Many people are already asking us recently about whether all of us have a “Brain Age” and how we can reduce our “brain ages”. This idea is a myth, fueled through the (very fun) Nintendo game along with a recent PBS campaign promoting a course created by Posit Science.

The thought of creating a “brain age” is, itself, profoundly unscientific, inspite of the radio ads for your PBS program titled Brain Exercise program, where listeners spanning various ages have the impression (as many colleagues and friends have reported) that, as long as they buy the Posit Science Brain Fitness routine, they could expect their brains “rejuvenated” by A decade. This, I hear often, must be true, via PBS.

Unfortunately, it’s not. Also it isn’t as the claim will be based upon the same faulty premise of experiencing a “brain age”.

What is happening?

First, the good news. Today we know today how the brain retains lifelong plasticity (the opportunity to change itself through experience). Aging does not always mean automatic decline.

Furthermore, we realize that a number of lifestyle factors, including both mental and physical exercise, can influence how our mental abilities evolve as we grow older. We can delay or decelerate age-related decline. Not only this, we can improve our abilities, plus a variety of computer-based programs have demostrated how they can help specific groups of people train and enhance specific cognitive skills.

Now, the most important thing to recognize is the fact that there isn’t one overall “brain age”. We are able to watch our brain functions or cognitive abilities as a number of skills, more perception-related, more memory-related, some more language-related, even more visual, some more abstract-thinking and planning oriented. All science-based brain fitness products on the market today target specific cognitive skills. The research that’s been published shows how specific brain functions may be improved. There is however no general “brain age” which can be measured or trained in a meaningful way.

Let’s analyze the PBS Posit Science-related message: you can rejuvenate your brain by 10 years. What would this imply, were that it is true? perhaps that most minds would go back to where these folks were 10 years before. and that this would happen for individuals of every age group: in our 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s etc. It might also mean that, given that rejuvenated “brain age”, our chance of developing Alzheimer’s symptoms would be adjusted to reflect our “new” brain age. Which the evolution in our cognitive abilities over the rest of our lives would reflect our new-found “brain age”.

Has this been demonstrated?

Unfortunately, not. The “10 years” claim seems based on one published study, and lots of unpublished ones, where people who have an average ages of around 70 years take on an extremely intense auditory processing training program that allows them to improve related auditory cognitive skills by a significant percentage. Whereby, on average, as well as on those specific skills, they reach an amount much like people 60 years old.

But this won’t say anything about other cognitive skills. Or Alzheimer’s related risks. Or perhaps the cognitive trajectories that may follow.

Consider about this: if, by attending a rigorous tennis camp, you’re capable of serve with a level comparable to people 10 years younger than how old you are…could you say that your system is now A decade younger? Not likely. You’d state that you now play tennis better. The industry significant benefit by itself in the event that’s what you are after.

Recent studies have shown a huge variability in how well people age and how, to some large extent, our actions influence our rate of brain improvement and/or decline. The sooner we start the greater. And it’s also never too late.

What can perform to keep our brain? Concentrate on four pillars of brain health: exercising, a well-balanced diet, stress management, and brain exercise. Stress management is essential since stress is shown to actually kill neurons minimizing the rate of creation of brand new ones. Brain exercises range from low-tech (i.e. meditation, mastering new complex skills, lifelong learning and engagement) to high-tech (i.e. using the growing quantity of brain fitness software programs).

To sum up, the truly amazing news is that there are other tools available than ever before to assess and train many different cognitive skills, in what continues to be today a really small, but growing market. Nintendo, Posit Science, among others are selling valuable products and services.

Unhealthy news (is this really news?) is always that we must not be expecting magic pills and that “brain age” is really a fiction.

In the event you wonder…I do have and luxuriate in my copy Nintendo Brain Age, and appreciate it like a stimulating game. I merely don’t outsource my brain fitness to Dr. Kawashima…

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