Better Brain Fitness with Drs. Josh Turknett and Tommy Wood18 Dec 2025

#90: This Brain Aging Study Is Our New Favorite!

Much of what we talk about on Better Brain Fitness resolves around the demand-driven decline model we published.

Well...a new study just published in Nature Communications gave that model the best test to date, and the results are pretty darn exciting. So of course we had to do an episode about it!

The study looks at the relationship between brain aging and creative activities like music, dance, art, and video gaming. Tommy walks through the study and explains why this matters for anyone thinking about their long-term cognitive health.

What You'll Learn:

A more sensitive way to measure brain aging than structural scans
The connection between music, dance, art, and video gaming on brain aging
The effect of 30 hours of video gaming on brain aging, the kinds of video games that have the greatest impact (and why traditional "brain games" haven't been as successful)
What this research tells us about whether cognitive decline is reversible
The dose-response relationship between complex activities and brain health

To submit a question for us to answer on the podcast, go to brainjo.academy/question.

To subscribe to the free Better Brain Fitness newsletter, join us when we record live, and get our Guide and Checklist to essential blood tests and nutrients, go to: betterbrain.fitness.

Click here to pre-order Dr. Wood's book, "The Stimulated Mind."

Click here to grab Dr. Turknett's bestselling book, "Anyone Can Play Music"

Intro and Outro music composed and produced by Julienne Ellen.

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