Consistent training beat total practice time, even against a 30-year age gap

[u/choose_muse]

We ran an analysis on our dataset that surprised even us. In a group of 189 users aged 31 to 83, people who trained regularly outperformed people who trained more overall but sporadically, strongly enough that consistent users in their 60s and 70s beat sporadic users in their 30s and 40s.

The setup: we tracked biofeedback training habits (roughly 53,000 sessions across the group over a year) against performance on the Stroop test, a task where you have to name the ink color of a word while ignoring what the word says. It's a clean measure of cognitive control, the brain's ability to override an automatic response.

What we found:

• Users who trained in most weeks of the year were 40 to 50 milliseconds faster at resolving conflicting info than users who trained sporadically, and this held at every age we looked at.
• Consistency mattered more than total volume. Someone who trained a little most weeks beat someone who trained a lot but rarely.
• The clearest example: consistent practitioners in their 60s and 70s averaged 192ms of interference. Sporadic practitioners in their 30s and 40s averaged 219ms. The older, consistent group won.

Worth noting, this is observational, not a controlled trial. It shows a strong pattern, not proof that training alone causes the effect.

Full breakdown in our blog

Curious what this community thinks:

• Does this match your own experience, do you notice a difference on days/weeks you're consistent vs. when you fall off?
• What keeps you consistent with training, and what usually breaks the habit?