🌅 Your Brain’s Five “Major Epochs”

SOURCE

Mousley et al. (2025)

WHAT TO KNOW

• Your brain goes through five distinct phases in life, split up by four pivotal turning points at ages 9, 21, 66, and 83. The new study by researchers at the University of Cambridge in the U.K. found the five “major epochs” happen as your brain rewires itself to support different ways of thinking as you grow, mature, and ultimately decline.

WHY IT MATTERS

• From birth until age nine, your brain is in a “network consolidation” phase, reducing unused synapses and making space for the most active ones to survive. After the age of nine, your brain enters its adolescent phase and works to make connections more efficient. This phase lasts until about age 32, when your brain shifts into adult-mode and experiences its longest rewiring era as it stabilizes connections. A third turning point happens around age 66 when your brain enters its “early aging” phase, followed by the fourth and final turning point around age 83, when your “late aging” brain takes shape. The final two phases are defined by decreased brain connectivity related to the loss of white matter.

CONNECT THE DOTS

• While more work is needed to understand the brain’s structural journey, the authors compare the phases to the way many people feel that their life is characterized by distinct periods as they age. The researchers also believe people may experience the turning points at different times, while things like pregnancy and menopause may also have an impact.