Strategy Video Games May Help Maintain Younger Brain Function According to 2025 Study
A 2025 study published in Nature Communications reveals that engaging in demanding creative activities such as video games, music, dance, and visual arts is associated with brains appearing 4 to 7 years younger than one's chronological age. Researchers applied machine learning techniques to EEG and MEG data to estimate brain age, finding that experienced gamers and artists showed younger-appearing brains on average.
In a controlled test, non-gamers who trained for roughly 30 hours on the real-time strategy game StarCraft II over several weeks displayed slowed brain aging and higher brain efficiency. Conversely, playing the slower-paced, turn-based game Hearthstone did not yield significant cognitive benefits, suggesting that the real-time complexity of certain games may drive these effects.
A separate study from Western University found frequent gamers performed cognitively as if they were 13.7 years younger than non-gamers, though gaming did not improve measures related to mental health such as depression or anxiety.
Authors Coronel and Ibanez interpret these findings as evidence of neural plasticity resulting from varied and complex cognitive demands, comparable to learning a new language or musical instrument. They caution that gaming is not a universal health solution; benefits appear to require engaging in varied, complex mental activities and do not substitute for physical exercise.
