For how we live.
The idea that sleep flushes toxins from the brain rests largely on mouse experiments. A 2024 study using the same animal measured the opposite direction, and none of it has been shown in humans.
A cohort with serial MRI and autopsy data found earlier menopause tracked faster cognitive decline and white matter damage. The per-year coefficients are very small.
Imaging finds smaller brain volumes from as little as one to two daily drinks. Long-run dementia studies show a U-shape, with abstainers also at higher risk — a pattern that is easy to misread.
747 postmenopausal women were tested; 182 were scanned. Gray matter volume partially mediated the link between menopause age and cognition — in a cross-sectional design that cannot establish direction.
Heading rates rise about 13% with each age group from under-9s to seniors. Unintended head impacts during headers were rare — 31 in 687 matches — and most common in adults.