Adolescence lasts into your 30s: Why this period is the strongest ‘turning point’

If you are hovering around 30 and someone asks you to ‘be an adult’, tell them you have no plans to do so. Not out of rebellion, but because biology won’t agree. Your brain is not signing up for the adulthood contract yet. Why? Well, technically, your early 30s are still the adolescent period for your brain.

A new study by neuroscientists at the University of Cambridge has identified five ages of the human brain over a lifetime. One surprising aspect they learned is that adolescence lasts into your early 30s. The findings of the groundbreaking study are published in the journal Nature Communications.

Adolescence lasts into your 30s

The researchers identified five ‘major epochs’ the brain goes through in life. The researchers at Cambridge’s MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit studied the brains of 3,802 people aged 0 to 90 years, and found that there are five phases of brain structure in a human life. Of these, four are major ‘turning points’ between birth and death. These turning points occur at ages nine, 32, 66, and 83, the researchers found.

The researchers also found that the adolescent phase starts after nine and lasts right up to the age of 32. Only after that does your brain’s neural wiring shift into adult mode.

“We know the brain’s wiring is crucial to our development, but we lack a big picture of how it changes across our lives and why. This study is the first to identify major phases of brain wiring across a human lifespan,” Dr Alexa Mousley, a Gates Cambridge Scholar who led the research, said.

Five brain phases

According to the Cambridge study, there are five major brain epochs, or phases.

• Childhood: birth to 9
• Adolescence: 9 to 32
• Adulthood: 32 to 66
• Early ageing: 66 to 83
• Late ageing: 83 onwards

“These eras provide important context for what our brains might be best at, or more vulnerable to, at different stages of our lives. It could help us understand why some brains develop differently at key points in life, whether it be learning difficulties in childhood, or dementia in our later years,” Mousley added.

The researchers found that our brains rewire to support the different ways of thinking while we grow, mature, and ultimately decline.

Why is 32 still adolescence?

If you are 32, your brain is still in its adolescent era. According to this new study, the second ‘epoch’, which is the adolescent era of the brain, starts after nine and lasts until 32, on average. This stage is marked by the efficiency of connections within specific regions as well as rapid communication right across the whole brain, leading to enhanced cognitive performance.

“Neural efficiency is, as you might imagine, well connected by short paths, and the adolescent era is the only one in which this efficiency is increasing,” Mousley said. These changes reach their peak in the early 30s, and this is what researchers call the “strongest topological turning point” of the entire lifespan.

“Around the age of 32, we see the most directional changes in wiring and the largest overall shift in trajectory, compared to all the other turning points. While puberty offers a clear start, the end of adolescence is much harder to pin down scientifically. Based purely on neural architecture, we found that adolescent-like changes in brain structure end around the early thirties,” Mousley added.

These findings are quite fascinating, given that adolescence (in life) is commonly defined as a phase of life between childhood and adulthood, from ages 10 to 19. According to the WHO, individuals of this age experience rapid physical, cognitive, and psychosocial growth. This affects how they feel, think, make decisions, and interact with the world around them.

But for your brain, this phase lasts for yet another decade – until 32. So the next time someone tells you to ‘grow up’, tell them ‘not a chance’!

Note: The information provided in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before starting any new medication or treatment, or before changing your diet or supplement regimen.

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