Keeping your mind sharp: what actually works

You walk into the kitchen and stand there. Nothing. You go back to the sitting room, sit down, and it comes to you: the reading glasses. If you are over 50 you have done this, and if you are over 60 you have probably done it this week.

This guide is the “start here” for the Think section. It covers what normal cognitive ageing looks like and what is not normal; the levers with real evidence behind them; an honest look at brain-training apps; and how to pick something to learn.

What normal looks like

Some slowing is ordinary. The US National Institute on Aging (NIA) lists the kind of forgetfulness that is a normal part of ageing: occasionally misplacing things, missing a monthly payment, forgetting which day it is and remembering later, sometimes forgetting which word to use, making a bad decision once in a while.

The Alzheimer’s Society (the UK charity) puts it a similar way. With normal ageing you might forget something you were told a while ago, but you can retrace your steps to find the keys. You might struggle for a word when there are distractions, or be briefly unsure of the day of the week. You process new things a little more slowly than at 30. None of this is a diagnosis. It is a description of most people over 60.

What is not normal

The same two organisations are clear about the other side of the line. The NIA’s list of signs of a more serious problem: asking the same questions over and over; getting lost in places you used to know well; having trouble following recipes or directions; becoming more confused about time, people and places. The test the NIA uses is whether memory problems “make it hard to do everyday things such as driving, using the phone, and finding the way home”.

The Alzheimer’s Society adds: forgetting information you were told very recently, putting objects in unusual places (keys in the fridge), frequent difficulty finding words or calling things “that thing”, losing track of the season, getting lost in a familiar supermarket, and withdrawing from activities you used to enjoy.

If any of that sounds like you or someone you live with, the advice from both is the same: talk to a GP (family doctor). The NIA adds that stress-related memory problems which persist after a few weeks are worth raising too. A GP can run tests, rule out treatable causes, and refer on. Nothing on this site is a substitute for that conversation.

The levers with evidence behind them

Here is the encouraging part. The NHS (the UK health service) says there is no certain way to prevent all dementia, but that research suggests around 4 in 10 cases could be prevented through changes people can make. The 2024 Lancet Commission on dementia went further, naming 14 modifiable risk factors and estimating that 45% of future dementia could potentially be prevented if all of them were eliminated. The 14 are: low education, hearing loss, high blood pressure, smoking, obesity, depression, physical inactivity, diabetes, excessive alcohol, traumatic brain injury, air pollution, social isolation, and two added in 2024 — high LDL cholesterol in mid-life and untreated vision loss in later life.

You cannot do much about air pollution or the education you had at 15. But most of the rest is heart health, senses and company. The NHS line is “what’s good for your heart is also good for your brain”.

Physical activity. The NHS recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity a week plus strengthening exercises on two days, and less time sitting. That is five brisk half-hour walks. The Move section of this site is about how to get there.

Hearing. This one surprises people. The Alzheimer’s Society reports that mild hearing loss in mid-life is associated with nearly double the risk of dementia, moderate loss with triple, and severe loss with nearly five times the risk — possibly because people who cannot hear withdraw from conversation, and because the brain works harder to decode sound. The charity is careful to say it is not yet proven that hearing aids prevent dementia. But a US trial (ACHIEVE) of nearly 1,000 adults aged 70 to 84, followed for three years, found that among participants at higher risk, those given hearing aids showed an almost 50% reduction in the rate of cognitive decline — though no difference was seen across the whole group. A hearing test is cheap and often free. Get one.

Blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking, alcohol. All on both lists. The NHS advice: keep blood pressure healthy, stop smoking, and stay within 14 units of alcohol a week spread over three or more days. If you are overweight, losing 5–10% of the excess weight helps. Your GP can check blood pressure and cholesterol; this is one of the few appointments worth booking when nothing feels wrong.

Social contact. Loneliness and social isolation are on both lists. A weekly class, a walking group, a choir, a standing coffee — the content matters less than the regularity. See the Connect section.

Sleep. NIH News in Health reports that sleep after learning is what cements new information into memory, that learning ability can drop by up to 40% without adequate sleep, and that adults over 60 get around 70% less deep sleep than people aged 18 to 25. Their advice: seven to eight hours, and prioritise sleep after study.

Learning new things. Low education is on the Lancet list. Nobody can re-run their schooling, but a mind under load builds reserve. More below.

Brain-training apps: an honest answer

You have seen the adverts. Ten minutes a day of colourful puzzles will keep your brain young.

The Alzheimer’s Society’s position is blunt: “There is no strong evidence that brain training activities will reduce a person’s risk of developing dementia.” Their summary of the research is that brain training “can make you better at specific tasks, but does not improve thinking in general”. One analysis they cite pooled 51 trials and found that three sessions of at least 30 minutes a week produced a small improvement in thinking and memory — but the benefit disappeared when people trained unsupervised at home, which is how everyone actually uses an app. In a trial the charity funded itself, “improvement was very task specific” and did not carry over to anything not practised.

The regulators have noticed too. In January 2016 the US Federal Trade Commission fined the maker of Lumosity $2 million over claims that its games could delay age-related decline and reduce impairment from conditions including dementia. The FTC’s director put it simply: “Lumosity simply did not have the science to back up its ads.”

The picture is not all negative. A 2024 UK trial of 6,544 people aged 50 and over (average age 62) found that a three-minute daily online task for six weeks produced small improvements in memory and problem-solving and a medium improvement in attention. But the NIHR’s own summary notes a 50% dropout rate, a better-educated-than-average sample, no measure of whether the gains carried into daily life, and nothing about dementia prevention.

So: puzzles are fine if you enjoy them. Treat crosswords, sudoku and apps as recreation, not medicine, and be sceptical of any product that claims otherwise.

The better alternative: learn something real

If practising a specific task makes you better only at that task, practise a task you actually want to be better at. A language you will use on holiday. An instrument. A subject you dropped at 16. Bridge, chess, woodwork, coding, birdsong.

These have three things a puzzle app lacks. They get harder as you improve, so the load never goes away. They usually involve other people — a teacher, a class, a group — which is a lever in itself. And they produce something: a conversation, a tune, a finished thing.

They also respond to the study techniques with the strongest evidence. A 2013 review by John Dunlosky and colleagues rated practice testing (making yourself recall the material) and distributed practice (spreading study over time rather than cramming) as the two highest-utility techniques, and rereading and highlighting among the least effective. We explain both in Five memory techniques that work at any age.

How to pick

Three questions.

What would you use? A language for a place you visit; an instrument for the music you already listen to. Motivation is the whole game, and it is easier to borrow from something you love than to manufacture.

What fits your body? Hands, hearing, eyesight and back all have a say. Our guide to taking up a musical instrument in your 50s, 60s or 70s goes through this honestly.

What fits 20 minutes a day? Not two hours on Sunday. Twenty minutes, most days, with a way of testing yourself. For languages we lay out a 12-week plan in Learning a language after 50.

If you want a structure that takes you from “I’d like to” to a habit that has survived eight weeks, our Sharp course (£7, about $9) does exactly that — for a language, an instrument or a subject — using the methods above, not puzzles.

This week

• Book a hearing test and, if it has been a year or more, a blood pressure check.
• Decide on one thing to learn. Write it down. Find the nearest class, group or teacher — u3a (the UK’s network of learning groups for people no longer in full-time work), a library, a community college.
• Put three 20-minute slots in the diary.
• Go for a walk with someone. That is two levers at once.