Today's Topic 👉 Intellectual Wellness

Sponsored by

The 2024 Lancet Commission on Dementia reviewed the evidence on modifiable risk factors. Their conclusion:

~ 45% of dementia cases worldwide could be prevented or delayed by addressing 14 modifiable risk factors. ⁽¹⁾

Low education is a risk factor on that list. Not because smart people don’t get dementia, but because lifelong intellectual engagement builds something called cognitive reserve — the brain’s capacity to tolerate damage before symptoms appear.

Think of it like this:

Two people can have identical levels of Alzheimer’s pathology in their brains.

• The one with more cognitive reserve may show no symptoms.

• The other may be significantly impaired.

The pathology is the same. The brain’s ability to compensate is not.

In an era when information has never been more abundant or easier to access, the question isn’t whether you can find answers. It’s whether you can evaluate them.

A 2024 review of long-term studies confirmed:

Cognitive activities across the life course are independently associated with reduced dementia risk. Not just education in childhood. Continued engagement through midlife and late life. ⁽²⁾

But here’s the part the brain training industry doesn’t want you to know:

Most brain training apps don’t build cognitive reserve. They make you better at brain training apps.

The training effect is highly specific and doesn’t necessarily transfer to general cognitive function. In 2016, Lumosity paid $2 million to settle Federal Trade Commission (FTC) charges for overstating benefits. A consensus statement from 70+ scientists found no compelling evidence these games prevent cognitive decline. A 2025 review of 14 brain training apps found that all 14 claimed cognitive benefits, but only one cited any empirical research. ^{(3, 5)}

There is one exception worth knowing about. Speed-of-processing training.

A 20-year follow-up of a large National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded trial found that one specific type of training — speed-of-processing training — reduced dementia risk by 25% over two decades. Memory training and reasoning training did not. The exercise is now sold commercially as part of BrainHQ, which is made by the company that acquired the original research tool. ⁽⁴⁾

That distinction — between a specific finding from a rigorous trial and the marketing claims of an entire industry — is exactly the kind of difference this series is built to help you see.

What else builds cognitive reserve? Learning genuinely new things. Activities that require sustained effort, novel problem-solving, and engagement with unfamiliar domains. The harder the thing you’re learning, the more protective it may be.

AT A GLANCE

• Novelty is the variable that matters. Activities that genuinely challenge you with unfamiliar material appear to protect your brain more than practiced, comfortable mental activity. Doing a crossword is not the same as learning a new language.

• Cognitive reserve is real and buildable. Lifelong intellectual engagement reduces dementia risk across the life course, independent of education level at any single point. ⁽²⁾

• Brain training apps mostly don’t transfer. Most improve performance only on the specific tasks they train. One exception: speed-of-processing training showed a 25% reduction in dementia risk, but memory and reasoning training in the same trial did not. ^{(3, 4)}

FEATURED RESOURCE

Dementia Prevention, Intervention, and Care: 2024 Report of the Lancet Standing Commission on Dementia. — Livingston et al., The Lancet (open access)

The most authoritative current synthesis of the dementia prevention evidence. Identifies 14 modifiable risk factors, including low education, that together account for approximately 45% of global dementia cases. Readable executive summary available without a subscription.

MORE ON THE TOPIC

Want the full breakdown? The full Smarter Wellness article covers:

• Cognitive reserve theory

• The growth mindset research (and where it actually holds up)

• The brain training exception (and the commercial conflict of interest you should know about)

• A practical framework for genuine intellectual engagement that doesn’t require going back to school

Available at → https://www.appliedwellness.co/media/smarter

ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR

Brian S. Dye, Ed.D., is the founder of Applied Wellness, an evidence-based wellness education platform that helps people access, understand, and apply credible wellness information. Learn more at appliedwellness.co.

SOURCES

1. Livingston, G., et al. (2024). Dementia prevention, intervention, and care: 2024 report of the Lancet standing Commission. The Lancet, 404(10452), 572–628.
2. Liu, Y., et al. (2024). Cognitive reserve over the life course and risk of dementia: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, 16, 1358992.
3. Stern, Y. (2012). Cognitive reserve in ageing and Alzheimer’s disease. Lancet Neurology, 11(11), 1006–1012.
4. Edwards, J.D., et al. (2026). Speed of processing training and dementia risk: 20-year follow-up of the ACTIVE study. Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions.
5. Sutton, E., et al. (2025). Practice makes perfect, but to what end? Psychological Research, 89(2), 75.
6. Yeager, D.S., et al. (2019). A national experiment reveals where a growth mindset improves achievement. Nature, 573, 364–369.

🙂 Know someone who could benefit from these ideas? Forward this email to spread the knowledge.