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Brain games, crosswords and math puzzles are often promoted as ways to sharpen memory, but neurologists warn that generic exercises may not address the specific cause of mental fog.
Dr. Rhonda Voskuhl, a professor of neurology at UCLA and co-founder of Cleopatra RX in Los Angeles, says brain exercises only work if they target the specific mental function that is slowing down.
“You can’t just do random cognitive exercises,” Voskuhl told Fox News Digital at the Livelong Women’s Health Summit in New York City in September. “They’ve got to fit the problem.”
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The problem, she said, is verbal memory. “Doing math is not going to help … You need an exercise that will help you with words.”
Generic brain games like Sudoku or number puzzles often fail to clear up mental fog because they do not target the specific brain functions that are slowing down. (iStock)
Mental fog — especially the kind triggered by midlife hormone changes during perimenopause and menopause — impacts very specific areas of the brain, according to Voskuhl.
When estrogen levels drop, overall intelligence and basic logic remain completely normal. Instead, the brain takes a hit in two main areas: verbal memory (recalling names and words) and processing speed (thinking quickly under pressure), experts say.
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Games like Sudoku and other number puzzles primarily exercise logic and math skills, so they may not improve word-recall difficulties.
“It’s not a global problem with the brain,” Voskuhl said. “It’s not global brain atrophy, but there are some regions on MRIs and research studies that show that the hippocampus, the memory area, will have some atrophies, some functional connection issues.”
Effective cognitive training must match the person’s specific weakness, a neurologist said. (iStock)
To understand why word-based exercises may help, it is useful to distinguish between the following two stages of memory, experts say.
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- Encoding: How the brain takes in and stores new information
- Retrieval: How the brain pulls up that stored information when it’s needed
Brain fog typically affects retrieval, not encoding. The word or name is still stored safely in the memory, but the brain’s search engine is running slowly.
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Building a better brain workout
To effectively target brain fog, Voskuhl says exercises need to focus on two things: finding words and working quickly.
“It’s basically processing speed,” she said. “So you need an exercise that is going to be something that makes you rush, makes you do it quickly.”
Midlife mental fog from estrogen loss affects localized brain areas tied to verbal memory and processing speed while leaving overall IQ, math logic and general reasoning intact. (iStock)
The following types of exercises target processing speed and active word recall.
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- Timed word games: Set a 60-second timer to list as many words in a single category as possible (like naming animals or foods).
- Speed reading and quick summaries: Read a short article quickly, then immediately summarize it out loud in two or three sentences.
- Rapid recall drills: Use flashcards or picture prompts to name objects or people as fast as possible without pausing.
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Experts recommend focused exercises built around speed and active word recall, such as timed category drills, flashcard recall, and rapid reading summaries. (iStock)
Instead of using generic puzzle apps, Voskuhl recommends paying attention to where you stumble in daily life and picking games that match those challenges.
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People “know themselves,” she said — “what they are bad at or what they used to be good at and now they’re not as good at … Once you know those things, you should think about what kind of games [to play]. You can play around with different games. You can see if it pushes you.”