The Roaring Forties
For sailors, the phrase roaring forties refers to the area below forty degrees south latitude, where the ocean begins to become unrelentingly dangerous to small vessels because of huge seas and high winds. But for every man and woman, the term can also mean a time after age forty when the brain faces increasing danger of decline. New research has shown that in the brains of people in their forties, the parts of the brain involved in memory and cognitive function start losing their ability to function, at least in some people.
Though studies are by no means conclusive, it suggests that in our fifth decade of life many of us may start experiencing physical brain breakdown without realizing it.
We do not see this as any surprise. After all, many of us have experienced difficulty remembering things in middle age–where we left the car keys, what we went into the kitchen to get, and so on. That the brain, like
the rest of the body, undergoes some age-related change is not news. We lose between five and ten percent of our brain mass between the ages of twenty and eighty, and with that natural change comes some impairment, such as slower reaction time behind the wheel of a car, or failure to recall the name of a recent acquaintance. But although the aging brain naturally suffers some damage, dementia is not an unavoidable outcome of age. There is much you can do to prevent it. – Ilchi Lee-