Most advice on brain health sounds familiar: play chess, learn a new language, or try to memorise the shopping list. But what if it is not memory itself that is the key to long-term brain health?
New long-term results from the large American ACTIVE study give us something rare in dementia-prevention research: an intervention that is actually linked to a lower risk of dementia over a 20-year period. The study followed thousands of people over 65 who, over 5 to 6 weeks, trained different cognitive abilities:
- memory
- logical reasoning
- or processing speed: the brain's ability to quickly take in and respond to information
The results were clear
Only training of processing speed was linked to a significant reduction in dementia risk, up to around 25%. The effect was strongest in those who completed regular "booster" sessions over time. Memory training or reasoning training on their own, by contrast, did not lower dementia risk.
Why might speed training be so effective?
Researchers believe it strengthens the brain's more automatic and rapid information processing, something that may be neuroprotective and help build cognitive reserve.
Brain training, when it is structured, individually tailored and recurring, is not just mental stimulation. It is an investment in future brain health. Just as we now see strength training and cardiovascular fitness as obvious parts of a preventive health strategy, cognitive training should become a natural part of how we work with longevity and proactive health.
A 25% lower risk of dementia, and this with extremely limited "training", strikes us as a promising indication. What might a few minutes of "brain health" training per day lead to?
