Is Brain Age as smart as it claims?

We’ve all heard the criticism that video games are for dullards with lax brain muscles. That playing video games will turn your brain into a fine mixture of cerebellum and mashed potatoes, a combination served at the high society of zombie Thanksgiving. But there is a game out there that is trying to change our brainless stereotype and, in the process, keep the brain hardy and healthy, not to mention delicious.

One of Nintendo’s greatest unconventional hits is the Brain Age series. It was billed as a casual game for the DS that would help ‘train your brain in just minutes a day.’ A bold proposition, but people ate it up like zombies at an all-you-can-eat brain buffet. It did so well, in fact, that it warranted a sequel which promised a greater variety of games to help train your puny cerebellum. Both games sold well, but was it because it really helped the brain stay young, or because Nintendo miraculously made doing math fun?

The idea behind it was taken from some research by Japanese neuroscientist Dr. Ryuta Kawashima. He suggested that the brain is like any other muscle in the body, and in order for it to stay efficient it must exercise much like the heart or the ever-popular bicep. In actuality, it makes perfect sense, but is Brain Age the ideal way to do it?

In theory, it should work. The player is practicing to remember complex strings of numbers, identify patterns, and perform basic math equations in quick succession, all at the request of a floating, disembodied head. It may transport users back to elementary school, but when does it transgress from being just a math simulation game to a treadmill for your atrophying brain?

Unfortunately, Brain Age does not actually bolster brain mass like all those zombie analogies might have hoped for. Its scope is so limited that all it does is help the player get good at a few mundane tasks that it then tests progress on. According to an article in the New York Times, these brain puzzle games don’t do much for you at all. Unfortunately, and somewhat surprisingly, the real solution to becoming the Arnold Schwarzenegger of brains is by going outside to exercise. You know, in that sun-star demon thing.

So next time you feel a mental lapse coming on, the solution is not to pop in Brain Age to solve some quick math or do some challenging Sudoku—rather, you should go outside for a jog around the block. But be careful, zombies are always on the hunt for brains. May I suggest carrying around some sort of blunt object on your run?