The
Resilient Brain
A Journey from Birth to Old Age
In Canada, one in three people will experience a neurological issue in their lifetime.
Diseases, disorders and injuries of the brain such as stroke, Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis can be devastating for patients and their families. Dementias alone affect more than 730,000 people, while mental health disorders affect eight million Canadians. And these numbers are rising.
The need for new insights and better treatments has never been more urgent.
This is the story of the brain — how it grows, develops and ages across our lifetime, what can go wrong at each stage, and what the UBC Faculty of Medicine is doing to transform brain health for everyone.
Part I:
The Developing Brain
When we’re young, our brains are growing and changing rapidly, guided by our DNA and shaped by our experiences as we move through the world. It’s this complex interaction between genes and the environment that determines who we are and who we will become — even setting the course for our future brain health and resiliency in adulthood and old age.
0 – 9 years old
Infancy & Early Childhood
At birth, we’re equipped with nearly all of the 100 billion or so neurons we will need during our lifetime.
Our brains are now hard at work creating synaptic connections and forming neural circuits — specialized groups of cells that, together, enable us to perform different types of tasks, from holding a spoon to understanding language.
During childhood we’re improving our motor skills, building language and social skills, forming longer-term memories, learning to regulate our emotions and growing our intellectual abilities.
As we engage more deeply with our environment, some of those neural connections are getting stronger, while other, less-used ones are disappearing, thanks to a process known as ‘synaptic plasticity.’
Synaptic plasticity sharpens our ability to sort and interpret the enormous amount of information we encounter in our daily lives.
Our brains are most vulnerable to injury during birth, and early-life brain injury can have far-reaching consequences. This is especially true for babies born preterm and those with congenital heart issues.
Meanwhile, it’s during childhood and early adolescence that autism spectrum disorder (ASD), epilepsy, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and learning disorders are usually diagnosed.
10 – 19 years old
Adolescence
Adolescence is a time of self-discovery, risk-taking and greater independence. During this stage our brains undergo a second round of intense change. New connections are rapidly forming while others disappear.
This is part of a general rewiring of our brains’ neural circuits — especially those involved in emotional processing and risk-related decision-making — as we begin the transition to adulthood.
Social experiences and peer relationships play an essential role in brain development during this stage.
As we seek out new and sometimes dangerous experiences, our risk of mild traumatic brain injury, or concussion, increases.
Early signs of mental health disorders such as anxiety, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder can also manifest in some people at this stage.
20 – 34 years old
Young Adulthood
In our twenties, the focus shifts to strengthening and extending the neural connections and circuits now in place. We’re building powerful and far-reaching ‘functional networks’ that connect distant regions of our brains.
Our problem-solving and long-term planning abilities improve, as does our emotional regulation. We’re now better able to ‘put things into context.’ Our ability to recognize patterns and solve abstract problems has never been better.
However, it’s also in our twenties and thirties that serious, chronic mental health disorders such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, as well as neurodegenerative diseases such multiple sclerosis (MS), are most likely to emerge.
Part II:
The Aging Brain
Not long ago, the conventional wisdom was that we reach ‘peak brain’ in young adulthood and it’s downhill from there. We now know this isn’t the case. Our brains retain a surprising amount of plasticity through middle age and even into old age. We continue to form new neural connections and develop new skills, with different cognitive abilities peaking at different times in our lives.
35 – 64 years old
Adulthood & Middle Age
As we reach middle age, lifestyle plays an increasingly important role in our cognitive health, both present and future.
Our social relationships, the food we eat and air we breathe, the physical exercise and mental activities we engage in — these and other factors, coupled with our genetics, can increase or decrease our brains’ resiliency.
These factors affect our vulnerability to neurological diseases and injuries such as stroke and age-related dementias, as well as their onset and severity, usually later in life.
For people living with chronic neurological diseases such as MS and mental health disorders, the long-term effects can likewise begin to impact brain health and resiliency as we age.
65+ Years Old
Late Middle Age & Old Age
Although the normal signs of aging would now be visible on an MRI scan — for example, decreasing brain volume and thinning of the cerebral cortex — our brains retain the ability to change and adapt.
Many of us continue to enjoy excellent cognitive health into our seventies, eighties and beyond.
For others, this stage of life can be difficult. Nearly 10% of Canadians over 65 are living with some form of dementia.
Diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and frontotemporal dementia have the power to rob us of our memories, our abilities, our independence and even our sense of self.
The impact can be life-changing — for us and the people we care about.
Part III:
The Resilient Brain
The good news is that, thanks to major advances in neuroimaging, genetics, machine learning and more, we are living in a golden age of neurological discovery. Researchers at the Faculty of Medicine are making scientific breakthroughs that would have been unimaginable even a decade ago. Their work is changing how we understand, treat and prevent diseases, disorders and injuries of the brain. Here are just a few examples of this transformative work.
Rethinking early-life brain injury
Early-life brain injury affects thousands of newborns in Canada every year, often with serious consequences. UBC researchers are changing how we understand and treat these injuries — giving new hope to patients and their families.
Read more
Understanding how genetics and the environment shape brain development
UBC researchers are embracing neurodiversity while tackling the challenges that people with autism spectrum disorder face.
Read more
Creating personalized solutions for youth mental health disorders
Using advanced brain imaging and computational tools, UBC researchers are charting a path toward earlier and more precise interventions for bipolar disorder and other mental health issues.
Read more
Revealing how memory works
Scientists at UBC are investigating how the brain creates, stores and retrieves memories, opening the door to new treatments for PTSD, Alzheimer’s disease and autism spectrum disorder.
Read more
Unravelling the mystery behind Alzheimer’s resilience
Why do some people exhibit the same brain pathology as patients with Alzheimer’s disease, but experience no symptoms? UBC researchers are on a bold mission to answer this question — and revolutionize treatment.
Read more
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