6 Ways to Increase Neuroplasticity

A neuroscientist explains what neuroplasticity is - and how to unlock it at any age.

Photo by Maxim Potkin ❄ on Unsplash

“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” might be the most damaging myth we tell ourselves about aging.

Neuroscience proves how wrong this is. Your brain can rewire itself throughout your entire life through neuroplasticity - the ability to form new neural connections, strengthen existing pathways, and even generate fresh brain cells.

And this isn’t just true for the young. Whether you’re 25 or 75, your neurons are ready to adapt and grow.

The best part? You can actively trigger this process. So here are six evidence-based ways to keep your brain young, adaptable, and primed for growth:

1. Stay Connected

2. Eat Brain Healthy Foods

3. Sleep 7-9 Hours Nightly

4. Practice Daily Stress Relief

5. Move Your Body

6. Embrace Curiosity and Novelty

1. Stay Connected

Social interaction is one of the most powerful - and underrated - forms of cognitive training. Every conversation activates memory, language, empathy, and decision-making networks at once.

It’s cognitive CrossFit, except actually fun.

The research on isolation versus connection tells a clear story:

• Protection against dementia: A 2023 Nature Aging study found that older adults with regular weekly social contact had 30-50% lower dementia risk compared to isolated peers

• Delayed onset: People who participated in group activities developed dementia an average of five years later than those who rarely socialized

• Cognitive decline: Johns Hopkins researchers found lonely adults face 27% higher risk of cognitive decline over time

Start here: Start with one face-to-face connection weekly – coffee, a walk, a shared meal. Real presence beats digital by miles. Join something structured like a book club or volunteer group where showing up becomes routine.

I think the best activities combine connection with novelty. Try a new restaurant together, take a pottery class, explore a neighbourhood you’ve never visited.

Even if you’re introverted or circumstances keep you home, regular video calls or phone conversations still protect your brain. The key is consistency, not intensity.

2. Eat Brain Healthy Foods Daily

Your brain may only account for about 2 % of your body weight, but it burns roughly 20 % of its energy so what you eat determines how well those neurons fire, repair, and form new connections.

Two dietary patterns have the strongest evidence for keeping the brain young: the Mediterranean and MIND diets. Both centre on foods that reduce inflammation, protect against oxidative stress, and improve blood flow to the brain.

Here’s what the research shows:

• Mediterranean Diet: A meta-analysis of 28 studies showed a 25% reduction in mild cognitive impairment and a 29% lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease

• The MIND diet: Participants with the highest adherences scores had a 53% lower Alzheimer’s risk but even moderate adherence cut risk by about 35%

What to do:

• Fill half your plate with leafy greens and colourful vegetables.

• Eat fish or legumes at least twice a week.

• Use extra virgin olive oil as your main fat.

• Snack on nuts and berries instead of chips or sweets.

• Keep processed foods and sugary drinks as rare treats, not daily habits.

If you want to dig deeper - including how to make this sustainable without food tracking or rigid rules - read my full guide:

The Neuroscientist's MIND Diet: Eating for Cognitive Health

3. Sleep 7-9 Hours Daily

Sleep is when neuroplasticity happens. Blood flow surges through different regions in waves, delivering fresh oxygen to neurons while clearing out the metabolic trash that accumulated during the day.

Without quality sleep, your brain can’t properly consolidate learning, regulate mood, maintain attention, or generate new insights.

Here’s what the evidence tells us:

• Optimal Duration: Researchers tracking nearly 30,000 adults discovered that 7-hour sleepers kept their cognitive abilities stable over time, while those getting too little (under 4) or too much (over 10 hours) per night experienced significantly faster mental decline

  

  This graph shows a U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and brain health. People sleeping around 7–8 hours per night had the lowest risk of cognitive decline. Risk climbed steadily for those sleeping less than 6 hours or more than 9 hours, meaning both too little and too much sleep were linked with worse brain outcomes.

• Physical brain changes: Brain scans show that chronic short sleepers (under 7 hours) actually lose brain volume in areas responsible for focus, memory formation, and executive function

What to do: Most people need 7-9 hours, but your ideal is personal. Track how you feel after different durations for two weeks. You’ve hit your sweet spot when you wake naturally without an alarm, feel alert within 30 minutes, and maintain steady energy throughout the day.

Keep the same bedtime and wake time daily, even weekends. Get morning sunlight, avoid heavy exercise near bedtime, and make your bedroom cool, dark, and tech-free for the hour before sleep.

Read my full guide on improving your sleep and morning routine below:

A Neuroscientist's Guide to Your Morning Routine

4. Practice Ways to Reduce Chronic Stress

Stress doesn’t just make you feel terrible – it literally rewires your brain in the wrong direction. When stress becomes your default setting, it starts dismantling your brain’s ability to adapt, learn, and remember.

Here’s what the research shows:

• Brain plasticity shuts down: Studies in both animal and humans show that when your stress response stays switched on, your brain’s ability to form new connections slow down.

• Memory and thinking suffer: A recent review concluded that long-term psychosocial stress (worry, job strain, social isolation) consistently leads to worse performance in memory, focus, and problem-solving tasks.

Between inflation, global chaos, and phones that never stop pinging, we’re all marinating in stress. You can’t control the madness, but you can control how your nervous system responds to it.

Here’s what actually works:

• Mindfulness meditation: Just 10 minutes a day can lower stress hormone levels and increase grey matter in brain regions linked to emotional control.

• Slow breathing (4–7–8 or box breathing): Calms your nervous system and lowers heart rate in minutes.

• Time in nature: Even a 20-minute walk outside reduces cortisol and boosts mood.

• Movement: Yoga, tai chi, or even gentle stretching combine rhythm, focus, and breath - a natural stress antidote.

5. Exercise 30 Minutes, 3x Weekly

When you exercise, your muscles actually talk to your brain. They release special proteins that travel through your bloodstream like messengers, telling your neurons to grow stronger and form new connections.

One of the most important is brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) - a chemical that helps neurons form, strengthen, and repair pathways involved in learning and memory.

Here’s what the research says:

• Immediate effects: Analysis of 14 studies found that even one 30-40 session of moderate exercise (like brisk walking or cycling) raises BDNF levels in the blood, helping to “wake up” your brain’s growth system.

• Long-term benefits: A comprehensive review suggests that regular training over weeks maintains that boost, with the strongest effects seen when people exercised 3–4 times per week at moderate intensity - a pace where you can still talk but not sing.

  • What counts as moderate? A pace where you can talk but not sing – roughly 60-70% of your maximum heart rate.

Start here: Three 30-minute walks per week at a pace where you can talk but not sing. Once that feels easy, add a fourth session or some strength training. But remember: showing up consistently beats killing yourself at the gym every time.

Try making it social - walk with a colleague, join a class, or make it a family activity for built-in accountability, and suddenly exercise becomes something you look forward to instead of another task on your list.

6. Stay Curious - Try One New Thing Weekly

Learning something new isn’t just about adding skills – it’s about keeping your brain flexible. When you try unfamiliar things, your brain has to build new neural pathways from scratch.

Think of it this way: repeating familiar activities is like walking the same well-worn path through a forest. Trying new things forces your brain to hack through the undergrowth and create entirely new trails.

That trail-building process is what maintains your brain’s ability to adapt. The research makes this clear:

• Building cognitive reserve: A study on curiosity found that people who regularly seek new experiences build up extra brain “reserves” – basically spare capacity that protects against age-related decline

• New beats familiar: When researchers compared older adults learning brand-new skills versus practicing familiar ones, those tackling completely fresh challenges showed stronger cognitive performance and slower decline

• Variety matters: Interventions mixing different new challenges (not just harder versions of the same puzzle) improved overall thinking skills more than repetitive practice

How to add novelty: You don’t need dramatic life changes. Small disruptions to routine force your brain to pay attention and adapt.

• Learn something new. Try a short online course, a new language app, or a skill like photography, gardening, or cooking.

• Break your patterns. Drive a different route home. Sit in a different chair for meals. Shop at a new grocery store. These tiny changes take your brain out of autopilot.

• Do something creative. Cook a cuisine you’ve never tried. Sketch something badly. Write a terrible poem. Creation forces your brain to combine old knowledge in new ways.

The point isn’t to become a perpetual beginner at everything. It’s to regularly give your brain problems it hasn’t solved before. It’s about doing familiar things differently.

Read more about this below:

Studies Confirm Brain Games Don't Work. Here's What To Do Instead.

The Bottom Line

Your brain can rewire itself at any age. Those neurons are ready to form new connections right now.

Pick one thing – weekly walks, consistent sleep, whatever feels manageable. Small changes compound. Your brain responds to consistency, not perfection.

A key insight is that these strategies work together. Exercise boosts learning. Sleep consolidates it. Connection reduces stress. Everything supports everything else.

So yes, the old dog can absolutely learn new tricks. And remember it’s never too late, and it’s never too small a beginning.

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