Men's brains age faster than women’s: Study

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Thursday 26 Nov 2015 - 14:13 Makkah mean time-14-2-1437 Budapest (IINA) - Men’s brains age more quickly than women’s which may explain why they are more susceptible to conditions like Parkinson’s (a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system mainly affecting the motor system), Mail Online reported. Among men grey matter declined at a faster rate than women as they get older, a Hungarian study found. Men also lose more matter than women in the caudate nucleus and the putamen volume, which deal with movement. The study authors said that the difference was ‘striking’ and might inform treatment on other neurological disorders like ADHD, (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). The neuroscientists from the University of Szeged in Hungary scanned the brain structures of 53 men and 50 women. The average age of the participants was 32, with the youngest participant being 21-years-old and the eldest 58. In their report, published in the journal Brain Imaging and Behaviour, the researchers found several differences between the sexes in their subcortical brain structures. These are the parts of the brain that deal with not just movement but also emotional processing. As men got older these areas showed a decline that was greater than among women. Another part of the brain which showed a similar trend was the thalamus, which is like the brain’s main relay station for passing information around the brain. In their report, the authors said that it could be due to changes in hormone levels as people got older and how the brain responded to these changes. They wrote: ‘Strikingly, grey matter volume decreases faster in males than in females emphasizing the interplay between aging and gender on subcortical structures. ‘Changes of subcortical structures have been consistently related to several neuropsychiatric disorders (e.g. Parkinson’s disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, etc.). ‘Understanding these changes might yield further insight in the course and prognosis of these disorders.’ Previous studies have shown that men have larger brains than women but this does not mean they are smarter - elephants and whales have bigger brains than humans. SM/IINA