especially suffer from this. The risk of gaining weight increases significantly during menopause, and this is true not only for women, but also for men.
The reason is the same - hormonal changes in the body and switching metabolism to fat accumulation.

Reason three - psychological
Much less is known about her than about the previous two. Her name is the restlessness and fervor of youth. Until the age of 20-30, a person is constantly developing: he has a lot to do, he needs to study, start a family - in a word, all the conditions are present to maintain a high psychological, and therefore general tone. In this state, large energy costs are inevitable. With age, life, as a rule, acquires a routine, cyclical character: children - home - work - family. Monotony does not promote enthusiasm and hinders development. The consequence is a decrease in tone and limitation of motor activity. If joys and hobbies are not enough, food can even become one of the main sources of pleasure. Now you need a lot of food, rich food - sweet and fatty.
It's clear where this leads.

Reason four - programmed by nature
Everyone, even the healthiest people, is programmed to gain weight with age. In our youth, stress makes us lose weight. Adrenaline hormones destroy cells and tissues in the body. For some time the body resists the attack of adrenaline, but the older we get, the more difficult it is for it to do this. And now, by about 35 years old, having found yourself in a stressful situation, you, on the contrary, begin to get better. Why? The body is unable to cope with adrenaline on its own; it produces insulin hormones, which in turn build fat. By the age of forty, chronic stress leads to intense weight gain.

Reason five - diets
Diets help us keep fit. They save us in emergency situations - before an important date, holiday, wedding. There is probably not a single woman in the whole world who has not been on a diet at least once in her life. But, if in youth diet is an assistant and friend, then in old age it will play a cruel joke on you. The more often you diet, the more likely you are to gain weight as you age. The mechanism of the process is as follows: the diet provokes a feeling of hunger and discomfort, which in turn causes an alarm signal in the body, in response to which a unique defense mechanism is launched, the essence of which is to reduce energy consumption. The activity of metabolic processes decreases by an average of 40%! After a diet, the diet becomes the same, but the body does not have time to adapt to a new way and still burns calories slowly. In people under 25 years of age, metabolic processes in the body work at full capacity and are rebuilt faster. Energy expenditure already slows down with age, and frequent changes in diet slow it down even more. As a result, extra pounds appear, which are no longer possible to lose through your own efforts. Another reason why diets lead to weight gain is the redistribution of fat. The process is quite complicated, so take my word for it: changing diets frequently is very harmful to both health and figure. Moderate nutrition throughout life and fasting days is the path to a slim figure both now and in the future.
How to counteract weight gain?

2. As it turned out, it is important not only what you eat, but also at what speed. Japanese scientists have made an interesting conclusion about the relationship between the rate of food absorption and body weight. It turns out that in order to maintain a stable weight for many years, you need to eat slowly. The study was based on data on four thousand healthy people. Some had the habit of eating very slowly, some just slowly, others ate at a normal pace, and there was a group whose representatives ate quickly or very quickly. Scientists compared the weight of representatives of all categories at the time of the experiment with the weight they had at 20 years old, and identified a direct relationship between the rate of food absorption and body mass index. Slow eaters tend to eat less because... The brain manages to give a signal that the body is full. In addition, food is better chewed and, accordingly, better digested. So eating slowly is good for you at any age!

3. Sports will help you get rid of excess body weight, but the older you get, the less intense the loads should become! Excessive training leads to overwork, bad mood and increased appetite. Moderation and regularity are more important: constant walks, light exercise, swimming, that is, something that increases muscle tone and increases performance. If you start taking care of yourself and exercising before weight problems occur, you will be able to avoid them. Trained muscles are in good shape and consume much more energy than flaccid ones. The main thing is not to give up training as you age, but to make it less intense.

4. Middle age is not a reason to stop developing. The modern way of life in a civilized country gives everyone the opportunity to learn and change, so pay more attention to your own mental and physical state, and the result will inevitably be reflected in your figure. The longer you maintain your usual rhythm of life, the longer your figure will look perfect!

5. And more about food! While the body is young, all processes in it proceed at the same speed at any time of the day. With age, in the afternoon, all processes in the body slow down. Accordingly, much of what we eat after lunch is not digested and is stored as fat. Don't want to get fat? Train yourself to have breakfast, and plenty of it. It has been proven that people who eat breakfast regularly eat less throughout the day.

6. Good heredity certainly gives an excellent chance of not gaining weight. But even the daughter of thin parents can become fat if she began to be overfed in early childhood. The number of fat cells in the child’s body increases, and the baby has every chance of becoming chubby over time.

7. For the reason stated above (the number of fat cells in the body), weight gain with age is influenced by the amount of fat you gained during pregnancy. Those who take care of themselves and do not allow themselves to gain much weight have a better chance of maintaining a slim figure until old age.

So, if you look at the list of reasons why we gain weight as we age, it becomes clear that many of them are not related to physiology. Age is not a hindrance to beauty and an active lifestyle!

Why do people get fat with age? Science has already proven that if before the age of 30, excess weight can be directly related to eating disorders (the predominance of fatty foods, fast foods, flour and sweets), then after this threshold the cause can be, first of all, hormonal changes organism and changes in metabolism, especially in the presence of hereditary prerequisites. Expert opinion Why do people get fat as they age? Doctors and nutritionists believe that there is nothing wrong with moderate weight gain over the years; moreover, it is a completely natural phenomenon. The fact is that over the years there is a reduction in the amount of muscle mass. With each new decade a person loses from 1.5 to...

Review

Science has already proven that if before the age of 30, excess weight can be directly related to eating disorders (the predominance of fatty foods, fast foods, flour and sweets), then after this threshold the cause can be, first of all, hormonal changes in the body and metabolic changes, especially in the presence of hereditary prerequisites.

Experts' opinion

Doctors and nutritionists believe that there is nothing wrong with moderate weight gain over the years; moreover, it is a completely natural phenomenon.

The fact is that over the years there is a reduction in the amount of muscle mass. With each new decade, a person loses from 1.5 to 2 kg of muscle. Therefore, in order to replenish the missing energy, a person needs less and less food over time, even if he remains fully active. In addition, for the normal functioning of various organs and systems, the same amount of calories is also not required as before, since their work slows down.

At a young age, a person actively comprehends life and faces the first problems and difficulties. This leads to frequent stress, during which adrenaline is released, which burns fat reserves. Later, when stress occurs, the body begins to react in the opposite direction - it cannot cope with the release of the hormone and reacts with the formation of adipose tissue. If we consider that after a certain age many people lose interest in life, and food becomes their only pleasure, then the question of whether or not it ceases to be a mystery.

Older people become less active, and this is explained by an established lifestyle, the acquisition of various chronic diseases, which, even if the previous diet is followed, does not contribute to weight loss.

Experts believe that over the years, a decrease in body temperature and the production of thyroid and adrenal hormones, which are involved in the breakdown and absorption of fats and other substances entering the body, becomes normal. And that's a pretty good reason why do people get fat as they age.

What should be done?

However, everything is not so sad. And the process of reducing metabolism, muscle mass, as well as the deterioration of the functioning of organs and systems can be stopped. To do this, you need to train regularly, especially strength exercises.

Nutrition should be reconsidered, but it should not be severely limited. First of all, you need to give up foods that quickly saturate the body with calories. These primarily include sweet desserts, alcoholic and carbonated drinks. It has been calculated that every 10 years a person needs to reduce their diet by 100 kilocalories in order to remain at the same weight.

Food should consist of a rational selection of fortified and natural products. Eating should be slow, this helps saturate the body and at the same time eat less, and also promotes better absorption.

To maintain interest in life, you should find an activity or hobby that will help you cope with and will brighten up the monotony of everyday life. This could be going to the theater, walking in the park, collecting, swimming.

A slight weight gain with age has its positive sides. In women during menopause, fat can store estrogen, which becomes scarce during this period, and this reduces their likelihood of developing problems such as osteoporosis. It is believed that after 50 years, it is better for women to maintain weight in the upper range of physiological and age norms, but should not exceed it.