Suzi Schulman, a New Jersey\u2013based chiropractor who posted a video demonstrating one of these exercises, says coordinating movements between hands helps cognition. \u201cIf you stimulate areas of the brain you don\u2019t normally stimulate, there\u2019s going to be improvement,\u201d she says. She\u2019s also a fan of hobbies that require coordination, like\u00a0knitting and crocheting<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n It makes sense that if you\u2019re learning something new that\u2019s hard to master, you\u2019re probably building new connections in your brain, improving neuroplasticity. But you\u2019ll probably learn these hand combos pretty quickly, and then the benefits will disappear.<\/p>\n Video: 5 Ways to Rewire Your Brain at Any Age<\/p>\n \u201cOnce you figure it out, it\u2019s no longer exercise,\u201d says Dr. Charles DeCarli, codirector of the Alzheimer\u2019s Disease Research Center at University of California, Davis.\u00a0<\/p>\n Better ways to reduce dementia risk<\/p>\n Dr. Edward Huey, director of the memory and aging program at Butler Hospital and a professor at Brown University, recommends more challenging mental exercises, like studying a\u00a0new language<\/a>, taking a class,\u00a0playing an instrument<\/a>\u00a0or other hard-to-tackle tasks.<\/p>\n \ufeff\u201cHand exercises aren\u2019t going to hurt,\u201d Huey says. But he doesn\u2019t want people to do hand exercises instead of other activities that have stronger evidence of effectiveness.<\/p>\n A\u00a0literature review<\/a>\u00a0of studies mostly conducted among older adults in China suggests that hand exercises may be associated with better cognitive function, mainly in people diagnosed with\u00a0mild cognitive impairment<\/a>. But the review, published in\u00a0Brain, Behavior, and Immunity\u00a0\u2014 Integrative\u00a0in 2023, noted that while there were improvements to patients\u2019 mental capacity, the studies were mostly small and the intervention varied greatly. The review\u2019s authors called for more rigorous studies.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile there are no easy hacks to prevent dementia, there\u2019s increasing evidence that people who engage in a variety of cognitive as well as physical activities [see the\u00a0six pillars of brain health<\/a>] are more likely to slow down cognitive decline over time,\u201d says Dr. Joe Verghese, professor and chair of neurology at Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University.\u00a0<\/p>\n ![\"generic-video-poster\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/generic-video-poster.gif\")
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