Experts: Embrace These 9 “Old People” Habits Now to Possibly Live Longer (And Better)

 I'm going to have a high quality life until the day I die.

Experts: Embrace These 9 “Old People” Habits Now to Possibly Live Longer (And Better) 

"Longevity is about living more quality years," says one expert—here are some top recommendations for achieving that goal.

Highlights Many so-called “old people” habits are simple, science-backed ways to support healthy aging. Small everyday choices, such as walking and protecting your vision, can help you stay active and independent. Experts say there’s no reason to delay—you can start these habits today.

There comes a point when many of us start catching ourselves doing things we associate with aging—reaching for reading glasses, choosing comfortable shoes over stylish ones, taking a walk after dinner, or picking up a crossword puzzle.

Though it’s common to joke that these habits signal “I’m getting old,” many of these everyday behaviors actually come with health benefits that people of any age can appreciate.

While no single routine can guarantee a longer life, experts say these simple practices can help protect your body, sharpen your mind, and help you stay active and independent for years to come.

Ahead, we spoke with two experts—a neurosurgeon and a geriatrician—to help determine which “old people” habits don’t deserve the stigma and are, in fact, worth adopting sooner rather than later.

1. Power walking

It’s no secret that walking comes with an array of health benefits, from improving your circulation and aerobic fitness to maintaining healthy blood pressure. While even a leisurely stroll comes with health perks, picking up the pace may help maximize the benefits.

Power walking may be stereotyped as an “older person” habit, but it’s an exercise that boosts health at all ages—and the earlier you start, the better. According to the American Heart Association, walking at a brisk pace at least 150 minutes a week can help you think and sleep better, reduce your risk of dementia, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, and prevent weight gain.

Nope. Since my doctor completely fucking failed at my recovery; my left knee hyperextends and power walking will never occur! I will need my spasticity cured before ever trying this.

Power walking can also boost your bone health and decrease the risk of osteoporosis. “Regular movement, including walking, stretching, and strength training, helps maintain the muscles that support the spine and keep joints flexible,” explains Arthur L. Jenkins, III, MD, FACS, FAANS, a board-certified neurosurgeon specializing in complex spinal neurosurgery and the founder of Jenkins Neurospine.

While the ideal walking pace differs for everyone, Harvard Health recommends aiming for a speed that raises your heart rate and quickens your breathing so that you can only talk in short sentences.

2. Gardening

Nope, living in a condo so I don't have to do any outdoor tasks.

According to a 2023 Statista survey, around 34% of American retirees take up gardening, making it one of the top hobbies.

But why wait until retirement to reap the benefits of digging in the dirt? UNC Health reveals gardening can help strengthen your heart (thanks to manual labor), reduce stress, improve hand and grip strength—which may serve as a marker for longevity—and provide a vitamin D boost from being outside.

Most interestingly, scientists have even investigated whether exposure to naturally occurring soil microbes like Mycobacterium vaccae may play a role in stress reduction, though research is still emerging on this topic.

3. Increasing the font size on your devices

It’s easy to tease parents or grandparents about the font size on their phones or computers—but they may be on to something.

For example, slouching or slumping in your desk chair while trying to read your computer or phone screen can cause back, shoulder, and neck pain, and ultimately impact your spine, making it more fragile and prone to injury.

“I encourage people to be mindful of their body mechanics throughout the day, whether they are sitting at a desk, lifting objects, or doing household activities,” says Dr. Jenkins. “Small adjustments, like maintaining good posture and avoiding prolonged periods of inactivity, can make a significant difference in long-term spine health.”

4. Opting for supportive shoes over stylish ones

Comfy footwear may not be as fashionable as stilettos or trendy sandals, but your long-term foot health will thank you for making the sacrifice.

Rosanne M. Leipzig, MD, PhD, a geriatrician, professor, and author of Honest Aging: An Insider’s Guide to the Second Half of Life, explains that older adults may choose more supportive shoes to help with balance issues or a fear of falling, especially when friends or loved ones have experienced significant issues such as hip fractures.

However, she adds that older adults may also care less about what others think—and that may be a mentality younger adults can benefit from. Johns Hopkins Medicine notes that poorly fitting shoes can worsen or cause foot problems, including bunions, heel spurs, hammertoes, and corns.

“Simple choices like wearing supportive shoes are not just things you need to consider as you get older,” adds Dr. Jenkins. “They are preventative habits that can help reduce unnecessary stress on the spine and protect mobility over time.”

5. Using reading glasses

According to The Vision Council, around 34.5 million Americans wear over-the-counter reading glasses—and if you’re squinting your eyes to read a book or scroll social media, you may need to grab a pair, too.

“Vision changes with age in many ways,” says Dr. Leipzig. “The lens in the eye hardens, and the muscles responsible for changing its shape weaken, resulting in the need for reading glasses.” She adds that the pupil gets smaller and less responsive to light, and contrast sensitivity decreases.

Using reading glasses when you need them can also help reduce eye strain and discourage awkward postures like craning your neck or leaning toward a screen.

6. Doing crossword puzzles

Well this was known way back in May 2019, DID YOUR INCOMPETENT DOCTOR MISS THIS?

I'll have to start up Sudoku and Ken-ken again. I'll still do my extensive social activities, I'm not taking chances.

Regular crosswords and number puzzles linked to sharper brain in later life May 2019 

Dr. Leipzig says crossword puzzles and similar brain games provide valuable cognitive stimulation. One of the most common age-related cognitive changes, she explains, is the familiar “tip-of-the-tongue” phenomenon—knowing a word but struggling to recall it.

Beyond exercising word recall, mentally challenging activities can also engage attention, problem-solving, and other cognitive skills that help keep the brain active as you age.

7. Eating an early dinner

As we age, our circadian rhythm often shifts, leading to earlier bed and wake times—and, ultimately, an earlier dinner, says Dr. Leipzig.

But the “early bird special” isn’t just beneficial for older adults. Studies suggest that late-night eating may increase your risk of obesity, and a growing body of research suggests that consuming more of your daily calories earlier in the day may support a healthier weight and improve metabolic health.

8. Crocheting or knitting

Nope, doctor failure at getting my left hand recovered!

If you consider knitting to be a “grandma” hobby, think again.

Beyond producing cozy blankets and scarves, the hobby combines creativity, focus, and repetitive hand movements that many people find relaxing. For example, in a survey of more than 8,000 crocheters from 87 countries, nearly 90% said the activity helped them feel calmer, while more than 80% reported feeling happier after crocheting—all of which contributes to healthier aging.

9. Caring less about what other people think

I never did.

Older adults are often stereotyped as being set in their ways, but research suggests many actually develop a healthier outlook with age. Dr. Leipzig calls it the “paradox of positive aging.”

“Despite dealing with many significant losses, they look at things through a more positive lens and are better able to control their emotions, because they realize they don’t have all the time in the world left,” she says. “Many concentrate their time and energy on what matters and what is important to them.”

The biggest takeaway? Just keep moving.

While adopting more “old people” habits may help support long-term health, Dr. Jenkins says living longer isn’t the only goal—it’s also about living better.

“Longevity is about living more quality years where you can stay active, independent, and able to do the things you enjoy,” he says. “Regular movement helps maintain strength, balance, flexibility, and the muscle support [your body] needs to function properly.”

Dr. Leipzig agrees that staying active is one of the most powerful ways to support healthy aging, calling exercise the closest thing we have to a “magic bullet.” She says regular physical activity benefits nearly every aspect of health, from strength, bone density, and balance, to better mood and cognition.

As Dr. Jenkins puts it, “Whether it’s walking, stretching, or strength training, consistent activity is one of the best investments you can make for your long-term health.”

About the experts Arthur L. Jenkins III, MD, is a board-certified neurosurgeon, an expert in complex spinal neurosurgery, and founder of Jenkins NeuroSpine. Dr. Jenkins is one of the exclusive doctors for the NYPD Honorary Surgeons Program and has been on call for the New York Jets for more than a decade. Rosanne M. Leipzig, MD, PhD, is an Emerita Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. She speaks to a wide range of audiences about aging as a life transition and is the author of Honest Aging: An Insider’s Guide to the Second Half of Life.

Crosswords and Computers: Mental Acuity Tasks Beat Socializing in Dodging Dementia

Well this was known way back in May 2019, DID YOUR INCOMPETENT DOCTOR MISS THIS?

I'll have to start up Sudoku and Ken-ken again. I'll still do my extensive social activities, I'm not taking chances.

Regular crosswords and number puzzles linked to sharper brain in later life May 2019 

The latest here:

Crosswords and Computers: Mental Acuity Tasks Beat Socializing in Dodging Dementia

Summary: A recent study indicates that engaging in mental acuity tasks can potentially decrease dementia risk more than social activities or creative hobbies.

By analyzing data from 10,318 Australian adults aged 70 and above, researchers found that those who regularly participated in literacy activities and mind-challenging tasks were 9-11 percent less likely to develop dementia. Creative hobbies and more passive activities, like reading, only reduced dementia risk by 7 percent.

The study underlines the importance of active mental stimulation in reducing dementia risk in older adults.

Key Facts:

1. The study utilized data from over 10,000 Australian adults aged 70 and older.
2. Those engaging regularly in mental acuity tasks were 9-11% less likely to develop dementia.
3. Social activities and creative hobbies had a lesser impact on reducing dementia risk.

Source: Monash University

Computer use, crosswords and games like chess are more strongly associated with older people avoiding dementia than knitting, painting or socializing, a Monash University study has found.

Published in JAMA Network Open, the findings—some of the most robust on this topic to date—may help older individuals and aged care professionals plan more targeted approaches to reducing dementia risk.

In 2022, 55 million people globally lived with dementia, with 10 million new cases each year. Credit: Neuroscience News

Researchers drew data from 10,318 Australians aged 70 and older participating in the ASPREE project and the ALSOP (ASPREE Longitudinal Study of Older Persons) sub-study.

They found that participants who routinely engaged in adult literacy and mental acuity tasks such as education classes, keeping journals, and doing crosswords were 9-11 percent less likely to develop dementia than their peers.

Creative hobbies like crafting, knitting and painting, and more passive activities like reading reduced the risk by 7 percent. In contrast, the size of someone’s social network and the frequency of external outings to the cinema or restaurant were not associated with dementia risk reduction.

The results remained statistically significant even when adjusted for earlier education level, and socioeconomic status. No significant variations were found between men and women.

In 2022, 55 million people globally lived with dementia, with 10 million new cases each year.

Senior author Associate Professor Joanne Ryan, from the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, said identifying strategies to prevent or delay dementia was a huge global priority.

“We had a unique opportunity to close a gap in knowledge by investigating a broad range of lifestyle enrichment activities that older adults often undertake, and assess which of those were most strongly aligned with avoiding dementia,” Associate Professor Ryan said.

“I think what our results tell us is that active manipulation of previously stored knowledge may play a greater role in dementia risk reduction than more passive recreational activities. Keeping the mind active and challenged may be particularly important.”

The leisure activities assessed encompassed:

• adult literacy activities such as adult education classes, using computers, keeping a journal
• mental acuity tasks like completing quizzes and crosswords, playing cards/chess
• creative hobbies like woodworking, knitting or painting
• more passive activities like keeping up with the news, reading or listening to music
• social network activities like meeting and interacting with friends
• planned excursions such as going to a restaurant, museum or the cinema.

Associate Professor Ryan said the results did not rule out that those naturally drawn to the types of leisure activities linked to cognitive health also had specific personality traits that were otherwise beneficial, or they may generally have had better health behaviors.

“While engaging in literacy and mental acuity activities may not be a magic pill to avoid dementia, if that was your goal and you had to choose, our research certainly suggests these are the activities most likely to support prolonged good cognitive health,” she said.

Associate Professor Ryan said social connection may also still be quite important to cognitive health and mental well-being, even though it did not show a clear link with dementia risk in the study.

“The participants were cognitively healthy, and were likely already leading socially active lives, such that the cognitive benefits of strong social networks may be less obvious in this group compared to the general public,” she said.

About this cognition and dementia research news

Author: Joanne Ryan
Source: Monash University
Contact: Joanne Ryan – Monash University
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access.
“Lifestyle Enrichment in Later Life and Its Association With Dementia Risk” by Joanne Ryan et al. JAMA Network Open

 

How ‘superagers’ stay sharp in their later years

I will need to work on my memory, with 19,000+ blog posts there are lots that I don't recall specifics on any more. Eg., why I started taking certain supplements. A friend's husband had a TBI and I didn't recall specifics about what I wrote about so it was all new to me again.

Started working on Ken-ken puzzles along with Sudoku again.

I wonder if this 107 year old was a super-ager or just a high functioning drunk?

Man Dies Aged 107, Thanked Red Wine For Long Life - 3 liters a day, no water

The latest here:

How ‘superagers’ stay sharp in their later years

A new study shows how strenuous mental and physical exercise keeps your brain firing on all cylinders

Lisa Feldman Barrett

Sun 30 Apr 2017 04.00 EDT Last modified on Wed 21 Mar 2018 19.52 EDT

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Photograph: Getty Images

When it comes to retirement, experts recommend that everyone do some hard thinking. By this, they mean you should plan your finances responsibly, consider carefully where to live, and decide what colour beach chair to sit in all day as you sip strawberry daiquiris in the sun. But there’s another reason to think hard about these details: hard thinking by itself – a strenuous mental workout – is good for your ageing brain.
My collaborators and I at Massachusetts General hospital and Northeastern University in Boston study people over 65 who have incredible memories for their age, on a par with healthy 25-year-olds. Scientists call them “superagers” (a term coined by neurologist Marsel Mesulam at Northwestern University in Chicago). While nobody knows exactly why some people are superagers, we believe that one common factor is that they engage in demanding mental exercise. They continually challenge themselves to learn new things outside of their comfort zone.
Beginning in middle age, research shows, many people take steps to avoid unpleasantness: they quit their irritating jobs; take relaxing holidays instead of vigorous ones; they pursue happiness. Scientists call this phenomenon the “positivity effect”.
Nobody wants a life filled with stress, so it’s reasonable to indulge the positivity effect and divest yourself of negative things. In fact, stress that continues for a long time, a condition known as chronic stress, is toxic to your brain – it literally eats away at critical brain regions.
Not all stress is bad, however. Research suggests that you need some amount of stress in your life if you want to stay mentally sharp – in particular, the momentary stress that comes with hard work. Your nervous system evolved so that occasional bouts of stress, where you tax your body and brain for a short time, is necessary to keep your brain healthy as you age.
To understand why this is the case, consider how your memory works. Whenever you remember something, like where you left your car keys, you aren’t retrieving a memory wholesale from some distinct crevice in your brain; instead, you construct memories in the moment, out of bits and pieces gathered from around your brain. This construction process is launched by an ensemble of brain regions that, according to our research, are thicker and better connected in superagers. Perhaps you’ve heard of some of these regions, which include the hippocampus, the anterior insula, the midcingulate cortex, and the medial prefrontal cortex, among others.
The same “superager ensemble” of brain regions also assembles your thoughts, emotions, decisions, dreams, sights, sounds, smells, and everything else you perceive, using the same construction process that makes your memories. Anytime you feel happy or afraid, for example, your brain constructs those emotions out of bits and pieces of your past experience in similar situations, led by your brain’s superager ensemble.
In addition, the superager ensemble performs the vital task of regulating your organs, hormones and immune system. These brain regions are responsible for predicting your body’s energy needs in advance, to keep you alive and healthy. If you’re getting the idea that they are hugely important, you’re right: they are major hubs that coordinate communication throughout your brain. They show up in thousands of neuroscience studies on diverse topics. I’m calling them the superager ensemble only as a convenient shorthand.

French sculptor Louise Bourgeois in her studio in New York in 1995 – she was in her early 80s. Photograph: Porter Gifford/Corbis via Getty Images

All in all, when the key regions of your superager ensemble are thick and well connected, your brain can regulate your body and construct your experiences faster and more efficiently. But it’s not always easy to keep these regions in good shape, because they also create the stressful feelings that you have when exerting yourself. Thinking hard can make you feel unpleasant in the moment, just as strenuous physical exercise can make you ache for a time. These unpleasant feelings invite you to stop working hard. Based on research in my lab, however, if you want to realise the brain benefits of superageing, you must push past the momentary discomfort. In many cases, the unpleasant feeling is a false alarm, and you actually do have the mental or physical resources to continue exerting yourself.
What enables superagers to persevere in the face of unpleasantness? That’s an open question, but scientists have found that if they electrically stimulate one of the regions of the superager ensemble – the midcingulate cortex – subjects report a feeling of motivation to overcome difficult challenges. The psychologist and author Angela Duckworth calls this feeling “grit”.
In the past, some researchers have described grit as the ability to regulate your emotions by thinking rationally. Modern neuroscience, however, has established that the human brain has no dedicated areas for thinking versus feeling. Our research suggests that grit is not so much a grand battle between cognition and emotion; it’s more the ability to use your unpleasant feelings as fuel rather than as a reason to apply the brakes. Superagers, and other people who regularly cultivate grit, treat their unpleasant feeling as a signal to keep going.
So, what can you do to increase your chances of being a superager? While there are no guarantees, here are some tips.
First, engage in strenuous mental activity on a regular basis, enough to make you feel unpleasant in the moment. Pick a topic that has always interested you, whether it’s chemistry or gardening or sports statistics, and dive into it until your brain hurts. Take classes that you find challenging, or work on a project that’s difficult. Learn to play a musical instrument, or study a foreign language. If you fail at your task, don’t fret, just try something else. The key is to push past the discomfort that comes with learning a new subject or skill.
The head of my daughter’s karate school, Grandmaster Joe Esposito, has a saying about pushing past discomfort, when he speaks to his nervous students before their black belt test: “Make your butterflies fly in formation.” I suspect that superagers keep their butterflies exceptionally well trained.

JRR Tolkien was in his 60s when Lord of the Rings was first published.

Second, if you aren’t exercising regularly, begin doing so if you can. Studies show that vigorous physical effort, again past the point of unpleasantness, may have similar effects on your brain as hard mental effort. The mechanisms are not yet known, but demanding exercise appears to improve the thickness and connectivity of the same brain regions. For example, in one study, people who exercised regularly in their 60s were more likely to be mentally fit in their 90s. (Of course, check with your GP before beginning any new programme of physical exercise, especially if you’re near or past retirement age. Superageing is much less satisfying when accompanied by pulled muscles or broken bones.)
Third, eat healthy food and get enough sleep. Several studies have shown that a Mediterranean diet, rich in vegetables, fruits, fish and healthy fats like olive oil, is associated with better memory, less cognitive decline, and less brain atrophy in general. Sufficient sleep is known to be important for a healthy memory, and it even clears out certain “wastes” from your brain, known as beta-amyloid plaques, that are linked to dementia.
I’ll also offer some non-advice. You may hear that you can exercise your brain by playing sudoku and visiting “brain game” websites. These relatively mild activities are not likely to increase your odds of becoming a superager, because the level of difficulty is too low. You have to work hard enough to feel the strain of effort.(I'm sure Platinum Blonde in Sudoku is difficult enough.)

Superageing is an area of ongoing research, with important, unanswered questions. We cannot say definitively, for example, if superagers are born or made. We also don’t know if some people have a head start on superageing because their superager ensemble starts out thicker or better connected than average. What we do know is that the regions of the superager ensemble tend to be thinner in people who have suffered adversity, particularly as a child or adolescent.
We also know that these regions are thicker for children and adolescents who exercise regularly. Exercise improves memory and school performance in children and also has an effect on brain structure, although more research is necessary to determine the exact range of effects.
Also, damage to the superager ensemble is associated with a long list of serious disorders, including depression, schizophrenia, autism, dyslexia, chronic pain, chronic stress, dementia, and Parkinson’s disease.
In other words, it’s never too early to start attending to your superager ensemble. Just as you should save money for retirement beginning at a young age, you can also start preserving your memory early. (Scientists call this your “cognitive reserve”.) Don’t wait until you’re old to start saving – your future health may depend on it.
Currently, my colleagues and I are exploring whether people who regularly push past momentary discomfort are better protected against dementia and depression. These disorders are associated with beta-amyloid plaques, the wastes that accumulate in your brain as you age, especially as you head past 65. We suspect that people who seek and tolerate challenging tasks are helping to protect their memory, even if they have these plaques.

Judi Dench, now in her 80s, is ‘still wowing audiences in a field that requires lots of memorisation’. Photograph: Tristram Kenton/The Guardian

History is full of people who flourished late in life, such as Julia Child, who published her first cookbook when she was nearly 50, and Teiichi Igarashi, who climbed Mount Fuji at 99. Tolkien published The Lord of the Rings in his 60s. Artists such as Mary Delany, who created 1,700 meticulously crafted paper flowers, and Louise Bourgeois, the sculptor of the giant metal spider Maman, did their most skilled work in their 70s and 80s. I can’t say whether these impressive individuals are superagers, because we haven’t tested their memory in the lab, but I wouldn’t be surprised. Personally, I would love to test Judi Dench, who at 82 is still wowing audiences in a field that requires lots of memorisation. (On the other hand, a certain 70-year-old president of the United States, who seems to change his mind every 10 minutes, is almost certainly not a superager.)
So, if you want to stay mentally healthy into old age, don’t just retire: rewire. Help to build up your brain circuitry through regular sessions of vigorous effort, whether physical or mental. Keep up the hard work, push past momentary discomfort, and have a happy “rewirement”.
• Lisa Feldman Barrett (@LFeldmanBarrett) is a University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University and the author of How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain. To order a copy for £16.14 go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846

Book holding - One-handed

One-handed doesn't work very well. My therapists failed to get my left hand even remotely usable. My tries, none working very well. Browsing book stores is an exercise in futility right now, have to find a chair to sit in if I want to check out a book. When I was buying a map of Africa and Madagascar a nice lady came by and helped me fold it out, did manage to fold it back myself. As compared to the map of Spain which was thrown away because folding the 6 foot by 6 foot map was impossible after a couple of uses. I refuse to start doing eBooks.

Book chair. Works but really only in the middle of books. The book is 'Mad looks at the Fifties'

Thumb thing, didn't work, the wrist and arm spasticity means the book is never level.

Book clamp. Works, but slow turning pages, for this puzzle book it works great. You have to not care about breaking the spine. Started doing sudoku again, was working on the hardest puzzles just prior to stroke. Want to get back to it and tackle the Platinum Blonde puzzle. It is quite the challenge clamping something one handed even with these squeeze clamps.

Numbers and Words: Saving Your Aging Brain

How many decades have to pass before your hospital buys Sudoku puzzles for every stroke survivor? Or will they wait forever because

SOMEONE ELSE WILL SOLVE THE PROBLEM?

And tell them what to do? That would be such a fucking display of incompetence that the whole stroke hospital and the board of directors needs to be removed. 

Numbers and Words: Saving Your Aging Brain

New research suggests you need to “use it or lose it.” Can puzzles help?

Google Platinum Blonde is you want the hardest sudoku puzzle created. 

Posted May 25, 2019

Puzzles may do more than entertain us.

Source: Ben_Kerckx/Pixabay, used with permission.

It may seem like a no-brainer, but the effects of brain training—using tools like word and number games to enhance cognitive performance—are actually quite controversial. That’s because the broader and long-term benefits of brain training have yet to be determined. There are many questions: Do word and number games actually enhance your brain, or do you just get better at doing puzzles? Do such puzzles help keep your brain working better overall for a longer period of time? Researchers are setting out to find more definitive answers, one way or another.
Using data collected online from more than 19,000 study participants ages 50 to 93, researchers at University of Exeter Medical School in the U.K. found that those who regularly played number games like Sudoko had significantly higher cognition function than those who played fewer or none at all. The brain functioning skills tested included reasoning, attention/focus, information processing, executive function, working memory, and episodic memory.
The study, published in print in the May 2019 issue of the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, piggybacks on research published last year by the same researchers on the cognitive benefits of doing word puzzles, such as crosswords. In both cases, the researchers found that the more often participants worked on the puzzles, the better they did on tests that assessed their attention, reasoning, and memory capabilities. In the case of number puzzles, the researchers found that those participants who reportedly did number puzzles more than once a day scored highest on all cognitive functions tested than any other group. Overall, speed and accuracy were most notably improved.
A 2016 article published in Nature reviewed various theories and studies of brain training and came up with conflicting results and mixed reviews. While many studies seem to show real benefits from training, skeptics say there may be nothing more to it than there is to practicing anything to get better at it. They question whether or not specific types of brain training used in these types of studies  actually improve cognition in other areas and under other circumstances. They also question whether or not the range of activities used to test cognition is broad enough to accurately measure the outcome and its significance.
Research like these recently published word and number puzzle studies heed the call from skeptics for larger and stronger studies on the effects of brain training. Many questions remain on the relationship between working memory and intelligence, for instance, and on the long-term and overall benefits of braining training. Researchers around the world are teaming up to engage in more rigorous studies wherein new ideas and methods for brain training will be explored and shared.
Meanwhile, most studies end with rationales for further research and the Exeter studies are no exception. While this latest study looked at how often participants played number puzzles, just as the previous study looked at the frequency of engaging in word puzzles, the researchers are planning future studies to help them determine if and how the specific type and difficulty of puzzles influences brain function in aging adults. 

References

Brooker H, Wesnes KA, Ballard C, et al. The relationship between the frequency of number-puzzle use and baseline cognitive function in a large online sample of adults aged 50 and over. Geriatric Psychiatry. First published online February 11, 2019.

Brooker H, Wesnes KA, Ballard C, et al. An online investigation of the relationship between the frequency of word puzzle use and cognitive function in a large online sample of older adults. Geriatric Psychiatry. First published online February 15, 2018.

Makin S. Brain training: Memory games. Nature. March 3, 2016. S10-S11