Speaker 1: I'll get at Welcome to another installment of the show.
Speaker 1: It's Harps, it's Tiff, it's doctor Cam. For God's sake,
Speaker 1: Doctor Cam, do not continue the conversation that we were
Speaker 1: just having, especially seeing as it's Easter Monday. We'll start
Speaker 1: with you and we'll go backwards this time. How are
Speaker 1: you incredibly well?
Speaker 2: Thank you. I had a great little Easter egg hunt
Speaker 2: with my kids yesterday, and I was trying to reduce
Speaker 2: their chocolate load because the dietitian and me is still
Speaker 2: alive at times, and watching my children ply themselves with
Speaker 2: chocolate s difficult. So I got them some toys instead
Speaker 2: of eggs, and they were the win. It's like a
Speaker 2: little mini Christmas that worked.
Speaker 1: Well, well, good for you. How much how much do
Speaker 1: you just be the dad who's kind of a cool dad?
Speaker 1: And how much do you be the authoritative, fucking researcher, scientist,
Speaker 1: boring old fuck that goes that monitors everything.
Speaker 2: I monitor everything. It's just whether I say it. I
Speaker 2: definitely take it upon myself to educate my older one
Speaker 2: as much as I can about mate, but this is
Speaker 2: going to do that to your body? Right, But I'm not,
Speaker 2: you know, and I'm definitely not the parent that buys
Speaker 2: the slurpies as regularly, because I just I have this
Speaker 2: even though I used to drown myself and slaves at
Speaker 2: a job for my granddaddy had a service station and
Speaker 2: I had unlimited slurpy access when I was eight or nine.
Speaker 1: And you know, so look how you turned out exactly
Speaker 1: like IMN. If we're looking at you as an N
Speaker 1: equals one, everybody should do slurpies when they're young.
Speaker 2: That's true. It's dangerous though, making assumptions from one to many.
Speaker 2: But I hear what you're saying, and I probably am
Speaker 2: a little bit paranoid about it. Probably the worst thing
Speaker 2: that happens is that I've got the knowledge. I know
Speaker 2: that it's unrealistic unless you're going to and I've got
Speaker 2: friends that have absolutely set their mark to say, I'll
Speaker 2: drive thirty kilometers rather than go to McDonald's three minutes
Speaker 2: down the road to make sure that we get some
Speaker 2: healthy food. Like I've got friends that do that, and
Speaker 2: I love and but I actually like going to Macis
Speaker 2: from time to time, you know what I mean, And
Speaker 2: the kids absolutely love it. So I don't know, I'm
Speaker 2: a little bit more realistic about it. As long as
Speaker 2: I'm as long as they feel safe, that's probably number one,
Speaker 2: and then the number two is moving as much as possible,
Speaker 2: So I try and keep them active and then do
Speaker 2: the food as I can.
Speaker 1: You and missus McDonald co parent strategically in that you
Speaker 1: have a certain role, she has a certain role, or
Speaker 1: is it more freestyle than that.
Speaker 2: We're not together, so we definitely, we definitely have that's
Speaker 2: probably the we have the entire role when we've got
Speaker 2: the kids, essentially, But I would have to say that
Speaker 2: she is a very, very incredible human when it comes
Speaker 2: to doing all of the things and keeping track of
Speaker 2: all the things, just like many mums do. So what
Speaker 2: is she better at than you?
Speaker 1: We're not going to ask the other way around, but
Speaker 1: what has she got you covered on?
Speaker 2: She is so immediately practical problem solving, sees the thing
Speaker 2: fixes that. She's an activator in our language, so she
Speaker 2: just takes action and is hyper practical in getting it done.
Speaker 2: I'll go into the theory of things and want to
Speaker 2: figure it out when she's already done four things already.
Speaker 2: So she's just got that. She's got an insane ability
Speaker 2: to just get things done and take action. And she's
Speaker 2: also she's got that abundance mentality as well, Like I'm
Speaker 2: a real I'm a bit of a scrooge. And she's
Speaker 2: very good at just always projecting we've got enough, like
Speaker 2: there's always enough for that, yet let's go do that,
Speaker 2: And she just makes it happen. She's magical at it.
Speaker 2: So I create that in my own way, but it's
Speaker 2: it's definitely a pretty powerful thing that she's got gone
Speaker 2: on there.
Speaker 1: It's good that you have the self awareness and the
Speaker 1: objectivity and the you know, I guess the humility to go, well,
Speaker 1: she's better at some stuff than me, and that's just
Speaker 1: the truth. And I do this, which I do some
Speaker 1: stuff which is great, that some stuff not so much.
Speaker 1: Is there anything within the realm of parenting and I
Speaker 1: guess educating and forming and protecting your kids that you've
Speaker 1: changed your mind on over the journey, or that you've
Speaker 1: kind of changed your approach.
Speaker 2: Yes, well, and I'd have to say that the understanding
Speaker 2: the kids biology is really really helpful for that. So
Speaker 2: just how I focus and what I hold as a
Speaker 2: standard as how you should act or how you should
Speaker 2: think or whatever it might be, is very different. So
Speaker 2: my brain and if I was in my natural state
Speaker 2: with people just like me, everything would be great. You've
Speaker 2: done that. What's the next thing that we're going to
Speaker 2: do now? Oh, what's the next progression that we're going
Speaker 2: to make? Oh, well done you. We're going to keep moving,
Speaker 2: We're going to keep going better. And oh, we've got
Speaker 2: to think about that. There's a really good growth opportunity
Speaker 2: in that. Let's discuss it, let's unpack it, let's make
Speaker 2: sure that we understand all of the things about it.
Speaker 2: That is an absolute nightmare for my oldest child because
Speaker 2: he's a little connector. Connectors are all about trust and
Speaker 2: connection and fun and variety. And so whereas I would think, oh,
Speaker 2: the most important thing is that he gets good grades
Speaker 2: at school, when in fact, now I know his lens
Speaker 2: for life is am I accepted? And do I feel
Speaker 2: like I belong? And if that happens, his homework is killer,
Speaker 2: all of his school work is amazing, all of his
Speaker 2: sport goes really well. He just needs to feel like
Speaker 2: he belongs. And so I'm just supporting him in making
Speaker 2: him feel like he belongs. Whereas I'm not trying to
Speaker 2: push him really hard with the academics. I'm not Essentially
Speaker 2: my focus is as much as possible, just do social
Speaker 2: stuff and then he feels really good and then he
Speaker 2: finds his own way to create the fun and joy.
Speaker 2: Whereas my second he's four, a bit more introverted, very
Speaker 2: practical with his hands, very connected and just onan some time.
Speaker 2: He's a little but he's got this activator streak, so
Speaker 2: he is like twice the size of his peers at KINDI.
Speaker 2: He is such a little beast, but he runs around
Speaker 2: just as fast as he's brothers or tries to. So
Speaker 2: he's ready made for the front, like the most mobile
Speaker 2: front ray you've ever seen. It's going to be amazing.
Speaker 2: So he's got a very different way of being and
Speaker 2: it's really about its connection, but it's doing practical things
Speaker 2: with our hands. So we're out in the garden playing
Speaker 2: with trucks and we're putting puzzles together. And whereas my
Speaker 2: oldest doesn't have any want for any of that stuff.
Speaker 2: He just wants to do things with his friends, place, sports,
Speaker 2: whatever it might be. And so just knowing that that's
Speaker 2: their preferences and putting them into situations where that can
Speaker 2: be them as much as possible, and pulling myself out of.
Speaker 1: It as much as possible.
Speaker 2: That's probably the biggest thing that I've learned, because I
Speaker 2: know that if I didn't know that, I'd just be
Speaker 2: I'd be logicing and strategicizing them into death. Like I know,
Speaker 2: it's just not their natural state.
Speaker 1: Do you think that, like knowing, for example, that your
Speaker 1: older kid loves to just belong and be part of
Speaker 1: something and be accepted, Like, would that come down to
Speaker 1: even say, we're sports where you would maybe consciously steer
Speaker 1: him away from kind of standalone sports like you're a
Speaker 1: runner or you're a tennis player, and into like team sports.
Speaker 2: It's so interesting in that having this awareness it has
Speaker 2: not even been thought of as a possibility because he
Speaker 2: shows zero interesting. But if he was my kid, I'd
Speaker 2: be like, mate, we've got to go to swimming because
Speaker 2: I love swimming. I love following a black line for
Speaker 2: a good portion in my childhood. He's not interested at all.
Speaker 2: He just wants to push people into pools and bomb them,
Speaker 2: you know, And that's yeah, that's a kid. But I
Speaker 2: wasn't that interested in that. I wanted to swim as
Speaker 2: fast as I could and track all of my times.
Speaker 2: So because I've known about that since he was about three.
Speaker 2: Because we can measure kids from too and up. It's
Speaker 2: I've just allowed him to gravitate, but it's often a
Speaker 2: bit like socker. He loves and then he's enjoying cross
Speaker 2: country only because there's a whole group of them that
Speaker 2: run together. Anything where there's people he's into. But to
Speaker 2: send him on a run by, he just wouldn't do it.
Speaker 2: He he just doesn't have any inclination. But if you say, hey,
Speaker 2: your friends are going, he's like one hundred percent every
Speaker 2: time like that, and just knowing that that's not a deficit,
Speaker 2: but just if he's socially satisfied, it makes him happier.
Speaker 2: That's probably the big thing in my mind because I
Speaker 2: would think, oh, man, what's wrong with this kid? He
Speaker 2: can't do anything by himself. But it's just not the
Speaker 2: way that he's built. And a lot of personal development,
Speaker 2: self development help, self help stuff is all about you've
Speaker 2: got to grit through it yourself or its like no,
Speaker 2: just be around people that want to do it too,
Speaker 2: And it's really easy now all of a sudden, So
Speaker 2: there's Yeah, that's been an interesting experience.
Speaker 1: It's incredible that the same people can produce kids that
Speaker 1: are so bloody different.
Speaker 2: Mhmm, yeah, yeah, well that's right, so bloody confusing every
Speaker 2: parent is it doesn't matter he talks, everyone's making it up. Yeah,
Speaker 2: everyone's just having a crack the best they can. And
Speaker 2: this has definitely given me a lot more structure to
Speaker 2: those things there.
Speaker 1: And t if what's your parenting style with Lunar and Bear?
Speaker 1: I mean, very relaxed.
Speaker 3: They are the boss of me, and I smothered them
Speaker 3: and I'm a bit needy and I require a lot
Speaker 3: of validation from them.
Speaker 1: Who requires the most attention.
Speaker 3: Both of them equally, really in very different ways.
Speaker 1: And do they get bizre of course, everybody, we're talking
Speaker 1: about a dog and a cat, not too actual humans
Speaker 1: if you're somewhat new to the show, and.
Speaker 2: Some very woke names though. If if they were lunering Bear,
Speaker 2: yeah that's right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, imagine having a kid called Beert. That's kind of cool.
Speaker 1: Bear of course being the cat, Luna of course being
Speaker 1: the fucking world famous whippet. Shall I have her own
Speaker 1: TV show coming out soon? Do they get jealous of
Speaker 1: each other?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Yeah, and they like their classic siblings. They're at each
Speaker 3: other all the time. And then when I'm busy. If
Speaker 3: I walk out and go look for them now, they'll
Speaker 3: be kiled up on a blanket together. But when I'm around,
Speaker 3: they just beat each other up all the time.
Speaker 1: What that's about. So enough about parenting and steering your
Speaker 1: kids toward team sports or single sports, and parenting a
Speaker 1: dog and a cat. I wanted to actually talk to
Speaker 1: you today about how to keep our brain working as
Speaker 1: well as it can for as long as we can
Speaker 1: doc being as my brain is now sixty one. So
Speaker 1: there's a little bit of self interest in this. Of course,
Speaker 1: you can't be objective about yourself because I'm me, But
Speaker 1: I feel like anyway as objective as I think I
Speaker 1: can be, I feel like my brain works I was
Speaker 1: going to say better, Maybe not, but at least as
Speaker 1: well as when I was thirty. And I think maybe
Speaker 1: that's true, maybe it's not, but definitely there's not a
Speaker 1: If there is cognitive decline, I can't sense it. Maybe
Speaker 1: you two can, but I can't. But I feel like
Speaker 1: my ability to remember things and articulate things and focus
Speaker 1: and pay attention and you know, study and all of
Speaker 1: the things that I'm doing is at least as good
Speaker 1: as it was. Maybe a little bit better. But I
Speaker 1: feel also like I consciously do that, like I train
Speaker 1: my brain kind of like I train my body. I'm
Speaker 1: quite methodical and systematic about consciously learning and keeping those
Speaker 1: cognitive wheels turning and exposing myself to new ideas and
Speaker 1: new concepts and constructs, and you know, even down to
Speaker 1: teaching myself a new term or phrase or word every
Speaker 1: day or second day that I want to weave in
Speaker 1: at some stage in the next conversation or so. So
Speaker 1: tell us about when does our brain to start to
Speaker 1: slide typically, and what are some of the things that
Speaker 1: we can do to maintain improve cognitive function over the lifespan.
Speaker 1: I know that's I know we could do a serieses
Speaker 1: on this, but let's just maybe hit some of the
Speaker 1: high points.
Speaker 2: Okay, So your brain tissue is mirroring in many ways
Speaker 2: your muscular mass and also your metabolism and your life course.
Speaker 2: So generally, as humans, we're developing and getting stronger up
Speaker 2: until our late twenties, and then at thirty we plateau
Speaker 2: for a period and then we start declining forty five
Speaker 2: maybe fifty five just depends on where you're at. But
Speaker 2: from forty onwards, you could say roughly there's a one
Speaker 2: to two percent decline in muscle mass, muscle strength going
Speaker 2: downs a lot faster if you're not maintaining it metabolic rate.
Speaker 2: And also your brain tissue. But it's not all of
Speaker 2: your brain tissue. It's particular regions of your brain. Because
Speaker 2: there's two parts of your brain tissue. Why there's white
Speaker 2: matter and gray matter. There's obviously a lot more than that,
Speaker 2: but well, it's a white matter and gray matter. Gray
Speaker 2: matter is like the little layer of AI that connects
Speaker 2: everything together and makes all the magic happen. And the
Speaker 2: white is like the all of the the power lines
Speaker 2: and the connective connective tissues that makes the gray matter work.
Speaker 2: It like it gives you all. It provides transport for
Speaker 2: all of the ideas to meet the gray matter, and
Speaker 2: then the gray matter does its magic. So the areas
Speaker 2: of the brain that you've really got to be maintaining,
Speaker 2: your prefrontal cortex, your hipp A campus are two. We
Speaker 2: can talk about those prefrontals, your virtual work bench. That's
Speaker 2: where you're taking on new information, you're comprehending it, you're interacting.
Speaker 2: Then you're communicating that to your hipp A campus. Your
Speaker 2: hipp A campus holds it in short term memory, and
Speaker 2: then it's also informing your memory. It's informed by your
Speaker 2: it's connecting with your amignal as well, and talking like
Speaker 2: helps you remember things that were emotional, and then it
Speaker 2: sends it off to another place to go into long
Speaker 2: term memory or sometimes it's held in the HIPO campus
Speaker 2: for quite a while too. So those two tissues, prefrontal
Speaker 2: cortex thinking and calculating and then your memory are two
Speaker 2: really really important regions, and they are the two regions
Speaker 2: that seem to decline. And when we're talking about brain
Speaker 2: matter and it declining one to two percent, we're often
Speaker 2: talking about those areas and so what then, So there's
Speaker 2: a couple of things that go along with this. One
Speaker 2: is that there is because your brain is plastic, how
Speaker 2: you use your brain essentially directs traffic around your brain.
Speaker 2: So if you're using it lots and using it creatively,
Speaker 2: you start branching. You maintain the branches that you have,
Speaker 2: and you also create new branches, which is very very important.
Speaker 2: That's why you were talking about that. But then it's
Speaker 2: just like exercise training. If you just train and you're
Speaker 2: definitely putting force on your check because you're doing chest press,
Speaker 2: But then you don't fuel yourself and you don't have
Speaker 2: any blood flow going to that part of you, to
Speaker 2: your muscle tissue. You haven't got enough protein, you don't
Speaker 2: got enough carbohydrates, you don't have good blood flow, you
Speaker 2: don't have any rest. Then you end up not getting
Speaker 2: any stronger even though you're directing these muscles. Hey, you
Speaker 2: need to be stronger through bench press, because that's the instruction.
Speaker 2: If you don't have the supportive elements that then creates
Speaker 2: the growth of that muscle and helps the recovery, then
Speaker 2: you don't get it. And this is where there's You
Speaker 2: can be a very active mind all day long, but
Speaker 2: if your brain, if your body is physically inflamed, if
Speaker 2: it's not transporting blood to your brain, well, we know
Speaker 2: that how well blood flows through your brain, particularly these regions,
Speaker 2: really determine whether it's in good health or not. And
Speaker 2: there's a number of factors that drive great blood flow.
Speaker 2: It's are you stimulating the production of new brain cells
Speaker 2: as well through exercise that the blood flow is in
Speaker 2: formed by the nutrients that you have. How much you
Speaker 2: can open up your blood vessels and allow that blood
Speaker 2: to flow the exercise is another component to that as well,
Speaker 2: how well are you sleeping, what's the background level of
Speaker 2: stress in your life, Because if you've got background stress
Speaker 2: like chronic pain, or if you've got even depression anxiety,
Speaker 2: if you've got if you're sitting down all day, if
Speaker 2: you're in an environment physically that's not helpful, like there's
Speaker 2: lots of chemicals in the air, then all of those
Speaker 2: things which destroys brain tissue. And so you've got this
Speaker 2: so that out of all of that, can maintain, if
Speaker 2: not increase the size of these areas your prefront of
Speaker 2: cortex Shiper campus. You can absolutely increase them even into
Speaker 2: your seventh, eighth, ninth decade of life. So you can,
Speaker 2: if you provide the right environment, you can significantly enhance
Speaker 2: these regions of the brain. Second, and so that's going
Speaker 2: to come from using your brain for creative endeavors. And
Speaker 2: it's also about making sure you've got the raw materials
Speaker 2: and the state within your system that allows your blood
Speaker 2: vessels to open right up to provide the right nutrients
Speaker 2: to antioxidize the stress, to help you grow, to provide
Speaker 2: the nutrients that you need to rebuild those tissues as well.
Speaker 2: And while i'm here, there was a really good example
Speaker 2: of the mental side of things that you're talking about.
Speaker 2: There's a cracking book that completely changed the way that
Speaker 2: I look at exercise and actually got me into brain
Speaker 2: health because that I was halfway through writing a brain
Speaker 2: health book before I found personalization and it all got
Speaker 2: too complex and what John J. Rady. He wrote a
Speaker 2: book called Spark, and it essentially talks about how the
Speaker 2: brain can essentially supported directly by exercise. But one of
Speaker 2: the examples that they gave was around neuroplasticity. There was
Speaker 2: a nun who always throughout her life was in the
Speaker 2: top or in the ninetieth centile for intelligence and vocabulary
Speaker 2: and memory and all of these incredible things all the
Speaker 2: way through to when she died, and then she donated
Speaker 2: her body and brain for science after she passed on,
Speaker 2: and when they opened her up, it turned out that
Speaker 2: her hippo campus was completely riddled with Alzheimer's. But because
Speaker 2: she was every week every day she was journaling or
Speaker 2: like living the nun life, like having little word quizzes,
Speaker 2: and she was actively using her brain to expand it
Speaker 2: and grow it. Her brain over the course of her
Speaker 2: life said oh, I can't get my memory if I
Speaker 2: go to the hipp of campus anymore, I have to
Speaker 2: create a new pathway. She'd actually created a alternative pathway
Speaker 2: for her brain to access all of these memories, while
Speaker 2: her Hippo campus, which would normally be the seat of
Speaker 2: her memory, was completely destroyed. But because she was so
Speaker 2: active in using it, her brain found a way. And
Speaker 2: so this is the importance of what you were speaking about,
Speaker 2: is that you want to be engaged with, you know,
Speaker 2: finding the difficulty in life and working through it, you know,
Speaker 2: engaging in relationships. That's often where you can get yourself
Speaker 2: exposed to so much of the deepest stuff. It can be,
Speaker 2: you know, finding new creator of things to learn, just
Speaker 2: engaging with passions, whatever it might be. Absolutely essentially, and
Speaker 2: it's one of those things if you don't if you
Speaker 2: don't use it, you lose it. It's a very very
Speaker 2: real for the brain activity. And then we can we
Speaker 2: can talk about the physical aspects of that as well. Well.
Speaker 1: I think I don't know when did Norman Deutge write
Speaker 1: The Brain That Changes Itself? Was that about the eighties
Speaker 1: or nineties?
Speaker 2: Was in the nineties, Yeah, Yeah.
Speaker 1: He kind of opened the door on kind of neuroplasticity
Speaker 1: and stuff.
Speaker 2: Didn't he That's right exactly, Yeah, he was. That was
Speaker 2: the seminal work in many ways that really brought it
Speaker 2: to the world.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's that's amazing about that.
Speaker 2: None.
Speaker 1: So like if we just had to and I know
Speaker 1: there's no everyone, there's no three step plan or five
Speaker 1: step plan, but if we had to go, okay, mate,
Speaker 1: what are kind of five pillars or six or three?
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter of optimizing our brain, so using it
Speaker 1: as you know, so learning like journaling like she was doing,
Speaker 1: or like may perhaps doing a degree when you're older,
Speaker 1: or you know whatever, exposing yourself to new ideas, doing research,
Speaker 1: writing a book, being creative, whatever. So and then what
Speaker 1: would where would sleep rank? Would that be next?
Speaker 3: Or that?
Speaker 1: Would that be above that?
Speaker 2: I think they're I think they're those. I would say
Speaker 2: you could put them into two camps. One is the
Speaker 2: physical aspects of things, one's the psychological aspects of things.
Speaker 2: And I think, uh, sleep is I mean, sleep is
Speaker 2: where you're you're releasing very very important chemicals and compounds
Speaker 2: and hormones that specifically regrow the mile and sheet on
Speaker 2: your brain, which is the part of the nerve cell
Speaker 2: that makes the signal fire very very quickly. Without that,
Speaker 2: everything grinds to a whole and things aren't in real
Speaker 2: good shape. It's where you're doing all of the recovery.
Speaker 2: The memory consolidation. So when you're having dreams, you're consolidating
Speaker 2: memories from the day before. If you don't have that,
Speaker 2: your memory just starts really suffering. But also you'll as
Speaker 2: you sleep more, your cortisol levels rise, which specifically degrades
Speaker 2: areas of the prefrontal and hippocampus that are really important
Speaker 2: for emotional regulation for all of those memories, and you
Speaker 2: enhance all of the emotional centers and the noise that
Speaker 2: they make, which make you more reactive. And so if
Speaker 2: you lacking sleep, you're still going to have a really
Speaker 2: strong brain. It's going to be really strong at being
Speaker 2: really coarse and intolerance. You'll just be very very good
Speaker 2: at that. So if you have a goal of being
Speaker 2: incredibly intolerant, get less sleep, you know, and you can
Speaker 2: train your brain to be a less pleasant person. There's
Speaker 2: no doubt about that. So that's another option too. So
Speaker 2: it's quite sorry.
Speaker 1: I was just going to say it's quite ironic sometimes
Speaker 1: when you talk about or people are talking about elite
Speaker 1: operators in the Special Forces and how they've got to
Speaker 1: like perform under pressure and do all of these incredible
Speaker 1: things and all the like the Navy seal training and
Speaker 1: the special operators and those all those people who qualify
Speaker 1: for those roles and go through this, you know, quite
Speaker 1: inhumane training, but to try to see how people can
Speaker 1: perform in the worst, the worst of the worst psychological, emotional, physiological,
Speaker 1: environmental kind of situations. But so you want these people
Speaker 1: that are almost superhuman, but you're doing all this ship
Speaker 1: which really degrades performance, right.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well that's right, And and I think we may
Speaker 2: have even mentioned this last time, that psychological override is
Speaker 2: exactly what you need from those people, and it's this
Speaker 2: is something that we can all generate as well. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but it's only for acute periods of time, and then
Speaker 2: they give them some recovery, you know, it's it's never Yes,
Speaker 2: they're they're making them do it for years on end.
Speaker 2: So any stress is good as long as you can
Speaker 2: appropriately recover from it. And yeah, but yes, there's and
Speaker 2: then the belief that you can keep going is a
Speaker 2: very very important thing to instill. And this is where
Speaker 2: that if you're constantly exposed to those types of beliefs,
Speaker 2: then you're more likely to think them. Your physiology is
Speaker 2: likely to match that. Whereas if you're constantly listening to
Speaker 2: that you're no good and you've got limitations and whatever,
Speaker 2: it might be as well, and that's where your thoughts
Speaker 2: will go to as well. This is where that plasticity
Speaker 2: is an absolute weapon, good and bads depending on your
Speaker 2: exposure in the environment. So you've got to be just
Speaker 2: like you are, actively focused on how do I want
Speaker 2: my brain to grow and develop? You know, do I
Speaker 2: want it to be more creative? Do I want it
Speaker 2: to know more stuff? Or do I want to just
Speaker 2: focus on all of the stress in my life? And
Speaker 2: in both instances you'll create a brain that does that.
Speaker 1: I always think, you know, I can't get another body,
Speaker 1: this is this is a silly thing. But I think
Speaker 1: I can get more money, I can get another job.
Speaker 1: I'll probably even get more friends. I could start another
Speaker 1: you know, all of these things that if the worst
Speaker 1: came to the worst, you could start again. Kind but
Speaker 1: with your body, you know, of course, like it's pretty
Speaker 1: resilient kind of, but it's the one thing that you
Speaker 1: really can't replace. So I'm always thinking and I won't
Speaker 1: be optimal. But I go, well, what what would optimal
Speaker 1: look like for my brain or for my mind, or
Speaker 1: for my posture, or for my spine, or for my
Speaker 1: energy levels or for my body composition, or like how
Speaker 1: do how do I work best? And what do I
Speaker 1: need to do more of and less of to make
Speaker 1: me work better? Yeah, and so like these questions around
Speaker 1: and again, especially like within your work, we know that
Speaker 1: different people need different things, even if they're chasing the
Speaker 1: same outcome. But other than other than doing a deep
Speaker 1: dive into your research, which is definitely not the worst idea,
Speaker 1: but for people just here right now thinking where do
Speaker 1: I start?
Speaker 2: Like it?
Speaker 1: So I start to optimize me?
Speaker 2: I would say, when it comes to if you're taking
Speaker 2: care of all the things, let's say that let's just
Speaker 2: leave your psychology for a moment and let's go to
Speaker 2: the physical side of things. Number one, get more sleep.
Speaker 2: Getting more sleep or get an appropriate amount of sleep
Speaker 2: so that you wake up refreshed. So the first thing
Speaker 2: that you can do we did a whole episode on
Speaker 2: this last time, is get consistent with your sleep and
Speaker 2: make sure that you're in bed for over seven hours
Speaker 2: like that is the first goal. Even if you're not
Speaker 2: sleeping perfectly, just be in bed lying on your back.
Speaker 2: You are more rested and more likely to recover lying
Speaker 2: on your back than you are up and around. So
Speaker 2: number one sleep, Number two is well, it's a movement
Speaker 2: of your body. I would say, obviously you can hydrate
Speaker 2: along with that too. Hydration is going to be very important.
Speaker 2: But moving your body and the reason that moving your
Speaker 2: body is so key. Firstly, your brain does best when
Speaker 2: the blood flow is better. So and as soon as
Speaker 2: you start exercising, you actually start creating compounds in your
Speaker 2: body and in your brain that open up the blood
Speaker 2: vessels that allow you to generate more blood flow out
Speaker 2: to the areas of your brain that need it. And
Speaker 2: if you get blood flow, it means you maintain those tissues. Now,
Speaker 2: what's interesting, there's also chemicals that are released from your
Speaker 2: from your muscles, and those chemicals specifically trigger It's called
Speaker 2: what they call it in the spark is miracle grow
Speaker 2: or ultimate fertilizer. For your brain, it's called brain derived
Speaker 2: neurotrophic factor. Anything that stimulates brain growth will stimulate brain
Speaker 2: brain derived neurotrophic factor. When you exercise. It's like sprinkling
Speaker 2: fertilization on the key areas of your brain that normally degrade.
Speaker 2: And we know that if you exercise. It's a really
Speaker 2: great study looking at seventy year old who exercise forty
Speaker 2: five minutes a day, three three times per week and
Speaker 2: are going at a walk. It's about seventy percent of
Speaker 2: the via t MAC So a stiff walk for forty
Speaker 2: five minutes three times a week, their brain volume this
Speaker 2: is at seventy five brain volume increased one to two
Speaker 2: percent over the next twelve months, whereas their counterparts who
Speaker 2: didn't exercise decreased one to two percent. So that's a
Speaker 2: three to four percent differential in the size of your
Speaker 2: brain if you don't do exercise versus you don't. So
Speaker 2: just by moving your body and increasing your circulation, you
Speaker 2: train your system to improve your blood flow. Better blood
Speaker 2: flow also, and then particularly because you're using fuel, it
Speaker 2: makes you more inchulin sensitive. Inchulin resistance, which is the
Speaker 2: poor poor management of blood sugar that is one of
Speaker 2: the quickest ways to degrade your neural tissue and also
Speaker 2: to damage neural tissue as well. So regulating blood sugar level,
Speaker 2: so if you can't even get up for walking right now,
Speaker 2: Just start walking for ten minutes after every meal, and
Speaker 2: you'll regulate your blood sugar levels better. We I mean.
Speaker 2: Then also there's a motivation piece as well to say, yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm going to do this exercise. I'm going to tell
Speaker 2: my brain that I can do it. And so not
Speaker 2: only are you increasing blood flow, not only are you
Speaker 2: providing more miracle grow for your brain, but you're also
Speaker 2: then saying, I want to think this way. If you're
Speaker 2: going to grow new brain cells, grow them with the
Speaker 2: along the lines of I can do this like firm
Speaker 2: up that belief. So you've got this really amazing stacking
Speaker 2: idea of if I'm exercising, telling myself I'm great. Plus,
Speaker 2: not only am I getting blood blow, I'm getting bead
Speaker 2: blood sugar, better blood sugar management. I'm also creating my
Speaker 2: own antioxidants which decrease damage to the brain as well,
Speaker 2: and I'm increasing protection of my brain. And then I'm
Speaker 2: coupling that with a psychological exercise. I'm growing my brain
Speaker 2: exactly the way that I want to. And evolutionarily, why
Speaker 2: would we walk, why would we run? It was for
Speaker 2: something important. The only time we would spend energy was
Speaker 2: for something important, so our brain its memory picks up.
Speaker 2: So if you exercise and then try and remember stuff,
Speaker 2: you'll remember it better because your body says, whatever I
Speaker 2: just ran for, I need to remember this. So there's
Speaker 2: a whole lot of things just by getting out and
Speaker 2: just even simply walking but for a period of time
Speaker 2: forty to forty five minutes, and then as you increase
Speaker 2: that intensity, it's good lifting weights. There's also a different
Speaker 2: pathway of benefits as well that increase brain growth and
Speaker 2: the factors that support that too, so stronger and fitter,
Speaker 2: fantastic and even more flexible, so stretching mobility, and this
Speaker 2: is where yogic practices. Stretching generally, it particularly combined with
Speaker 2: breathing mind body connection, significantly increases the immune system, significantly
Speaker 2: decreases stress. It also unwinds the tension in muscle and fashia,
Speaker 2: and if that's unwound, then you don't have signals going
Speaker 2: from your body up to your brain to say there's
Speaker 2: something wrong. It actually decreases the stress and the signaling
Speaker 2: of stress that goes to your brain, so it can
Speaker 2: focus on the stuff that it wants to do, not
Speaker 2: on managing stress. So the whole gamut of movement is
Speaker 2: going to powerfully, directly grigrow your brain. And the best
Speaker 2: story that I know about this, and then I'll switch
Speaker 2: to the next one, is the Sea Squirt. I don't
Speaker 2: know if any ever heard of the Sea Squirt. This
Speaker 2: is the story in Sparking, a great book John J. Rady. Anyway,
Speaker 2: I don't make money off the sales of these books.
Speaker 2: I just loved it. The sea squirt starts with four
Speaker 2: hundred neurons when it's a mobile little thing. These are
Speaker 2: like those those little things that attached to the coral
Speaker 2: and they open and shut their mouth. At the start
Speaker 2: of their life, they're like a little sport, and then
Speaker 2: they have a little brain and they're motoring around. As
Speaker 2: soon as they find a nice bit of coral or
Speaker 2: rock to patch onto, they do that. They latch on.
Speaker 2: And then the first thing that they do when they
Speaker 2: are no longer going to move for the rest of
Speaker 2: their life is it consumes its brain. So the neurons
Speaker 2: that was useful during movement are now no longer useful,
Speaker 2: and our brain is very much the same. If you
Speaker 2: are increasing sedentary activity, if you are not using your
Speaker 2: brain to progress your passions, and use your natural strengths
Speaker 2: and various things like that. Then your brain will consume
Speaker 2: itself and then it will have less capacity. So there's
Speaker 2: a very direct correlation. If you use it, it gets
Speaker 2: bigger and stronger, and if you use it in the
Speaker 2: right way, even better. Again, but if you don't use it,
Speaker 2: it will disintegrate. And if you don't use your muscles,
Speaker 2: it will disintegrate as well. And so wow, we've now
Speaker 2: got this dom to pause there or you're going to
Speaker 2: keep rolling? No, great, all right, very good, and then
Speaker 2: we'll go. I'm just conscious that I love Tata chatting
Speaker 2: about this stuff. So the next thing is food. The
Speaker 2: food that you eat really matters. So obviously your brain matter.
Speaker 2: It's not just making, it's not just magicing itself into life.
Speaker 2: It is actually comprised of fuels. And so when you
Speaker 2: particularly in this where amiga trees, amiga threes are a
Speaker 2: very important part of the outer lining of your sheet,
Speaker 2: the milin sheath, and that's what makes the neurons very
Speaker 2: flexible as they develop. So if you've just got a
Speaker 2: diet really rich in saturated fats, the way that the
Speaker 2: neurons develop is more stiff because saturated fats are harder
Speaker 2: and stiffer, whereas amiga threes make them very flexible and pliable,
Speaker 2: so they have a better chance to survive as they grow.
Speaker 2: But it's also a very important constituent as part of
Speaker 2: that tissue. We also know that antioxidants, like in your
Speaker 2: fruits and vegetables and your supergreens and all of those
Speaker 2: types of things. They are absolutely pivotal in reducing stress
Speaker 2: that comes from just thinking. You know, there's oxidative stress,
Speaker 2: and that can degrade your brain tissue. So they go
Speaker 2: in there and they reduce that. They can also protect
Speaker 2: little baby neurons as they're growing and protect the particular
Speaker 2: regions of your brain. Hydration is going to be very
Speaker 2: very important, and there are a lot of other nutrients
Speaker 2: as well that are going to be key for proper
Speaker 2: brain functioning. Your B vitamins, and there's big differences in
Speaker 2: the way that we process and produce dopamines and are adrenalines,
Speaker 2: these focus hormones, and understanding the nutrients that are appropriate
Speaker 2: for that is very helpful. But B vitamins, Vitamin B,
Speaker 2: you know, generally all of the essential vitamins and minerals
Speaker 2: are also key for this brain tissue as well. So
Speaker 2: and we know that as soon as you start eating
Speaker 2: foods that are charred, lots of high sugar, high saturator fats,
Speaker 2: highly processed, that brings in its own damaging compounds into
Speaker 2: the brain and then it reduces the ability for the
Speaker 2: tissues to grow. And as I say this, I just
Speaker 2: almost want to vomit. You know about me talking about
Speaker 2: junk food at the start of the session, But you know,
Speaker 2: this is just the reality of things. You get about
Speaker 2: moving and a lot of those evils are managed a
Speaker 2: little bit. So, but essentially, the more of that food
Speaker 2: that you put in, the more strain you put onto
Speaker 2: your system, the worse it's going to go. So this
Speaker 2: is where some individuals will do really well with six
Speaker 2: meals per day because their brain is just firing along
Speaker 2: at such a speed that those regular meals actually bring
Speaker 2: them down into rest and calm, whereas another person, their
Speaker 2: brain doesn't operate firing along, It works along steadily and rhythmically.
Speaker 2: And they also have that We often find those individuals
Speaker 2: have blood sugar issues and so they need to have
Speaker 2: less frequent meals with lighter dinners for example, so and
Speaker 2: more plant based. So there's different meal frequencies. But this
Speaker 2: is also another very important part of our system and
Speaker 2: that this is where mindfulness comes in as well. So
Speaker 2: we've got exercise and food and sleep, but then also
Speaker 2: the practice of active recovery throughout the day, so mindful practices.
Speaker 2: But it's a regulation of the sympathetic and power sympathetic
Speaker 2: nervous system. Now, for general people out there, sympathetic is
Speaker 2: there's something that I've got to be up for, so
Speaker 2: i mobile all my energy, I get really alert, and
Speaker 2: I'm firing into things. I've got to take care of
Speaker 2: all of this stuff, so my brain's going to be
Speaker 2: alert and firing. Or when you're running away from something
Speaker 2: or just running, generally there's sympathetic nervous system, whereas parasympathetic
Speaker 2: is I'm chill, I'm calm, I'm eating, I'm digesting, I'm
Speaker 2: feeling good. And everyone knows when you try and combine
Speaker 2: both of those things, you get a stitch. If you're
Speaker 2: trying to rest and digest while you're trying to run,
Speaker 2: you get a stitch. So this is you can't have
Speaker 2: both of those systems working together. So one of the
Speaker 2: biggest things about our brain is that if you're using
Speaker 2: it all day long, and overcaffeinating, which is essentially just
Speaker 2: turning allowing your brain to dial up its energy and
Speaker 2: it's not adrenals to stay focused. If you don't get
Speaker 2: an appropriate amount of recovery, this is where you can
Speaker 2: degrade your brain as well, just by overuse of it.
Speaker 2: And everybody knows this. It's just like, oh, I just
Speaker 2: feel so flattened at the end of the day between
Speaker 2: six and eight, my brain is completely dead. I can't
Speaker 2: do anything with it. I've got no tolerance for the kids.
Speaker 2: And this is essentially with maybe overcaffeinated. We've pushed too hard,
Speaker 2: we've been on alert, too worried, too panicked about our
Speaker 2: life or whatever it might be, all day long, putting
Speaker 2: on a mask at work to say, oh, I'm totally
Speaker 2: competent and amazing at everything. This is very, very draining
Speaker 2: for the brain. And we see for some individuals, you know,
Speaker 2: you can tell by the way that I speak. It's
Speaker 2: for individuals like me that are one hundred percent on
Speaker 2: all of the time. The rest and recovery, like mindful
Speaker 2: practices like breathing, like yoga, like meditation, all of these
Speaker 2: are absolutely key at particular times in the day. And
Speaker 2: that particular time differs for different people to allow your
Speaker 2: brain to recover, to refuel. Otherwise, the stress that you
Speaker 2: place on your brain can degrade the tissue as well.
Speaker 2: So that's for to start with. And then you know
Speaker 2: your relationships, your environment, your work. If they're not aligned
Speaker 2: with who you are, or if you're not growing through those,
Speaker 2: then there's just background stress as well, and we can
Speaker 2: talk about those another time. They would be the they'd
Speaker 2: be the few keys that I'd be focusing on straight away.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. A couple of specific questions. One and there's
Speaker 1: no I know there's no answer to this, but a
Speaker 1: guideline or your thoughts on caffeine consumption. Yes, very good,
Speaker 1: and I know it depends on weight and genetics, and
Speaker 1: that's fine.
Speaker 2: Easy one. It's easy one. You wait, wait two to
Speaker 2: three hours after you wake up. A lot of people
Speaker 2: say ninety minutes. Cubanman says ninety minutes. I like the
Speaker 2: first coffee at around about ten as a rule, and
Speaker 2: this is for most people. This is because you naturally
Speaker 2: so the starting at ten. If you are drinking coffee
Speaker 2: all day long, I'll take eight o'clock. But a couple
Speaker 2: of hours ninety minutes after you wake up, and then
Speaker 2: you've got to stop at one to two pm. Generally,
Speaker 2: if you are relying on coffee to stay awake, then
Speaker 2: your energy sucks. All coffee's doing is it says, oh, no,
Speaker 2: you're not tired. You can keep going, and then it
Speaker 2: makes you more alert at the same time, even if
Speaker 2: you've got less energy. So you might have less energy,
Speaker 2: but your brain says, no, I feel good, so that
Speaker 2: it creates some psychological resilience to allow you yourself to
Speaker 2: keep going. But it's artificial, and it will mean that
Speaker 2: you crash harder at the end. Because caffeine stays in
Speaker 2: your body for at least eight hours, can be up
Speaker 2: to twenty four hours with half life and things like that.
Speaker 2: You want to make sure that you are eight hours
Speaker 2: clear from your bedtime when you have your last coffee. Generally,
Speaker 2: caffeine itself is not bad. It depends on a source.
Speaker 2: You know. Having caffeine tablets is very different to the
Speaker 2: caffeine and green tea, where there's some balancing agents and
Speaker 2: adaptogens that actually smooth. Caffeine by itself constricts your art
Speaker 2: trees and makes you more attentive. Caffeine and green tea
Speaker 2: opens up your ar trees to create better blood flow,
Speaker 2: but also creates attention. And so it's a calm focus.
Speaker 2: And that is flow, that is happiness, that is love,
Speaker 2: is calm attention. So anything that's supporting you to be
Speaker 2: calm and attentive is great because that's where that's where
Speaker 2: the magic is going to be, and that's where the
Speaker 2: right rhythms through the day is going to have a
Speaker 2: big impact as well.
Speaker 1: See if I think you and I need to get
Speaker 1: some grown tea.
Speaker 3: I drink green tea sometimes, do you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're going to go. But I've got one random
Speaker 1: a rando. Here's a rando for you. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you even know the answer to this or you
Speaker 1: have any insight into this, but a bloke that Tiff
Speaker 1: knows and I know, whose name may or may not
Speaker 1: be the crab, who is a walking experiment who's been
Speaker 1: experimenting on himself in a million different ways for about
Speaker 1: forty years, has taken to recently the bloke that doesn't smoke.
Speaker 1: Should I say this, Oh fuck it, throw him under
Speaker 1: the bus. No, yeah, he's quite open about it. No,
Speaker 1: we're not talking steroids or anything like that. But he's
Speaker 1: taken to wearing a seven milligram nicotine patch on his
Speaker 1: shoulder every day because he's been researching all the cognitive
Speaker 1: and eutropic benefits of nicotine, which I've had a bit
Speaker 1: of a scoot around myself. There's I'm not saying it's
Speaker 1: healthy or good for you, but there does seem to
Speaker 1: be something in it. So what are your thoughts.
Speaker 2: Well, it's a it's a central nervous system stimulator. It's
Speaker 2: activating your sympathetic nervous system, which is great because it
Speaker 2: makes you focus, it makes you attend to better things,
Speaker 2: but it still requires rest. So it's good. And it's
Speaker 2: not one of the strategies that I go for with people.
Speaker 1: But I suggesting it at all anyone.
Speaker 2: No, no, no. But at the end of the day, like
Speaker 2: anything that makes you feel more weight, just by putting
Speaker 2: a chemical into your body is just signaling to your
Speaker 2: brain pay attention. That's it. And probably one of my
Speaker 2: most favorite experiments of all time, and this won't take
Speaker 2: too long, is people that have been given dopamine pills,
Speaker 2: and they're people that aren't given dopamine pills and people
Speaker 2: that are. So they put these people in a sweatsuit.
Speaker 2: This like rubber suit that's mega hot, and they essentially
Speaker 2: wanted them to exercise until they lost as much. Just
Speaker 2: exercise as much as they can until they overheat. That
Speaker 2: was the goal of the study. And what they found
Speaker 2: is that people normally would get to about thirty eight
Speaker 2: degrees and say I'm out. This is dangerous. I feel terrible.
Speaker 2: I've almost passed passed out off my bike. Then people
Speaker 2: are given dopamine don't mean reuptake inhibitors, which has similarity
Speaker 2: to some medications that we provide children. By the way,
Speaker 2: I just note that, And then they made them do
Speaker 2: the experiment again. They got to forty degrees of body temperature,
Speaker 2: that's almost hospitalization fever, and they said, how are you feeling?
Speaker 2: Oh great, I could keep going, but they had to
Speaker 2: stop them because it was now going to be very,
Speaker 2: very dangerous their health. Because when you've got enough dopamine,
Speaker 2: you just go whatever I'm doing, this is the best.
Speaker 2: You feel so good that you don't experience the pain.
Speaker 2: And so anything like caffeine, like nicotine, like any name
Speaker 2: your drug that stimulates your brain that puts you into action,
Speaker 2: there is a cost to you spending that energy and
Speaker 2: that cost must be repaid in nourishment, in rest and recovery.
Speaker 2: So if you're going to start playing with those things,
Speaker 2: then make sure that you have got your rest and
Speaker 2: recovery on lock. Otherwise you don't get the benefits of
Speaker 2: all of this extra attentive. Like, that's the crazy thing
Speaker 2: about it.
Speaker 1: There's so many people now more. I mean, I can't
Speaker 1: prove this, but it like, maybe it's just some people
Speaker 1: I've talked to, but I talk to a fair few students,
Speaker 1: and a lot of people are using basic anti narcolepsy
Speaker 1: drugs like provigial modafino, all of these things that like
Speaker 1: a lot, not a few, Like I reckon, I know
Speaker 1: thirty people who use stimulants to focus and stay awake
Speaker 1: and optimize in inverted commas, nudge nudge their brain.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's bloody. It's this search for the magic pill,
Speaker 2: and it'll be gold for a while, and then your
Speaker 2: brain will get very, very tired and you either get
Speaker 2: sick or you break down or you keep upping the dose.
Speaker 2: But there is a cost to all of these things,
Speaker 2: and they can be used really really safely if you're
Speaker 2: just supporting your brain to actually use the energy that
Speaker 2: you're asking of it as well. It's just like seeing
Speaker 2: your kid a little bit tired and then you just
Speaker 2: hit them hard. You know, just keep going, You'll be sweet.
Speaker 2: Just hit them a bit harder. It's just like saying, oh, no,
Speaker 2: this is really important, I keep going otherwise it's really hurt.
Speaker 2: It's like, yeah, no worries. It's like, this is what
Speaker 2: we're doing to our brain. We're just hitting it hard
Speaker 2: to say pay attention, stay away, No, I no, you're tired,
Speaker 2: forget about that. Stay away like it's not constructive and
Speaker 2: quite destructive unless you're taking really good measures to rest
Speaker 2: and recover.
Speaker 1: Isn't it funny how much we don't pay attention to
Speaker 1: our body? All right, we've got to go. Doctor Cam.
Speaker 1: Tell people where they can find you, follow you, connect
Speaker 1: with you, and pay you an obscene amount of money
Speaker 1: to work with their organization.
Speaker 2: You can find me if you look. Just look up
Speaker 2: doctor Cam McDonald Shay group. Just google that and my
Speaker 2: website will pop up and it will take you to
Speaker 2: whether you're the health professional, corporate, workplace, school, jim, whatever
Speaker 2: you do, where we're working with everybody in precision health
Speaker 2: and making sure everyone can get the right things for
Speaker 2: them because all of that stuff that I just shared,
Speaker 2: even green tea is not suitable for some people. So
Speaker 2: it's worth finding out, actually, what's going to be your
Speaker 2: mixture that supports you to get into your best space.
Speaker 1: Does having a whippet and a cat improve cognitive function?
Speaker 2: I just don't want to talk about that stuff online
Speaker 2: and just throw Tiff under the bus with it all.
Speaker 2: But she's look she seems happy enough, so I'm glad
Speaker 2: for her in the
Speaker 1: Yeah, thanks Doc, Thanks Tiff.