Why You Are Never Too Old To Improve Your Brain

We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about research that shows ageing doesn’t have to mean decline. Adults can improve their physical and mental skills after their 65th birthday, especially if they have a positive view of ageing.

And now, new research published online in Scientific Reports “challenges the prevailing narrative of inevitable cognitive decline, suggesting instead that brain health can be proactively cultivated at any age,” study co-author Dr Lori Cook said.

She added, “Brain health isn’t just something we strive to maintain; we can actively shape it over time.”

The researchers followed almost 4,000 participants, who were part of long-term health data program The Brain Health Project, for three years. Participants were aged between 19 and 94.

They asked them to do five to 15-minute cognitive strengthening exercises daily throughout that time, and recorded and looked for changes in their brain’s ability using the patent-pending BrainHealth Index (BHI) test.

The BHI “brings together about 20 metrics, including validated gold-standard measures like the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, as well as tasks designed at the Center for BrainHealth to focus on more complex thinking skills,” Dr Cook said.

These tests showed brain benefits for all age groups, including those in their 80s and beyond.

In fact, enthusiasm for, and engagement with, the training in this study was a more important factor in growing brain strength than age – a finding also shown in a recent paper about personality changes after 60.

“Every brain is as unique as a fingerprint and has potential for growth,” Dr Cook said. “This study challenges the prevailing narrative of inevitable cognitive decline, suggesting instead that brain health can be proactively cultivated at any age.”

And, the paper reads, “Findings support the potential for scalable, technology-driven interventions to help reduce years of cognitive decline while maximizing brain performance across the lifespan.”

Those who had the lowest cognitive scores at the start of the study saw the most benefits as time went on.

(In other research, people who weren’t good cooks seemed to get more of a dementia-fighting boost from making a meal at least once a week than more skilled home chefs.)

That could be because those who started at the bottom of the scale had more room for growth, Dr Cook admits. But, she added, “it is noteworthy that we saw measurable growth even in those entering as high performers”.

As we age, it can feel like our job is to hold onto the brain health we had in our youth rather than building new cognitive strength.

But Dr Sandra Bond Chapman, the study’s lead author, thinks that’s not quite right.

“For too long, we’ve operated under the outdated notion that we need to wait until something bad happens to our brains before we do anything for them,” she said.

“This study reminds us that our brain is not defined by age – it is defined by possibility.”

More research, including that which involves a broader, more diverse group of participants (those involved in this research were predominantly white, female, and college-educated), is needed to make recommendations to the public at large, however.