Read More at AskMen [[{“value”:”Some people go to great lengths to consume drugs, but why bother when there are active chemicals just waiting to be released in your body? Yes, having an orgasm is a lot like getting high. When you do, your brain releases a myriad of substances into your bloodstream, literally altering your mind and body functions — at least temporarily. Orgasms are complicated and wonderful experiences that involve a complex interaction between three systems of the body: the vascular system, the nervous system, and the endocrine system. Frankly, they’re so complicated that it’s a miracle that they happen at all — so be sure to properly enjoy it next time you have one. RELATED: 7 Ways to Enhance the Male Orgasm The outcome of all that orgasmic complexity is that sex can make you feel a lot…
13 Easy Ways to Wake Up Your Brain
Read More at Sixty and Me [[{“value”:” The kids and the grandkids are in school, learning new things every day. But what should the rest of us do to keep our brains active and alert? We’ve all heard that we can reduce our chances of suffering from dementia in our golden years by eating right, maintaining our cardiovascular fitness through aerobic activities and weight training, and by exercising our brains. How do we exercise our brains? Well, it’s not just by doing crossword puzzles. Yes, crossword puzzles are good, but according to Dr. Marie Pasinski, a Harvard Medical School neurologist who wrote our book about boosting your brain power, they are more of a routine occupation than a brain exercise. Exercising your brain means doing things that are new and different such as learning to play a musical instrument or…
Using mRNA to Generate Therapeutic Antibodies in the Brain
Read More at Fight Aging! It may turn out to be cost-effective to replace delivery of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies with delivery of messenger RNA (mRNA), encapsulated in a lipid nanoparticle or linked to a cell penetrating molecule of some sort in order to reach the desired tissues and be taken up into the cytoplasm. Researchers here consider this in the context of treating Alzheimer’s disease, where the primary thrust of therapeutic development involves the use of antibodies targeting the various protein aggregates thought to contribute to disease progression. Monoclonal antibodies have emerged as a leading therapeutic agent for the treatment of disease, including Alzheimer’s disease. In the last year, two anti-amyloid monoclonal antibodies, lecanemab and aducanumab, have been approved in the USA for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, whilst several tau-targeting monoclonal antibodies are currently in clinical trials. Such antibodies,…
Chronic Pain Accelerates Brain Aging, Perhaps via Inflammation
Read More at Fight Aging! A range of conditions produce chronic pain in muscle and skeletal tissue. While conditions such as osteoathritis are comparatively well understood, the etiology of chronic muscular pain disorders such as myofascial pain syndrome is poorly understood and treatment options are consequently limited. Here, researchers analyze available epidemiological data on knee osteoarthritis, and show that it suggests an inflammatory link between chronic pain and an accelerated pace of degenerative brain aging. Individuals suffering from chronic musculoskeletal pain (CMP) may face a higher high risk of brain aging. CMP is a leading cause of disability, affecting more than 40% of the world’s population and impacting patients’ cognitive function. Although the exact mechanism is not fully understood, thus hampering prevention and treatment efforts, research indicates that inflammatory markers associated with brain aging are higher in CMP patients, suggesting…
13 Fantastic Foods to Boost Your Brain Power (and Stay Healthy)
Read More at Sixty and Me [[{“value”:” Staying vibrant after 60 challenges us to look at our lives with intent and explore ways to learn new skills, challenge our minds, and gain new experiences. Our brains get rewired in the process, and the foods we eat affect how well our brain and body functions. Eating the right foods yields mental sharpness and newly-formed neurons; whereas, the wrong foods produce brain fog, mental sluggishness, and chronic inflammation (the root of most diseases). I’ve certainly read articles and blog posts about the foods that are beneficial, and the foods to avoid. But when I get into the grocery store, it’s sometimes a challenge to remember the best of the best and why they are the optimal choices. So, I dove deep into the world of food, exploring why some foods are awesome…
Regulatory T Cells Contribute to Reduced Myelination in the Aging Brain
Read More at Fight Aging! Myelin surrounds the axons that connect neurons to one another, and is required for the transmission of electrical impulses. This myelin sheath is maintained by oligodendrocytes. These cells do not carry out their work in isolation; a great many factors are involved in determining the size and capabilities of the oligodendrocyte population. Aging is disruptive to the myelination carried out by oligodendrocytes. The consequences are not as bad as the profound loss of myelin that takes place in demyelinating diseases such as multiple sclerosis, but age-related loss of myelination does appear to degrade cognitive function. Researchers are thus interested in understanding the mechanisms involved, in search of ways to restore a youthful capacity for myelination in the aging brain. Myelin regeneration (remyelination) is essential to prevent neurodegeneration in demyelinating diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, however,…
Intermittent Fasting is Protective Against the Effects of Vascular Aging in the Brain
Read More at Fight Aging! Researchers here show that, in mice, intermittent fasting can protect against the damage done by cardiovascular aging that leads to a reduced blood supply to the brain. Forms of calorie restriction, such as intermittent fasting, are generally beneficial for long term health. This is well demonstrated in both mice and humans, though only short-lived species exhibit significant gains in life span as a result. It is interesting to note the opinion that intermittent fasting may be better than straight calorie restriction when it comes to mitigation of pathological mechanisms in neurodegenerative conditions. Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) embodies a spectrum of cognitive deficits that range from mild cognitive impairment to vascular dementia (VaD). VCI is associated with cerebrovascular diseases that arise from vascular pathological processes such as atherosclerosis, microvascular protein deposits, haemorrhages and microbleeds. These vascular…
To What Degree Can Cell Therapies Rebuild the Aging Brain?
Read More at Fight Aging! Repair of the aging brain is perhaps the most important of goals in regenerative medicine. We are the data that is stored in some way within the small-scale structures of our brain tissue, and so the options for outright replacement of brain cells and tissues are somewhat constrained. As a thought experiment, it is in principle possible, given significant progress in biotechnology, to manufacture a cloned body to receive a transplanted brain. All of the steps needed either already happen in nature, such as the growth of bodies without brains, and would need control and direction, or have been crudely demonstrated in animal studies, such as brain transplants, albeit with major limitations and risk of failure. There may well be little gain in transplanting an aged brain if it cannot be repaired, however. In any…
Cell Membrane Changes in Brain Aging
Read More at Fight Aging! Researchers here discuss what is know of changes that take place with age in cell membranes in the brain, and how they might negatively affect cell function. Like many aspects of aging, connecting these changes to the set of underlying mechanisms that cause aging is a challenging prospect, yet to be accomplished. Everything changes with age, and drawing connections between any two of those changes in order to demonstrate causation is a hard task. Aging affects the plasma membrane of all the cells of the body, not only its composition and structure but also the function of its different components. Any change in the lipid composition of the cell membranes will impact the function of membrane receptors and the way the cells sense the environment. Numerous studies have shown the existence of significant differences in…
The Aging Brain Benefits from Exercise
Read More at Fight Aging! Regular moderate exercise is well known and well established to be beneficial to long term health in many ways. Lack of exercise is actively harmful to long term health, on the other hand. Researchers here add another correlation between exercise and brain health, in that the size of functional areas of the brain is larger in those who do exercise, providing more of a protective buffer against the onset of neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. Which of the numerous mechanisms connecting exercise and brain function are most important in this effect remains an open question, though the data in this study suggests that increased blood flow is the dominant aspect. Exercise does boost blood flow to the brain, but also upregulates BDNF expression, which in turn increases neurogenesis, the creation of new neurons. Balancing the relative…