Mental ‘Workouts’ Could Keep Your Brain Young

Summary

Podcast Summary: Short Wave – “Mental ‘Workouts’ Could Keep Your Brain Young”

Host: Regina Barber
Guest: John Hamilton (NPR Science Correspondent), with insights from Dr. Etienne de Villar Sedany (McGill University), Dr. Mike Hasselmo (Boston University), Dr. Judy Pa (UC San Diego), and Dr. Jessica Langbaum (Banner Health/Alzheimer’s Prevention)
Date: November 17, 2025
Duration: ~13 minutes

---

Overview

This episode of Short Wave explores the emerging science of cognitive fitness—how brain “workouts” may help keep our minds sharp as we age. Host Regina Barber and NPR’s John Hamilton use humor, demonstrations, and interviews with key researchers to break down whether mental exercises really make a difference, how they compare to physical exercise, and what the latest evidence shows about slowing age-related cognitive decline.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. What is Cognitive Fitness? (00:17–02:44)

• Definition:
  John Hamilton explains that cognitive fitness is not about mastering specific games like Wordle or Mario Kart, but instead about improving broad abilities like working memory, processing speed, and focus—skills that tend to decline with age.
• Memorable Demo:
  Regina tries a “double decision” exercise (from BrainHQ), finding it surprisingly challenging.
  • Quote:
    • Regina Barber (02:17): “I wasn’t looking. It’s that one. Oh. Oh. I was way off. Oh, crap, crap, crap. Okay, that one. Signs here. Happy brain training. Okay, that did get harder. It totally got harder.”
  • John Hamilton's description: Mental training is like strenuous physical exercise for your brain: “It’s all about going for the mental burn. You know, you gotta think stairmaster set to 20.” (02:44)

2. The Science of Brain Training (04:12–08:01)

• New Study:
  Recent research provides compelling evidence that cognitive training can cause measurable biological changes in the brain—specifically, increasing levels of acetylcholine, a key neurotransmitter involved in attention and memory.
  • Expert Explanation:
    • Dr. Etienne de Villar Sedany (05:45): “For every decade after the age of 40, 45, you get around 2.5% decline in [acetylcholine] in key brain areas.”
  • Study Design:
    • 92 healthy people (65+) spent 10 weeks doing either the “double decision” cognitive training or played standard video games like Solitaire and Candy Crush for 30 min/day.
    • Only the group using the more challenging cognitive training showed a measurable increase (~2.3%) in acetylcholine—roughly reversing a decade’s worth of normal age-related decline.
  • Quote:
    • John Hamilton (07:56): “In other words, Gina, brain training turned back the clock by about a decade.”

3. Interpreting the Results and Skepticism (08:01–09:14)

• Expert Reaction:
  Dr. Mike Hasselmo, an acetylcholine specialist, reviewed the study and found it compelling enough to consider trying the task himself.
  • Quote:
    • Dr. Mike Hasselmo (08:22): “Well, I have to say, it was compelling enough that I looked up the task myself and thought, maybe I need to be doing this task.”
• Caffeine Comparison:
  Dr. Hasselmo draws an analogy, noting that even a cup of coffee can quickly improve cognition by increasing acetylcholine, but the magnitude of sustained improvement from training is less clear.

4. Do All Brain Training Games Work? (09:03–09:57)

• Specificity Matters:
  Not all mental games are created equal. BrainHQ (developed by Posit Science) is highlighted as having the most scientific backing, used in 100+ studies across diverse conditions like ADHD, dementia, and normal aging.
  • Regina Barber (09:41): “So, like, Brain HQ, these games, did it help, like, prevent Alzheimer's?”
  • John Hamilton: Explains that while the games didn’t prevent Alzheimer’s, they may help slow cognitive decline as part of a broader lifestyle approach.

5. Mental vs Physical Exercise – And Together? (09:57–12:06)

• Multimodal Approach:
  Large studies find combining specific mental exercises with diet and physical activity is more effective than advice or usual care alone, but it’s hard to separate which intervention matters most.
  • Quote:
    • John Hamilton (10:32): “There’s no way to really break that apart. But one thing to keep in mind is that studies have consistently shown that physical exercise is absolutely the best thing you can do for your brain health.”
• Innovative Research:
  Dr. Judy Pa (UCSD) experiments with combining cardio (on stationary bikes) and virtual reality navigation tasks.
  • Quote:
    • Dr. Judy Pa (10:59): “We tried to pair together cycling and moving through the environment. So they go through a new virtual reality task that we built...and they have to navigate through different scenes and try to remember where they're going.”

6. Sticking With It—Making Brain Training Sustainable (11:20–12:12)

• Key to Success:
  Consistency and enjoyment matter more than the specific tool or program.
  • Quote:
    • Dr. Jessica Langbaum (11:48): “Really do something that you love to do and that you can stick to it. Find that exercise regimen that you’ll adhere to and that you will continue to do. And if you can do it with people around you, that’s even better.”
  • Social engagement can further boost the benefits of both mental and physical exercise.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the challenge of brain workouts:
  Regina Barber (02:17): “I wasn’t looking. It’s that one. Oh. Oh. I was way off. Oh, crap, crap, crap. Okay, that one. Signs here. Happy brain training. Okay, that did get harder. It totally got harder.”
• On reversing brain aging:
  John Hamilton (07:56): “Brain training turned back the clock by about a decade.”
• On enjoyment and sustainability:
  Dr. Jessica Langbaum (11:48): “Do something that you love to do and that you can stick to...if you can do it with people around you, that’s even better.”
• On physical exercise as brain health’s best friend:
  John Hamilton (10:32): “Studies have consistently shown that physical exercise is absolutely the best thing you can do for your brain health.”

---

Key Timestamps

• 00:17–02:44 – What is cognitive fitness? Fun demo with Regina and John.
• 04:12–08:01 – The science behind cognitive brain training and acetylcholine.
• 08:01–09:14 – Expert reaction and caffeine’s parallel (Dr. Hasselmo).
• 09:57–10:32 – Major clinical study and importance of combining interventions.
• 10:59–11:20 – Combining cardio with cognitive training (Dr. Judy Pa).
• 11:48–12:12 – Motivation, adherence, and social interaction (Dr. Langbaum).

---

Tone, Takeaway, and Concluding Insight

Playful, conversational, and encouraging, the hosts and guests reinforce that while targeted brain training may offer real biological benefits, it’s not magic. The best cognitive “workouts” combine novelty, challenge, and social engagement—and nothing beats the “miracle drug” of regular physical exercise for keeping your brain (and body) young.

Final Thought:
Find brain and body activities you enjoy, challenge yourself, and (if possible) do it with friends—your brain will thank you for it.

Transcript

[Announcer]

This message comes from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer center, working to change the story of pancreatic cancer. And during Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month, your support goes twice as far to accelerate breakthrough treatments. Donate [e-mail] give.

[Regina Barber]

You're listening to Short Wave from NPR. Hey, Shortwavers, here's some advice for all you fitness fanatics. Never skip brain day. That's right. It's time to talk about improving your cognitive fitness. And here to lead Today's masterclass is NPR's resident brain trainer, John Hamilton. Hey, John.

[John Hamilton]

Hey, Gina. Just finishing up my prefrontal reps here. Gotta keep the old cortex shredded.

[Regina Barber]

All right, let me add that to the list of images I can't unsee. Okay, John, so what's cognitive fitness exactly? Like, are we talking wordle? You know, because I'm pretty good at wordle.

[John Hamilton]

Nope.

[Regina Barber]

Fine. What about quadratic equations? Numbers?

[Announcer]

Nope.

[Regina Barber]

What about, like, a few races in Mario Kart? Maybe those Zelda puzzles that I do?

[John Hamilton]

Strike three. Those all focus on really narrow skills, you know, word recognition, number processing, throwing a turtle shell. Cognitive fitness is more of a whole brain workout. You're trying to build up these broad areas like working memory, processing speed, focus. By the way, those are functions that tend to get as we age.

[Regina Barber]

Yes. Okay, not for me. I'm asking for a friend, John. Like, what sort of brain exercises do I need to do to avoid this whole, you know, brain aging thing?

[John Hamilton]

Okay, let me show you something on a laptop. This is an exercise from a cognitive fitness study that we're going to talk about after the break.

[Regina Barber]

Okay, Here we go. It says double decision, right?

[John Hamilton]

And this is a demo. So you're going to play along with them as they tell you what happens here. Go ahead and start it.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

In double decision, you will identify a.

[Regina Barber]

Vehicle and locate a road sign. I'm already scared. Click the start button to begin. Okay. Yeah, let's try another.

[John Hamilton]

It's easy, right?

[Regina Barber]

Yeah. I can do this. I can do this. As you improve, the vehicles will disappear faster. Okay, that one sign is here. Yep, that one sign's here.

[John Hamilton]

This gets harder.

[Regina Barber]

Okay. Okay.

[John Hamilton]

Okay.

[Regina Barber]

I wasn't looking. It's that one. Oh. Oh. I was way off. Oh, crap, crap, crap. Okay, that one. Signs here. Happy brain training. Okay, that did get harder. It totally got harder.

[John Hamilton]

Yeah, I could see the smoke coming out of your ears. It was real.

[Regina Barber]

I thought it was. I was like. It was like a false sense of security. I was like, oh, this is so easy. And then it just got, like, way harder.

[John Hamilton]

But, I mean, you get the idea though, right? This kind of training is a lot like, you know, serious athletic training. It's all about going for the mental burn. You know, you gotta think stairmaster set to 20.

[Regina Barber]

It's all about reps, you know. Today on the show, cognitive Workouts to Keep youp Brain Young.

[John Hamilton]

Plus how mental and physical exercise can work together to strengthen your mental muscles.

[Regina Barber]

You're listening to Shortwave, the Science podcast from NPR.

[Announcer]

This message comes from AT&T. America's first network is also its fastest and most reliable based on RootMetrics. United States Root Score Report 1H2025 tested with best commercially available smartphones on three national mobile networks across all available network types. Your experiences may vary. RootMetrics rankings are not an endorsement of AT&T. When you compare, there's no comparison. AT&T.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

This message comes from Dell Technologies. It's time for Black Friday. Dell Technologies biggest sale of the year for gift worthy accessories and select PCs like the Dell 16 plus featuring Intel Core Ultra processors. Shop [e-mail] deals support for this podcast.

[Announcer]

And the following message come from Indeed. Spend more time interviewing candidates who check all your boxes with Indeed sponsored jobs claim your $75 sponsored job credit now at indeed.com shortwave terms and conditions apply.

[Regina Barber]

So, John, this is where you tell me how my brain is gonna stay young forever. Just like my face.

[John Hamilton]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, maybe not forever, but there is some cool new science here. Let me tell you about a study that provides the first really compelling evidence that cognitive training can cause biological changes in the brain.

[Regina Barber]

Okay, so like the brain's version of washboard abs.

[John Hamilton]

Exactly, exactly. You've probably seen some of those brain training products on the Internet. You've got, you know, there's lumosity, elevate, peak, cognifit, and then there's the one that probably has the most science behind it. That is BrainHQ. They designed that training exercise that was making your head explode just a few minutes ago. Until now, the evidence that those products actually work has been mostly from studies of cognitive performance. So, you know, maybe somebody was able to process information more quickly, focus for a longer period of time. This new study found changes in levels of a really important molecule in the brain. It's something called acetylcholine.

[Regina Barber]

Okay, I've never heard of that before, but it sounds cool.

[John Hamilton]

And now you have.

[Regina Barber]

Okay, awesome.

[John Hamilton]

Acetylcholine is both a neurotransmitter and a neuromodulator. So what it does is it carries messages around the brain. But it also affects the behavior of neurons. It neuromodulates. Unfortunately, as we get older, the levels of acetylcholine in the brain start to go down. And if you get Alzheimer's, they go way down.

[Regina Barber]

Wow. Okay.

[John Hamilton]

I talked about all that with a scientist at McGill University in Montreal. His name is Etienne de Villar Sedany. And here's what he said.

[Expert Guest]

Cognitive abilities start changing when we're about 40, 45, and it's the same for acetylcholine. For every decade after the age of 40, 45, you get around 2.5% decline in this neurotransmitter in key brain areas.

[Regina Barber]

Oh, my gosh. I'm, like, there. I'm so scared.

[John Hamilton]

And you should be, but hang on. Etienne was part of a team of scientists that thought they might be able to do something about this. So they took 92 healthy people who were at least 65 years old, and then for the next 10 weeks, they had half of these people spend 30 minutes a day doing double decision task. You know, the one that you just did.

[Regina Barber]

Okay, what did. What did the other half do? I mean, were they just, like, doom scrolling on their phone like I do every night?

[John Hamilton]

Actually, Gina, they were taking part in another one of your favorite activities. I'll let Etienne explain.

[Expert Guest]

The other group was also doing a type of training. Well, training like video games, if you will, like Solitaire and Candy Crush, which can be addictive. And a lot of people play this over and over again, but it doesn't engage the brain in the same way.

[Regina Barber]

Okay, I don't play Solitaire and Candy Crush anymore, but I do play Vampire Survivors. Very addictive. What did these researchers find out? Like, how did these different activities compare?

[John Hamilton]

The researchers used a special kind of PET scan that measured acetylcholine levels both before and after the training.

[Regina Barber]

So what is this, like, special kind of PET scan?

[John Hamilton]

It's a PET scan where they put a special substance in your brain that sort of lights up all of the acetylcholine, all these molecules of a certain type, and that way they can tell whether there's more or less being produced in the brain.

[Regina Barber]

Oh, that's awesome.

[John Hamilton]

And in this case, they focused on a brain area that's called the anterior cingulate cortex. It is involved in mental activities like making decisions, detecting mistakes. And in people who played just the video games, there was no change in acetylcholine.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Oh, no.

[John Hamilton]

Sorry, Gina. But Etienne says in people who did the cognitive training, there was an increase.

[Expert Guest]

It was about 2.3%. Which is not huge, but it's significant considering that you get a 2.5% decrease per decade just with aging.

[John Hamilton]

In other words, Gina, brain training turned back the clock by about a decade. Wow.

[Regina Barber]

So you're just, like. You just keep up.

[John Hamilton]

That sounds good, doesn't it?

[Announcer]

Yeah.

[John Hamilton]

But I wanted to check on all this with an expert on acetylcholine. So I sent the study to a guy named Mike Hasselmo at Boston University. He directs the center for Systems Neuroscience there. And I should say he's in his 60s.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Okay.

[John Hamilton]

I asked Mike what he thought about the double decision task.

[Expert Guest]

Well, I have to say, it was compelling enough that I looked up the task myself and thought, maybe I need to be doing this task.

[Regina Barber]

Same.

[John Hamilton]

Right. So I also asked him to give me some sense of how much mental boost you could get from, you know, this little acetylcholine bump.

[Expert Guest]

Drinking a cup of coffee is essentially directly increasing your acetylcholine levels. And I don't know the exact percentages, but you really notice quite quickly the enhancement of your cognitive function and your ability to focus.

[Regina Barber]

Okay, so I don't drink coffee now. I'm thinking about that too. But do I need to use this, like, particular cognitive training program, or would I get, like, a similar result from, like, a different game or a different program?

[John Hamilton]

Well, you might, but it's really not clear. Okay. BrainHQ is part of a company called Posit Science that has really taken a much more academic approach to mental fitness than most of the other companies out there.

[Regina Barber]

Okay.

[John Hamilton]

There are now well over 100 academic studies that have used the Brain HQ exercises. They looked at people who had all kinds of different conditions like adhd, early dementia, traumatic brain injuries, and just normal aging. Couple of months ago, Brain HQ exercises were part of this huge study done by the Alzheimer's Association.

[Regina Barber]

So, like, Brain hq, these games, did it help, like, prevent Alzheimer's?

[John Hamilton]

Not exactly. Okay. The study was looking at whether this combination of lifestyle changes, you know, including mental exercise, could slow down the cognitive declines you usually see in people in their 60s and 70s.

[Announcer]

Okay.

[John Hamilton]

So there were more than 2,000 people in this study. It went on for two years.

[Regina Barber]

That's a lot.

[John Hamilton]

It is. It was. You know, it cost them about $50 million to do. Wow. Some of the participants just got advice on how to eat better, exercise, stay mentally active. The others were given a very specific diet. They were enrolled in exercise classes, and they did Brain HQ cognitive training.

[Regina Barber]

Okay.

[John Hamilton]

Both groups benefited compared with, you know, typical people of their age. But the group that did intensive mental and physical exercise had better brain health overall.

[Regina Barber]

So, like, how much of that was from brain training or how much was from, like, that specific diet and those specific physical exercises?

[John Hamilton]

There's no way to really break that apart. But one thing to keep in mind is that studies have consistently shown that physical exercise is absolutely the best thing you can do for your brain health. So researchers are experimenting with ways to combine, for example, a cardio workout with brain training. Okay. I spoke with a scientist at University of California, San Diego who is trying to do exactly that. She's using stationary bikes and virtual reality. Her name is Judy Pa. We tried.

[Regina Barber]

To pair together cycling and moving through the environment. So they go through a new virtual reality task that we built. It's a park environment, and they have to navigate through different scenes and try to remember where they're going. So they first learn it with arrows, and then they have to recall it. This sounds so great. Like, I want to sign up for these clinical trials.

[John Hamilton]

That's part of the idea, is that one of the biggest challenges with both mental and cognitive fitness programs is you gotta find something that people will keep doing even when they're not in a scientific study, Right? Yeah. So I asked another brain scientist about that when I was at the Alzheimer's Association International conference in Toronto recently. Her name is Jessica Langbaum, and she runs the Alzheimer's Prevention program at Banner Health in Phoenix. This is her advice on lifestyle change.

[Regina Barber]

If you already do the Sunday crossword puzzle and it's not challenging, maybe pick up something new, but really do something that you love to do and that you can stick to it. Find that exercise regimen that you'll adhere to and that you will continue to do. And if you can do it with people around you, that's even better.

[John Hamilton]

That social interaction seems to add something to any kind of cognitive or physical exercise.

[Regina Barber]

Yeah, I gotta join those running clubs, I guess.

[John Hamilton]

Exactly. And if you do, your brain will stay young forever.

[Regina Barber]

Forever. Thank you, John, for bringing this the story Anytime, Gina. This episode was produced by Hannah Chin. It was edited by our showrunner, Rebecca Ramirez. Tyler Jones checked the facts, and Jimmy Keeley was the audio engineer. Beth Donovan is our vice president for podcasting. I'm Regina Barber. Thank you for listening to Short Wave from N.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Support for npr. And the following message come from Hydro. Don't let the holidays derail your fitness. Stay on track with hydro. 20 minutes. Rowing on a hydro targets 86% of your muscles, as Olympians guide you from incredible locations worldwide. GQ named the Hydro Arc the best rower of 2025 and every Hydro comes with free shipping, a 30 day trial and warranty. Go to hydro.com code npr. Save up to 600 bucks on your next rower. Hydro.com code npr.

[Announcer]

This message comes from Vanta. What's your 2:00am security worry? Is it do I have the right controls in place or are my vendors secure? Enter Vanta. Vanta automates manual work so you can stop sweating over spreadsheets, chasing audit evidence, and filling out endless questionnaires. Their trust management platform continuously monitors your systems, centralizes your data, and simplifies your security at scale. Get started. Advanta.com that's V A N T A dot com.