A large part of the story of people who manage to stay young, in spite of their chronological age, relates to synaptic plasticity—the ability of the brain to make and form new connections. As we’ve seen, plasticity is influenced by your genetic makeup, your lifetime of experiences, and the culture in which you live. It is also influenced by your daily routines, especially as you get older. The act of transmitting information across synapses, and the forming of new synaptic connections, requires a dramatic increase in the amount of energy used in the brain.
