Unraveling Brain Health - with Dr. Krystal Culler
Dr. Krystal Culler is a passionate advocate for brain health, particularly in the field of gerontology. Growing up with the love and support of her grandparents and older adults, she developed a deep connection with them and spent most of her time with them. It was during her time in grad school when her grandmother started experiencing dementia and her mother went through cognitive changes without receiving a proper diagnosis for years. Additionally, Dr. Culler herself had a shocking Grand Mall seizure, which made her question how she could support people in similar situations.
Recognizing the lack of support for brain-related issues, especially among females, she decided to pursue a doctorate in behavioral health to understand the interconnection of various factors. This journey led her to a career in the broader brain health space, allowing her to combine her interests and continually learn about the brain.
In this episode we talked about:
1. Definition of brain health
2. Deceptive marketing of brain supplements
3. Importance of mental stimulation
4. Effects of alcohol on sleep and brain function
5. Importance of nutrition for brain health
6. Cognitive side effects of medications
7. Brain aerobics and brain training programs
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Other Resources mentioned in this episode:
Women's Brain Health Initiative
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Transcript
Well, hello, and welcome to the Hey Boomer
Speaker:Show. The show for those of us who believe that we are never
Speaker:too old to set another goal or dream a new dream.
Speaker:My name is Wendy Green, and I am your host for Hey
Speaker:Boomer. And have you all ever had
Speaker:this experience where you go and you're like, oh, where did I lay down my
Speaker:phone? or I was just getting ready to
Speaker:do something, and now I can't remember what it was I was getting ready to
Speaker:do, or, oh my gosh, here comes I can't
Speaker:remember her name. Right? That happens to all of us no
Speaker:matter how old we are. And the difference is
Speaker:that as we age, we give more significance to those
Speaker:brain snags, those memory snags. We
Speaker:worry about our brain health and will we be able to maintain
Speaker:our memories and our abilities into the future?
Speaker:My guest today, Doctor Crystal Color is the founder of the
Speaker:Virtual Brain Health Center, and she comes highly recommended to me
Speaker:by a couple of people that I greatly admire. I have a
Speaker:million questions for her as I'm sure you do, so hopefully
Speaker:we can get all of them answered. Before I bring
Speaker:her on, I have a question for you. When was the
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Speaker:Alright. Y'all ready to meet Crystal?
Speaker:Hello, Crystal. Hi. Thank you so much for having me
Speaker:here today. Oh, I'm excited to have you. Let me do a brief
Speaker:intro of a, you know, a little background of who you are.
Speaker:So doctor Crystal Color is on a mission. to
Speaker:revolutionize brain care for everyone. As
Speaker:a doctor of behavioral health and a holistic brain health
Speaker:expert, She brings nearly 2 decades of
Speaker:unparalleled expertise in working with individuals,
Speaker:families, providers, and advocacy organizations
Speaker:specializing in brain related diagnoses.
Speaker:With her groundbreaking work in translational and applied brain
Speaker:health science, she has garnered a collection of prestigious
Speaker:international and National Awards.
Speaker:Her innovative brain health programs and services have
Speaker:left an indelible mark locally internationally
Speaker:and globally. So welcome, Crystal. Yes.
Speaker:Thank you. I have so many questions, and I wanna
Speaker:thank the audience for also contributing questions.
Speaker:And you all can continue to contribute questions
Speaker:as you're watching live through the chat. But let's
Speaker:start by learning a little bit more about what brought you
Speaker:to doing brain health work?
Speaker:No. I appreciate the introduction and even the way you frame the talk
Speaker:because I think for myself, I never set out really thinking about
Speaker:brain health. I I started college, didn't know if the social sciences
Speaker:existed, let alone the field of gerontology where I started
Speaker:to major in studying aging. And I think for most of us,
Speaker:we can look back at at times in our lives and say, I didn't know
Speaker:that was a pivotal moment, but it was. I grew up. I was so
Speaker:fortunate with love and support from grandparents and older adults, and
Speaker:I spent most of my time with them. And then while I was in
Speaker:grad school, Karen, my grandmother was on her journey with dementia
Speaker:towards the end. My mom was in her mid fifties
Speaker:going through some cognitive changes and taking years to get a
Speaker:diagnosis of a mess. And then I had a fluke seizure
Speaker:event, Grand Mall seizure in grad school, which really pumped the
Speaker:brakes and I kept thinking I'm studying psychology of
Speaker:aging, but how do I help support people? My whole family
Speaker:is having issues broadly related to the brain, especially females,
Speaker:and society in our health care systems and policies aren't always set up to
Speaker:support us. So I thought there had to be a better way and went on
Speaker:to get my doctor in behavioral health just thinking about how things all
Speaker:come together full circle and knew that's where my career would take me. So
Speaker:I'm I'm fortunate that I guess my brain misfired
Speaker:really to redirect me into this broader brain health space but
Speaker:it's really pulled together all of my interests across
Speaker:different areas and, you know, everything's about brain
Speaker:So I get to be a lifelong learner every day, so I'm grateful. I get
Speaker:to learn and share through the experiences and the love with people who
Speaker:have come in and shared their stories of how brain health help empowers
Speaker:them for their health and well-being. well, that was quite a
Speaker:journey to brain health. And we're very glad that you decided to
Speaker:take that journey because we're looking for some answers
Speaker:today. But first off, you,
Speaker:in your bio, it talks about translational and
Speaker:applied brain health. Can you help us understand
Speaker:what that means, those terms? Yeah. I'm so glad
Speaker:we start with this question because I think BrainHealth has
Speaker:really evolved in understanding what it needs. It sounds
Speaker:so broad and not tangible to us. A lot of the
Speaker:research that comes online is respectable research
Speaker:universities, but it's behind pay walls. And the average person
Speaker:isn't going to read journal articles and say,
Speaker:now what does this mean in my life? You know, I I hear this research
Speaker:finding it came out. What can I do about it now? How does
Speaker:it apply to me or my loved ones and my family? And so I have
Speaker:kind of fallen in that space of saying, well, here's the science
Speaker:Here's the limits. Here's what we know, but there's a lot of things we can
Speaker:do, and I'm so excited for the conversation today because I hope
Speaker:people will take the message a way that brain health's about all of
Speaker:us, but we have decisions that are in our control that can make our brain
Speaker:health better. It looks different for all of us, but we all have a right
Speaker:to better brain health. So your role is
Speaker:to translate a lot of what behind the pay walls and the
Speaker:research to help those of us who either wouldn't
Speaker:understand it if we even saw it, you know, or don't have access to it
Speaker:to understand better what we can do. Is that right? Yeah. It's really
Speaker:been in that spot and as well as for people that you know, visit their
Speaker:health care providers and you have limited time and your providers are
Speaker:giving you a recommendation like eat better and there's so many
Speaker:places to start and kind of where can you go from there. So we really
Speaker:try to help people get the research and form evidence that can
Speaker:help them, but make it very practical and know it's hard to
Speaker:do huge lifestyle overhauls, but we can start making these small
Speaker:steps. So we really try to support people with that information to start
Speaker:because for some reason, it gets lost. And if you Google
Speaker:BrainHealth, you'll end in a rabbit hole of a lot of places. So how
Speaker:can we really make sure people get some reliable information
Speaker:to to help their curiosity and support their own care.
Speaker:Okay. Alright. So there were several questions that came in,
Speaker:Crystal. When you start talking about, you know, our brain health
Speaker:at this stage, a lot of people were asking
Speaker:questions about mental health. And does is there a
Speaker:relationship between a healthy brain and a healthy
Speaker:mental outlook on life? There is. And I
Speaker:think one of the first places to maybe start with this is
Speaker:What is the definition of brain health? And it has really
Speaker:changed over the years before it looked more about
Speaker:the physical aspects of your brain. you're having damage,
Speaker:then brain health is for people that are only neurologically healthy or present
Speaker:healthy. So no chronic health conditions, no acute health
Speaker:conditions, no mental health concerns, and you can
Speaker:see how many people that you may know and your family or your loved ones
Speaker:just get mixed off that list. And that was
Speaker:previously how we looked at BrainHouse, but now we look at it much broadly
Speaker:of we all have a brain we want to take care of. It looks
Speaker:different. for all of us. So brain health really starts to look
Speaker:at aspects of thinking, feeling, and doing.
Speaker:So we know a lot of our moods related to our mental health are
Speaker:thinking most people go cognitive health and then they're
Speaker:doing is the actions connections with other people how
Speaker:we're moving throughout our day where we're spending our time. So
Speaker:this broader picture, I think, sees this bigger spectrum of it's our
Speaker:whole listed health is brain health. And it's very hard to
Speaker:talk brain health and not talk about your mental health, how you're
Speaker:doing your nutritional health, how you're how you're fueling your body
Speaker:and your mind. So all those intersections of your well-being
Speaker:come together under this brain health umbrella. And although I'm not
Speaker:trained as a mental health provider, I look at it as one big
Speaker:continue on because if you're talking mental health, you're talking aspects
Speaker:of brain health. And if you're talking brain health, you're also checking in
Speaker:on someone's mood in their mental being. And I'm so glad you
Speaker:even mentioned that too. That positive outlook on our life
Speaker:has a huge impact on our physical health brain health and
Speaker:mental health. Yeah. And we talked to you about that a few weeks ago with
Speaker:a a doctor that was on about the importance of a positive attitude. So
Speaker:I was curious. You know, we think of the
Speaker:brain as this separate organ. Right?
Speaker:and the mind as something out side of
Speaker:that. And so it's interesting to hear
Speaker:your description how the mental health and the
Speaker:physical health is all kind of interwoven and related.
Speaker:Yeah. And I think brain health, when we start to dive even deeper, we start
Speaker:to realize how it's all interconnected. As you said,
Speaker:mind body spirit, and no two brains are
Speaker:alike. Just like the 2 bodies either. So it's
Speaker:gonna be this. How can we take what we know in the science apply
Speaker:it to ourselves, and we may have some areas where we're doing
Speaker:what we should be with checklist. And there's other ones that really need our attention
Speaker:now And so there's not one general recommendation, but I think that's the
Speaker:nice point is it does bring brain health to all of us, and there's things
Speaker:we all can do every day. Yeah. So I know that
Speaker:makes this conversation a little tricky because we have to be
Speaker:somewhat generic since we're not individually speaking to one
Speaker:person, but You know, the other question, and I was
Speaker:thinking about this as I was coming up with this, Crystal, like, we don't
Speaker:want people to that have already experience
Speaker:cognitive decline or, you know, that have a
Speaker:gene that seems to lead more
Speaker:likely to some kind of dementia We don't want them to feel
Speaker:guilty. Like, they did anything wrong to not protect their
Speaker:brain, but how much of our brain health depends
Speaker:on our DNA and our hereditary and how much can we actually,
Speaker:you know, manipulate or prevent with our
Speaker:health habits? Yeah. I'm grateful you brought this up
Speaker:because it's not a perfect science. We we hear brain health, but
Speaker:we know it's not perfect where people who have had high levels
Speaker:of education or lots of volunteerism, as you said, end up
Speaker:with some type of brain based disease or 1 of the broader
Speaker:dementia's or even Alzheimer's disease. So if we think about
Speaker:brain health, it's 90% lifestyle. 10%
Speaker:genetics. Really? And I'm
Speaker:glad that was your response because usually it goes one of two ways where
Speaker:we can feel a little more empowered about the things we can
Speaker:do, but then also on the genetic side, the field of
Speaker:epigenetic is changing so much and much like you
Speaker:said, the lifestyle can sometimes offset if we
Speaker:have a genetic predisposition when those symptoms come online for
Speaker:us or when they present. And then it gets complicated
Speaker:because sometimes we have these genetic risk in the life style still doesn't help
Speaker:us buffer. You can think about some people that have that for high
Speaker:blood pressure and heart disease. You're living a healthy lifestyle, and there
Speaker:there's is this role that genetics does play. So how do
Speaker:we keep that in mind for everyone? So I like to say it's that one
Speaker:rule of thumb, 90% lifestyle, 10%
Speaker:genetics. That is really empowering. And I'm I'm
Speaker:glad to hear you say that. Yeah. Thank you.
Speaker:So This is kind of an off the wall
Speaker:question, but, you know, I hear it. People say, what
Speaker:about previgant? Right? So I wanna protect my memory and
Speaker:you hear those commercials. Oh, my brain. My memory is so much better with prevogen.
Speaker:Are there really drugs like prevogen that can improve
Speaker:our memory if it started to fail? Yeah. I think, you
Speaker:know, Pravagan was one that caught the headlines. It's also
Speaker:called for people who may not you're recognizing the name, but not putting 2 and
Speaker:2 together. It's the jellyfish supplement, that
Speaker:AARP started the lawsuit against. for more deceptive
Speaker:marketing. And what happened was if you can make the claim
Speaker:that it does prevent memory loss and decline, you need the science
Speaker:behind it. to support that. And, unfortunately, the reason where
Speaker:most of theirs was wasn't necessarily the product. It was the
Speaker:marketing and the deception. And so I think if there really was
Speaker:one supplement out there or one pill all of us could take to be healthy.
Speaker:We wouldn't have this array of complex health issues
Speaker:or cute health conditions or even with brain health. So, unfortunately,
Speaker:it's not one magical little supplement. I do
Speaker:encourage people to work with their health care providers and
Speaker:see what's gonna work for you. Historically, what
Speaker:has happened For some of the supplement supplement industries,
Speaker:these supplements have been around for a long time. They put a fancy label
Speaker:on it. A lot of them have a sparkly glitter brain or some
Speaker:new packaging, and it's the same supplement. And now they're
Speaker:advertising or emphasizing the brain benefits that can
Speaker:come from that. So just be a little careful. are my
Speaker:sometimes in our eyes see something pretty and flashy when we go
Speaker:to it? but read that research, talk to your health care
Speaker:provider, pharmacists, or a great resource as well,
Speaker:and websites can tell you a lot too if you scrutinize real quick, you'll
Speaker:see real small sample sizes or not a lot of research
Speaker:behind what they're saying and being careful. So be mindful of
Speaker:that with there's a time and place for supplements, work with your
Speaker:providers for them. Okay. And so staying
Speaker:on the field of drugs, Doris is
Speaker:saying that many of us are prescribed different
Speaker:medications for different conditions that were, you know, as we
Speaker:age, different things come up. Are there
Speaker:or do doctors even talk about some of the impact that
Speaker:those different medications might have on our brain
Speaker:health while they're keeping our blood pressure lower or our cholesterol
Speaker:lower, those kinds of things. You know, I'm so glad you brought that
Speaker:up because, broadly, There's not too many
Speaker:medications that you will take for any chronic or acute condition
Speaker:that wouldn't have some type of cognitive side effect. and, you
Speaker:know, it shows up differently in all of us. For some, it may be
Speaker:brain fog, headaches, dizziness. If you ever start reading those
Speaker:side of acts. they'll say they're uncommon, but it's common
Speaker:if it happens to you, and you're that one person. So
Speaker:to be careful of that, and I always encourage people is you may be
Speaker:starting some medications with your provider to keep those lines of
Speaker:communication open. If something's not typical for you and you've had
Speaker:some time to be adjusted, it might be time to come off. I
Speaker:know for myself, I live with migraine disease. And so I have
Speaker:been on a medication where I had attention span like
Speaker:Nat in my memory. I I was writing so many things down, and I
Speaker:go to my neurologist and I say, there's something off.
Speaker:And next thing you know is the side effect that was on Topamax,
Speaker:which other people know is called dopamax, because it makes
Speaker:you dopey. So it was very much kind of
Speaker:helping me understand my experience, but then realizing This is not
Speaker:the pharmacological pack for me. So having some of those
Speaker:conversations and I admit at that time, I was pretty timid because it
Speaker:was so strange and bizarre, and then I realized medications can
Speaker:do that. So how to wean off and try something new, and
Speaker:sometimes those symptoms will present even after you've been on a medication for
Speaker:a while, doesn't always mean the the side effects will stay the same as
Speaker:your body is changing or you're taking up other things through your
Speaker:diet or supplement. So to really make sure to honor what you're
Speaker:noticing and start that conversation with the health care provider. or
Speaker:your neurologist as well. -- is for that
Speaker:because I think sometimes like you, we're timid to bring things up. We
Speaker:think Alright. Well, this is just the way it is. I'm I'm
Speaker:curious, Crystal, how the reduction in
Speaker:our our hormones, like is testosterone and estrogen
Speaker:as we age. And do those affect
Speaker:our brain health? the reduced hormones?
Speaker:You know, that's a great question, and it's been one that is really coming
Speaker:online in the brain health space of the role of
Speaker:of hormones for us. And we know they tend to have neuroprotective
Speaker:factors for us, whether we're talking estrogen or testosterone,
Speaker:but there's a great book, Lisa Muscotte, the X X Brain for
Speaker:the Female Grain that really took a deep dive into a lot of that
Speaker:research, but also acknowledges For women, we haven't been
Speaker:included in research for a long time, let alone women of
Speaker:different minority backgrounds. And so Although brain is
Speaker:kind of this buzzword, we still have a lot of these unknowns of
Speaker:how it happens, but we know across our care continuum. We see it
Speaker:in adolescents with puberty. We see it for women with men with
Speaker:pause that there are these changes that happen where it's
Speaker:biology and the brain coming together and so better
Speaker:understanding what we can do. So I believe there's about 2 or 3
Speaker:really good books from some researchers that talk about what we
Speaker:know for women. but it is one that's really coming online. A
Speaker:lot of more research dollars going there. a global women's brain health
Speaker:initiative as well and also understanding the role of testosterone for
Speaker:men too. Yeah. so
Speaker:much to so much to think about with this.
Speaker:so June has a question. She says, you know, with normal aging,
Speaker:not really memory loss but a sort of light headedness and
Speaker:slower reactions. as you get into your
Speaker:you know, eighties, nineties, can anything be done to stop that
Speaker:or to minimize that? What were the
Speaker:3 symptoms? Sorry. listening to the question. she says
Speaker:some light headedness and slower reactions. Mhmm.
Speaker:So one thing that does happen with with the reaction time. We tend
Speaker:to think about that with our processing speed, how quick we can
Speaker:do something. That's one of the first things that starts aging for
Speaker:us. in our mid twenties. In your mid
Speaker:twenties. Yes. I get to tell my undergrad students, enjoy the
Speaker:peak. because after that, it's it's changes, but it
Speaker:it looks different. And so what we tend to find is as we
Speaker:age, we rely more on our life experiences
Speaker:or ways that we know how we can compensate a little, and it gets to
Speaker:that point where then we noticed it. And Wendy and your
Speaker:introduction, it was so lovely as it's probably something that's been happening
Speaker:for a while, but we noticed it more with age. and younger
Speaker:adults will say, oh, I had that glitch and it, like, rolls off my shoulders.
Speaker:I'm not thinking about it as much, but to honor what you
Speaker:are, noticing, but that processing speed is one that
Speaker:changes pretty quickly, and it's a slower decline
Speaker:over time. but you will see a lot of the
Speaker:the grain gains and some of the cognitive tests really target that
Speaker:processing speed and our reaction times is something we know that's
Speaker:this normative age change, but there are some ways we can do some things
Speaker:to to tune it up a bit. So is that why sometimes
Speaker:also, like, you've got that word on a tip of your tongue, but you can't
Speaker:retrieve it. It's taking longer to retrieve it. You know, I love
Speaker:that question that's called the tip of the tongue phenomenon. And a lot of
Speaker:us, like, you know, you're pointing to your and we study it
Speaker:in psychology and aging, but what we tend to find
Speaker:is as we age, we still can resolve around
Speaker:90% of the tips of the tongue. What happens is it
Speaker:just takes a little longer. Oh, you know that movie.
Speaker:With that actor with the dark hair, And you can visually start
Speaker:to see the movie and you're playing it up. It's when you're doing those
Speaker:cues and those prompts, if you can resolve 90% of
Speaker:them, that's still pretty good accuracy. And so just to keep that in
Speaker:mind, like, it's a well documented phenomenon like you mentioned
Speaker:earlier, worldwide, all ages.
Speaker:That's so interesting because, you know, I mean, and like I said in the beginning,
Speaker:you know, we always think it's worse. now that it happens when it
Speaker:happens to us as we're older. Alright. So so some
Speaker:of those things you you alluded to, you know, that we can do to
Speaker:improve the processing speed or maybe the tip of the tongue things.
Speaker:is that like doing crossword puzzles or
Speaker:challenge, you know, wordle, those kinds of things? You know, I'm
Speaker:so glad you highlighted some of the most popular ones we
Speaker:see for no brain stimulation or cognitive
Speaker:stimulation, you'll you'll hear it called pretty much any different thing
Speaker:with the word brain. neurocognitive, and then the second word
Speaker:tends to be something related to fitness
Speaker:engagement, enhancement. And we're talking about the same thing.
Speaker:Some type of mentally stimulating activity or exercise
Speaker:where we put in our time and investment, and it's not something we
Speaker:can easily do. If it's something you can do very easily, you're
Speaker:not hitting that right level of challenge. So I try to tell people
Speaker:you want 3 things. Something that's new, something that's
Speaker:novel and something that's challenging. So that idea
Speaker:of making your brain sweat is kind of the visual. I say you
Speaker:wanna go in and you wanna try those brain aerobics about 20
Speaker:minutes a day total, to get some good
Speaker:mental stimulation. And for crosswords, if those are your go
Speaker:to, that's fantastic. You might use that to pass the
Speaker:time, it may be more of a relaxation strategy
Speaker:that's not gonna be the item you choose to get that brain
Speaker:fitness component. That might be where you wanna switch to something
Speaker:numbers based, visual based, or commute computer based,
Speaker:something completely different from words and letters. So I
Speaker:always joke that for me, that's Sedoku. I'm up to a 6
Speaker:by 6 square, and I am so impressed when I see these very
Speaker:advanced the folks of someone else, but that's where I'm at,
Speaker:and that's okay. I'll keep learning and keep progressing, but that's where I
Speaker:know that will challenge my brain.
Speaker:Oh, so what is what do you mean by brain
Speaker:aerobics? What does that mean? Yes. It's the idea of stimulating your
Speaker:brain. Some type of intentional fitness. So
Speaker:you probably have a workout routine, you know, to exercise your body,
Speaker:but do you allocate 10 to 20 minutes a day to work out
Speaker:your mind. And it's that caveat of its new
Speaker:novel and challenging. Meaning, it's something that's not
Speaker:easy that can come to you. It may be just reading something
Speaker:completely new. I joke for me that's reading sports,
Speaker:I learn something new every time I read about sports. For other
Speaker:people, it might be going and reading a scientific finding
Speaker:or something about history. So something outside of your
Speaker:comfort zone and norm, so you're being very intentional.
Speaker:And you are gonna learn and process that information a little differently than
Speaker:the things that are already interesting to you. They're great for lifelong
Speaker:learning, but really try to allocate some time each day of
Speaker:something that doesn't come real easy, something you're putting a little bit of effort
Speaker:into. We say that 20 minutes has a rule of thumb, but that might
Speaker:be 10 minutes in the morning. reading some different type of news
Speaker:outlet or or some listening to a podcast and then 10 minutes
Speaker:later in the day of a new puzzle. I'm I think with brain
Speaker:games, that's the nice balance. There's so many different ones like you
Speaker:mentioned from Crossword, ones that are paper based,
Speaker:number ones. computer ones are great because they're
Speaker:hard to mimic on paper and pencil. There's one that comes
Speaker:out that fireflies in a jar, and they fly out. And
Speaker:then it says, repeat, which pattern did those fireflies twinkle out
Speaker:in? And I'm like, I have no idea. That's the brain game I should be
Speaker:trying because it's something so different, has some visual
Speaker:stimulation, and then as you're learning something new. So you can still have
Speaker:fun but that's really your your goal for your fitness is
Speaker:new stretching outside and making sure you can't just do it right
Speaker:away. So if you wanted to do brain games, you would Google Brain
Speaker:games, and you could find all kinds of things. There are some, I
Speaker:know, for your listeners, AARP has a relationship with
Speaker:Brain HQ. I mentioned them they're one of the most research
Speaker:based in the scientific literature behind their trainings, but
Speaker:because people might be members of AARP, but also their covered through a
Speaker:lot of insurance plans now. Supplemental insurance plans will cover
Speaker:some of your access to that and you can try. And they're there's
Speaker:other ones like Lumosity, a brain yoga is
Speaker:1 it's a free app. So if you wanna start free, but it gives
Speaker:you a lot of the ones that are you know, 3 d or visual
Speaker:puzzles that, you know, can easily be manipulated on a computer, but would be
Speaker:a little harder if you're not playing with actual block. at home,
Speaker:but still challenge your brain in a different way. Yeah. Okay.
Speaker:Elizabeth reminded us that part of that first other question came in from June
Speaker:was about light headedness. is there something you
Speaker:can talk about about light headedness and brain health and how might
Speaker:be prevented or mitigated? Yeah. I haven't
Speaker:seen that come directly in the conversation because usually it tends to
Speaker:be a symptom of something else that you're working on, whether it's chronic
Speaker:health, sometimes blood pressure, there's a whole bunch of things as well as
Speaker:medication. So if you're noticing that, to notice
Speaker:if there's a time of day where it occurs, the
Speaker:duration of it, maybe what's happening before
Speaker:So you can have those conversations with your provider aerobics a lot of times that
Speaker:information is really helpful to help them find out some treatments or
Speaker:some other modalities that could be helpful. Or as you said, it might be
Speaker:looking back at something you're doing or before I used to
Speaker:have issues with my blood pressure and I couldn't get right about a bed in
Speaker:the morning. It was way too low. I bought them out, and I'd fall on
Speaker:the floor. And I had to learn some strategies and then
Speaker:but things fluctuated. So keep in mind there's differences
Speaker:for all of us, but if you can find out if there are certain times
Speaker:a day, the duration and anything that might be
Speaker:before that. Sometimes it's sleep, napping, sitting a
Speaker:long time, what's happening so you can help give your provider those
Speaker:important details. Yeah. And I think that's an important point
Speaker:that you made, Crystal, that you know, the body systems are so
Speaker:related and interconnected and depending on each other.
Speaker:So the light headedness may be being caused by something else, and
Speaker:we're just experiencing it as a brain reaction
Speaker:because that's how we feel light headed. Yeah. Okay.
Speaker:but you did mention sleep, and I know that as we get
Speaker:older sleep, 10 to be more interrupted and more
Speaker:difficult, more up and down through the night. how important
Speaker:is it to get a good 6 or 7 hours
Speaker:of sleep every night to keep our brains healthy. No. I'm
Speaker:glad you asked this because for the longest time. I think this is the
Speaker:one factor we really didn't pay much attention to for our health and
Speaker:well-being. It's Oh, well, we can get by great with 4
Speaker:or 5 hours of sleep. And from your total health wise, a lot of the
Speaker:research shows, that's not true, and it's true for it very small
Speaker:percentage of people, but the recommendations for the amount of sleep we
Speaker:need help our brain. So everything we go through
Speaker:throughout the day At night, that's where a memory consolidation
Speaker:happened. That's how we consolidate our memories and when we're sleeping well.
Speaker:Our our systems in our brain take out the toxins that we
Speaker:accumulate from the day. So there's a lot of interesting things
Speaker:that happen when we sleep, but it's very important.
Speaker:And I think one that we probably all notice right away
Speaker:is how you feel or your mood is the day after
Speaker:you don't sleep for a while, you're probably not out of
Speaker:your norm. You're a little more irritable you might
Speaker:find it more challenging to do things that you regularly
Speaker:do without much effort, or it might be that day. Things seem very
Speaker:overwhelming. And so think about how lack of sleep
Speaker:shows up for you and much like you said, we may have
Speaker:disruptions but how we can prioritize sleep and make sure
Speaker:if we get back into bed, we can fall asleep typically within
Speaker:10 to 15 minutes. and get that restfulness aspect. I
Speaker:think that's the part that really was overlooked for a long time,
Speaker:in our general health and wellness, but it becomes very important when comes to our
Speaker:brain health. So so with that in
Speaker:mind, Crystal, You
Speaker:know, doctors will prescribe, like, sleep
Speaker:medications or people may think oh, you
Speaker:know, I have a couple gosses of wine that'll help me sleep, those kinds of
Speaker:things. if you're if
Speaker:you're medicating in some ways, whether prescribed or
Speaker:not prescribed, and you still get those
Speaker:6 or 7 hours, is that good, or is that
Speaker:more is that diminishing your brain? You know
Speaker:what? I'm not sure I'm asking that right. No. I I understand what you're
Speaker:saying, and I would say the one for alcohol,
Speaker:it interrupts your sleep. in the deep sleep, the stage
Speaker:is asleep you can get to. So it might help you fall asleep, but
Speaker:in terms of getting that restorative restful sleep, alcohol is
Speaker:very disruptive. It's also disruptive to those brain functions
Speaker:that sleep provides for us. It doesn't get to act as efficiently.
Speaker:So that's one where I would say it's choosing choosing your
Speaker:battle, so to speak, but to always talk with your health care providers
Speaker:about that, but another one that, as you mentioned, for people,
Speaker:is it's just more difficult to allocate the time where if you
Speaker:have health So a lot of times, I I've been referred to a sleep
Speaker:specialist in the past. might be a great referral. If they
Speaker:start really looking into things that you may be taking for granted.
Speaker:What does your environment look like? What is your actual
Speaker:sleep routine? Most of us probably have a routine
Speaker:for the morning, but do you have one with rituals
Speaker:before you go to bed? And a part of that is it's very disruptive
Speaker:for most of us to go from watching some high
Speaker:conflict movie to then just go roll into bed. there's just
Speaker:you've been so stimulated. You've seen the screen. Your emotions
Speaker:were going up and down in the movie if you're really captivated, and they are
Speaker:trying to go to sleep. So you might not realize that some of the things
Speaker:that you are just doing as part of your routine aren't giving you the
Speaker:benefits before bed. So sometimes it's looking at your root
Speaker:modification, important ones, the environment you're in,
Speaker:you want to be able to go to sleep when you get into that bedroom.
Speaker:You want it to be comfortable lot of times cool cooling.
Speaker:There's a lot on temperature. but just start thinking about that
Speaker:environment and are there some rituals or practices pad that
Speaker:can help you unwind because it's very hard. It's a different type of
Speaker:way to go to sleep when you're very stimulated and trying to go bed
Speaker:versus as you're getting more relaxed, maybe doing some
Speaker:breath work. And next thing you know, it's it's the morning. So you can
Speaker:really set yourself up in some different ways for that. Yeah.
Speaker:I like that because we do have morning routines, but the nighttime
Speaker:routine ritual, like you said, have a little nighttime
Speaker:ritual for sleep. That's nice. what about
Speaker:our nutrition? Like, you know, every doctor that you talk
Speaker:to talks about nutrition. So
Speaker:Our brain is in Oregon. Talk to me about are there certain foods
Speaker:that that nourish our brain that don't nourish
Speaker:our brain that we need to look out for? No. I I'm glad
Speaker:this one came up and I can say, you could probably spend hours
Speaker:talking about this with the amount of research and
Speaker:information available, but a lot of it when it comes to brain health and
Speaker:nutrition is some guiding principles. We know that
Speaker:diets specific diets work for chronic disease
Speaker:conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes,
Speaker:and that may look different from someone just wanting to do healthy weight
Speaker:loss. And so there's so many diet plans out there. It can get
Speaker:very confusing and very overwhelming. But for brain health, we
Speaker:think back of the diets, the Mediterranean diet, the dash
Speaker:diet that are showing you know, benefits for your brain.
Speaker:They have a lot of similarities. So one of the first ones, it's the
Speaker:plant slant or Dan Do you or talks about this in the blue zones too
Speaker:is more plants, more fruits, and vegetables if we can
Speaker:slant that way. And a lot of times, if we can up our
Speaker:intake, to the desired level, like, if you're only getting 3 a
Speaker:day and you can get in 5, you start to realize as you're full
Speaker:off of more nutritious foods, you're not wanting maybe
Speaker:the sweets or some of the treats that you would typically be going for.
Speaker:So if you're looking at the idea for how many fruits and vegetables you're
Speaker:getting, Can you add 1 at lunch? Make that stick with your
Speaker:routine and then maybe sprinkle an extra serving on there at dinner if you're
Speaker:already eating vegetables. Can you do two? You know, how was this looking
Speaker:throughout your day? So a lot of it is whole fruits and
Speaker:vegetables. Another part is simply shifting
Speaker:foods that come from a package to those Whole Foods.
Speaker:So if there's alternatives you can have when you're wanting things that
Speaker:are packaged, it has a lot of not so much nutritional
Speaker:benefits. There's a time and place for them, but if you're realizing you're eating a
Speaker:lot of things from food wrappers, and that your norm is,
Speaker:can you get to the more whole foods from your your rich
Speaker:greens, your fruits, your vegetables, your whole grains, and how can we
Speaker:start to add those in and limit some of the the
Speaker:sweets and highly processed foods is I think some of the main
Speaker:ideas of those diets. And the third one I'll point out because I
Speaker:think a lot of us overlook this is hydration.
Speaker:lot of times when they say if you're real hungry, if you drink a glass
Speaker:of water, it's not cliche, it's actually figuring out you're dehydrated.
Speaker:And we know that our quench of thirst is one of the things that deteriorates
Speaker:when we're aging. And so typically even now, but if you're
Speaker:feeling thirsty, you're about 1 to 2% dehydrated
Speaker:already. So you're already at a deficit. And if you think about that
Speaker:feeling of thirst for adults, I've seen statistics where sometimes it
Speaker:almost doubles that 1 to 2% just because you're not getting that
Speaker:sensation. So thinking about how to be intentional
Speaker:with adding water and hydration throughout your day with the
Speaker:caveat of when is that cutoff time in the evening, if you want
Speaker:good sleep, so watch the water intake and caffeine late
Speaker:in the afternoon. Right. Right. Otherwise rep all night.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah. No. That's good. And what about I you didn't
Speaker:talk about meats. What about red meat, fish, chicken?
Speaker:You know, is it the same as, like, heart health? Yeah. A lot
Speaker:of it is very similar. If you're following heart healthy diet, you're following
Speaker:the recommendations typically for your brain. For proteins, I
Speaker:would like to say eat like a European. So if you've ever been
Speaker:in Europe or you've traveled, like, you're serving a meat is the palm of your
Speaker:hand. It is not our US American Steak houses
Speaker:and, you know, the tenders we tend to get. So think about
Speaker:it that way up, and you want rich lean pro teams. The best
Speaker:we all have different differences or needs and preferences. And for
Speaker:your you want the healthy fats from fish. as
Speaker:well as tree based nuts. So if you think about it,
Speaker:a walnut looks like a little grain, want tree nuts. So while
Speaker:that is a perfect brain food, no pun intended, but
Speaker:also will help you keep that visual healthy fats from your
Speaker:nuts. your beans and your meats. And a lot of it does
Speaker:recommend limiting the red meat in comparison to more of the lean
Speaker:proteins the fish, like salmon a couple times a week.
Speaker:I'm keeping that in mind, but I always recommend the serving size.
Speaker:go back to eating like a European and the Americans might see a little bit
Speaker:more health benefits that way. so so
Speaker:much of what you shared with us is a lot of good practical
Speaker:health related, knowledge you know, to
Speaker:eat right, to get your exercise, to drink plenty of water.
Speaker:And to recognize, I think what this is one of my favorite things that you
Speaker:said was that 90% of our brain health
Speaker:is up to our way that we take care of our brain and
Speaker:10% is hereditary. I think that was super
Speaker:empowering and important. So thank you for that.
Speaker:what would someone be looking for when they contact the
Speaker:virtual brain health center, the the organization that you started,
Speaker:I think, just about a year ago. Is that right? Yeah. We launched
Speaker:during the pandemic, and it was really in a response to
Speaker:people wanting to know about brain health and how can we get people information
Speaker:and support. So we have a resource page on our site. If you're looking
Speaker:to to do a brain health virtual test kind of
Speaker:see we've talked different areas of brain health where you're doing
Speaker:great where you can improve and get some recommendations. There
Speaker:are some free online assessments. You can do that to kind of start your
Speaker:journey or to pick your priority area under this big brain health umbrella,
Speaker:and we work with a lot of other industry partners, researchers
Speaker:to bring different aspects of brain health to people through a lot of
Speaker:educational programs and events. So we aim to be a one
Speaker:stop shop where you can get some information about brain health, but
Speaker:find other resources that are freely available to you on
Speaker:the website to support your learning journey. Yeah.
Speaker:So Crystal's site is the verch, not v. It's
Speaker:virtual brain health center dot com. And
Speaker:there is, a way a contact button there. So if you wanted
Speaker:to reach out to Crystal specifically with specific questions, based on what
Speaker:you learned on the podcast today, but we weren't able
Speaker:to answer. It's virtualbrainhealthcenter.com.
Speaker:Crystal, I always like to ask if there's a takeaway.
Speaker:So what does the science show us about how we can protect
Speaker:our brain health going forward? I would like to say
Speaker:I think there's 2 general guidelines I can recommend as and this comes from a
Speaker:question I was just asked by someone last week. What's the one
Speaker:thing for brain health? There's not one thing. The
Speaker:general guideline is for all of us to do one thing better
Speaker:each day for our brain. And we know when we start building
Speaker:those small habits, it leads to this bigger lifestyle impact and
Speaker:change. And so start thinking what's your one thing a day where
Speaker:you can make a better decision for your brain? Is it getting that
Speaker:glass of water in with your medications in the morning Is it
Speaker:spending that time learning something new? What's the one thing and
Speaker:and keep moving forward on that path? And the journey will look different for all
Speaker:of us, but it's lifelong. We have one brain, so let's protect
Speaker:it together. We have one brain. Let's protect
Speaker:it. Absolutely. Thank you.
Speaker:yeah, Audrey, just one last comment here. Audrey says, the the
Speaker:nutrition part is so interesting because I went Carnivore 4 years
Speaker:ago, She's 69 and her brain has never worked better.
Speaker:Animal fats and cholesterol is so important for our brains. There
Speaker:isn't much about oxalate out there, but
Speaker:Sally Norton just published a super good book called Toxic Super Foods. Are
Speaker:you aware of that, Crystal? I haven't heard that book, but I'm
Speaker:writing that one down from my reading list to check out.
Speaker:Okay. Alright. Thank you for that, Audrey.
Speaker:So, Crystal, thank you so much. This has been
Speaker:wonderful. And, as I've shared your contact
Speaker:information on the screen, virtual brain
Speaker:health center, and that is also something that
Speaker:I will put in the show notes for anybody who is
Speaker:listening to the podcast.
Speaker:let me just say that if you like
Speaker:hearing what's on Hey Boomer I would love to hear
Speaker:from you. So you can email me with comments at Wendy@heyboomer.biz,
Speaker:or you can leave reviews on Apple or Spotify
Speaker:like this one from Doctor David Bernstein,
Speaker:and he says, Wendy Green is a seasoned,
Speaker:organized, and well prepared podcast host. She provides
Speaker:excellent content to her audience, asks great and
Speaker:provocative questions and knows what our audience wants to understand.
Speaker:So I love hearing those kinds of things, so please go ahead and leave
Speaker:me comments and reviews on Apple and Spotify.
Speaker:And next time you're thinking about travel, please check out
Speaker:Rhodes Scholar go to road scholar.org/hayboomer
Speaker:and go don't forget to download the life
Speaker:vitality assessment from the hayboomer.biz
Speaker:homepage. And now
Speaker:I want to tell you about who's coming up next week. I'm super excited
Speaker:about this. do y'all remember the book Tuesdays with
Speaker:Maury? about Maury Schwartz and
Speaker:his his outlooks and his discussions
Speaker:about how he was facing life as he was dying with
Speaker:ALS. So what I'm gonna encourage you to do is take
Speaker:it out and read it again before next week's show because my guest
Speaker:next week is Rob Schwartz, who is Maury's son.
Speaker:And a few years ago, Rob and his mother found a manuscript that
Speaker:Maury had written before he was diagnosed
Speaker:with ALS and then put it away. And
Speaker:Rob is a journalist, and he edited it and published it as
Speaker:a new book called The Wisdom of Morey. So I'm
Speaker:so looking forward to bringing this to you, and it's
Speaker:my birthday on the day that we will be talking to Rob. So this will
Speaker:be my birthday present to you. That should be a
Speaker:great show. And I always like to leave you
Speaker:with a reminder to live with curiosity live with
Speaker:relevance and live with courage. And remember that you are
Speaker:never too old to set another goal or dream a new
Speaker:dream. Thank you so much, Crystal, for all that you shared today.
Speaker:Yes. Thank you. And I'd like to say it was a mental workout of conversation.
Speaker:So thank you. I appreciate it. Good. You had your brain
Speaker:aerobics today. Alright.
