The brain’s neural activity — long implicated in disorders ranging from dementia to epilepsy — also plays a role in human aging and life span, according to research led by scientists in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School (HMS).

The study, published today in Nature, is based on findings from human brains, mice, and worms and suggests that excessive activity in the brain is linked to shorter life spans, while suppressing such overactivity extends life.

The findings offer the first evidence that nervous system activity affects human longevity. Although previous studies had suggested that parts of the nervous system influenced aging in animals, the role of neural activity in aging, especially in humans, remained murky. Continue Reading at The Harvard Gazette.