By Brent A. Berger, CPT, Mobility Specialist, and Brain Health Trainer
Part 2 of the Brain-Body Series
Last time, I left you with a promise: we’d dig deeper into something called dual tasking, the practice of challenging your brain and body at the same time. If Part 1 made the case that exercise is the single most powerful tool we have for keeping our minds sharp, this post is about how to make that exercise work even harder for your brain. Spoiler: it’s not about doing more, it’s about doing it smarter.
But before we get there, I want to clear up a really common misunderstanding.
Dual Tasking Is NOT Multitasking
When people first hear “do two things at once,” they immediately think of multitasking — answering emails while on a Zoom call, scrolling your phone while half-watching TV, trying to remember what you came into the kitchen for while loading the dishwasher. That’s not what we’re talking about. In fact, that kind of fragmented attention is closer to the opposite of what dual tasking is.
Multitasking is your brain rapidly switching between competing tasks, usually poorly, and almost always leaving you more drained than productive. Dual tasking is the intentional pairing of a physical movement with a cognitive challenge, performed together, with focus. One is scattered. The other is integrated. One tires you out. The other builds you up.
Think of it this way: multitasking divides your attention. Dual tasking trains your attention.
Why This Works (The Good Stuff)
Here’s where it gets really interesting. When you move your body and challenge your brain simultaneously, you’re forcing two regions of your brain to talk to each other in real time: the cerebellum (which handles coordination, balance, and motor control) and the prefrontal cortex (which handles decision-making, working memory, and focus). For a long time, scientists thought these two regions worked mostly independently. We now know they’re deeply connected, and that connection is something we can actually strengthen.
Researchers using brain imaging have found that dual-task activities light up both regions at the same time, and over weeks of practice, those neural pathways between them get stronger and more efficient. In plain English: the bridge between your “thinking brain” and your “moving brain” gets wider, faster, and more reliable. That’s the brain-body connection I talk about in every single training session at the TC, and dual tasking is one of the most direct ways to build it.
There’s a second concept I want you to know about, because it might be the most hopeful idea in brain science: cognitive reserve. The basic idea is that people who consistently challenge themselves — mentally, physically, and socially — build a kind of buffer in their brains. Even when age-related changes start to happen (and they happen to all of us), people with strong cognitive reserve show symptoms later, less severely, or sometimes not at all. Your brain essentially has backup routes. Dual tasking is one of the best ways we know to build those backup routes, because you’re not just exercising one system — you’re exercising the connections between systems.
That’s the part that gets me excited as both a coach and a son.
Try This at Home
Enough science. Let’s get you moving. Here are two dual-task activities you can try in your living room today — no equipment required.
- Count-Down Marching. Stand tall, march in place at a comfortable pace. As you march, count backwards from 100 by 7s (100, 93, 86, 79…). When you lose your place — and you will — start over from 100. The goal isn’t perfection. The goal is the productive struggle. That’s where the magic happens.
- Wall-Tap Categories. Stand a comfortable distance from a wall. Reach out and tap the wall with your right hand, then your left, alternating in a steady rhythm. While you tap, name as many items as you can in a category: animals that start with the letter S, U.S. state capitals, vegetables, songs from the 70s. When you run out, switch categories without breaking your rhythm.
Two things to notice. First, both activities feel awkward at first. That awkwardness is the signal that your brain is working in a new way. Second, they get easier — and when they do, you make them harder. More speed. More complex math. A category you don’t know as well. The challenge is the whole point.
Something New is Coming…
For the past several months, I’ve been working on an app designed specifically around this idea. It’s called BrainTrain, and it’s a guided dual-task training experience built for adults who want to take their brain-body connection seriously. It meets you where you are — whether you’re sharp and looking for an edge, noticing some changes you want to get ahead of, or supporting someone you love through cognitive decline — and adapts as you grow.
I’m opening up an early access waitlist today, and I’d love to have you on it. When you sign up, you’ll receive an email confirming you’re on the list that contains a few guidelines of things to consider with the initial release…(yes, that means we’ll be having a few releases as the experience is improved based on YOUR feedback!). Simply click the link below and fill out the form. Access to the demo will be emailed to you by the middle of June.
->->->-> Sign up for BrainTrain Demo Access <-<-<-<-
Keep it Cognitive,
Brent
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