7 scientific reasons why you'll become just like your grandpa

You know... we are all a little arrogant. Especially at twenty. It seems that age is not about us. It's about those other people. Those who, for some reason, voluntarily choose a dim TV screen instead of a buzzing neon night bar. Those whose conversations smell of mothballs and blood pressure pills. We will definitely be different. We will sit on the veranda of a fashionable loft, flashing tattooed sleeves, playing new video games and ordering hot pizza at three in the morning. A beautiful picture. I really want to believe in it. It's a pity that science categorically disagrees with it. Biology is a tough and pragmatic screenwriter. And she has already written a completely different role for each of us. Frankly, it's not that scary. Let's figure out why our habits will inevitably change.

Music that remained in adolescence

Do you remember that strange feeling from childhood? When the music that parents loved seemed like unbearable torture. This heartbreaking chanson from my father's tape recorder or the endless, drawn-out symphonies of Mozart, which my mother loved so much. We swore to ourselves that our playlist would never gather dust. That we will always find new groups, staying at the cutting edge of musical progress. But. There is one "but". Dopamine. The very chemical cocktail that causes sweet goosebumps from a cool guitar riff. With age, the brain simply gets tired of producing it in the same volumes. With each year, it becomes more physically difficult to perceive new, unfamiliar rhythms. The musical taste of most people freezes to death at the mark when they were about seventeen years old. It was then that dopamine receptors were working at their absolute maximum. Want to understand what it's like? Turn on the soundtrack from the morning show for kindergarteners. Try to endure this squeaky chaos for at least an hour. That's about how hard it will be for your tired brain to digest the new musical avant-garde after fifty.

Quiet harbor instead of barricades

Let's move on. Riot. Fire in the chest. At twenty, the blood is boiling so much that you want to break the system. To remake reality to suit your ideals. To fight for justice and ideas of a higher order. Take a closer look at the crowd of protesters in the news. There are only young faces there. Guys and girls who have not yet had time to properly taste this life, but are already ready to fight with the "old and evil" world. Maybe now you are looking at them and seeing a threat. Imps capable of turning the familiar world into dust. Exhale. Don't worry. Every rebel will get old one day. And it will turn into the most ordinary member of society. Old people don't climb barricades. They sleep where they need to sleep. They eat where they are supposed to. Their focus shifts from active, destructive actions to simple existence. The brain develops rapidly in youth, sharpening every emotion. Quarrels hurt more. Hate burns stronger. Puberty adds fuel to this fire. But the years go by. And the revolutionary inside subsides. There comes an understanding that the world cannot be remade. And you, perhaps, will also write yourself down as wise men, deciding: live as you live. Now this thought seems wild. In thirty years, it will become your norm.

Collecting silence

What about hobbies? Do you often see a pensioner rocking out to hardcore darkstep?.. Or speeding on a roaring chopper, disturbing the peace of the neighborhood?.. A rarity bordering on the absurd. Their life often seems frankly boring to us. Lousy, if you call things by their proper names. No one in their right mind dreams of this. But here's the catch. The good news is: your brain will want this dullness itself. In adolescence, we crave quick rewards. Hence the passion for the same MMORPGs - killed a monster, got a shiny sword, satisfied the ego. With age, the chemistry of the brain changes dramatically. Quick victories lose their meaning. Territory comes to the fore. Your personal space. And your legacy. You will be irresistibly drawn to dig in the garden, inhaling the smell of damp earth. Repairing an old chest of drawers in the garage. Collecting stamps. The brain is rebuilt for long-term investments. And, you know, in this quiet, measured fuss there is its own, very deep and calm joy.

Morning that starts too early

Sleep. Oh, that sweet, viscous word. Sleep until noon, buried in a blanket. And at night to conquer the city, without feeling tired. Attempts to live in such a rhythm later will result in a broken head and zero energy. Alas, melatonin - a hormone that regulates our rest - dictates its own strict rules. In young people, this chemical dispatcher works differently, being produced even during the day. Therefore, falling asleep at any time of the day is not a problem. The older we get, the harder it is to fall asleep. The mechanism fails. And at some point, you will simply start waking up with the first rays of the sun. Not because the alarm clock rang. But because the body will physically require to start the day.

Sports car and a little sadness

But there are also truly difficult stages. Crisis. A drop in testosterone levels, which begins imperceptibly, somewhere after forty years. These are not just dry numbers in the medical record. These are tangible emotional swings. The hormonal background changes, and with it disappear the very "truly masculine traits" that pushed you to conquer the world. Unreasonable irritability appears. A dull depression rolls in. The usual motivation disappears. And then the desperate struggle begins - the very midlife crisis. A sudden, almost hysterical purchase of a red sports car. Attempts to remember and repeat your turbulent past. From the outside, these madnesses may look comical. Even stupid. Relatives will look at you and sigh understandingly: "Poor man, old age has knocked." However, you just need to go through this. To survive, like a protracted autumn rain.

The taste of simple life

Food. We firmly believe that over the years our culinary tastes will become incredibly refined. That we will forever cross out student "doshik" noodles from the menu. We believe that by the age of seventy we will be able to determine the perfect steak roast with our eyes closed and juggle spices for the marinade. And again, past. Elderly people chose, choose and will choose the simplest, sometimes bland food. Boiled chicken. Mashed potatoes. Viscous porridge. Stale bread. And it's not at all about the lack of choice. They could order a burger or pizza. But they don't want to. The secret lies in physiology. With age, less and less saliva is produced in the mouth. And without it, the taste receptors work at half strength, because it is saliva that breaks down food and washes the tongue. The pleasure of complex tastes fades away irretrievably. Calorie intake turns into a boring routine. Therefore, only what is as simple as possible to prepare and easy to chew remains on the table.

Refuge in the past

And finally, our memory. It often seems to us that old people have left their brains somewhere in the past. That their thoughts are forever chained to the ephemeral "good old days". There is a powerful, ancient evolutionary reason for this phenomenon. Nostalgia is not just senile sentimentality. This is a natural, built-in antidepressant. The older we get, the more responsibilities, stress, health problems around us. Our emotional armor thins. And then the brain carefully slips us warm memories, stimulating the production of soothing substances to give us the strength to live on. In prehistoric times, the experience of survival - whether it was a fight with a wild bear or a famine - made a person respected and protected from new troubles. Today, our memories also protect our fragile psyche.

You will become different. Slow, appreciating silence, remembering youth. And this is, perhaps, the most correct and natural ending for any turbulent story.