You can’t really “train” your brain. Here’s what you can do instead:

Many people are looking for ways to improve, maintain, and prolong their brain health. Check out the seemingly endless self-help books, podcasts, phone apps, TikTok, and Instagram Reels dedicated to this subject.

And frankly, it makes sense. Alzheimer’s disease and dementia are conditions that essentially involve a loss of one’s identity and sense of time and place, and are clearly frightening when compared to physical illnesses. They deprive a person and his loved ones of a special period of their life. After all, Americans are living longer than ever before. It’s natural to want to enjoy the moment as much as possible.

But despite all the promises about how to “exercise” or “train” the brain to improve cognitive function in the long term, there is still much we don’t know. In fact, when we consulted experts on how to train our minds, we received quite a bit of skepticism. Studies that have tested whether customized tasks and games can improve a person’s long-term general intelligence have found little effect. This is a strikingly similar outcome for 2019 and 2025.

“It seems like no one has figured out how to do cognitive training in a way that transitions from training tasks to common and interesting tasks,” said Michael Cole, an associate professor at Rutgers University’s Center for Molecular Behavioral Neuroscience and author of the book Training. Brain flow: How network dynamics structure the human mind.

Still, the science of brain health has come a long way in the past 20 years, and there are good, evidence-based strategies for maintaining mental clarity as you age. There are no simple answers, but strategies can be created by combining frameworks from leading experts in learning, growth, and cognitive aging. Doing these things consciously can make your life more fulfilling now, and it can pay off when you’re older.

First things first: If you want a healthy brain, you need to take care of your overall health in the boring but effective way you’ve heard it a million times before. That means eating healthy, exercising regularly, doing your best to reduce stress, and trying to get enough sleep.

High blood pressure increases the risk of dementia. Chronic inflammation, another modern stereotype, may also play a role in cognitive decline. Conversely, exercise appears to be associated with cognitive benefits. One major meta-analysis of related studies concluded that “exercise, even at low light intensities, benefits general cognition, memory, and executive function in all populations.”

Scientists have also repeatedly found that exercise appears to protect against Alzheimer’s disease and dementia risk. A study published last year found that adults who are active from mid-life onwards are more likely to 40% or more Reduces risk of dementia from all causes.

Therefore, a heart-healthy diet and exercise are the first steps to taking care of your heart’s hardware.

But what about training the brain itself?

If you want to know the best way to learn something, you should familiarize yourself with the concept of “desired difficulty.” A basic idea proposed by Nate Cornell, a psychologist specializing in memory and learning at Williams College in Massachusetts, is that “if something comes to mind easily, it doesn’t stick.” When learning a new skill, some friction is necessary. To do this, you need to space out your learning and combine your learning. Cornell proposes the concepts of “spacing” (taking a break from new material and returning to the original material) and “interleaving” (mixing new and old material) as effective learning strategies.

These frameworks don’t improve your cognitive health per se, but they may make it easier to learn something new when you want to.

“The bigger point in terms of cognitive health is that the way the mind processes things hasn’t really changed,” Cornell told me. “It just puts yourself in a better position.”

But even if there are no established long-term benefits to “training” your brain in the narrow sense, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t challenge yourself mentally or intellectually. We need to have realistic expectations about what we can do with these exercises. At the same time, taking up new interests is still part of a healthy aging mindset. That’s because it helps foster some good habits, such as social connection and curiosity, that are firmly linked to reducing cognitive decline.

Learning new skills shows curiosity. And research continues to prove that curiosity benefits the aging mind. Let’s take one paper from last year. This paper is co-authored with Alain Castel, a professor in the UCLA Department of Psychology and author of the following books: Getting Better with Age: The Psychology of Aging Successfully.

Researchers have revealed a subtle relationship between aging and curiosity. The researchers found that what scientists call “trait” curiosity, or our innate interest in discovering new things, tends to decline with age. But at the same time, your “state” curiosity, or interest when presented with new or unexpected information, tends to start increasing in your 50s and 60s compared to middle age.

“We think this has some effect on cognitive health and brain health. People who stimulate their brains, people who focus on hobbies, people who are interested in lifelong learning, staying involved in life and learning new things are less likely to develop dementia,” Kastel told me.

These findings could lead to forms of “brain training” that are perhaps more productive than random computer games designed to improve intelligence. Rather, based on our findings, older adults may find things that are relevant to their interests or that they already know more intriguing. For example, someone who has gardened in the past may be inspired by reading books or magazines about gardening, joining a gardening club, or learning new gardening skills. And research suggests that we reap cognitive benefits from that curiosity.

“If you’re interested in gardening and you’re going out and trying to grow a new plant or trying to find out how much precipitation there is going to be next week, this is all very exciting and you’re interpreting it on an almost different level than a beginner,” Kastel says. “We think this kind of work is very important to stimulate established knowledge structures as we age.”

So don’t get stuck in your ways as you get older. In his book, Castel writes that even changing old habits, such as hiking in the opposite direction on a familiar trail, taking the dog for a morning walk, or shopping at a different market, can be beneficial to the brain.

Despite the experts’ initial skepticism, I recommend learning a new game or finding a hobby. But think of it more than just “training” your brain in a way that leads to measurable increases in intelligence. Rather, it’s about building connections with other people and trying to feel a sense of purpose as you grow older.

Experts at the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Healthy Minds characterize this mindset as “thriving,” and it may also bring long-term benefits to our cognition that many of us seek.

“When you cultivate these positive mental qualities, your brain changes in ways that clearly lead to improved brain health,” Richard Davidson, founder and director of the Center for Healthy Minds, told me. “For example, we know that these habits change objective indicators of brain aging.”

Davidson and colleague Cortland Dahl recently wrote a book titled: Born to Thrive: New Science Reveals Four Practices for Thriving. They state that there are four key elements to prosperity.

Davidson said each of these qualities can have benefits for long-term cognitive health, but the area of ​​particular interest is purpose. “A strong sense of purpose supports healthy aging, especially in brain regions involved in learning and memory that are susceptible to stress,” Davidson and Dahl write in their book based on their group’s research. People who feel like they have a purpose generally have less severe cognitive decline and live longer overall. “Having a strong sense of purpose is probably the most important psychological factor that predicts longevity,” Davidson says.

And as I thought about different strategies to nurture my mind now and in the long term, I realized that learning new skills and taking up new hobbies are good ways for a healthy mind as we age, as they stimulate curiosity and reduce stress. And if it’s something you can do collaboratively with others, it can help you feel a sense of connection and purpose, which can lead to improved lifelong cognitive well-being. The collective opinions of these neuroscientists were sometimes surprising. Davidson spoke about the value of purpose, and Cole outlined how pursuing goals that align with your values ​​can lead to more effective learning. In our conversation, Castel emphasized that stimulating curiosity is even more effective when it leverages some level of human connection, another pillar of Davidson and Dahl’s program. So instead of immersing yourself in birdwatching on your own, consider joining a nature walking club.

Think of this work less as taking your brain to the mental gym and more as nurturing the weird and wonderful garden that is your mind. You’re not training your brain to be “smarter,” you’re training it to be more present, more connected to other people, and most importantly, more attuned to what gives you a sense of purpose.

Recently, I’ve been playing chess for the first time in my life. I think it prompts my brain to think differently. However, after completing this article, I am thinking of finding a local chess club. Gaming itself may not be the preventative measure for my brain, but finding a community of like-minded people, a sense of connection, and a sense of purpose that fuels my curiosity might just be it.