WEBVTT - Session 474: What Weathering Does to Black Women's Bodies 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:14.480 Welcome to the Therapy for Black Girls podcast, a weekly 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:19.320 conversation about mental health, personal development, and all the small 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:22.480 decisions we can make to become the best possible versions 0:00:22.520 --> 0:00:26.600 of ourselves. I'm your host, doctor Joy hard and Bradford, 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:32.040 a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information or 0:00:32.200 --> 0:00:35.600 to find a therapist in your area, visit our website 0:00:35.720 --> 0:00:39.440 at Therapy for Blackgirls dot com. While I hope you 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:43.479 love listening to and learning from the podcast, it is 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:46.400 not meant to be a substitute for a relationship with 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:57.520 a licensed mental health professional. Hey, y'all, thanks so much 0:00:57.520 --> 0:00:59.680 for joining me for session four seventy four of the 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:03.440 Therapy for Black Girls podcasts. In this conversation, I'm joined 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:06.880 by neuropsychologists doctor Tanisha Hill Jareded for a deep dive 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:10.880 into brain health and cognitive aging. We're exploring the neurological 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:14.080 impact of our digital habits and discussing the everyday practices 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:17.319 that support long term wellness. Press play and let's get 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:29.560 into it right after our break. We talk a lot 0:01:29.600 --> 0:01:32.319 on this show about protecting our mental health, but today 0:01:32.360 --> 0:01:36.320 we're widening the lens to something bigger brain health. Doctor 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:40.360 Tanisha Hill Jared is a neuropsychologist at UCSF's Memory and 0:01:40.440 --> 0:01:43.559 Aging Center, and her research looks at why black women 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:47.240 carry the highest projected rates of Alzheimer's disease of any group. 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:50.559 We get into the five habits, she recommends to every 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:53.400 patient what our phones are doing to our sleep and 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:57.400 our attention and the concept of weathering the biological told 0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:00.360 that living under structural racism and sexism takes on the 0:02:00.400 --> 0:02:03.720 body over time. She also walks us through her work 0:02:03.720 --> 0:02:07.920 on afrofuturism and hopefulness and why she believes imagining the 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:11.520 future we want is its own brain health practice. Here's 0:02:11.560 --> 0:02:19.360 our conversation. Thank you so much for joining us today, 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:20.119 doctor Tanisha. 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:23.040 Thank you for having me. It's really nice to be here. 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:25.600 Thank you, Thank you. So I would love for you 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:27.639 to get us started by telling us a little bit 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:30.680 about your background and what drew you to neuropsychology. 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:36.160 Yes, so, hi everyone, I am doctor Tanisha Hill Jarrett. 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:41.800 I am a neuropsychologist and assistant professor at the University 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:45.440 of California at San Francisco's Memory and Aging Center. And 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:49.160 really I got into neuropsychology in this interesting way. I 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:53.280 actually didn't really know what neuropsychology was, but I knew 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.359 I wanted to study psychology, and because I was always 0:02:56.360 --> 0:03:00.920 interested in human behavior, the why behind why people engage 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:02.600 the way they do, why they act the way they do, 0:03:03.280 --> 0:03:06.560 and I also was interested in understanding the brain, which 0:03:06.720 --> 0:03:10.200 we understand drives why people engage in the behaviors that 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:13.800 they do. And so as an undergraduate, I actually studied 0:03:13.840 --> 0:03:18.040 psychology and neuroscience. And then one of my mentors later 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:20.359 in my undergraduate degree was like, well, have you heard 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:24.000 of neuropsychology. It's really the combination of the two of them. 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:26.800 And so that's when I started looking into it, and 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:30.639 I felt like neuroscience was a little too bench science 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:33.160 for me. I wanted something that I could work with 0:03:33.200 --> 0:03:35.720 people directly, and so for me, that's where I got 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:39.200 into neuropsychology and I decided to pursue it in graduate school. 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:42.680 And even further you specifically focus on cognitive aging. So 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:44.400 tell us how about how you got into that as 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:45.000 a specialty. 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:48.200 Yes, that was also a little bit of a journey 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:52.240 for me. So my graduate degree, when I was studying 0:03:52.280 --> 0:03:55.440 for graduate school, I actually focused on traumatic brain injury 0:03:56.040 --> 0:04:00.640 and focused on attention changes. After traumatic brain injury. So 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:04.680 it was a neuropsychology program, but I used cognitive neuroscience methods, 0:04:05.000 --> 0:04:10.560 so things like EEG, MRI, etc. And at that time, 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:13.920 there was emerging evidence that there was this relationship between 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:18.440 traumatic brain injury and dementia and Alzheimer's disease, and so 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.840 I started looking more into that and started becoming more 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:26.000 interested in Alzheimer's disease aging cognitive aging, and what I 0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:29.160 saw were that there were disparities and so Black Americans 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:33.000 were disproportionately impacted by Alzheimer's disease, and so I decided 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:35.480 to focus my career on understanding the why behind that. 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:38.279 So we're talking about brain health, what are we talking 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:41.040 about specifically, and how is that different, if at all, 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:41.880 from mental health? 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:46.960 Right, So brain health is not necessarily just the absence 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:50.919 of disease or the lack of underlying pathology, And so 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:54.640 the World Health Organization actually thinks about it and across 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:57.120 a couple of different domains. So they think about it 0:04:57.160 --> 0:05:01.400 as being the combination of a person's cognitive function, their 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:06.160 socio emotional functioning, behavioral functioning, sensory functioning, as well as 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:09.480 motor functioning. So it's quite broad and really when we 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:12.160 think about mental health, mental health is kind of subsumed 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:15.000 under brain health. So mental health is a component of 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:17.920 a person's brain health, and so doing things that are 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:20.800 good for your mental health also supports a person's brain health. 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:24.040 So we are here in so many conversations recently around 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:28.200 like productivity and optimization, Well, what actually matters most when 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:30.560 we're talking about preserving our brain health. You already talked 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:33.080 about like these several dimensions. I'm guessing it's maybe a 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:35.040 little bit across these dimensions. 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:39.400 Yeah, So when I see people clinically, I tell them 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:42.320 to really focus on a couple of core things. One 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:48.560 thing is cardiovascular exercise. So engaging in cardiovascular exercise supports 0:05:48.600 --> 0:05:53.120 our brain vascular system and ultimately is good for brain health. 0:05:53.480 --> 0:05:56.880 And typically what's recommended is engaging in about one hundred 0:05:56.920 --> 0:06:01.280 and fifty minutes of moderate cardiovascular exercise, which sounds like 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:03.840 a lot one hundred and fifty minutes per week, but 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:06.440 really if you break it down, it's really thirty minutes 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:09.240 a day if you just do it during the weekdays, right, 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:14.240 And what's moderate cardiovascular exercise it's more than just walking, 0:06:14.279 --> 0:06:17.360 and it's really something that it leaves you a little 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:19.320 bit out of breath, but you're not like panting, so 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:21.640 it's challenging for you to talk while you're engaging in 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:25.760 that activity. So that's one thing. Engaging in cardiovascular exercise. 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:28.479 The other thing is eating a heart healthy diet. So 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:30.680 really what I share is what's good for your heart 0:06:30.760 --> 0:06:33.880 is also good for your brain. And there's been research 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:38.040 showing that the Mediterranean diet in particular is really supportive 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:40.520 of brain health. And what the research has shown is 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.120 that people that live in the Mediterranean actually have lower 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:47.080 incidents of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. And 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:53.080 so the Mediterranean diet consists of things like fish, whole grains, berries, 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:57.880 leafy foods, olive oil, et cetera. There's also what's called 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:00.719 the DASH diet, and I cannot remember the exact acronym, 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:04.279 but basically it's like an anti hypertensive diet, So the 0:07:04.320 --> 0:07:08.520 Mind diet the DASH diet. The other thing is managing stress, 0:07:08.920 --> 0:07:12.960 so reducing things that cause stressors in our lives, and 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:15.880 that can be by just like reducing the external stressor, 0:07:15.880 --> 0:07:20.200 but also seeking social support, engaging in spirituality or coping 0:07:20.240 --> 0:07:23.920 practices that are meaningful to you, So that's the other thing. 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:26.760 And then the last two things I typically recommend our 0:07:26.920 --> 0:07:30.800 social engagement, so getting out there talking to people, having 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:35.280 meaningful social connections, and then sleep, so getting really good 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:38.679 quality sleep. And the interesting thing is as we get older, 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:41.120 the actual number of hours of sleep that we need 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:45.600 reduces over time, but it's still recommended for like middle 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:48.880 aged adults to get around seven solid hours of sleep. 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:51.880 And the reason for that is while we're sleeping, our 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:54.960 brain has what's called the glymphatic system, and it clears 0:07:55.000 --> 0:07:59.520 out these abnormalities, like these protein abnormalities and neurotoxins that 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:02.400 develop in our brain. And so while we're sleeping, it's 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:05.120 like washing out these bad things that can contribute to 0:08:05.560 --> 0:08:08.240 certain forms of dementia over time. So it's really important 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:10.160 to get sleep as well. So those are like the 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:12.880 core things that I recommend people do to preserve their 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:13.840 brain health over time. 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:16.800 Can you say more about the social engagement and how 0:08:16.800 --> 0:08:18.560 that actually impacts your brain health. 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:23.040 So social engagement I think gives people a sense of purpose, 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:26.680 It gives you a sense of connectedness to people. It 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:31.160 also one of the things is talking to people, engaging 0:08:31.160 --> 0:08:34.120 in conversation. The one thing that we know about the 0:08:34.120 --> 0:08:37.040 brain is that challenging your brain to think in new 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:42.360 ways is really important for neuroplasticity. So the ability for 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:46.080 us to form those new brain connections, those neuronal connections, 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:50.000 and with social engagement, it offers us the opportunity one 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.920 to meet new people, to talk to people about things 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:56.280 perhaps that we haven't thought about or engaged in these 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:58.920 new sorts of ways. And it also gives people kind 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:01.600 of a sense of purpose and meaning to their life 0:09:01.600 --> 0:09:04.480 as well. So I think all of these things combined 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:06.120 helped to support brain health. 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:10.320 I really appreciate you offering that list because one of 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:12.199 the things that I have been very curious about, and 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:15.160 as a podcast we've been very curious about, is all 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:18.480 of the digital technology, like all of the things that 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:21.120 really impact it sounds like a lot of the things 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:22.920 that you were saying, we actually should be doing, right. 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:25.040 So we know that if we're like upscrolling on our phone, 0:09:25.080 --> 0:09:27.880 we're not getting quality sleep or maybe the hours of sleep, right. 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:31.160 But can you talk about like the impact of social 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:33.360 media and kind of like being on our phones and 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:37.080 so connected to devices, what impact does that have on 0:09:37.080 --> 0:09:37.760 our brain? Help? 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:40.760 Yeah, it's interesting because it's a double edged swort. So 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:44.800 like when I think about it, it offers an opportunity 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:48.080 for social connection. And I'm thinking during the pandemic times, 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:51.120 right when we were actually socially isolated, really the only 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:53.679 way that we had to connect to one another when 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:57.719 we were quarantining was through social media, so things like Instagram, 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:00.960 TikTok et, cetera. And I also think it offers us 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:04.760 the opportunity to cast a wider net to reach people 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:08.400 perhaps that I never would have known existed, or to 0:10:08.520 --> 0:10:11.200 learn about different people and the ideas that they're sharing 0:10:11.240 --> 0:10:13.679 with the world. I know that people have reached out 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:17.000 to me via social media because they've seen my content 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:19.720 on social media. So I don't think it's all bad, 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:22.920 but I also think that it can be, you know, 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:26.679 if used in a way that's negligent, or if you're 0:10:26.720 --> 0:10:30.680 not mindful about your use. So when we think about sleep, 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:34.640 the blue light, actually there's an association between blue light 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:38.240 and quality of sleep, and so there's evidence that's coming 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:42.480 out showing that it reduces our melatonin production, which disrupts 0:10:42.559 --> 0:10:46.160 our rem sleep cycle, so it actually interferes with our 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:48.680 quality of sleep. And I know sometimes like when I 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:50.080 wake up in the middle of the night. The first 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:52.520 thing I do is go, I grab that phone and 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:55.600 I start scrolling, And actually that's not what you should 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:58.400 be doing. So that's one thing. The other thing, I 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.720 think it's interesting to think about social media from like 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:06.640 an addiction standpoint, and really what we're seeing is that 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:09.480 this kind of short form content what's coming out of 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:13.120 social media, So like these very brief videos like thirty 0:11:13.160 --> 0:11:17.079 seconds to a minute, right, that's pretty standard for TikTok 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:22.199 or Instagram these other platforms, creates this burst of dopamine, 0:11:22.520 --> 0:11:27.200 So dopamines that feel good neurotransmitter that comes from the 0:11:27.280 --> 0:11:30.439 region of the brain called the ventral tegmental area and 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:33.320 the ventral tegmental area, so it shoots this burst of 0:11:33.360 --> 0:11:36.120 dopamine and it actually goes to this region of the 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:40.560 brain called the nucleus accompanies, which when we look at addiction, 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:44.120 those two parts of the brain are actually implicated in 0:11:44.160 --> 0:11:48.319 addictive behaviors. And what we're seeing is that in addiction 0:11:48.480 --> 0:11:51.839 and things like gambling, drugs, and maybe even social media. 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:55.480 I mean, people are still investigating this. There's ten times 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:58.600 the burst of dopamine that you receive compared to just 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:01.880 a typical reward that you would receive, So it's actually 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:06.800 flooding this system. And the nucleus accumbence is really important 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:11.120 for like motivation desire. So this pathway that links these 0:12:11.160 --> 0:12:14.760 two brain regions is this cyclical thing that puts you 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:18.640 in this loop of addiction. And so it's possible that 0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:22.240 with like social media, we're constantly seeking that next video, 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:25.880 We're constantly seeking something that satisfies us, that kind of 0:12:25.920 --> 0:12:28.719 fulfills that craving that we're looking for in this kind 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:32.400 of short form content. And so I think that there's 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:35.640 definitely an association and people are looking at this between 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:41.480 social media engagement and addiction. The other thing I think 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:45.600 that's really important to keep in mind is when I 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:49.360 go back to sleep, it also impacts our memory consolidation, right, 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:52.840 so like if we're not sleeping, well, we're actually not 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:57.000 able to retain the things that we experience throughout the 0:12:57.040 --> 0:13:00.320 day or learned throughout the day. So that's another piece. 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:03.240 And then when I think about attention, I can speak 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:06.760 for myself getting these little bursts of things here and 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:10.000 there right in the short form content. It requires you 0:13:10.040 --> 0:13:13.080 to divide your attention. I know, like I'm scrolling while 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:15.800 I'm like looking at something on my laptop, or I'm 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:18.760 like listening to somebody talk, but I'm also on my phone, 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:22.360 And I think it causes our attention span to shorten 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:26.320 over time, and our ability to like focus for like 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:31.520 these deep intensive periods has reduced. We'll see because I 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:36.120 think for Gen Alpha and the people that were basically 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:39.840 like post millennials, they grew up with social media, right, 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:42.680 and so we'll kind of be able to compare over 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:45.680 time what the impact of this has on people's brains 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:46.960 and they're developing brains. 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:49.680 Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, when I hear you talk 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:52.240 about like the shots of dopamine, it does make me 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:55.240 really curious around if you know of any like researcher, 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:58.000 maybe you can speak to this. The dopamine that kind 0:13:58.000 --> 0:14:00.640 of floods the system from like a thirty seven video 0:14:00.800 --> 0:14:04.600 versus like a two hour movie. Is the dopamine distributed 0:14:04.760 --> 0:14:08.120 kind of over across time for a two hour movie 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:10.640 versus like a quick verse for thirty seconds. Can you 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:11.560 talk to that at all? 0:14:11.720 --> 0:14:15.800 Yeah? You know, I don't know if anybody's directly compared it, 0:14:15.880 --> 0:14:19.000 but my thought would be so like these quick bursts 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:22.880 and like with social media, in particular the reinforcement schedule. 0:14:22.880 --> 0:14:25.800 Like if we think back to basic psychology and reinforcement, 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:30.200 social media is considered an intermittent reinforcement schedule to where 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:33.240 you're getting things that are interesting to you, not consistently, 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:35.680 right Like if you think about your for you page 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:38.240 or if you're just like scrolling your timeline, there might 0:14:38.280 --> 0:14:40.960 be something that's interesting, there might not be something that's interesting, 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.520 and then you find something that's like super interesting. So 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:48.000 that inconsistency is actually what contributes to the addiction because 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:49.960 you're not exactly sure when you're going to get that 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:54.440 next like superflood of dopamine, so you constantly seek that, 0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:58.440 whereas with a film, it's kind of like this persistent 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:02.640 thing that's happened throughout a longer duration of time. So 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:05.680 I feel like social media, because it's like such a 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:10.440 short snippet, might actually be more more addictive. I would 0:15:10.440 --> 0:15:13.120 think in terms of like the bursts of dopamine and 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:15.640 the schedule, like that reinforcement schedule, you. 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:17.800 Know, And we've been having conversations in the community about 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:20.240 people just feeling exhausted, right Like it kind of feels 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:22.440 like we all have just like a thousand tabs open 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:25.440 in our mind constantly switching back and forth. So for 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:28.320 people who are listening who just maybe feel exhausted and 0:15:28.360 --> 0:15:30.720 feel like their brain may be begging for something else, 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:32.800 what kinds of things would you suggest? 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:37.160 I really love that Instagram now has a timer, and 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:41.840 I've actually started experimenting with it myself. You can set 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:44.320 a limit to how long you're on social media, and 0:15:44.360 --> 0:15:46.120 I know there's apps that allow you to do that 0:15:46.200 --> 0:15:50.000 as well, where it'll literally block you from engaging. So 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:54.119 I think being mindful about how much time you're actually spending. 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:59.200 And I've actually created a completely separate Instagram account, like 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:02.280 one is professional, one is personal. But I've found that 0:16:02.360 --> 0:16:06.400 on my professional one, it's really highly curated to things 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:09.120 that I'm professionally interested in, and I've found that it 0:16:09.160 --> 0:16:13.720 tends to be a little bit more positive, I guess overall. 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:15.840 And it's not that like the people that I'm following 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:19.640 are always negative, but I find that like being intentional 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:22.280 about what I'm curating and what I'm consuming is also 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:25.840 a piece of that to support my own mental health. 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:28.880 And so yeah, I definitely have two separate accounts, and 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:32.120 it's interesting comparing across the two. What sort of content 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:35.760 comes up. So that's I think another thing. And then 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:38.600 I would also say, like meet people in real life, 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:40.520 you know, in three D. Get out there in the 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:43.520 real world, and remember that there are people out there 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:46.400 and there's other ways of engaging beyond just social media. 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:49.160 And I think social media has its perks. It can 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:52.520 be helpful. I think that that's what society has adjusted to. 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:55.800 But I also think that, yeah, like reading a book, 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:57.480 like you don't always have to read it on your 0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:01.000 kindle or read articles online like Prince stuff out, go 0:17:01.080 --> 0:17:04.600 to the park and read. So remembering that there's like 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:07.919 the analog the analog world still exists. It doesn't always 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:10.640 have to be a digital thing, and keeping in touch 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:12.200 with the analog world is important too. 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:15.720 Are there things specifically for people who maybe want to 0:17:15.960 --> 0:17:19.280 retrain their attention span? Right? Since we are, you know, 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:21.359 so used to quick hits, is there a way? I 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:23.320 mean you just mentioned kind of like reading book, reading 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:25.600 things in print, other other things you would offer for 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:27.119 like retraining. 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.399 That one thing that people do and I know that 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:32.639 I do this when I'm writing is called the Pomadero method, 0:17:33.119 --> 0:17:36.760 and so it's literally setting a goal but breaking it 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:41.000 up into specific fragments, so like based on the amount 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:42.480 of time you want to work. So say I want 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:46.160 to work for one hour, and I'm like, okay, I'll 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:49.160 do like a twenty minute session. Get up, take a break, 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:53.440 reset my mind, come sit back down, and start back again, 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:58.040 because I think that it's really challenging just to sustain 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:01.560 your attention. And I find that when I'm trying to 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:05.199 focus for extended periods of time without a break, I 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:08.639 actually don't even really get that much more done. But 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:10.920 if I would have taken that break and like reset, 0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:14.480 that opportunity to kind of reset, refresh, and then sit 0:18:14.560 --> 0:18:17.760 back down actually get more done, maybe even in a 0:18:17.760 --> 0:18:20.560 shorter period of time. That's one thing that I would 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:24.720 recommend as well. So breaking it up, taking breaks to 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:27.880 refocus your attention. I don't think we're meant to sustain 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:30.280 our attention for hours and hours at a time, so 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:34.200 having that opportunity to divide it up is really important too. 0:18:34.920 --> 0:18:36.720 So would you say, though, a key to the pound 0:18:36.800 --> 0:18:39.320 or method is that your reset should not involve like 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:42.119 a quick scroll, right, like maybe it's a quick walk 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:44.240 or like going outside and taking some deep breath or 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:44.720 something like that. 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:48.720 Absolutely, yes, we don't want to. We don't want just 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:53.119 something that like grabs our attention and pulls us into 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:56.000 something else. It's literally an opportunity for us to clear 0:18:56.080 --> 0:18:58.960 our minds of what we're actively working on, not to 0:18:59.680 --> 0:19:02.040 you know, divert or attention to something else. So you're 0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:06.240 exactly right, like taking a walk, taking some breaths, you know, 0:19:06.320 --> 0:19:09.600 engaging in mindfulness practices. All of that is really helpful. 0:19:09.800 --> 0:19:22.440 Yeah, more from our conversation after the break, So, as 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:25.000 you were talking about like your origin story, so to speak, 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:27.720 and what really got you interested, especially in the cognitive 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:30.760 aging piece, you talked about the disparities that you noticed 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:34.520 in how African Americans like there were higher rates of Alzheimer's, 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:36.880 and so a lot of your research actually now looks 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:40.439 at racism and sexism and how they intersect in cognitive aging. 0:19:40.800 --> 0:19:43.359 How do these experiences tend to show up in the 0:19:43.359 --> 0:19:44.320 brain across time. 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:47.600 What I focus on is what's called cognitive aging and 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:51.480 cognitive functioning, and so that's essentially our thinking skills. So 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:57.240 looking at things like attention, memory processing, speed, language functioning, 0:19:57.400 --> 0:20:01.040 et cetera, and I look at it across a person's 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:04.360 life course. And actually what we've been seeing is that 0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:09.640 these disparities exist and even in midlife, so anywhere from 0:20:09.680 --> 0:20:13.000 like forties to fifties. Even though oftentimes people are being 0:20:13.040 --> 0:20:16.440 diagnosed later in life, so in their sixties and seventies, 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:20.679 and the average age of a person having Alzheimer's diseases 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:25.520 around sixty five, these disparities emerge pretty early on in 0:20:25.560 --> 0:20:28.879 a person's life, which leads us to believe that people 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:31.359 are kind of put on this trajectory based on the 0:20:31.400 --> 0:20:35.720 structural experiences that they're subjected to throughout their life course. 0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:40.080 And so what my research has focused on is looking 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:44.720 historically at structural racism, how do we capture those experiences 0:20:44.960 --> 0:20:48.280 as well as structural sexism in their intersections, and how 0:20:48.320 --> 0:20:52.280 does that shape what's happening in contemporary times. So I 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:55.440 think it's important to look at like historically but also 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:59.879 present day because it's pervasive, but the way it may 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:04.640 infest changes over time. And so that's been the focus 0:21:04.920 --> 0:21:08.040 of my work. And what we've seen is that yes, 0:21:08.119 --> 0:21:12.240 black Americans have about one point five to two times 0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:17.120 higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease compared to white Americans. 0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:23.240 Latinos also experienced the disparity as well, and women actually 0:21:23.400 --> 0:21:26.800 have a higher prevalence of Alzheimer's disease. And so when 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:29.720 you look at the intersections, it's actually Black women that 0:21:29.800 --> 0:21:34.680 have the highest projected prevalence of Alzheimer's disease. And initially, 0:21:34.680 --> 0:21:37.720 I think people thought it was because women tend to 0:21:37.760 --> 0:21:41.280 live longer, and Alzheimer's disease is a disorder of aging, 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:46.600 but it's actually above and beyond women's ability or women's 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:50.520 longer life span, and it's above and beyond genetics as well. 0:21:50.960 --> 0:21:54.360 And so what research has really focused on are the 0:21:54.720 --> 0:21:58.240 like the social and structural determinants of Alzheimer's disease, So 0:21:58.320 --> 0:22:02.080 the environments that people are living in, aging, in work in, 0:22:02.280 --> 0:22:04.879 et cetera, and how that shapes their risk and contributes 0:22:04.920 --> 0:22:06.440 to this disparity over time. 0:22:06.760 --> 0:22:09.360 And what have your studies and even just your thoughts 0:22:09.600 --> 0:22:11.720 led you to believe around like why black women have 0:22:11.840 --> 0:22:14.400 the highest rates and at the time of it, So. 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:18.000 It's interesting, I think that there's been a lot of 0:22:18.440 --> 0:22:23.720 examination of the environment that people live in their neighborhoods 0:22:23.800 --> 0:22:27.960 and that sort of thing, and black women actually, even 0:22:28.160 --> 0:22:32.159 upwardly mobile black women, despite their socioeconomic status, actually end 0:22:32.240 --> 0:22:37.399 up disproportionately living in neighborhoods that are considered disadvantaged. And 0:22:37.440 --> 0:22:40.440 you can look at that in relation to what the 0:22:40.600 --> 0:22:46.160 demographics are of that neighborhood, so things like education, occupational status, 0:22:46.720 --> 0:22:51.600 environmental hazards, etc. So looking at that surrounding neighborhood environment. 0:22:51.680 --> 0:22:56.160 So it's not just about the family socioeconomic status, it's 0:22:56.240 --> 0:22:59.680 the actual like neighborhood and like living conditions as well, 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:04.280 smoke exposure. Is there green space for people to walk 0:23:04.320 --> 0:23:07.440 around and to go to the park. Do they exist 0:23:07.480 --> 0:23:09.159 in a place where there's like a food desert, so 0:23:09.200 --> 0:23:11.800 there's not access to healthy foods, et cetera. So there's 0:23:12.080 --> 0:23:15.280