The useful question is what changes for users, developers or buyers, and whether the announcement stays industry context or becomes something people can actually use.

Neurologist Mark D’Esposito of UC Berkeley argues that while health optimization trends prioritize physical metrics, brain health remains underemphasized despite its critical role in overall well-being. After decades of research using MRI scans to study brain function in healthy individuals and those with disorders like Alzheimer’s, he is now advocating for standardized MRI benchmarks to assess brain health universally. D’Esposito’s work aligns with a growing movement in preventive neurology, supported by institutions like the American Academy of Neurology and the World Health Organization, which emphasize cognitive health across the lifespan.

D’Esposito co-founded the Society for Brain Health to evaluate interventions such as brain fitness games and biomarkers, aiming to identify scientifically validated methods for improving brain function. The society’s inaugural meeting, scheduled for February, will convene researchers, clinicians, and policymakers to share findings on effective strategies. Meanwhile, the BrainHealth Project, launched five years ago, has enrolled nearly 40,000 participants to test a 22-measure BrainHealth Index that assesses cognitive, social, and emotional well-being, paired with training modules to enhance brain health.

The BrainHealth Index, developed by D’Esposito and collaborators including Sandra Chapman of UT-Dallas, combines lifestyle questionnaires, online cognitive tasks, and MRI scans to track brain health over time. Participants undergo assessments every six months to monitor progress, with training focused on reducing multitasking, improving deep thinking, and fostering emotional resilience. Chapman describes the index as a holistic measure of cognitive and emotional capacity, applicable across the lifespan from middle school to older adulthood.

Recent findings from the BrainHealth Project, published in May in Scientific Reports, analyzed data from nearly 4,000 participants aged 19 to 94 and found sustained improvements in brain health scores, challenging the assumption that cognitive decline is inevitable with age. The project now includes sleep metrics, with researchers integrating wearable devices like the Oura ring to track sleep duration, quality, and timing. D’Esposito has also identified brain modularity—a measure of network connectedness—as a key indicator of cognitive performance, measurable via brief resting fMRI scans repeated over time.