The Exercise Neuroscientist: NEW RESEARCH, The Shocking Link Between Exercise And Dementia!
Ringkasan
TLDRNeuroscientist Wendy Suzuki shares insights on how to make the brain healthier through exercise, diet, and maintaining social connections. She explains that exercise is fundamental in improving mood, memory, and cognitive functions due to its impact on brain plasticity. Engaging in aerobic activities helps release growth factors that boost memory and overall brain health. She highlights the Mediterranean diet's benefits for cognitive function due to its composition of unprocessed, colorful foods. Social interactions are vital as they not only contribute to happiness but also reduce stress and enhance longevity. Interestingly, the brain's plasticity, its ability to change and grow with new experiences and learning, plays a crucial role in maintaining its health. Suzuki touches on emotional aspects, explaining how love and social connections visibly alter brain activity, which can be seen in scans. The conversation delves into negative influences such as social media, drawing attention to its adverse effects on mental health, including increased anxiety and depression. Strategies to combat brain aging, like consistent physical activity and sustaining mental engagement, are discussed. Suzuki also shares personal anecdotes addressing the importance of understanding emotions, including anxiety and grief, in fostering resilience and wisdom.
Takeaways
- 🧠 Exercise significantly boosts brain health and mood.
- 🍽️ The Mediterranean diet supports cognitive function.
- 👥 Social interactions are crucial for mental and emotional well-being.
- 🏃♂️ Aerobic activities enhance brain plasticity.
- 🧘♂️ Mindfulness practices strengthen the prefrontal cortex.
- 📱 Excessive social media use links with anxiety and depression.
- ❤️ Emotional connections activate reward areas in the brain.
- 🗣️ Repetition, association, novelty, and emotions improve memory.
- 🌿 Physical activity may reduce dementia risk.
- 👩🔬 Brain structure can grow and change, proving its plasticity.
Garis waktu
- 00:00:00 - 00:05:00
Introduction to a preserved human brain named Betty and Wendy Suzuki, a neuroscientist. The discussion shifts to maintaining brain health, highlighting exercise as crucial for brain changes, and the Mediterranean diet's benefits.
- 00:05:00 - 00:10:00
The conversation covers the negative impact of loneliness on the brain, the neurological effects of being in love, and the importance of daily brain routines, with exercises to prevent aging and neurodegenerative diseases.
- 00:10:00 - 00:15:00
The host announces a raffle for subscribers, expressing gratitude and outlining prizes. The focus returns to stress the significance of a healthy brain, described as 'big fat fluffy,' for enhancing life quality.
- 00:15:00 - 00:20:00
Wendy Suzuki elaborates on prefrontal cortex and hippocampus functions, emphasizing their roles in memory and attention. She demonstrates using a brain model, connecting exercise to improved cognitive functions.
- 00:20:00 - 00:25:00
Suzuki shares her personal revelation from incorporating exercise, which improved her mood and cognitive abilities. This revelation coincided with her father's decline due to Alzheimer's, prompting her focus on exercise's brain benefits.
- 00:25:00 - 00:30:00
The dialogue explores scientific studies supporting exercise's positive effects on mood, memory, and cognitive function. Suzuki reflects on her motivation, driven by her father's dementia, to delve into exercise's neuro-benefits.
- 00:30:00 - 00:35:00
Discussion on brain plasticity, using historical experiments with rats as evidence of brain adaptability. London taxi drivers' hippocampus enlargement through extensive learning highlights spatial memory's impact.
- 00:35:00 - 00:40:00
The host seeks practical guidance on improving brain health at 31, with studies showing exercise's preventative role against dementia and promoting long-term brain health through continuous activity.
- 00:40:00 - 00:45:00
Wendy Suzuki emphasizes physical activity's daily neurochemical benefits and potential to develop new brain cells, especially in the hippocampus, counteracting aging's cognitive effects.
- 00:45:00 - 00:50:00
The adverse effects of sedentary lifestyles, sleep deprivation, and excessive alcohol on brain health are examined, affirming physical exercise, proper sleep, and social connections as pivotal to maintaining a healthy brain.
- 00:50:00 - 00:55:00
A deep dive into memory types, with strategies to enhance memory through repetition, association, novelty, and emotional resonance. The hippocampus' role as an associative structure is emphasized.
- 00:55:00 - 01:00:00
There's a presentation of the human brain, eliciting deep reflections on human existence stored within. Suzuki shares her formative experience of seeing a brain, sparking her passion for neuroscience.
- 01:00:00 - 01:05:00
The conversation discusses the benefits of aerobic exercise on cognitive functions, with practical guidelines for varying fitness levels. Wendy underscores the immediate mood boost from exercise and its mental focus benefits.
- 01:05:00 - 01:10:00
The host examines personal habits affecting cognitive performance, highlighting the role of caffeine and advocating self-experimentation with routines like hot-cold contrast showers for brain wellness.
- 01:10:00 - 01:15:00
Wendy warns against detrimental behaviors like inactivity and poor sleep affecting brain health, urging moderation in alcohol consumption and healthy diet choices, with cognition benefiting from novelty and social engagement.
- 01:15:00 - 01:20:00
The negatives of excessive social media usage are explored, noting its impact on depression and anxiety, particularly in younger individuals, despite its superficial semblance of connectivity.
- 01:20:00 - 01:25:00
An exploration of anxiety's physiological basis and potential coping mechanisms, including exercise and meditation, proposing that anxiety provides insight into what we value most and can be harnessed as a superpower.
- 01:25:00 - 01:30:55
Wendy Suzuki reflects on personal grief from losing family members, discovering wisdom in sorrow by recognizing the depth of love it implies. This emotional depth transformed her perspective on anxiety and its role in life.
Peta Pikiran
Pertanyaan yang Sering Diajukan
Who is Wendy Suzuki?
Wendy Suzuki is a neuroscientist and professor at New York University.
What are the benefits of exercise for the brain?
Exercise improves mood, memory, and cognitive functions by enhancing brain plasticity.
Why is social interaction important for brain health?
Social interaction reduces stress and contributes to brain health and longevity.
How does the Mediterranean diet benefit the brain?
The Mediterranean diet, which is rich in unprocessed, colorful foods, supports optimal brain function.
Can love be seen in the brain?
Yes, love activates reward areas in the brain and changes can be observed in brain scans.
What are the consequences of not being social on the brain?
Loneliness can damage the brain and increase the risk of dementia.
What is brain plasticity?
Brain plasticity is the brain's ability to change and adapt as a result of experience and learning.
How can I improve my memory according to Wendy Suzuki?
Repetition, association, novelty, and emotional resonance can help improve memory retention.
What is the impact of social media on the brain?
Excessive social media use is linked to increased stress, depression, and anxiety, particularly in young people.
What kind of exercise is beneficial for brain health?
Aerobic exercise that raises the heart rate is best for brain health as it releases growth factors that enhance brain function.
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DIVISION OF POLYNOMIALS USING SYNTHETIC DIVISION || GRADE 10 MATHEMATICS Q1
- 00:00:00in this box is a real preserved human
- 00:00:03brain named Betty and I think you should
- 00:00:05hold it oh my God it's wet and now we're
- 00:00:10going to go through all the tools and
- 00:00:12tricks to make your brain as healthy as
- 00:00:14it could be are you ready Wendy Suzuki
- 00:00:17the neuroscientist and professor at New
- 00:00:19York University whose firsthand research
- 00:00:21on the brain is helping to improve
- 00:00:23memory learning and higher cognitive
- 00:00:25abilities in humans let me start with
- 00:00:27exercise all the research shows the more
- 00:00:30you exercise the more change in your
- 00:00:33brain we notice every drop of sweat
- 00:00:36counted and the best kind of exercise
- 00:00:38that you can do is what about things
- 00:00:41that we consume food drink and alcohol
- 00:00:43if it's on the meditarranean diet go
- 00:00:45ahead
- 00:00:46[Music]
- 00:00:48coffee and then my memory is not great
- 00:00:50most people feel that but there's four
- 00:00:52things that you can do to make memories
- 00:00:54stick number one is is it true that if
- 00:00:57we have less friends then our brain will
- 00:00:59shrink yes loneliness damages the brain
- 00:01:02can you say if someone's in love in the
- 00:01:03brain yes in the side here a lot of the
- 00:01:06reward areas are activated doesn't that
- 00:01:08mean then that if we don't fall in love
- 00:01:10the love part of my brain gets smaller
- 00:01:12and would that make it more difficult to
- 00:01:13love in the future that's a great
- 00:01:15question so Wendy do you have any brain
- 00:01:18routines absolutely so every morning I
- 00:01:21like to oh and then I do the most
- 00:01:23powerful tool that you can do to protect
- 00:01:26your brain from aging and
- 00:01:27neurodegenerative disease states which
- 00:01:29is
- 00:01:31we've just hit 6 million subscribers on
- 00:01:33the D Co um so me and my team would like
- 00:01:35to do something we've never done before
- 00:01:36as little thank you and we're calling it
- 00:01:38The dire of coo subscriber raffle and
- 00:01:41here is how it works every episode this
- 00:01:43month we're going to pick three current
- 00:01:44subscribers at random and we'll send one
- 00:01:46of you a 1,000 voucher one of you
- 00:01:49tickets to come and watch the D SE
- 00:01:50behind the scenes live with our team and
- 00:01:52one of you will have a 10-minute phone
- 00:01:54call with me to discuss whatever you
- 00:01:55want to talk about if you're a
- 00:01:57subscriber you're in the raffle thank
- 00:02:00you from the bottom of my heart for
- 00:02:01allowing me to do something that me and
- 00:02:03my team love doing so much it is the
- 00:02:05greatest honor of my lifetime and I hope
- 00:02:07it I hope it continues uh off into the
- 00:02:09Future Let's get to the
- 00:02:11[Music]
- 00:02:17episode you just said to me that much of
- 00:02:19your work is focused on making sure
- 00:02:21people have big fat fluffy brains yes
- 00:02:25why does that matter it matters because
- 00:02:28a big fat fluffy brain brain is a
- 00:02:30healthy brain and my whole first book
- 00:02:34healthy brain happy life was about how I
- 00:02:37learned to use all the tools and tricks
- 00:02:40and magic of neuroscience and psychology
- 00:02:43to make my brain work better and I so
- 00:02:47needed it at that moment my life got
- 00:02:49better I got happier it is a pathway to
- 00:02:53a happy life I think having a very
- 00:02:56healthy big fat fluffy brain do you
- 00:02:58think people appreciate the importance
- 00:02:59of that that brain no I think they
- 00:03:01ignore it all the
- 00:03:03time and I think that is part of my uh
- 00:03:07part of my message to everybody that
- 00:03:09that the human brain that is the one in
- 00:03:11your head right now is the most complex
- 00:03:14structure known to human kind not
- 00:03:16Einstein's brain not Marie K's brain but
- 00:03:19the one in your head and when you think
- 00:03:23about that it gives you more of a self
- 00:03:26appreciation of all of the computations
- 00:03:29that is taking for me to see you and
- 00:03:32appreciate your face and be able to
- 00:03:34remember your face next time I see you
- 00:03:37when I go to my diary of a CEO podcast
- 00:03:40and and choose an episode all of that is
- 00:03:44is such a complex structure um you start
- 00:03:47to appreciate your own kind of brain
- 00:03:49functioning more I think that's a very
- 00:03:50important thing to do why don't we
- 00:03:52appreciate our brains because we
- 00:03:54appreciate a lot of other things yeah we
- 00:03:56spend a lot of time on our like our
- 00:03:58muscles yeah our ABS yeah
- 00:04:00I think that that's a great analogy and
- 00:04:03part of my goal is to kind of shift the
- 00:04:07focus from focusing on certain body
- 00:04:09parts to focusing on what our brain is
- 00:04:12doing for us what it can do for us and
- 00:04:15what we can do to change your
- 00:04:17environments to get to that big fat
- 00:04:19fluffy brain to get it healthy to get it
- 00:04:21happy to get it growing if I achieve a
- 00:04:25big fat fluffy
- 00:04:26brain how would my life be different I'm
- 00:04:29saying me Steve Bart I'm I'm a podcaster
- 00:04:31I'm I'm an entrepreneur relationships
- 00:04:33I've Got Friends girlfriend family how
- 00:04:36would I show up differently if I was
- 00:04:37able to make my brain big fat and fluffy
- 00:04:40yeah so uh let me start with the two
- 00:04:42areas that we know respond really really
- 00:04:45well to things like meditation and
- 00:04:48exercise those two brain areas are the
- 00:04:51hippocampus critical for long-term
- 00:04:53memory your ability to form and retain
- 00:04:55new long-term memories and for facts and
- 00:04:57events and the second brain area is your
- 00:04:59prefrontal cortex right behind your
- 00:05:01forehead critical for your ability to
- 00:05:03shift and focus attention um it's
- 00:05:05important for your personality for
- 00:05:07decision making can you show me on there
- 00:05:09there's a you brought absolutely I
- 00:05:10brought a human brain you have bring
- 00:05:12that you have a model of a brain as well
- 00:05:14I have a model of the brain okay let's
- 00:05:15start with the model of the
- 00:05:19brain so here is a model of the human
- 00:05:22brain so there's a front part and a back
- 00:05:25part this front part is right behind our
- 00:05:28forehead that's the pre Al cortex
- 00:05:30critical for the ability to shift and
- 00:05:33focus attention also a part of the brain
- 00:05:36that is very responsive to what you
- 00:05:39bring into your life exercise actually
- 00:05:41really helps the prefrontal cortex
- 00:05:43meditation helps area 10 of the
- 00:05:45prefrontal cortex which is right in the
- 00:05:47very front right here the second brain
- 00:05:50area that you will benefit from when you
- 00:05:53make your brain big and fat and fluffy
- 00:05:56is a structure called the hippocampus
- 00:05:57which is which is very deep in this
- 00:06:00lobe deep in this lobe right here which
- 00:06:03is the temporal lobe the hippocampus
- 00:06:07hippocampus means seahorse and the
- 00:06:09hippocampus is critical for your ability
- 00:06:12to to form and retain new long-term
- 00:06:15memories for facts and events you have
- 00:06:16one on the right and you have one on the
- 00:06:18left so for you Superstar podcaster what
- 00:06:22do you need to do you need to remember
- 00:06:24all the details of that guest that
- 00:06:26you're sitting in front of you need to
- 00:06:28be able to focus what did say what do I
- 00:06:30want to uh ask next and how do I want to
- 00:06:32come back to those things that is a
- 00:06:34combination of what your prefrontal
- 00:06:35cortex is doing for you and your
- 00:06:37hippocampus is doing for you so I submit
- 00:06:41that you when you do these things that
- 00:06:43we know from Neuroscience it are going
- 00:06:46to make your prefrontal cortex and your
- 00:06:48hippocampus big and fat and fluffy you
- 00:06:50will be better at doing your job as a
- 00:06:53podcaster I am better as a dean and a
- 00:06:56professor of Neuroscience and and
- 00:06:59teaching in class for example is where
- 00:07:01I'm using my prefrontal cortex in my
- 00:07:03hippocampus the most most of us would
- 00:07:05benefit from these things that make our
- 00:07:08brains big and fat and fluffy was there
- 00:07:10a point in your life where you had a
- 00:07:12personal Epiphany or Revelation about
- 00:07:14the brain that made you so passionate
- 00:07:16about the subject absolutely absolutely
- 00:07:19so this story starts when I was in the
- 00:07:23middle of getting tenure um at New York
- 00:07:26University so it takes six years uh you
- 00:07:29have six years to P prove yourself as a
- 00:07:31scientist and do something
- 00:07:33groundbreaking and if you don't you're
- 00:07:35fired so no big deal no pressure there
- 00:07:38and I decided to only just work work
- 00:07:41work work I didn't have a lot of social
- 00:07:43interactions I was just working and I
- 00:07:46just just threw myself into work and uh
- 00:07:49I was getting burnt out and um I decided
- 00:07:52to go on a river rafting trip to Peru by
- 00:07:55myself because I had no friends so i' go
- 00:07:57on the river rafting trip and and it's
- 00:07:59great it's beautiful we're river rafting
- 00:08:02we're we're camping on Aztec burial
- 00:08:05sites and it is just spectacular um but
- 00:08:08I realized that I'm the weakest person
- 00:08:10on this trip and when I got back after
- 00:08:13this wonderful you know two weeks in
- 00:08:16Peru I said I never want to feel like
- 00:08:18the weakest person on a trip like that
- 00:08:20again and it was so great to to be
- 00:08:23moving and to be exercising so I decided
- 00:08:25I'm going to go to the gym and I'm going
- 00:08:27to continue this physical activity at
- 00:08:30the gym and somehow it stuck I had I had
- 00:08:33let myself go not no exercise at all and
- 00:08:37when I started going to the gym
- 00:08:39regularly I noticed that that great mood
- 00:08:43that I found in Peru every day during
- 00:08:45the river rafting trip stayed with me I
- 00:08:47think everybody in my lab loved it when
- 00:08:49I was going to the gym and I started to
- 00:08:52notice not only I got stronger I was
- 00:08:54feeling better that mood boost that I
- 00:08:57got from physical activity was so
- 00:09:00powerful but then one day this you asked
- 00:09:03me about this Revelation I had it was
- 00:09:05one day I was sitting in my office
- 00:09:08riding a grant which is usually
- 00:09:11something that I have to do very
- 00:09:12regularly but usually something that I'm
- 00:09:14pulling my hair out it's so hard it's
- 00:09:16very competitive I'm competing against
- 00:09:18Nobel laurates for the same pot of money
- 00:09:22and I had this thought that went through
- 00:09:23my mind which was gosh writing went well
- 00:09:28today I I'd never had that thought
- 00:09:30before ever in my I'd been there for
- 00:09:32five years at at NYU writing grants and
- 00:09:36so um I um I thought oh maybe maybe I'm
- 00:09:40just having a good day I'm feeling good
- 00:09:42but I realized that the um the writing
- 00:09:46seemed to have been getting a little bit
- 00:09:48better over time I had noticed it a
- 00:09:49little bit if I think about it and the
- 00:09:51only thing I had changed in my life was
- 00:09:54regular physical activity inspired by
- 00:09:57that trip to Peru
- 00:10:00and so I'm a neuroscientist I went to
- 00:10:02the literature and I asked well what do
- 00:10:03we know right now about what exactly
- 00:10:05exercise is doing and it showed at that
- 00:10:08moment in time about 10 15 years
- 00:10:12ago that exercise can improve your mood
- 00:10:16exercise actually makes your memory work
- 00:10:19better and exercise improves the
- 00:10:21function of your prefrontal cortex and I
- 00:10:24thought wow that that is
- 00:10:26amazing but the last part of the story
- 00:10:29was was that when all of this was going
- 00:10:31on this was after this day of realizing
- 00:10:34gosh something's you know my writing is
- 00:10:36better and um maybe it's exercise um I
- 00:10:39got a call from my mom who said that my
- 00:10:43father wasn't feeling well and that he
- 00:10:46had gotten lost driving back from the
- 00:10:48coffee shop that he drove to every day
- 00:10:51every afternoon for the last 20 years
- 00:10:54and the hippocampus that structure
- 00:10:56critical for memory is particularly
- 00:10:58important important for spatial memory
- 00:11:01and as an expert in the hippocampus as I
- 00:11:03am I knew that that was a Telltale sign
- 00:11:07of dementia and maybe Alzheimer's
- 00:11:10dementia but as I talked to my father
- 00:11:12and of course we went and got him a
- 00:11:14neurology appointment I saw that
- 00:11:17everything that seemed to be improving
- 00:11:19in me that is memory Focus completely
- 00:11:24and very very suddenly uh diminished in
- 00:11:27him his memory was terrible he couldn't
- 00:11:30focus he was also very depressed because
- 00:11:32he could notice how poor his memory was
- 00:11:36and I think those things together what I
- 00:11:39was noticing in myself about the
- 00:11:41physical effects of U the effects of
- 00:11:43physical activity on my own brain
- 00:11:45function and seeing my father go through
- 00:11:48which what uh what was a really
- 00:11:50precipitous loss of his cognitive
- 00:11:52functions that turned out to be
- 00:11:54Alzheimer's
- 00:11:55dementia made me think that the power of
- 00:12:00physical activity needed to be explored
- 00:12:03more deeply and by me I I was waking up
- 00:12:06in the morning thinking about what can
- 00:12:09we what can I do to better understand
- 00:12:11how physical activity could be used not
- 00:12:13just for me for my students can they
- 00:12:15study better can they learn better can
- 00:12:17it help maybe not my father I wasn't
- 00:12:20sure whether exercise could help my
- 00:12:21father at that point but as people age
- 00:12:25that was the Revelation that I had that
- 00:12:28made me actually switch my research
- 00:12:30Focus from memory function to
- 00:12:34understanding the effects of physical
- 00:12:36activity on the brain all of this is
- 00:12:38rooted in
- 00:12:40a fact that was once not considered a
- 00:12:43fact which is the idea that our brains
- 00:12:45can change shape yes yeah this idea of
- 00:12:48brain plasticity I only really learned
- 00:12:49about this a couple of years ago because
- 00:12:51I think I like many people didn't
- 00:12:52realize that like muscles my brain
- 00:12:54changes shape based on what I do yes and
- 00:12:57also what I consume yes I guess yes what
- 00:13:01is the evidence or the studies that we
- 00:13:02have that proves our brains do change
- 00:13:03shape yeah that's such a great question
- 00:13:06and uh it takes me back to the first day
- 00:13:08of my freshman year at UC Berkeley when
- 00:13:11I walked into the classroom I didn't
- 00:13:13know it at the time but the classroom of
- 00:13:15the professor that discovered brain
- 00:13:18plasticity her name is Marian diamond
- 00:13:20and she uh was the very first female PhD
- 00:13:23in neuroanatomy that UC Berkeley ever
- 00:13:26gave um I walked into her classroom in
- 00:13:28the 80s when I went to college but she
- 00:13:31discovered this in the late
- 00:13:341960s um when it was thought as you said
- 00:13:37that the adult brain can't change at all
- 00:13:39there's absolutely no evidence for it
- 00:13:42and that was true at the time she
- 00:13:43thought I don't think that's true let's
- 00:13:45let's do a simple experiment let's try
- 00:13:49and um uh look at the effects in two
- 00:13:52randomly grouped set of rats one that
- 00:13:55lives in what they would consider an
- 00:13:57enriched environment
- 00:13:59what would be an enriched environment
- 00:14:01well for her it was a rat cage full of
- 00:14:04toys that got changed out all the time
- 00:14:06lots of other rats to play with and um
- 00:14:09lots of lots of activity I think of it
- 00:14:11as the Disney World of rat cages and she
- 00:14:14compared the brains of those rats to
- 00:14:17rats that she raised in kind of a shoe
- 00:14:19box a smaller environment they got free
- 00:14:21food and water all the food and water
- 00:14:22they could eat and drink but maybe only
- 00:14:24one other rat and no toys now if the
- 00:14:27adult brat they were all the same age
- 00:14:29they were adults if the if the adult
- 00:14:31brain didn't change then there should be
- 00:14:33absolutely no difference between the
- 00:14:35brains raised in Disney World and the
- 00:14:37brains raised in the shoe box but she
- 00:14:40found that the the brains of those rats
- 00:14:43raised in the Disney World of rat cages
- 00:14:45the outer covering of the brain the
- 00:14:48outside of the brain here uh I'm
- 00:14:49pointing to the outside of this brain
- 00:14:51model here called the cortex it was
- 00:14:54actually thicker she was she was a
- 00:14:57neuroanatomist and she showed that the
- 00:14:59thickness of this outer covering
- 00:15:01actually grew what does that mean there
- 00:15:03were more synaptic connections there in
- 00:15:06not in the whole brain in certain brain
- 00:15:08areas that made sense the visual
- 00:15:11cortical area there was much more visual
- 00:15:13stimulation in the Disney World of rat
- 00:15:15cages the motor areas were thicker the
- 00:15:17somata sensory the touch areas were
- 00:15:19thicker because they were interacting in
- 00:15:21a much more complex way with their Touch
- 00:15:25system and that was the first
- 00:15:27demonstration the adult brain could
- 00:15:29change and that it would actually make
- 00:15:33the cortex of the brain grow and now we
- 00:15:37know what is it about the Disney World
- 00:15:39of rat cages you know um is it the toys
- 00:15:42should we all be playing with toys later
- 00:15:44study showed that you get almost
- 00:15:47identical effects just by giving rats a
- 00:15:50running wheel physical activity is doing
- 00:15:54all of that has the potential to change
- 00:15:56all of that in the rodent brain and now
- 00:16:00in the human brain didn't they find
- 00:16:01something similar with um London taxi
- 00:16:04drivers I always hear this I thought it
- 00:16:06was like a wasn't sure if it was true or
- 00:16:08like a rumor but no no no it's
- 00:16:10absolutely true that is a different form
- 00:16:12of brain plasticity which is something
- 00:16:15that we all do and my students do
- 00:16:16hopefully very well which is learning so
- 00:16:19can learning the Streets of London which
- 00:16:22are I can't remember the the the number
- 00:16:25of different streets that London taxi
- 00:16:27cab drivers have have to learn to pass
- 00:16:30the famous test called the knowledge but
- 00:16:33I do remember that it takes them four
- 00:16:35years to study for this test it is
- 00:16:39intense uh um knowledge you have to
- 00:16:42learn all the lawful ways to get from
- 00:16:44all the big landmarks to be a certified
- 00:16:47London taxi cab driver and what uh my
- 00:16:50colleague El Eleanor Maguire uh
- 00:16:53professor of neuroscience at University
- 00:16:55College London did is she followed w be
- 00:16:59London taxi cab drivers during their
- 00:17:02four years of the knowledge this test
- 00:17:05for London taxi cab drivers knowing that
- 00:17:08half of them were going to fail they
- 00:17:10they were not going to make it and so
- 00:17:12she tested them at the beginning and
- 00:17:14asked how is your memory uh and how big
- 00:17:16is your hippocampus identical for all
- 00:17:19all of the uh wannabe London taat cab
- 00:17:22drivers before they started she scanned
- 00:17:24their brains yeah she scanned their
- 00:17:25brains and she tested their memory okay
- 00:17:28behaviorally
- 00:17:29then they go through half of them drop
- 00:17:31out they don't become London tax cab
- 00:17:33drivers and half of them become
- 00:17:35certified London taxic cab drivers after
- 00:17:38successfully learning all of this now
- 00:17:41let's see how big is your hippoc campus
- 00:17:43and how good is your memory the people
- 00:17:45that passed the test and became London
- 00:17:48tat cab drivers the posterior part of
- 00:17:50their hippocampus which is the part we
- 00:17:52know is important for it with posterior
- 00:17:54is back towards the back of the head the
- 00:17:57posterior part of the hip of Campus
- 00:17:58which is kind of a cigar shaped
- 00:18:00structure that goes from the front part
- 00:18:02of the brain to the back part of the
- 00:18:04brain that back part of the brain was
- 00:18:07significantly bigger in those London
- 00:18:10successful London taxi cab drivers
- 00:18:12compared to the failed London taxi cab
- 00:18:16drivers and the memory of the successful
- 00:18:20London taxi cab drivers were now
- 00:18:22superior to the memory of the wannabe
- 00:18:25London TX cab drivers that failed so
- 00:18:28that is example of how intense learning
- 00:18:32in a particular part of the brain um uh
- 00:18:35we know the posterior hippocampus is
- 00:18:36absolutely involved in spatial learning
- 00:18:39uh that can change the actual structure
- 00:18:42and the function how much of a
- 00:18:44difference can we make I'm 31 years old
- 00:18:46now yeah so if I got serious about my
- 00:18:49brain health yeah how much of a
- 00:18:52difference could I realistically see you
- 00:18:55know I'm trying to figure out if it's
- 00:18:56worth it yeah if it's worth caring about
- 00:18:59my brain is is there any evidence within
- 00:19:01the literature within studies that have
- 00:19:03been done that show if I start now even
- 00:19:06though I'm like 30 31 years old my life
- 00:19:09will be different in the future in the
- 00:19:11areas that I care about profoundly if I
- 00:19:13start caring about my
- 00:19:15brain let me be very very um um concrete
- 00:19:20here the answer is absolutely yes first
- 00:19:23I'm going to give you results of a study
- 00:19:25in people that are 65 and older so
- 00:19:27studied people that are 6 65 and older
- 00:19:30and asked what is the probability of
- 00:19:33getting dementia in the next six years
- 00:19:36depending on the level of activity that
- 00:19:38you have just right now physical
- 00:19:40activity physical activity and they
- 00:19:42measured it in how many walks you take
- 00:19:44per week and if you took three walks a
- 00:19:48week or more you were 30% less likely to
- 00:19:53develop Dementia in the next 5 years so
- 00:19:57ooh 30
- 00:19:59% uh less likely to develop dementia my
- 00:20:02father passed away of Alzheimer's
- 00:20:04dementia that makes me sit up and take
- 00:20:07notice but the but the thing that should
- 00:20:09make you as a 31-year-old uh really sit
- 00:20:12up and take notice is the larger
- 00:20:15correlations that show that the longer
- 00:20:17you have regular physical activity in
- 00:20:20your life the longer you're able to
- 00:20:23Stave off dementia the more active you
- 00:20:26are over your lifetime um that first
- 00:20:29study shows that it's never too late to
- 00:20:31start you can start walking regularly
- 00:20:33which is doable when you're uh perhaps
- 00:20:36at that age but the longer you stay
- 00:20:39active the bigger and fatter and
- 00:20:41fluffier your brain will be why does
- 00:20:44that make sense so one key piece of
- 00:20:47information that I haven't told you yet
- 00:20:49is that we know that physical activity
- 00:20:53is releasing a every single time you
- 00:20:55move your body you releasing a whole
- 00:20:57bunch of neuro chemicals in your brain
- 00:21:00some of them make you just feel good
- 00:21:02serotonin dopamine noradrenaline
- 00:21:04endorphins yeah I feel good if I go out
- 00:21:07for a walk I feel better than if I had
- 00:21:08been sitting here for eight hours but
- 00:21:10the other thing that gets released every
- 00:21:12single time is growth factors I like to
- 00:21:15call it a bubble bath of neurochemicals
- 00:21:17that happens every time you move your
- 00:21:20body what that growth factor does is it
- 00:21:24goes directly into your hippocampus and
- 00:21:26it helps brand new cells grow GR in your
- 00:21:29hippocampus the hippocampus is only one
- 00:21:31of two total brain areas where new cells
- 00:21:35can grow that's not the same as synapsis
- 00:21:37which are Connections in the cells that
- 00:21:39are already there but the hippocampus
- 00:21:41can grow new cells and this is really
- 00:21:43important because many people know that
- 00:21:46the hippocampus is attacked first in
- 00:21:49Alzheimer's dementia and so exercise is
- 00:21:52not going to eliminate that disease
- 00:21:55state but if you start with a huge
- 00:21:58fluffy hippocampus it's going to take
- 00:22:00that disease that much longer to
- 00:22:02actually damage enough of your
- 00:22:04hippocampus so that you start seeing
- 00:22:06those telltale signs of memory
- 00:22:08impairment that comes with Alzheimer's
- 00:22:11disease and and dementia in general same
- 00:22:13thing with their prefrontal cortex your
- 00:22:15prefrontal cortex can grow with uh
- 00:22:18physical activity that's not neurons but
- 00:22:20new synapses can grow age and neurod
- 00:22:24degenerative disease states can damage
- 00:22:26cells but also take away synapses I've
- 00:22:28got two questions on that so the first
- 00:22:30is about dementia and Alzheimer's do we
- 00:22:32know what's causing it no we still don't
- 00:22:34know
- 00:22:35no and there's not good drugs
- 00:22:39unfortunately right now there's a lot of
- 00:22:42links to lifestyle choices though right
- 00:22:44yes absolutely and so of course from
- 00:22:48based on what I just said my number one
- 00:22:51most powerful tool that you can do to
- 00:22:54protect your brain from aging and
- 00:22:56neurodegenerative disease States is
- 00:22:59start walking why do I start with that
- 00:23:01because everybody can walk you don't
- 00:23:03need to buy any new fitness outfits just
- 00:23:06go out and walk more and then they say
- 00:23:09oh well do I have to become a marathon
- 00:23:10runner that could help too but everybody
- 00:23:13can walk and from that study that I
- 00:23:16mentioned in the 65y olds 30% reduction
- 00:23:20in um the probability of getting
- 00:23:22Alzheimer's with just walking you said
- 00:23:25that if I go and start walking and I do
- 00:23:27exercise my prefrontal cortex will grow
- 00:23:30which is the decision- making center
- 00:23:32right yes so does that mean then that if
- 00:23:35I am somebody who is very sedentary I
- 00:23:38don't do much physical activity that my
- 00:23:40decision making will be worse compared
- 00:23:42to what it could be with the same person
- 00:23:44if they're active yes I mean that there
- 00:23:47is that potential brain plasticity and
- 00:23:50the Neuroscience of brain plasticity
- 00:23:51tells us that absolutely with physical
- 00:23:54activity uh you have great potential to
- 00:23:57improve the function of your prefrontal
- 00:23:59cortex and I must specify a little bit
- 00:24:02uh the main function that is um that has
- 00:24:05been shown to be particularly sensitive
- 00:24:07to regular physical activity is um
- 00:24:10shifting and focusing your attention so
- 00:24:12being able to um listen to me while you
- 00:24:15might be paying attention to uh the AV
- 00:24:17guy that might be telling you something
- 00:24:19right now so to be able to do that
- 00:24:21effectively uh that that is one of the
- 00:24:23things that we know is helped with
- 00:24:25regular physical activity focus and
- 00:24:26attention that kind of thing okay you
- 00:24:28talked about memory as well is that does
- 00:24:30that exist in the prefrontal cortex as
- 00:24:31well uh there's a form of memory working
- 00:24:33memory uh which is kind of scratch Pad
- 00:24:35memory it's a Memory that um when we
- 00:24:37used to have to remember telephone
- 00:24:39numbers that that ability to remember a
- 00:24:41Sev digigit at least in the United
- 00:24:43States telephone number it's different
- 00:24:45from long-term memory formation which is
- 00:24:47memory for facts and events uh that is
- 00:24:50dependent on the
- 00:24:52hippocampus I feel like my memory is not
- 00:24:54great most people feel
- 00:24:56that why is my memory not as good as
- 00:25:00other people because I I noticed this
- 00:25:03when I I was with my friend in um
- 00:25:05Thailand many years ago I think I was 21
- 00:25:06years old and we could like leave the
- 00:25:09house and go on our little mopeds for
- 00:25:11about an hour yeah and he could navigate
- 00:25:14us back home without needing satav or
- 00:25:16Google Maps and if I go three minutes
- 00:25:19down the street I'm lost and I always
- 00:25:21wondered why that was is it and then
- 00:25:22even with names and stuff I would always
- 00:25:24he's my best friend he still is one of
- 00:25:25my best friends for for seven eight
- 00:25:26years we ran a business together and he
- 00:25:29would remember every name of every
- 00:25:31person and I couldn't I wouldn't and so
- 00:25:34I'd always T to him and say what was
- 00:25:35that person's name again what's that you
- 00:25:37know and I always wondered why my memory
- 00:25:39he seemed to have this incredible memory
- 00:25:40and mine seems to be pretty
- 00:25:43rudimentary I would argue that um yeah
- 00:25:45everybody has parts of their memory that
- 00:25:48aren't as good as they want but also
- 00:25:51other forms of memory that they're very
- 00:25:53good at so I would guess I've only just
- 00:25:56met you today that you're memory for
- 00:25:59stories and storytelling and story
- 00:26:02progress is excellent because it has to
- 00:26:04be for the job that you do I bet you
- 00:26:07it's much better than your friend that
- 00:26:08can navigate back not everybody has a
- 00:26:11perfect memory in all the different
- 00:26:13dimensions and and it's like our
- 00:26:14personality some people have a wonderful
- 00:26:17sense of humor and others don't um it is
- 00:26:20about how our brains are wired which is
- 00:26:22defined both by nature and nurture our
- 00:26:24genes and you know if I if I went to uh
- 00:26:28stand up comedy class I would probably
- 00:26:29get funnier but um uh but there's
- 00:26:32probably a limit to my funniness
- 00:26:34compared to other people so there's
- 00:26:36different types of memory yes in your
- 00:26:38book you talk about there being I think
- 00:26:40is it three different types of memory in
- 00:26:42total that are formed in the hippocampus
- 00:26:45there's lots of different names for
- 00:26:46forms of memory in the hippocampus um
- 00:26:49but I like to describe it as the
- 00:26:51hippocampus is critical for our memory
- 00:26:53for facts and and events um also called
- 00:26:56declarative memory or COG itive memory
- 00:26:59uh another form of memory that's
- 00:27:00dependent on a completely different
- 00:27:02structure is motor memory the memory
- 00:27:05that you uh use to learn how to play
- 00:27:07tennis or pickle ball or whatever you're
- 00:27:09playing and it's not declarative I can't
- 00:27:11declare how I do a backhand in in in
- 00:27:14tennis but it is in your motor functions
- 00:27:17and and this is dependent on the
- 00:27:19striatum a motor related structure and
- 00:27:21then there's the prefrontal cortex
- 00:27:23dependent on that working memory or
- 00:27:26scratch Pad memory keeping things in
- 00:27:27mind so um you and I are both trying to
- 00:27:30remember what we've just said so we can
- 00:27:32we can link it to things that we might
- 00:27:34say in the future one of things that I
- 00:27:36found really interesting both as a
- 00:27:37marketeer but also as a podcaster and as
- 00:27:39someone that's making a lot of content
- 00:27:42and trying to get people's attention was
- 00:27:44as I was reading through your work it
- 00:27:46became quite clear to me that there's a
- 00:27:48bit of an overlap between memory and
- 00:27:50attention in in many respects because
- 00:27:52absolutely you were talking about these
- 00:27:53four things that make facts or events
- 00:27:55memorable yes and many of those things
- 00:27:58are things that I think about as a
- 00:28:00marketeer when I'm trying to get someone
- 00:28:01to you know engage with something click
- 00:28:03on something buy something yeah what are
- 00:28:05those four things okay can we go through
- 00:28:07them absolutely so I like to say there
- 00:28:10are four things that make memory stick
- 00:28:13and this is after 25 or 30 years
- 00:28:16studying the hippoc campus and and how
- 00:28:18memories work number one is obvious
- 00:28:20repetition okay you you remember things
- 00:28:22with repetition number two not as
- 00:28:25obvious Association the hippocampus is
- 00:28:28an associative structure it Associates
- 00:28:31one thing with the other uh for example
- 00:28:33your name and your face so I'm I've just
- 00:28:36met you and I I will remember your name
- 00:28:38and your face now but it also helps you
- 00:28:41remember things like who's married to
- 00:28:43each other associating the husband with
- 00:28:45the wife uh have you heard of The Memory
- 00:28:48Palace uh yes yes so this is a technique
- 00:28:51that has been used for many many ages uh
- 00:28:55to help remember things and it is a
- 00:28:58strategy where you picture a spal
- 00:29:02location that's very familiar to you
- 00:29:04like your childhood home when you need
- 00:29:06to remember a list of items you take an
- 00:29:10imaginative walk through that very
- 00:29:12familiar environment and place those
- 00:29:14items in particular locations in the
- 00:29:18environment that is associating
- 00:29:21something really familiar your childhood
- 00:29:23home you know every corner of it with
- 00:29:25the new thing you need to remember and
- 00:29:28that works uh and has worked for memory
- 00:29:30champions for many years because the
- 00:29:32hippocampus Associates things together
- 00:29:36that's number two Association number
- 00:29:38three is novelty we remember novel
- 00:29:41things I've never been to this
- 00:29:43particular Studio ever before in my 26
- 00:29:46years in New York and Brooklyn so this
- 00:29:48is a novel thing and I I will remember
- 00:29:51coming here uh to do this podcast with
- 00:29:53you our brains and this is where it
- 00:29:56interacts with the attention system our
- 00:29:58attention system focuses on things that
- 00:30:01are novel why because it could be
- 00:30:03dangerous if I've seen it things over
- 00:30:06and over and over again I don't notice
- 00:30:08them they go into the background it's
- 00:30:10not going to hurt me any you know it's
- 00:30:12not it's not going to cause me any
- 00:30:14danger cliche that's why cliche doesn't
- 00:30:16work in marketing exactly yeah and so
- 00:30:19but something novel oo that really uh
- 00:30:22perks people up I use that in my
- 00:30:24teaching all the time surprise students
- 00:30:28uh with uh an element of what you want
- 00:30:30them to learn and they will remember it
- 00:30:32better but the fourth one which is so
- 00:30:35powerful and we know it intuitively we
- 00:30:38understand this intuitively is emotional
- 00:30:41resonance makes things more memorable we
- 00:30:45remember the happiest and the saddest
- 00:30:48things in our lives because that
- 00:30:51emotional resonance is solidifies those
- 00:30:54memories where does that come from it
- 00:30:56comes from a structure called the
- 00:30:57amydala that sits right in front of the
- 00:30:59hippocampus right in the front of the
- 00:31:01temporal lobe right here and the
- 00:31:03hippocampus is right behind it amydala
- 00:31:05me means almond it's an almond shaped
- 00:31:08structure and it sits right in front of
- 00:31:11um the kind of tube shaped structure
- 00:31:12that is the hippocampus behind it and
- 00:31:15the amydala is kind of infusing uh the
- 00:31:18hippocampus and kind of getting giving
- 00:31:20it a little jolt when it's emotionally
- 00:31:23resonant either really happy or really
- 00:31:26sad
- 00:31:28you brought with you what you've told me
- 00:31:31is a real human brain yes I did now I'm
- 00:31:34not sure if you're just whining me up
- 00:31:37but we're talking here about novelty and
- 00:31:38surprise and that's right things you'll
- 00:31:40never forget an emotional resonance
- 00:31:42correct and as you're saying that I was
- 00:31:43conscious that over in the corner of the
- 00:31:45room it appears that there's a human
- 00:31:46brain in a box so Jack is just bringing
- 00:31:49the human brain in yes I've never seen a
- 00:31:52human brain before you've never seen
- 00:31:53that's why I brought you gloves so you
- 00:31:55can hold it if you like if you like do
- 00:31:59you have permission to if there is a
- 00:32:01human brain in this box and you're not
- 00:32:03winding me up did you have to get
- 00:32:04permission from the owner of that brain
- 00:32:07so um this was purchased uh lawfully um
- 00:32:13by my department the center for neural
- 00:32:15science at New York University so it is
- 00:32:18lawfully ours to use as a teaching tool
- 00:32:22and it does bring enormous novelty to
- 00:32:25any situation that I go into and makes
- 00:32:28people really think about their brain in
- 00:32:30a new way which is why I bring it what
- 00:32:33is in that box in this box is a real
- 00:32:37preserved human brain named
- 00:32:40Betty was the person who used to own
- 00:32:44that brain called Betty no we don't know
- 00:32:47the name of the person I named this
- 00:32:49brain Betty so can can you tell if it's
- 00:32:52a man or a woman no I can't ah man men
- 00:32:55and women brains not different at all
- 00:32:56they are but in very very very subtle
- 00:32:58ways that we wouldn't be able to tell
- 00:33:00just looking at the the outside of the
- 00:33:02brain like this okay I'm ready are you
- 00:33:04ready I think
- 00:33:06so okay so I'm going to
- 00:33:10open the Hat Box no way is that I'm
- 00:33:14going pull out are you joking is that
- 00:33:17really a brain it is a real preserved
- 00:33:21human
- 00:33:22brain there it is frontal lobe frontal
- 00:33:28lobe occipital lobe for vision occipital
- 00:33:32lobe back there and in this brain I
- 00:33:35don't know if you can see it from over
- 00:33:36there if I pull apart the two
- 00:33:39hemispheres you can see how
- 00:33:41deep the the folds of the brain the
- 00:33:46surface is folded in that deep into the
- 00:33:49brain which expands the surface area of
- 00:33:53the outside of the cortex the rat cortex
- 00:33:56is flat there's no folds humans and
- 00:34:01elephants and dolphins have lots of
- 00:34:04folds they have much higher capacity for
- 00:34:08computation because of the folds that
- 00:34:10you see in this brain it's smaller than
- 00:34:12I was expecting really half the people
- 00:34:14say it's smaller half the people say wow
- 00:34:16that's that's enormous interesting is
- 00:34:18that the the color of a brain the color
- 00:34:21of the brain is darker than the real
- 00:34:23brain if we opened up my head right now
- 00:34:26um because of the form alahh the the
- 00:34:29preservative chemical that this has been
- 00:34:31sitting in for at least 26 years this
- 00:34:33brain has been in my department for ever
- 00:34:37since I got here 26 years ago I feel
- 00:34:40like I probably should hold it I think
- 00:34:42you should hold
- 00:34:48it oh my
- 00:34:50God sweat
- 00:34:54yes so I mean that that has that defined
- 00:34:59this person's whole life how they saw
- 00:35:03felt smelled uh heard and thought about
- 00:35:07the
- 00:35:08world just right there in your one hand
- 00:35:10in your right hand it's crazy to think
- 00:35:13that this little thing is oh it's
- 00:35:15different underneath yes it's crazy to
- 00:35:18think that this little thing this
- 00:35:21little that's the start of the spinal
- 00:35:23cord right there that you're pointing at
- 00:35:25and there's stuff at the underneath at
- 00:35:27the back this that is the cerebellum uh
- 00:35:30brain structure critical for fine motor
- 00:35:33movement um so we wouldn't be able to
- 00:35:35walk smoothly if you have damage in your
- 00:35:38cerebellum isn't it interesting that
- 00:35:40like everything as you say everything
- 00:35:43this person worried about every thought
- 00:35:46every memory every relationship all of
- 00:35:48their education the school they went to
- 00:35:51the university everything they saw and
- 00:35:53remembered and all of their trauma y and
- 00:35:58their anxiety and maybe their
- 00:36:01depression everything they went through
- 00:36:04even their last days before they died is
- 00:36:06like captured in this little ball of
- 00:36:08like tofu yep sits in my hand an entire
- 00:36:12human being's existence it's true what
- 00:36:15they watched on TV their favorite movie
- 00:36:17their favorite number color everything
- 00:36:19is in this tiny little bowl of
- 00:36:22tofu it's true
- 00:36:27oh gosh it is amazing and actually in
- 00:36:30real life firm tofu is the consistency
- 00:36:34of of the brain I often bring in a um
- 00:36:38you know a block of of firm tofu um when
- 00:36:41I demo this for students in addition to
- 00:36:44Betty do you remember the first time you
- 00:36:46saw a human brain I do did it change how
- 00:36:49you think about your own brain it
- 00:36:52changed my life because I was like I
- 00:36:57want to study that that is the coolest
- 00:36:59thing that I've ever seen in my whole
- 00:37:03life and I want to study that and I want
- 00:37:05to be just like her and um and so it it
- 00:37:09really like okay now I I decided this is
- 00:37:12what I want to do and it was it
- 00:37:16was it was
- 00:37:18life-changing I say that because we you
- 00:37:20know at the start of this conversation
- 00:37:21we said that most of us don't appreciate
- 00:37:22our brain a lot of people don't even
- 00:37:24realize it's there but the minute I had
- 00:37:26a brain scan one day and that brain scan
- 00:37:29really changed my life because seeing my
- 00:37:31own brain for the first time it was the
- 00:37:33push that I needed to start caring more
- 00:37:36about how my decisions and behaviors are
- 00:37:37impacting it so let's talk about how I
- 00:37:39can make that ball of tofu in my head
- 00:37:41super healthy super big fat and fluffy
- 00:37:43you talked about exercise earlier on but
- 00:37:45we didn't really dig dig into exactly
- 00:37:48what you mean by exercise because
- 00:37:49exercise I think is multifaceted and
- 00:37:51definition what kind of exercise should
- 00:37:54I be doing to make my ball of tofu in my
- 00:37:57head
- 00:37:58great yeah optimal mhm well all the
- 00:38:02research shows that the best kind of
- 00:38:04exercise that you can do is anything
- 00:38:07that gives you aerobic activity that is
- 00:38:10getting your heart rate up so that that
- 00:38:13goes for you know power walking will get
- 00:38:15your heart rate up soccer so many
- 00:38:17different things name your activity so
- 00:38:20many people want to say oh my favorite
- 00:38:22activity will that work and I always
- 00:38:24just say is it is your heart rate up
- 00:38:26when you're doing it if the answer is
- 00:38:27yes then yeah that that works great we
- 00:38:30know that that level of aerobic activity
- 00:38:32is critical because that's going to
- 00:38:34release that growth factor maximally to
- 00:38:37get into your hippocampus uh that will
- 00:38:39grow those new brain cells how much so
- 00:38:43um I have an answer to that so um we did
- 00:38:46two different experiments in my lab one
- 00:38:49in um low-fit people people that are
- 00:38:51really not exercising very much at all
- 00:38:53less than 30 minutes um um in the last
- 00:38:57three three weeks you you've uh moved
- 00:38:59your body and um we asked what could we
- 00:39:03see any behavioral Improvement in your
- 00:39:06memory function from your hippocampus or
- 00:39:08your uh ability to shift and focus
- 00:39:10attention if we ask you to move your
- 00:39:13body in an aerobic way for two to three
- 00:39:16times a week and we collaborated with a
- 00:39:18spin class so clearly very aerobic and
- 00:39:21what we found was in those people that
- 00:39:24did successfully do two to three times a
- 00:39:27week of 45 minute aerobic activity their
- 00:39:30mood got significantly better their
- 00:39:33memory function got better and their
- 00:39:36ability to shift and focus attention got
- 00:39:38significantly better so that gives a
- 00:39:40little bit of a guideline for low-fit
- 00:39:43people two to three times a week can
- 00:39:45start to give you some of those some of
- 00:39:47those cognitive changes but you don't
- 00:39:50look low fit so let me let me answer the
- 00:39:53question you're about to ask me with
- 00:39:54like what about me I I exercise pretty
- 00:39:56regularly and um how much how much do I
- 00:39:59need so to answer that question we went
- 00:40:02to another spin studio and we said look
- 00:40:04we're going to give you free classes you
- 00:40:06could exercise as much as you want in
- 00:40:09this in this um at this studio and uh um
- 00:40:13go up to seven times a week and the
- 00:40:16control was just stay the same you know
- 00:40:18you they were they were working out
- 00:40:19twice a week at at the studio control
- 00:40:21was the other group that were you were
- 00:40:22testing them against yes exactly and so
- 00:40:25what we found was
- 00:40:28basically every drop of sweat counted
- 00:40:31the more you exercise the more change in
- 00:40:34your brain we noted both your
- 00:40:36hippocampal function prefrontal function
- 00:40:38and mood if you you were already getting
- 00:40:42benefit you know you're already going
- 00:40:43twice a week but the more you did the
- 00:40:46more brain changes you got so that that
- 00:40:50doesn't give the formula that I would
- 00:40:52like but we were heading in that
- 00:40:53direction which is part of one of the
- 00:40:55questions that I want to answer but I
- 00:40:57love to leave people with the idea that
- 00:41:00every drop of sweat counts for building
- 00:41:03your brain into the big fat fluffy brain
- 00:41:05that you really
- 00:41:07want and then in the real world again
- 00:41:10making it super um real for people yeah
- 00:41:14how how does that change how I show up
- 00:41:17yeah if you allow it to should have a
- 00:41:20beautiful effect on your mindset um that
- 00:41:23your mindset around um
- 00:41:27how often should I take wake up an 30
- 00:41:31minutes early and do that walk before I
- 00:41:33start my day or accept the the
- 00:41:36invitation to go uh walk the dog with
- 00:41:39with a neighbor um it's not an
- 00:41:41obligation it is something that you're
- 00:41:43doing for yourself it is going to have
- 00:41:45direct benefits on that ball of tofu as
- 00:41:48you call it in your head it's going to
- 00:41:51make it work better and and I mean I
- 00:41:53think the most immediate thing that I
- 00:41:55benefit from every single day say is the
- 00:41:58mood boost that you get from that
- 00:42:00serotonin dopamine nor adrenaline that
- 00:42:02gets released every time you move your
- 00:42:04body I always think that because
- 00:42:05obviously I do a lot of podcasting and
- 00:42:07it's I'm super reliant on my brain being
- 00:42:09attached to my mouth and sometimes I
- 00:42:10notice that it's not you know what I
- 00:42:12mean like sometimes I'm not articulate I
- 00:42:13can't get my thoughts together whatever
- 00:42:14yes and I always try and figure out the
- 00:42:16correlation between what I did that day
- 00:42:18when I have a good day versus a bad day
- 00:42:21and I've from from your and also I speak
- 00:42:23on stage sometimes so I've often asked
- 00:42:25myself because I saw Tony Robbins the
- 00:42:27speaker one day on a trampoline before
- 00:42:30he goes up on stage I ask myself okay
- 00:42:32should I be doing a workout in my green
- 00:42:34room before I go up on stage for a big
- 00:42:36talk or presentation you think I should
- 00:42:38oh yeah absolutely what's the basis of
- 00:42:40that in science and a science uh it's
- 00:42:43the basis is that immediate effect so
- 00:42:45there's three key effects that we know
- 00:42:47happen every time you move your body
- 00:42:49first one is mood you're going to get
- 00:42:51your dopamine your serotonin up um
- 00:42:53second is focus and attention so so as
- 00:42:57single workout isn't going to make more
- 00:42:59synapses in your prefrontal cortex but
- 00:43:01the prefrontal cortex uses dopamine and
- 00:43:04so um it's clear that even a single
- 00:43:07workout can make your prefrontal cortex
- 00:43:09work better in terms of focus attention
- 00:43:11also very important anytime you're
- 00:43:12speaking and the third is reaction time
- 00:43:15your reaction time it you know motor
- 00:43:17your you're you're working your motor
- 00:43:19cortex when you move your body and your
- 00:43:22response and reaction time is
- 00:43:24significantly shorter after a even a
- 00:43:27single workout compared to if you just
- 00:43:29don't work out and sit sit um alone so
- 00:43:33great great things to do a great thing
- 00:43:35to do before you you stand up and speak
- 00:43:37what
- 00:43:38about
- 00:43:41coffee I I'm trying to figure out if
- 00:43:43coffee is good for my brain bad for my
- 00:43:46brain I've had a couple of mixed
- 00:43:48messages around the impact it might be
- 00:43:50having yeah you know caffeine is a
- 00:43:53stimulant and uh people respond to that
- 00:43:56kind of stimulant uh in different ways
- 00:43:59overstimulation with caffeine is is not
- 00:44:01good for your your ability to put words
- 00:44:04together you know this is where I turn
- 00:44:07to a a main theme in in my book healthy
- 00:44:10brain happy life with this which is
- 00:44:13self-experimentation for you how what
- 00:44:16can you titrate your coffee to see what
- 00:44:20level of coffee is best for whatever
- 00:44:23your podcast or you're giving a talk the
- 00:44:26other thing that can work
- 00:44:27similarly to coffee that that I've
- 00:44:30started uh and that I do every morning
- 00:44:32is um hot cold contrast showers because
- 00:44:35that cold that you shower on yourself
- 00:44:39after the heat um stimulates adrenaline
- 00:44:42in you a natural adrenaline o it wakes
- 00:44:46you up and okay it was painful the first
- 00:44:49kind of few times I tried it but then
- 00:44:52you get addicted to it and I have
- 00:44:54forgotten to do it and gotten back in
- 00:44:56the show hour just to douse myself with
- 00:44:59cold water because I feel better when I
- 00:45:02do that for for you know first thing in
- 00:45:04the morning so lots of different things
- 00:45:07that one can explore with okay on the
- 00:45:09other side of the coin then what are
- 00:45:11some of the central behaviors that
- 00:45:13people do that destroy their
- 00:45:16brain well sedentary behavior is one of
- 00:45:20them um not getting enough sleep is
- 00:45:24critical we haven't talked about sleep
- 00:45:25yet sleep is so important for normal
- 00:45:29functioning of the brain I like to scare
- 00:45:32my students by saying that um you know
- 00:45:35in torture situations if you deprive a
- 00:45:37person of sleep for too long they
- 00:45:39literally die they they they die you
- 00:45:42cannot function if you are deprived of
- 00:45:44sleep for too many hours in a row it's
- 00:45:47that critical yet we don't we we happily
- 00:45:50you know watch too much Netflix at night
- 00:45:52and and and and get only five hours of
- 00:45:54sleep when we could have had eight so um
- 00:45:57what's happening exactly why is it so
- 00:45:59important well there's um there's so
- 00:46:01many different things I'm going to I'm
- 00:46:02going to say two one is that we know
- 00:46:05that in regular um um healthy sleep
- 00:46:10there is activity in the hippocampus
- 00:46:12that helps you strengthen the memories
- 00:46:15that you have formed in that previous
- 00:46:17day it's called consolidation and it's
- 00:46:19so important if you shorten that if you
- 00:46:21don't get enough you are not
- 00:46:23consolidating your normal everyday
- 00:46:25memories and second it is uh the time
- 00:46:29during sleep when all the metabolites
- 00:46:32all that garbage that your brain is
- 00:46:34producing because all biological cells
- 00:46:36produce garbage it get kind of um
- 00:46:39cleaned up um through the cerebral
- 00:46:41spinal fluid that that is flowing
- 00:46:43through your brain and if you do not get
- 00:46:45enough sleep you build up garbage
- 00:46:48metabolites in your brain it's like you
- 00:46:50have a gunky brain and do you feel like
- 00:46:52I feel like I have gunk in my brain when
- 00:46:54I don't sleep enough that is exactly
- 00:46:56what is what is happening when you think
- 00:46:58about um things that we consume you know
- 00:47:01like food and drink and alcohol and all
- 00:47:04these kinds of things is there is there
- 00:47:05anything that if I'm trying to have an
- 00:47:06optimal brain I should be yeah having or
- 00:47:09not having yeah well so um I think the
- 00:47:13most evidence is around the benefit of
- 00:47:18the Mediterranean diet which is
- 00:47:20basically all healthy uh um kind of
- 00:47:23organic not organic but nonprocessed is
- 00:47:27the word I was trying to think of things
- 00:47:29to eat that are very very colorful there
- 00:47:32is so much evidence about how good that
- 00:47:34is generally for the brain that that is
- 00:47:38my go-to like what should I eat well is
- 00:47:41it on the Mediterranean diet if it is
- 00:47:43then go ahead if it's too processed only
- 00:47:46do it just a little bit is it true that
- 00:47:49if we have less friends if we have less
- 00:47:51strong relationships if we're lonely
- 00:47:53yeah then our brain will shrink and is
- 00:47:56more prone into dementia and Alzheimer's
- 00:47:58and things like that yes we are social
- 00:48:01creatures and um there are uh really
- 00:48:05powerful studies that have shown the
- 00:48:07correlation between the number of social
- 00:48:09connections that we have including just
- 00:48:11saying hello to the Barista at Starbucks
- 00:48:14it's not a close friendship that you
- 00:48:17develop over 30 years it's it's just how
- 00:48:19many people you interact with and greet
- 00:48:22and Longevity the more people you are
- 00:48:25regularly interacting with the longer
- 00:48:28you are living overall longevity but if
- 00:48:31you go into brain health absolutely it's
- 00:48:34also very very healthy for you it also
- 00:48:37brings happiness so uh friend and
- 00:48:40colleague of mine um Robert wallinger uh
- 00:48:42studied um what makes people happy the
- 00:48:45study started in the 20s 1920s in
- 00:48:48Harvard and after all of those many many
- 00:48:51many decades the answer is what brings
- 00:48:55happiness is a strength of your Social
- 00:48:58connections so it makes you happier it
- 00:48:59makes you live longer and and uh yes
- 00:49:02loneliness on the on the um flip side
- 00:49:05causes stress uh long-term stress that
- 00:49:08that damages the brain and uh yeah in
- 00:49:11the long term can can make it smaller
- 00:49:13and uh less healthy do you have any
- 00:49:16brain routines like like a morning
- 00:49:18routine for your brain absolutely so
- 00:49:20every morning I like to wake up and I do
- 00:49:23a um tea meditation which is a
- 00:49:26meditation over the brewing and drinking
- 00:49:28of tea and this is after many years of
- 00:49:31yo-yo meditating I knew meditation was
- 00:49:33good but I just couldn't really get into
- 00:49:35it and um I was introduced to this form
- 00:49:39of meditation um from uh by a monk who
- 00:49:43who invited me to Tea and and just did
- 00:49:46this silent meditation outside in a
- 00:49:49beautiful location and the ritual and
- 00:49:52the um um the sequence of Brewing
- 00:49:56drinking
- 00:49:57seeping uh re starting over again kind
- 00:50:00of kept me in kept me in the flow and so
- 00:50:02I start with about a 45 minute tea
- 00:50:05meditation uh then I do about a 30
- 00:50:07minute workout I try and do cardio
- 00:50:09strength sometimes I do yoga sometimes I
- 00:50:11just do
- 00:50:12Mobility um and then I have breakfast
- 00:50:14and then I go to work oh and then I I do
- 00:50:17that H hot cold contrast shower is also
- 00:50:20something very helpful for my brain
- 00:50:22health because it it really does in me
- 00:50:25that adrenaline boost that I get just
- 00:50:28energizes me and I love that feeling at
- 00:50:29the beginning of the day just going back
- 00:50:31to that question because I want to close
- 00:50:32off on it as well the the idea of what
- 00:50:34would I have to do to destroy my brain
- 00:50:36so no sleep yeah I'm GNA be sedentary
- 00:50:39yeah I'm GNA have no friends yeah and
- 00:50:43smoking smoking is very bad for your
- 00:50:45health and and your brain okay um
- 00:50:49alcohol alcohol I mean yes long-term
- 00:50:52alcohol can cause significant and named
- 00:50:55Brain disas diseases um moderation even
- 00:50:59moderation now Studies have shown is not
- 00:51:01very good and the reason why it's not
- 00:51:03good is that alcohol disrupts your sleep
- 00:51:06even though people drink it to to go to
- 00:51:09sleep faster the sleep is much more
- 00:51:12superficial and is not deep and it's not
- 00:51:14the healthy sleep so that is uh not good
- 00:51:18overall for your for the for Sleep um
- 00:51:21depth and and health and therefore brain
- 00:51:24health I'm going to eat a processed diet
- 00:51:26to hurt my brain and I'm not going to
- 00:51:29have a lifestyle that is novel because
- 00:51:33we talked about learning right yes so
- 00:51:35I'm not going to learn anything new all
- 00:51:37of these things should shrink that
- 00:51:39little you're not going to be mindful
- 00:51:41also does mind is there is there
- 00:51:43evidence that being mindful which is
- 00:51:45like meditation and being in the moment
- 00:51:47helps the brain it does uh there's
- 00:51:50beautiful studies showing brain
- 00:51:53plasticity um in the areas that are
- 00:51:56important for focused attention
- 00:51:58meditation the practice of meditation is
- 00:52:00basically a practice of um enriching the
- 00:52:03function of your prefontal cortex so you
- 00:52:05can focus on that object either the
- 00:52:08breath or or um loving kindness is is a
- 00:52:11form of meditation so yes there there's
- 00:52:14been studies that brain changes um occur
- 00:52:17in long-term meditators that are that
- 00:52:20are absolutely beneficial what if I'm on
- 00:52:21social media all the time because isn't
- 00:52:24that good for me because I'm going to be
- 00:52:25seeing lots of new things all the time
- 00:52:27and I'll be learning lots of new things
- 00:52:28so isn't if I sat on a on a screen for
- 00:52:31seven hours a day is that good for my
- 00:52:33brain social media does that take you
- 00:52:35away from real people and interacting
- 00:52:37with real people yes okay then then it's
- 00:52:41modulated by that the same thing there's
- 00:52:44a difference and I think your brain
- 00:52:46knows it and um look there's there's
- 00:52:49enormous amounts of evidence showing
- 00:52:52that the increase in use of social media
- 00:52:55um especially in young kids uh correlate
- 00:52:58with huge increases in depression and
- 00:53:01anxiety levels particularly in young
- 00:53:03girls so when when kids started getting
- 00:53:07the smartphones and started to spend
- 00:53:10more and more seven hours a day on
- 00:53:12social media that's when the anxiety and
- 00:53:14depression went up that's for young kids
- 00:53:17I use social media as well as a tool for
- 00:53:20business that is a little bit different
- 00:53:22I'm not 13 years old and you're not 13
- 00:53:25years old so so you know there there's
- 00:53:27some warnings I think that need to go
- 00:53:28into into that but but let me let me be
- 00:53:32clear no it's not the same social media
- 00:53:35is not the same as social interactions
- 00:53:38face Toof face with people are you are
- 00:53:40you concerned about what social media is
- 00:53:42doing to our brains yes because we you
- 00:53:44know I we hear those stats around you
- 00:53:46know young young girls are struggling
- 00:53:47most with social media and we think to
- 00:53:49ourselves well that's because there's a
- 00:53:50lot of like comparison and all these
- 00:53:52kinds of things and there's a lot of
- 00:53:54like toxic messaging and such but
- 00:53:57if we think about the physiological
- 00:53:58consequences of social media what it's
- 00:54:01actually doing to our brains at a
- 00:54:02chemical level yeah what what would you
- 00:54:05as a
- 00:54:06neuroscientist guess is that like is the
- 00:54:08physiological harm to the brain not the
- 00:54:10sort of psycholog I'm thinking about
- 00:54:11like not the psychological okay oh my
- 00:54:12God she's more this than me but like the
- 00:54:15physiological harm but the psychological
- 00:54:18harm causes stress stress releases
- 00:54:21stress hormone that goes into the brain
- 00:54:23that at too high and too constant a
- 00:54:26level can start to First damage
- 00:54:28connections and then kill cells so it's
- 00:54:31it's intertwined um there and that that
- 00:54:34is part of of what is happening um you
- 00:54:37can't you know pull one one away from
- 00:54:40the other because all you know we social
- 00:54:42media is designed to kind of it's like
- 00:54:44pulling the slot machine handle I pull
- 00:54:45down on the feed and I get ping oh look
- 00:54:47there's a nice picture and oh ping
- 00:54:49there's notifications and comments Etc
- 00:54:51it's that con you know I think about the
- 00:54:53constant they say there's constant
- 00:54:55dopamine here
- 00:54:56they refer to is it a dopamine hit is
- 00:54:58that's what happening when we're being
- 00:54:59stimulated by social media or a slot
- 00:55:01machine yes and is there is there any
- 00:55:03harm in just a constant dopamine hit all
- 00:55:05day every day well I would not I'm going
- 00:55:08to answer that question by saying I
- 00:55:10would not want to be addicted to
- 00:55:13gambling that gambling is addictive it
- 00:55:16it's hard to get away you you you lose
- 00:55:18all these other things that we just
- 00:55:20decided were all good for you including
- 00:55:22sleep including social connections um
- 00:55:25including exercise and I think that's
- 00:55:27part of what social media is doing for
- 00:55:29our young kids is not good that they're
- 00:55:31not joining teams outside to be social
- 00:55:34and interactive in uh in that kind of
- 00:55:39now it seems like an oldfashioned way
- 00:55:40but it's very very powerful way for
- 00:55:43development um and brain health I think
- 00:55:46I'm addicted to my
- 00:55:47phone and I I often ask myself is that
- 00:55:50is that a problem and from what you said
- 00:55:53it sounds like the problem is what I
- 00:55:55sacrifice yeah through that like
- 00:55:57addiction to that device yes is that
- 00:55:59that the issue the issue is I sacrifice
- 00:56:01social connections maybe movement yeah
- 00:56:04you know although I do work out every
- 00:56:05day but the brain is smart enough to
- 00:56:08know that there's no substitute for real
- 00:56:10human connections absolutely absolutely
- 00:56:14and that's going to make me what I'm
- 00:56:16trying to I I need you to help me scare
- 00:56:20me out of this phone addiction that I
- 00:56:23think I have but I know many other
- 00:56:24people have as well
- 00:56:26so that is going to limit your potential
- 00:56:30for brain growth for for brain
- 00:56:32plasticity it is going to limit your
- 00:56:36possibility for for you
- 00:56:39know not to be dramatic but joy in in
- 00:56:42your life there's different kinds of joy
- 00:56:44that you have in in real
- 00:56:47person-to-person social interactions
- 00:56:50that it feels pretty good on social
- 00:56:52media if you get lots of likes and you
- 00:56:53know um but it's not the same and and um
- 00:56:57I would I would say that to scare
- 00:57:00yourself out you're going to have to
- 00:57:03bite the bullet and do a twow week phone
- 00:57:07detox what would that do to you how
- 00:57:10would you feel I just could never
- 00:57:12imagine such a thing well which is a
- 00:57:15real shame isn't it really because I
- 00:57:17just think about like my ancestors and
- 00:57:18my parents they must they must think I'm
- 00:57:20so strange but it's just the just the
- 00:57:22way that like when my phone dies I'm
- 00:57:24like it's like I'm like nervously
- 00:57:27waiting for it to come back on I'm like
- 00:57:28staring at it like oh my God like what
- 00:57:30am I going to do with myself like uh and
- 00:57:33I remember those studies they did on
- 00:57:34people where they gave them the choice
- 00:57:37of either sitting alone with their own
- 00:57:39thoughts or giving themselves an
- 00:57:40electric shock and a huge amount of
- 00:57:42people in that study actually would
- 00:57:43rather give themselves an electric shock
- 00:57:46than just sit alone with their thoughts
- 00:57:47because it's some kind of stimulation
- 00:57:49that's kind of how I think I am now like
- 00:57:51I don't know what I'd do without my
- 00:57:52phone it's really sad I know there's
- 00:57:54people listening to me now that think
- 00:57:55I'm an absolute like
- 00:57:56I'm really sad but it's just the N it's
- 00:57:58the truth you know
- 00:58:00and um I do wonder what it's doing to my
- 00:58:02brain but I think you're right I think
- 00:58:03it's actually what it's doing to my like
- 00:58:05my life yeah the joy the connections the
- 00:58:09being being there to experience things
- 00:58:11and um I mean that point that you made
- 00:58:15is a very profound one um the the not
- 00:58:18wanting to be alone with your thoughts
- 00:58:22is the core of meditation can you be be
- 00:58:26alone with your thoughts and focus on
- 00:58:29something something organic usually the
- 00:58:31breath but also a thought like loving
- 00:58:34kindness um that is a very powerful
- 00:58:37practice to do and it and it's hard I
- 00:58:39find it hard too um and I actually
- 00:58:42notice I find it harder when I'm when
- 00:58:45I'm using social media and when I'm
- 00:58:47using my phone more
- 00:58:49um but I feel most creative and most
- 00:58:53imaginative when I do practice that that
- 00:58:57is being alone with my thoughts what
- 00:59:00comes into mind um how how does my own
- 00:59:04imagination work which is very much
- 00:59:06dependent on the hippocampus as well
- 00:59:08it's putting together all these things
- 00:59:10in your memory and new and interesting
- 00:59:12ways that are unique for you or unique
- 00:59:15for me and it doesn't work the same if
- 00:59:17you are stimulating your brain with
- 00:59:19social media all the time you um I mean
- 00:59:22you wrote a book that kind of speaks to
- 00:59:23what we're talking about here you wrote
- 00:59:24a book about anxiety yes yes I did 2021
- 00:59:27yeah I think the the US version is
- 00:59:29called good anxiety isn't it slightly
- 00:59:31different title in the US in the UK
- 00:59:33yeah why did you write a book about
- 00:59:35anxiety I wrote a book about anxiety
- 00:59:38because I started to notice my
- 00:59:41students getting much more anxious than
- 00:59:43they ever used to be and this was before
- 00:59:46the pandemic I mean I I I had the idea
- 00:59:49to write this book in 2018
- 00:59:532019 and so first I noticed in the the
- 00:59:56students they were getting so stressed
- 00:59:57out before finals they never did that
- 00:59:59before so so many accommodations they
- 01:00:01were asking for and I'm like what's
- 01:00:04going on here but then I realized it
- 01:00:06wasn't just them like I'm getting more
- 01:00:08anxious as well my friends are more
- 01:00:10anxious and I really wanted to dive into
- 01:00:13that I didn't want to be anxious in that
- 01:00:16way uh because part of me was like oh
- 01:00:17I'm just New Yorker I'm just anxious all
- 01:00:19the time right because that's what New
- 01:00:20Yorkers are no this has changed and we
- 01:00:25forget that before the pandemic there
- 01:00:26was there was still global warning
- 01:00:28warming there was still political issues
- 01:00:30that that lots of people including me
- 01:00:32and all of my students were worried
- 01:00:34about and that was the impetus for for
- 01:00:37trying to dive in and ask well I made my
- 01:00:41life happier with exercise what what is
- 01:00:44the approach when it's anxiety and not
- 01:00:46clinical anxiety I did not have clinical
- 01:00:49anxiety and the vast majority of my
- 01:00:50students didn't have clinical anxiety
- 01:00:52they had what I called everyday anxiety
- 01:00:54just worried about the things that are
- 01:00:57going on in the world and there were
- 01:00:58just more things to be worried about is
- 01:01:00that normal is that human that is human
- 01:01:03absolutely but is it human in
- 01:01:05the in is the quantity in which we
- 01:01:07experience it
- 01:01:09human uh I think it is I mean because I
- 01:01:12think about my ancestors I go they they
- 01:01:13probably I don't know I always imagine
- 01:01:15my ancestors kind of I don't know just
- 01:01:17chilling you know like but they didn't
- 01:01:19have they didn't have global warming
- 01:01:20where the ocean is about to you know get
- 01:01:23sucked up in plastic and and the the
- 01:01:26ozone is gonna come come down no worries
- 01:01:29like that at all but the everyday
- 01:01:31anxiety for me is like
- 01:01:33emails and what's up well by everyday
- 01:01:36anxiety I mean the anxiety that people
- 01:01:39are feeling today that is not at the
- 01:01:42clinical level so all the things that we
- 01:01:44just me mentioned global warming and
- 01:01:46wars in multiple places in the world all
- 01:01:49of that contributes to the higher level
- 01:01:52of anxiety and your ancestors in mine
- 01:01:55went through two world wars but and that
- 01:01:58was anxiety-provoking no question about
- 01:02:00it but they weren't also all the other
- 01:02:03things that were um you know
- 01:02:05contributing to it including the higher
- 01:02:08than you know extremely high anxiety and
- 01:02:11suicide levels of our young people that
- 01:02:14are you know that strongly linked to
- 01:02:17social media so that's that's another
- 01:02:19element what did you find then when you
- 01:02:21started uncovering and trying to go on
- 01:02:23this search of figuring out you know the
- 01:02:25the nature of anxiety and what we can do
- 01:02:27about it did you first find that you're
- 01:02:29right in your hypothesis that it is
- 01:02:31increasing yeah yeah how much do you
- 01:02:34know how
- 01:02:35much um you know it it shifted over the
- 01:02:38time that I wrote and published the book
- 01:02:40because I started in 2018 and then it
- 01:02:42was published in the middle of the
- 01:02:44pandemic in 2021 where anxiety levels
- 01:02:47went up approximately 20% worldwide so
- 01:02:52um but the social media anxiety uh um
- 01:02:56that is going up in girls even more than
- 01:02:5820% and that's kind of in parallel so I
- 01:03:01I actually don't know how to um
- 01:03:03integrate those two levels but they're
- 01:03:05both going in the same direction why are
- 01:03:08women young women becoming more anxious
- 01:03:12and suicidality amongst that age group
- 01:03:14is rapidly
- 01:03:16increased you know I think that um it's
- 01:03:21it's that comparison that that is so
- 01:03:23easy to do and I see it in my my own
- 01:03:26work at the University that when I was
- 01:03:29going to college I had no idea what rank
- 01:03:32I was in in number in the application
- 01:03:35but they could see that immediately they
- 01:03:37know exactly what number they are in
- 01:03:39each and every class they take in their
- 01:03:40whole High School class in the in their
- 01:03:44application to to the five schools that
- 01:03:46they applied to or 10 or 15 now that
- 01:03:49they're applying to that gives a much
- 01:03:52higher level of stress when you know
- 01:03:54those numbers immediately
- 01:03:56um that we never had so so there are
- 01:03:58stresses like that that that um they're
- 01:04:01they're experiencing more information
- 01:04:03yeah more it's funny because more social
- 01:04:07connection but it's when I say social
- 01:04:08connection I don't mean real world
- 01:04:10social connection I mean more followers
- 01:04:11and likes and more people that can
- 01:04:14message me and tell me something and DM
- 01:04:15me or comment on my thing right more
- 01:04:17noise yeah the volume's increased which
- 01:04:20is seems to be driving more anxiety
- 01:04:22where do we experience anxiety where
- 01:04:24from a physiological standpoint point
- 01:04:26where is anxiety CU it feels like it's
- 01:04:28in your chest yeah so anxiety is kind of
- 01:04:31a fullbody experience and um anxiety is
- 01:04:36um strongly linked with the stress
- 01:04:39response so um an anxiety-provoking
- 01:04:42situation you you um meet somebody that
- 01:04:46you uh you know had a big fight with
- 01:04:48before Oh I'm anxious I might have to
- 01:04:50speak to that person before uh
- 01:04:53that launches that launch is the stress
- 01:04:57response um that is um dependent on
- 01:05:00What's called the sympathetic nervous
- 01:05:02system and so this is where it becomes
- 01:05:04full body so what happens when your
- 01:05:07fight ORF flight system is activated
- 01:05:09your heart rate goes up your respiration
- 01:05:11goes up your um irises get get bigger so
- 01:05:14you can see everything and look out for
- 01:05:16that that annoying person that you're
- 01:05:17worried about um and blood is shunted
- 01:05:19from your digestion and reprodu
- 01:05:22reproductive organs towards your muscle
- 01:05:24so you can fight or run away that's what
- 01:05:26all of our ancestors evolved to protect
- 01:05:29us from not not the social media post
- 01:05:33but um the lion or the Tiger that could
- 01:05:36come and attack us so it made sense for
- 01:05:39that kind of stressor or that kind of
- 01:05:41threat unfortunately our body's doing
- 01:05:44the same exact thing when the nasty DM
- 01:05:48comes in from somebody I wasn't sure who
- 01:05:50it is but they're saying something
- 01:05:51really bad about something I care about
- 01:05:53a lot and we get this stress response we
- 01:05:56get anxious because of that and uh
- 01:05:59somebody asked me does that mean our
- 01:06:00brain is not very smart and the answer
- 01:06:02is our our our stress and our threat
- 01:06:04system is not very smart it isn't
- 01:06:06differentiating between the line that
- 01:06:08could physically kill us and the DM that
- 01:06:12might wound our pride but but will not
- 01:06:15kill us but it causes the same kind of
- 01:06:19um stress response and anxiety response
- 01:06:22what do I do about that you have to
- 01:06:24learn how to turn the volume of your own
- 01:06:27anxiety down and part of that is I'm not
- 01:06:30saying you have to not look at your DMs
- 01:06:32and not look at or or not look at soci
- 01:06:34social media there's lots of ways to
- 01:06:37turn your anxiety down we've already
- 01:06:38talked about uh some of those approaches
- 01:06:42exercise immediately decreases anxiety
- 01:06:45and depression levels and there you
- 01:06:47don't even have to get aerobic 10
- 01:06:49minutes of walking can significantly
- 01:06:51decrease your anxiety and depression
- 01:06:53levels that is a powerful tool that
- 01:06:56everybody can use right right here right
- 01:06:58now breath meditation did you know that
- 01:07:02breath meditation that is deep breathing
- 01:07:05um it's the oldest form of meditation
- 01:07:09why because equal in opposite to that
- 01:07:12fight ORF flight response that everybody
- 01:07:14seems to know about is the rest and
- 01:07:17digest part of your nervous system
- 01:07:19called the parasympathetic nervous
- 01:07:20system that calms you down it slows your
- 01:07:23heart rate down slows your respiration
- 01:07:25rate down and shuns blood from your
- 01:07:27muscles towards your digestion and
- 01:07:30reproductive organs so you can do those
- 01:07:32weekend rest and digest kinds of things
- 01:07:36well everybody should be asking well do
- 01:07:39I have that system yes everybody has
- 01:07:41that system everybody has a
- 01:07:42parasympathetic nervous system how do I
- 01:07:44activate that the best and most
- 01:07:46effective way that you can activate that
- 01:07:48right now is take three deep breaths
- 01:07:51because that's the only thing you have
- 01:07:53conscious control over that can launch
- 01:07:56all the rest of that parasympathetic
- 01:07:58activity slowing your heart rate I can't
- 01:07:59slow my heart rate by thinking about it
- 01:08:01can I take three deep slow breaths right
- 01:08:05now absolutely and monks hundreds if not
- 01:08:08thousands of years ago realize that that
- 01:08:11is the thing that I can do immediately
- 01:08:13to slow my slow my stress response down
- 01:08:16it's very very powerful sadness sadness
- 01:08:21sadness is um can be linked with anxiety
- 01:08:26and um you know sad list like anxiety is
- 01:08:30something that people I think would like
- 01:08:32to kick out of their lives and just
- 01:08:34never have
- 01:08:36anymore at all if I could get rid of
- 01:08:38sadness and anxiety I would be the
- 01:08:40happiest person
- 01:08:41alive but would you because my argument
- 01:08:45in good anxiety my book good anxiety is
- 01:08:48that these prickly emotions these
- 01:08:51difficult emotions like anxiety like
- 01:08:54sadness
- 01:08:56are really really valuable because
- 01:08:58they're they're focusing us on things
- 01:09:00that we should be paying attention to
- 01:09:02specifically anxiety it is a warning
- 01:09:05system oh there's that person oh you
- 01:09:06didn't have a good interaction you you
- 01:09:08need to pay attention now should it
- 01:09:11throw you into a an anxiety attack
- 01:09:14perhaps not use some of these techniques
- 01:09:16um like like deep breathing and going
- 01:09:18for a walk but it is a warning system
- 01:09:22and why is this valuable here's why it's
- 01:09:25valuable it's valuable because when you
- 01:09:28know what you are worried about your
- 01:09:32fears that your anxiety focuses you on
- 01:09:36it actually tells you about what you
- 01:09:38hold most dear in your life and that is
- 01:09:42something that we should all really want
- 01:09:44to know so if you're a people pleaser um
- 01:09:48you are doing lots of things to maybe
- 01:09:50too many things to please people but
- 01:09:53that means that you care
- 01:09:56about personal interaction and I start
- 01:09:58with this one because I'm a peop pleaser
- 01:10:00and I realized that people pleasing
- 01:10:03response and the anxiety that it does
- 01:10:06evoke is reminding me that what's very
- 01:10:10very valuable to me is that interaction
- 01:10:12with people I care about that that's a
- 01:10:15beautiful thing I value that in my life
- 01:10:18in my
- 01:10:20personality I'm going to let you in on a
- 01:10:22little secret what is in the diary of a
- 01:10:25COO Cup this cup that sits in front of
- 01:10:27me when I interview these people
- 01:10:28sometimes for 3 hours and sometimes
- 01:10:30three people a day and the answer is
- 01:10:33this perfect head I invested in the
- 01:10:34company on Dragon's Den and since then
- 01:10:36they've gone from an idea to the fastest
- 01:10:39growing energy drink in the UK it is a
- 01:10:42mat energy drink and it is absolutely
- 01:10:45delicious but that's not why I choose to
- 01:10:47drink it on this podcast the reason I
- 01:10:48choose to drink it is because it gives
- 01:10:50me what I call all day energy I don't
- 01:10:52get the same crashes that I used to get
- 01:10:54with other energy drinks if you're in
- 01:10:55the middle of a conversation or you're
- 01:10:57in the middle of a talk on stage or in
- 01:10:58the boardroom the last thing you want to
- 01:11:00do is have a crash you don't want
- 01:11:02Jitters and you need focus and that is
- 01:11:05why they now sponsor this podcast not
- 01:11:07only is it delicious but it gives me a
- 01:11:09significant competitive Advantage if you
- 01:11:11haven't tried it go down to a Tesco go
- 01:11:13to a waitrose or go online and use the
- 01:11:16code diary 10 at checkout and you'll get
- 01:11:1810% off and when you do try it let me
- 01:11:20know how you get on do you think we
- 01:11:22could see love in the brain can you see
- 01:11:25if some some 's in love in the brain if
- 01:11:27we scan the brain of someone that's in
- 01:11:28love when they're interacting with their
- 01:11:29partner could we see that um yes in fact
- 01:11:32they have Scan people who are in the
- 01:11:34throws of of uh um romantic love and
- 01:11:39people that are in um you know many
- 01:11:42years into a loving
- 01:11:45relationship and there are uh lots of
- 01:11:48reward areas that get activated when
- 01:11:50you're scanning the brain um of somebody
- 01:11:52that that you know is in the throws of
- 01:11:54deep romantic love that is in the first
- 01:11:56few weeks you can't get enough of the
- 01:11:58person you're with them all the time you
- 01:11:59can't stop thinking about them a lot of
- 01:12:02the reward areas are are activated uh a
- 01:12:05lot of the social interaction areas
- 01:12:08including the insula uh part of the
- 01:12:10brain right in the side here just just
- 01:12:13uh in the uh area near the ear deep into
- 01:12:16the cortex get gets activated doesn't
- 01:12:19that mean then that if we don't fall in
- 01:12:21love if we don't have those feelings
- 01:12:23that that part of our brain might shrink
- 01:12:25because if you know they say often
- 01:12:27things like you you use it or you lose
- 01:12:30it they say neurons that fire together
- 01:12:31wi together if I'm not in love if I'm
- 01:12:33not if I don't have those social
- 01:12:34connections will the love part of my
- 01:12:36brain get smaller and would that make it
- 01:12:38more difficult to love in the future
- 01:12:41that's a great question I think that um
- 01:12:44that study has not been done but
- 01:12:46absolutely if uh uh if you don't use
- 01:12:50that part of the brain um you will not
- 01:12:53you know gain the function and so yeah
- 01:12:55not not using your love part of your
- 01:12:57brain is is not a nothing that I would
- 01:13:00ever recommend some people I guess don't
- 01:13:02have a choice well I guess they have a
- 01:13:07choice in the sense that they can do
- 01:13:09things they have optionality but for
- 01:13:12whatever reason some people don't find
- 01:13:13love it's just an interesting
- 01:13:14observation because in all other parts
- 01:13:15of the brain you have to like do you
- 01:13:17mean romantic love romantic love Yeah
- 01:13:19but but you know there's all sorts of
- 01:13:21different kinds of Love deep friendship
- 01:13:24um it's actually what I was going to say
- 01:13:27is that um they tried to look at the
- 01:13:29difference between romantic love and
- 01:13:32maternal love or paternal love and it
- 01:13:36turns out that longterm relationships
- 01:13:38like romantic relationships of marriages
- 01:13:41that last for many years start out of
- 01:13:43course in this romantic phase but it
- 01:13:46turns into more of a maternal paternal
- 01:13:51um pattern when you go farther and
- 01:13:54farther along that that is a win that is
- 01:13:57not something wrong with your brain um I
- 01:14:00think love does evolve over time and
- 01:14:04there's many different kinds of Love
- 01:14:05beyond the Romantic
- 01:14:08Hollywood you know uh and Disney kind of
- 01:14:11uh uh form of love so you can see the
- 01:14:13honeymoon phase in the brain yes and
- 01:14:15then you can see the more mature love I
- 01:14:18guess yes in the brain interesting oh
- 01:14:21the I guess the the opposite of love
- 01:14:25I guess might be hate but I think when
- 01:14:28another sort of thing that people might
- 01:14:30think of as the opposite of Love would
- 01:14:32be rejection or heartbreak and through
- 01:14:34all of our Lives we encounter heartbreak
- 01:14:37in many forms we encounter romantic
- 01:14:38heartbreak but also other forms of
- 01:14:40heartbreak as I read through your story
- 01:14:41I I I I could see moments in your story
- 01:14:44where you encountered various types of
- 01:14:46heartbreak yes grief yeah you talked
- 01:14:48about your father passing away from
- 01:14:51Alzheimer's yes well he had a heart
- 01:14:54attack he had Alzheimer's dementia when
- 01:14:56he passed away he he died of a heart
- 01:14:59attack and just three months after your
- 01:15:01dad's death your younger brother died of
- 01:15:03an unexpected heart attack age 50 yes
- 01:15:06and you say in your book good anxiety in
- 01:15:08chapter four you say the death was
- 01:15:11unfathomable
- 01:15:12yeah as someone who studied the brain
- 01:15:15and therefore has a really strong
- 01:15:17understanding of the physiology of the
- 01:15:20human mind yeah and has
- 01:15:22also written a book about anxiety so you
- 01:15:25have this sort of two-pronged approach
- 01:15:26towards understanding feelings and
- 01:15:28emotions
- 01:15:29yeah in those
- 01:15:31moments what did you come to understand
- 01:15:34about the nature of emotion the most
- 01:15:36intense emotions and how how they
- 01:15:39Captivate Us and how we can find our
- 01:15:41path through the
- 01:15:42jungle yeah I like that word that I used
- 01:15:45it was
- 01:15:47unfathomable um
- 01:15:50um both of those losses at at the same
- 01:15:53time it it was hard to process and I
- 01:15:56remember the waves of grief that would
- 01:15:59come over it wasn't constant it would it
- 01:16:02would it would be like wave so I I I
- 01:16:04have one and then it would recede and I
- 01:16:05felt a little bit better but then
- 01:16:07unexpectedly it would come again and um
- 01:16:11I'd never thank goodness experienced
- 01:16:14that before and um it was in the middle
- 01:16:18of writing the book good anxiety and I I
- 01:16:20put it aside uh because I couldn't write
- 01:16:23when I was going through this this
- 01:16:25terrible grief and and had to do
- 01:16:27something that I'd never ever had to do
- 01:16:30and actually was my biggest fear um
- 01:16:34unnamed biggest fear in my life was um
- 01:16:37to have to give a eulogy I I have a fear
- 01:16:42of uncontrollable crying in public and
- 01:16:45I'd always been afraid of of eulogies
- 01:16:48and I never had to give a eulogy and I
- 01:16:51had to give this eulogy for my for my
- 01:16:53brother um um another unfathomable how
- 01:16:57could that be
- 01:16:59happening and
- 01:17:01um I I got I got through that and um I
- 01:17:07learned something in the process and I
- 01:17:10remember working out to try and make
- 01:17:12myself feel feel better during this time
- 01:17:15and um the instructor said about the
- 01:17:20workout with great pain comes great
- 01:17:23wisdom
- 01:17:25and I just glommed on to
- 01:17:27that that message because I was feeling
- 01:17:30great pain what was the wisdom like I
- 01:17:33need to find some wisdom what what is
- 01:17:35that
- 01:17:36wisdom and I realized because I had to
- 01:17:40say something at this eulogy that the
- 01:17:42wisdom was that on the other side of
- 01:17:46that unfathomable grief that I was
- 01:17:49feeling the only reason why I was
- 01:17:51feeling that unfathomable grief is
- 01:17:54because because of the deep love that I
- 01:17:56had that it started with so if I didn't
- 01:17:59love them as much I wouldn't have as
- 01:18:01deep a grief so in fact the grief and
- 01:18:05the the the depth of
- 01:18:07it was a
- 01:18:09sign of the love that I had for
- 01:18:13them and
- 01:18:15that that was the wisdom that I found
- 01:18:17and that was the Solace that I found and
- 01:18:20that was a message that I gave in that
- 01:18:23eulogy
- 01:18:25and um and then I became obsessed with
- 01:18:29the flip side of these awful emotions
- 01:18:32that we all go through grief is this one
- 01:18:36because I had to go back and finish this
- 01:18:37book good anxiety how was I going to do
- 01:18:40that the book was transformed by that
- 01:18:43event because I realized that if I could
- 01:18:46find the wisdom and
- 01:18:48the the
- 01:18:50power um of the most horrible emotion
- 01:18:54I'm going to say
- 01:18:56grief what is the flip side of anxiety
- 01:18:59what is the gift what is the superpower
- 01:19:01that comes from anxiety and I needed to
- 01:19:05find gifts and superpowers and that's
- 01:19:08why the book got written in that way and
- 01:19:10I I name superpowers that come from
- 01:19:14anxiety that was that was heightened
- 01:19:16after after this terrible event but I
- 01:19:21found them and I used them all the time
- 01:19:23it was therapeutic
- 01:19:25actually how did it change you the loss
- 01:19:27of your brother and your father in such
- 01:19:28a short period of Time how are you a
- 01:19:30different person because of those two
- 01:19:33events you realize
- 01:19:36that everybody's going to feel these
- 01:19:40emotions sometime in their
- 01:19:44life and I can bring more empathy and
- 01:19:49compassion to those experience for
- 01:19:52others and I I remember I I never wanted
- 01:19:55to talk to people that had a loss I
- 01:19:58never knew what to say I knew I was
- 01:20:00going to say something wrong I just had
- 01:20:02no idea I felt
- 01:20:05lost and um and it is I do feel wiser I
- 01:20:10feel like I have more empathy I have
- 01:20:15more
- 01:20:16knowledge can I ask you a question if if
- 01:20:19if there was a pill yeah that you could
- 01:20:22take to not feel the
- 01:20:26grief in the moment when you were in the
- 01:20:29throws of that grief would you have
- 01:20:31taken it and in hindsight now would you
- 01:20:36have taken
- 01:20:37it look I I know I'm not a pill taker I
- 01:20:43I wasn't
- 01:20:44clinically I didn't feel like I'm oh I
- 01:20:46can't you know go about my life it was
- 01:20:51it was a terrible emotion but I I didn't
- 01:20:54feel completely debilitated with it
- 01:20:56other other people do maybe they would
- 01:20:58take the pill I would not take the pill
- 01:21:00and
- 01:21:02after the lessons that I learned from
- 01:21:04going through those emotions absolutely
- 01:21:07I would not take the pill and and that
- 01:21:09was part of the lesson of writing this
- 01:21:12book that
- 01:21:14anxiety is critical for us because
- 01:21:18anxiety and sadness and and
- 01:21:21anger are critical
- 01:21:24to help us appreciate those joyous
- 01:21:28moments if of Our Lives if we had no
- 01:21:30grief no sadness no anger
- 01:21:34ever then every day would you know it
- 01:21:37would just be mundane but it gives that
- 01:21:40value I mean our highest Highs are extra
- 01:21:44high because we know those lows and and
- 01:21:47that also is probably how this grief
- 01:21:49that I experienced affects me I I
- 01:21:52appreciate I appreciate the the good
- 01:21:54times even more as a neuroscientist who
- 01:21:58understands the brain and the systems
- 01:21:59and then sort of neural Pathways and all
- 01:22:01this stuff and how we think and does
- 01:22:04that leave much room for
- 01:22:06spirituality and those kinds of things
- 01:22:09are you spiritual I am and what does
- 01:22:12what you know because when some people
- 01:22:14think about spirituality they think they
- 01:22:16think it's the opposite of Neuroscience
- 01:22:20they think yes if I spoke to some people
- 01:22:22some people that I know they think of
- 01:22:24that the decisions and the feelings and
- 01:22:27the energies are outside of our body not
- 01:22:29going on in this ball of tofu and then
- 01:22:31some like
- 01:22:32hardore people scientists will will
- 01:22:35explain all of our experience through
- 01:22:37this ball of tofu yes where do you sit
- 01:22:40so um I've evolved over time so um when
- 01:22:44I was a young scientist I no
- 01:22:47spirituality no religion everything can
- 01:22:50be described by science like I have
- 01:22:53prove it prove it to me I want to you
- 01:22:55know see the data I happily went through
- 01:23:00um that phase for many many years of my
- 01:23:02life until I realized or I didn't even
- 01:23:07realize I think I needed something more
- 01:23:10in in my life and and then I realized
- 01:23:15first there was a need there was a then
- 01:23:17there was a realization well can I
- 01:23:20really prove that the only thing that is
- 01:23:24true
- 01:23:24is that what I what I can prove what if
- 01:23:29there are things
- 01:23:30Beyond um proving in the in the
- 01:23:34scientific
- 01:23:35method and I think there are things that
- 01:23:39uh in the spiritual realm in the
- 01:23:41religious realm um that absolutely could
- 01:23:45be true could be true could be true that
- 01:23:49cannot be solved cannot be proven with
- 01:23:52the classic scientific method things
- 01:23:54that you believe
- 01:23:57yes what makes you believe them cuz on
- 01:24:00one hand you said you kind of want to
- 01:24:03which is an element of that yeah but as
- 01:24:05a I'm interested as a scientist as a
- 01:24:06neuroscientist yeah you must have been
- 01:24:08trained to be able to explain that's how
- 01:24:10you pass the exam so you get you must be
- 01:24:12able to explain why you have these
- 01:24:13beliefs do you in that part of your life
- 01:24:15do you just kind of say I've I've felt
- 01:24:18it is that the no it's uh well part of
- 01:24:22it yes I I I do feel it but it was the
- 01:24:27realization that the scientific
- 01:24:30method in my opinion is not the endall
- 01:24:33and be all that I thought it was when I
- 01:24:35was a young scientist can you prove that
- 01:24:38these other Realms don't exist and if
- 01:24:42they exist in ways that cannot be proved
- 01:24:45in in a scientific method well maybe
- 01:24:47your scientific method is wrong is that
- 01:24:50is that a possibility have you had an
- 01:24:51experience that made you believe in
- 01:24:53another Realm have I had an experience
- 01:24:56um I have uh in my academic
- 01:25:02way I have
- 01:25:05studied texts that
- 01:25:08are the oldest texts that we know um uh
- 01:25:12the Bible and I was raised in a um
- 01:25:16actually was a half Christian half
- 01:25:17Buddhist um family and uh but my my
- 01:25:24my core belief was uh uh Christianity
- 01:25:27and so yeah I I I I go to church I I
- 01:25:33really appreciate the power um
- 01:25:37that that religious beliefs bring to my
- 01:25:42life it actually really decreases my
- 01:25:45anxiety and that's not the only reason
- 01:25:47why I did I just I I wasn't look
- 01:25:49searching for an anti- anxiety kind of
- 01:25:52um uh solu
- 01:25:55but I was looking
- 01:26:03for maybe something more than the
- 01:26:06scientific method in my
- 01:26:09life we're going in One Direction as a
- 01:26:12society like more I told you I'm
- 01:26:14basically addicted to my phone screens
- 01:26:16loneliness yeah um less connection less
- 01:26:20friends less people we can turn to in a
- 01:26:21time of Crisis according to all the
- 01:26:22studies and as we go further and further
- 01:26:25down that road I think it's making it
- 01:26:27more obvious of what's at the end the
- 01:26:29other end of the street yeah and it's
- 01:26:31robbing us of something at a really deep
- 01:26:33level then I think I'm noticing more and
- 01:26:34more as I grow older I think that's
- 01:26:36actually why I want to have kids now
- 01:26:37because I think I'm in search of that
- 01:26:39greater meaning or purpose in my life
- 01:26:41beyond just like making more money or
- 01:26:43just you know all the superficial stuff
- 01:26:46yeah you you said to me before we
- 01:26:48started speaking that you're thinking a
- 01:26:49lot about Community I am why because I
- 01:26:52think it is a bomb
- 01:26:54to students and to everybody and um I
- 01:26:58think those those events that we can
- 01:27:00create that bring people together and
- 01:27:02talking to each other and learning about
- 01:27:04each other are joyous events and um I
- 01:27:07see it in the in in me and in the
- 01:27:11students that come to these events it is
- 01:27:14clear that that is um something that
- 01:27:17that is a little bit unfamiliar to
- 01:27:19students right now but um has an
- 01:27:21immediate effect so what is the one
- 01:27:24thing we haven't spoke about regarding
- 01:27:26Betty the brain over there in the corner
- 01:27:28but the brain in front of you the most
- 01:27:29important thing about the brain that we
- 01:27:31didn't
- 01:27:33discuss you
- 01:27:36know you only have one and um we have an
- 01:27:41opportunity every single
- 01:27:44day to make
- 01:27:47it as healthy as it could be I my I
- 01:27:51watched my father pass away with
- 01:27:52Alzheimer's dementia and um um we have
- 01:27:57elderly people in my family as well
- 01:28:01and it motivates me even more to to keep
- 01:28:05my brain healthy to make as many friends
- 01:28:09as I can to have as many connections as
- 01:28:12I can uh because I want to be as happy
- 01:28:14as I can be for the rest of my life and
- 01:28:15I want to have um and I want to have a
- 01:28:18big fat fluffy brain so um you only have
- 01:28:21one and um there are things you can do
- 01:28:23right now now today to make it
- 01:28:29stronger Wendy thank you so much thank
- 01:28:33you
- 01:28:34for the way that you deliver I think is
- 01:28:36um is so deep rooted in a really
- 01:28:38undeniable passion and you you're on a
- 01:28:41real mission to make other people live
- 01:28:44better lives and I think that's
- 01:28:45something that deserves to be highly
- 01:28:47commended it's it's so apparent in
- 01:28:49everything you do that you're so focused
- 01:28:51on helping others in a way that I don't
- 01:28:53always see
- 01:28:54um and that comes from I you know
- 01:28:56reading through your story I can see the
- 01:28:57pivotal moments throughout your story
- 01:28:59that sent you on that mission and I do
- 01:29:00describe it as a mission these two books
- 01:29:02are fantastic you wrote the book in 20
- 01:29:04or you published it in 2015 called
- 01:29:06healthy brain happy life and then your
- 01:29:08second book which came out in America
- 01:29:10called good anxiety which is a
- 01:29:12phenomenal book that really helps to
- 01:29:13reframe how we think about anxiety I
- 01:29:16think that reframing helps us experience
- 01:29:18it differently but also shall I say dare
- 01:29:20I say be grateful for the signal the
- 01:29:23lessons that it's there to teach us the
- 01:29:24wisdom that it gives us we have a
- 01:29:26closing tradition on this podcast where
- 01:29:28the last guest leaves a question for the
- 01:29:29next guest not knowing who they're
- 01:29:30leaving it for question left you is in
- 01:29:32this book
- 01:29:35oh what do you think is the best quality
- 01:29:38of humanity
- 01:29:43ooh
- 01:29:46compassion and what does that mean
- 01:29:48compassion means
- 01:29:59feeling feeling for the um um the
- 01:30:04experience of others both good and bad
- 01:30:06so I can experience your joy
- 01:30:09compassionately and I could experience
- 01:30:10your grief compassionately I think that
- 01:30:14is because I've been thinking so much
- 01:30:16about connection and
- 01:30:18community that um function of uh or
- 01:30:22emotion of comat
- 01:30:24is uh really top of mind for me Wendy
- 01:30:28thank you thank you
- 01:30:32[Music]
- 01:30:39[Music]
- 01:30:45[Music]
- 01:30:54m
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