Can the brain keep getting better with age?
Ageing is inevitable. So is cognitive decline – or is it? Forget what you’ve been led to believe about expected mental decline all these years. A research team at The University of Texas at Dallas’ Center for BrainHealth (CBH) claim that the brain can actually keep getting stronger and sharper, no matter how old you are. Published in the journal ‘Scientific Reports’(opens in new window), the study used data from The BrainHealth Project, which was started by CBH in 2020 to learn how we can improve and maintain our brain health throughout our lives.
Building mental fitness
The study assessed participants’ brain health and performance using the BrainHealth Index (BHI) developed by the CBH researchers. It focuses on clarity (ability to navigate complex situations and create new opportunities or solutions), emotional balance, and connectedness to people and sense of purpose. The researchers tracked nearly 4 000 adults ranging in age from 19 to 94 to determine whether daily brain training can considerably enhance brain health, regardless of age. Participants spent just five to 15 minutes each day on quick brain exercises, tracking their progress over three years. The longer they stuck with this daily habit, the more their brain improved – with no limit to the benefits. “Every brain is as unique as a fingerprint and has potential for growth,” commented first author Lori Cook, adjunct assistant professor at the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, in a news item(opens in new window). “This study challenges the prevailing narrative of inevitable cognitive decline, suggesting instead that brain health can be proactively cultivated at any age.”
It’s never too late
Even among those in their 80s, the findings revealed measurable brain health gains. This showed that we can benefit from brain training at any stage – whether we’re looking to stay sharp early on or maintain our cognitive health in our later years. “For too long, we’ve operated under the outdated notion that we need to wait until something bad happens to our brains before we do anything for them,” stated senior author Sandra Bond Chapman. “This study reminds us that our brain is not defined by age — it is defined by possibility.” The results indicated that participants who started with the lowest BHI scores saw the biggest improvements. “Those who are starting at the lowest level appear to have the most opportunity for growth and may be coming in with more preexisting concerns,” explained Cook. “As such, they may be more motivated to invest the time needed to see more growth potential. But it is noteworthy that we saw measurable growth even in those entering as high performers.” Findings showed that improvement wasn’t about age, gender or education. It was about the level of engagement. The participants experienced positive change through commitment. “Brain health isn’t just something we strive to maintain; we can actively shape it over time,” concluded Cook. “Research like ours, which provides an objective measure of brain health that people can track over time, can only further boost public awareness.”
