Doing one new thing daily can improve memory, mood, and well-being, especially for older adults. Even small changes, like trying a new route, can stimulate the brain and enhance quality of life.

Researchers at the University of Toronto  have discovered that engaging in just one new activity each day can significantly boost mood, memory, and overall well-being. This approach may be especially helpful for individuals at risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Published in Nature: Scientific Reports, the study is the first to investigate “experiential diversity” — the practice of adding novel and stimulating experiences to daily life — as a way to improve memory and enhance quality of life in older adults.

“Next to age, an under-stimulating environment and social isolation are among the greatest risk factors for cognitive decline and Alzheimer’s disease,” says Morgan Barense, the study’s co-author and professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Arts & Science. The lead author is Melissa E. Meade, who completed this work while a postdoctoral fellow in Barense’s lab and is currently an assistant psychology professor at Huron University College.

“Our results highlight the importance of providing aging loved ones with rich new experiences. It doesn’t require much — something as simple as bringing your grandmother flowers from your garden can have a meaningful impact on memory and well-being,” says Barense.

Balancing Routine with Novelty

While a routine is helpful for providing structure and freeing up cognitive resources, Barense says it’s important to balance this with novelty. She also points out that while the study focused on older adults, the benefits of engaging in new experiences applies to people of all ages.

For the study, the researchers actively encouraged 18 healthy participants, with an average age of 71, to take part in unique experiences over eight weeks during the summer 2020 pandemic lockdown. The monotony of this period allowed them to closely examine how new events affect older adults, who were at higher risk of cognitive decline due to isolation.

Participants used a neuroscience-based smartphone app called HippoCamera – which simulates how the brain’s hippocampus processes and stores memories – to record and replay daily events they wanted to remember. They reported their emotions, their perception of how time passed, and their degree of boredom. Researchers then analyzed the relationships between the uniqueness of the participants’ daily experiences, memory recall, and well-being.

They found that when participants engaged in new activities, they showed better memory, more positive emotions, less boredom, and had a sense that time moved more quickly.

Small Changes, Big Impact

While the study focused on a small group, the researchers rigorously characterized a comprehensive sample of 670 unique events to identify a clear link between experiential diversity and improved well-being.

“Our study shows that new experiences don’t need to be extravagant, like travelling to a new country,” Barense says. “Small changes, like taking a different route during your daily walk, can have a significant impact on memory and mood.”

Other research has shown that experiential diversity in terms of physical location is related to activity in the hippocampus, the brain region responsible for memory, learning, and novelty detection. This, in turn, activates the striatum, the part of the brain involved in reward processing and motivation. By stimulating the hippocampus, one may enhance other brain regions that influence positive emotions and memory. Notably, the effect of experiential diversity on positive mood was largest for those who showed stronger connections between their hippocampus and striatum, highlighting the intimate relationship between memory, emotion, and well-being.

This study builds on Barense and her colleagues’ 2022 research, which showed that replaying memories using HippoCamera improved memory recall by over 50 percent on average.

Barense’s next research project will bring HippoCamera to long-term care residents, exploring its potential as a lifestyle intervention to improve memory and promote experiential diversity.

“Older adults living alone or in long-term care often face greater degrees of isolation and limited stimulation – it’s important to support our loved ones in seeking out moments of novelty that are key to an emotionally and cognitively engaging life,” she says.