Setting It Level · Viral Post Fact Check ·
Fresh neuroscience findings indicate that routine video gaming can delay cognitive aging by up to 10 years.
What We Found
Randomized trials have found benefits from specific brain-training games, especially speed-of-processing training, in older adults.
A 2013 trial of 681 adults 50+ found about 10 hours of speed training equaled roughly 1.5 to 6.6 years of protection against age-related decline, depending on the test, not 10 years.
A McGill trial (reported Oct. 2025) found the BrainHQ app restored cholinergic function to levels "typically seen in someone 10 years younger." That is one brain chemical system, not overall cognitive aging.
In the McGill trial, the control group played recreational computer games and did not show the same change, so the evidence doesn't support "routine video gaming."
Sources
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