Speaker 1: Oh Gromberg podcast. Hey listeners, Yeah, you guys, the good guys.
Speaker 1: Whether you're sitting in a palace or a hut or
Speaker 1: a spaceship, I'm talking to you asking the questions that
Speaker 1: you've been afraid to ask, the real tricky stuff like
Speaker 1: why do tears fall when I watched Terms of Endearment?
Speaker 1: Why do I giggle when I'm tickled by the feathers
Speaker 1: of my exotic birds? Why does laughter come when I
Speaker 1: watched Carolina fall down steps four years ago? But Carolina,
Speaker 1: we laughed so hard in front of you. But also
Speaker 1: after you left, there were some great imitations in the
Speaker 1: office of what you look like. I actually got a
Speaker 1: concussion and I actually had questions like why do I
Speaker 1: forget my nightmares? Why do I remember what my granny
Speaker 1: had inside her blue robe? What did your granny have
Speaker 1: inside her blue robe? Tits in a butt? She flashed
Speaker 1: me by accident. It was a long time ago, by accident.
Speaker 1: What happened, Well, I was a young kid. I was
Speaker 1: just taking the trash out and she was grabbing the mail,
Speaker 1: and she looked at me, slowly opened her robe and
Speaker 1: then shut it and went inside that I don't think
Speaker 1: that was by accident then sounds like she just flashed you.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm. Well let's add that to my list of questions.
Speaker 1: Why did my grandmother flash me? Why are people color blind?
Speaker 1: Why does Baxter have night tares? So I'm sorry, who
Speaker 1: are these questions for? Because there's a lot of them.
Speaker 1: I've got another question? Why does it take Carolina so
Speaker 1: long to get the point? Today we're talking to a
Speaker 1: real life brain scientist to get all those answers, and
Speaker 1: then some we'll learn the inner workings of the mind,
Speaker 1: that dark, cavernous space we rarely go. We use our
Speaker 1: minds to think, but we never use our minds to
Speaker 1: think about our minds. I don't know. Isn't that what
Speaker 1: therapy is or self help books are for. I think
Speaker 1: we actually do think about the inner workings of our minds,
Speaker 1: and I think we don't. And it is my show.
Speaker 1: You know that phrase, it's not brain science, Well this
Speaker 1: is brain science, actually the phrases. It's not rocket science. Carolina.
Speaker 1: Can I talk to you for a second over here? Yeah? Sure, okay,
Speaker 1: thank you. What is your deal, lady? I'm just trying
Speaker 1: to make sure what you're saying is accurate and coming
Speaker 1: off as a real you know what, Ron, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1: It's just that you're sorry. Yes, can we just make
Speaker 1: a pact that for the rest of the day, whatever
Speaker 1: I say, Okay, whatever you think of it, whatever your
Speaker 1: judgment is going to be, you just agree with me
Speaker 1: a right, even if you think, oh, it's so dumb,
Speaker 1: run or it's so weird, or oh look, I have
Speaker 1: a bookshelf and I know how to use a compass
Speaker 1: um and if I done, is this gonna affect my salary?
Speaker 1: It absolutely will affect yourself. Great, okay, okay, fine, just
Speaker 1: go with the flow. All right, I'll just agree today.
Speaker 1: What's the name of the podcast? But then bury podcast
Speaker 1: it's not called the Carolina Podcast. Is no need because
Speaker 1: it's my podcast, and just support me. I want to
Speaker 1: feel supported. You're supported. I'm gonn support Okay to our listeners.
Speaker 1: Sorry for the pause. Carolina and I had a meeting
Speaker 1: about accounting. Yeah, just a quick meaning to discuss some disagreements.
Speaker 1: Today we're sitting down with a brain scientist, Dr Milstein.
Speaker 1: He's smarter than almost all of us. I promise there
Speaker 1: is a strong chance that if you're listening to this,
Speaker 1: he's smarter than you. And if that pisces. You off,
Speaker 1: I get it made me a little angry just thinking
Speaker 1: about it. I mean, he's not smarter than me. God,
Speaker 1: I'm getting angry again. All right, Ron, try to be
Speaker 1: a professional, you know what. Nick cut to commercial. I've
Speaker 1: got to go scream this out and we're back. You're
Speaker 1: listening to the Ron Burgundy podcast. And I'm on a
Speaker 1: mood stabilizer. So I feel much better. Um here we
Speaker 1: are with a real life brainiac in the studio. Dr Milstein,
Speaker 1: the brain scientist. He knows what's inside your brain. Pretty
Speaker 1: crazy stuff. How are you, Dr Millhouse, I'm doing good.
Speaker 1: It's actually el Stein, but thank you, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: You know what I wrote that incorrectly? Doctor? What exactly
Speaker 1: is your official title? So I am a scientist, and
Speaker 1: so what I do now is I take a lot
Speaker 1: of the latest cutting edge studies, things that are being discovered,
Speaker 1: and analyze them and try to get them out to
Speaker 1: doctors and people who want to know about how to
Speaker 1: live better, how to optimize their brain, keep it healthy.
Speaker 1: So you're not a physician, no, not a physician, scientist,
Speaker 1: but if like I had a heart attack right now,
Speaker 1: you could save You have some medical training, you could
Speaker 1: save my life. I would probably call nine and maybe
Speaker 1: attempts CPR. All right, have you ever taken a CPR class?
Speaker 1: I did? I did? Yes in college, Carolina. Have you yeah?
Speaker 1: You asked me too? Okay, good? Um, let me ask
Speaker 1: you this question. I know there's a lot of information
Speaker 1: on the amount of sleep we get, right, So why
Speaker 1: do I need fourteen hours of sleep every night? Is that?
Speaker 1: Do you get fourteen hours of sleep at least? At
Speaker 1: least that's a lot of sleep. That's uh, you might
Speaker 1: want to would you say that's a borderline too much?
Speaker 1: I would say that would be a concern. Oh, I
Speaker 1: thought I was doing great. Yet You'll always say I
Speaker 1: need to make sure I get my fourteen and I'll
Speaker 1: say I nailed it last night. I got sixteen and
Speaker 1: a half. So that's not that's not the way to go, right.
Speaker 1: So sleep is definitely very important for the brain, but
Speaker 1: we're looking at more the right amount as opposed to
Speaker 1: too much or too little. So fourteen would be you
Speaker 1: want to check in with your personal doctor. So during sleep,
Speaker 1: what does the brain do? It's recharging, regenerating, just literally resting.
Speaker 1: So it's it's actually amazing what we've learned is that
Speaker 1: it's not just resting, it's actually going through almost like
Speaker 1: a program, a sequence. And so one thing that's amazing
Speaker 1: is that when you're asleep, your brain actually shrinks down
Speaker 1: to about sixty its current size and squeezes out of
Speaker 1: the brain cells trash, talks, and waste, and it squeezes
Speaker 1: all that out into that empty space. And then where
Speaker 1: does that go? So then fluid comes up from your
Speaker 1: spinal cord and washes your brain. So every night you
Speaker 1: have a brainwash. So that's why it's so important to sleep.
Speaker 1: And then that waste in trash. This is true. I
Speaker 1: can show you a picture. This is yeah, this is
Speaker 1: this is cutting edge, just getting into the medical textbooks.
Speaker 1: So the brain shrinks, sprinks, dowwn. It sounds like a
Speaker 1: horror movie, but it's real. Is there any chance that
Speaker 1: when the brain expands back that it would go it
Speaker 1: would start to explode out of your head. Uh, that's
Speaker 1: not a concern. No, But but it's a it's a
Speaker 1: dynamic process. It's pulse eights and it squeezes out all
Speaker 1: that trash and toxins and waste out of curiosity, what
Speaker 1: if you have a spinal cord injury, would that affect
Speaker 1: the process? That's a great question. So that is a concern,
Speaker 1: is that anyone who has a spinal cord. Why was
Speaker 1: her question so great and mine wasn't so great? I
Speaker 1: should have said that you had That was a great
Speaker 1: question to go ahead, both great. Um, The concern can
Speaker 1: be that if that fluid is not making its way
Speaker 1: to the brain, that the washing might not be as
Speaker 1: as effective, and so you could keep toxins inside your body.
Speaker 1: So what we're learning is is that even things like dementia,
Speaker 1: which is very complex, or someone losing their memory, that's
Speaker 1: why sleep is so important, is because that build up
Speaker 1: of toxins and trash, we need to wash it out
Speaker 1: every night while we're sleeping. God, is this why there's
Speaker 1: a new trend to drink your own spinal cord fluid.
Speaker 1: I haven't heard that. I think that would not be
Speaker 1: a good idea, because I I could have sworn that's
Speaker 1: you know a lot of professional athletes are now drinking
Speaker 1: their own spinal cord fluid. Yeah, I haven't heard that,
Speaker 1: but that it would not be a good idea. Okay,
Speaker 1: And so during sleep time, what is the average man's
Speaker 1: risk for being incepted. Incepted meaning like the movie inceptional inception.
Speaker 1: Actually haven't seen that movie, so you mean you mean
Speaker 1: someone sneaking into your brain and planting like bad ideas
Speaker 1: inside your head A lot of times when Ron makes
Speaker 1: a mistake, he says, oh, I was incepted, right right.
Speaker 1: The statistics on that I'm not aware of. I would
Speaker 1: say they're extremely low to zero. But I would say that, well,
Speaker 1: what we can learn while we're sleeping is pretty interesting
Speaker 1: because inception is based on a true story. So I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's said that, but i'd like doctor,
Speaker 1: I'd like you to tell that to Chris Nolan. Uh.
Speaker 1: One area though, the is you can there's some interesting
Speaker 1: research you might be able to learn while you're sleep.
Speaker 1: Maybe a word here, you might process it like a
Speaker 1: foreign language or so that that's CPR foreign language. I
Speaker 1: wish that was true. But it seems like maybe you
Speaker 1: could learn a word here, and then it would be
Speaker 1: fun to take CPR and a foreign language, because then
Speaker 1: you'd kill two birds with one stone. That's a good idea.
Speaker 1: I popped it on your list. So you're having a dream,
Speaker 1: Let's say you die in your dream. Does that kill you?
Speaker 1: Like in Freddy Krueger's Nightmare on Elm Street. No, that
Speaker 1: does not that does not kill you. No, if you
Speaker 1: die in your dream, yes, so yeah, your dream are
Speaker 1: not not based on what happens in your and what's
Speaker 1: going to happen to you in your day to day.
Speaker 1: That is a relief. That is an absolute relief. Um.
Speaker 1: The other day, I forgot to have my cup of
Speaker 1: morning Joe, right, and wouldn't you know it, I punched
Speaker 1: a hole through this wall. Uh what what the heck
Speaker 1: is that about not getting that morning caffeine. Yes, well,
Speaker 1: caffeine is something that is very helpful in you know,
Speaker 1: it wakes you up. People can help them with their mood.
Speaker 1: So it's possible that if you had a bit of
Speaker 1: a mood sweet had a bit of a mood swing
Speaker 1: about your your morning morning coffee. That because I'm getting
Speaker 1: fourteen hours of sleep and it takes me, what would
Speaker 1: you say, another three hours to get out of my
Speaker 1: groggy state. Yeah. I don't usually understand what you're talking
Speaker 1: about until three cups of coffee. Yes, but you've said
Speaker 1: some really sweet things, and then after coffee, you say,
Speaker 1: I become a normal rationally exactly, doctor, When you scan
Speaker 1: my brain, what color is it? So is it necessarily
Speaker 1: a color? It depends what type of scanning you're using.
Speaker 1: But you're usually looking at things like white matter and
Speaker 1: gray matter, so usually would come up in a scan
Speaker 1: as white or gray. But there are ways that now
Speaker 1: they do scans where there's colors that represent different parts
Speaker 1: of the brain or different connections. So there's the computer
Speaker 1: assigns colors to different parts of you. If you scan
Speaker 1: someone's brain, can you tell if they're a white hat
Speaker 1: or a black hat. That's a term we just learned
Speaker 1: in cybersecurity, where black hat is a bad hacker in
Speaker 1: a white hat. Yes, pick thank you. That was a
Speaker 1: good question, right, that was a good question. I don't
Speaker 1: believe sometin I don't think you can do that. I mean,
Speaker 1: if I was in a bad mood and you scan
Speaker 1: my brain, would it be red? Because angry? So when
Speaker 1: you're certain moods, certain parts of your brain, blood flows
Speaker 1: to that part of the brain, and so that you
Speaker 1: can pick that up in a brain scan and say, oh,
Speaker 1: this person is angry or that they're more in a
Speaker 1: calm state. So those types of things you can't see
Speaker 1: on a brain scan. Um Carolina here is a pathological liar. Okay,
Speaker 1: so what does her brain look like? I normally would
Speaker 1: disagree with this, but I made a pact with run earlier,
Speaker 1: so yeah, let's go with it. What does the brain
Speaker 1: look like that somebody who's a pathological liar, in other words,
Speaker 1: Carolina's brain? What would it look like? You know, on
Speaker 1: one hand, we learn a lot from brain scans, but
Speaker 1: it's very difficult to just look at a brain skin
Speaker 1: and make that sort of conclusion that this person is
Speaker 1: a pathological liar. Um. But our ability to control parts
Speaker 1: of our brain, our emotions, uh, it really comes from
Speaker 1: this part of our our brain right here behind our forehead,
Speaker 1: our prefrontal cortex. So that would be something that could
Speaker 1: be investigated. Is the size and the strength of that
Speaker 1: part of the brain. Should you get a brain scan
Speaker 1: like once a week, just to stay on top of
Speaker 1: things that would not be recommended? Okay? Alright, if someone
Speaker 1: say Ron may have exaggerated something, here we go again,
Speaker 1: and he highly highly doubtful, go ahead. Then he believed
Speaker 1: that it was the truth. So some liars believe their
Speaker 1: own lives eventually, is that from a deep seated sort
Speaker 1: of route that they keep using or by the way,
Speaker 1: she's referring to the fact that I won the Heisman Trophy.
Speaker 1: You see, that is a hard it's a hard Southern
Speaker 1: Methodist university. So something that's really interesting about memory and
Speaker 1: what we think is reality is that every time. So
Speaker 1: when you have a memory, when you have an experience,
Speaker 1: you make when I ran for a hundred and forty
Speaker 1: seven yards when that's Baylor right, right, when something like
Speaker 1: the cotton Bull, when that memory that memory. So if
Speaker 1: we go back to what happened in was it nineteen
Speaker 1: the moment that happened, your brain made a connection. Every
Speaker 1: time you rethink of it, you revisit that connection. We
Speaker 1: think of my seventy eight yard touchdown run and you
Speaker 1: win the game in overtime form the connection, yes, And
Speaker 1: so every time you revisit it, you actually reformed the connection.
Speaker 1: So you'll know just when people retell stories, the stories change,
Speaker 1: but they believe what they're telling you because they're revisiting
Speaker 1: the most recent version of the connection as opposed to
Speaker 1: what happened in the moment they made the connection. So
Speaker 1: that's why the right that's they remember their memory. That's
Speaker 1: why witness testimony is very flawed. That's why two people
Speaker 1: experienced the same event years later, they have very different,
Speaker 1: very different accounts, very different accounts of it. Yes, so
Speaker 1: memory is very strange. It's not really you're not revisiting
Speaker 1: what actually happened, but the last time you thought of it.
Speaker 1: Because some people come to me and say, no, you
Speaker 1: didn't run for seven or seventy two yard touchdown. You
Speaker 1: ran a sixty eight yard touchdown. And then a lot
Speaker 1: of people come up to me and say, you were
Speaker 1: never at that game, you never played college football, and
Speaker 1: that's their memory of it, of what happened. That's true. Uh,
Speaker 1: where in my brain are my taste buds? Oh, that's
Speaker 1: a good question. So your taste buds are actually in
Speaker 1: your mouth, on your and many of them actually in
Speaker 1: your nose. So when you're tasting things and you plug
Speaker 1: your nose, uh, you have a very hard time tasting.
Speaker 1: Most of taste sensation is actually through the nose. The
Speaker 1: nose is actually connected very closely to the brain, so
Speaker 1: the sensory of smell is right here below your nose.
Speaker 1: So is that why a lot of the world's top chefs,
Speaker 1: when they're you know, sampling their their dish before it's
Speaker 1: about to be plated, will shove a portion of it
Speaker 1: up their nose to taste it. So the nose I'm
Speaker 1: not sure if they do that, but what I do
Speaker 1: know is that the nose is very connected to the
Speaker 1: brain and the sense of smell, and so it's right there.
Speaker 1: Your your brain is right here at the top of
Speaker 1: your nose, and that's the chemicals from the food. Actually,
Speaker 1: they go in the air and they attach right there,
Speaker 1: and that your brain makes sense. How could I train
Speaker 1: my taste buds, well, my brain to like lettuce, to
Speaker 1: tell my taste buds, Oh you love lettuce. I guess
Speaker 1: you could make an association lettuce. That's a positive thing,
Speaker 1: something that you like about something else. Anytime you eat lettuce,
Speaker 1: let us, I'll think of the joy of what I won,
Speaker 1: the Heisman troph You could do that then that that moment,
Speaker 1: eat more lettuce? Yeah. Um, do you do experiments on mice?
Speaker 1: I have? How cute are they? I think they're pretty cute.
Speaker 1: They can be they can't be cute? Yeah, and so
Speaker 1: I when I was sometimes we're about to, you know,
Speaker 1: hook a mouse up to an electrode, Like he's too cute.
Speaker 1: I can't do it, um, there's death, shove a sensor
Speaker 1: up its butt or something like that. You know, I
Speaker 1: love animals, and it's it's a it's and I currently
Speaker 1: don't do any animal research, but I always try to
Speaker 1: remind myself of the greater good for humans. But but
Speaker 1: at the same time, it's it's tough. I'm gonna be honest,
Speaker 1: right right right, m hmm. Well and what was your
Speaker 1: what was a successful ron just thinking about a mouse? Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: the mouse I met okay, um, go ahead, sorry, Caroline,
Speaker 1: what were you saying, give me, give me a chase
Speaker 1: to compose myself? What's this successful mouse experiment that you've
Speaker 1: done where mice have taught us about something? Uh, so
Speaker 1: specifically that I've done or or anyone has done that
Speaker 1: was interesting to you. Well, wow, there's there's so what
Speaker 1: we talked about the brainwash that was initially discovered in
Speaker 1: animals like mind and then it was and then moved
Speaker 1: up into understanding humans. So, uh, there is quite a
Speaker 1: bit of what we understand starts at the level of
Speaker 1: so things starting dishes essentially with cells, and then if
Speaker 1: that is understood, then it goes to the next level.
Speaker 1: Oftentimes something like a worm or a fruit fly, and
Speaker 1: then it moves up up the ladder until we can
Speaker 1: make sure that this is valid information that can be helpful. Wait,
Speaker 1: so you're doing tests on fruit flies. Yeah, I used
Speaker 1: to do fruit fly research. Yeah, that's a lot of
Speaker 1: our genetic studies come, believe it or not, from mantalizing flies.
Speaker 1: And has anyone ever cloned to fly before? Yes, so
Speaker 1: that that that has happened, so that that's where they
Speaker 1: So they've cloned sheep and things like that. But um,
Speaker 1: that's those are tricky experiments because there's some issues there
Speaker 1: about how healthy the clone is. Right, dr Sometimes I
Speaker 1: lose myself to dance. How can I stop that? I
Speaker 1: would not stop that, I would you know. They looked
Speaker 1: at a study where they found that essentially one of
Speaker 1: the best things you can do for your brain danceing.
Speaker 1: They actually took people who are older and they said,
Speaker 1: what can we do to make these people have younger brains?
Speaker 1: And they tried all different activities, exercise, you name it.
Speaker 1: Nothing was better than dancing because it's a combination of
Speaker 1: physical and creative, physical, mental, social thing, feel good, it's
Speaker 1: it's it's everything you want to do for your brain
Speaker 1: in one activity. So don't don't give that up. So
Speaker 1: dance like a fool. Dance like a fool. I won't
Speaker 1: feel so guilty when I you know, in the middle
Speaker 1: of it's been kind of distracting airplane flight. I just
Speaker 1: stand up and like it. That's boogie. Yes, we're heading
Speaker 1: to San Jose. People NonStop to San Jose. Let's dance
Speaker 1: the whole time. They usually asked me to sit down.
Speaker 1: When I are the song bad Girls by Donna Summers,
Speaker 1: I have to dance, Okay, I have no choice. Is
Speaker 1: my brain a mere servant for Donna's beats? How do
Speaker 1: I get free of her control? Or what? I guess
Speaker 1: you would argue, don't don't free yourself. So there's two
Speaker 1: things I think that you were talking about, which is
Speaker 1: one is why why when you hear a beat do
Speaker 1: you want to move? Specifically Donna Summer, Donna Summer specifically?
Speaker 1: Are you talking about earworms? This idea that of song
Speaker 1: you can't get out of your head? How do you
Speaker 1: get out of your head? That's sort of the question.
Speaker 1: Or why is Donna summing? I would never put am
Speaker 1: in my ear? What you know, there's a term that
Speaker 1: you know when you have a song stuck in your
Speaker 1: head and yeah, yeah, yeah, that's they call that an
Speaker 1: earworm and why does that happen? Um, So, there's been
Speaker 1: these really interesting studies where they found that your brain
Speaker 1: loves to predict what's going to happen next in a song,
Speaker 1: and a lot of these songs that are so catchy,
Speaker 1: they're not quite predictable, and so your brain is constantly
Speaker 1: replaying that little piece over and over again to try
Speaker 1: to make sense of why it wasn't quite exactly what
Speaker 1: your brain expected, and it goes on a loop. So
Speaker 1: your brain finds comfort in predicting the next pattern. Yes, something.
Speaker 1: Your brain loves to predict the next thing. That's why, Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, when you're driving work to home, home to
Speaker 1: work and you say, how did I get here? Your
Speaker 1: brain loves that predictability. It loves to go auto pilot. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it loves to go into autopilot because the brain gets
Speaker 1: a chance to to check out. Essentially, Yeah, it goes
Speaker 1: into what we call autopilot or habit mode. And so
Speaker 1: when something is surprising or knew, your brain can become
Speaker 1: fixated on it. Now, I wonder what GPS is that
Speaker 1: affecting the brain's ability to remember how to get home.
Speaker 1: There's some They did this study with taxi drivers who
Speaker 1: had to learn London and it seems like there's something
Speaker 1: good about finding your way using directions and it actually
Speaker 1: can be helpful to the brain. That it's possible we
Speaker 1: could be losing that predictability. This makes me think of monogamy.
Speaker 1: So how because the airline is not she's never been
Speaker 1: in a monogamous relationship in her life. Continue, Yeah, thus
Speaker 1: the song bad Girls. Yeah, do you think the brain
Speaker 1: likes predictability? Obviously, So if you're in a monogamous relationship,
Speaker 1: get to the point, geez, do you think that the
Speaker 1: brain likes the monogamy? But also it obviously when you
Speaker 1: have a song stuck in your head, likes the new
Speaker 1: thing that they can't predict. So how does that affect
Speaker 1: monogamy versus a new person. So love and the brain
Speaker 1: is something that's been analyzed quite a bit in the
Speaker 1: last few years, and so there is this there's different
Speaker 1: stages of love. There's early love where you're excited, it's
Speaker 1: new and exciting, and then it kind of calms down.
Speaker 1: There's kind of the sweatpants phase of love where people
Speaker 1: get more comfortable and that can be a good thing,
Speaker 1: but it can get a little monotonous. And so what
Speaker 1: is often recommended based upon the brain is that keep
Speaker 1: doing new and surprising things. Go new places, see a
Speaker 1: new movie, go to a new restaurant, because that element
Speaker 1: of surprise causes dopamine release in the brain and actually
Speaker 1: helps keep the relationship exciting. So, dr, I'm a guy
Speaker 1: who likes to go with my gut. You know, I
Speaker 1: want it, I got it, you like my hair, just
Speaker 1: bought it. What does my brain have to do with
Speaker 1: my gut instinct? So that's that's really one of the
Speaker 1: most exciting areas of brain science right now, which is
Speaker 1: that what's happening down here in your connection is this
Speaker 1: connection and so a big part of that is that
Speaker 1: you have trillions of bacteria living in your gut, and
Speaker 1: those bacteria are releasing chemicals and we all have different
Speaker 1: types of bacteria. Those different chemicals can stimulate UH nerves
Speaker 1: that sends signals to the brain. So so the idea
Speaker 1: of the gut instinct, there is a real connection that
Speaker 1: you should listen to that. So we're not sure yet
Speaker 1: if you should be completely listening to your gut, but
Speaker 1: your gut is sending signals to your brain. So one
Speaker 1: are you? What do you like chocolate? I'm a chocoholic. Chocoholic,
Speaker 1: so people whore chocoholics oftentimes have certain types of bacteria
Speaker 1: in their gut. They're actually sending signals to their brain saying,
Speaker 1: go get some chocolate. Our mood, our anxiety, are feelings
Speaker 1: of stress complex. But what's happening in our gut Bacteria
Speaker 1: send signals and can impact how we're feeling. So it's
Speaker 1: a really we wouldn't think that, but what's happening down
Speaker 1: here in our gut has this really fascinating relationship with
Speaker 1: our brain. So when you feel your stomach drop, or
Speaker 1: you feel that sinking feeling of you're scared or you're anxious,
Speaker 1: or you have to go to work, um you, that's
Speaker 1: connected to what what are you? What are you? Sometimes
Speaker 1: you have a sinking feeling, you're good a little bit,
Speaker 1: then just eat some chocolate. So that that's your advice
Speaker 1: for literally everything, Well, is it bad? It's no, it's
Speaker 1: good advice. Actually, it's positive reinforcement at the very least.
Speaker 1: So we used to always think that, for example, if
Speaker 1: you're stressed or worried, that that was happening from your
Speaker 1: brain and then you would get an upset stomach. And
Speaker 1: that's true, that's still very true. But now we realize
Speaker 1: it's a two way street. So it can happen is
Speaker 1: that your gut can be off, and then that can
Speaker 1: set signals to your brain that make you nervous or worry.
Speaker 1: So it's this idea that there are these two organs
Speaker 1: are talking to each other, and so nutrition affects our
Speaker 1: moods a lot. Yeah, So that's what we're learning is
Speaker 1: what we eat can have an impact. It's very It's
Speaker 1: not the only thing that impacts, but what we eat
Speaker 1: determines what types of bacteria live there, and then what
Speaker 1: type of bacteria there can impact how your mood is. Um,
Speaker 1: I forget everyone's birthday. That's just me. I've never remembered
Speaker 1: a birthday in my life. How can I remember one?
Speaker 1: I just need to remember one, my own. How do
Speaker 1: you remember your own birthday? Remembering your own birthday? Usually
Speaker 1: when things are repeated over and over again, they get deep,
Speaker 1: it gets locked in. Uh, writing it down and revisiting
Speaker 1: it can be helpful. So putting it on a post
Speaker 1: it note. The more we see things making it emotional.
Speaker 1: Maybe you can't say your birthday is every Friday. I've
Speaker 1: had to wish you a happy birthday. Well, he loves
Speaker 1: the attention of the cake and the candles. I've gotten
Speaker 1: used to it to have my birthday every Friday, and
Speaker 1: that's the repeated behavior again. Right, my brain loves it.
Speaker 1: But subsequently I've actually forgotten the actual date of my
Speaker 1: own birthday. Huh. Well, fascinating. Yes. Um, so will we
Speaker 1: ever develop powers of esp brains? That's a good question. Um,
Speaker 1: I would say not in the near future. No, in
Speaker 1: terms of evolution, like next year, not No, not not
Speaker 1: next not in not and not any time in in
Speaker 1: evolution is very very slow. That's a shame. But we
Speaker 1: know so little about the brain that there is, you know,
Speaker 1: a lot of hope for understanding more and tapping into
Speaker 1: things and everyone you hear this like we only use
Speaker 1: x percent of our brain, right, what would you you know?
Speaker 1: That's what that's that's considered one of the biggest myths
Speaker 1: in brain science. That's based upon this idea that you're
Speaker 1: only using your brain, but you're really using your whole brain.
Speaker 1: You're using that That's what I've always said, you're using
Speaker 1: the whole thing. But your ability to learn more is
Speaker 1: almost limitless. Yeah, pretty much, even with age. Even with age,
Speaker 1: many parts of learning actually in the ability to learn
Speaker 1: new things, to analyze things can get better with age.
Speaker 1: So you can teach a new dog old tricks. Yes,
Speaker 1: the brain is trick constantly rebuilding, remodeling. So let's say
Speaker 1: you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Yes, we're
Speaker 1: teaching around some sayings. Yes, what was the other saying
Speaker 1: we were working on? You said, um, this isn't my
Speaker 1: first rodeo, but you said my first merry go round? Yes,
Speaker 1: sayings are fun. Is that a sign of intelligence? Uh?
Speaker 1: I guess referencing things? Yeah? What about if you can
Speaker 1: name like all the teams in the NFL, Is that
Speaker 1: a sign of intelligence? Uh? You know, intelligence is many
Speaker 1: different things. But recall memory, that's a that's a part
Speaker 1: of it, part of intelligence. But many different things were
Speaker 1: involved in intelligence. So he here's a big question. It's
Speaker 1: been put out there by certain pundits that our current
Speaker 1: president is cuckoo. Where do you stand on that? On
Speaker 1: your on your analysis from afar? Is he a crazy man? Um?
Speaker 1: You know? Or is he crazy like a fox? So?
Speaker 1: Is that the saying I think that is the same.
Speaker 1: I think you're right. Usually so psychologists, which is different
Speaker 1: than what I do. I think they're uh, they try
Speaker 1: not to analyze people unless they've met them. That's that's
Speaker 1: essentially the credo, and that that makes it makes sense
Speaker 1: making that assessment. And so even though I'm a pretty
Speaker 1: good judge of a character from afar right right right,
Speaker 1: I'll often walk into a crowded room and just go,
Speaker 1: I don't like you, bozo narcissist anyway. Yeah, sorry to
Speaker 1: keep interrupting. No, no, no, those but those terms like
Speaker 1: narcissist or or psychopath. We throw those terms around, but
Speaker 1: really to actually, um, I know if somebody truly is
Speaker 1: that term in general, you have to you have to
Speaker 1: sit down and talk to them really and have a
Speaker 1: professional really analyze them. Mhm okay, well, doctor, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for spending time with us here in the
Speaker 1: Ron Burgundy Podcast. We have learned so much. You've you've
Speaker 1: put to rest a lot of questions that we had,
Speaker 1: and uh we wish you continued success. Oh, thank you
Speaker 1: for having me. I really appreciate being here, and we'll
Speaker 1: have more right after this commercial bake break, My brain
Speaker 1: is tired on Ron Suargundy podcast. Welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Ron Burgundy Podcast. Here are my final thoughts, Caroline, I
Speaker 1: have to say something now that Dr Millstein is gone,
Speaker 1: now that he's out of here, I just I have
Speaker 1: to say something controversial. I really didn't think he was
Speaker 1: that smart, really, and I think some of his words
Speaker 1: were made up. I'm serious. He just he seemed a
Speaker 1: little smug, don't you think, I mean, does he think
Speaker 1: he's smarter than us? I think he's smarter than us.
Speaker 1: I mean he's a professional scientist. Wow, you think he's
Speaker 1: smarter than me? After all I've taught you? I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: what what do you think you've taught me? What have
Speaker 1: I taught you? Yeah? I mean, um, let me think. Um,
Speaker 1: how about how to play green sleeves on the jazz flute,
Speaker 1: how to take a horse bath, how to wash under
Speaker 1: my car, how to wash eight mildly aggressive Doberman's um?
Speaker 1: What else? Oh, how to shine fifteen candelabras, how to
Speaker 1: wire money to an offshore Okay, let's stop, let's stop
Speaker 1: right there. I mean, yes, that's true. You did teach
Speaker 1: me some of those things, and that's something a brain
Speaker 1: scientist wouldn't know how to do right. Let's face it,
Speaker 1: You're right, yeah, those are some skills that you don't learn.
Speaker 1: I mean, we should hand that guy the garden hose
Speaker 1: and put him in my backyard with the domeriman. See
Speaker 1: if he can even wash one of them, because I'm
Speaker 1: telling you, those animals they hate smarty pants. If they
Speaker 1: can detect a smarty pants in the room, they will
Speaker 1: go for the jugular. All right. For my listeners out there,
Speaker 1: thank you for your business. It was a pleasure as always.
Speaker 1: And to any know it alls listening out there, I
Speaker 1: hope today taught you that you don't know at all.
Speaker 1: In fact, you don't know from Shinola. And with that ad,
Speaker 1: The Ron Burgundy Podcast is a production of I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio and Funnier Die. I'm Ron Burgundy. The host, writer
Speaker 1: and executive producer. Carolina Barlow is my co host, writer
Speaker 1: and producer. Our producers are Jack O'Brien, Nick Stump, Miles Gray,
Speaker 1: and Whitney Ode. Our executive producer is Mike Farren. A
Speaker 1: consulting producer is Andrew Steele. Our coordinating producer is Colin McDougald.
Speaker 1: Our associate producers are Anna Holsnian and Sophie Lichtman. Our
Speaker 1: writer is Jake Fogels. Our production coordinator is Hannah Jacobs.
Speaker 1: Said this episode was engineered, mixed, and edited by Nick Stuff.
Speaker 1: Until next time, Ron Bernie stand, oh you bad, no,
Speaker 1: your bead No, you're such a dirty, bad ground