Alzheimer’s disease is predicted to triple by 2050, affecting more than 150 million people. While research into treatments continues, separate studies have worked to identify ways a person can protect their brain from degeneration. With that said, a new study has shown that regularly stimulating your brain may be an effective way to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and prevent cognitive decline.
Brain stimulation and Alzheimer’s disease
To better understand the benefits of lifelong learning, a group of researchers followed 1,939 adults, mostly women, who participated in the Rush Memory and Aging Project, with an average age of 80 and who did not have dementia at the start of the study. Then they followed them for about eight years.
During this time, participants answered surveys to determine cognitive enrichment across three life stages, so the researcher could calculate an “enrichment score” for each person:
- Early food: Participants were asked how many times they read, how many times they read, whether they have newspapers and atlases at home, and if they have studied a foreign language for more than five years.
- Average wealth: Income level at age 40, subscriptions to magazines, dictionaries and library cards, and how often they visit museums or libraries
- Lifelong Enrichment: Begins at about age 80 and includes reading, writing, and playing board games, as well as income from Social Security, pensions, and other sources.
During the study, 551 participants developed Alzheimer’s disease, while 719 developed mild cognitive impairment.
Stimulate your brain to prevent Alzheimer’s disease
“Our findings suggest that cognitive health in later life is strongly influenced by lifelong exposure to an intellectually stimulating environment.” – Andrea Zammit, PhD, study author, Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.
To findingspublished Neurology, greater life enrichment was associated with a 38% reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease and a 36% reduced risk of mild cognitive impairment. Furthermore, among those with the highest enrichment, 21% developed Alzheimer’s, compared to 34% of those with the lowest enrichment.
In fact, greater life enrichment was associated with a seven-year delay in mild cognitive impairment and up to a five-year delay in the onset of dementia.
In addition, the researchers also tried to see if these benefits persist even when people experience Alzheimer’s-related changes in the brain, and they found that among a small group of people who died, all of whom had high life enrichment, they still experienced better memory and thinking skills and became slower before death.
Improve your mind
Although the study has its limitations, including self-reported details and how the findings show association rather than causation, it highlights the importance of engaging in mentally stimulating activities.
“Our findings are encouraging and suggest that consistently engaging in a variety of mentally stimulating activities throughout life can influence cognitive change” says Zammit, adding that public investments should work to create rich environments, such as libraries and early education programs, that “a lifelong love of learning.”
Whether learning a foreign language through apps, reading, writing, playing board games, visiting the library or even puzzles, it’s never too late or too early to start challenging and stimulating your brain.
Along with regular exercise, a healthy diet, adequate sleep, and stress management, you can protect and improve your brain at any age.
Quotes
Zammit, AR, Yu, L., Poole, VN, Kapasi, A., et al. (2026). Associations of lifelong cognitive enrichment with Alzheimer’s disease, cognitive aging, and cognitive stability. Neurology, 106 (5). oi:https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.0000000000214677
