New Study Reveals When The ‘Adulthood’ Brain Phase Actually Starts — And It’s Way Later Than You Think

From childhood to adulthood, our brains evolve at five critical ages. Here’s when they happen.

When does adulthood actually start? Probably later than you think. According to a recent study published in the journal Nature Communications, when it comes to brain functionality, adulthood starts at 32.

The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. The findings show that the human brain has five phases throughout a lifespan, and researchers say they are all broken up by age — 9, 32, 66 and 83, on average. Researchers referred to these ages as “turning points” when the brain rewires and goes through age-related changes.

The childhood brain, a time of high growth, lasts through roughly age 9, when it then changes to the adolescent brain, which continues until 32. Yes, 32.

This doesn’t mean that someone who is in the later part of this adolescent brain phase is going to act like a teenager, Dr. Alexa Mousley, the study leader, told The Guardian. Instead, it means their brains simply resemble each other as they continue to grow and form until the adult brain phase is reached. This adolescent brain phase is the only time when brain efficiency is consistently increasing, study authors said.

Age 32 also marks the “strongest shift” of all of the brain changes. Around this time, the brain goes into its adult era ― the longest phase ― which lasts until roughly age 66. During the adult era, or adult “epoch” as researchers call these phases, there is a “plateau in intelligence and personality,” the study press release states. Meaning, brain function stays pretty much the same for these decades.