Challenging your brain helps keep it healthy, scientists explain how

“Exercise your brain,” experts advise people hoping to stave off dementia. But how? Stretching your brain might be the better description.

Do a crossword puzzle a day and you may just get good at crosswords. Instead, research increasingly shows that a variety of habits and hobbies are like a cognitive workout, building knowledge and skills that may beef up parts of the brain as we get older. One recent study linked a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline to lifelong learning, meaning intellectually stimulating experiences — reading and writing, learning another language, playing chess, solving puzzles, going to museums — from childhood into retirement.

“They kind of like stretch your brain and your thinking. You’re using your different cognitive systems,” explained neuropsychologist Andrea Zammit of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, who led that study.

If you didn’t embrace what Zammit calls cognitively enriching activities early in life, it’s not too late to get started. Middle age offers an important window for protecting brain health and scientists are examining a wide range of possible ways to stay sharp, from taking up music to birdwatching and brain-training games. “It’s about finding meaningful activities that you might be passionate about,” Zammit said.