What normally changes
The National Institute on Aging describes several typical changes with age: certain brain regions, especially those involved in learning and complex mental activity, shrink; communication between neurons can become less effective; blood flow in the brain decreases; and inflammation may increase. Many older adults notice slower recall of names or slower processing speed. Vocabulary, accumulated knowledge and judgement, by contrast, often remain stable or improve.
Sleep, vessels and clearance with age
Two of the systems that matter most for clearance change predictably with age. Deep (slow-wave) sleep becomes shorter and lighter, and the stiffness and reactivity of brain blood vessels change. Nedergaard and Goldman’s 2020 review summarises evidence of a steep fall in glymphatic flow in ageing rodents and humans and argues that these changes may help explain why age is the dominant risk factor for protein-aggregation diseases. This remains an area of active investigation.
What is modifiable
The 2024 Lancet Commission estimates that nearly half of dementia cases are linked to fourteen modifiable risk factors, many of which are addressed through ordinary preventive health care: controlling blood pressure and cholesterol, treating hearing and vision loss, staying physically and socially active, not smoking, limiting alcohol and protecting the head from injury. The three-minute video on this page from Canada’s National Institute on Ageing walks through them.
Watch
How to read this page
This is general educational background drawn from the sources below. It is not medical advice, and it is not evidence that any NeuroClearance system works. Where a finding comes from animals or from a small human study, the text says so.