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A daily routine of reading out loud, writing by hand, and doing basic math might help older adults maintain their memory and thinking skills. A 12-week program consisting of these three specific exercises yielded measurable improvements in cognitive test scores among older adults who had noticed their memory slipping. The research was published in Educational Gerontology.
As people age, they often experience reductions in memory, attention, and language skills. These changes can sometimes progress into mild cognitive impairment, a condition that sits midway between typical aging and dementia. Mild cognitive impairment does not always prevent a person from going about their daily life or caring for themselves. However, it does increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia later on.
Without pharmaceutical cures for dementia, researchers are looking for alternative ways to protect brain health. One prominent idea is cognitive reserve theory, which suggests that keeping the brain mentally active builds up a buffer against age-related damage. Engaging in stimulating tasks promotes neural plasticity, meaning the brain continues to form and reorganize functional connections.
Many brain-training games focus on just one skill, like recalling a list of words or matching shapes. Recent studies suggest that programs combining several different types of tasks might offer greater benefits. By engaging multiple networks in the brain simultaneously, multi-modal routines mimic the natural demands of daily life.
Emily S. Ihara, a social work researcher at George Mason University, led a team to investigate a specific multi-modal routine called the StrongerMemory program. The program is designed to stimulate the prefrontal cortex, a region just behind the forehead that is responsible for retrieving memories, maintaining attention, and solving problems.
The researchers recruited older adults from 25 aging-in-place villages and three continuing care retirement communities. Aging-in-place villages are local networks that help older adults live independently in their own homes, while continuing care retirement communities provide a tiered approach to housing and care in a single location. The final study included 102 participants aged 59 and older. All of the participants had self-reported concerns about their memory but lacked a formal dementia diagnosis.
Participants were instructed to spend 30 minutes a day on three specific activities. They read out loud for 10 minutes, wrote by hand for 10 minutes, and completed simple math problems for 10 minutes. The participants chose their own reading materials and writing topics, which helped tailor the routine to personal interests.
Reading out loud involves both visual and auditory sensory inputs, demanding more focus than silent reading. Writing by hand helps practice fine motor skills and aids memory retention. The math problems were designed to be easy enough to avoid causing anxiety while still requiring focused attention and logical reasoning.
The participants completed these exercises on their own schedules but attended weekly group check-in meetings for support. To measure changes in brain health, the researchers tested the participants before and after the 12-week program. They used a well-established cognitive screening tool called the Mini Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which tests memory recall, verbal fluency, and spatial orientation. The researchers also gave participants a questionnaire asking how they perceived their own memory compared to a year prior.
Following the 12-week program, the participants scored higher on the objective cognitive test. The average score increased from 12.73 to 13.26 out of 15 possible points. The improvement was driven almost entirely by the memory recall portion of the test. Participants also reported feeling better about their memory on the subjective questionnaire.
The researchers then conducted a secondary analysis to see if the participants’ living situations affected their results. They grouped the participants into three categories based on whether they lived alone in their own homes, with others in a community, or in the continuing care retirement communities. The researchers statistically adjusted the scores to account for any baseline differences between the groups at the start of the study.
People living independently in the community, either alone or with others, scored higher after the intervention than those living in the retirement communities. The researchers suggested that structured retirement facilities might inadvertently limit independent problem-solving or physical activity. Independent living environments may require more daily decision-making, which could amplify the benefits of the brain exercises.
The study relied on a quasi-experimental design without a control group. Because all participants received the intervention, it is impossible to rule out placebo effects. The improvements could have resulted from the social interaction during the weekly check-ins or the attention provided by the researchers, rather than the specific brain exercises. Future research will need to include an active control group that does a different activity, like relaxation exercises, to isolate the exact cause of the improvements.
The increase in test scores was also relatively small. A minor bump on a cognitive screening test does not automatically mean a person will experience noticeable improvements in their daily life. Managing finances, navigating a new neighborhood, or remembering appointments require a blend of cognitive skills that a brief memory test cannot fully capture.
Despite these limitations, the routine offers a highly accessible and low-cost option for older adults looking to build cognitive resilience. Since participants can choose their own books and writing topics, the routine is easy to personalize and maintain over time. Researchers hope to explore how different levels of difficulty within the exercises might push the brain to adapt even further.
These findings offer a foundation for future inquiries into non-pharmaceutical cognitive therapies. The study, “Can brain exercises mitigate cognitive decline? A quasi-experimental evaluation of the StrongerMemory program,” was authored by Emily S. Ihara, Hyun Kang, Catherine J. Tompkins, Francesca A. Keesee, McKenzie S. Lauber, Gergana N. Hardy, Catherine M. Magee, Kendall Barrett, Madeline Holden, and Harveen Pantleay.