Shifting gears might be the secret weapon for your brain. At least that is the claim from a new study. It comes from Tohoku University in Japan. The message is simple. Driving a stick shift keeps dementia away.
“A significant effect on maintaining mental health”
That is the takeaway. Professor Ryuta Kawashima leads the research. You might know him from Nintendo’s Brain Age games. He says manual transmission puts work where it needs to be. Specifically. The prefrontal cortex.
Automatic transmission is passive. It does not ask for much. But clutching in. Shifting gears. Managing the accelerator. This combo is a workout. It forces high-level decision-making. Memory usage goes up. Kawashima calls it a load on cognitive functions. A good load.
Does this help stop ageing? Maybe. Dementia is a brutal enemy. It is the leading cause of death in Australia. The numbers are hard to ignore. Around 446,000 Aussies have it. Some are young. As young as eighteen. Or even children. Over 1.5 million people care for them. It is a massive strain on families.
So why drive a manual? For the brain.
Car companies seem to agree. Or at least the enthusiast crowd does. Nismo CEO Yutaka SanADA saw a return in demand. Nissan still offers manuals for the Z. It rivals the Mustang. Or the MX-5. Kia does it with the Picanto. Cheap entry-level city car. Stick shift. Who knew.
Hot hatches love the manual. Hyundai i20 N. Toyota GR86. Porsche 911. BMW M models. Frank van Meel, BMW’s M boss, insists they will keep the six-speed. In the M2 and M3. For Australia.
Ford is louder about it. Jim Farley, Ford CEO, spoke at the 2026 Melbourne Grand Prix. He was direct. Manual Mustangs are staying. They will be pulled out of “cold. Dead. Hands.” Before they vanish.
It feels like a rebellion against convenience. We like easy things. Push-button starts. Auto-transmissions that do the thinking. But maybe that ease costs us. Maybe we need to suffer a little bit. Clutching into third gear while traffic waits. That frustration might actually help.
The automatic car drives you home. The manual drives your brain to work.
