The Secrets To Protecting Our Memory

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Okay, I have some exciting news for your eyes. Go. You know how we just did the episode about habits and I've been trying to read more. And I said that I wanted to read before bed. Okay, well that crashed in burn. I have to scroll before bed. I cannot not do it. You're human. I'm not putting my phone in the kitchen. No. Okay. But I started reading on the subway and I bought myself some books that I actually like. And it is like Wendy Wood was saying, like if you just start doing it, reinforcing it, having your reward. And I just make sure when I get to the subway platform, I take the book out, I have it in my hand, I put my phone in my pocket, and I read. I love that. And I've been reading like 20 pages every time I go on the subway. That's amazing. So it does work folks, try it. That sounds great in your inspiring me. Yeah. To actually take the advice we get on the show. It's just nice once in a while that we actually do do the things that we learn. All right, I pledge that in 2026. Anyway, so now today's show. I have a question for you. Go. Do you think you are protecting your memory wrong? Oh my god. Any questions that are related to aging are, you know, triggering? No. I'm not doing anything. I do do crosswords sometimes. And I think my memory is okay for right now, but I'm really interested in, you know, giving my brain and memory a hug. So what about you? I have some memory loss. I don't remember a lot of my childhood. And I hate that. Okay. But when we get into these topics, I always think of you and me like getting the magic school bus. And like we're about to enter the brain. Anytime we do a show about the brain or things like that, I know nothing about it. So I love these shows because I feel like I learned so much. I know nothing about the memory. I don't know how they're made. What we should be doing. So I'm excited about this one. I mean, I think brain science is so incredibly cool. So I'm ready to get on that school bus with Mrs. Spryssel. Okay. A.K.A. Dr. Wendy Suzuki, who is the dean of the College of Arts and Science and Professor of Neural Science and Psychology at NYU. And the author of several books that's a flex, including Healthy Brain Happy Life. Let's make some memories. I love it. All right, Wendy, we are so excited to have you. Thank you so much for being here. I am so excited to be here. I mean, this is such a fun topic and, you know, so incredibly complicated sometimes. And I'm going to read the first question right from my phone. Okay. From what we understand, there are multiple stages of memory or how we store things in our brain. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Sure. So my specialty is a really, really important form of memory, which is called episodic memory. It's memory for the facts and events of our lives. And if you think about it, that is what defines us as human beings. Our own personal histories are made up of the facts that we understand about the world. And all the things that have happened to us. Who was there? How it felt? What it smelled like? What it felt like? And so we know there's one brain structure. Okay. I said one, but there's one on each side of the brain. So actually, there's two, but it's called the hippocampus. And it's in the temporal lobe deep down in the temporal lobe. I think of it as really protected way down there inside. hippocampus means seahorse. It actually has a shape of a seahorse. And what the structure does is it takes all the things that are happening. The lights in the studio. What your faces look like, your voices and what they sound like. And what I'm feeling right now, anticipation for what other questions you're going to ask. And it glues it all together in an episodic memory. And with practice, when I think back later tonight about the fun time I had talking to both of you, that will strengthen the memory over time. And that right there is the basics of how your memories get stored. The more you think about it, the stronger it becomes. If you talk to other people who are there and say, oh, well, I remember this thing. Well, you're looking at a completely different area than I am. So everybody has a slightly different memory of it. And I'm going to remember the best questions that you asked me. But you're going to remember the best answers I give you. So that's also a difference. So that is why memory is not like a computer. It's not one thing and you ever get it right or wrong. There are interpretations. But the key structure is the hippocampus. Okay. Situation, all contextual. What about long-term memory versus short-term memory? Are those different things medically? Yes. There are different parts of the brain that are involved in different kind of durations of memory. That immediate memory so that I could remember that your name is Rosh, for example, is dependent on the prefrontal cortex. It's called scratch pad memory. And when we used to have phone books, I don't know if you remember phone books. Okay. We're all. Yeah. We look you, but we all. So you looked at the phone number and then you had to remember that phone number. Between the time you, you know, the phone book moment. And then when you go to the phone and dial it on the phone, that ability to keep things in mind is dependent on the prefrontal cortex. That's immediate memory. Right. So the hippocampus is involved in that form of memory. Your hippocampus is critical for remembering what you had for breakfast this morning. Just this morning. Okay. Whatever. It's two o'clock or two thirty right now. That is dependent on the hippocampus. But also your memories from your favorite Christmas when you were a kid when you got that best present is also dependent on the hippocampus. I, I'm going to venture out and guess that what you had for breakfast this morning is not going to be remembered twenty years from now. You, you can remember it. But the hippocampus is involved in all of that, that, that what's happening in your life and what decides on what stays in your long term memory is relevance, emotional resonance, reinforcement, reinforcement, absolutely repetition will make those memory stick. But also if it is the happiest and sad or saddest moment of your life, you will also remember that because that's also something that becomes very, very memorable and salient for your hippocampus. Interesting. So interesting. I had somewhat traumatic childhood. I've also smoked a lot of marijuana. I don't remember a lot of my childhood. So are those memories still there and I can't access them or do memories can they end up disappearing for some reason? Or is his body protecting him from remembering certain things? Yeah. I'm going to say a little bit all of the above. Nobody can prove, you know, somebody says this happened to you. And you're like, I don't, I don't remember it. Is it there? Is it not there? Is it repressed? Is it not repressed? It's very, very hard to actually tell. Okay. With, with equipment that you could, you can verify. Memories are ethereal in that sense of the word. Right. So it makes it more precious when you, when you actually remember it. I think that it's a mix of different things. Sure. My expertise is not psychiatry and what causes memories to be suppressed or repressed. Sure. But I focus mainly on normal memory formation. If that part of the brain gets damaged, that can then do something to the memory. So I would imagine. Oh, absolutely. We know a lot about that. In fact, my whole early studies of memory, human memory focused on a very famous neurological patient. His initials were HM for so far his whole life, which was about 80 years. He was known as patient HM in the 1940s. He had very, very severe epilepsy. And at that time, including today, we know that a very useful cure for epilepsy is to remove one hippocampus. Not both of them, but one of them, because epilepsy often starts in the hippocampus. His epilepsy was so severe. They said, well, let's just remove both of them because that, that should really help him. And it was experimental. He agreed, his parents agreed. He was only a teenager at the time. And they did the surgery. It went successfully. He woke up. But it immediately became clear that while his epilepsy had clearly decreased, he was not able to form a new long-term memory. For the rest of his life. Wow. And so he was studied as, well, first they said, okay, we're never going to do this again. Nobody can ever do this again. But he became the poster child for understanding what the hippocampus does. It was the first time the hippocampus was put on the map as critical for forming those memories. I started out with that. We know that every psych 101 neuroscience 101 student knows that because of him. Wow. I had never heard that. I know that's, yeah, what a sacrifice to me. Yeah. Yes, it was. Okay, so how do we prioritize what we want to retain as far as our memories? Because no one knows this, but I struggle with short terms that my struggle with the logline for this podcast. I have to look at the telepropter. But I remember every word of TLC's waterfalls left eyes wrapped. Just like lyrics from seventh grade. Yeah. Right in here. You're never going away. Yeah. What? Why? Because music is very, very powerful. Okay. And especially music at that age. Right. Everybody remembers those favorite songs that you just listened to over and over and over and over. It is so strong because you practiced it over and over and over. I really did. And the thing you want to remember, you're going to have a different thing tomorrow. So it's not nearly as strong in your memory for a reason. It's, you know, it is about repetition, but it's also about the way that you put it into your memory. So trying to free recall it, perhaps a couple of times before the actual podcast you need to do it. That might be a good way to see whether that helps your memory online. Exercise is also a great way to improve. No one knows I'm up in the gym. Yeah, yeah. I was in the last year, that when I was in seventh grade, there wasn't a lot in my brain at the time. I just feel like I had less things to remember or you did. You did. We all did. We had less to remember. And now we all have more. We got more. And so many people complain to me, oh, my memory is so bad. Am I something wrong? Yeah. And the thing is, as we get older, as we go further in our careers, there's more stuff. Some would say crap to remember and keep track of. They were expected to remember. They were expected to remember. Yeah. And that makes it harder to remember anything new. If there's too many things, it's called psychological turn, interference. Too much interference. And I could feel it. You know, all the home stuff that is going on, that's in the background, and it's much more complicated than it used to be. That is affecting how you're able to remember the stuff that you need for your job. You're on the air. You have to remember that keyword that you're going to ask me about. This is making me feel a lot better and more gentle toward myself. Okay. Remember, we had another neuroscientist on and she said that the way that she talked about it was that our heads are like a computer. And as you get older, there's more information on the hard drive. And it gets harder for the computer to access it or it's slower. And it doesn't mean it's a bad thing. Yeah. Because like you said, there's more information there. Yes. More to go through to get to it. Exactly. And I thought that was such a good way to think about it. Yes. Absolutely. You were just talking about memory recall. Yeah. Is there a way to get better at memory recall? I once heard this person say like, if you're trying to remember a name of something in the morning, just tell yourself you want to remember it. And usually by that night, it will come back to you. And I was like, that sounds a little bit like, I don't know, a far fetched. But how do we get better at memory recall? Or can we? The answer is not what anybody wants to hear, but it's practice. So again, repetition, recalling it at various times, queuing yourself to do it multiple times a day instead of you think about it once and then weeks later, you say, oh, I want to remember it. Sorry, you have to practice it a little bit and queue yourself to recall those things, including names and, you know, everybody's notoriously, some people aren't, but I'm also notoriously bad at name. And it definitely works. Picture something that reminds you of the name of picture above their head. Use it three times. Roch, roch, roch, roch. I'm going to remember your name is Raj and, and like play a game with it. It's like, I really want to remember, roch, roch, roch, roch. But, but do it regularly and it actually works. In the movie house bunny, the main character, like holds the person's face and she's like, no, I'm like, yeah, says it in a really funny way that I've started. No, maybe we can, maybe we can do a version of that. That's not exactly that. I love it. It makes me so happy. That's hilarious. Okay, I have a question. My favorite piece of tech from any movie is in Men in Black, the Neuralizer, where they pointed at you and you forget everything. Oh, the race is your memory. Is there a way we can erase our memories? Because I would like to erase a couple of my memories. No, there's not no clear way. People are working on that for PTSD. Oh, yeah. You know, in situations and there are strategies that we're working on. There's not one like it's okay. Here's what you do. Step one. Yeah. I will say that there are some positive steps for very traumatic memories that can be used. But it's nothing that is ready for. Yeah, it's not magical. It is not ready for everyday consumption. Every when it is. Can you just give me a call? Sure, sure. Absolutely. Let's talk a little bit about normal typical memory related like when you're getting older and it's starting to get not as sharp. Yeah. What does that look like? When does that start and what are some of the signs of it? Yeah. So that is a really hard question to answer because people age at such different rates. There are 90 year olds that you would say, oh my gosh, I wish my memory, you know, my brain worked as well. Oh, I know some of them. Yeah. And others that, you know, in their 40s start forgetting this and that. And so, and that is normal. That that happens. I would say that when the memory problems start to affect your job and your ability to take care of yourself or your family absolutely go see a neurologist, don't try and take a test online. Just go see a neurologist. They are experts in figuring out what is out of bounds and what is inbound. And that is the question you want answered by by an expert. I worry about it sometimes, I'm 47 and I won't be able to remember the name of like an actor and actress. But it usually comes back to me and it doesn't feel that feels like very sort of specific in a way. It's not like my daily life, I'm forgetting things or things like that. But does that sort of like a normal typical? Yes, I would say that's normal. Yeah. If it happens every single day and you can't come up with, you know, very close people to you, not an actress they would have never met before. Then you might be. Yeah. But you know, that happens to me regularly. Also, other things to consider before you go to a neurologist or get really worried. Many of us are sleep deprived. When I'm sleep deprived, I am nearly not functional in any way. Yes, me too. Which is why I try not to make myself sleep deprived. And I really focus on giving myself what I need, which is about eight hours. And I've also learned that too much is almost as bad as not enough for myself. But this is something that everybody can do. This is experiment that I did on myself during the pandemic. I was home. What else can I do? I'm going to do a little sleep experiment on myself and see what duration makes me feel best the next day. And you know, everybody had a little bit more time to do that. It was very, very helpful for me. But that's not the only thing that will affect your memory. Stress anxiety levels. We'll also really do a number on your ability to remember things. This is why, you know, speaking in front of an audience is one of the most scary things. Because that fear will make you forget what you're going to say and then it makes it all worse. So ask yourself what level of stress, what level of anxiety, what sleep level, how you feel in your body exercise. As I've been saying so much for the last 10 years is so critical for the optimal functioning of your brain. These are all things that you could improve immediately. You know, I actually didn't know about the link between anxiety and memory and forgetfulness and all of that stuff. And at the peak of my anxiety when I was diagnosed with generalizing anxiety to sort of 10 years ago, when it was bad, I was so forgetful and absolutely could not remember things and was not being as adult as I could be about my life. And when I learned it was my anxiety and when I got that in control, I again, like forgave myself. And it was like, I'm not an idiot. Right. I mean, this thing was happening to me. And I do think we're, we're, we don't often, we're not conditioned to examine our lives and sleep and exercise and things like that. We immediately go to like, what the hell is wrong with that? Right. We hear about that. Of course, we hear people saying we need sleep, we need exercise. We shouldn't be stressed. But I think we don't often, like you said, make the direct connection between that and something like memory. Yeah. That's really interesting. Hey, it's Will and Ralph from the Two Pints podcast and we're currently sponsored by Labbrooks. Labbrooks have a load of games in their app, casino, slots, bingo. You can rack up ladbooks as you play, which you can swap for free spins, event prize draws, and even real cash in the ladbook store. And it is something exciting, supercharged, instant spins. Every Saturday when you play, you guarantee the prize. No catch, just a weekly win waiting for you. All you got to do is download the ladbrooks app and give the ladbooks wheel a free spin to get started. We'll see you in the next one. Better your score, better your story. Hello, it's Sam and Pete hosts a staying relevant and our podcast is currently sponsored by the parents of the new Oreo Cream Egg Flavor cookie. Stop everything, Sam. There's a new salibin town, Oreo and cream egg, two icons. They've had a baby. We're hired, so it's just a cookie. No, it's the nepot baby of the snacking word. It's a nepot cookie. It didn't have to work a day in its life. It's just succeeded off its parents' fame. It's got the Oreo crunch and that legendary cream egg flavor. To be fair, it does sound iconic. The new Oreo Cream Egg Flavor cookie in stores now. We want to get into more ways that we can help our memory of protected. But first, let's just briefly talk about some of the conditions that like dementia or Alzheimer's. You just touch on those and what those are. So Alzheimer's disease, very famous disease, is the most common form of dementia. So Alzheimer's dementia starts with damage to the hippocampal system. Not the hippocampus itself, but the main input to the hippocampus called the interrondal cortex. That's where you see the earliest damage that becomes Alzheimer's dementia. Many people have heard of the plaques and tangles that are famous that are basically like gunking up of the cells that eventually kill cells in this interrondal cortex, but then throughout the hippocampus. That is why the early signs of Alzheimer's dementia is memory problems. This beautiful, critical structure that allows you to form new memories is starting not to work as well. And then, unfortunately, what happens in later stage Alzheimer's disease is that it moves outside of the hippocampus and related structures and moves out into the cortex. And that's when you get generalized dementia. People don't recognize their family members anymore. They start talking nonsense. That's when it gets really, really severe. And if you pass away, it's that your critical kind of life support areas of the brain that keep your heart pumping, get damaged as well. So that is what can happen. Normal aging is not the same as dementia, although it can come with some plaques and tangles in your brain. It is milder. There is some synapse loss. Again, it's also very, very variable. And so this is why it's so important to think about, not just think about, but do something about your sleep, your regular exercise, your nutrition, your hydration, your social connection, all of these things are everyday things that everybody can do. Does it matter what your income level is? Everybody can do something to help their brain every single day. That's, yeah. Should we get into those one by one? Everyone's favorite exercise. Okay. Tell us about it. So I like to say that moving your body is the most transformative thing that you can do for your brain today. Because here's what happens. Every time you move your body, you are releasing a whole cascade of neurochemicals in your brain. That is physiologically what is happening. And you've heard of some of these neurochemicals. They include dopamine and serotonin and noradrenaline and endorphins. And they make you feel so good. They are the feel good neurochemicals. This is why everybody has experiences. I can't stand it working anymore. I'm going for a walk. I don't care if it's raining outside. I'm going to go for a walk and come back and I feel better. Neurochemicals in your brain. I like to call it a neurochemical bubble bath for your brain. What you're giving yourself every single time you work out. And this is why. Imagine doing that not just when you're so fed up at work. You can't stand it anymore. But doing it regularly. This is what happens. You give yourself this regular neurochemical bubble bath. You literally change the baseline levels of those feel good neurochemicals in your brain. And you go from baseline. I don't know. I'm a little bit pessimistic too. I feel great at the baseline. Who wouldn't want that? And that is with regular moving your body. Not even a marathon running. But we live in New York City. This is a city of walking. We are so lucky to be able to have so many great places to walk. And that is that is a gift for the brain. I mean, even when I do like a little yoga flow, you know, one minute, it's almost like translike. I will immediately feel it. But I didn't know there were long term effects for that. Yes. They're absolutely long term effects. And so let me get into what we know about the mechanism because I know some astute listeners out there will be saying, well, how does how does moving your limbs out here get to the brain? What's exactly happening? And we don't know the full story, but there are at least three pathways that go from moving muscles that release myocons that go into the bloodstream, go up into the brain. And what they do is they go straight to our favorite brain structure of the hippocampus. And they release growth factors. Growth factors are released in the hippocampus that grow new brain cells in your hippocampus. That is what's happening. So there's myocons released by the muscles. There are ketone bodies released by the liver that happens every single time you're working out. It's automatic. You don't have to do anything special. That also goes up and releases even more growth factors. And then even your fat cells get into the picture because they release pre-growth factors that go up and then become growth factors in the hippocampus. So there's multiple cascades that are going up. Now cells don't pop up like mushrooms in your hippocampus. But imagine it like growing a garden of hippocampal cells. What do you want? You want regular watering of that garden with those growth factors, which means regular working out, regular getting your heart rate up. And for those of you that are wondering how much, how long, what kind? The answer that I can give you from the science is anything that gets your heart rate up. I will emphasize power walking, power walking gets your heart rate up. You don't even have to change your clothes. But whatever your favorite thing is, including everybody, the next question I always get is I love strength training. I love lifting those weights. What about anaerobic? And it's like, well, you know, I've tried to lift weights. I mean, I've tried. I've lifted weights before. And actually, that's my favorite workout is a cardio weights kind of fast. Because it gets your heart rate up and it gives you that resistance training. So I think you have to, this is my personal opinion. I think you have to work hard not to get your heart rate up when you are lifting your weights. Absolutely. So that is great. And my formula, my prescription is anything that gets your heart rate up is good for your brain. It ranges from walking to cardio weights. Take your choice. Almost anything is in there. And extra special bonus points if it's fun. I love that because again, I think sometimes you think it has to hurt or has to be hard. And you're like, just do something. I was even hearing about like micro bursts of exercise. Like if you're at your desk doing squats for 30 seconds, you and they've seen really great things happen to the body. What do you think about I love to watch Jeopardy? I think I mentioned this on the show. And I think it's like me and like a lot of people even older than me who love to watch it. There are always these ads. I think one of them is Previgen. It's like a supplement that supposedly is good for your brain and memory. Do you have any faith in a supplement or a pill that actually can show some kind of protective anything for memory? And I'm going to add cognitive enhancers and new tropics. Those things are even less tested. Well, that's the key that there is little to no regulation. So there's no regulation supplements. So they can say anything. They can do anything. And frankly, if it really worked, everybody would be doing it. That's what I figured. It just seems so sexy. But like I'm like, yeah, I think everyone would be on it. I would say that we've already been talking about the things that we know to work to improve your overall brain health and function. Exercise is one sleep. We've talked about de-stressing. I'm sure we're going to talk about what good anxiety is and how to get it. Again, I think it's so important to keep it real. I'm not trying to sell you a supplement. I'm trying to give you the science that you can use today to make your brain stronger. Wait, is good anxiety good for your brain? Good for memory? Good anxiety is beneficial. It's not going to release growth factors. But it is a de-stressor. It's about harnessing the power, which is activation energy in your brain. That is at the core of anxiety. And learning to use it for good because at its core anxiety is a protective emotion. And so everybody has the potential to use it as protection. And instead, because it's so high levels across the world and in our society, it tends to weigh us down. Like, you know, walk around our neck. However, it has the potential to be a superpower. And that's what I wrote about in my book Good Anxiety. How to harness the power of anxiety to actually improve your life and make everything better. I feel like we're going to have to have you back on and do an episode about Good Anxiety. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Are we doing anxiety run? We did one already, but this was a good one. No, I think we can never have enough episodes on anxiety. No, there's so much of it. We're all just swaddled in it. I would love to hear your idea about this. I was reading people were saying like we like tech is a great thing. Yeah. But we rely on it so much now that we're actually doing a disservice to our memory in our brains. Like one article I read was saying like one easy thing you can do for your memory is to stop using GPS. Because you have to actually then remember the pathway home for your grocery store. And now that we're relying on that, or I think about two, when we were kids, we had to remember phone numbers. I'm my best friend of our grandma. I can still remember my grandma's phone number. My best friend too, 632-7339. That's Annie Louise from 40 years ago. People are going to be calling Annie. Yeah. But we don't do that anymore. You meet someone and you just trade, you know, your phones together. So is tech actually maybe not as good for us as we think it is in this way? Absolutely. I mean, there are clear instances where it does the job that your brain was designed to do for you. There are other ways that it is wonderful. I call my mother on the telephone a form of tech every three days. And that is wonderful. Texting can be great in an emergency. However, for your brain and for all of the social circuits that evolved to allow me to be able to interpret what your emotion is and how it changed. And oh, does that is that interesting to you? Or maybe not so interesting to you? You know, everybody's making those calculations. You can't do that with this little old emoji. Not about that. Yeah, so true. And think about how you feel when you call your best friend. Yes. My best friend, Karen, her voice immediately calms me and makes me feel hugged. I think, I think, I, Gen Z doesn't like doing this. And I also, as a millennial, don't like calling. I like texting. But you're making me want to call people more. I started doing it during the pandemic because we couldn't be together. And I started taking walks and I would just call a friend. I think everything in me kind of fought it at first. But I really like phone calls now. It is such a different experience. And those social connections are important to our memory and brain. Yes, absolutely. So social connections are the key to a happy life. And it calms us. It also works the brain in a good way. So I became a neuroscientist because I got fascinated with something called brain plasticity. The ability of the experiences in our life to change the brain, either for good or for bad. And I was interested in the good stuff. Like how can I change my brain for the better? And those regular social person to person interactions is one of the most powerful ways that you can give yourself what I call good brain plasticity. It is using all your brain's functions of facial recognition, emotional recognition, maneuvering, maybe you don't like what I say. What am I going to do then? It's much easier to get a frowny face on your text than it is to navigate. Oh, actually, you're not happy with my last answer. Or you don't like what I'm saying right now. And it's a little bit too easy to get away from that. Those difficult situations. But that's also emotional intelligence, which is so important for everybody throughout their lives. So it is a wonderful way to work, work the brain on all cylinders, work the thing that we evolve to do, which is to be social beings. Wow. Absolutely. How do you feel about things like crossword puzzles or words? Geo-goos. Yeah. Is that as good as we hear it is for the brain? Or should we all be learning a new language? Well, learning a new language is great. I mean, crossword puzzles work the brain. Sudoku gets perhaps a little sorry, nothing against Sudoku. My mother loves Sudoku. It's a great little exercise, but it's formulaic. I think some of the hard crossword puzzles are good. That vocabulary and just... Yeah, and like recall. Yes, recall. And the breadth of knowledge you need to do to be successful, I think that's good. But the thing is that there's a lot of evidence that those deeper learnings, strategy games like chess, language learning, just deep reading of a variety of things, those are all great for your brain. They cause positive brain plasticity. Absolutely. You know what the cool thing is, my partner and I currently learning Spanish. And when we go somewhere where they speak Spanish, it's easier for us because it's better around it. And it feels so good and it seems that our brains want us to be better at it. Like you're like quietly rooting for us. When it's all around you. So I feel like that's like learning a new language can be very frustrating. Yeah. But it's like remember that your brain's rooting for you. Your body does amazing things. I don't know, it's easy to do the thing that you're talking about where I'm like I'm getting old. I do it all the time. I'm like, I'm old now I can't do this. No, I think our bodies do really cool things. Well that makes me wonder what age should we start doing these things? Am I you saying we should always be doing these? Oh, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think that if you go back to the analogy of that neurochemical bubble bath, imagine a kid growing up just always playing outside. I grew up in California. So I was always outside. You play tennis. My mom was a great tennis player. I played basketball. There was just always an opportunity to do that. Imagine all those neurochemical bubble baths during that great time as my brain was developing. And imagine that going through your lifetime. I've always wanted to do a study on Olympic athletes that stay active through their lifetime. And there is a fact, a positive effect on that on your brain. And there's so many correlational studies that show that the more you participate in sports, in physical activity, the longer it is of any onset of dementia or age-related cognitive decline. Isn't it crazy that there used to be a stereotype that if you like play sports and you're kind of a meathead that you're like not as smart or something like that? Yeah, absolutely. It's weird. It's like the opposite of that. Like you being active is going to help your brain. However, I think that came up with football. Sorry, no. No, no, no. No, no, no. That makes sense. I mean. With all the CTE. Yes. Okay. How about food? Is there, does diet play a part in protecting memory? Well, diet plays an important part in making a healthy brain. Okay. So I would not say eat this to make your hippocampus nice and fast. Yes. Not that level. But your brain is part of your body. Yeah. What is the diet that has the most evidence that's good for your brain is the Mediterranean diet? And it's variation, the mind diet. And they have lots of, there are specialists. I'm not a specialist in nutrition for the brain. But what do I eat? I do try and follow the Mediterranean diet and low red meat and lots of fish, lots of colorful fruits and vegetables. Absolutely. It's really good for both your brain and your body. We did an episode on the microbiome. Yeah. And she was saying that there's such a connection between our gut and our brain. Yes. And we had never really thought about that. But yeah, she was saying, you know, eat 30 different fruits and vegetables a week. Get the rainbow of color. Yes. And that's what I try and do too. I try being the operative word. I'm getting better. I hate asking this question because I hate the answer always. But like, let me ask about vices. Your girl likes her martinis. Drugs and alcohol. What is it doing to her memory? First, everything in moderation is fine. But the reason why I gave up alcohol and I love a good cocktail. That was hard to give it up. But this came with my personal experiment that I told you about during the pandemic, where I was asking how much sleep would be good. Then I also asked myself, actually, before I asked myself that, I was like, what would happen if I didn't drink for a week? How would that affect my sleep? And I was so sad to see how much better my sleep was with zero alcohol. And there's so much evidence. There's just no getting around it. And the thing is that it gets more prevalent as you age. Because sleep gets worse as you age. And so any disruption gets more disruptive as you get older. And so for me, the relative difference of no alcohol on my sleep was enough for me to give up my beloved cocktails. And multiple people have told me that when they give up alcohol, they send it to Nirvana on a notice that turned into Rihanna. I understand. It's just hard. I'm just like turning to Rihanna. Going to do it wrong. Or maybe you are the Rihanna of Neurofiance. You already got it. And you've already ascended. We need Rihanna's. What about me? I was a stoner for a lot of my life. I haven't still been a bit of a stoner. Five years though. Yeah. Well, I guess my question too is like once you've done, quote unquote, damage. Yeah. Can I like when you stop smoking, I know that your lungs can kind of heal themselves. Can the brain do the same thing or is once you've done damage, is it just the damage has done? No, that is where the beauty of brain plasticity comes in. And one of the structures that does get damaged with weed is the hippocampus. And you know, it's well known that too much weed smoking impairs your memory. Yeah. But as I've just told you, exercise builds up that growth factor that goes directly to the hippocampus and grows new brain cells. It works in you just as it works in me. Okay. And also the beautiful thing is that it also works across the age. There have been studies that people in their 90s still have new brain cells that grow in their hippocampus, which is so optimistic. I think it's such a beautiful vision that even in your 90s, you have these new brain cells growing and your little walk that you're going to take as a 90 year old is going to help that. So what I can't answer is is it going to like repair everything back to the start. But I mean, just look at stroke patients that can come out of a stroke in bad shape and then rehabilitation. That is brain plasticity working. So that shows us that the adult brain can heal. I'm very active. So I feel like maybe if I weren't as active as I am, I'd be even more of a potato than I am. I mean, not only are you active, like it's vegetarian. No, I'm trying to make up for all the sins that I did in my younger years. You're doing that. That's great. That is great. Your brain is definitely benefiting from all of that. That's what I want to hear. I guess lastly, what would you say the number one thing if someone's listening that they should do today for the brain? Is it the exercise for the brain bubble bath? Yes. Why? Because it's the easiest thing to do. You don't have to change your clothes, go out and walk anywhere. I don't care where it is. Take a friend along. That is what's going to immediately help your brain. I love that. Me too. I feel better. Okay, go walk with me now. I will go for a walk with you anytime. Thank you so much, Wendy. This was so good. Thank you so much. This was a lot of fun. I love it. I love it. This is a lot of fun. Hey guys, it's Melissa here and Wednesdays is currently sponsored by Nivia Soft, the iconic moisturizing cream for face body and hands. I love a multi-purpose product and Nivia Soft is an everyday essential. It's lightweight and fast absorbing so your skin feels instantly refreshed and soft. And most importantly, there's no greasy feeling or waiting around for it to dry. I mean, Nivia Soft is the UK's number one body cream for a reason. It's iconic, affordable and works for everyone. Discover Nivia Soft, your go-to moisturizing essential, available at Tesco. Hi, we're Audrey and Tolly, host of the receipts podcast. Our podcast is currently being sponsored by Cadbury Delights. Is there anything better than running to catch a train and getting on right before the door closes? Oh, honestly, the joy I feel like a superwoman. And also, when your makeup comes out 10-10 on your first go, that's definitely enough for a little treat. We really deserve those little pick-me-ups. Try Cadbury Delights. It's a little treat, made of chewy newgar, caramel and covered with delicious Cadbury milk chocolate, available in three flavors. Sorted caramel, hazelnut flavor and orange with 91 calories per bar. In cinemas now. Whatever happened to the Red Fellow Family Fortune? On her day, Sunday. Revenge. There are seven people between myself and $28 billion. It's the best reward if I were to prune a few branches of the family tree. Where would I start? Ten takes. It's sharp, stylish and deliciously dangerous. Wonder who's next. Glen Powell, Margaret Coy, Jessica Henik and Ed Harris. Filthy business. Call me when you've killed them all. How to make a killing in cinemas now. It's time for better and five. These are the top five things that we learned on today's episode. All right, number one. Memories are dynamic and depend on when they were created, emotional circumstances and so many other factors. Absolutely. Number two, you can actually get better at memory recall with more practice. What the? Number three, forgetting things is a normal part of aging. But if you start to notice significant change or if it's affecting your work life or caregiving, that's when you want to see a doctor. Number four, relying less on tech like GPS can be a good way to stimulate your brain and social connections are golden for brain health too. And number five, the easiest way to strengthen your memory is to get moving. So go out and take a walk right now. I lived a wait. I love a wait. Or boat. That's cute. Noah. So did it turn out that you were protecting your memory wrong? So you know what? I think this is one of those ones where I'm not because I'm exercising. I'm eating pretty well. I feel like I have done some damage with the weed in my life, but I've repented. I've given that up. That's right. But I do like to have a cocktail. I'm like you. I don't know if I can give that up. I feel like you're doing a lot of other stuff right though. So you think it's like balancing? Yeah. You said moderation. You're not drunk right now. Are you? I know comment. Okay. Hi. What about you? You know, I actually think I'm doing a better job than I thought I was. Okay. Because when we're talking about tech, I realize that I sometimes don't use it when I could. Yep. Like if I forget an actor's name, I have a habit of resisting Googling and I will think and think and think until I remember it. I like that. Yeah. I just thought we should do a challenge. I'm going to challenge you and myself. Okay. Let's memorize each other's phone numbers. Okay. Because I don't even know Benji's phone number. If you ask me right now if I did like call him and I couldn't look it up in my phone, I couldn't do it. It might be more useful if you memorize Benji's, but that is not that's not as much fun. So we're going to memorize each other's. Okay. Let's do it. And like in two weeks, I won't tell you when, but I'm going to make I'm going to quiz you. Okay. So you really have to do this. Great. I'm going to memorize you. I might quiz you on the air. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Question's good. All right. And in the meantime, if you want to email us and you have a question for us a a comment, not a mean comment email us we get show ideas we love to get emails we did that episode about I don't know something about snacking or something yeah and people email me from my salad recipe do you remember that it's a great salad. I was happy to give it out so you can reach a set am I doing it wrong at half post com we'd love to hear from you. And until next time, as long as there are things to get wrong, we're gonna be right here to help you doing better. What? Am I doing it wrong? Is a co-production between Half-Pose and A-Cast? Our producers are Eve Bishop, Carmen Borca-Koreo, and Melia Agadellov. Our executive producers are Jenny Kaplan and Emily Rudder. Special thanks to Half-Pose's head of audience Abbey Williams. Head of video Will Tuck. As well as Kate Palmer, Marta Rodriguez, and Terry DeAngelo. And where are your hosts, Raj Punjabi Johnson? And Noah Michelson. Around about… now. This is usually the bit in the radio ad where you drift off. You half-listen, your brain wanders home. Not to the house itself, but to what it could be. That thing you'd be meaning to sort. The room you always shut the door on. The brown lampshade that came with the house seven years ago. And when you decide right today we do, being cute has everything you need to get started. Tours, paints, and yes, even the lampshade. You can do it when you be and cue it. Hi, it's Keen Karen here from How to Be 60, and this message is brought to you by Spekcevers. Okay Karen, what is the first thing that springs to mind when I say Spekcevers? Well, speaks. Well, you're not wrong, but did you know that since 2002, they have also been hearing experts. Which, as you know, as a proud hearing device user, is a subject close to my heart. Ooh, maybe they should call themselves Spekce and Heating Savers. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it? 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