Women’s brains are younger than men’s

Do you think women stay sharper for longer? This could be because, on average, women’s brains are four years younger than men’s.

According to a study by the Washington University School of Medicine, US, brain scans on men and women aged 20 to 82 found female brains were 3.8 years biologically younger than men’s.

So when it comes to brainpower women may have the advantage.

This discovery helps to explain why women tend to stay mentally sharp longer than men in their later years.

Women’s younger brains may protect them from forgetfulness for longer which could be why men see more of a drop in their memory and language skills than women.

It’s already known that men’s brains shrink faster with age than women’s, but the new results suggest their brain metabolism is different too, especially their use of glucose, and how it’s burned for energy, which can affect brain performance. As we get older, our brains burn less glucose to power brain development, and more to provide the energy to complete everyday tasks and mental challenges.

Dr Manu Goyal, who led the study, said: “We’re just starting to understand how various sex-related factors might affect the trajectory of brain aging and how that might influence the vulnerability of the brain to neurodegenerative diseases.

Brain metabolism might help us understand some of the differences we see between men and women as they age.”

Researchers compared 205 men and women’s actual age to the age of their brain based on its use of glucose and oxygen as fuel. A computer algorithm found that women used a higher proportion of glucose to develop their brain showing that their brains were younger. This was the case even among the youngest women.

Dr Goyal said: “It’s not that men’s brains age faster – they start adulthood about three years older than women, and that persists throughout life.

“What we don’t know is what it means. I think this could mean that the reason women don’t experience as much cognitive decline in later years is because their brains are effectively younger, and we’re currently working on a study to confirm that.”

The researchers are now following a group of adults as they age to see whether people with younger-looking brains are less likely to deteriorate.

It’s always struck me that women seem to stay more “all together” than men as they get older. Now we know why. And why women make such good employees into a ripe old age.