Overcome Genetics, Alcohol, and Cell Death: Your Brain Will Be Amazing

May 21, 2026

Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.

I am a dinobaby. I am 82 years old. I just read an article from people much younger than I. I wish to point out that the nifty statements and rah rah approach to maintaining mental sharpness is essentially day old shrimp left on the counter at an outdoor restaurant in Lima, Peru.

Thanks, MidJourney. I think I look pretty spiffy. You captured my eyes.

The write up is “Scientists Say Cognitive Decline Isn’t Inevitable — Your Brain Can Improve at Any Age.” The article states:

Researchers at the Center for BrainHealth at The University of Texas at Dallas tracked nearly 4,000 adults between the ages of 19 and 94 over a three-year period. Using the BrainHealth Index (BHI) — a multidimensional tool designed to assess overall brain fitness — the team found that targeted, brain-healthy habits were linked to gains in cognitive performance across the lifespan. Unlike conventional assessments focused mainly on detecting disease or impairment, the BHI measures growth potential in three key areas: clarity (thinking skills), connectedness (social purpose), and emotional balance (mental resilience).

I like the sample size. It implies consistent grant money. I am not sure about the longitundinal 36 months. (How many of the oldsters in the study fell over dead during the study? Maybe that’s why the sample size was pumped up?)

Let’s look at some of the findings from the study. I don’t want to be too skeptical, but I await validation that the results are reproducible, free from data shaping, and the shenanigans required to find good news amidst the bad. I liked the use of New Age lingo to present a positive picture of getting old. (Remember, this is a dinobaby commenting on a rah rah report about brain stuff.) The terms include:

Clarity (I have no idea what this means. Therefore, I am not thinking clearly.)
Connectedness (Knowing lots of intelligence, law enforcement, and cyber attorneys and having lunch to discuss unusual homicides and online crime targeting the retirement home cohort suggests I am probably not in the mainstream social flow. I promise. I will try to be social with the people at the Ciifer conference in Virginia later this year. I am giving three talks, but as my son tells me, “Dad, you just give the same talk as you have for the last three decades. Talk about brain fade!)
Emotional balance. (I don’t know what this means. I get angry at what comes out of the radio, YouTube, and my podcast player. I get angry at noisy lawn mowers. I get angry at people who think AI outputs accurate information. I would suggest that i get angry at most things. Get off of my lawn!)
Overall Brain Health Index (BHI). (Please, define “health.”)

I tracked down the the complete report. It is titled “Measuring and Increasing the Brain Health Span Across Adulthood: A Public Health Imperative.” I want to point out that the phrase “Brain Health Index” is used twice in the 98 page paper on page 49 and in footnote number 25 in a 2021 source. I concluded, therefore, that BHI is not a well known term of art.

Here’s the passage in which I located the phrase “brain health index”:

We cannot rule out that changes in both utilization and the Brain Health Index may each have arisen because of a third factor – increased motivation or curiosity/personal interest – rather than being causally connected, as these can be potential confounders in any self-directed program. We embrace this as an important factor. In fact, the platform, including coaching and habit reminders/nudges, is specifically designed to motivate as well as to instruct. Hence the mere availability of an attractive and usable platform offering the expectation and pathway to improved brain health may drive this very motivation we invoke as a hypothetical third factor.

Okay, thousands of people (some of whom died before the 36 month study wrapped up) and the factors may be “confounders.” I think this means that the little “microtrainings” and other oddments may have absolutely zero to do to prevent old people from losing their brain functions more slowly or possibly more quickly because microtrainings would drive me bonkers and probably some other people as well.)

Nature’s editors bought into this rah rah approach to helping people who are ageing appear on the beam. I want to offer several observations because as a dinobaby who watches old people demonstrate that their normal ageing process produces some darned crazy and dangerous behaviors:

Sharp thinking among old timers is random and not the norm. Round up a group of 30 from a rest home and run through some basic questions about mobile phones, major news stories, and problems with “youngsters.” I did this, and I observed massive disconnects across my sample. (Believe it or not. I was paid to run this group for a French technology company.) Conclusion: Two of the 30 were able to respond in a coherent informed manner. The others wanted to look at their grandchildren on Facebook and try to find pictures on their mobile device.)
The faster information or a change in a physical or procedural setting is made, the more likely the old timers would be thrown for a loop. Velocity is not something humans find comforting. Oldsters demonstrate big problems in the fast of fast change. Managing an environment strikes me as an important factor.
People get old. Cells function changes. The brain is affected. Shoot chemo into a person and that person thinks he or she can drive a car or stand on a chair to get a pan. Trust me. These are not good ideas.

The factors I observe when our remaining, living friends get together is that misinformation, biases, confusion, and craziness is the standard operating procedure. Why the law enforcement officers at the National Cyber Crime Conference did not shot me during my Dark Web Update lecture remains a mystery to me. Gun the geezer down makes sense to me.

Net net: For those seeking reassurance about how to keep granny sharp or maintain one’s own mental acuity, the research is must reading but for the paragraph I cited above. I am not a rah rah thinker. Going brain dead may be a consequence of earlier decisions, lousy genes, and reading my blog posts. Life is tough.

Stephen E Arnold, May 21, 2026

Written by Stephen E. Arnold · Filed Under News, Statistics, Training

Comments

2 Responses to “Overcome Genetics, Alcohol, and Cell Death: Your Brain Will Be Amazing”

Charles Terry on May 21st, 2026 9:20 am

I have 3 comments…
1- ah hmm well go to #2
2- I remember it was interesting
3- I’m still programming for fun… in APL!
4- go to #1
Danielsaw on May 26th, 2026 2:26 am

?????????? ?? ??????? ????? ???? ????????? ???????? ?????????? ??????? ?? ????? ?????????????? ?????????? ???????????? ???????? ?????????? ????? ???? ???????? ?? ???? ?????????? ??????? ????????? ????? ?????? ??????? ???????????? ??? ?????????? ???????? ??????. ? ????? ??????? ????? ??????????? ??????: ??????? ????? ????????? ?? ??? ??????? ???? ?????????? ?????????? ??????? ? ??????????? ??????????? ?????. ?????????? ? ???? – narkolog-na-dom-kruglosutochno kazan

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Stephen E. Arnold monitors search, content processing, text mining and related topics from his high-tech nerve center in rural Kentucky. He tries to winnow the goose feathers from the giblets. He works with colleagues worldwide to make this Web log useful to those who want to go "beyond search". Contact him at sa [at] arnoldit.com. His Web site with additional information about search is arnoldit.com.