Defining, Re-defining, and Understanding the Brain and Mental Health During Ageing

There is a common substratum to the brain and mental healthMental health. Whereas the brain is the biological organ affecting and regulating almost all physiological functions, the mind is a norgan, being an emergent property of the brain manifested in mental expressions including intelligence, emotions, mood and imagination. There is a continuum of structural and functional alterations observed in many regions of the brain with ageingAgeing, which impact the emotional and psycho-social well-being of the aged individuals. Most importantly brain and mental healthMental health have a bi-directional and complex relationship with a person’s physical health, which may be more at risk in the ageingAgeing populations. Therefore, brain healthBrain health and mental healthMental health need to be conceptualized in the framework of all-inclusive approaches to day-to-day life’s experiences, as well as to the intellectual, emotional, psychological, cultural, and social well-being of individuals. This chapter provides an overview of why it is important to re-define brain and mental healthMental health in the context of ageingAgeing; what do we understand from healthy brain and healthy mind ageingAgeing; and how brain ageingBrain ageing determines mental healthMental health and vice-versa.