We’re fairly well-versed in the brain-health to-do list: exercise regularly, eat healthy, and get seven to eight hours of sleep each night. Now, there’s a new and surprising bit of advice for supporting cognitive function: help people.

A 2025 study published in Social Science & Medicine found that helping others could improve cognitive function and slow cognitive decline. Whether it’s volunteering or lending a hand to people around you, acts of kindness may be one of the best antidotes to dementia.

A Simple Habit

Using Health and Retirement Study data tracking more than 30,000 Americans aged 51 and older over two decades, the study examined how two types of helping activities, as well as changes in the time commitment, affect late-life cognitive function—measured by memory, attention, and mental processing tests.

As part of the repeated surveys, respondents reported whether they engaged in either type of helping activities in the previous year: formal volunteering for religious, educational, health-related, or other charitable organizations or informal helping, such as assisting friends, neighbors, or non-household relatives.

For both types of helping, respondents also reported their annual time commitment as none, 1 to 99 hours, 100 to 199 hours, or over 200 hours.

In general, starting to help others, in either form, improved the helper’s cognitive function and slowed cognitive decline, whereas stopping to help had the opposite effect.

Changes in time commitment mattered. For those who started helping others, increasing time commitment improved cognitive function.

On the other hand, reducing time commitment—but not stopping—had no negative effects, except when one dramatically reduced formal volunteering time from over 200 annual hours to 1 to 99 hours. This suggests that incremental changes may yield better cognitive outcomes.

Persistence was especially important. Participants who continued helping saw a cumulative benefit. “Approximately 15 to 20 percent reduction in the rate of [cognitive] decline, depending on the type of helping behavior and the level of time commitment,” Sae Hwang Han, the lead author, told The Epoch Times.

Additionally, more isn’t always better. The greatest cognitive gains occur when one maintains a comfortable time commitment. The study indicated that a moderate level of helping—about 2 to 4 hours per week—was consistently associated with robust cognitive gains.

Notably, these cognitive trends persisted even after the researchers ruled out other possible explanations, such as demographic, social, and health characteristics, suggesting the benefits were indeed linked to the helping behavior itself.

“In my ongoing work, we find evidence that helping can mitigate accelerated cognitive decline linked to genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting it may function as a protective lifestyle factor even among high-risk groups,” Han said.

How Helping Helps

Helping others—whether it’s volunteering or informal helping—offers meaningful prosocial engagement, setting it apart from other solitary brain-enriching activities such as reading and doing puzzles. “It is not only cognitively enriching,” Han said, “but also involves real-time human interaction, emotional exchange, and a sense of purpose—elements that work together to support cognitive health.”

Naveeda Farhat, a medical student, often helps others in her life. Connecting with loved ones, she told The Epoch Times, has helped tremendously with her mood and even boosted her performance and exam scores. Because she’s often overrun by work and study, the resulting isolation weighs on her mood. Helping relatives makes her feel less lonely and happier, and helps her focus better. “I love babysitting my nephews,” Farhat said. “Their smiles and positive energy help relieve my stress and distract me from daily pressures, and motivate me to keep going.”

From a neurobiological perspective, helping behaviors may activate interconnected systems, such as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis for stress regulation; the sympathetic nervous system, which prepares the body for “fight-or-flight” responses when facing stress and danger, and helps maintain internal balance; and the immune system, which protects against illness and inflammation. Altogether, these activations support both cognitive health and physical health.

Based on his previous research, Han has found that volunteering can offset chronic stress, reduce inflammation, support heart health, and slow physical decline.

Sustainable Helping: How to Get Started

People who want to start helping others may face challenges, such as long work hours, lengthy commutes, and responsibilities at home, that make taking on anything extra difficult.

“I would encourage people to start small and choose forms of helping that involve meaningful human interaction that are also sustainable,” Han said.

It’s less about the structure of the hours and more about consistent engagement over time, he said. Therefore, dedicating an afternoon on the weekend every week or two can be a perfectly reasonable and effective strategy for those who are busy.

“I highly recommend helping people, but definitely within your own mental, physical, and financial capacity,” Farhat said. “Make sure you’re prepared for what you’re signing up for and that it won’t burn you out.”

For older adults, physical limitations can pose additional challenges in helping others. However, “Helping doesn’t have to be physically demanding to be beneficial. Activities like mentoring, tutoring, and checking in on others can be highly engaging and socially meaningful,” Hans said.

Whether it’s mentoring young people, helping at a local library, or joining a beach cleanup to protect your favorite beach, helping others offers more than a rewarding feeling—it may help protect your brain in the long term.