Brain exercises may help lower dementia risk, experts say

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Experts say people who want to protect their brain health should focus on mentally engaging activities that build skills and knowledge over time, rather than relying on a single type of brain exercise. In guidance highlighted by Associated Press, experts said “exercise your brain” is often too narrow a framing, and that a better description is “stretching your brain” through cognitive work that recruits different thinking processes.

Neuropsychologist Andrea Zammit of Rush University Medical Center, who led a study on lifelong learning and cognitive outcomes, described the idea as more than a single activity. “They kind of like stretch your brain and your thinking. You’re using your different cognitive systems,” Zammit said. She said the goal is to find meaningful activities and stick with them, noting that it is “not just one activity” but rather sustained engagement in cognitively enriching pursuits.

Zammit’s study enrolled nearly 2,000 older adults who began dementia-free and were followed for eight years, according to the account in Neurology. The participants ranged in age from 53 to 100, and researchers tracked educational and other cognitively stimulating experiences across youth, middle age and later life. The study then measured cognitive outcomes with a battery of neurologic tests over the follow-up period.

Researchers found that some participants later developed Alzheimer’s disease, but the timing differed by lifelong learning levels. Zammit’s team reported that Alzheimer’s disease struck five years later in people with the highest lifelong learning compared with those with the least, the AP report said. The research also found that remaining mentally active in middle age and beyond was linked to a slower rate of cognitive decline.

In addition to clinical findings, Zammit described autopsy results from 948 participants who died during the study. She said that even when the brains of more “enriched” participants showed Alzheimer’s hallmarks, those participants had better memory and thinking skills and a slower decline before death. Scientists refer to this idea as “cognitive reserve,” which Zammit described as learning strengthening neural connections in various brain regions and helping the brain work around damage for at least a period of time.

While the Rush study highlights an association between cognitive stimulation and dementia risk, experts cautioned it cannot prove cause and effect. The AP report said other research offers similar clues, including work suggesting benefits from learning or training that engages the brain in ways that resemble real-world demands. It also noted research interest in whether “speed training”—using an online program that requires spotting images as the screen flashes increasing distractions—could help, and said a National Institutes of Health-funded study is examining whether long-term computerized exercises that aim to improve attention and reaction time have effects.

Jessica Langbaum of the Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, who was not involved with the brain-training research, said processing speed can affect day-to-day abilities like multitasking and driving. For now, she advised choosing activities that help people think on their feet, including an example of joining a book club to combine solo reading with discussion and social connection.

Beyond brain-focused activities, the AP report emphasized that physical health is also tied to brain health. It said experts point to controlling blood pressure, getting good sleep, and doing regular exercise, along with other preventive steps such as later-in-life vaccination. Dr. Ronald Petersen, an Alzheimer’s specialist at the Mayo Clinic, said there is no magic recipe to prevent dementia or the normal cognitive decline of aging, but that lifestyle changes offer a chance to “slow down the arc of deterioration.”

The report also connected dementia risk to chronic conditions that often begin in middle age, including high blood pressure and poorly controlled diabetes. It said high blood pressure damages blood vessels and can reduce blood flow to the brain, while diabetes can spur damaging inflammation. As a “bonus step,” the AP guidance highlighted shingles vaccination, citing growing research suggesting vaccinated people have a lower risk of developing dementia.