Featured in Well by Stylist, 22 July 2026. Words by Kerry Law.
A viral TikTok trend claims that wiggling your little finger for a few seconds a day can protect your brain. Stylist asked neuroscientists and brain experts what really helps, and which habits they practise themselves.
Naya’s Scientific Advisor, Prof Alexander Sack, explained that the adult brain keeps remodelling itself throughout life, and that the key ingredient is challenge: doing something new and slightly beyond your current ability. He pointed to research showing that adults who learned to juggle grew measurable grey matter in the brain areas that handle movement and visual tracking, and that the change faded when they stopped.
“Plasticity isn’t a one-off deposit; it’s a subscription,” he told Stylist. “Keep paying in.”
He also described how aerobic exercise raises BDNF, a protein that supports the growth of new neurons and strengthens connections in the hippocampus, the brain’s memory centre.
