Women’s brains get older slower than men’s

Now we can say it: women’s brains are younger than men’s! Here’s what a research has found out.

We already know that the female brain is different than the male one, but we had no clue about the brain’s age. Lately, a research of the Med School of the University of Washington in St. Louis proved that there are differences between the metabolism of sugar in the brain of men and women. This means there is a difference in the brains age, too, which is different from the actual age of the person.

Brain: men VS women

Among the many differences between men and women, now there is one more. According to this study, the male and female brains burn sugars in a different way, once reached a certain age.

Glucose is fundamental for the right functioning of this organ, but children need higher amounts than adults. With time, this process, called aerobic glycolysis, slows down, therefore the brain burns less sugar. What scientists found out is that this kind of metabolism changes not only according to the age, but also according to sex.

Differences between the male and female brains

Researchers involved 205 volunteers: 121 women and 84 men, of age between 20 an 82 years old. Thanks to a Positron Emission Tomography (PET), researchers calculated the sugar percentage used in the various brain areas.

The collected datas were registered in a software, together with the age of the volunteers. This is where researchers found out something very interesting. On average, women’s brain were about 3 years younger than men’s, according to their sugar metabolism.

This means that, with time, the female brain tends to age less than the male one. This research confirms the outcomes of an earlier one, that proved that men’s brain lose volume faster than women’s.

More specific studies on this topic could partly explain why older women are more clear-headed than men.