00:00:00
And we have this white powder in front
00:00:02
of me. You got a big smile on your face.
00:00:04
>> I do because I don't care who you are,
00:00:05
you should definitely be having this.
00:00:08
Let's talk about creatine. Phenomenal
00:00:10
research shows you can creatine your way
00:00:12
out of sleep deprivation. It can protect
00:00:14
your brain against a concussion, stroke,
00:00:16
from stress. And there was a study done
00:00:18
on Alzheimer's disease patients. And
00:00:20
they found that patients not only
00:00:22
preserved their cognitive functions, but
00:00:24
they had more energy and they were able
00:00:27
to exercise more. And I know this
00:00:29
because I'm a clinician and over the
00:00:31
last decade I've been surrounded by the
00:00:33
greatest neurosurgeons in the world
00:00:35
studying the brain. And so I'm here to
00:00:37
tackle one disease and that is
00:00:39
Alzheimer's because it generally starts
00:00:42
in our 30s and 60 million people
00:00:45
worldwide have Alzheimer's. 70% being
00:00:47
women. And I get angry and I get
00:00:50
passionate because women have been lied
00:00:52
to. They've been underrepresented. They
00:00:54
downplay their symptoms or they're too
00:00:56
scared to ask their doctor for advice.
00:00:58
And what people don't really know is
00:00:59
that it is a preventable disease, but
00:01:01
it's like endstage cancer. Once you get
00:01:04
the diagnosis, there is no cure. And the
00:01:06
fact that so many people are at the
00:01:09
mercy of a disease that is preventable
00:01:11
is not okay with me. And I don't think
00:01:13
people understand these things. Like
00:01:15
people don't really know that we're
00:01:16
becoming more sedentary, which is a
00:01:18
disease. And there was a study that was
00:01:20
done on this that showed that if you do
00:01:22
10 air squats every hour, this can
00:01:24
compensate for your sedentary lifestyle.
00:01:26
And then we have several lifestyle
00:01:28
factors that can lower your risk of
00:01:30
getting Alzheimer's disease, as well as
00:01:32
showing you what 5 minutes a day can do
00:01:34
for your brain performance. Just using a
00:01:36
tennis ball and an eye patch.
00:01:42
Guys, I've got a quick favor to ask you.
00:01:44
We're approaching a significant
00:01:46
subscriber milestone on this show, and
00:01:48
roughly 69% of you that listen and love
00:01:50
the show haven't yet subscribed for
00:01:52
whatever reason. If there was ever a
00:01:54
time for you to do us a favor, if we've
00:01:56
ever done anything for you, giving you
00:01:57
value in any way, it is simply hitting
00:02:00
that subscribe button. And it means so
00:02:02
much to myself, but also to my team
00:02:03
because when we hit these milestones, we
00:02:04
go away as a team and celebrate. And
00:02:06
it's the thing, the simple, free, easy
00:02:07
thing you can do to help make this show
00:02:08
a little bit better every single week.
00:02:11
So, that's a favor I would ask you. And
00:02:13
um if you do hit the subscribe button, I
00:02:15
won't let you down. And we'll continue
00:02:17
to find small ways to make this whole
00:02:19
production better. Thank you so much for
00:02:21
being part of this journey. Means the
00:02:22
world. And uh yeah, let's do this.
00:02:28
Louisa,
00:02:30
what is it you do in simple terms? And I
00:02:35
guess most importantly, why is it that
00:02:36
you do it? And why now?
00:02:38
>> Over the last decade, I've been studying
00:02:41
the brain. I'm both a clinician and an
00:02:44
academic. So, I get to see the brain and
00:02:47
I also get to research it. And I'm
00:02:50
really here to tackle one disease and
00:02:53
that is Alzheimer's disease.
00:02:54
>> Why is this so important now?
00:02:57
>> Right now because 60 million people
00:02:59
worldwide have Alzheimer's disease. That
00:03:03
number is going to triple by the year
00:03:05
2050. 110 million women will have
00:03:09
Alzheimer's disease by the year 2050.
00:03:12
This is a disease that robs you of who
00:03:16
you are, your complete identity. So,
00:03:19
we're going to get really into this
00:03:20
straight away cuz I brought Henry with
00:03:22
me, right?
00:03:23
>> And for anyone that can't see, Henry is
00:03:25
a model brain that she's holding in her
00:03:26
hands.
00:03:27
>> This is around 2 lb. And if you actually
00:03:30
feel it and you know, if you actually
00:03:32
feel a real human brain, it feels like
00:03:34
tofu, but this is everything you are.
00:03:36
And the fact that so many people are at
00:03:40
the mercy of a disease that is
00:03:43
preventable is not okay with me. It
00:03:45
doesn't sit well with me. We used to
00:03:47
think that women were disproportionately
00:03:50
affected by Alzheimer's disease because
00:03:52
we lived longer because age played a
00:03:55
role in it. But we now have substantial
00:03:57
evidence to show that it's not the fact
00:03:59
that women live longer or people in
00:04:02
general because dementia and Alzheimer's
00:04:03
disease are not part of the natural
00:04:05
brain aging process. For women, and they
00:04:08
differ from men, and we can separate the
00:04:10
sexes and talk about it, for women, it
00:04:12
is purely because being a woman is a
00:04:17
risk factor for getting this disease.
00:04:19
Now, if we go through and we have a look
00:04:20
at all of the people that currently have
00:04:22
Alzheimer's disease, 95% of them could
00:04:25
have been prevented because this is not
00:04:27
a disease of genetics. It's a disease of
00:04:30
lifestyle.
00:04:31
>> 95% of it could have been prevented.
00:04:33
>> Correct? We're we're born with our with
00:04:35
our genetic makeup. Meaning that, for
00:04:38
example, if you have a genetic mutation
00:04:40
on chromosome 4, you will get
00:04:43
Huntington's disease. There is nothing
00:04:46
we can do about that. That's how you
00:04:47
were born. But when it comes to
00:04:49
Alzheimer's disease, there's around 20
00:04:52
to 30 genes involved in the disease.
00:04:55
Only around 3%
00:04:58
of the disease cases right now were
00:04:59
driven through those genetic mutations.
00:05:03
The genetic mutations that you are born
00:05:05
with, you get them from mom and dad are
00:05:08
presinelin one, presinelin 2 and the
00:05:11
amaloid precursor protein. So you if you
00:05:15
have a genetic mutation in one of these
00:05:17
genes, you will get some form of
00:05:20
dementia.
00:05:21
>> What is the age range where people will
00:05:23
start to experience Alzheimer's?
00:05:25
>> Let's just actually take a broad
00:05:27
overview of what Alzheimer's disease is.
00:05:28
Okay. So you've probably heard of
00:05:30
dementia. Yeah.
00:05:31
>> So dementia is the umbrella term. So
00:05:34
Alzheimer's disease is sits under the
00:05:36
umbrella. It's a form of dementia.
00:05:38
There's fronttotemporal dementia which
00:05:40
is what Bruce Willis has. There's
00:05:42
dementia with Louis bodies. There's
00:05:44
Parkinson's dementia. There's vascular
00:05:46
dementia. This disease dementia or
00:05:49
Alzheimer's disease is a disease of
00:05:51
midlife. And so it generally starts in
00:05:55
our 30s. It starts in our 30s, but the
00:05:59
first symptoms show up in our late 60s,
00:06:03
70s and beyond.
00:06:04
>> When you say it starts,
00:06:06
>> yeah, our brain fully develops at around
00:06:08
25 years old. 25 to 30. And after that
00:06:12
that's when we if we don't take care of
00:06:14
our brain we start getting a decline in
00:06:17
these functions. Now let's go back to
00:06:19
the brain. The brain is 87 billion
00:06:22
neurons around 5 to 10,000 connections
00:06:24
per neuron. The my favorite area of the
00:06:27
brain is the cerebellum. And the piking
00:06:29
cells inside the cerebellum have upwards
00:06:31
of 50,000 connections per cell. So so
00:06:36
tightly dense and there is so much
00:06:38
happening. It takes 20% of the total
00:06:41
calories that you consume every day to
00:06:43
power this thing. And it's the most
00:06:46
vascular richch organ in the entire
00:06:48
body. Over time, through things such as
00:06:50
sleep deprivation,
00:06:52
poor diet, lack of physical activity,
00:06:55
environmental toxins, this slowly
00:06:58
erodess at the functioning of the brain.
00:07:00
And over time, this starts to compound
00:07:03
because that's what biology is.
00:07:05
Everything is compounding. One night of
00:07:07
sleep deprivation raises your risk of
00:07:09
amaloid beta, which is one of the
00:07:11
hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease
00:07:12
pathology, by 4%. That's just one night
00:07:15
of sleep deprivation. Imagine a new
00:07:18
mother or a shift worker or a physician
00:07:21
in their residency getting countless
00:07:23
nights of sleep deprivation day in and
00:07:26
day out. Imagine all of that
00:07:28
compounding. And what happens? Well, we
00:07:32
end up with either neuronal loss, which
00:07:34
is like the complete atrophy of certain
00:07:37
parts of the brain. And that's what is
00:07:40
mild cognitive impairment. Mild
00:07:41
cognitive impairment is a pre-dementure
00:07:43
state.
00:07:44
>> So, what is this that I have here? This
00:07:45
photo um of a brain.
00:07:48
>> You've got the sagittal view right now
00:07:49
of the brain. And we're looking at a
00:07:52
healthy brain on here. As you can see,
00:07:53
I'm going to show it up here on the left
00:07:56
hand side. You can see that the brain is
00:07:57
thick. We can see that the integrity of
00:07:59
the gray matter which sits out here is
00:08:02
thick. It's voluous. Okay. We can see
00:08:05
that the ventricles are smaller. We go
00:08:08
over here and we see thinning of the
00:08:10
cortex. You can see these big spaces
00:08:12
between the gy. These are thick because
00:08:15
the gray matter has atrophied. It's
00:08:18
shrunk. You can see that the space
00:08:20
between the cortex itself and the skull,
00:08:24
there's a bigger space. You can see
00:08:25
these ventricles here, these
00:08:26
butterflyshaped ventricles. This is
00:08:28
thicker. This is thinner. We can see
00:08:31
atrophy down here. So essentially, the
00:08:35
brain is getting smaller and smaller
00:08:38
>> at the age of 30. If I do everything
00:08:40
right, and we were to sort of plot this
00:08:43
on a graph of where I land at 70, what
00:08:47
is the variance of where I'll end up at
00:08:49
70? You know, my brain is quite
00:08:50
important to me. And I do worry. I think
00:08:52
like I think I worry in part
00:08:55
because I I I sit and interview a lot of
00:08:56
people at a lot of different ages and
00:08:59
one thing you notice as an interviewer
00:09:01
is some people at 60
00:09:04
have are razor sharp
00:09:06
>> and some people at 60 are not as razor
00:09:09
sharp.
00:09:10
>> Yeah.
00:09:10
>> Their ability to articulate their words,
00:09:12
their memory recall, their ability to
00:09:14
understand stats and stories, all of
00:09:15
this. And I sit here and go, I wonder
00:09:16
what the difference is.
00:09:17
>> Yeah. And that's actually beautiful
00:09:19
because it brings up this important
00:09:21
concept in neuroscience called cognitive
00:09:23
reserve. And that's your brain's ability
00:09:27
to withhold capacity to overcome
00:09:30
stresses. Okay. So you've probably heard
00:09:32
for example, let's use the analogy of
00:09:35
physical performance, your V2 max, which
00:09:37
is a measure of your peak respiratory
00:09:39
fitness. You know how well you can
00:09:42
utilize oxygen
00:09:43
>> when you are at a at a high intensity
00:09:46
state. How well does your body utilize
00:09:48
oxygen? The the fitter you are, the more
00:09:53
reserve you have to overcome stress.
00:09:56
Stress such as an infection, everyday
00:09:59
stresses, sleep deprivation, surgery,
00:10:04
the more reserve you have in your bank
00:10:05
to overcome that. The same is with your
00:10:07
brain. The more cognitive reserve that
00:10:10
you have, the more cognitive capacity
00:10:13
that you have been training year on and
00:10:16
year out will save you at 60 from
00:10:20
harmful insults such as you can get a
00:10:23
woman at the age of 80 with a head full
00:10:27
of amaloid beta.
00:10:28
>> Amaloid beta being
00:10:30
>> the one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's
00:10:32
disease. You can get somebody with a
00:10:33
head full of amaloid
00:10:34
>> which is like a plaque on the brain.
00:10:36
>> Yeah. it it's a protein that's actually
00:10:39
it's a it's a protein that lives inside
00:10:41
the neuron itself and we can explain
00:10:44
what that is which I will in a second
00:10:46
but let me just tell you you can have a
00:10:48
head full of amaloid in this person and
00:10:50
they have retained their cognitive
00:10:52
functions then you can have somebody
00:10:54
else with hardly any amaloid but they've
00:10:57
lost their cognitive functions and this
00:10:59
all comes down to cognitive reserve
00:11:02
>> and cognitive reserve lives where in the
00:11:04
head
00:11:04
>> you've got around 5 to 10,000
00:11:06
connections per cell. Over time, those
00:11:09
connections fail. Now, those connections
00:11:11
are responsible for your thinking, your
00:11:13
processing speed. Every time you have a
00:11:15
thought, you build a new connection. The
00:11:17
more connections that you have, the more
00:11:19
things that you see, the more novelty
00:11:22
that you give your brain, the richer it
00:11:24
gets, the more stable it gets. So, the
00:11:26
ends of these of the neurons, we have
00:11:29
dendrites. And coming off the dendrites
00:11:32
are these little trees. Imagine a
00:11:33
branch. That's the dendrite. And all of
00:11:36
the leaves that come off it, all these
00:11:38
little dendritic trees, if you will, and
00:11:40
they connect to nearby cells, 10 10,000
00:11:43
cells over time, those are the
00:11:46
connections that fall. Those are the
00:11:48
connections that fail. They fail because
00:11:50
you don't utilize them.
00:11:52
>> So, the way that one would build reserve
00:11:54
at the age of 30 is to
00:11:57
>> is by exercising. We can build reserve
00:12:00
in a number of different ways. In fact,
00:12:01
there was a really wonderful study that
00:12:03
just came out that I just read about and
00:12:05
they found that those who preserved
00:12:06
cognitive capacity at 75 years old were
00:12:10
handwriting and reading. So, handwriting
00:12:14
and reading preserves cognitive
00:12:16
functions.
00:12:18
Exercise is one of the most potent
00:12:21
stimulus for brain health and
00:12:24
Alzheimer's disease prevention and
00:12:27
cognitive reserve. The more you
00:12:29
exercise, the bigger your brain.
00:12:32
>> What about scrolling on social media?
00:12:34
Does it improve my reserve if I'm
00:12:36
watching videos?
00:12:37
>> It's in the opposite.
00:12:38
>> Why would that be? Cuz I'm still
00:12:39
learning stuff.
00:12:40
>> Yeah.
00:12:41
>> When I'm on the internet.
00:12:42
>> Because what you're doing then is you
00:12:43
are relying on short dopamine hits.
00:12:46
Every time you scroll, you're sending
00:12:48
signals to your brain that you're
00:12:50
getting a dopamine hit. And your brain
00:12:52
gets used to it. Remember, your brain is
00:12:54
only there for two things, survival and
00:12:58
reproduction. So every time that you
00:13:01
stress your brain in the smallest amount
00:13:03
of times, you're giving it dopamine
00:13:04
hits, it doesn't allow us to do other
00:13:08
things for a sustained period of time
00:13:10
like focus, read, have a conversation.
00:13:14
>> So writing and reading are good for
00:13:16
building up my neurological reserves.
00:13:19
>> Yeah, neurological reserves. It doesn't
00:13:21
compare to what exercise can do for the
00:13:25
brain. And it's so sad because around
00:13:28
80% of the US population don't exercise
00:13:32
for at least 30 30 minutes a week, which
00:13:35
is actually quite scary. The physical
00:13:37
activity guidelines are 150 minutes to
00:13:40
300 minutes of moderate to rigorous
00:13:42
physical activity per week. What's the
00:13:44
most compelling study you've ever
00:13:46
encountered that proves that exercise is
00:13:48
central to Alzheimer's prevention and
00:13:50
brain health?
00:13:51
>> When we look at all of the data, we can
00:13:53
see that the biggest amount of return on
00:13:57
investment is from resistance training.
00:14:00
>> Resistance training being
00:14:01
>> strength training. One of the most
00:14:03
compelling studies was probably the um
00:14:05
the smart trial where they uh took a
00:14:07
group of people with mild cognitive
00:14:10
impairment and gave them two to three
00:14:12
times per week of resistance training
00:14:14
and they not only preserved their
00:14:16
cognitive functions. They enhanced their
00:14:18
processing speed. They enhanced their
00:14:20
fluid intelligence and they had slowing
00:14:23
of the gray matter.
00:14:25
>> The gray matter.
00:14:26
>> Yeah. So your brain consists of both
00:14:28
gray and white matter. So gray matter
00:14:30
are the cell bodies that lives on the
00:14:31
outer side outer portions of your brain
00:14:34
and the white matter is deep within the
00:14:36
brain and that's where all of our
00:14:37
myelinated neurons live and over time we
00:14:41
see that we can have little lesions in
00:14:43
the white matter of the brain. So, a lot
00:14:47
of the times people will ask me,
00:14:49
"Stephen, I'm scared my mother had
00:14:52
Alzheimer's disease. I'm scared I'm
00:14:53
going to get it." And we were talking
00:14:55
about genetics before. And there's
00:14:58
another genetic risk factor that we
00:15:00
didn't talk about. The APOE E4 gene uh
00:15:03
is one of the the strongest risk factors
00:15:06
of getting Alzheimer's disease, but it
00:15:08
is not a foregone conclusion that you're
00:15:10
going to get it. So, Chris Hemsworth was
00:15:12
tested and he has two copies of this
00:15:14
gene. So you get two copies, one from
00:15:17
mom, one from dad. It's the apo
00:15:19
lipoprotein E gene and it comes in three
00:15:23
main variants. So you've got APOE E2,
00:15:26
ApoE3 and ApoE E4.
00:15:30
So I'm a 33 carrier. I've been tested
00:15:34
and that's the general population.
00:15:36
They're 33. So it doesn't raise my risk
00:15:38
of getting the disease, but it also
00:15:40
doesn't protect me. If you've got a copy
00:15:42
of the APOE E2 gene, it protects you
00:15:45
against the disease. But when you have a
00:15:47
copy of the APOE E4 gene, it raises your
00:15:50
risk by two to three times.
00:15:54
If you have two copies of the gene, it
00:15:56
raises your risk by 10 times. If you are
00:15:59
a male,
00:16:00
here's the devastating thing. If you are
00:16:03
a female with one copy of the gene, you
00:16:06
are at doubled the risk than your male
00:16:08
counterpart. So one copy of the gene of
00:16:12
ApoE4 gene for a female raises your risk
00:16:14
by about sixfold whereas two copies
00:16:17
raises your risk by 15fold.
00:16:21
>> And how would one go and get checked?
00:16:23
>> You can get the ApoE4 gene checked uh
00:16:26
with your doctor. It's a simple blood
00:16:27
test.
00:16:28
>> On this point of resistance training,
00:16:30
I've heard you talk about how the legs
00:16:33
>> Mhm.
00:16:34
>> are so important. Having strong legs,
00:16:37
>> having strong legs is by far the most
00:16:40
important tool in your toolbox for the
00:16:43
prevention of Alzheimer's disease. And
00:16:45
this was made certain to me when I read
00:16:49
a study done on identical twins, exact
00:16:52
same genetic profile,
00:16:54
>> and they tracked them. And they did
00:16:55
cognitive tests and MRIs, and they
00:16:58
tracked them over a 10-year period. And
00:17:00
what they found was that the twin who
00:17:03
possessed the greater strength and the
00:17:06
most leg power had a bigger brain,
00:17:11
larger gray matter volume. They
00:17:14
preserved their cognitive functions.
00:17:16
They uh did better on different
00:17:18
cognitive tests.
00:17:20
>> Why is resistance training increasing
00:17:23
the size of my brain?
00:17:24
>> Resistance training does so much for
00:17:26
your brain. The first thing is we have
00:17:28
to think about the journey that we're
00:17:30
going on, right? So when you look at all
00:17:33
of the studies, I want to make it really
00:17:35
clear, all of the studies show that in
00:17:38
order to produce the neural effects of
00:17:40
resistance training, you need to be
00:17:42
lifting at around 80% of your one
00:17:44
repetition max. So 80% of one RM. So
00:17:49
that's quite heavy. There is so much
00:17:52
controversy on social media right now.
00:17:54
Should I lift heavy? Should I lift
00:17:56
light? And when it comes to hypertrophy
00:17:58
alone, so increase in muscle, muscle
00:18:00
mass, muscle cell size, you can get
00:18:03
there, men can get there, women can get
00:18:06
there by lifting light, high reps, or
00:18:09
you can get there by lifting heavy and
00:18:11
low reps. It just depends on who you are
00:18:13
and how much time you have. But when it
00:18:15
comes to the brain specifically, you
00:18:17
want to be lifting heavy for several
00:18:19
reasons. The first one is when we lift
00:18:22
heavy, when we literally like when we
00:18:24
contract our muscle like this, we are
00:18:27
releasing a whole set of chemicals.
00:18:30
They're called myioines. And when
00:18:32
they're released from the muscle, they
00:18:34
go up to the brain and they do
00:18:36
beneficial things for our cognitive
00:18:37
performance, our cognition, and they
00:18:40
help with the growth and proliferation
00:18:42
of new neurons in the hippocampus.
00:18:45
And it's the first thing to go during
00:18:47
Alzheimer's disease. it actually
00:18:50
shrinks. This holds our memory. This is
00:18:52
where a lot of our memory consolidation
00:18:54
and learning takes place, which is why
00:18:57
short-term memory is the first thing to
00:18:58
go during this disease. Okay? And as we
00:19:01
get older and what we found is that you
00:19:05
can grow new neurons in the hippocampus
00:19:09
from structured exercise and consistent
00:19:11
exercise. the biggest growth is going to
00:19:14
occur because of BDNF, brain derived
00:19:18
neurotropic factor. So this is a growth
00:19:20
factor for the brain and it gets
00:19:22
released when we exercise. It gets
00:19:24
released abundantly when we are doing
00:19:26
aerobic training, when we're running,
00:19:28
when we're cycling for long distances,
00:19:31
but also gets released when we do
00:19:33
resistance training. Now, here's the
00:19:35
beautiful thing about it. When we do
00:19:36
resist resistance training and we're
00:19:39
releasing all of these myioines, these
00:19:41
myioines are signaling molecules. They
00:19:43
work together. So we've got one called
00:19:45
irri, okay? And that's a messenger
00:19:49
molecule. So what it does is it actually
00:19:51
helps BDNF express itself. So when we
00:19:55
release this myioin, it goes into the
00:19:57
brain, crosses the bloodb brain barrier
00:20:00
and it tells BDNF to express itself. So
00:20:03
then BDNF goes in and it helps grow new
00:20:06
neurons in the hippocampus. But then
00:20:08
we've got another mioine. Let's just
00:20:10
take isle 6. Interlucan 6 that comes
00:20:13
from the interlucan family.
00:20:14
>> What is that? Sorry.
00:20:15
>> The interlucan family is a a class of
00:20:19
pro-inflammatory cytoines. So these get
00:20:21
released when we are under stress or
00:20:23
you've got an infection or a virus for
00:20:25
example. But when we exercise, it
00:20:30
depends on where the site is. Interlucan
00:20:32
6 instead of acting as a
00:20:34
pro-inflammatory cytoine.
00:20:35
>> Mhm.
00:20:36
>> Instead of creating inflammation, it
00:20:38
acts as an anti-inflammatory cytoine.
00:20:40
So, it goes into the brain and it lowers
00:20:42
inflammation. In fact, this is uh one of
00:20:45
this was one of the uh first ever
00:20:48
myioines to be studied and they showed
00:20:51
that interlucan 6 is also responsible
00:20:54
for the down reggulation of tumor cell
00:20:56
growth. So exercise is a potent
00:21:00
anti-cancer intervention as well by way
00:21:04
of myioines. How much exercise does one
00:21:07
need to do to avoid the uh cancer
00:21:10
related um side effects but also the
00:21:12
Alzheimer's problem?
00:21:14
>> Well, just 30 minutes a day of aerobic
00:21:18
physical activity can downregulate 13
00:21:21
types of cancers and the most prominent
00:21:24
ones being breast cancer, colon cancer
00:21:28
and prostate cancer. So these three have
00:21:31
been studied most and you get your
00:21:33
anti-cancer effects from the myioine
00:21:36
release. So quite specifically when we
00:21:39
exercise we're getting a robust release
00:21:42
of something called natural killer
00:21:44
cells.
00:21:46
And when we get these natural killer
00:21:48
cells into the plasma and into the
00:21:50
bloodstream, they go into the tumor site
00:21:54
and they do what they were born to do.
00:21:57
They kill. So they go into the tumor
00:21:59
site and they start to kill the tumor
00:22:02
and this is where you get your
00:22:03
anti-cancer effects of it. But you can
00:22:05
also get it from the anti-inflammatory
00:22:08
effects of resistance training,
00:22:09
anti-inflammatory effects of aerobic
00:22:11
training. So these myioind
00:22:14
powerful in fact pharmaceuticals are
00:22:17
spending billions of dollars trying to
00:22:19
replicate these myioind.
00:22:23
I want both men and women lifting heavy
00:22:26
because you've got areas in your brain.
00:22:28
Right across here lives your motor
00:22:31
cortex.
00:22:33
Think of your brain as real estate.
00:22:35
There's real estate in your brain
00:22:36
reserved for lifting heavy. So every
00:22:38
time you lift a heavy weight as opposed
00:22:41
to a lightweight, it takes more neural
00:22:44
real estate to lift that heavy weight.
00:22:48
So the heavier you lift, the greater the
00:22:51
neural drive. The greater the neural
00:22:52
drive, the better it is for your brain.
00:22:55
>> If you had to do just one exercise for
00:22:57
the rest of your life to protect your
00:22:58
brain and you could only pick one,
00:23:00
>> what would it be?
00:23:02
>> Deadlift.
00:23:04
>> Why?
00:23:05
>> If done correctly, the deadlift can use
00:23:09
almost every muscle in your body. Erect
00:23:12
spine a you've got the glutes, you've
00:23:13
got the quads, you've even got seratus
00:23:15
anterior, you've got the you've got your
00:23:17
calf muscles. There is so much
00:23:19
compounding in that one lift would
00:23:23
probably be comparable to a barbell
00:23:25
squat as well.
00:23:26
>> According to the World Health
00:23:27
Organization, we're getting increasingly
00:23:28
more sedentary. I we're moving less and
00:23:31
less in part because of technology, but
00:23:33
also there was this really interesting
00:23:35
study done by the Cleveland Clinic where
00:23:37
they talk about people who are active
00:23:39
sedentary. And this
00:23:42
this felt a little bit personal if I'm
00:23:44
honest. It says a major finding in 2025
00:23:47
found a danger of being active
00:23:50
sedentary, which is people who exercise
00:23:51
for like 30 to 60 minutes but sit for
00:23:54
the remaining 10 hours a day. If you sit
00:23:57
for more than 10 hours a day, your risk
00:23:58
of cardiovascular disease increases even
00:24:01
if you meet weekly exercise goals
00:24:04
because prolonged sitting shuts down
00:24:06
lipoprotein lipes, an enzyme essential
00:24:08
for burning fat and cleaning glucose
00:24:11
from the blood.
00:24:13
That wasn't that's annoying to read
00:24:14
because I feel like that's me.
00:24:15
>> Yeah. And being sedentry is a disease.
00:24:20
You can change the trajectory of your
00:24:22
life by doing 10 air squats every hour
00:24:27
on the hour. And there was a study that
00:24:29
was done on this that showed that if you
00:24:31
do 10 air squats every hour, this can
00:24:35
compensate for your sedentary lifestyle.
00:24:36
Because unfortunately, this is the life
00:24:38
we're living in. We are becoming more
00:24:40
sedentary in our day-to-day lives. We're
00:24:42
sitting more. We're not going out as
00:24:44
much. There's younger kids uh on video
00:24:46
games. They're scrolling. There's so
00:24:48
much happening that is involving our
00:24:50
sedentary lifestyle, which is obviously,
00:24:51
like you said, increasing our risk of
00:24:53
type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease,
00:24:56
etc.
00:24:58
>> Yep. You can do it
00:24:59
>> like this.
00:25:01
>> There you go. 10 of those. If you do 10
00:25:03
of those, you can outweigh the benefits
00:25:06
of a 30 minute power walk
00:25:09
>> every hour.
00:25:10
>> Yeah. Yeah.
00:25:10
>> For how many hours?
00:25:11
>> 8.
00:25:13
>> Okay. So, I could set an alarm on my
00:25:14
phone.
00:25:15
>> Every hour. Just get up or every 45
00:25:17
minutes get up and do an air squat. And
00:25:20
this is primarily because have you heard
00:25:22
that when you eat you get a massive
00:25:24
spike of glucose. And the best way to
00:25:27
bring that glucose spike back down is by
00:25:30
doing any form of exercise. You can albe
00:25:32
it go out and go for a a fast run, do an
00:25:35
air squat, bring that uh bring that
00:25:37
glucose level back to baseline. And do
00:25:39
you think much about aerobic training as
00:25:42
a preventative measure for Alzheimer's?
00:25:45
>> I love aerobic training. Women are
00:25:47
facing a dilemma on social media because
00:25:49
they're being given so much information.
00:25:52
There is this huge uproar of should I do
00:25:58
zone 2 exercise or should I not do zone
00:26:01
2 exercise?
00:26:02
>> What is zone 2 exercise?
00:26:04
>> So we can think of uh physiology in
00:26:06
zones. Zone one is what you and I are in
00:26:09
right now,
00:26:10
>> right? Zone two is that next level up
00:26:13
and that's generally when we're looking
00:26:15
at exercising at around 60%
00:26:19
of our maximum heart rate and it's where
00:26:22
you can where you're jogging but you can
00:26:24
have a conversation but where you're
00:26:25
huffing and puffing. When we're
00:26:27
exercising we need to produce energy and
00:26:31
that energy firstly starts in the
00:26:33
mitochondria. So we need uh all of our
00:26:36
energy gets created. We create ATP and
00:26:39
that's how we are able to perform the
00:26:41
given task. As soon as we get out of
00:26:42
that zone and we go into zone 3, zone 4
00:26:45
and zone 5, we're producing energy
00:26:48
outside of the mitochondria in the
00:26:50
cytoplasm. And when we're doing that, in
00:26:54
order to do that, we're breaking down
00:26:55
glucose so fast via a pathway called
00:26:59
glycolysis. The byproduct of that is
00:27:02
lactate. And then we produce lactate and
00:27:06
that's actually a fuel source for the
00:27:08
brain. It's also a mioine, right? So
00:27:11
that's when we're in zone 3, zone 4,
00:27:14
zone 5. So a lot of women have been
00:27:18
doing zone 2. They've been going to the
00:27:20
gym. They've been doing zone 2. And I'm
00:27:22
trying to push women to get out of zone
00:27:25
2 for several reasons.
00:27:27
Not because it's not good for you. I
00:27:32
think all forms of exercise are good for
00:27:34
you. The more you move, the better,
00:27:36
right? But let's be really honest. A lot
00:27:40
of people in midlife are busy. They're
00:27:42
time poor. Men actually get a greater
00:27:45
return on investment by doing zone 2.
00:27:48
Women don't get the same return on
00:27:49
investment from doing zone 2. So, I'm
00:27:52
trying to push women to first work on
00:27:55
zone five, zone 3, zone 4, zone 5. If
00:27:59
they can, just do zone five.
00:28:01
Then do two to three sessions of
00:28:03
resistance training a week. And if you
00:28:04
have time left over, that's right there.
00:28:07
I've just described around 4 hours of
00:28:09
exercise. If you have time left over,
00:28:12
then you can work in zone 2. Now, zone 2
00:28:15
is great. If you're going to go out and
00:28:17
go for a long run, you're doing many
00:28:19
things. You are secretreting a lot of
00:28:21
BDNF, which we need. It's a growth
00:28:23
factor for the brain. You're getting a
00:28:26
massive uh amount of blood that's going
00:28:28
into the brain which is great as well.
00:28:30
It's sustained blood delivers oxygen and
00:28:33
nutrients to the brain. You're doing a
00:28:35
lot of things, right? But what you're
00:28:37
not doing is having a complete effect on
00:28:42
the chambers of your heart.
00:28:44
>> Is it better for me to do 5 km on a
00:28:47
treadmill or outside? I would say it's
00:28:50
better for you for the brain to do a
00:28:53
smaller amount of exercise and a higher
00:28:55
threshold
00:28:56
>> because I I was I think I read somewhere
00:28:58
one time that running outside is better
00:29:00
for the brain because it stimulates the
00:29:03
brain
00:29:03
>> of well you're outside so you've got so
00:29:05
many things around you. Imagine your
00:29:06
brain I told you it's got prime real
00:29:08
estate. Every part of the brain is
00:29:10
responsible for a different function
00:29:12
from what you see to what you hear. You
00:29:14
go outside and you can see so many
00:29:17
things. You've got forward ambulation.
00:29:19
So that's going to help you with drive,
00:29:21
motivation, dopamine, but then you're
00:29:24
also taking in the sounds, the senses.
00:29:26
It downregulates inflammation. So you
00:29:28
get so many other things from doing
00:29:30
that. Yes. But 5 km outside compared to
00:29:36
20 minutes of high aerobic physical
00:29:38
activity. What is better for the brain?
00:29:40
I would say that the zone 5 is better
00:29:43
for the brain. The zone 5 training does
00:29:45
a lot for the chambers of your heart as
00:29:47
well. Now, I'm going to grab this. We've
00:29:49
got a little model here, and we can see
00:29:51
that we have h a left chamber. We have a
00:29:55
right chamber, we have actually four
00:29:57
chambers of the heart, but we have
00:29:59
something in the heart called a
00:30:01
ventricle. We've got a left ventricle,
00:30:02
and we've got a right ventricle. Now,
00:30:04
the left ventricle delivers oxygenated
00:30:07
blood to the entire body. It's really
00:30:09
interesting because the chamber of the
00:30:11
left ventricle is like a is like a
00:30:14
muscle, right? It's responsible for
00:30:17
pumping blood to your entire body. It
00:30:20
first gives blood to the brain, which
00:30:22
means it's the most important part of
00:30:24
your body. After it's done giving blood
00:30:26
to the brain, it goes through to the
00:30:27
rest of the body. As we get older, we
00:30:31
get stiffening of these arteries. Okay?
00:30:34
Stiffening of all of the arteries in the
00:30:36
heart. and we get we get something
00:30:38
called left ventricular hypertrophy. So
00:30:41
that's when the ventricle
00:30:44
the left ventricle it starts to get
00:30:46
thicker and when it gets thicker that
00:30:48
means that we can't it's not as strong
00:30:50
it can't pump a lot of blood as much as
00:30:53
it could when it was younger to the rest
00:30:54
of the body. Ben Lavine, Dr. Ben Lavine,
00:30:57
he's a sports cardiologist and he did
00:30:59
this landmark study which changed how I
00:31:02
thought about zone 5 training. He took a
00:31:06
group of sedentary males, average age, I
00:31:09
think it was around 47 to 55, so around
00:31:12
50 years old, and he scanned their
00:31:15
hearts. He did, you know, he looked at,
00:31:17
he did echo cardiograms, he took photos
00:31:19
of the heart. He did everything he could
00:31:21
to see when they was first starting the
00:31:23
protocol, what does their heart look
00:31:24
like? He then subjected them to around 4
00:31:29
hours of exercise per week. And that was
00:31:31
stratified against he did one resistance
00:31:34
training session a week. One was
00:31:36
highintensity physical activity at
00:31:38
around 90% of the maximum heart rate,
00:31:40
the V2 max heart rate. And then in
00:31:43
between he did some long sessions as
00:31:45
well, right? But it was all moderate to
00:31:48
rigorous exercise and that was done over
00:31:52
two years. At the end of those two
00:31:54
years, what he found was that he
00:31:56
remodeled the heart by 20 years. So he
00:32:00
reversed the age related effects and
00:32:02
defects of the heart by 20 years.
00:32:05
Essentially turning the 50-year-old
00:32:07
hearts into 30-year-old hearts just from
00:32:10
physical activity alone.
00:32:12
>> 4 hours a week for 2 years.
00:32:14
>> 4 hours a week for 2 years.
00:32:16
>> And what kind of exercise was it?
00:32:18
>> So he got them to do like let's say for
00:32:20
example one of the um one of the
00:32:22
protocols was exercising at 90% of your
00:32:25
maximum heart rate. So when we do this,
00:32:28
we're generally looking at increasing
00:32:30
our V2 max. So you've probably heard
00:32:33
that V2 max along with strength, but V2
00:32:37
max is the strongest predictor of all
00:32:39
cause mortality, right? So if you want
00:32:42
to improve your V2 max and if you want
00:32:45
to get the heart related changes that he
00:32:48
did, what you want to do is you want to
00:32:51
do 20 minutes of V2 max per week just to
00:32:54
keep your V2 max because it does decline
00:32:56
year on and year out. Starting at the
00:32:58
age of around 35, we start to see a
00:33:00
decline in V2 max. So, if we want to
00:33:03
work on our V2 max, we want to be doing
00:33:07
a what we call the Norwegian 4x4. It's
00:33:11
the gold standard of increasing your V2
00:33:13
max. So, you want to get your heart rate
00:33:15
elevated to 90 to 95% for 4 minutes on,
00:33:20
4 minutes off, repeat four times.
00:33:24
So, how do I do this? Well, I actually
00:33:26
do this twice a week because the more
00:33:29
you do, the better. I do this on a
00:33:32
stepper. I do this at the gym and I put
00:33:36
my stepper onto I think I'm at like a
00:33:38
level 14 and I'm working my way up and
00:33:42
I'm staying on there for 4 minutes and
00:33:44
then I'm having a complete stop and a
00:33:46
complete rest for 4 minutes and I'm
00:33:49
repeating that four times.
00:33:52
>> Mhm.
00:33:52
>> So what I'm doing in that moment, I'm
00:33:54
not just getting a massive shunting of
00:33:58
blood to the brain. Okay, which is good.
00:34:01
I'm not just getting a massive release
00:34:03
of myioines and exocines to the brain.
00:34:07
I'm also remodeling the heart. I'm
00:34:10
downregulating tumor cell growth. I'm
00:34:12
improving my cognitive performance. I'm
00:34:15
doing so much more than just exercising
00:34:17
alone.
00:34:19
>> So that's once once a week in Lavine's
00:34:22
study that reversed these guys hearts by
00:34:25
20 years. Y
00:34:26
>> um
00:34:26
>> that you do that once a week. you only
00:34:28
have to do that once a week, but he also
00:34:30
did um he did around 70% of maximum
00:34:33
heart rate for around 2 hours a week.
00:34:35
And he also threw in one resistance
00:34:37
training session.
00:34:39
So consistency is key.
00:34:41
>> I'm just looking at some of the findings
00:34:43
of that study and one of the surprising
00:34:44
things is it showed that there is a
00:34:48
biological exploration date per se for
00:34:52
the reversal of the heart. Yeah. And
00:34:54
then the heart retains its plasticity,
00:34:56
the ability to remodel itself until the
00:34:57
age of 65. If this intervention had
00:35:00
started after the age of 65, the heart
00:35:02
was too stiff to be physically remodeled
00:35:04
to get that 20 year reversal.
00:35:06
>> Yeah.
00:35:06
>> You have to start in late middle age.
00:35:09
>> Exactly. So midlife is the window of
00:35:12
opportunity for brain health and for
00:35:15
longevity.
00:35:16
>> I didn't realize you could sort of
00:35:18
remodel the heart yourself. That's
00:35:19
interesting.
00:35:20
>> Yeah, you can remodel the heart. And the
00:35:22
heart is amazing. Okay. Because what you
00:35:24
see with the aorta, right? So the aorta
00:35:27
goes up and we've got we've got two
00:35:29
we've got uh the main blood supply for
00:35:31
the brain exist in the vertebral
00:35:33
arteries. Okay? So there's branching off
00:35:35
of the aorta comes from the heart.
00:35:37
Vertebral arteries which supply the
00:35:39
posterior part of the brain and the
00:35:40
cerebellum with blood. And then you've
00:35:43
got the corroted arteries. So one on
00:35:45
each side branching off the aorta which
00:35:47
supply the uh frontal and middle part of
00:35:50
your brain with blood. The brain is the
00:35:52
most vascular rich organ in the entire
00:35:54
body. In times of stress such as
00:35:57
hypertension, okay, that is elevated
00:36:02
blood pressure. We see that we can
00:36:04
actually kill off the tiniest parts of
00:36:08
the blood vessels which are called the
00:36:10
capillaries. You can see the capillaries
00:36:11
up here. They supply even the bloodb
00:36:14
brain barrier. So they supply mainly the
00:36:16
outer cortex of the brain with blood.
00:36:19
When we have elevated blood pressure,
00:36:22
we are starting to kill off those tiny
00:36:25
little capillaries of the brain. Those
00:36:26
capillaries are feeding different
00:36:29
neurons in the brain and also feeding
00:36:32
the bloodb brain barrier. So when we get
00:36:35
breaking off of these, we lose the blood
00:36:37
supply, we lose the oxygenation, we get
00:36:40
um a breakdown of the bloodb brain
00:36:42
barrier itself, which is scary. And we
00:36:44
see that in patients who have got mild
00:36:47
cognitive impairment. You can call it,
00:36:49
you've heard of leaky gut, we can call
00:36:50
it leaky brain. If you have a leaky
00:36:53
brain, what happens eventually is so
00:36:55
your bloodb brain barrier sits like
00:36:58
this. Okay? And there are cells and we
00:37:00
call them parasites for example and
00:37:03
they're bound together by tight
00:37:05
junctions. That's what the bloodb brain
00:37:06
barrier is. It's like a you think of the
00:37:09
bloodb brain barrier as the bouncer of a
00:37:12
nightclub. They are all standing there
00:37:14
like this responsible for who can come
00:37:16
in and who can't. and they don't allow
00:37:18
some molecules to get in. But over time,
00:37:21
when this starts to degrade and become
00:37:23
leaky, they start to spread apart. And
00:37:26
when they do, you can have the passive
00:37:29
diffusion of all these molecules coming
00:37:31
in. And that's really bad for your
00:37:33
brain. So, we want to maintain the
00:37:35
integrity of the bloodb brain barrier by
00:37:37
maintaining the capillary health. We
00:37:40
don't want the capillaries to die.
00:37:42
They're one cell thick. Any type of
00:37:44
damage can damage them and kill them.
00:37:47
hypertension. There was a really great
00:37:48
study. It was called it was actually the
00:37:50
sprint trial and it was it's now the
00:37:52
gold standard for the recommendation of
00:37:55
120 over 80. What's
00:37:57
>> that?
00:37:58
>> So when you have your blood pressure
00:37:59
taken, we get the systolic over
00:38:02
diastolic. And you've probably I don't
00:38:03
know if you take your blood pressure,
00:38:05
but doing your blood pressure every day
00:38:07
is a really great inexpensive and
00:38:10
effective tool for maintaining good
00:38:13
brain health. So you measure your blood
00:38:16
pressure and if you are hypertensive
00:38:20
this is anywhere over
00:38:23
135
00:38:24
okay systolic over 135
00:38:28
that's when things start to break down
00:38:31
that's when we start to get the
00:38:32
breakdown of those small one cell thick
00:38:35
capillaries. So in this trial, in the
00:38:38
spring trial, what they found was that
00:38:40
when they aggressively manage these
00:38:43
patients and they bring their blood
00:38:45
pressure down, they did it
00:38:46
pharmacologically through something
00:38:48
called an ACE inhibitor. It's a
00:38:49
medication to drive down blood pressure.
00:38:51
When they bring it down
00:38:52
pharmacologically, these patients
00:38:55
preserved their brain gray matter and
00:38:58
their cognitive functions. So we now
00:39:00
have a gold standard. And this is what I
00:39:02
would recommend anybody on Amazon. And
00:39:04
it costs about $25 for a blood an
00:39:07
automatic blood pressure monitor. Do it
00:39:10
every single morning and watch your
00:39:12
blood pressure.
00:39:12
>> And then if it's high, what do I do
00:39:14
about it?
00:39:15
>> Well, outside of pharmarmacology, if we
00:39:17
don't want to take a medication, we want
00:39:19
to get stronger. And we want to do this
00:39:21
via exercise.
00:39:23
Stress is one of the biggest things
00:39:25
driving high blood pressure. manage
00:39:27
stress, manage cortisol, manage chronic
00:39:30
inflammation by way of exercise, sleep,
00:39:33
all of the things that mother nature
00:39:34
gave us.
00:39:36
>> I was just looking at the um the study
00:39:37
that reversed the heart by 20 years and
00:39:40
trying to figure out what exercises they
00:39:42
did. And as you said, the first one was
00:39:43
a highintensity workout, the 4x4.
00:39:46
>> Um then they did a long aerobic
00:39:48
exercise. Again, this is all once a
00:39:49
week. So 60 minutes once a week doing a
00:39:52
longer exercise like it could be hiking
00:39:55
or tennis or cycling. a moderate
00:39:56
intensity workout, 30 minutes where they
00:39:59
did the talk test, you should be able to
00:40:00
break a sweat but still be able to
00:40:02
speak. So that was once a week. And then
00:40:04
lastly, strength training once a week.
00:40:05
So it's really a variety
00:40:07
>> of exercises that caused such a profound
00:40:09
impact on the heart.
00:40:13
>> And I think cardiovascular diseases are
00:40:15
the single biggest killer.
00:40:17
>> Yeah. Cardiovascular disease,
00:40:20
dementia is the number one killer of
00:40:22
women in the UK. The number one
00:40:25
>> really. It's the number one cause of
00:40:26
death in Australia for both men and
00:40:29
women.
00:40:30
>> How does it kill you? Because we all
00:40:31
think about memory loss and stuff like
00:40:33
that, but
00:40:34
>> and so this is the actual devastating
00:40:36
part. We don't die of Alzheimer's
00:40:38
disease specifically. Over time, what
00:40:41
happens is in these patients, you have
00:40:43
to remember Alzheimer's disease is like
00:40:46
endstage cancer. Once you get the
00:40:49
diagnosis, there is no cure. There is no
00:40:51
going back. There is no reversal. you
00:40:54
have the disease and that's the scariest
00:40:57
part. Mild cognitive impairment, you can
00:41:00
slow the progression of that. Like I
00:41:02
said to you, it goes for 20 years. Mild
00:41:04
cognitive impairment, you can slow the
00:41:06
progression of mild cognitive
00:41:07
impairment, but as soon as you get
00:41:09
diagnosed on that awful day that your
00:41:12
mother or your friend gets diagnosed
00:41:14
with Alzheimer's disease, it's a sad
00:41:16
day. And what ends up happening with
00:41:18
these patients is you can die of
00:41:21
esphyxiation. You can die of you. Your
00:41:25
brain loses the signal to swallow. It
00:41:29
loses the signal to maybe you fall
00:41:32
because you've lost balance. It's really
00:41:35
it's a really scary moment, but it's not
00:41:37
like you die of Alzheimer's disease
00:41:40
specifically.
00:41:42
If you were diagnosed with Alzheimer's
00:41:44
disease,
00:41:48
it's an interesting reaction.
00:41:51
>> Because I would have no hope. I think a
00:41:54
a better question is
00:41:56
>> you'd have no hope.
00:41:57
>> If I was diagnosed with Alzheimer's
00:41:59
disease, there is nothing I could do.
00:42:03
>> How would that change
00:42:06
your life and the decisions you make? Or
00:42:08
would it at all? I would aggressively
00:42:12
aggressively exercise. I would monitor
00:42:15
my diet. I would aggressively monitor my
00:42:18
diet and I would potentially have a
00:42:20
ketogenic diet because what we've found
00:42:22
is that during this metabolic crisis
00:42:26
that happens in your brain, okay? Where
00:42:28
you lose the ability to use glucose as
00:42:31
your primary fuel source. So the brain
00:42:34
doesn't know how to use glucose as its
00:42:37
primary fuel source. So it's under
00:42:38
attack. during Alzheimer's
00:42:40
>> during Alzheimer's but also during this
00:42:43
window in of for women as well in the
00:42:45
pmenopause state. So the brain cell when
00:42:48
it's under attack and it can't utilize
00:42:49
glucose effectively and it doesn't have
00:42:51
any energy it starts to think about
00:42:54
survival. It starts to think what can I
00:42:56
do? I'm under attack. So it starts to
00:42:59
break down the myelin sheath. And in
00:43:02
that moment it's actually the
00:43:03
aststerittes they're the supporters of
00:43:05
the brain so of the brain cells. So they
00:43:08
start to think okay let's break down the
00:43:10
myelin sheath from that the astroytes
00:43:14
produce ketone bodies and then the
00:43:16
ketone bodies get shuttled into the
00:43:17
brain and that's how we use uh energy in
00:43:20
the brain. So in that state of metabolic
00:43:23
crisis I would make sure that I am
00:43:27
having a ketone rich diet or I may be
00:43:31
getting exogenous ketones. I would
00:43:33
aggressively exercise. I would
00:43:35
aggressively manage my my lipids. I'd
00:43:37
have a high intake of omega-3 fatty
00:43:40
acids and I would preserve if I could
00:43:42
any form of cognitive function by way of
00:43:46
talking to people by going outside,
00:43:49
socializing, having hard conversations
00:43:51
if I was intact and I could do so. I
00:43:54
would throw tennis balls to the wall.
00:43:58
So on that point of the ketogenic diet,
00:44:02
the reason is because ketones are an
00:44:03
alternative fuel source to glucose.
00:44:06
>> Y
00:44:07
>> and the brain likes ketones.
00:44:10
>> The brain loves ketones and it actually
00:44:12
utilizes them more effectively than
00:44:14
glucose. But glucose is the primary fuel
00:44:17
source for the brain. And here's what's
00:44:19
really interesting uh and devastating if
00:44:22
you will for females during the onset of
00:44:25
pmenopause, right? when we see a decline
00:44:28
in estrogen, right? We see a decline in
00:44:32
estrogen, what happens is a 30%
00:44:35
reduction in brain glucose metabolism.
00:44:38
So, when these receptors start to die
00:44:41
because we don't have uh we don't have a
00:44:43
lot of estrogen circulating in the
00:44:45
bloodstream anymore, what happens? Well,
00:44:48
we can't utilize glucose as effectively.
00:44:51
So during that state, that's when we
00:44:53
start to get the breakdown of the myelin
00:44:55
sheath to use that as uh as ketone
00:44:58
bodies as an alternative brain fuel
00:45:01
source.
00:45:02
>> So do you think women going through
00:45:03
menopause should be
00:45:06
considering a ketogenic diet? Yes, I do
00:45:08
think that I think that women who are
00:45:10
going through pmenopause and who are at
00:45:13
the mercy of this brain energetic crisis
00:45:17
should be adopting if they can a
00:45:19
ketogenic diet. It's one of the best
00:45:21
diets for the brain.
00:45:24
>> I didn't really understand this idea
00:45:25
that during menopause there was a
00:45:29
glucose
00:45:30
deficiency or metabolism problem in the
00:45:32
brain.
00:45:32
>> 30% reduction in brain glucose
00:45:34
metabolism. Is this why women report to
00:45:36
having brain fog and all these kinds of
00:45:39
things?
00:45:39
>> Yeah, absolutely. Because when the brain
00:45:41
can't utilize its fuel source
00:45:43
effectively, what happens? Well,
00:45:46
metabolites start to shift. We don't
00:45:49
sleep properly. Around 60 to 65% of
00:45:53
women in menopause report having a hot
00:45:56
flash or night sweats. It wakes them up
00:45:58
at night. That's also causing cognitive
00:46:01
decline and brain fog. So, I mean, this
00:46:05
graph is pretty shocking.
00:46:06
>> Um, can you explain what it shows?
00:46:09
>> Oh, this is showing the um estrogen
00:46:12
levels at birth going through all of the
00:46:14
life cycles that a woman will go
00:46:16
through, puberty, pmenopause, and then
00:46:18
eventually menopause. There is one thing
00:46:21
that is certain.
00:46:24
After age, I mentioned earlier being a
00:46:27
woman is the next strongest risk factor
00:46:29
for getting this disease,
00:46:31
>> forgetting Alzheimer's. forgetting
00:46:32
Alzheimer's and that largely lies in our
00:46:37
par in our menopausal shift that occurs
00:46:40
the downsizing of estrogen. However, we
00:46:44
do have forms of estrogen that we can
00:46:47
you know supplement with.
00:46:48
>> So I just need to keep the estrogen up.
00:46:50
>> Yeah.
00:46:50
>> Because then the brain health is going
00:46:52
to be up and normal.
00:46:54
>> This is where the controversy lies. Yes
00:46:56
and no. So I want everyone to understand
00:46:58
I am sitting right now. So my entire
00:47:00
doctoral thesis is focused on women and
00:47:03
Alzheimer's disease and I'm Switzerland
00:47:06
right now when it comes to hormone
00:47:08
replacement therapy. That is replacing
00:47:11
your hormones.
00:47:12
>> You're Switzerland.
00:47:12
>> I'm Switzerland. Meaning that there is
00:47:15
no evidence to suggest right now we
00:47:18
don't have largecale randomized control
00:47:20
trials to show that hormone replacement
00:47:22
therapy prevents dementia. So what I
00:47:25
will tell you is this. It is a signal.
00:47:27
It is a supporter. It will help you do
00:47:31
the things that can lower your risk of
00:47:34
dementia. We've seen multiple times that
00:47:39
having hormone replacement therapy can
00:47:41
reduce your risk of getting Alzheimer's
00:47:43
disease by up to 30%. We know that. But
00:47:46
it's not because estrogen alone is
00:47:50
minimizing your risk. It's because when
00:47:53
you have estrogen, it helps get rid of
00:47:56
the hot flashes. It helps with the night
00:47:58
sweats because during menopause when we
00:48:01
actually have a disregulation of the of
00:48:04
estrogen in our brain, what happens in
00:48:06
the hypothalamus which is an area in the
00:48:09
brain that controls our temperature
00:48:11
regulation when we lose the ability to
00:48:14
monitor our temperature for a woman.
00:48:17
What will happen is when she feels the
00:48:20
slightest bit hot, her temperature, you
00:48:24
know, is rising a little bit. The
00:48:26
hypothalamus doesn't know what to do.
00:48:27
So, it signals, I'm super hot. So, it'll
00:48:29
raise your temperature right up, and
00:48:31
that's a hot flash. And then it'll bring
00:48:32
it right down. And as a result, this is
00:48:35
keeping women up at night. And we know
00:48:37
that sleep deprivation is a risk factor
00:48:39
for Alzheimer's disease. Of course, it
00:48:40
is. compounding sleep deprivation will
00:48:45
accumulate amaloid beta in your brain.
00:48:48
So if we can replace if we can use
00:48:51
hormone replacement therapy as a signal
00:48:53
and as a support to help us sleep at
00:48:56
night then that's a good thing. Another
00:48:59
thing estrogen is anabolic to muscle.
00:49:03
>> What does that mean?
00:49:04
>> It means that it helps with muscle
00:49:06
protein synthesis.
00:49:07
>> Oh it helps me make muscle.
00:49:09
>> Yeah. We've got estrogen receptors on
00:49:10
our bone. We've got estrogen receptors
00:49:12
on our muscle. So if estrogen is
00:49:15
anabolic to muscle, if estrogen helps
00:49:19
with muscle protein synthesis, if
00:49:23
estrogen helps with bone mineral
00:49:24
density, then replacing estrogen during
00:49:27
that menopause state is going to help us
00:49:30
with all of the risk factors of
00:49:31
Alzheimer's disease.
00:49:33
>> So when does estrogen I mean it really
00:49:36
in this image drops off a cliff
00:49:37
>> and Yeah. And it varies. So it tends to
00:49:40
generally happen at around 45 years old
00:49:42
as an average and that that pmenopause
00:49:45
stage lasts around 10 years
00:49:48
>> but it starts going down on this graph
00:49:50
at about 30.
00:49:51
>> It starts to go down and everyone's
00:49:53
different. Okay, you can have a woman in
00:49:55
her late 30s go into pmenopause or the
00:49:58
general age is around 42 to 45. Most
00:50:01
OBGYNS that I've spoken to say that you
00:50:04
need to start checking in with your
00:50:07
doctor at around 40 years old to check
00:50:09
for this.
00:50:10
>> So, do you thinking about my fiance now,
00:50:12
do you think that
00:50:14
someone like her should go on hormone
00:50:17
replacement therapy at like 40?
00:50:18
>> Well, so that's the that's the big
00:50:20
question. That's the elephant in the
00:50:21
room. Should you go on hormone
00:50:22
replacement therapy or should you not?
00:50:24
And that's definitely a conversation
00:50:25
between you and your physician. However,
00:50:28
we've got largecale studies right now to
00:50:31
show that we don't have to be afraid of
00:50:34
hormone replacement therapy. And without
00:50:36
going too deep into the weeds, there was
00:50:38
a massive study that was done, the women
00:50:40
women's health initiative, that scared
00:50:42
women out of taking hormone replacement
00:50:45
therapy in fear
00:50:47
>> of getting breast cancer. Correct. We
00:50:49
went from having 40% of women on hormone
00:50:53
replacement therapy to just 4% of women
00:50:56
on hormone replacement therapy. We know
00:50:58
that even at the onset of menopause, a
00:51:02
woman's risk of having a heart related
00:51:05
event triples. A woman's risk of getting
00:51:10
Alzheimer's
00:51:11
disease increases. So there is something
00:51:15
to posit here about the benefits of
00:51:17
hormone replacement therapy that we
00:51:20
still haven't yet studied.
00:51:22
>> Will you do hormone replacement therapy?
00:51:24
>> I definitely will.
00:51:25
>> And what kind of hormone?
00:51:26
>> And look, so this is really interesting.
00:51:28
So um this was given to me by a friend
00:51:30
and there's this is the um this is the
00:51:32
capsule. So this is estradile and
00:51:35
progesterone. Okay, so progesterone is
00:51:38
that one that's going to help you sleep
00:51:39
at night. This one here is vaginal
00:51:42
estrogen. So, this is a cream that
00:51:45
actually gets uh you know, depending on
00:51:47
how it is, it can get inserted and the
00:51:50
vaginal estrogen apparently if you put
00:51:52
it on your face is probably the best
00:51:55
form of skin care that you could ever
00:51:57
have. Yeah, we have estrogen receptors
00:52:00
all over our tissues, including our
00:52:02
skin. These are estradiol inserts. So,
00:52:05
that's not the cream itself, but if you
00:52:07
get vaginal estrogen in the form of a
00:52:08
cream, you can put it on your face and
00:52:10
it can help with skin elasticity,
00:52:13
collagen, uh dermal thickness. This is
00:52:15
why I'm actually most excited about it.
00:52:18
>> So, I mean, is this are these the only
00:52:19
ways that one can do hormone?
00:52:22
>> No, there's also um a patch, and that's
00:52:24
what most women are opting in for. The
00:52:26
transmal patch
00:52:27
>> when the time comes.
00:52:28
>> Uh I will probably do the the the patch.
00:52:32
>> Why? because it's the the easiest.
00:52:34
That's the one that um I've researched
00:52:36
the most. Uh I'm not afraid of hormone
00:52:38
replacement therapy in the slightest.
00:52:40
You do have to, you know, everyone has
00:52:41
to check with their doctor, but I
00:52:44
definitely think that this is going to
00:52:46
be one thing that is going to help with
00:52:48
the Alzheimer's disease crisis that is
00:52:51
occurring.
00:52:53
>> Go ahead.
00:52:54
>> I mentioned earlier plaques, right? So a
00:52:58
lot of people ask well what
00:53:00
distinguishes Alzheimer's disease from
00:53:03
the rest of the dementias and it comes
00:53:06
down to two proteins amaloid beta and
00:53:09
tow protein and here's where it gets
00:53:11
really interesting and actually dates
00:53:13
back to 1901 the first ever Alzheimer's
00:53:16
disease patient Augusta she was 52 years
00:53:20
old and she went to the hospital her and
00:53:22
her husband went complaining of
00:53:25
difficulties of word finding
00:53:28
word fluency and she couldn't remember
00:53:30
where she put her keys and her husband
00:53:34
said she is delirious and Augusta told
00:53:38
the doctor on board he was a
00:53:41
psychiatrist his name was Eloise
00:53:43
Alzheimer she said to him and I quote I
00:53:47
don't know who I am anymore
00:53:50
as I mentioned this disease robs you of
00:53:52
who you are in 1906 066 August busted
00:53:57
died and that was the first ever patient
00:54:02
to be recorded of having Alzheimer's
00:54:05
disease and so postmortem they cut her
00:54:09
brain open and they found that she had
00:54:11
these plaques in her brain and they
00:54:13
didn't really know they didn't really
00:54:14
understand what it was but that was the
00:54:16
first ever induction of this disease in
00:54:19
society and ever since then ever since
00:54:22
then we are still trying to tackle this
00:54:24
disease in the 2000s We had this notion
00:54:28
that Alzheimer's disease was the amaloid
00:54:30
cascade hypothesis. Meaning that great
00:54:33
Alzheimer's disease means when you get a
00:54:35
head full of amaloid, this toxic protein
00:54:37
that builds up. So we were demonizing
00:54:39
this protein. We were demonizing this
00:54:42
peptide protein that builds up in the
00:54:44
head. And so then came the medications,
00:54:48
okay? In the form of IV drugs. So you go
00:54:52
to the hospital, you get an IV in the
00:54:54
promise that it will clear out amaloid.
00:54:57
Great, we've got a cure. But what they
00:54:59
found was that when they were taking out
00:55:01
the amaloid in these brains, they were
00:55:03
taking with them brain tissue and
00:55:06
causing microhemorrhages.
00:55:08
And in some patients, it was resulting
00:55:11
in death.
00:55:13
So we now know that the problem here
00:55:18
isn't amaloid. In fact, amalloid is a
00:55:23
antimicrobial peptide. So, amaloid is
00:55:27
actually a good thing. Amalloid beta is
00:55:31
a good thing because it protects the
00:55:33
brain cells. Now, here's what happens.
00:55:36
We have this beautiful process during
00:55:38
sleep that occurs when we get into deep
00:55:41
sleep. We activate the glimpmphatic
00:55:44
system. Okay? So, the glimpmphatic
00:55:47
system comes from the word gals. Gal
00:55:50
cells. We have gleal cells in the brain.
00:55:52
They sit outside of the neurons and this
00:55:55
is what uh is responsible for immunity.
00:55:59
They're our chief um immune response
00:56:01
cell. During deep sleep they shrink and
00:56:04
when they shrink all of this amaloid
00:56:06
beta that's floating around in the
00:56:08
cerebral spinal fluid gets washed out.
00:56:11
So it's like a washing machine that
00:56:13
occurs in your brain. Right? But what
00:56:16
tends to happen in Alzheimer's patients
00:56:18
is they don't get a chance to wash out
00:56:21
the amaloid. What happens in pmenopause
00:56:25
and menopause due to the hot flashes,
00:56:27
you don't get to get into deep sleep
00:56:29
because you're having a fragmented sleep
00:56:30
because you're waking up due to hot
00:56:32
flashes and night sweats. So that is
00:56:34
what's do that is what's causing the
00:56:36
buildup of amaloid. Now stick with me.
00:56:39
We've got another protein that is a
00:56:43
hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. It's
00:56:45
towel protein and towel lives in the
00:56:48
axon of the cell. The one that I said is
00:56:51
covered in the myelin sheath and what
00:56:54
happens under times of stress. What
00:56:57
happens is this tow protein
00:57:00
phosphorolates.
00:57:01
So it breaks off and basically tow
00:57:05
protein stabilizes the microtubules.
00:57:08
Okay, imagine these railro road tracks
00:57:11
in the axon, okay? Just going up and
00:57:13
down the axon.
00:57:14
>> The axon's in the in the cell or in the
00:57:16
brain.
00:57:16
>> And so the the the brain cell itself,
00:57:18
the neuron is the neuron cell body and
00:57:21
the axon is like the trunk of the tree.
00:57:24
>> Okay.
00:57:25
>> Right. So holding up the tree are
00:57:28
microtubules and those microtubules are
00:57:31
bound by tow proteins. The the tow
00:57:33
proteins keep the microtubules intact.
00:57:35
So the trunk of the tree is stabilized
00:57:38
and it sits there. Why does it need to
00:57:40
be stabilized? Because that's how speed
00:57:42
of thought travels. Information
00:57:44
processing speed travels up there. When
00:57:48
the tow protein phosphorolates,
00:57:50
it starts to form tangles. They're
00:57:53
called neuroiary tangles. So that
00:57:56
happens in the axon. And when all these
00:57:58
tangles clump together, we get the
00:58:01
collapse of this axon, the collapse of
00:58:05
these microtubules.
00:58:06
So we're not just having a cascade of
00:58:10
environmental disaster inside the
00:58:12
cerebral spinal fluid of the brain and
00:58:14
inside the brain, outside the cells.
00:58:16
We've also got this cascade happening
00:58:18
inside the cell body itself. So the
00:58:21
brain is under attack inside the cell
00:58:23
and outside the cell.
00:58:25
>> Why? Why exactly? Why? Why does this
00:58:28
happen? Because of how we treat our
00:58:30
brains.
00:58:32
>> Because of how we treat our brains.
00:58:33
>> Yes. The reason why your brain is
00:58:36
hyperphosphorilated and the reason why
00:58:38
these tower proteins are
00:58:40
hyperphosphorilated is because of many
00:58:42
things. One is we have seen time and
00:58:45
time again that we have estrogen
00:58:48
receptors
00:58:50
that are on in the brain cell themselves
00:58:53
in the axon. So when we don't have
00:58:55
adequate estrogen, estrogen actually is
00:58:59
so smart what it is doing, it's blocking
00:59:02
an enzyme that is responsible for
00:59:06
phosphorolating
00:59:08
the towel. So if we don't have the
00:59:10
estrogen there,
00:59:13
then the towel, the enzyme is there to
00:59:15
phosphorolate the towel and break it
00:59:18
down and cause these neuropiary tangles.
00:59:20
But let's just say you're a man and you
00:59:22
don't have you don't need the testo you
00:59:24
don't need the estrogen there. Although
00:59:26
testosterone is neuroprotective.
00:59:28
Testosterone actually aromatizes into
00:59:31
estrogen which is why you actually have
00:59:34
an extra added protection in your life.
00:59:37
Um
00:59:39
what else causes this? Well stress.
00:59:41
>> You're talking about sleep there.
00:59:42
>> Yeah. So sleep is, I think, by far the
00:59:45
most underrated
00:59:47
Alzheimer's disease prevention tool that
00:59:50
we have. It's underrated because
00:59:53
we have been doing it all our lives and
00:59:55
we think that we can just go to sleep
00:59:57
and the magic happens. But I think now
00:59:59
in 2026, we actually need to train for
01:00:03
sleep. So during deep sleep we activate
01:00:07
the glimpmphatic system and sadly a
01:00:10
large proportion of us aren't getting
01:00:12
into deep sleep. So sleep is uh one of
01:00:15
the reasons.
01:00:16
>> How do you sleep?
01:00:18
>> Yeah, I sleep I make sure I sleep 7 and
01:00:20
1/2 hours a night.
01:00:22
>> This message is brought to you by Apple
01:00:23
Card. It's a great time to apply for an
01:00:25
Apple Card. You'll love earning
01:00:26
unlimited daily cash back on every
01:00:28
purchase. That includes 3% daily cash
01:00:30
when you buy the latest iPhone, AirPods,
01:00:32
and Apple Watch at Apple. Through this
01:00:34
special referral offer, when you get a
01:00:36
new Apple Card, you can earn bonus daily
01:00:38
cash. To qualify, you must apply at
01:00:41
apple.co/gety
01:00:44
daily cash. Apple card issued by Goldman
01:00:47
Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City branch.
01:00:49
Offer may not be available everywhere.
01:00:51
Terms and limitations apply. All I had
01:00:54
to do was brain dump. Imagine if you had
01:00:56
someone with you at all times that could
01:00:58
take the ideas you have in your head,
01:01:01
synthesize them with AI to make them
01:01:03
sound better and more grammatically
01:01:04
correct and write them down for you.
01:01:07
This is exactly what Whisper Flow is in
01:01:08
my life. It is this thought partner that
01:01:11
helps me explain what I want to say. And
01:01:13
it now means that on the go, when I'm
01:01:15
alone in my office, when I'm out and
01:01:16
about, I can respond to emails and Slack
01:01:19
messages and WhatsApps and everything
01:01:21
across all of my devices just by
01:01:22
speaking. I love this tool. And I
01:01:24
started talking about this on my behind
01:01:25
thes scenes channel a couple of months
01:01:26
back and then the founder reached out to
01:01:28
me and said we're seeing a lot of people
01:01:29
come to our tour because of you. So we'd
01:01:31
love to be a sponsor. We'd love you to
01:01:32
be an investor in the company. And so I
01:01:34
signed up for both of those offers and
01:01:35
I'm now an investor and a huge partner
01:01:37
in a company called Whisperflow. You
01:01:40
have to check it out. Whisper Flow is
01:01:41
four times faster than typing. So if you
01:01:43
want to give it a try, head over to
01:01:45
whisperflow.ai/doac
01:01:48
to get started for free. And you can
01:01:49
find that link to Whisperflow in the
01:01:52
description below.
01:01:53
A lot of people struggle with sleep and
01:01:56
um they've just kind of gotten used to
01:01:58
it. I hear this from friends of mine
01:02:00
that will say, you know, I'm a bad
01:02:01
sleeper. I'll sleep for 5 hours. And
01:02:02
they kind of have just gotten used to
01:02:04
it. Do you think that's okay?
01:02:07
>> No.
01:02:09
And they will pay for this in their 60s
01:02:12
and 70s.
01:02:13
>> How do you know?
01:02:14
>> Because I know that just one night of
01:02:16
sleep deprivation is raising your risk
01:02:18
of amaloid beta by at least 4 to 5%.
01:02:23
just one night.
01:02:25
>> So you can imagine the accumulation of
01:02:27
this. Not only that, we know that you're
01:02:30
interrupting with the hormones that are
01:02:32
responsible for hunger and society. We
01:02:34
know for hunger and satiety. We know
01:02:37
that you're increasing your risk of type
01:02:40
2 diabetes with um sleep deprivation.
01:02:43
But not just that, we also see that this
01:02:47
compound effect can't be reversed.
01:02:50
Meaning that a lot of people think, I'll
01:02:53
just sleep for 6 hours a night and then
01:02:55
just bank on it on the weekend. But
01:02:57
sadly, that's not how our brain works.
01:02:59
It's not like debt that we can repay to
01:03:01
the bank.
01:03:02
>> I heard from Matthew Walker the other
01:03:04
day though that we can save it up. He
01:03:06
said um he said you can't make up for
01:03:08
lost sleep.
01:03:08
>> Exactly.
01:03:09
>> But if on Monday I've got something
01:03:11
where I know I'm going to be deprived.
01:03:13
He says on the weekends like Saturday
01:03:15
and Sunday, if I got a huge amount of
01:03:17
sleep, it's kind of like
01:03:18
>> I can use that. Yeah, it's kind of like
01:03:21
Yeah, it's kind of like the reserve.
01:03:22
Yeah, actually I do this. I do long haul
01:03:25
flights. I'll be it like 6 hours between
01:03:28
LA and New York, but also to Australia.
01:03:30
And so if I know I'm going on a long
01:03:32
haul flight, I'll bank on my sleep for
01:03:35
about a week leading up to that cuz I
01:03:37
know I'm going to be sleepd deprived on
01:03:38
the plane. So, if you were one of those
01:03:40
people that struggles with sleep, that's
01:03:41
listening right now and they're slightly
01:03:43
concerned that, you know, you talked
01:03:45
about this um glimpmphatic system which
01:03:47
sort of comes out at night and cleans up
01:03:49
the brain
01:03:50
>> and they're hearing, you know, my
01:03:51
glimpy system isn't going to be optimal
01:03:53
if I'm not sleeping.
01:03:54
>> If that was you, and for whatever
01:03:56
reason, you start sleeping poorly.
01:03:58
>> Mhm.
01:03:59
>> What would you do about it?
01:04:01
>> I would get really serious about
01:04:03
examining my lifestyle the day before.
01:04:07
So, this generally involves two things.
01:04:09
You have to ask yourself, are you having
01:04:10
trouble falling asleep or are you having
01:04:12
trouble staying asleep? A lot of
01:04:16
women report trouble falling asleep,
01:04:20
meaning they've got a racing mind. Men,
01:04:22
too, they've got this racing mind. They
01:04:24
can't, you know, just stop that default
01:04:27
mode network and the the racing thoughts
01:04:29
that happen. That's one thing.
01:04:32
And then there's the I can't stay asleep
01:04:35
meaning that uh I'm waking up due to
01:04:38
heat. I'm waking up because uh I'm
01:04:40
stressed and I'm having bad dreams.
01:04:42
There's all different reasons as to why
01:04:43
you wake up. So for the person who is
01:04:46
having trouble falling asleep at night,
01:04:48
I would strongly recommend
01:04:51
introducing a supplement called GABA,
01:04:55
which is gamma aminoic acid. It's our
01:04:59
chief inhibitory neurotransmitter.
01:05:02
And when you have this, it really helps
01:05:05
stabilize all those thoughts. It helps
01:05:06
with erasing mind and it can help calm
01:05:09
you down at night. The next thing I'll
01:05:12
do is I will think about what I'm
01:05:15
eating. Actually, it turns out that um
01:05:18
eating starchy vegetables, something
01:05:20
that's going to make you like, you know,
01:05:22
sweet potatoes for example, it's going
01:05:24
to have a better benefit uh backloading
01:05:27
uh your carbs at night for helping you
01:05:29
sleep. If you start training for sleep
01:05:33
as if sleep is your marathon and start
01:05:35
preparing for that at 8:00 p.m. at
01:05:37
night, getting off, you know, don't
01:05:40
email, don't have any hard
01:05:41
conversations, don't watch anything
01:05:43
crazy at night, you'll settle your mind
01:05:46
down, you'll settle your nervous system
01:05:48
down,
01:05:50
but where I think uh most of the
01:05:52
optimization occurs is when you're
01:05:55
actually in sleep. I would also work on
01:05:59
um sleep regulation. So, what we know is
01:06:02
that in order to fall asleep and stay
01:06:03
asleep, our core body temperature needs
01:06:05
to drop at least 2°. And I'm doing this
01:06:09
with a temperature controlled mattress
01:06:11
cuz it's working on thermal regulation.
01:06:13
A lot of people who don't have that can
01:06:16
do uh several things like sleeping with
01:06:18
their feet outside of the sheets or turn
01:06:21
turning the the air conditioning on, the
01:06:23
thermostat on to cooling the room, to
01:06:24
cooling down your body temperature, core
01:06:26
body temperature. One thing that um you
01:06:28
can supplement with is glycine, which I
01:06:32
think is amazing because it helps with
01:06:33
sleep by way of temperature regulation.
01:06:37
It can bring down your core body
01:06:38
temperature. And in fact, and I don't
01:06:40
know too much about the mechanism behind
01:06:41
this, glycine itself has one of the
01:06:46
greatest longevity benefits for
01:06:49
improving lifespan. So, taking glycine
01:06:52
can also help with that. Now, in terms
01:06:54
of the person who is having trouble
01:06:57
staying asleep,
01:06:58
>> what about this one? You don't talk
01:07:00
about the um the old ashwagandha.
01:07:03
>> Oh, yeah. Ashwagandha is great. Okay.
01:07:05
Ashwagandha is going to help you with
01:07:09
stress. And you've got here Ashwagandha
01:07:12
rodeiola. So, what they both are, they
01:07:15
are adaptogens.
01:07:17
And basically an adaptogen is great
01:07:19
because it it goes in and it adapts to
01:07:22
what is happening in your body. So let's
01:07:24
just say you have elevated cortisol. And
01:07:27
this tends to happen you know during
01:07:29
different cycles during the day mainly
01:07:31
during the uh daytime when we wake up
01:07:33
where cortisol levels are at its peak
01:07:35
but it can also happen at night. Having
01:07:37
this can actually stabilize that
01:07:40
cortisol because it can go in and
01:07:41
combine to cortisol and bring it down.
01:07:44
likely if something is not elevated and
01:07:47
it's low, it can bring it up. So, it's
01:07:49
really good. It's an adaptogen and
01:07:52
studies show that you can actually take
01:07:54
this three times a day and you won't
01:07:56
feel fatigued. It doesn't disrupt
01:07:58
anything and it pairs really well with
01:08:01
caffeine, for example. So does
01:08:02
theineine. So, this is actually a really
01:08:04
great um adjunct to your supplement
01:08:07
stack. And you really talk about how you
01:08:10
need to sort of warm up to warm down or
01:08:13
warm up to go to sleep.
01:08:14
>> Oh, yeah.
01:08:15
>> Starting at like 7:00 p.m.
01:08:16
>> Yeah. Starting at like 8:00 p.m. And
01:08:18
that's in line with circadian rhythm and
01:08:20
circadian biology. You want to try and
01:08:22
when it comes to sleep and your
01:08:25
circadian rhythm, you kind of want to
01:08:27
mimic the sun and mother nature. And
01:08:30
when does the sun start to go down? It
01:08:32
starts to go down at around 8:00 p.m.
01:08:34
depending on where you are in the world.
01:08:36
And
01:08:38
when this happens, we also get the
01:08:40
natural release of I love that you're
01:08:43
taking that, by the way. You must be
01:08:44
stressed right now. You get the natural
01:08:47
release of melatonin. So melatonin is
01:08:50
that sleepy hormone that gets released
01:08:52
in response to darkness. This may also
01:08:54
be another reason why somebody somebody
01:08:56
is having trouble falling asleep and
01:08:58
staying asleep. So we want to get the
01:09:00
natural release of that. So, these bio
01:09:03
hacks that occur right now, sleeping
01:09:05
with our red light mask on, dimming the
01:09:07
lights. Look, dimming the lights is
01:09:09
great. Um, I've actually replaced all of
01:09:11
my light bulbs um at home with in my
01:09:15
bedroom as well with red light bulbs.
01:09:17
So, I'm getting um I'm getting rid of
01:09:20
the blue light, the junk light. I'm
01:09:21
replacing it with red light to help down
01:09:23
regulate the nervous system. Yes, I do
01:09:26
wear blue light blocking goggles or
01:09:28
glasses, I should say. Do I think that
01:09:30
they're providing an immediate and huge
01:09:34
benefit? I don't know. But they could
01:09:36
have a minor benefit there. So warming
01:09:40
down involves doing these things that
01:09:41
are going to help you downregulate your
01:09:44
nervous system so you can fall asleep
01:09:46
faster.
01:09:48
>> Sticking on supplements for a second.
01:09:52
Omega-3.
01:09:53
>> Yes.
01:09:53
>> Um I've got some omega-3 here. I've got
01:09:55
two of them here. Mhm.
01:09:57
>> But when I brought both of them out, you
01:09:59
said that I've got to be quite careful
01:10:00
about what brand I buy, but also
01:10:02
something about temperature.
01:10:04
>> So, by far out of all of the
01:10:06
supplements, omega3 is probably the only
01:10:10
one that you have to make sure that you
01:10:14
look at the supplement label for there.
01:10:17
There was this study that was done that
01:10:19
showed that around 95%
01:10:23
of the most popular omega-3 supplements
01:10:26
in the US, and there was about 85 of
01:10:28
them that were tested, exceeded the
01:10:31
normal oxidation level, meaning that
01:10:35
these pills, because they're omega-3
01:10:38
fatty acids, they come from fish oil,
01:10:39
they are oil, they can become rancid and
01:10:43
oxidized. And they usually do this when
01:10:46
they're in a heated environment. Here
01:10:48
are the here are the rules of thumbs.
01:10:50
One, you want to look for a manufacturer
01:10:52
that is highly credible and that is
01:10:55
certified.
01:10:57
>> Certified.
01:10:58
>> Yeah. So NSF certified. So it's an
01:11:01
external governing uh board that
01:11:03
certifies them on, you know, everything
01:11:06
heavy metals. They make sure that the um
01:11:08
oxidation levels are met and they make
01:11:10
sure that, you know, what's in the
01:11:11
capsule is actually in the capsule.
01:11:13
That's another thing that is scary. The
01:11:15
supplement industry is highly
01:11:17
unregulated. And I treat my omega-3s the
01:11:20
same way I treat my olive oil. You want
01:11:23
to get oil that is sourced in the area
01:11:26
that you are. We're in California right
01:11:28
now. So, you might want to find an
01:11:30
omega-3 that is sourced in California.
01:11:33
>> Do I want to put it in the fridge?
01:11:34
>> You want to put it in the fridge the
01:11:35
moment that you get it.
01:11:36
>> Really? Yeah.
01:11:37
>> Why does nobody talk about that?
01:11:38
>> I'm not sure. But, um, it's just the
01:11:41
same as olive oil. You don't want the
01:11:43
olive oil to become rancid, so you don't
01:11:44
leave it near the near the stove. You
01:11:47
want to put it in a cupboard away from
01:11:49
the stove.
01:11:50
>> And these are good for the brain.
01:11:52
>> Oh, omega-3 is by far uh one of the most
01:11:55
potent stimulus that you could have for
01:11:56
the brain. They help with cell membrane
01:11:59
fluidity. So, where your cells meet
01:12:02
neuron to neuron, they create something
01:12:03
called a syninnapse. And in order for
01:12:05
that to occur, we have a massive influx
01:12:08
of all of these neurotransmitters,
01:12:11
dopamine, serotonin. We've also got
01:12:13
calcium and potassium. And these help
01:12:16
our brain cells communicate. Okay? We
01:12:19
want to make sure that our membranes,
01:12:21
the cell membranes are fluid and they
01:12:24
glide in order to help with that
01:12:26
synaptic transmission. Another thing
01:12:28
that they do is
01:12:31
they are comparable to an NSAID, an
01:12:36
anti-inflammatory
01:12:38
medication.
01:12:39
These have massive anti-inflammatory
01:12:42
effects. In fact, I think that these
01:12:45
have the safety profile of an FDA
01:12:49
approved drug and there's only benefits
01:12:52
from it. There's no side effects from
01:12:53
it. Uh not just that 60% of our brain is
01:12:58
made of fat.
01:13:01
70% of that is made of DHA. And DHA
01:13:07
comes from omega-3 fatty acids. So why
01:13:10
do I not want to replace my brain or the
01:13:14
fat in my brain with what it's made of?
01:13:17
And that's what you do when you have
01:13:18
omega-3 fatty acids. In fact, there's
01:13:21
been several trials um to show that
01:13:24
omega-3 fatty acids are most beneficial
01:13:27
and most effective for mild cognitive
01:13:31
impairment patients,
01:13:33
people who have the APOE4 gene and
01:13:36
people who have got Alzheimer's disease
01:13:39
because when I told you that our we get
01:13:42
the breakdown of the bloodb brain
01:13:44
barrier, those parasites on the bloodb
01:13:47
brain barrier require DHA. In fact,
01:13:50
there's a transporter on the outside of
01:13:54
our brain that allows the um that allows
01:13:57
the DHA to come in and get into the
01:13:59
brain.
01:14:01
>> And I know you're a big fan of vitamin D
01:14:03
as well because there's been some very
01:14:04
encouraging studies done there.
01:14:05
>> Vitamin D is phenomenal. We have vitamin
01:14:08
D receptors all over our brain brain
01:14:11
stem and and they're abundantly
01:14:14
found in the hippocampus and the memory
01:14:16
centers of our brain. And there was this
01:14:19
act there was actually a study done on
01:14:22
centinarians in China.
01:14:24
>> Centinarians?
01:14:25
>> Yeah. Those who lived to 100, but it was
01:14:27
done in women. And they showed that the
01:14:30
women who preserved their cognitive
01:14:32
functions and who didn't get Alzheimer's
01:14:34
disease had high levels of vitamin D. So
01:14:38
they weren't vitamin D deficient. In
01:14:41
fact, being vitamin D deficient can
01:14:43
increase your risk of all cause dementia
01:14:45
by 40%.
01:14:47
likely being having a high level of
01:14:50
vitamin D which is around 60 nanogs per
01:14:53
deciliter can lower your risk of getting
01:14:57
Alzheimer's disease by around 80%.
01:15:00
>> And then we have this white powder in
01:15:03
front of me.
01:15:05
>> You've got a big smile on your face.
01:15:07
I do because there is just so much
01:15:11
benefit to this. Depending on which
01:15:13
brand you've bought, of course, but I
01:15:16
can't say enough about creatine. I have
01:15:20
my parents on creatine. They're 71 years
01:15:23
old. I've got my dad on highdose
01:15:24
creatine. I've got my mother on lowdose
01:15:26
creatine. It's the most widely studied
01:15:29
supplement on the market.
01:15:31
>> I've never seen you this excited. I'm so
01:15:33
excited because I think that this is a
01:15:36
really cheap and effective way to get
01:15:39
everything you want from both your
01:15:41
physiology, an upgrade on your
01:15:43
physiology and your neurohysiology.
01:15:46
So, let's actually talk about creatine
01:15:48
because I know it gets a lot of air
01:15:50
time, but women and men are still scared
01:15:53
of it. And they're scared of it for two
01:15:55
reasons. One, they're scared it's going
01:15:57
to cause kidney damage. And two, it's
01:16:00
they're scared their hair is going to
01:16:01
fall out. And I'm going to address both
01:16:04
of those fears. But first, let's talk
01:16:06
about what it is. So, creatine is a
01:16:09
naturally occurring molecule. We it's we
01:16:12
get we produce around 2 to three grams
01:16:14
of creatine per day. Gets secreted from
01:16:16
a bit from the brain, but a lot from the
01:16:18
liver. And 2 to three grams a day is
01:16:22
great, but it's not enough. So, we have
01:16:23
to supplement with it. And all through
01:16:26
the 90s and all through the 2000s,
01:16:28
people were supplementing with five
01:16:30
grams a day. That is this scoop here. 5
01:16:32
g of creatine per day. Now that we're
01:16:35
getting more uh rigorous with our brain
01:16:38
health studies, we have found that
01:16:40
creatine has enormous benefits for the
01:16:43
brain. But here's the problem. When you
01:16:46
have 5 g of creatine, you're saturating
01:16:48
the muscles. Okay, remember the muscles
01:16:51
are so hungry, so they get first dibs
01:16:53
and they take up all of that creatine.
01:16:56
So then there's none left for the brain.
01:16:58
We also lose a bit of the
01:17:00
bioavailability when the creatine goes
01:17:02
into the brain. It crosses the bloodb
01:17:03
brain barrier, but when it goes into the
01:17:05
brain, we lose some of it. So, we have
01:17:08
to supplement with more than 5 g. And
01:17:12
one of the studies that changed my
01:17:14
thinking came out last year. It was the
01:17:16
first ever pilot study done on
01:17:18
Alzheimer's disease patients. You're
01:17:20
talking about patients whose brains are
01:17:23
under attack. They're in an energetic
01:17:25
crisis. They cannot produce energy
01:17:28
effectively. ATP is all skewed. Brain
01:17:32
glucose metabolism is skewed. They don't
01:17:34
remember left from right. Cognitive
01:17:36
functions are declined. They put them on
01:17:38
at 20 g of creatine per day,
01:17:41
>> which is how much? I mean
01:17:43
>> that well actually that is four of this.
01:17:47
So you want to go one and I don't know
01:17:50
if they did this all at once. That's
01:17:52
two. Or if they did it like me over four
01:17:56
separate intervals throughout the day.
01:17:58
There we go.
01:17:58
>> That's a lot of
01:17:59
>> That's a lot. Which is why you probably
01:18:01
want to have this skewed throughout the
01:18:03
day, which is what I did. I had 20 grams
01:18:06
today. I had five grams in the morning,
01:18:08
five midm morning, and then I think I
01:18:10
had 10 all at once before I got here. So
01:18:13
that is a lot for all at once. And what
01:18:16
they found was that these patients not
01:18:19
only preserved their cognitive
01:18:22
functions, but they had more energy and
01:18:26
they were able to exercise more. And it
01:18:30
blew my mind that it does not matter how
01:18:34
old you are. It doesn't discriminate
01:18:37
based on gender. Creatine doesn't
01:18:39
discriminate based on age. It doesn't
01:18:41
discriminate based on weight. It doesn't
01:18:44
discriminate based on pathology or
01:18:47
disease states or ethnicity.
01:18:51
It is just there. It is there to support
01:18:53
you. It's the most widely studied
01:18:54
supplement on the market.
01:18:56
>> And it's all risk.
01:18:58
>> It's all reward. There is no risk. It's
01:19:00
helping with cell energy metabolism. So
01:19:02
basically, it's helping ATP
01:19:06
create energy.
01:19:09
>> So if you're someone that is low energy,
01:19:11
you should definitely be having
01:19:12
creatine. I don't care who you are, you
01:19:13
should definitely be having creatine.
01:19:15
>> People with brain fog and
01:19:16
>> yeah, people with brain fog, you know, I
01:19:19
think one of the greatest benefits are
01:19:22
men who are in football, football
01:19:25
players, you can actually, it's actually
01:19:28
a protective molecule. So, what studies
01:19:31
has shown is that at high doses of
01:19:34
creatine, around 30 grams a day, it can
01:19:38
protect you against insults. insults
01:19:41
meaning you take a hit to the head like
01:19:43
a concussion.
01:19:45
>> H
01:19:45
>> it can protect your brain against a
01:19:47
concussion. It can protect your g brain
01:19:49
against a stroke. It can protect your
01:19:51
brain from stress. The best thing about
01:19:53
creatine is that it works in the
01:19:55
background of stress. I think that's
01:19:57
where most that's where you'll get most
01:19:59
of the benefits from.
01:20:02
>> After hearing so much about creatine on
01:20:03
this podcast, I started recommending it
01:20:04
to all of the people in my life. There's
01:20:06
one particular person actually that's
01:20:07
probably out out there in my house at
01:20:09
the moment who had gone through uh
01:20:13
cancer treatments.
01:20:14
>> Yeah.
01:20:14
>> And had survived cancer treatments and
01:20:17
in their words wasn't the same on the
01:20:19
other side of the cancer treatments. And
01:20:21
I talked to her about um creatine and
01:20:23
she said to me the other day she I think
01:20:25
the exact quote was
01:20:28
>> I feel like I've got my life back
01:20:30
>> because it's she's been taking creatine
01:20:31
every single day for the last I'd say 5
01:20:34
months or so.
01:20:36
>> It's funny you said that because just
01:20:38
recently in the last two weeks uh this
01:20:41
study was done to show the anti-cancer
01:20:44
effects of creatine. And if my memory
01:20:48
serves clear, they uh they dosed it at
01:20:52
uh they dosed it at 0.36 g per kilogram
01:20:57
of body weight. So if you are a 70 kilo
01:21:00
person, if my mathematics is correct,
01:21:02
you're looking at around 25 g of
01:21:04
creatine per day that can have the
01:21:07
effects, the anti-cancer effects.
01:21:09
>> So the the study you're referring to,
01:21:10
I'll put up on the screen as well for
01:21:11
anyone that wants to see it. It's um the
01:21:13
NANS 2025 study, which is a major study
01:21:15
involving over 25,000 adults, found a
01:21:18
linear negative association between
01:21:20
dietary creatine and cancer prevalence.
01:21:22
For every standard deviation increase in
01:21:24
dietary creatine intake, the risk of
01:21:27
having cancer decreased by roughly 5% to
01:21:29
18% depending on the demographic.
01:21:32
>> That is wild.
01:21:35
This protective association was
01:21:36
strongest in adults over the age of 50,
01:21:39
suggesting that as we age, maintaining
01:21:41
higher creatine levels might be more
01:21:43
critical for cellular health and immune
01:21:45
surveillance.
01:21:47
>> Well, if you think about life and think
01:21:49
about energy, um we need energy to
01:21:53
survive. We need energy to fight off
01:21:56
infections. We need energy to fight off
01:21:59
stress, preserve our normal normal
01:22:02
bodily functions. So when we are at the
01:22:05
mercy of a low energy crisis, we can't
01:22:08
fight off tumor cells, we we can't fight
01:22:11
off these uh debilitating diseases. So
01:22:14
it actually makes sense that with more
01:22:16
energy and with more functional energy,
01:22:18
meaning like if our cells can function
01:22:20
better, it makes sense that you can see
01:22:22
a reduction in cancer incidents likely
01:22:24
you can see a reduction in Alzheimer's
01:22:26
disease incidents. when I said that
01:22:29
creatine works in the background of
01:22:31
stress. Also, there was uh there's been
01:22:35
phenomenal research to show that you can
01:22:40
basically creatine your way out of sleep
01:22:42
deprivation. If you've had a uh if
01:22:45
you've had a a long night and you you're
01:22:47
sleep deprived, maybe you slept four,
01:22:49
five, 6 hours, you're sleepd deprived,
01:22:51
you can take uh you can take highdose
01:22:54
creatine in the form of around 15 to 20
01:22:56
grams a day and you can reverse the
01:22:59
negative effects associated with that
01:23:01
sleep deprivation.
01:23:03
>> Does it matter what time you take the
01:23:04
creatine?
01:23:05
>> It doesn't matter what time you take the
01:23:07
creatine. It doesn't degrade in hot
01:23:09
water. it uh you can take it any time
01:23:13
throughout the day and it doesn't matter
01:23:16
whether you're taking it right before
01:23:17
exercise, during exercise, after
01:23:19
exercise, it works phenomenally. Some
01:23:22
people uh researchers are now uh
01:23:24
wondering if taking it at night before
01:23:26
bed helps with sleep performance and I
01:23:29
think that that's a really exciting
01:23:30
area. But the one thing that I want to
01:23:33
tell everybody because a lot of people
01:23:35
are scared of this biioarker called
01:23:38
creatinine meaning that
01:23:41
>> oh my doctor said that to me.
01:23:42
>> Yeah. So meaning that you've got a a
01:23:45
high creatinine level. And this is a
01:23:48
marker of it's one marker of kidney
01:23:50
function. But this is where I find it uh
01:23:54
really invaluable. And this is where a
01:23:55
lot of the nonsense comes around on
01:23:57
Instagram and social media. A lot of
01:24:00
people say, "Well, I had so much
01:24:02
creatine that my doctor told me to get
01:24:03
off it because my creatinine levels were
01:24:05
high." But creatinine levels are high
01:24:06
during times of stress, during times of
01:24:09
intense physical activity. Uh, and also
01:24:12
people who have a lot of muscle mass,
01:24:15
>> higher muscle mass, that's you have
01:24:17
higher creatinine levels. What you want
01:24:19
to test a greater marker of kidney
01:24:22
function and GFR
01:24:25
is cyatin C. So all you have to ask,
01:24:28
it's really easy. Ask your doctor, could
01:24:31
I please get cyatin C in my blood work?
01:24:35
And if that is elevated and without not
01:24:39
within normal range, then maybe get off
01:24:42
creatine. But right now, I cannot see
01:24:46
any reason as to not have creatine every
01:24:50
single day. I think every single person,
01:24:52
no matter what age you are, everybody
01:24:54
should be supplementing with creatine.
01:24:57
Now, there was this uh recent study that
01:25:00
came out on menopausal women and it was
01:25:04
a really small study. It was a
01:25:06
randomized control trial and they split
01:25:10
women into four groups and these were
01:25:13
permenopausal women. They split them
01:25:16
into lowd dose creatine where I think
01:25:18
they were having 750 mg a day, medium
01:25:22
dose which was around 1.5 g a day. Then
01:25:27
they had them supplement with a range of
01:25:30
both creatine monohydrate and creatine
01:25:34
hydrochloride. This was a hydrochloride
01:25:36
creatine study. And then there was a
01:25:38
placebo group. What they found was a
01:25:41
very small study, very small group. What
01:25:43
they found was that those in the medium
01:25:46
range having the 1.5 had substantial
01:25:50
increases in their mood and their
01:25:52
cognitive functions. So creatine is now
01:25:56
being explored in females across the
01:25:59
lifespan as it relates to permenopause,
01:26:02
pregnancy, menopause, and dementia. So
01:26:06
there's just there it's it's it's
01:26:08
phenomenal.
01:26:10
The only thing I want to point out, what
01:26:12
you want to look for when it comes to
01:26:13
creatine are two things when it comes to
01:26:16
manufacturing standards. You want to
01:26:18
look A, has it been NSF certified? And
01:26:22
B,
01:26:24
you want to look for is it Creapure? And
01:26:27
that's the gold standard of creatine and
01:26:29
it comes from Germany and a lot. So the
01:26:33
one that you've got there, I can tell
01:26:34
it's not Creapure.
01:26:36
>> Excuse me.
01:26:36
>> I know my creatine. How can you tell
01:26:38
what it is by looking at it?
01:26:39
>> I can just tell. I can I I I bet you a
01:26:42
million dollars that it is the brand
01:26:44
that I think it is because it's got this
01:26:47
powdered icing sugar substance. If it
01:26:50
was pure gold standard Creapure, it
01:26:53
would be gritty. The reason why it's
01:26:56
like this is because a lot of
01:26:58
manufacturers want to add these
01:27:00
different agents in there in order for
01:27:02
it to mix well. This probably mixes
01:27:05
really well. A lot of uh people also
01:27:08
complain of feeling uh GI distress when
01:27:11
they take it. And all I have to say is
01:27:14
that's not a reason to stop taking it.
01:27:16
Maybe take two grams at a time, maybe
01:27:19
take three grams at a time, but don't
01:27:21
stop taking it.
01:27:23
>> What do you test for with your own
01:27:24
health and how frequently do you test?
01:27:27
>> I test every 3 to four months.
01:27:29
>> What do you test?
01:27:30
>> Oh, I do everything. Um Oh, I've I I
01:27:33
just did um lab work. uh December 15th,
01:27:39
the day before my birthday. I do it, you
01:27:40
know, around that age. But every year,
01:27:42
funnily enough, I test my biological
01:27:44
age.
01:27:44
>> What is your biological age?
01:27:45
>> It came back as 22.
01:27:47
>> Okay. What's the most important test
01:27:49
they don't typically do that you think
01:27:50
everybody should be doing?
01:27:52
>> Lipoprotein little a raises your risk of
01:27:55
having a heart related event or raises
01:27:58
your risk of getting cardiovascular
01:28:00
disease, but it's hereditary. And then
01:28:03
for for dementia,
01:28:04
>> this is a really exciting part at least
01:28:06
in the US. We now have a predictable way
01:28:09
of picking up on mild cognitive
01:28:11
impairment and picking up on these
01:28:13
Alzheimer's hallmarks. Tao protein, PTA
01:28:16
217, it's called on blood work and
01:28:19
amaloid beta. So we can now pick up on
01:28:21
this with 90% accuracy of a PET scan.
01:28:26
>> What are those cards over there?
01:28:29
These are here to test your processing
01:28:31
speed.
01:28:32
>> Pink.
01:28:34
>> So,
01:28:34
>> it says pink on it.
01:28:35
>> Yeah. So, this is actually a great
01:28:36
measure of brain function. Your brain
01:28:38
processes visual information 15 times
01:28:41
faster than written words. And so, this
01:28:43
is going to test your uh brain function.
01:28:46
Okay.
01:28:46
>> So, what I want you to do is you're
01:28:48
going to see the color.
01:28:49
>> Yeah.
01:28:49
>> I want you to actually say the color of
01:28:51
the card, not the word.
01:28:52
>> Okay. Let me just program my brain. Say
01:28:55
the color, not the word. Okay. Are you
01:28:57
ready?
01:28:58
>> Green,
01:29:00
orange,
01:29:01
yellow, green,
01:29:04
orange,
01:29:06
green,
01:29:08
orange, yellow,
01:29:11
pink, orange, green.
01:29:15
>> Now, let's do the reverse. I want you to
01:29:16
say the words.
01:29:17
>> Wait, let me just
01:29:20
Okay. Yellow, blue, green, black,
01:29:26
purple.
01:29:27
brown.
01:29:28
>> Okay, so you're good.
01:29:29
>> Thank you. Let's do it to Jack. Jack,
01:29:30
you come sit in the J.
01:29:33
>> You caught him off guard and he hasn't
01:29:35
got creepy. And that's behind
01:29:37
>> there. Grabs a creep.
01:29:38
>> He It's an unfair advantage.
01:29:42
>> Okay, you ready?
01:29:43
>> Wait. So, what am I doing?
01:29:44
>> Just say the color of the card.
01:29:46
>> Okay, just the color of the card. Yeah.
01:29:48
Okay. Ready?
01:29:49
>> Green. Uh, orange, pink, yellow,
01:29:54
yellow.
01:29:56
Yeah. Orange,
01:29:58
pink.
01:29:59
>> Now, let's rolls reverse. I want you to
01:30:01
say what's on the card itself. So, just
01:30:03
read it.
01:30:03
>> Okay. Brown, purple, pink,
01:30:08
green,
01:30:09
black, yellow.
01:30:11
>> Okay. So, now we're going to test it
01:30:13
even more. That was the starting one.
01:30:15
Not good.
01:30:15
>> Not too bad.
01:30:16
>> That was not too bad. So, I want you
01:30:19
This actually involves us standing up
01:30:21
and using a tennis ball. So, we're going
01:30:22
to train your visual cortex, which sits
01:30:25
at the back here in the occipital lobe.
01:30:26
We're going to train your um processing
01:30:29
speed, your reaction time, your hand eye
01:30:30
coordinations. One of the best exercises
01:30:32
that you can do, physical exercises, is
01:30:34
actually hand eye coordination drills.
01:30:36
Tennis, racket sports. But I'm going to
01:30:39
show you what 5 minutes a day can do for
01:30:42
your cognitive reserve and your brain
01:30:44
performance just using a tennis ball and
01:30:46
an eye patch.
01:30:48
>> Okay. So,
01:30:52
>> first things first,
01:30:54
>> I'm going to give you this tennis ball.
01:30:56
Yeah.
01:30:56
>> And for the whole time, I want you to
01:30:58
throw the ball with an overhand grip.
01:31:01
>> Oh, like this?
01:31:02
>> Yep.
01:31:02
>> Okay.
01:31:03
>> So, I want you to just throw it with the
01:31:04
right arm and catch with the right arm.
01:31:07
>> Over. I mean, what's this one?
01:31:08
>> Underarm.
01:31:09
>> I'm just checking the wall. Okay. Okay.
01:31:12
So, like this.
01:31:13
>> So, you might want to move back where
01:31:14
the chair is. Okay. No, you would
01:31:16
>> cut that. Cut that out.
01:31:22
Good. So now throw with the right and
01:31:25
catch with the left and alternate.
01:31:27
>> Yep.
01:31:28
>> Okay.
01:31:33
>> You've got it. So what we're doing,
01:31:35
we're engaging almost all the executive
01:31:38
functions. Now you've got hand. You
01:31:40
should be able to do this for a minute.
01:31:42
Okay. Okay.
01:31:42
>> Now we're going to make it even harder.
01:31:44
It's like placing weight as well. Well,
01:31:46
I I'm not going to do the one with the
01:31:47
eye patch. I'll do the next one. Okay.
01:31:49
So, basically what you want to do, and
01:31:52
if you do it with a black ball, it's
01:31:54
actually Oh, even better.
01:31:58
So, now we're going to make it a bit
01:31:59
hard and a bit neurally demanding. We're
01:32:02
going to put an eye patch on you, which
01:32:03
is really going to block out like 50% of
01:32:05
the vision.
01:32:06
>> Okay. Which eye?
01:32:08
>> Any eye.
01:32:09
>> Let's do the left one.
01:32:11
>> Now, let's see how many you can do. I
01:32:13
think you we counted around eight
01:32:14
before. a pirate.
01:32:15
>> I just need you to look at
01:32:18
>> what? Wait, this is not flattering.
01:32:23
>> Okay,
01:32:23
>> let's go.
01:32:24
>> Oh, that's so different.
01:32:25
>> Yeah.
01:32:26
>> Wow. This feels significantly harder.
01:32:28
>> I know. Let's go.
01:32:30
>> This feels No, this feels like really
01:32:31
hard. Let me just double check.
01:32:32
hell.
01:32:34
>> That's That's really That's so hard.
01:32:38
This is
01:32:40
>> There you go. You've got it.
01:32:42
>> Joking.
01:32:44
Okay, let's alternate now. Left hand,
01:32:46
right hand,
01:32:48
>> left hand, right around like this.
01:32:49
>> Yeah,
01:32:52
>> you're training your visual system to
01:32:55
work under load and under stress. So,
01:32:58
when you do this,
01:33:00
>> I'm interrupting you.
01:33:01
>> No, it's okay.
01:33:03
>> You got it. You got it. You got it.
01:33:05
Good. Good. Good. And then to even make
01:33:07
it even harder. Okay.
01:33:10
>> Stand on your right foot.
01:33:11
>> Yeah.
01:33:12
>> And put your other foot. There you go.
01:33:13
>> Or on one leg. Yep. Standing on one leg
01:33:15
is now engaging the cerebellum.
01:33:18
>> Okay,
01:33:19
>> we're getting spatial awareness. Let's
01:33:21
go. Posture.
01:33:22
>> Left, right, left, right.
01:33:22
>> Yep.
01:33:24
>> Oh my gosh.
01:33:30
>> You got it.
01:33:32
>> I want to see you do it
01:33:34
>> with the eye patch on.
01:33:35
>> Yeah.
01:33:35
>> Wow.
01:33:39
I mean, I can be great. My eyelashes
01:33:42
have gone now. It's okay. We can AI that
01:33:44
out.
01:33:45
>> This actually looks great.
01:33:46
>> Mhm.
01:33:47
>> Okay, we're ready.
01:33:50
Well, I blame my nails. I blame my
01:33:53
nails. Let's do it.
01:33:57
>> Okay.
01:33:58
>> It's hard.
01:33:59
>> It's so hard.
01:34:00
>> And so, what is this doing? It's
01:34:02
>> This is engaging executive functions,
01:34:05
processing speed, hand eye coordination.
01:34:08
>> And you did this with NBA players. I did
01:34:10
this with NBA players to improve uh
01:34:12
their executive functions, decrease
01:34:15
their reaction time,
01:34:17
>> and this will this will change my brain
01:34:18
if I do this frequently.
01:34:20
>> Not just that, but you're also improving
01:34:22
cognitive reserve. You're building new
01:34:24
connections between the brain cells.
01:34:26
You're strengthening neural networks and
01:34:29
you're doing something incredible.
01:34:32
You know, every once in a while you come
01:34:33
across a product that has such a huge
01:34:36
impact on your life that you'd probably
01:34:38
describe it as a gamecher. And I would
01:34:41
say for about 35 to 40% of my team, they
01:34:46
would currently describe this product
01:34:47
that I have in front of me called Ketone
01:34:50
IQ, which you can get at ketone.com,
01:34:53
as a game changer. But the reason I
01:34:54
became a coowner of this company and the
01:34:56
reason why they they now are a sponsor
01:34:57
of this podcast is because one day when
01:35:00
I came to work there was a box of this
01:35:01
stuff sat on my desk. I had no idea what
01:35:03
it was. Lily in my team says that this
01:35:05
company have been in touch. So I went
01:35:06
upstairs tried it and quite frankly the
01:35:09
rest is history in terms of my focus, my
01:35:12
energy levels, how I feel, how I work,
01:35:14
how productive I am. Game changer. So if
01:35:17
you want to give it a try, visit
01:35:18
ketone.com/stephven
01:35:19
for 30% off. You'll also get a free gift
01:35:22
with your second shipment. And now you
01:35:24
can find Keton IQ at Target stores
01:35:26
across the United States where your
01:35:28
first shot is completely free of charge.
01:35:31
If there's anything we need, it is
01:35:34
connection. Especially in the world
01:35:35
we're living in today. And that is
01:35:37
exactly why we created these
01:35:38
conversation cards. Because on this
01:35:40
show, when I sit here with my guests and
01:35:42
have those deep, intimate conversations,
01:35:45
this remarkable thing happens time and
01:35:47
time again. We feel deeply connected to
01:35:49
each other. At the end of every episode,
01:35:51
the guest I'm interviewing leaves a
01:35:53
question for the next guest, and we've
01:35:54
turned them into these conversation
01:35:57
cards. And we've added these twist cards
01:35:59
to make your conversations even more
01:36:00
interesting. And there are so many more
01:36:02
twists along the way with the
01:36:04
conversation cards. This is the brand
01:36:05
new edition. And for the first time
01:36:07
ever, I've added to the pack this gold
01:36:09
card, which is an exclusive question
01:36:11
from me. But I'm only putting the gold
01:36:14
cards in the first run of conversation
01:36:16
cards. So get yours now before the
01:36:18
limited edition gold cards are all gone.
01:36:20
Head to the link in the description
01:36:22
below.
01:36:24
>> So doing hard things is what is going to
01:36:29
improve brain function over the
01:36:31
lifespan. Doing hard things tells your
01:36:34
brain that you can do hard things.
01:36:37
Meaning have you ever heard of this um
01:36:40
brain area a little area in the brain
01:36:42
called the anterior mid singular
01:36:45
>> cortex? Yes, I have.
01:36:47
>> What do you know about it?
01:36:49
>> I'll let you say it.
01:36:50
>> Well, it's shown that it's larger in
01:36:52
what we call super ages and people who
01:36:55
age really well and who can uh withhold
01:36:59
a lot of uh cognitive capacity and it's
01:37:03
really profound in people who can diet
01:37:05
well. It gets bigger when we do hard
01:37:08
things. So, when we do really hard
01:37:10
things, this area in the brain gets
01:37:12
bigger. And basically
01:37:14
what that is, it's reserve for when life
01:37:18
gets hard. It means it basically tells
01:37:20
your brain that no matter what happens,
01:37:23
no matter what event comes my way, I
01:37:25
have the ability to go in, welcome it,
01:37:29
and push through it no matter how hard
01:37:31
it's going to be. When you give up or
01:37:35
when you don't do hard things, this
01:37:37
little area doesn't grow. It doesn't get
01:37:40
bigger. So doing these neural activating
01:37:45
uh drills that we just did, going to the
01:37:47
gym and pushing well above your
01:37:50
threshold and pushing really hard is
01:37:52
going to help uh grow this little area
01:37:54
of the brain.
01:37:55
>> And they call this the willpower muscle.
01:37:57
>> The willpower. This is why I think that
01:38:00
um when people go out to set their goals
01:38:03
during the year and they say, "I'm going
01:38:04
to lose 20 pounds. I'm going to do this.
01:38:06
I'm just going to increase my
01:38:07
willpower." I think it's not willpower,
01:38:11
it's neurobiology.
01:38:13
>> I think it's really important to just
01:38:15
spend a little bit of moment talking
01:38:16
about this part of the brain because
01:38:17
when I discovered it, I found it
01:38:19
absolutely fascinating. And I think it
01:38:20
was Andrew Huberman who said
01:38:22
>> either to me or he said publicly that he
01:38:25
thinks it's one of the most fascinating
01:38:26
or important discoveries of the last
01:38:28
century.
01:38:29
>> Of course, well, you think about um how
01:38:31
we're living our lives. We're we're
01:38:33
punishing ourselves for not being able
01:38:36
to read a book, for not being able to
01:38:39
pay attention. How many, you know,
01:38:40
people are now diagnosing, self
01:38:42
diagnosing themselves with ADHD, low
01:38:44
attention spans, and they're blaming it
01:38:47
on environment? They're blaming it on
01:38:49
circumstances when they should be
01:38:51
blaming it on neurobiology and they
01:38:53
should be blaming it on their brain
01:38:55
state. this area of the brain if you can
01:38:58
push it and this is why these super
01:39:01
aagers seem to have
01:39:02
>> what's a superager
01:39:03
>> a superager is somebody who is aging
01:39:06
well so they're going through life uh
01:39:08
low uh cardiovascular disease state
01:39:11
they've maintained their cognitive
01:39:13
functions they're at the age of 80 90
01:39:16
with a a V2 max profile of maybe a 50 or
01:39:20
60 year old so they're aging quite well
01:39:23
biologically
01:39:25
So these you know super ages have many
01:39:28
many different facets to them and one of
01:39:30
them is a larger mid singular cortex.
01:39:35
Conversely the AMCC anterior midsular
01:39:38
cortex shrinks in people who live
01:39:40
sedentary lives or avoid challenges. It
01:39:44
literally atrophies if you play it safe
01:39:46
in life too often. Growth only occurs
01:39:49
during resistance. If you love taking
01:39:51
ice baths and you take one, your AMCC
01:39:53
doesn't change. If you hate the cold but
01:39:56
force yourself to do it anyway, the AMCC
01:39:59
grows.
01:40:00
>> Scientists now view the AMCC as the seat
01:40:03
of the will to live. Its size and
01:40:05
activity level are strong predictors of
01:40:07
how long an individual will survive
01:40:09
after a major setback in their life,
01:40:10
whether it's a health setback or a
01:40:12
surgery.
01:40:15
>> There's something really philosophical
01:40:17
about that as well. You know, if you I
01:40:19
don't know if you read um stoicism or
01:40:21
anything, but it it it really dates back
01:40:24
to how the Stoics lived their life,
01:40:28
especially Marcus Aurelius, with being
01:40:30
able to push through hard times. Little
01:40:33
did they know that it was this little
01:40:34
area in the brain.
01:40:36
>> Yeah. Yeah, I think I was telling the
01:40:38
story the other day of Roosevelt and
01:40:40
what happened in his life as a young man
01:40:41
when he came home one day on Valentine's
01:40:43
Day and found that his mother and his
01:40:45
wife of who had just had his newborn
01:40:47
baby had both died, one upstairs, one
01:40:49
downstairs, and he went off to the bad
01:40:51
lands for two I think it was 2 to four
01:40:53
years. The Badlands in America were just
01:40:55
this like horrific um natural place
01:40:58
where he'd get up at 4:00 a.m. ride
01:40:59
these like horses in the freezing cold
01:41:02
where like the horses would literally
01:41:03
die standing still because it was so
01:41:05
horrific. He did that to two years to
01:41:06
like deal with the grief. But when he
01:41:08
came back to New York City after this
01:41:10
two years in the Badlands, all of his
01:41:11
friends said he was just a completely
01:41:13
different man. He had and what they now
01:41:15
know from a neuroscience perspective is
01:41:17
that he didn't just build his muscles.
01:41:19
He literally like rewired his his brain.
01:41:21
He went on to become the youngest US
01:41:22
president of all time. He got shot um
01:41:25
during a speech and carried on doing the
01:41:26
speech. He led the charge in various
01:41:28
wars. He's just this unbelievable. I
01:41:30
think he won the Nobel Prize. and they
01:41:32
point at those two years in the bad
01:41:33
lands and say actually that that forged
01:41:35
not just the man but his his brain his
01:41:37
AMCC. The studies also show that
01:41:40
athletes consider consistently show much
01:41:42
larger AMCC volume and studies show that
01:41:46
individuals struggling with obesity
01:41:47
often have smaller AMCC's but but it
01:41:50
begins to grow the moment they start a
01:41:53
successful challenging dietary or
01:41:55
exercise intervention. that it's that
01:41:57
word challenging because when you place
01:42:00
stimulus upon a system, it adapts and
01:42:04
grows and that is neurobiology at its
01:42:08
most infinite source. And this is why we
01:42:12
get the breakdown of these synapses.
01:42:15
This is why we get into a place of going
01:42:18
from 5,000 to 10,000 connections to
01:42:21
2,000 or no connections. these dendritic
01:42:24
spines end up breaking down because we
01:42:27
don't do the hard thing. And I also
01:42:29
think being deep rooted in neurobiology,
01:42:32
you can see that everything is cause and
01:42:33
effect and it's a cycle. Uh if you don't
01:42:37
do the hard thing, you don't grow the
01:42:39
AMCC. You don't grow the AMCC, you don't
01:42:42
do the hard thing again. And it's just
01:42:44
this loop and it's this cycle which is
01:42:47
why so many resolutions, New Year's
01:42:49
resolutions end by February 1st. It's
01:42:53
why we have the obesity epidemic. It's
01:42:57
largely why I think we've got a a crisis
01:43:00
of people not being able to uh meet
01:43:02
their goals.
01:43:04
I'm just fascinated from an evolutionary
01:43:06
perspective as to why we needed one and
01:43:08
like why it wasn't just always big
01:43:10
>> in the pursuit uh you know
01:43:11
evolutionarily uh in the pursuit of
01:43:14
hunting and going out and and hunting
01:43:17
for food sources and being motivated to
01:43:20
do that in a near starvation state when
01:43:23
times were tough
01:43:25
>> and so when times got easier we didn't
01:43:27
need it as much so we could conserve I
01:43:31
guess our energy so we could like scale
01:43:32
down our willpower when times were good.
01:43:34
>> Well, it's interesting that you say that
01:43:36
because this brings up the whole brain
01:43:38
rot and AI era just like with, you know,
01:43:41
in uh 2024, Oxford dictionary, I think,
01:43:44
named brain rot the word of the year.
01:43:47
And it's interesting because it plays
01:43:49
into evolution and what's happening with
01:43:52
this AMCC, meaning like we're just there
01:43:55
scrolling at mindless information every
01:43:58
day, training our brain to get these
01:44:00
small dopamine hits, these small rewards
01:44:03
from doing absolutely nothing.
01:44:07
>> What do you think of these uh chat bots
01:44:10
that everybody's using at the moment to
01:44:11
write for them and think for them, etc.?
01:44:13
>> Oh my god. I think it's uh on the
01:44:16
spectrum of being so incredible but
01:44:19
being so detrimentally harmful. I know
01:44:23
this with myself. So I was a
01:44:24
mathematician. I did my masters of
01:44:26
mathematics and I was able Steven to the
01:44:30
trigonometry and pure calculus that I
01:44:33
could do back then with just my head and
01:44:35
a pen was fascinating. Now I'm going to
01:44:39
I'm going out and I'm calculating on
01:44:41
chat GPT the bill the the the 20% tip on
01:44:45
top of this bill. How much does it cost?
01:44:46
And I think how dumb am I actually
01:44:49
getting? So I think it's both good and
01:44:52
bad. I think the rate of decline we're
01:44:55
seeing in people reading books and
01:44:56
exercising their brain is declining. Um,
01:44:59
and our ability to
01:45:02
think
01:45:04
and and use our our cognition is
01:45:07
declining.
01:45:09
>> Louis, I've I've um waited uh a long
01:45:12
time to ask you one particular question,
01:45:15
which is I think is very important,
01:45:17
which is you're clearly very passionate
01:45:19
about this stuff.
01:45:21
One might say you're pretty obsessed
01:45:22
with it. You come across as pretty
01:45:24
obsessed.
01:45:25
>> Do I?
01:45:26
>> You do. Yeah. Why?
01:45:29
>> We are living in a society
01:45:33
that doesn't allow women to ask for what
01:45:37
they want. We're living in a society
01:45:39
that doesn't allow women to ask for what
01:45:42
they need. And when this happens, it
01:45:45
results in 70% of all Alzheimer's
01:45:48
disease cases being women. It results in
01:45:51
80% of all autoimmune diseases being
01:45:55
female. And these are largely
01:45:58
preventable diseases. And when I ask why
01:46:01
and I hear that women are wildly
01:46:04
misrepresented in academic literature,
01:46:07
when I when I see women who downplay
01:46:10
their symptoms or they're too scared to
01:46:12
ask their doctor for advice or they're
01:46:14
too scared to ask somebody else for
01:46:16
advice because of what they're going
01:46:18
through or they're ashamed of some of
01:46:20
their symptoms, I get angry and I get
01:46:22
passionate. And it reminds me of my
01:46:26
grandmother who uh she was my best
01:46:28
friend. Her name was Louisa. And
01:46:31
>> you're named after her.
01:46:32
>> I was named after her. Yes. And we spent
01:46:35
every day together. And And I'm getting
01:46:37
emotional now cuz I remember her. And
01:46:40
she sadly died of pancreatic cancer. It
01:46:43
was ovarian cancer that went to
01:46:44
pancreatic cancer. And
01:46:48
she never asked for what she wanted. And
01:46:50
she never asked for what she needed,
01:46:52
which was help. She didn't understand
01:46:55
her symptoms. She didn't go to the
01:46:58
doctor when she needed to because she
01:47:01
was just more
01:47:04
inclined to look after the family and
01:47:07
look after the household. And when the
01:47:10
time came that she was given her
01:47:12
diagnosis, I was sitting there with her.
01:47:14
It was um it was at home and the doctor
01:47:17
came. She did a house call and my
01:47:20
grandmother looked at her. She hardly
01:47:22
spoke that much English and she said,
01:47:24
"Please, is there something I can do? I
01:47:26
don't want to die." And the doctor said,
01:47:29
"There's I'm sorry, there's nothing you
01:47:31
can do." And I spent every day with her
01:47:34
in the hospital. And I think about that,
01:47:36
it's been almost 20 years now, but I
01:47:39
think about that moment and I kick
01:47:41
myself thinking, why didn't we why
01:47:44
didn't we get her a scan? She told us
01:47:47
several times that her stomach was
01:47:49
hurting. She told her several times that
01:47:51
she felt pain. She never she hid her
01:47:55
symptoms. She hardly ever ate at one
01:47:57
point and we never stopped to think
01:48:00
about why and she never stopped to think
01:48:02
about why. So I think about her every
01:48:04
day. And then I think about my mother
01:48:06
too and these women, you know, first
01:48:11
generation, they came uh we migrated to
01:48:14
Australia from a country called Cyprus
01:48:16
and they've just been so they put
01:48:21
themselves second and they they just
01:48:24
look after the family and I can't stand
01:48:26
that. And when I see women coming in as
01:48:29
patients
01:48:30
or caregivers, I think to myself, do you
01:48:34
not know that there is something for you
01:48:36
to do? And most women don't. And I I
01:48:40
can't believe the amount of money that
01:48:41
we are spending that is going towards
01:48:46
putting us on rockets to go to Mars, but
01:48:48
we haven't yet found a cure for this
01:48:52
disease that is largely preventable.
01:48:54
It's just not okay with me. And I would
01:48:57
hate to see women go through this.
01:49:00
>> The emotion is still very present in
01:49:02
your face even though it was so long
01:49:04
ago.
01:49:05
>> It was so long ago. I mean, I was very
01:49:07
close to her. I'm very close with my
01:49:09
mother. I I check in with her twice,
01:49:12
three times a day. And I just don't
01:49:14
think it's fair. I think women deserve
01:49:17
the truth. They've been lied to. They've
01:49:20
been underrepresented.
01:49:22
And
01:49:23
we need to change that. with Louisa,
01:49:25
your grandmother, what are those range
01:49:29
of emotions that have turned into this
01:49:32
incredible fire? You have
01:49:33
>> anger.
01:49:35
>> Anger is one of the emotions. Anger at
01:49:39
society that places women to be
01:49:43
everything. To be a a mother, a
01:49:47
caregiver, to go to work, to represent
01:49:52
the family. women represent 51% of the
01:49:56
total population
01:49:58
and then it becomes I feel political if
01:50:01
that's an emotion because you think
01:50:03
about health care you think health care
01:50:06
should be accessible to everybody but it
01:50:08
seems as though especially in this
01:50:10
country that health care is only really
01:50:12
accessible by those with a high
01:50:14
socioeconomic status and that I'm not
01:50:17
okay with so it does become political
01:50:20
even though healthcare I Yes, healthcare
01:50:23
is political because policies have been
01:50:25
set, but a woman in need is apolitical.
01:50:30
And my grandmother was a-political and
01:50:33
her needs
01:50:35
just were not met.
01:50:39
anger,
01:50:40
>> frustration at the system, frustration
01:50:43
at the fact that we still have only 4%
01:50:47
of women taking hormone replacement
01:50:50
therapy in fear that they're going to
01:50:52
get this disease, uh that they're going
01:50:53
to get breast cancer, utterly frustrated
01:50:57
at the cycles of administration who
01:51:01
vouched to help you. you look to your,
01:51:04
you know, your government and your
01:51:06
administration
01:51:07
to look up to, to guide you when you
01:51:10
have Secretary Kennedy in 2014 go on
01:51:15
national television and say, "Vaccines
01:51:18
are totally safe. I had all my kids
01:51:20
vaccinated. They've eradicated some of
01:51:22
the most deadliest diseases that have
01:51:25
plagued this world. Vaccines are so
01:51:27
safe." to fast forward to 2025
01:51:30
saying vaccines are so unsafe. Do not
01:51:33
trust your medical doctor. You need to
01:51:36
take your health into your own hands.
01:51:39
You start to lose trust.
01:51:42
And it's not that we're uninformed.
01:51:45
It's the fact that we are confused
01:51:48
because we hear vaccines are bad. Oh,
01:51:51
vaccines are good. Vaccines are are
01:51:54
really good. Take them. Don't get your
01:51:56
kid vaccine. You've got women here who
01:51:59
don't even know their they they don't
01:52:02
even know how to get on the internet or
01:52:05
order a blood testing. You're expecting
01:52:07
them to take their health into their own
01:52:08
hands. So, it upsets me that you see
01:52:11
women who are so vulnerable
01:52:13
being sold a a a vaccine lie which could
01:52:17
potentially save them from a disease
01:52:20
which could potentially save them or
01:52:22
their child from getting the flu,
01:52:27
hepatitis B,
01:52:29
menitis, which was just eradicated from
01:52:32
the vaccine schedule. Um, I'm not, this
01:52:35
is not meant to be political. I am I am
01:52:37
a scientist. I am not. This is not
01:52:39
propaganda. This is not ideology. This
01:52:42
is just women who deserve to be treated
01:52:47
better.
01:52:49
>> You're 36.
01:52:53
Louisa passed away when you were how
01:52:55
old?
01:52:55
>> Oh, I was uh probably 18 at the time.
01:52:59
>> You were 18 when you
01:53:00
>> Around that 18, 19
01:53:01
>> when she got the diagnosis.
01:53:03
>> Yeah, it was very fast. It was within a
01:53:06
two month time frame. Not even.
01:53:08
>> And had she not got that diagnosis and
01:53:10
had you not sat there and watched her
01:53:12
ask that doctor if there's something
01:53:13
that she could do,
01:53:16
>> do you think your career would have
01:53:18
taken this course?
01:53:19
>> I became utterly obsessed with disease
01:53:22
management. But when I first saw a human
01:53:26
brain, I was 21. I was in a lab and we
01:53:30
had to go into a cadaavver lab and I saw
01:53:32
a brain being harvested from a a body
01:53:35
that was donated and I stayed back that
01:53:37
day. I remember and I helped in the
01:53:41
pathology lab and when I saw that brain
01:53:44
I knew that I wanted to dedicate my life
01:53:46
to it. So ever since then I've been in
01:53:48
OS and it's where I feel most alive.
01:53:51
>> Why why did you want to dedicate your
01:53:53
life to it? Because when you know what
01:53:56
the brain is that it is responsible for
01:53:58
the life that we have and you can use it
01:54:00
for your advantage to overcome any
01:54:02
obstacle that comes your way you become
01:54:05
obsessed with understanding it.
01:54:07
Metacognition is thinking about your
01:54:11
thoughts and every day if you can think
01:54:13
about why you think about the things you
01:54:16
think about you can challenge yourself
01:54:20
to overcome any adversity. Is there a
01:54:23
cost to your obsession and your passion?
01:54:25
>> Yes.
01:54:26
>> What's the cost?
01:54:27
>> I moved away from my family to be
01:54:28
surrounded by the greatest neurosurgeons
01:54:31
in the world, which I am, and I'm very
01:54:33
thankful for that. I moved away from a
01:54:35
population of 22 million to come to the
01:54:38
hardest city in the world,
01:54:40
>> New York.
01:54:40
>> New York City.
01:54:41
>> Are you still paying a cost?
01:54:43
>> I'm still paying a cost. My health pays
01:54:45
a cost.
01:54:46
I've missed family events, traveling for
01:54:50
my career.
01:54:53
But I wouldn't have it any other way
01:54:56
because the people that I've met have
01:54:58
forged the way for me to live the life
01:55:00
that I want. I'm surrounded by
01:55:02
incredible thought leaders in health and
01:55:04
medicine. And
01:55:07
>> so what is success to you then at the
01:55:10
deepest possible level? What is success?
01:55:12
We meet again in 10 years time. You say
01:55:14
my life has been a success or I feel
01:55:16
successful. I'm a Louisa says I am a
01:55:20
successful woman. What does that mean?
01:55:21
What happened?
01:55:23
>> Being able to control my brain states.
01:55:27
>> Being able to control your brain states.
01:55:30
>> I think that the ultimate form of
01:55:33
success and high performance or being
01:55:36
able to perform at your peak is being
01:55:40
able to go from brain state to brain
01:55:42
state and then be able to recover.
01:55:45
>> What do you mean by brain state? meaning
01:55:47
like being able to get switched on when
01:55:50
you need to be switched on and invite
01:55:52
the neurotransmitters involved in that.
01:55:53
Norepinephrine, adrenaline, dopamine,
01:55:56
but not having that in constant
01:55:58
overdrive and being able to know when to
01:56:01
switch off. And I think that that is
01:56:02
what high performance is. The book that
01:56:04
changed my mind on that was flow by Mihi
01:56:07
Chicksimni, which actually speaks about
01:56:09
the flow state. So being able to know
01:56:12
how to uh separate yourself in these
01:56:16
states.
01:56:17
>> Any goals outside of your professional
01:56:21
>> kids, family, life? Love kids, family.
01:56:24
>> Yeah, definitely.
01:56:26
>> It's tough, isn't it?
01:56:28
>> It's tough. I was saying earlier to my
01:56:30
friend that, you know, I kind of just
01:56:31
thought the minute I wanted to have
01:56:33
kids, they would just appear. But it's
01:56:35
not so strange.
01:56:35
>> That's what I thought, too, until I
01:56:36
realized, oh, but I'm the woman.
01:56:41
I actually have to bear the the children
01:56:43
as well,
01:56:45
>> which is a big sacrifice and an
01:56:46
>> honor. It's an honor and a privilege and
01:56:48
a sacrifice that I think everybody Yeah,
01:56:51
I I mean I think I I definitely want.
01:56:55
>> Are you hopeful for all of your
01:56:57
professional endeavors?
01:56:59
>> Yes,
01:57:00
>> you are hopeful.
01:57:01
>> I'm in control.
01:57:04
you think we're going to move in a good
01:57:06
direction as a society as it relates to
01:57:10
>> Alzheimer's and
01:57:13
>> Yes, I I am hopeful for that. I'm
01:57:16
hopeful for the message that I'm getting
01:57:18
across. I think uh social media is
01:57:21
providing the platform for free
01:57:22
education and for people to understand
01:57:25
that they have agency over their brains.
01:57:28
Uh, I'm not hopeful for um anybody
01:57:32
saving us or coming in and giving us a
01:57:35
easy way forward.
01:57:36
>> Do you ever have days where you wish you
01:57:38
were less obsessed with your craft?
01:57:41
>> Has there ever been a day where you're
01:57:42
like, you know, I wish I was just a
01:57:43
little bit less captivated by this?
01:57:45
>> Sometimes I do. Yeah, I think if I
01:57:47
didn't, well, I'd be probably back home
01:57:50
in Australia living an average person's
01:57:53
life. I'm not saying that that's it. I'm
01:57:55
just saying, you know, maybe I would
01:57:56
have done it done my life differently.
01:57:58
>> I have days like that where I think if
01:58:02
obviously cuz the obsessed brain is the
01:58:04
one making this decision. So, it's quite
01:58:06
difficult to detach. But like if you put
01:58:08
a knob in front of me and I could just
01:58:10
turn it down just a little bit, would I?
01:58:12
Now, my obsessed brain is is the one
01:58:14
making this decision. So, my obsessed
01:58:16
brain is like, "Fuck it, turn it up."
01:58:17
>> But I think I do wonder sometimes. I am
01:58:20
the way that I am, right? Um, but I do
01:58:22
wonder sometimes if I would be
01:58:26
happier overall if I could just turn it
01:58:29
down a little bit.
01:58:30
>> But isn't the whole point of life to
01:58:33
know thyself and in pursuit of something
01:58:36
bigger and better?
01:58:37
>> Yeah, it is. But I just sometimes worry
01:58:39
about what I'm sacrificing and whether
01:58:41
at some point, I don't know, when I'm on
01:58:42
my deathbed at 80 years old, I'm going
01:58:43
to look back and say, "Actually,
01:58:46
I made a bad trade."
01:58:48
>> Well, exactly. And but we're never going
01:58:50
to know that. I I think about that
01:58:52
often. I know you think about that often
01:58:54
and you think, well, if the world came
01:58:55
to a a collapse tomorrow, what would you
01:58:58
regret today not having done?
01:59:02
>> I think it would be like making more
01:59:04
memories with people I love. I think
01:59:05
that's one of the big ones. I think
01:59:07
>> did you hear what you just said? Making
01:59:09
more memories
01:59:10
>> and imagine losing those. Imagine a life
01:59:13
full of like
01:59:15
>> you know creating these experiences and
01:59:17
these memories to have them being taken
01:59:20
away from you.
01:59:22
>> Yeah.
01:59:23
>> To not being able to recognize your
01:59:24
wife, your kids, and looking in the
01:59:28
mirror and not being able to recognize
01:59:29
yourself.
01:59:31
>> That's why Alzheimer's is just such a
01:59:33
disgusting, sinister, like horrific
01:59:36
thing cuz
01:59:38
Yeah. It's just
01:59:40
>> the most heartbreaking thing to to lose
01:59:43
someone while they're still alive.
01:59:45
>> Yeah. And to lose yourself. We've got
01:59:46
this one woman who looks in the mirror
01:59:49
and she says, "Who's that?"
01:59:52
>> Really?
01:59:52
>> Yeah. And you know, it's it's sad
01:59:54
because two years ago she knew who I was
01:59:56
and now she asks, "Are you my daughter?"
01:59:59
And when you're confronted with that
02:00:01
every single day, it gets you thinking.
02:00:04
You don't live a normal life. You don't
02:00:06
live an average life because you do
02:00:08
think about every facet of medicine. You
02:00:11
think about history. You think about
02:00:13
diseases. And then you think about life
02:00:15
and the people that you spend the most
02:00:16
time with.
02:00:18
>> We have a closing tradition where the
02:00:20
last guest leaves the question for the
02:00:21
next not knowing who they're leaving it
02:00:22
for. And the question left for you is,
02:00:25
what is God to you?
02:00:27
God is
02:00:30
that power that you feel and have faith
02:00:33
in that you cannot see. The power that
02:00:38
um
02:00:41
basically makes you feel like there is
02:00:43
somebody there that has you and that is
02:00:46
guiding you
02:00:49
that
02:00:51
always has a a path for you knowing
02:00:54
>> you you believe in God. Yes, I'm I'm I'm
02:00:56
a I'm I'm Christian. I'm Greek Orthodox.
02:00:59
>> When you see the brain deteriorating in
02:01:02
such a way and you think about this
02:01:04
concept of prayer, like asking God to
02:01:06
help me with something, doesn't it feel
02:01:08
pretty I mean, it's the definition of
02:01:10
like hopelessness is watching your brain
02:01:12
deteriorate. And I think some part of my
02:01:15
struggles with religion since I was an
02:01:17
18-year-old and I came from a very
02:01:19
religious family was seeing injustice in
02:01:21
the world. And there's doesn't seem to
02:01:23
be much greater injustice than watching
02:01:24
someone's brain just deteriorate in
02:01:26
front of their family.
02:01:28
>> Yeah. Or somebody going through losing
02:01:30
their child and you start to think about
02:01:33
God.
02:01:34
>> People pray for I can't find my keys. I
02:01:36
want my football team to win. And I go
02:01:38
there's no point. If people praying for
02:01:40
an Alzheimer's cure are having no luck,
02:01:42
then maybe I should stop praying for
02:01:44
Manchester United to win.
02:01:45
>> Yeah. If you understood the intricacies
02:01:50
of how we were actually brought into
02:01:52
this world from the point of conception,
02:01:56
from the point of conception to the
02:02:00
point of neural development, how a baby
02:02:02
is formed and how precise everything has
02:02:06
to be for you to come out the way you
02:02:09
did.
02:02:11
It is so beautiful and so miraculous and
02:02:14
so rare. even though there are billions
02:02:16
of people in this world that you cannot
02:02:21
just turn to biology anymore, you have
02:02:23
to turn to something bigger. And I used
02:02:27
to, trust me, even as a as a Greek, as a
02:02:30
Christian who's read the Bible, I even
02:02:34
in my early 20s when I was getting into
02:02:36
medicine and science, I I was so gung-ho
02:02:38
about
02:02:40
we we're born in a body, we die in a
02:02:43
body. But then when you get so deep into
02:02:47
the literature of science and medicine
02:02:49
and biology,
02:02:51
it's hard to ignore God. And it's hard
02:02:54
to ignore that there is a higher power
02:02:56
out there. And why is it that there are
02:02:58
chapels in hospitals?
02:03:03
>> Because people want to go to heaven.
02:03:05
Because people want an alter an
02:03:09
alternative method of getting through
02:03:12
whatever it is that they can get
02:03:14
through. Something that science and
02:03:16
medicine cannot offer and believing in
02:03:20
something that is not there or something
02:03:22
that hasn't occurred yet is having
02:03:23
faith.
02:03:28
I work in neurosurgery and some of the
02:03:30
cases you think this person's not coming
02:03:32
out of here alive and the fact that they
02:03:34
do and they preserve their cognitive
02:03:36
functions and they look next to normal
02:03:38
after they've had a massive tumor
02:03:40
resected which is a true story from here
02:03:43
the tumor was going all along this one
02:03:45
woman's face who was 78 years old who
02:03:48
traveled here from France to have the
02:03:51
tumor reected how is it that she's
02:03:53
walking and she's cognitively normal and
02:03:55
she's not even on any medication the
02:03:57
next day. How is that possible? Is it
02:03:59
God? Is it just miraculous
02:04:01
neurosurgeons? There's just some things
02:04:03
that medicine can't answer.
02:04:07
>> I agree with that. I am I don't think
02:04:10
I'm arrogant enough to say that I know
02:04:13
and I'm curious
02:04:15
and I think I'll never know.
02:04:17
>> Yeah.
02:04:17
>> So, I guess that's where we need to have
02:04:18
faith.
02:04:19
>> Yep.
02:04:20
>> Louisa, thank you so much. Um it's very
02:04:21
important that you do the work that you
02:04:23
do because uh it's people like yourself
02:04:25
that are so passionate, so obsessed and
02:04:26
so good at communicating that um help
02:04:29
average people who aren't who don't have
02:04:31
access to the wisdom and the research
02:04:32
and studies and information that you
02:04:34
have understand all of these things. And
02:04:36
it's through this understanding that we
02:04:37
can make better choices and preserve our
02:04:38
life, preserve our brains and if we
02:04:40
preserve our brains, we preserve
02:04:41
everything that matters.
02:04:42
>> Correct. Thank you.
02:04:43
>> So thank you for doing what you do and I
02:04:44
appreciate your passion and dedication
02:04:46
to it because it's very very important.
02:04:47
I know it comes at a cost. So, I feel
02:04:50
obliged to tell you that as a normal
02:04:52
person who isn't involved in your field,
02:04:53
we're grateful.
02:04:54
>> Thank you so much, Stephen.
02:04:55
>> Thank you. YouTube have this new crazy
02:04:57
algorithm where they know exactly what
02:04:59
video you would like to watch next based
02:05:01
on AI and all of your viewing behavior.
02:05:04
And the algorithm says that this video
02:05:06
is the perfect video for you. It's
02:05:08
different for everybody looking right
02:05:10
now. Check this video out and I bet you
02:05:12
you might love it.
