Autonomic brain functioning and age-related health concerns

Summary & key facts

This paper reviewed recent research about how the autonomic nervous system — the brain and nerves that control things you don’t think about, like heart rate, breathing, digestion, and motivation — changes as people get older. The review found that this system tends to work less well with age. That can show up as less variation between heartbeats, worse blood pressure control, slower digestion, and more sleep problems. These changes are linked to higher chances of heart and stroke problems, immune diseases, and to difficulties with thinking, motivation, and doing daily tasks, which can hurt independence and health in older adults.

Key facts:

• The autonomic nervous system controls automatic body functions such as heart rate, breathing, digestion, and it also helps drive motivation and behavior.
• Research shows that in older adults the autonomic system often becomes dysregulated, meaning it does not respond to bodily signals as well as before.
• One common sign of this change is lower heart rate variability, which means less variation in the time between heartbeats.
• Age-related autonomic problems can reduce stomach movement, worsen sleep, and weaken the body’s responses that help people move toward or away from things in their environment.
• The review links autonomic dysfunction in older people to higher risks of serious health problems including heart disease, ischemic stroke, and some immune-related diseases.
• Researchers examined how life-long changes in motivation, body reactions, and thinking might influence autonomic function and contribute to physical and mental health problems in old age.

Abstract

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) regulates involuntary bodily functions such as blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, and digestion, in addition to controlling motivation and behavior. In older adults, the ANS is dysregulated, which changes the ability of the ANS to respond to physiological signals, regulate cardiovascular autonomic functionality, diminish gastric motility, and exacerbate sleep problems. For example, a decrease in heart rate variability, or the variation in the interval between heartbeats, is one of the most well-known alterations in the ANS associated with health issues, including cardiovascular diseases and cognitive decline. The inability to perform fundamental activities of daily living and compromising the physiological reactivity or motivational responses of older adults to moving toward or away from specific environmental stimuli are significant negative consequences of chronic and geriatric conditions that pose grave threats to autonomy, health, and well-being. The most updated research has investigated the associations between the action responsiveness of older adults and the maintenance of their physiological and physical health or the development of mental and physical health problems. Once autonomic dysfunction may significantly influence the development of different age-related diseases, including ischemic stroke, cardiovascular disease, and autoimmune diseases, this review aimed to assess the relationship between aging and autonomic functions. The review explored how motivational responses, physiological reactivity, cognitive processes, and lifelong developmental changes associated with aging impact the ANS and contribute to the emergence of health problems.

Topics

Cardiovascular Health and Risk Factors Heart Rate Variability and Autonomic Control Stress Responses and Cortisol

Categories

Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine Health Sciences Medicine

Tags

Autonomic nervous system Autonomy Blood pressure Cognition Disease Gerontology Heart rate Heart rate variability Internal medicine Law Medicine Neuroscience Political science Psychology Successful aging

Conditions & symptoms

Sleep disorder Lack of energy or motivation Poor appetite or overeating Poor sleep