The Brain Games That Science Shows Lower Dementia Risk

Paul von Zielbauer
Fri, 02 Jan 2026 17:36:47 -0800
Lifestyle

To give yourself the best chance of avoiding dementia, there are certain brain games that help and many that don't. The ones that help, according to recent research, do so because they boost a brain chemical you've probably never heard of.

It's called acetylcholine, and it's essential for memory, attention and detecting errors. We lose about 2.5% of it every decade, starting in our mid-40s. Alzheimer's patients have catastrophically low levels of acetylcholine.

Here's why I'm telling you this: A study by neuroscientists at McGill University found, for the first time, a way to reverse this natural decline in acetylcholine.
Updated: Fri Jan 02, 2026

To give yourself the best chance of avoiding dementia, there are certain brain games that help and many that don't. The ones that help, according to recent research, do so because they boost a brain chemical you've probably never heard of.

It's called acetylcholine, and it's essential for memory, attention and detecting errors. We lose about 2.5% of it every decade, starting in our mid-40s. Alzheimer's patients have catastrophically low levels of acetylcholine.

Here's why I'm telling you this: A study by neuroscientists at McGill University found, for the first time, a way to reverse this natural decline in acetylcholine.

Acetylcholine is an important brain chemical you probably never heard of.

Among healthy people 65 and older, specific speed-based brain games, played 30 minutes a day for 10 weeks, increased acetylcholine activity in key brain regions by 2.3%, the study found. That modest-sounding number represents roughly a decade of normal age-related loss recovered. The elevated levels persisted for three months after participants stopped playing.

Previous research had shown that speed-based cognitive training reduced dementia risk, but no one knew why. The McGill study identifies the mechanism: acetylcholine.

This matters because understanding why something works lets you refine it, figure out who benefits most and separate interventions that address actual biology from those that merely feel productive — a distinction the brain-training industry has long obscured.

One interesting other finding in this study is that not just any brain game works.

The Brain Games That Boost a Key Neurotransmitter

The exercises that produced results shared specific characteristics. They forced rapid decision-making under time pressure. They demanded sustained visual attention while simultaneously loading memory — you had to spot and remember visual details while the game accelerated. The games used — Double Decision and Freeze Frame from a company called BrainHQ — were designed by neuroscientists to stress precisely these cognitive systems.

Think of it as playing Concentration against someone who keeps shortening the clock.

A control group played video games, Solitaire and Candy Crush. Their acetylcholine levels didn't budge. These games engage you, sometimes even challenge you, but they don't impose the specific cognitive pressure that triggers the neurochemical response. The brain requires a particular kind of demand: speed, memory load and sustained attention working simultaneously. Without that combination, you're not getting a dementia-defending benefit.

The Coming Wave of Dementia in the United States and Beyond

The timing of this research is crucial. About 10% of Americans over 70 have some form of dementia. But as Boomers move through their 70s and 80s over the coming decade, the absolute number of cases will rise by several million in the United States alone. Lifestyle interventions — exercise, sleep, social connection — are valuable but general. Drugs may turn out to be helpful. But instead of drugs, older adults can help themselves, at very little cost, by exercising their brains in these time-constrained, specific ways.

Research that identifies a specific mechanism, tied to a specific intervention, is worth paying attention to.

The researchers didn't test other mentally taxing activities — chess, debate, learning a language or reading difficult material in an unfamiliar field. Whether these produce similar effects remains unknown. The common thread would presumably be intensity of sustained concentration under time pressure. Leisurely chess probably doesn't qualify. Speed chess might. So might simultaneous translation or learning an instrument. But that's speculation; only the BrainHQ games have the data behind them.

Food Can Also Stimulate Acetylcholine

For those disinclined toward computers, diet offers a complementary approach. The body synthesizes acetylcholine from choline, found in eggs, beef liver, chicken breast, cod, soybeans and vegetables, including shiitake mushrooms, broccoli and Brussels sprouts. Two eggs at breakfast provide a meaningful dose. This won't replicate the training effects — the McGill research is about neural activity, not dietary intake — but it supports the same system from a different angle.

None of this is a cure. Dementia remains poorly understood, its causes entangled. But for those of us past a certain age, improving our odds becomes a rational preoccupation. The McGill findings offer something concrete: a specific intervention, a known mechanism, a measurable effect.

That's more than most longevity research delivers.