Do you think a lot? If yes, you must stop doing so because a new study has found that excessive brain activity could cut short your life.
So, just relax and take it easy! It’s good for your health!
The study conducted by the researchers from Harvard Medical School found that thinking too much and too hard could lead to premature death.
The findings of the study were published on October 16 in Nature.
The researchers examined people between the ages of the 60s and 70s and compared them with those who lived up to 100 years or above. They found that people who died young had a lower level of REST (RE-1 Silencing Transcription), a protein that calms the activity of the brain. However, the exact mechanism is poorly understood.
Previous studies have found that REST could help protect people against dementia or Alzheimer’s.
The authors explained that excessive brain activity is associated with a shorter life span and suppressing such over-activity could extend life.
Genetics and Neurology Professor at Harvard Medical School Dr. Bruce Yanker said, “The findings could have such far-ranging consequences for physiology and life span.” He said researchers have still been working to identify and determine how drugs, which target the REST, could treat Alzheimer’s. Praising the study, Cynthia Kenyon told The Washington Post, “I think this is over-activity, out-of-control excitation — it’s not good for the brain,” she told the Post. “You want the neurons to be active, when and where you want them to be active, not to be just generally firing off.” Kenyon is the vice president of aging research at Calico Labs.
