A Guide to Brain Training (Yes, You Can Train Your Brain, Just Like Your Muscles)

You already know that working out builds stronger muscles, but did you know that your brain responds to training in a remarkably similar way? When you throw new challenges at it, it physically adapts by forming new neural connections, strengthening existing pathways and even growing gray matter, similarly to how your muscles get bigger and stronger, forming new muscle tissue. Scientists call this neuroplasticity, and it continues well into old age.

The idea of brain training is more than just puzzle apps and memory games, according to the research. Combining physical exercise, new cognitive challenges, plus good sleep and nutrition habits can help your brain stay sharp, building resilience against age related decline and even improving how well you think and learn right now.

What is neuroplasticity and cognitive reserve?

Neuroplasticity is your brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new connections between nerve cells. Every time you learn new information or a new skill or practice a movement, your brain rewires itself to become more efficient at that task. It’s something that happens a lot during childhood, of course, but research also shows when older adults train their executive functions, their brains actually get bigger and stronger, growing more gray matter and overall brain volume. Plus, their neural networks (connections in their brains) become more efficient.

Cognitive reserve is similar, acting something like your brain’s savings account. The more you invest through learning, physical activity and mental stimulation, the more resources your brain has to draw on when age or other factors start to take a toll. The higher your cognitive reserve, the longer you’ll likely keep your thinking skills, even when your brain starts to show physical signs of aging. Programs that teach new knowledge and learning strategies can actually boost overall brain power, improving how well you remember things, how quickly you can think of words and your language skills.

Building a stronger brain with physical exercise

Exercise is one of the most powerful things you can do for your brain health. Physical activity supports cognition and helps keep your memory center (the hippocampus) from shrinking. It also improves how different parts of your brain talk to each other, and boosts the protein BDNF, which is like food for your brain cells, encouraging growth and better survival.

Resistance training is especially promising for brain health since it supports BDNF production, encourages new cell growth in the hippocampus and helps preserve both gray and white matter while improving memory and executive function, even in people who already have mild cognitive impairment.

Exercises that also get your brain involved might provide an extra edge. Dance training that incorporates learning new choreography has been shown to increase gray matter volume and BDNF levels even more than repetitive types of fitness routines at the same intensity level. Learning something new while moving and coordinating your body seems to activate multiple plasticity pathways at the same time.

Even more gentle or light types of activity make a difference. A review of different types of exercise in adults over 50 found that it can boost cognitive function regardless of how sharp your cognition is now.

Build cognitive reserve with mental challenges

To grow your muscles, you need to progress the challenge over time, and your brain works the same way. Activities that push you a bit beyond your comfort zone will do far more for you than easy, repetitive tasks. So, engaging in new, complex types of learning over time is the key.

Learning multiple new skills at once, such as a language, music, and art, for several hours a week, helped older adults’ executive function become as good as that of middle aged adults, with benefits lasting for a year in one study. A different 12-week program, where people learned codes, Braille, and used their non-dominant hand, also improved overall mental ability by about 5%.

Certain types of computer activities and memory games designed to improve cognition help with executive function and beneficially change the brain’s white matter. Even more exciting, brain training programs focused on speed, like BrainHQ (specifically, the games Double Decision and Freeze Frame), have been shown to increase the brain’s memory and attention messengers, in some cases, potentially counteracting about ten years of normal age-related decline. Other evidence-based games you can try include Cognifit, Lumosity and NeuroNation.

In general, the types of activities that help your brain the most are new enough to make you work, different enough to use various thinking skills, able to adjust so they stay a bit hard, and practiced consistently over weeks and months.

Combine physical and mental training for the most benefits

Doing both physical exercise and cognitively challenging activities together improves cognition more than just exercising. Exercise prepares your brain biologically (improving blood flow and growth factors), and the mental challenges then turn those changes into long-term skills. Combining the two is especially effective for improving executive control (like planning and focus), which you can see when people perform better at dual-task activities. Great activities for this combine physical effort with coordination and problem solving.

Here are some research backed ways to get the best of both worlds:

• Dancing
• Gardening
• Golf, pickleball, and other sports
• Resistance training, yoga, and tai chi
• Playing, singing, actively listening to music
• Travel and cultural events
• Martial arts
• Creating art
• Birdwatching
• Hiking on new or challenging trails

Rest and sleep are part of the training

Like any type of training, rest is a major part of the picture. Pushing through mental fatigue might feel productive, but it can actually make learning less productive and impair the plasticity processes you’re trying to activate. If you start feeling more tired, or notice you’re reacting slower, making more mistakes, having trouble concentrating and a general feeling of brain fog, then it’s time to take a break or stop your brain training for a while to let your brain rest.

Sleep is also crucial. During sleep, your brain does the important work of building and fixing itself. It consolidates new memories, connects what you’ve learned to what you already know, and gets ready to learn more the next day. Being awake makes your brain less flexible and more easily excited over time, but getting enough sleep calms the brain back down and makes sure it can form new connections tomorrow.

There’s an ideal balance when it comes to sleep, though. Older adults who sleep too little or too much tend to have poorer cognitive performance. Sticking to a balanced, consistent sleep schedule is one of the most straightforward ways to help your brain benefit from mental and physical exercise.

Cheat sheet for training your brain every day

You can start building a brain training routine over time by adding a few different activities and lifestyle changes here and there. Here are a few ways to get started.

• Move your body regularly. Aim for two to three strength training sessions per week, plus daily walking. If you can include a cognitively demanding activity like dance, a sport that requires strategy or hiking on varied terrain, even better.
• Take on a new skill. Learn an instrument, a new language, a craft or even a new route to work. The key is that the activity should challenge you and require real focus.
• Mix it up. Your brain thrives on novelty. Engaging multiple cognitive domains, like memory, planning, perception and coordination, will give you broader benefits than focusing on a single type of brain game.
• Keep it consistent. Benefits from cognitive training tend to show up after practicing for weeks or months. Even 30 minutes a few times per week can make a big difference.
• Protect your sleep. Give your brain time to consolidate what you’ve learned. Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time each day, with enough hours of sleep to feel rested.
• Watch for mental fatigue. If you notice brain fog, more mistakes or dwindling focus during a cognitive task, take a break. Short, focused sessions are more productive than long, draining ones.
• Fuel your brain. A diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, fish and healthy fats provides the nutrients your brain needs to support plasticity and repair. Targeted supplementation can complement a solid nutritional foundation. Good picks include Codeage Liposomal NMN, Codeage Liposomal Spermidine NAD+ or Codeage Cognitive Brainpower Platinum, which can support healthy brain functioning.

What to remember

Your brain is far more adaptable than scientists once believed, and that adaptability continues throughout your life. Moving your body, especially with strength training and complex movement, sends the right messages to your brain to make beneficial changes. Challenging your brain in new ways shapes those changes into stronger neural networks and greater cognitive reserve. Add in quality sleep and rest so your brain can adapt to all it has learned, along with proper nutrition, and you’ll be investing in a brain that’s more resilient, sharper and better equipped for whatever comes next.