Can Brain Training Be Brain Draining?

There has been an increasing fascination with how we can train the brain with computer games. As baby boomers begin to realize there might be ways to improve memory by playing computer games, there has become a large market that wants to know: Do they work? And will they help me better remember things like names of people I just met, or find my missing keys?

Many will say that the brain is like a muscle, and you have to use it to improve it. Some claim crossword puzzles keep them sharp. If the brain is like a muscle, then perhaps we should be exercising the brain in specific ways that stimulate mental activity. The basic notion is that if we play certain computer-based games that activate key brain mechanisms, we are getting mentally-stronger. Many of the current brain training games capitalize on how we respond to reward, and improvements in performance on each type of game. However, so far the evidence is mixed in terms of whether there are real-world, long-term effects on our learning and memory: playing these games makes us better at the games, but there has not been much evidence of transfer, meaning playing these games doesn’t make you better at remembering where you put your keys, of the name of the person you just met.

In order to become smarter or better at remembering, it seems that training the brain makes the most intuitive sense, but we may have overlooked a key association between the brain and the body. In the 17^th century, Descartes emphasized and was puzzled over the mind-body connection. In a more modern day version, people today still seem to center on the notion that training the brain is critical for cognitive skills, but don’t appreciate that training the body (any form of exercise) can have even more powerful effects on the mind.

In fact, one of best things you can do for your brain is exercise, not merely mental exercise, but physical exercise. Going for a walk, biking, dancing, swimming, even short amounts of weightlifting, anything that gets the blood moving is effective. These activities get large amounts of blood to your brain, and that is what is critical to maintain brain health. Despite many research studies showing the benefits of exercise in terms of improvement in memory for people young and old, most people still hold the belief that they can benefit from computer-based brain training. It certainly can help us learn new languages, or become better at certain tasks that involve vigilance or attention, but there could be a huge cost, and not just the financial cost of buying these games.

The biggest cost may be an increase in screen-time, as playing computer-based brain games could come at the expense of other important activities, some that might be actually help you (like physical exercise). In fact, the more you play these games, the less likely you are to have time to be physically active, and the end result could, in fact, be poorer memory and mental fitness—exactly what one wanted to avoid in the first place. There are also many other benefits of reducing screen time:

A recent study showed that sixth-graders who went five days without using or seeing a smartphone, TV or other digital screen were better at reading the emotions of others around them, compared to kids who had constant access to these electronic devices.

The irony is that engaging in brain-training might reduce your time for other activities that in fact lead to important brain benefits. So, the best fix? One idea might be a combination of walking and brain training (perhaps at the increasingly-popular treadmill desk), but the best idea might be to socialize and walk, maybe even without your smartphone.