Nicola points to a 2015 study of 300-plus female twins that revealed a fascinating link: Having more powerful legs—a metric captured by sitting in a machine and pushing one foot as hard and fast as possible against a pedal—is associated with relatively better cognition 10 years later, measured by performance on tests of memory and processing speed.

The article goes on to suggest gym-equipment training exercises, but regularly pushing a heavily loaded pedal via cargo-cycling seems like a much more obvious solution that doesn't require a gym membership.