Aging Brains and the Battle Against Brain Lag

I just finished the Great Courses Aging Brain section on brain processing speed. (1) The good news? Most brain functions hold steady with age. The bad news? Processing speed doesn’t.

I first noticed it while watching TV. I blamed my hearing for missing half the dialogue. Turns out it’s my brain lagging two steps behind. While I’m decoding the last sentence, the actor's already halfway through a new one.

Multitasking? Supposedly that suffers, too. But I haven’t noticed. I can knock out four word games during one TV ad. Not that we watch ads—we fast-forward like pros.

Unless I’m playing Wordscapes on my iPad. That game is littered with ads. I switch to my PC and type two sentences while the Royal Match ad runs yet another mind-numbing minute. Does toggling between devices count as mental agility training?

Speaking of Royal Match—those ads are everywhere. Every. Where. I’d never download the so-called “free” game after seeing that endless royal rescue scene one too many times. Watching celebrities like LeBron, Fallon, and Kudrow rave about it just adds insult to injury. Where does the ad budget come from? Easy: the app rakes in over a million bucks a day. People pay to escape the ads. How Ironic.

Royal Match Ad

Personally, I’d rather play something that gives my brain a workout. One critic says Royal Match is no better than any of the bazillion other Match-3 games out there. (I had to look Match 3 up. It means a game where you match 3 things in a row – duh). Basically, Royal Match is Candy Crush in royal drag. Mashable even calls these games “playable spam.” (2) No offense, Candy Crushers—it relaxes you, which is good.

So why should I care about brain processing speed? Isn’t retirement supposed to be about slowing down? Relaxing? Lingering over coffee?

Well… not if you want to keep up with conversations, remember where you put your keys, or why you walked into the kitchen. Slower processing makes all that harder. Plus, decision-making gets fuzzy, and resisting dessert becomes a losing battle.

Here’s the upside: You can train your brain to speed up. Think of it like muscle—practice builds strength. Tom Brady, for example, uses BrainHQ, a program with exercises for memory, attention, people skills, and even navigation. (3) And yes, there's science behind it: A big study by the Mayo Clinic and USC proved those exercises work. Real gains in memory and processing speed.

So, I gave BrainHQ a shot. One free game a day. It's sort of like the Concentration card game. Mine flashed butterflies, one at a time, cleared the screen, then I had to tap the three circles for the butterflies that matched. If I got it right, the game sped up. My score? Something like 038, or was it .038, milliseconds. Is that good? No clue. Probably not. My brain cried out, “Enough already!” after the 10th round.

Of course, I’m not Tom Brady. He lives on smoothies, salads, fish, chicken, roasted veggies, and a flood of water. I doubt he celebrated Donut Day. Or Pizza Day. Or Bacon Day. And for all that effort? A split-second improvement. No thanks. That’s why he’s Brady and I’m... snacky.

I play Peak (with ads), and Lumonosity (I pay for no ads). Each app presents me with five different games every day. They are fun and I'm hoping they help.

Experts also say I need more sleep. I agree. Sadly, my bladder, hip bursitis, and cat didn’t get the memo. So does exercise, meditation, and mindfulness. Does it help if I meditated about exercising?

Reading helps, too. Now that's something I can get into. I love reading—just not speed reading. I’ve failed the Evelyn Wood method multiple times. I’m not a skimmer. I like to savor. Sorry, Evelyn.

But Evelyn might be obsolete. Now there are apps for everything, including speed reading:  Spreeder and OutRead.  Always the skeptic, I wondered, "Do they work?" I found a YouTube video Do Speed Reading Apps and Techniques Really Work?”  with Thomas Frank, the College Info Geek.(4) Geek indeed. His video gets a bit technical, but it sheds light on aspects of reading. He talks faster than I can think—maybe I need a speed hearing course. (Another processing speed issue?)

The takeaway? Subvocalization (the little voice in your head that repeats the word) is normal. And useful. Speed-reading apps force you to look at every word, turning your brain into a traffic jam. Frank calls it a “working memory bottleneck.” Love that phrase. Gonna steal it.

He also recommends BeeLine, an app that might help.

Me? I’m sticking with books and my own pokey pace. I like reading the old-fashioned way, and Thomas Frank has removed my doubts about my pokey pace. Besides, I’m retired and should have time to savor my book.

Now, back to Wordscapes and that pesky Royal Match ad.

References

1. The Great Courses are available in Kanopy (free at some libraries), Hoopla, or can be purchased used on etsy.com

2. Alexis Nedd, Match-3 games are playable spam, but they soothe my anxious brain, Mashable, November 23, 2020

3. Randy Kulman Ph.D. How Processing Speed Makes a Good Quarterback Great, April 25, 2025 |  Reviewed by Michelle Quirk

4. Thomas Frank, Do Speed Reading Apps and Techniques Really Work, YouTube