If you have spent any time playing games on a phone or tablet lately, you have almost certainly seen two types of advertising aimed squarely at older adults: Tai Chi programs promising dramatic weight loss, and brain training apps claiming to prevent dementia. Both deserve a closer look.
On Tai Chi: the good news is that Tai Chi genuinely is good for you. Research consistently shows it improves balance, flexibility, and coordination, and the CDC and National Council on Aging recognize specific Tai Chi programs as evidence-based for reducing falls in older adults. That is a real and meaningful benefit. What the ads are selling, however, is different. Claims like "lose 50 pounds by spring" have essentially no clinical support. A 2025 study found modest improvements in waist circumference over 12 weeks, not the dramatic transformation the ads depict. Most of those ads, researchers have noted, are AI-generated and designed to catch attention, not inform.
On brain games: the picture is more nuanced. A large long-term study published in early 2026 found that one specific type of cognitive speed training was associated with a 25 percent reduction in dementia diagnoses over 20 years, genuinely promising results. However, a 2025 review of brain training apps available in app stores found that only one out of fourteen cited any empirical research at all. Most commercial brain apps are not the same as the evidence-based training behind that study.
Both Tai Chi and cognitive training have real merit. The ads promoting them frequently do not.
