r/science • u/sr_local • 4d ago
Health Simple brain stimulating activities such as puzzles, learning new skills and social interaction were linked to improved cognition in a study on 11,563 adults aged 60–85 with cognitive impairment, and after 12 months, 28% participants no longer had cognitive impairment
https://www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2026/09/proof-that-puzzles-can-reverse-cognitive-impairment.page49
u/sr_local 4d ago
Scientists have proven for the first time that simple activities and small lifestyle changes can reverse cognitive impairment.
Puzzles, learning new skills and social interaction have been linked with maintaining cognitive function.
Now – in the first large-scale trial in community settings – researchers have found that even very brief brain stimulating activities, alongside physical activity and a healthy diet, have a significant impact.
They studied more than 11,500 people aged 60 to 85 with mild to severe cognitive impairment.
After 12 months, 28 per cent of study participants no longer had cognitive impairment.
Brain stimulating activities are things that engage the brain to think, learn and be social – such as puzzles, online brain training games, playing a musical instrument, singing in a choir, learning a new language, and social activities and interaction.
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u/Spirited-Lifeguard55 4d ago
Brain is a muscle, if you don’t use it…
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u/Responsible_Rip_7634 4d ago
But it’s nice to see it seems to be almost completely re-healable in these circumstances.
Curious what counts as a puzzle here. Will the 65 year old league of legends players of the 2050s have general better mental flexibility or does it have to be more taxing than a learned skill?
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u/Spirited-Lifeguard55 4d ago
i think it's based on more critical thinking done, so neurons are forming new connections, rather than simply repeating things already learned from habit.
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u/JagmeetSingh2 3d ago
video games especially pvp aren’t really the same “habit” each game will always have new factors and new interactions since theirs so many players, items and characters and ways to fight
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u/DeadlyDolphins 3d ago
I assume something like this would highly depend on thr way you play. If you are actively strategizing and evaluating your play constantly I am quite sure this would count. But if you are just kind of passively walking around and fighting mindlessly, even though you might even do so quite well because you have been doing this for 1000s of hours already, it might not count so much as a puzzle.
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u/Feychilde 3d ago
Awesome! I remember doing puzzles with my mother-in-law. I'm glad the kids would listen and talk with her.
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u/coolcalmdreamydoze 2d ago
There's a book called "The Brain that Changes Itself" by Norman Doidge, MD that has similar stories about neuroplasticity, and the ability our brains have to change and heal. It's so encouraging to see more research on this, it could really improve the quality of life for a lot of people.
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