Cognitive age

#1Video games[1, 2]−13.7 y

The biggest number on this page, and the one to read most carefully.

How much do you play video games in a typical week?

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#2Pet ownership[3, 4, 5, 6]−12.95 y

A brain-scan age, and the biggest raw number on this page.

Which pets live with you? Tick every one that applies.

Same number, 2 answers: The study (SHARE) tested fish and birds side by side and found no link to cognitive decline for either, so they share one level.

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#3Chronic pain[7]+9.6 y

A brain-scan age from a small study, so read the sizes with care.

Do you live with chronic pain (most days for 3 months or more)?

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#4Sleep duration[8]+8 y

The largest cognitive-test study of sleep, 10,886 people on the same Creyos battery, found reasoning and verbal ability worst at both ends and best at about 7 to 8 hours (short-term memory did not move).

How much sleep do you usually get?

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#5Word and number puzzles[9, 10]−8 y

A cognitive-test age.

How often do you do word or number puzzles (crosswords, sudoku)?

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#6Meditation[11]−7.5 y

A brain-scan age, and the second-largest number on the page.

Do you have a regular relaxation or mindfulness practice?

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#7Dancing[12]−7.1 y

A brain age read from electrical activity, not a scan: a different clock from the MRI pills, so the total is starred when it mixes them.

Do you dance?

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#8Hearing loss[13, 14]+6.8 y

In the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, 347 adults aged 55 and over without dementia took audiometry and cognitive tests: every 25 dB of hearing loss (roughly the step from normal hearing to mild loss) went with lower memory and executive-function scores, equivalent to being 6.8 years older.

How is your hearing in conversation?

Same number, 2 answers: The study measured the hearing loss itself by audiometry, not whether you have had it tested, so a loss you notice and a loss you have been told about are the same exposure: the 6.8 years is its mild-loss step (25 dB), and a heavier loss would sit higher.

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#9Drawing and painting[12]−6.2 y

A brain age read from electrical activity, on the same EEG brain clock as the dancing pill, so it is a different ruler from the MRI pills and the total is starred when it mixes them.

Do you draw, paint or make visual art?

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#10Education[15]Early life≈+1.9 y

A brain-scan age.

How far did you get in school?

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#11Walking speed for your age[16]≈−5.1 y*

Not a cognitive-test or brain-scan age: the paper behind this pill reports a hazard ratio for developing cognitive impairment, not a years figure, so it stands in here as a starred proxy, the same move as the second-language and reading pills.

How does your walking pace compare to others your age?

Same number, 2 answers: The study compares only the fastest ~9% of walkers (1.5 SD or more above the age- and sex-matched mean) against everyone else; it draws no line between a below-average and an average pace, so both share this reference.

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#12Mediterranean-style diet[17, 18]−5 y

A brain-scan age.

How would you describe your diet?

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#13Reading and mental hobbies[19, 20]≈−5 y*

Not a cognitive age or a brain age: no study prints how many years younger habitual readers test or scan, so like the second-language and social-activity pills this one stands in a dementia onset delay, starred.

How much of your week goes on reading, writing, games or other mental hobbies?

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#14Social activity[21]≈−5 y*

Not a cognitive age or a brain age: like the second-language pill, what is published for getting out and seeing people is when dementia shows up, and it stands in here, starred.

Are you part of a community (club, faith group, volunteering)?

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#15Head injury[22]+4.7 y

A brain-scan age.

Have you ever had a head injury that knocked you out or left you concussed?

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#16Type 2 diabetes[23]+4.6 y

A brain-scan age.

What’s your blood sugar like?

Same number, 2 answers: The study scanned people with type 2 diabetes against people without it and never split well-controlled from poorly controlled, so both answers carry its one figure; control is the lever it could not test.

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#17Playing an instrument[24, 10]−4.5 y

A brain-scan age: in 125 adults matched for age, an MRI brain-age model read amateur musicians’ brains 4.5 years younger than their calendar age and professional musicians’ 3.7 years younger, against non-musicians at about their real age [24].

Do you play a musical instrument?

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#18Migraine[25]+4.2 y

A brain-scan age.

Do you get migraines?

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#19Second language[26, 27]≈−4 y*

The one pill on this page that is not a cognitive age or a brain age.

Do you use a second language?

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#20Shift work[28]+3.7 y

A brain-scan age.

Do you work shifts or nights?

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#21Cardio fitness[29]≈+1.8 y

A brain-scan age, and the pill for runners, cyclists, swimmers and anyone whose sport builds VO2 max.

How is your cardio fitness for your age (a fast walk uphill, a run, a hard ride)?

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#22Stairs[15]≈−3.5 y

A brain-scan age, from the same 331 adults as the education pill: every flight of stairs climbed on a typical day (the stairs between two floors) went with an MRI brain age 0.58 years younger [15].

How many flights of stairs do you climb on a typical day?

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#23Worry and rumination[30]≈+3.1 y

A brain-scan age for the habit of worrying, not for feeling stressed: the stress questionnaires in the brain-age literature come up empty or in odds ratios, and the one paper with a years figure measured worry and rumination.

How much do you worry, or chew over things that have already happened?

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#24Mental health[31, 32, 33]+2.9 y

A brain-scan age, one condition at a time, and treatment matters.

Have you been diagnosed with a mental health condition?

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#25Daytime naps[34]−2.6 y

A brain-volume age, and the one Mendelian-randomisation result on the page: instead of asking who naps, Paz and colleagues [34] used 92 gene variants that make people more likely to nap, in 378,932 UK Biobank adults, and found that genetic liability to habitual napping went with 15.8 cm³ more total brain volume, a difference they put at 2.6 to 6.5 years less brain ageing.

Do you nap during the day?

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#26Social isolation[35]+2.2 y

A brain-scan age.

How connected are you to friends and family?

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#27Alcohol[36]+2 y

A brain-scan age, not a test score.

How much alcohol do you drink?

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#28Daily multivitamin[37]−2 y

A cognitive-test age from a randomised trial, one of two trials on the page.

Do you take a daily multivitamin?

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#29Omega-3 (oily fish or fish oil)[38]+2 y

A brain-scan age, measured in the blood rather than by asking.

How often do you eat oily fish (salmon, sardines, mackerel) or take fish oil?

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#30Daily steps[39]−1.75 y

A brain-scan age, and one for walking rather than workouts.

How many steps do you take on a typical day?

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#31Body weight[40, 41, 42, 43]+1.7 y

A brain-scan age, graded by how far over a healthy weight.

How would you describe your weight?

Same number, 2 answers: The brain-age studies compare a BMI of 30 and over with normal weight and none separates 40 and over, so the two obese answers share this figure; a higher BMI within it may well mean more years, but no study prints how many.

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#32Sugary drinks[44]+1.6 y

A brain-scan age.

How often do you drink sugary drinks?

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#33Smoking[45, 46]≈+1.2 y

A brain-scan age.

Do you smoke?

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#34Green surroundings[47]−1.2 y

A cognitive-test age for the greenery around your home, as seen from a satellite.

How green is where you live?

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#35Aerobic exercise[29]≈−1 y

A brain-scan age, from a trial rather than a snapshot.

How many days a week do you get 30+ minutes of exercise?

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#36Strength training[48]−1 y

A brain-scan age from a trial, the third trial on the page.

How often do you do strength training?

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#37Sleep quality[49]+1 y

A brain-scan age for sleep as a whole, beyond the hours.

How many of these five describe you: an early riser, 7 to 8 hours a night, no insomnia, no snoring, no daytime sleepiness?

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#38Blood pressure[50]+0.5 y

A brain-scan age, and a small one.

What’s your blood pressure like?

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#39Resting heart rate[51]−0.2 y

A brain-scan age, and a small one.

What’s your resting heart rate?

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