Brain training reduces falls in the most at-risk group

A six-week intervention created benefits for 10 years

Author

Longevity Hound
April 10, 2023

Olympic figure skater Nathan Chen doing a good job keeping himself from falling. Don’t worry. There are easier, more practical ways to achieve long-term balance improvements.

What's the news: Computerized brain training significantly reduces falls in people who are at the highest risk of falls.

Why should we believe it: This news comes from a big and complex study performed over 10 years, and published just last month, in March 2023.

The study looked at 2802 subjects, aged 65 to 94. The researchers divided these folks either into either a control group that was left alone to fend for itself, or a computer-based "speed of processing, memory, or reasoning training."

The researchers also estimated the risk of falling by measuring how quickly subjects could turn in a full circle while standing. And the results:

  • Memory training and reasoning training did not have any impact on the risk of falling

  • Speed of processing training did not have any impact on the risk of falling in the low-risk group

  • Speed of processing training reduced risk of falling by 30% in the high-risk group

  • The results persisted over the 10 years that the study lasted

Why this is a big deal: Falls in the elderly can cause fractures and serious further complications. Risk of falls increase significantly with age.

The current study describes a simple intervention that significantly reduces the risk of falls in the most at-risk group, very possibly saving lives and extending healthy lifespan.

So what specifically can you do now: The actual training intervention in this study consisted of just 10 hour-long sessions over the course of six weeks. And yet, the effects persisted over 10 years.

In other words, while it's certainly possible that continued brain training would have reduced falls even more, just this one-time, limited intervention already produced big results.

If you worry you might be at risk of falling, and if you're interested in spending 10 hours of your life now in order to significantly improve your odds of life over the next 10 years, I've got some good news. You can now get the same brain training on your computer or smartphone via BrainHQ, a brain training software which uses the exact same training used in this study.