Some degree of cerebral shrinkage occurs naturally with age. The human brain completes growth and attains its maximum mass at around age 25; it gradually loses mass with each decade of life, although the rate of loss is comparatively tiny until the age of 60, when approximately 0.5 to 1% of brain volume is lost per year. By age 75, the brain is an average of 15% smaller than it was at 25. Some areas of the brain such as short-term memory are affected more than others and men lose more brain mass overall than women.