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Tommy Wood, PhD, is a neuroscientist and athletic performance coach. He is a host of the “Better Brain Fitness” podcast and author of “The Stimulated Mind: Future-Proof Your Brain from Dementia and Stay Sharp at Any Age,” which will be released March 24 and is available for preorder now. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/751292/the-stimulated-mind-by-dr-tommy-wood/ www.thestimulatedmind.com www.betterbrain.fitness www.drtommywood.com
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all right nice to meet you sir stimulated mind a few future proof for your
brain is that possible
future proof why can't i say that i already i already have dementia future
proof your brain
from dementia and stay sharp at any age um what first of all what prompted you
to write this
so i've spent a long time working in a whole range of different spheres related
to the brain
um how to treat newborn brain injury how to treat and maybe even prevent
certain traumatic brain
injuries and concussions looking at what affects long-term cognitive decline
and dementia as well
as working with elite professional athletes particularly formula one drivers
trying to help
them you know stay on top of their game for as long as possible and i saw
across all those different
areas there are these core things that the brain seems to thrive on that are
required either for
development or maintenance of cognitive function and these are things that
people can apply to
themselves on a day-to-day basis improve their focus um and well-being now and
then long term
that translates to a lower risk of dementia so is dementia and is it is a gen
is it a genetic thing
or is it a function of atrophy is it a combination of those things it's a
combination of those things
certainly there's a genetic component so maybe i will zoom out to start with
and just think about
like what is dementia dementia is the clinical diagnosis of losing so much
cognitive function
that you're not able to take care of yourself on a day-to-day basis there are
several different
types of dementia the most common is alzheimer's disease that's something like
60 to 80 percent of
cases of dementia the next most common is vascular dementia something like 10
to 20 percent and then
there are others like frontotemporal dementia lewy body dementia dementia you
get with parkinson's
disease but those first two something like 70 to 90 percent of dementias they
are directly tied to
lifestyle in the environment and right now it's estimated that somewhere
between 45 and maybe even 70 or more
percent of dementias are preventable and most of those fall into those two
categories there is a genetic component
so alzheimer's disease has two broad types there's early onset alzheimer's
disease that's caused by a single
mutation in a single gene something like the amyloid precursor protein gene or
one of the pre-synelin genes
those people get alzheimer's in their 30s to 50s it's a very predictable and
quite rapid decline sometimes
but that's maybe one percent of alzheimer's the vast majority like when we
think about alzheimer's we
think about an age-related dementia and this is much more related to the
environment so there is a
genetic component you might have heard of apo e4 yeah so you can have three
different flavors of apo e
apolipoprotein e uh two three and four you get two copies which is the one that
makes you more um
more likely to get cte is that two oh no so that's that's that's that's four as
well yeah so
four um essentially has an effect of amplifying certain inflammatory effects um
in the brain that's probably why it makes cte worse makes it more likely for
you to get cte because if you're getting repetitive impacts repetitive injuries
then it sort of exacerbates or makes that inflammatory response worse um but
when you think about that in
terms of alzheimer's if you have one copy of of apo e4 your increase your risk
of alzheimer's is increased by sort of two to six times
if you have two copies it's six to twenty times depending on how you look at it
um but all the data suggest that apo e4 is a risk multiplier
right so it's not that if you have a copy of apo e4 you're definitely going to
get um dementia
it's that in the setting particularly of the modern environment risks of
dementia or risk factors for dementia are amplified
like excessive alcohol intake uh physical inactivity low quality diet um so
that also means
that if you have um if you if you then address those risk factors you have
greater benefit right
because you're offsetting some of that additional risk so however you look at
dementia from a genetic
standpoint and it can also be family history right if you have a family history
of dementia
you have an increased risk of dementia but a lot of what comes with family
history is shared environment
and shared lifestyle right you eat and sleep and move like your parents did and
so if they had a
lifestyle that might increase their risk of dementia you get that as well so
even if you do have an
increased genetic risk you can offset a large part of that through lifestyle
and other environmental
factors okay so for some people there's an increased genetic risk but do some
people who do not have
this increased genetic risk do they still have a possibility of getting
dementia just from atrophy
or just from sedentary lifestyle no stimulation whatsoever yes so the the kind
of the way we
would say it is that not everybody who has apo e4 gets alzheimer's and most
people who have
alzheimer's do not have apo e4 so absolutely okay so is it just like everything
else like your muscles
atrophy your bones weaken when you don't put load on them is that what it is
yeah so that's like the
core thesis of my book right it's called the stimulated mind um for that reason
i think that
in the and the title is slightly provocative because in the modern world we are
hyper stimulated
over stimulated and nonsense exactly so we're over stimulated and under stimulated
at the same time
right we're getting a lot of input but we're not doing any calculations we're
not formulating new ideas
we're not being creative we're not problem solving we're just being inundated
with nonsense
exactly so the the function of any tissue in the body right you mentioned the
muscles the bones the liver
the immune system their function is uh dependent on the stimulus you apply to
them right and so the brain
is exactly the same and if you want functions and networks in the brain to
function to perform well
you need to challenge them in order to enhance capacity in them do you think
you need to keep
your liver working healthy by drinking every now and then so um the it's the
example of yes if you drink
a lot of alcohol your liver gets better at metabolizing alcohol so it kind of
it proves the
point but that doesn't necessarily mean that the alcohol is is there to keep
your liver healthy
probably not didn't they used to do that with people that had uh if they had
lung problems they would give
them cigarettes yeah like people with asthma yeah yeah and that didn't turn out
so great
like the theory was okay but i think they should have just been breathing heavy
that would have
been a better application of that right because it's just like you don't want
to tour your lungs
aren't a filter to like torture you yeah um so when you started studying this
do you have someone
close to you that has alzheimer's or is it just a field of study that you were
interested in yeah
there was two different things one um i focused initially on the brain early in
life and then
your elite level cognitive performance in athletes and you kind of see that
these things sort of tie
together like what happens early in life what happens during life affects what
happens later in life
but i also had my grandfather died of dementia he he was an alcoholic um and he
had a combination of
alcoholic um you know alcohol induced brain atrophy plus uh vascular dementia
um i really wonder about people today and this is one of the reasons why i was
so interested in this
because what are we what we were just talking about before that people are
being oversaturated with
nonsense but not stimulated in any way that challenges your mind i mean this is
a constant state today
and then on top of that you've got a lot of people that are using ai throughout
their day to solve all
their problems where they don't think at all yeah and there's been some studies
on that that show that
it's a decrease in cognitive function like when they ask them to actually use
their brain the brain works
less well than it did before they started so you're not getting educated by
chat cbt no or any of these
what you're doing is you're letting it think for you absolutely so this one
what maybe one of the
studies you're thinking of was a study they did at mit and they had students
write essays and they could
either just write it using whatever they had in their head already or using
google or using an nlm
and what they showed was that as you increase the amount of like outside
support you got you know
google and then i think it was chat gpt then there was less activity in the
brain networks associated
with actually doing the task and students remembered less well afterwards so i
mean this isn't surprising
not at all you're not using your brain therefore it doesn't engage in the task
but what's interesting
is that they they found a version so like some of the students who had
previously written the written
written an essay just for themselves then they asked them to go back and use
chat gpt on top
and what they found was that the final output was better so the way that we can
use these tools
rather than just asking it to do all the stuff for us which is what most people
are doing and i think
will cause skills and maybe even parts of the brain to atrophy because they're
not being used
is we use them as orthotics like they can expand our capacities right you try
writing it all first and
then you say hey what did i miss what am i not thinking about right and you can
kind of build on
it from there and that might perhaps actually stimulate your mind exactly why
didn't i think of that like
next time i'm writing a paragraph i'll consider these options yeah exactly so
you actually have to
like fully engage your brain in that process yeah but then they might result
you might the end result
might be better well it's just such uncharted territory for us yeah right all
this the especially
social media i mean completely uncharted territory that people are staring at
their hand for eight
hours a day i mean that's really what you're doing you're staring at your hand
and you're hoping
uh usually unsuccessfully to get something that really excites you and
something that's really
unique and and changes your perspective on things i mean i think maybe when i
was using social media
every day maybe once a day i would get something that was really interested in
that i would save i go oh
that's actually interesting and i would think okay that'd be a good subject to
bring up on the podcast
but the rest of the time it was just horseshit well part of the algorithm and
this you know i'm not an
expert in training algorithms to do this but part of the the the goal of the
algorithm is that you
don't get everything that is perfect although that immediately captures your
attention up front right
because you want it to be random and there's uh like method in the randomness
that keeps you
scrolling right because eventually you'll you'll get those small bumps that
then that then keep that
keep keep you going but what's particularly interesting about social media is
it leverages the fact
that we are social beings so we prioritize information that is called uh the
acronym is prime
prestigious in-group moral and emotional and this is even greater in social
context right because
we are trying to learn about our social environment so that we can survive our
group and be fitter
and so social media makes us think that we will get that information whilst at
the same time offering
us the exact opposite which is essentially isolation but it leverages that
desire of the human brain
to find this social information and this social connection whilst not giving us
any of that
also without it getting any feedback from another human being while you're
communicating ideas so you
can say the most horrible shit to people in a comment or a text message and you
don't think about it because
it's like there's not a person there yeah not right in front of you yeah i mean
design for like it's like an
anti-human device very weird but i mean if if your goal is to capture attention
they're doing a great job of it
well not just that they're acquiring enormous wealth and also enormous
influence over the
just
all sorts of things politics
economics
yeah i mean that some of the richest corporations in the world they they gather
a thing that we never thought of was
valuable which is data yeah i mean when we when people first started using
these things
when people first started using the internet nobody really thought that data
was going to be one of the biggest commodities in the world
yeah but now if they know what captures your attention and what you'll spend
money on and
right like that's uh it's a perfect way to
to
get as much out of you as possible
um so the concept is future proofing your brain
um
like what are the things that you think people should be doing
to try to future proof the other than avoiding social media and avoiding
a lot of this stuff that we're talking about here
so i think right every every tool has a possible use so like for instance
social media
if if you have crafted a social media that allows you to maintain connections
that you wouldn't have otherwise
like the original uh version of facebook as it existed 25 years ago
was just like posting pictures and you could like chat with some family members
right
right so if you use social media like that and there are studies that show that
if you're using online tools
including social media
and it increases communication and connection
beyond what you would have had otherwise
that can be a net benefit
if it's all you use and it's replacing in person human connection then it's
then it's a net negative
so there can be ways that it could be beneficial
and you know if your instagram feed is just like
cute dogs running around in the snow
which is what most of mine is right now
right that can be a nice five minute break
in between like cognitively demanding tasks
right that's that's that's that's fine
um but when you think about future proofing your brain
this this idea that there is some unknowable future right
we don't know what the future is going to look like
but if we want to exist in that future
we're going to need um good processing speed
good decision making skills
good working memory
good um emotional and social and social skills right
and so in order to maintain those we need to challenge and stimulate them so
the i think the most important thing most people can do
is think about new challenging
and often creative skills and there's a lot of um evidence for
creative arts music
what what they do is they improve the function of networks in the brain
that are um at risk during the processes of aging
uh particularly because they're important for attention and social connection
and so if we really invest time in doing these things that we suck at
and get better but get get better at them
we maintain these broad cognitive skills that we're going to need in the future
regardless of of what happens
and some of that is also personal so
i like the goal is to build as much cognitive capacity as possible
right i have this idea of headroom
which is the difference between
what you what you need on a day-to-day basis
versus what you're truly capable of
it's it's the difference between
like on a day-to-day basis
your legs need to be strong enough to like
get you up off the toilet right
but your maximum capacity is like
what's your max back squat
the the difference between those is your headroom
and then that gives you capacity to perform
when you're injured or sick
or you need to like lift your car off your buddy
because it got flipped in a car accident
like all those things
like when you need to draw on greater resources
you want those resources to be there
because we are going to be stressed
sleep deprived sick
and we still want our brains to function
so investing in like really challenging
tasks and skills
builds that capacity
so that we have access to it when we need it
what what is the function
and like what what is the effect on the brain
when you learn a new skill
like sucking at something
which i always tell people
is one of the best things you can do
a lot of people don't enjoy it
because their ego
they don't like being frustrated
that they're terrible at something
but there's something about
not being good at something
and dedicating yourself to it
and and seeing market improvement
that stimulates all sorts of areas of your mind
which i find really interesting
so most people don't realize that
the process of learning
which in itself is like the core process of neuroplasticity
right the brain making new connections
and cementing new connections
that whole process is driven by failure
essentially and making mistakes
because your brain is a prediction machine
it's constantly predicting
what's going to happen next
based on you know the world around you
and what you're trying to do
and so imagine that
you're trying to
do some kind of new move in jujitsu
or something
and you have no idea how to do it
you're you're going to try it
and there's going to be this big gap
between your expectation and reality
that's going to be frustrating
right that's the feeling of failure
but that's what diverts resources in the brain
to say hey
we need to close the gap
between what we hoped would happen
and what actually happened
and that's what drives neuroplasticity
and this is also then what drives
the cementing
and function of these networks in the brain
associated with that
so the idea that
you you start sucking at something
and you get better at it over time
that is exactly the thing that the brain needs
in order to improve
and maintain its function
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how many of those things
should you take on at once though
this is my issue
i have a problem
i wish i could have
four lives
that i could run
simultaneously
i would do four
i'd have four different occupations
so i try to smash
as many things
into a day as possible
but there's many times
where i think
boy i think i'm doing
too many
different things
that i'm trying
to get good at
yeah
and maybe it would be
better if i just
concentrated on one
so there's a few
different ways to look at this
i think that
a broad base
and a broad range
of different skills
is probably
something that we should
all hope to have
like talent stacking
yeah
yeah exactly
and if you think about
like one of my favorite books
is range
by david epstein
which talks about
the broad range of skills
that people who then
really success
really succeed in academia
or sports have
right
they didn't
specialize really early
they had like a broad base
of talents
that they can then draw upon
as they specialize
later in life
and i think that's something
that we can all aspire to
but equally
what's probably more common
is that
we try something
and we do it for a little while
and then we just kind of
like give up on it
and we try something else
and yeah
there's like a little bit
of benefit to that
but when you look at
some of the studies
that
really examine the effect
of learning
some of these creative skills
and they've done it
with tango dancers
and painters
and video gamers
when you
when you
when you compare
an expert
to an amateur
and where you're seeing
the benefits of expertise
in terms of the function
of some of these networks
in the brain
it really is
the development
of some level
of expertise
it is probably required
to see the maximum benefit
obviously the learning curve
is steepest
at the beginning
right
right when you're
beginning to learn something
that's when you'll learn
the fastest
but there is also
some benefit to expertise
so
some of that
like just to say that
pick
one or two things
that you're actually
excited
to continue
getting better at
for a long period of time
and so then maybe
you do have to like
try a bunch
of different things
until you find the thing
that like really
like gets you going
but
across all those
different skills
they have
similar core effects
on the brain
so you don't have to
do one
or both
you can just
pick the one
that you enjoy the most
so it's just about
the struggle
of trying to get better
at something
essentially
yeah
yeah
and
my wife is learning
a new language
right now
and
she's
she's been so excited
about it
and it's like
it's really interesting
because she starts
talking around the house
in French
and it's
one of those things
where you like
I was
I'm watching her do it
she wasn't doing it
and then she's been doing it
over the last couple months
and I'm seeing this like
excitement
in this like
new project
and we were talking
about it
about how that
is one of the things
that's very difficult
to do
but
it's
it's more
complex
than learning
because it's
learning
and interacting
it's not just
learning
you're learning
but you have to
it requires
like this back and forth
with another person
yeah
you have to
understand sentence structure
you go to
it's just like
calm
and especially French
is so different than English
there's so much
weird shit involved in it
but you could see
like I could see in her
that like this is
very stimulating
to her mind
yeah
and it made me go
maybe I should learn a language
but I'm like fuck
where do you have the time
to learn a language
but then I thought about
like when I was on social media
all the time
I would look down
on my phone some days
and it would say
screen use today
six hours
I'm like fucking six hours
that's what your time is
right
if you spent six hours
just learning Spanish
how
you'd be fluent
I'd be able to go to
Taqueria and order in Spanish
you know
yeah
it's like
we spend so much time
doing nonsense
that
anything that you can do
that requires your brain
to be in that
uncomfortable state of
what is the
oh what is this
oh it's this
is that this
got it
you know
that dance
that firing of the synapses
and forcing your brain
to figure this
this puzzle out
so many people
don't have that
and I see it
in people that get
stagnant
where they're doing
the same thing
every day
their job
is fairly mundane
and kind of boring
and maybe they like it
but there's nothing
stimulating about it
they're talking to the same
boring ass people
they don't exercise
they go home
they watch TV
and then they shut off
and they do it all again
and then you talk to them
like five ten years
later
and it's almost like
they're slipping
like you see it
you can see it
in people that have
mundane existences
like their stimulation
is so low
that their ability
to be stimulated
is low
I think that
that thing you describe
is so baked
into our society
that we've
started to believe
that it's normal
right
so when you look
at the trajectory
of cognitive function
over like your entire life
imagine like a graph
where on the one side
you have cognitive function
and it could be
something basic
like processing speed
how quickly
does your brain
process information
on the bottom
is age
right
it tends to peak
sometime around
our sort of
mid-twenties
to early thirties
it's usually
the peak
on average
tends to be
higher and later
the more time
we spend
in education
so the more time
we spend
essentially
as professional learners
the more
we can build
that kind
of final capacity
after that
it's just sort
of like
an average
decrease
downwards
and
a colleague
of mine
Josh Turknet
and I
he's a neurologist
we wrote a paper
a couple of years ago
where we
theorized that
the reason why
we see that decline
at the population level
in cognitive function
from about that age
is because
we go to work
we do the same thing
again and again
and again
and then
everything else
in our life
gets in the way
and
we never
spend that same time
investing
in building
our cognitive
capacities
the way we did
when we were kids
and when we were in school
and so
the decline
is partly
because we just
stop doing that
so
one of the theories
of aging
is that it's just
the continuation
of development
like process
of development
and
most of the processes
of development
in the brain
are
refining connections
based on the environment
and the stimulus
the brain receives
so if you start
removing stimuli
because you're no longer
engaging in these
like cognitively
challenging things
the brain's going to
start removing
connections
hey I don't need that
right
I'm not using this
part of my brain
and as a result
you start to see
decline
and so
there are studies
that show
if you have
a very stimulating
job
it's very complex
problem solving
skills
lots of social
interactions
you have a slower
rate of cognitive
decline as an adult
and a lower risk
of dementia
you see
in individuals
who
continue to engage
in
reading
writing
lectures
dancing
you know
a whole bunch
of hobbies
again you see
a slowed rate
of decline
so
some of what
we just expect
to happen
with age
is because
of the way
we stop
engaging
with the world
and we stop
challenging ourselves
well it completely
makes sense
right
like if you think
about physical
activity
it goes along
the same
kind of path
exactly
you see
I have friends
I'm 58
which is crazy
to say
it sounds so old
but I have friends
that are 58
that are basically
they're skeletons
with like meat
hanging around
various parts
of it
but my physical
ability
is very similar
to what it was
when I was in my 30s
the only way
that I could really
test it
is like physical
competition
and I'm not really
interested in that
I don't want to get hurt
but my capacity
for work
is very similar
yeah
and I know that
because I force it
you know
I make myself do it
and I would imagine
the same thing
is true
with
with the mind
I mean
it has to be
I think
it's all together
it's use it
or lose it
and if your mind
doesn't have
a need
to be
constantly intrigued
and stimulated
like you gotta think
for survival
right
one of the things
that's speculated
maybe I can ask you
about this
because this is
one of
I think about this a lot
like what is ADHD
and I
whether or not
it's actually
a problem
I think it's a superpower
because I'm pretty sure
I have it
you know
but yet
I can
I'm very functional
I can focus
on things
and as long
as I tire myself
out
from activity
I can relax
and I can concentrate
on things
and I'm
very interested
in certain things
and I can lock
into them
and concentrate
but if
if I was forced
to be in a classroom
with a very boring
teacher
teaching a subject
I'm not that interested in
and I was a child
if I had the wrong parents
luckily I didn't
I would be medicated
but I think
that that is
this ability
to focus
on certain things
like hyper focus
was probably
a function
of a persistent
hunter
right
because if you
wanted to
catch an animal
you couldn't be a person
that gives up quick
you had to be a person
that you
you keep looking
for tracks
you keep
trying to find sign
you're trying to
figure out a way
keep pushing
one more hour
we got 20 minutes
of daylight left
I've got to
figure this out
right
that thing
had to be in you
in order to be
a successful hunter
so
I'm sure
that that's
that's part of it
the
the current
picture of ADHD
I think is
is quite complicated
so I have family members
with ADHD
when they
then
started on medication
they were like
oh
actually all of a sudden
my brain works
right
so
right
but that medication
is Adderall
right
if I took Adderall
I would say
the same fucking thing
I don't need
a stimulant
but if I took
a stimulant
right now
I'd be like
dude
I'm so much better
so
no but
but you know
what happens
in
in certain individuals
with ADHD
when you give them
stimulants
they calm down
they calm down
right
so I think
there's a combination
of multiple things
some is
yes
like
these
can be
very
beneficial
traits
in the right settings
but
you also have to
consider that
we're layering on
a modern environment
that's like
bright light at night
a whole bunch of
caffeine and stimulants
right
and yeah
of course
some of it is
I think
right
the teacher is boring
and
they're like
they're just not engaged
because
the majority of people
with ADHD
can still focus
right
on things
that they're interested
in focusing in
yes
or on
even without
any kind of medication
yeah
so
but there's like
a sliding scale
and I think
there's a whole bunch
of different reasons
why for one individual
they might
experience
symptoms of ADHD
or not
so I think
I think it's complicated
can I ask you
before you go any further
than that
can I ask you
how much of that
is dependent
upon physical activity
like do we study
ADHD
based on whether
someone is physically
active
or not
because
look
if I'm not
physically active
I'm a mess
like if
for something
if something happened
and for some reason
like
I got a court order
you're not allowed
to exercise for six months
or you go to jail
like oh god
I would probably be
a fucking complete
basket case
right
and maybe
I would have
full on ADHD
maybe I wouldn't
be able to
concentrate on anything
my brain would be
bouncing all over
the place
like how much
of it is a
biological requirement
that your body
has to release
energy
so I think
you can
I would expand
that out even
further than that
because
physical activity
is a core
requirement
of our biology
and physiology
right
there's a
there's a nice
quote by
Inigo Salman
who's a
well-known
exercise physiologist
who says that
physical activity
is
baked into
our
evolutionary
development
so much so
that now
we've had to
invent
exercise
in order
to like
like to
prevent
what happens
when we don't
move
so
it's the
lack of movement
is
a disease
causing
pro-aging
like situation
so to stop
you there
yeah
what if
I mean
or do
they
when they
treat kids
with ADHD
do they
take that
into
consideration
so
as I
I'm not
an ADHD
researcher
so I
I genuinely
don't know
but I would
think that
before you
would give
someone a
stimulant
maybe
track and
field
you know
what I mean
yeah
maybe
play badminton
do something
where you've
got to run
around
yeah
where you
like
oh boy
I can
focus now
I think
I think
that
that's
again I would
say that
that's needed
for all
kids
regardless
of any
potential
diagnosis
so of
course
we need
I think
that should
be taken
into
consideration
whether
that's
going to
be
enough
for every
kid
you know
hard to
say
but
we know
that all
humans
require
significant
amounts of
physical
activity
just for
their
biology
to
work
properly
right
so
certainly
if that's
not being
taken into
account
or it's
not
available
or it's
not
encouraged
there are
a whole
host of
conditions
where that's
going to
become a
problem
well it
just only
makes sense
right
and I
mean this
has been
talked about
forever
the stoics used
to talk about
it
quieting the
mind
I mean
samurai
used to talk
about it
like that
physical activity
just what
you know
one of the
main benefits
the Chinese
used for
kung fu
thousands
of years
ago
quieting
the mind
and
the
propensity
that we
have
in the
society
this
direction
of
almost
immediately
prescribing
a medication
for something
when it
seems like
what you're
doing is
you're
dulling
a biological
requirement
you're
dulling
the impact
of this
biological
requirement
that you're
not needing
why wouldn't
we
prescribe
exercise
first
and then
think about
those things
like
for instance
like
hormone
replacement
if you
have
a good
doctor
an ethical
doctor
that is
working
with someone
and they
find out
you have
low
testosterone
one of the
first things
they do
is adjust
your diet
they say
well you
have so
much food
in your
diet
that causes
inflammation
you have
a very
high rate
of complex
carbohydrates
you have
a lot
of sugar
in your
diet
you drink
too much
alcohol
you smoke
cigarettes
let's
remove
those things
first
and then
let's see
what happens
and then
you increase
your protein
and you
start drinking
water
and you go
oh look
your hormone
levels are going
up naturally
well because
you're fucking
poisoning yourself
right
so wouldn't
you
I mean
why don't
they prescribe
exercise
for kids
other than
the fact
you can't
make money
off of it
wouldn't
it be a
good idea
so I
think that
all kids
should absolutely
get
you know
several hours
ideally of
movement
and physical
activity
of different
kinds
every day
part of
the problem
it's not
that
scientists
or doctors
don't think
that's
important
right now
the systems
that we
have
make it
very difficult
for those
things
to be put
in place
right
so making
sure that
every kid
has the
time and
the resources
to be able
to exercise
and like
the right
kind of
people
so that
they know
what they're
doing
and they're
supervised
and you
know it's
the same
with
say with
testosterone
replacement
if your
testosterone
is low
like most
right the
primary cause
or one of
the most
common cause
of low
testosterone
in men
is right
that combination
of metabolic
disease
being sedentary
poor quality
diet
like we
know that
but
creating
the systems
that allow
people
to change
those things
and then
supporting them
to do that
is really
hard
nobody
nobody has
solved
the behavior
change
problem
right
if we
think about
if we
think about
the modern
environment
and we
think about
what that
drives us
to do
and not
do
but we
have all
this information
right
we know
how to
prevent
these diseases
we know
how to
reverse
many of
them
and a lot
of it
is driven
by lifestyle
and the
environment
but
supporting
people
to change
those behaviors
and make
sure they
have the
resources
and time
to do it
that's
really hard
like nobody
solved that
problem yet
boy
that seems
like a
problem
that's
easy to
solve
it's just
based on
personal
responsibility
no but
it's not
but if
you can
tell
someone
this is
your
requirement
for the
day
I want
you to
run
one
mile
I want
you to
do
100
push-ups
and 100
sit-ups
and write
it down
but how
are you
so first
of all
but you're
saying it
like it's
impossible
or very
very difficult
I'm not
saying it's
impossible
I think
that those
of us
for whom
this has
become a
part of
our
personality
and our
lives
like you
and me
of course
you just
do that
you just
go for the
run
you do
the 100
push-ups
but for
people who
have never
had anything
like this
and it's
never been a
part of
their environment
it's never
been a part
of who
they
are
changing
that
actually
requires
a ton
of work
and coaching
and it's
actually really
difficult
when I say
it's difficult
but it's
totally doable
physically
it's not like
I'm asking
you to breathe
underwater
like people
have done it
and you can
draw inspiration
from like
my friend
Jelly Roll
you know
Jelly Roll
the musician
Jelly Roll
was 500
pounds
and he's
lost
300
pounds
and he
did it
with no
Ozempic
no GLP
ones
he just
started
walking
and started
cutting sugar
out of his
diet
and slowly
but not
even slowly
over the
course of
just a
couple of
years
he shrunk
to like
a normal
size
human
it's
fucking
amazing
but he
drew
inspiration
from a
lot of
other
people
you know
one of
them
he's
good
friends
with
my
good
friend
Cam
Haynes
who's
an
ultramarathon
runner
and endurance
athlete
and so
you know
he's
taking
them
on runs
and worked
out with
them
and helped
them
and just
watching
YouTube
videos
and just
all he
started doing
was just
walking
you know
where he
couldn't
walk up
hills
and he
would just
walk
around his
block
and walk
up the
hill
when he
didn't
want to
do
it
and he
did
it
it's
like
it's
not
it's
you
can
do
it
you
just
have
to
start
doing
it
and I
think
the
starting
doing
it
is the
most
difficult
I don't
think
it's
difficult
to do
it
once
you
gather
momentum
because
there's
a
thing
that
happens
with
people
when they
start
doing
something
they get
excited
and then
they look
forward
to doing
it again
as long
as long
as you
don't
take
a guy
who's
500
pounds
and say
today
we're
going to
do
100
pushups
100
sit ups
we're
going to
do
kettlebells
and then
we're
going to
do
laps
around
the
block
you
can't
do
it
it's
not
possible
but
you
could
just
go for
a walk
and then
tomorrow
we're
going to
go for
a walk
a little
bit
further
and then
in
two
weeks
we're
going
to
double
that
walk
and
in
three
weeks
we're
going
to
incorporate
some
light
body
weight
squats
and
along
the
way
we're
going
to
adjust
your
diet
and
write
these
things
down
it's
not
impossible
it's
just
they
need
motivation
I
agree
it's
not
impossible
but
I've
worked
with
several
digital
health
companies
who
are
working
in
the
behavior
change
space
and
people
don't
need
more
information
like
they
know
that
they
need
to
walk
more
better
but
the
process
of
trying
to
understand
how
should
I
do
that
when
should
I
do
that
and
then
some
people
may
absolutely
not
have
the
time
or
maybe
they
live
somewhere
where
they
don't
want
to
be
walking
around
outside
that's
relatively
common
or
they
don't
have
a
kitchen
so
then
how
do
you
cook
food
like
how
do
you
navigate
that
food
environment
so
I
agree
I
completely
agree
with
you
all
of
this
is
doable
it's
just
that
different
people
are
going to
need
different
levels
of
support
to
do
that
initially
right
gain
that
momentum
understand
how
that
feels
how
it
changes
them
and
right
now
the
majority
of
people
don't
have
access
to
that
kind
of
support
and
I
absolutely
hope
that
that
changes
right
the
food
environment
changes
so
that
it's
much
easier
to
change
the
way
that
you
eat
and
that
the
built
environment
changes
so
it's
much
easier
to
go out
and
have
a walk
and
do
a lot
of
that
so
so
I
think
we
have
to
consider
that
it's
both
right
there's
there's
an
individual
component
right
but
there's
also
like
a
societal
component
where
we
have
to
make
this
as
easy
for
people
as
possible
and
sort
of
like
build
it
into
their
lives
such
as
they
are
okay
so
let's
consider
the
societal
aspect
of
it
let's
consider
the
like
how
would
you
implement
something
like
let's
imagine
trying
to
facilitate
this
growth
and
improvement
in
people
what
would
you
do
so
I
think
you
need
a
few
different
parts
to it
one
great
part
would
be
to
say
through
you know
if you
could
dramatically
improve
quality
and access
of
like
education
at all
levels
and
make
physical
activity
just be
a
regular
part
of
that
that
has
been
slowly
removed
from
many
educational
curriculums
around the
world
over
time
right
so
bring
some
of
that
back
and
it
just
becomes
part
of
day
to
day
life
and
then
you
would
also
teach
people
the
skills
involved
in
some
of
these
other
things
so
like
teach
people
how
to
cook
and
how
to
do
that
within
the
bounds
of
what
they
have
access
to
their
cultural
preferences
dietary
preferences
financial
abilities
that kind
of stuff
right
that should
be a
part
of
a
school
curriculum
yeah
absolutely
just like
you should
teach
kids
about
taxes
and
all
these
other
things
and so
I think
if you
start
early on
and you
do this
with
sort of
curiosity
and skill
building
then you
release people
out into
the
you know
that
I think
that's
the place
to start
because
when you
get out
into the
real world
and you're
working
three jobs
and you live
somewhere where
you don't want
to go for a
walk outside
and like
you can
barely get
six hours
of sleep
every night
and you know
you've got
three kids
that you're
trying to
look after
saying
oh hey
you should
do 100
push-ups
every day
but that's
not going
to happen
like other
things are
going to
happen
that are
more
important
so I
think
there's
that part
maybe
the skill
building
part
then it's
thinking
about
like how
people
have
opportunities
to do
those
things
and then
I would
think
about
you know
access
to
high
quality
you know
healthcare
psychological
care
like these
things
that sometimes
people need
help that they
can't get
access to
or it's
expensive
or whatever
so I think
giving more
of that
so that they
get support
when they
need it
would definitely
help as well
I think
one great
way would
be to
devise a
website
maybe like
even a
government
website
where
you
put in
like your
body weight
when was
your last
physical
activity
what this
that
the other
thing
what's
your diet
and then
they implement
a program
and you
could follow
online
with a bunch
of other
people that
are doing
the same
thing
and post
your results
so you
have a
community
aspect
to it
you have
a dedicated
program
that you
can follow
so you
don't have
to think
about
oh I
don't want
to do
that
I don't
want
to do
this
it'll
just
tell you
just do
this
just do
this
oh you
weigh
400 pounds
you're 39
years old
you haven't
worked out
in 10
years
okay here's
day one
and follow
along
post your
weight
post what
you're eating
and with AI
that's one of the
good things about
an LLM
with AI
you could ask
it to formulate
adjustments
and you could
say okay
what nutrients
should I be
consuming
how much
protein do I
actually need
how many
calories do I
need
how many
calories are
in this
and that
how much
protein do I
get from
20 ounces
of broccoli
or whatever
the fuck
it is
you know
what I
mean
yeah
so when
you look
at some
of the
most
successful
trials
of behavior
change
and most
of them
are based
around
weight
loss
studies
right
that's
that's
a very
typical
way to
do it
when you
see
when you
want
somebody
to
change
their
behavior
and feel
feel good
about it
one of
the sort
of
constructs
is
self-determination
theory
you've probably
heard of
right
humans need
three things
autonomy
competence
and relatedness
so autonomy
is the
like I am
in charge
of my life
and I'm
in charge
of my
decisions
so what
are the
things
that I
want to
work on
today
right
I have
some
choice
there
competence
how do
I help
somebody feel
like they
know what
they're doing
like a lot
of the hurdles
with exercise
or diet
is like I
don't know what
I'm doing
and like this
guy says that
I need to do
sprints and
this guy says I
need to lift
weights and
this guy says I
need to do X
too but I
like what does
that even mean
like do I
even know what
I'm supposed to
do so how do
you build
competence in
people and
then relatedness
that's the point
that you were
making right
you have a
group like
you support
each other
maybe you do
stuff you do
stuff together
so one of
the most
successful weight
loss trials of
all time was
called the
broad study
and one of
the things
they did
so they
they lost
a lot of
weight and
they kept
it off
and so most
weight loss
studies people
regain it
afterwards
is they
they met
several times
a week
they did
like potlucks
group activities
like they
helped each
other
community
the one
downside of
that is that
there were
there was
there was an
app I can't
remember the
name of it
that tried to
build that
for exercise
so like you'd
have these
buddies and
they'd be your
accountability
buddies
but what
happened was
that when
people started
to slip
they left
the platform
much faster
because they
were like I
don't want my
buddies to know
that I'm not
doing what they
are supposed to
be helping me
do so you
kind of have to
like build in
multiple buffers
and different ways
to help people
depending on what
it is that
motivates them
or not
I mean we
have public
education
right we
have universities
we have public
high schools
and middle
schools why
don't we have
public gyms
why don't I
mean how much
money would it
cost to have
community gyms
set up where
you don't have
to have money
to join where
it's paid for
by your taxes
you're not
talking about
something that's
outside of
you know like
financially it
wouldn't be
feasible
it's not that
hard to do
so I think that
was the I
don't know what
the financial
model is now
but that was
the idea of
like the YMCA
right
it becomes a
community focus
point like
my wife grew
up in North
Carolina
she talks about
how they were
down the YMCA
all the time
like playing
basketball
I used to have
a YMCA
when I lived
in Boston
that I used
to go to
it was really
cheap
they had weights
they had a
track
they had a
swimming pool
they had all
sorts of stuff
it was way
cheaper than a
regular gym
and they had
classes you could
take
yeah and there
was something
very similar
close to where
I grew up
in the UK
just like
for a couple
of pounds
you go do
a some kind
of martial arts
class or something
yeah they had
that too
does Austin
even have a
YMCA
yeah definitely
oh yeah there's
one there's
like a big
one downtown
I've driven
past it
once like
big glass
front
like I don't
know what
it costs
how much
does it cost
to get into
the YMCA
in Austin
let's find
that out
I mean that
should be
paid for
by taxes
yeah
why I mean
if we pay
for all this
other shit
that we don't
need
why don't
you know
when a big
hurdle is
accessibility
and
one year
new progress
pack
joined today
how much
$125 value
for a year
is that what
it says
how much
does it cost
doesn't say
how much
it costs
what does it
cost
join today
how much
did you click
on
so the secret
of most
memberships
for gyms
they don't
list their
prices
yeah but
it's
the YMCA
click on
join today
they want you
to come in
and say hi
so they can
talk to you
oh
is that what
it is
that's how
everyone works
but it's
probably cheaper
than most
well why don't
you put it
into
perplexity
or something
like that
how much
does it cost
to join a
YMCA
here we go
let's guess
how much
do you think
it costs
$20 a month
$50
yeah I think
it can't be
much more
than a
Planet Fitness
Planet Fitness
is pretty cheap
but the thing
about Planet Fitness
is they kind
of a lot
of these big
gyms
not just
singling out
Planet Fitness
they kind
of hope
that you
don't show up
oh yeah
yeah
that's the bit
you're generally
looking at
$40 to $80
per month
depending on age
and household
type
that's not too
bad
yeah but
for some people
that's a lot
of money
right
$40 a month
yeah
that's a good
chunk of their
food bill
so
there should be
some sliding
scale where this
becomes very
very heavily
subsidized
yeah
or free
yeah
ideally
I mean
why wouldn't
it be free
yeah
I think it
should be
but then homeless
people go in
there and shower
there are
well I mean
I'm okay
with that too
depends on
who they are
I mean if they
shower
I'm okay
with some of
them
you know
fucking crazy
people shitting
in the shower
blue cross
blue shield
many health
insurance plans
offer gym
membership
through
reimbursements
discounts or
programs like
active fit
or global fit
benefits can
include $20 to
$400 annual
annual reimbursements
some people can
use their health
insurance to
get some of
that fee
covered
okay
well that's
nice
but the thing
is again
it's just like
Planet Fitness
or any of
these places
the thing is
like they want
to recruit you
and then you
go and you're
like okay
and then you
never go again
yeah
but we genuinely
want people to
go
that's the whole
idea
well the thing
is like
there's one
thing like
for someone
and I've
taken friends
to gyms
before that
don't work
out and they're
like what do
I do
they have no
idea what to
do
classes
classes is what
should be
absolutely
classes
learn a new
skill
move
make a friend
like so much
amazing stuff
happens in that
setting
yeah
and they should
have multiple
different classes
available
at the same
time
right
there should
be a class
for people
that have
done nothing
like okay
these are
dumbbells
this is
you can pick
up a light
one
I'm going to
show you
how to do
a shoulder
press
and then
it should
be for
you know
more advanced
people
intermediate
people
or something
and a whole
range of different
skills
yoga
zumba
pilates
tai chi
slightly different
dumbbell weights
but in austin
they have a bunch
of public
free gym
equipment
and different
parks
playgrounds
and parks
yeah that
stuff's great
well New York
city
has a whole
look at these
guys
staring at each
other
talking shit
I think one of
the problems
is that
well first of
all like a lot
of people might
just like look
at that and be
like what do I
do with that
and then the
second is that
a lot of
what we see
around fitness
and movement
is kind of
the extremes
right
they're idolized
professional athletes
like this is what
the best of the
best do
and we often
we internalize
this idea that
that's what we
need to do
and if we're
not doing that
then we're
not doing
anything
right
whereas
all the data
suggests that
literally any
type of movement
above what you're
doing right now
is beneficial
cardiovascular health
cognitive health
dementia risk
so I think some
of it is just
like letting
people know
and having people
understand that
it doesn't take
that much to
move the needle
and then when
they start to do
a little bit
right you get
a bit of a bug
maybe you enjoy it
you find a thing
that you enjoy
you do more of it
and so that's
part of it too
like having people
understand that
it doesn't take
that much
to really start
you know
having an impact
yeah and it's also
for a lot of people
this is a society
that really
emphasizes
quick fixes
on things
and it's not
a quick thing
it's you have to
trust in a process
and so that has
to sort of be
that has to be
educated
people have to be
educated to that
it has to be
taught to you
like this is
a process
and you're
on a process
you should be
very excited
about being
on this process
it's gonna be
weird because
it's gonna take
a long time
before you see
any results
but that long
time
like in that
time period
you will
eventually see
results
and then you'll
be excited
you'll feel
better
you'll have
more energy
it'll help
every aspect
of your life
you just gotta
do it
one of the
one of the
things that I
like when I
talk about
movement in
particular
or exercise
and say
cognitive function
is that
you will start
to see benefits
relatively quickly
so if you
go and do
a six second
max sprint
a couple of
times
right
and there are
studies that show
this
you will acutely
like immediately
see an improvement
in cognitive function
better blood flow
to the brain
you've created
arousal
which is really
important for
focus and attention
if you
you know
go out
go for a walk
outside
right
you will sleep
better that night
so you'll feel
better the next day
and so
yes
you're absolutely
right
that
this is a
lifelong thing
right
you can't
just do it
for a couple
of months
and then
hope that it's
gonna translate
to benefits
for decades
to come
but
you can see
immediate benefits
if you start
to do some
of this stuff
and you can
and you can
feel it
very quickly
so I think
that that's
that's gonna
be important
because
not everybody
is gonna
is gonna
feel in the
position to
invest in
their future
selves
right
right
so if
you start
to see
benefits
straight away
you're more
likely to keep
going with it
okay
so that's
for people
we were just
I mean
I'm glad
we covered it
but we're
essentially
talking about
people that
don't know
what to do
for people
who do
know
what to do
you said
you work
with a lot
of Formula
one
athletes
and what
do you do
for like
what is
Formula
one
is fascinating
to me
I've been
to the
the Coda
racetrack
we're actually
putting up
a studio
we're gonna
have a studio
at Coda
we're gonna
have a second
studio
at the racetrack
and the idea
to take people
around the racetrack
I think it would
stimulate their
mind
and then come
in and do
a podcast
it'd be a lot
of fun
you'd be like
racing
your mind
would be like
woo
that is
an incredible
sport
where it's
fractions
of a second
split second
decisions
your ability
to react
has to be
incredibly fast
have you ever
seen the thing
where they drop
things
Lewis Hamilton
is better
than anybody
intense
what do you
do with them
so you already
have people
that are primed
they're the best
in the world
but they are
constantly looking
for an additional
edge
what are you
doing for them
yeah so there's
a few things
there
my work with
Formula One
drivers
happens mainly
through a company
called Hintzah
Performance
it was founded
by Hintzah
H-I-N-T-S-A
named after
Aki Hintzah
who was a
Finnish
orthopedic
surgeon
he worked
with
Harley
Gabra
Selassie
with
Mika Hakkinen
he was
two-time
Formula One
world champion
and then
now
sort of like
a big
sports
enterprise
and I'm
their head
head scientist
for motorsport
so that's
all
motorsport
categories
from like
karting
and kids
up to
Formula One
we work
with several
Formula One
drivers
and we
provide
coaching
and medical
services
each driver
or most of
the drivers
have a
coach
right
so like
you know
when you watch
Formula One
there's like
somebody holding
the umbrella
holding the
helmet
right
that's
usually
well that's
often one of
our coaches
they're usually
a strength and
conditioning specialist
or they might be a
physio or a
nutritionist
like
they have a ton
of you know
really high level
skills
and they're there
every day
right
they do the
sleep
they do the
training
like they're
traveling with
them the whole
time
they sort of
can manage
as much
of their
life as
possible
and
when
you're
thinking
about
that
level
of
skill
the
stimulus
part
has
taken
care
of
itself
right
one of
the
reasons
why
these
guys
are
so
good
is
because
it's
all
they've
done
every
day
for
two plus
decades
four
decades
if you're
Lewis Hamilton
or close
to that
so
and that's
slowly
building
these
skills
first
in
karting
then
in
these
different
formula
categories
formula
three
formula
two
up into
formula
one
and so
the kinds
of things
that we
might work
on
and so
like
I'm
helping
the coaches
working
with the
drivers
we have
a huge
team
doctor
who works
with a bunch
of Olympic
athletes
as well
and so
it's
a combination
of
are there
any
individual
performance
limiters
so we
might do
some
blood
tests
look at
nutrient
status
and various
other
things
make sure
they're
really
on top
of that
with their
diets
but then
in that
kind of
world
and like
I'm sure
you experience
this yourself
everybody's got
a thing
for you
to try
or a thing
for you
to do
right
you're
constantly
being
bombarded
with the
latest
greatest
technology
and like
this guy
wants to
study
this
thing
so
a lot
of what
we do
is
like
be really
careful
about
the
things
that
get
added
and
maybe
even
take
stuff
away
if
we
need
to
like
what
are we
trying to
work on
what are we
trying to
build
what does
this one
driver need
because they're
all very
different
they need
a different
you know
they have
different
diets
they have
different
training
programs
they have
different
warm-up
strategies
for when
they get
in the
car
and
so
a lot
of
what
we
end
up
doing
is
focusing
on
the
other
side
right
so
if
you
stimulate
your
brain
it
adapts
when
you
rest
and
recover
afterwards
so
because
they're
essentially
jet lagged
nine months
of the
year
right
they're
in a
different
country
every
week
that's
a
factor
that's
a
huge
factor
and
like
on
top
of
like
every
race
weekend
they've
got
to
go
meet
sponsors
they've
got
what
can
we
do
to
maintain
their
level
of
performance
throughout
the
season
this
is
something
the
coaches
do
a
ton
of
work
in
like
how
can
we
what
kind
of
exercise
and
how
can
we
do
targeted
training
to
maintain
performance
throughout
the year
and
then
the
other
part
is
how
can
we
get
as
much
recovery
as
possible
because
if
we
want
them
to
adapt
to
all
the
work
they're
doing
and
come
back
each
weekend
at
the
top
of
their
game
or
as
close
as
possible
we
need
to
get
them
to
rest
and
recover
and
come
back
and
do
it
again
so
often
we're
not
focusing
on
the
stimulus
part
we
might
be
in
driver
training
we
might
be
thinking
about
how
can
we
develop
cognitive
skills
and
these
driver
physical
skills
in
formula
one
often
it's
how
can
we
get
these
guys
to
recover
better
how
can
we
get
these
guys
to
sleep
better
and
that
might
be
technology
but
it
might
also
be
how
can
we
nail
the
basics
again
and
again
again
make
sure
they're
getting
enough
time
in
bed
especially
when
you're
traveling
a bunch
that gets
really
difficult
so
we're
often
focused
on
the
recovery
side
and
how
do
we
collect
those
data
how
do
we
know
when
something
starting
to
slip
and
get
on
top
of
it
early
that's
the
kind
of
stuff
we
tend
to
focus
on
so
let's
talk
about
the
jet
lag
aspect
what
are
the
strategies
for
mitigating
jet
lag
and
let's
say
if
they
fly
in
for
a
race
if
they're
going
from
Europe
to
the
United
States
and
they
have
to
race
how
many
days
in
advance
do
they
arrive
and
how
do
they
shift
their
circadian
rhythm
and
eliminate
jet lag
what are
the
strategies
yeah
there's
the
time
for them
the number
of days
they come
before
the race
will depend
on
how long
it was
since the
last race
plus what
other things
they've got
going on
but it's
often like
two or
three days
they'll try
and come
in the
beginning
of the
week
at least
like
Monday
Tuesday
if the
race
is
then
going
to
be
on
Sunday
and
then
as much
as
possible
you might
start to
try and
shift
things
earlier
so
shift
your
light
exposure
so
that
it
aligns
more
closely
with
your
destination
a couple
of days
before
you
travel
shift
your
sleep
if you
can
shift
exercise
and
caffeine
timing
again
because
those
things
shift
circadian
rhythm
so that
you can
kind of
get
closer
to
what
you're
going
to
do
when
you
land
and
so
those
are
probably
the
primary
tools
is
exercise
light
caffeine
some of
them
use
melatonin
you can
also
change
when you
eat
so like
food
timing
is a
zeitgeber
it's a
fancy word
for like
time giver
like helps
to drive
circadian
rhythm
so
often
when you're
flying
they'll give
you a meal
that's happening
like
in the middle
of the night
in the time
that you're
going to land
right
so
often
you might
try and
avoid
eating
while
flying
and then
have
your
next
meal
in time
with like
a normal
meal
timing
when you
land
I've
heard
that
one
of the
things
to help
jet lag
is just
eliminate
meals
when you're
flying
period
there's
something
about
eating
even if
it
doesn't
have
anything
to do
with
the
time
like
say
if
you're
flying
from
Los
Angeles
to
New
York
one
way
to
eliminate
jet lag
they say
is just
usually
I think
most of
that
is to
do
with
circadian
timing
because
you're
usually
flying
at a
time
when you
wouldn't
normally
eat
or
like
you're
often
like
they
give
you
dinner
at
like
9pm
or
it's
even
midnight
right
so
if
you
see
but
is
that
all
it
is
because
but
ways
explained
to
me
is
that
just
there's
something
about
your
body
processing
food
when
you're
flying
that
actually
exacerbates
jet lag
so
I can't
think
of
a
other
than
the fact
that
you're
obviously
sat
still
for
long
periods
of
time
which
might
not
normally
happen
at
that
time
of
day
as
well
I
think
the
majority
of
it
certainly
in terms
of
jet lag
plans
is
thinking
about
the
timing
of
meals
relative
to
circadian
rhythm
because
you
normally
break
your
fast
a
certain
time
of
day
have
dinner
at
a
certain
time
day
so
I
think
most
of
it
is
related
to
circadian
timing
okay
um
what
about
rigorous
exercise
because
one
of
my
strategies
like
say
if
I
have
to
fly
to
London
or
something
like
that
and
I
want
to
avoid
jet lag
I
immediately
go to
the
gym
that's
the
first
thing
I
do
I
put
my
stuff
in
the
hotel
room
I
go
right
down
to
the
gym
no
negotiation
whatsoever
and
I
get
in
at
least
an
hour
yeah
I
have
to
that's
a
great
way
to
help
to
offset
some
of
the
jet
lag
because
you
start
to
tell
your
body
even
though
it's
midnight
in
Austin
this is
the
time
when
I
want
to
be
awake
so
it
starts
to
advance
the
circadian
phase
so
exercise
some
people
like
to
do
cold
exposure
right
does
a
similar
thing
right
increases
adrenaline
of
those
things
can
definitely
help
okay
so
there's
the
sleep
adjusting
the
sleep
there's
the
light
exposure
there's
exercise
and
food
is
there
anything
else
like
what
kind
of
supplementation
is
effective
to
mitigate
that
yeah
so
they
might
use
melatonin
one
of
the
one
of
the
issues
that
we
have
it's
not
an
issue
it
makes
perfect
sense
is
that
the
supplements
that we
use
with
the
drivers
have
to
be
third
party
tested
right
NSF
for
sports
certified
informed
sports
certified
so
some
of
the
things
that
we
might
like
to
try
is
that
because
the
drivers
get
tested
because
the
drivers
get
tested
and
what
do
they
ban
what's
banned
everything
it's
the
same
as
all
the
water
drugs
they're
under
water
regulations
so
are
they
allowed
to
use
peptides
it's
it's
it's
it's
a
gray
area
in
general
I
don't
believe
I
don't
believe
anybody
does
and
we
certainly
don't
recommend
it
for
that
reason
because
we
just
don't
know
what's
in
there
are
they
tested
for
peptides
so
they're
not
tested
for
peptides
but
well
that's
it
depends
on
whether
there's
actually
a
peptide
that
has
good
high
quality
evidence
in
humans
well
there's
also
you
should
get
them
from
a
real
good
compounding
pharmacy
make
sure
you're
getting
it
from
a
quality
source
which
is
the
real
problem
with
peptides
today
is
that
since
they're
not
regulated
there's
a lot
of
gray
market
there's
a lot
of
real
you
know
bullshit
corporations
that are
selling you
stuff
that's
nonsense
and even
things
that are
tainted
so
yeah
so
the main
thing
that
you're
worried
about
is
contamination
like
what
else
have
they
put
in
there
to
make
it
to
get
better
same
thing
as
supplements
but
in
reality
like
there
aren't
many
peptides
where
I'm
like
where
I
would
say
or
actually
I
couldn't
think
of
any
where
I'm
like
those
studies
just
don't
exist
and
so
until
we
get
to
that
point
plus
the
sort
of
like
the
gray
area
of
the
sort
of
legality
of it
we
tend
to
focus
on
you
know
the
real
I
mean
it's
the
basics
but
we
know
that
they
work
but
there
are
peptides
that
have
shown
to
increase
sleep
and
increase
REM
sleep
in
humans
like
which
humans
I wish
I could
tell you
because
they
talked
about
it
but
I
never
tried
it
I
know
Tom
Segura
is
on
it
see
if
we
can
find
what
it
is
Jamie
it's
boy
it's
fucking
with
my
head
is
that
what
it
is
no
I
want
to
see
the
randomized
control
trial
I
have
to
I
couldn't
recommend
it
unless
I
know
that
it's
third
party
tested
it's
legal
and
there's
a
high
quality
trial
in
humans
have
to
align
the
problem
with
high
quality
studies
is
they
take
time
and
money
and
these
aren't
FDA
approved
so
you're
not
going
to
get
those
things
but
that
doesn't
mean
they
don't
work
and
this
is
the
problem
is
that
you
could
try
it
and
then
if
you
show
benefit
like
in
that
setting
I
can't
try
it
you
can't
no
well
you
can't
because
of
Formula
one
drivers
anything
unfortunately
but
there
are
studies
that
show
the
BBC
157
includes
increases
tissue
recovery
and
helps
you
heal
from
not
in
humans
true
but
there's
look
the
same
thing
with
the
COVID
vaccine
they
weren't
tested
in
humans
either
before
they
started
trying
them
for
the
first
wave
of
COVID
19
vaccines
there
were
some
pretty
good
quality
trials
in
humans
right
but
all
it
showed
is
that
it
showed
an
antibody
it
didn't
show
that
it
oh
no
against
hospitalizations
and
death
in
the
first
waves
we
could
argue
about
that
because
it's
very
sketchy
it's
very
sketchy
data
that
has
been
disproven
I
think
those
first
waves
were
high
quality
but
they
didn't
even
say
that
it
increased
hospitalization
and death
it was
stopping
transmission
and
infection
which was
just a
lie
so
that's
what
they
claimed
so
it's
all
sketchy
because
it was
based
on
profit
the
whole
thing
is
weird
it's
a weird
one
it's
a weird
one
I can't
talk
about
my
good
example
but
with
there's
plenty
of
anecdotal
evidence
especially
with
professional
athletes
with
BBC
157
and
TB
500
particularly
for
tissue
injuries
for
recovering
quicker
from
tissue
injuries
so
I
know
I
know
there's
anecdote
I
know
that
people
say
it
benefits
them
in
the
environments
that I
operate
in
that's
not
enough
I
understand
you're
an
actual
doctor
Dr.
Tommy
Wood
he's
legit
I'm
just
a
dork
I'm
allowed
to
just
say
try
it
fuck
it
but
so
with
drug
free
like
with
the
UFC
they
use
Thorne
supplements
it's
what
the
UFC
recommends
which
are
very
good
third
party
tested
so
you
have
to
find
whether
it's
pure
encapsulations
some
legitimate
well
proven
established
company
that
provides
you
with
third
party
tested
supplements
what
supplements
have
been
shown
let's
stick
with
formula
one
drivers
reaction
time
is
critical
your
ability
to
function
at a
very high
cognitive
state
you're
thinking
constantly
you're
always
calculating
and
movements
what
supplements
are
these
guys
taking
that
benefit
them
when
you
think
about
complex
skill
performance
and
there's
a whole
chapter
on this
in the
book
the
most
important
driver
is
arousal
right
how
aroused
is your
physiology
and
are you
set up
with the
right
level of
sympathetic
activation
noradrenaline
adrenaline
cortisol
to kind
of get
the
best
level
of
performance
and
don't
let
any
one
of
those
overwhelm
the
other
ones
yeah
yeah
exactly
so
the
curve
is
bell
shaped
right
it's
the
Yerkes
Dodson
curve
named
after
a couple
of
guys
who
actually
did
studies
in
mice
that
then
translated
actually
surprisingly
well
over
to
humans
and
so
what
it
says
is
that
if
you're
sort
of
under
aroused
you're
disengaged
a bit
lethargic
right
you're
not
really
going to
perform
well
if
you're
over
aroused
you're
sweaty
anxious
right
again
you're
not
going to
be able
to
sort
of
pay
attention
to
the
task
so
there's
this
sweet
spot
at
the
top
of
the
curve
you're
capable
of
flow
states
clutch
states
which is
where you
can
perform
at
your
best
but
it's
hard
work
and
so
what
you're
trying
to
do
is
get
the
guys
to
the
top
of
that
curve
and
this
for
many
involves
some
element
of
routine
right
knowing
that
I've
done
the
thing
that
I
know
that's
going
to
make
me
feel
good
and
so
it's
a
combination
often
of
the
things
that
we've
already
mentioned
they
might
use
some
warm-up
sprints
they might
use
music
they might
use
bright
light
they
Oh
do
they
bring
cold
plunges
to
Formula
One
bays
yeah
so
some
of
them
have
a
cold
plunge
or
you can
fill
a
wheelie
bin
with
water
and
ice
and
jump
in
that
it
doesn't
need
to
be
that
cold
actually
so
for
increasing
endurance
performance
like
20
minutes
at
around
20
degrees
celsius
or
like
60
ish
fahrenheit
that
significantly
improves
endurance
is there
a
benefit
to
20
minutes
at
fahrenheit
versus
3
minutes
at
34
degrees
so
the
problem
is
that
when
you
get
too
cold
you
can
actually
decrease
cognitive
performance
so
there's
a
fine
line
when
it's
really
cold
that
what
you
want
to
do
is
you
want
to
decrease
core
temperature
without
negatively
affecting
cognitive
function
and
so
that's
easier
to
manage
at
slightly
less
cold
temperatures
because
just
like
if
you
did
really
exhaustive
exercise
right
you
go
out
and
so
I
was
a
rower
in
college
so
like
a
2k
test
on
a
rowing
machine
like
after
that
my
brain
doesn't
work
for
like
hours
afterwards
right
and
so
like
very
cold
ice
baths
for
several
minutes
for
some
people
that
can
decrease
cognitive
function
so
you
can
find
a
sweet
spot
that
makes
sense
that
makes
a lot
of
sense
because
my
mind
is
very
bad
after
brutal
workouts
yeah
yeah
like
if I
if I
have a
really
hard
workout
and I
come
in
and do
a
podcast
there's
there's
a
moment
where
like
it's
just
not
firing
yeah
and
that's
perfect
and
that's
that's
that's
normal
we know
that
if you
do
very
fatiguing
exercise
for a
period
of time
you
experience
a
decline
in
cognitive
but a
light
exercise
stimulates
exactly
so like
one of
the
best
studied
exercise
modalities
to improve
cognitive
function
is
literally
just like
a 20
minute
jog
right
it's
light
exactly
but you're
kind of
warming
everything
up
you know
increasing
sympathetic
activation
increasing
release of
all those
hormones
you mentioned
and that
increases
arousal
that improves
cognitive
performance
so
they might
be doing
some
of those
things
in the
car
right
there'll
be
differing
types
of
caffeine
use
depending
on
sensitivity
and
timing
are
they
taking
it
in
pill
form
so
they
can
regulate
it
quickly
or
accurately
rather
yeah
so
some
do
sometimes
pills
sometimes
gels
some
guys
just
like
cappuccinos
some
might
use
like
green
tea
because
like
the
theanine
in
there
might
balance
some
of
like
the
jitters
that
you
can
get
with
caffeine
some
people
find
creatine
stimulating
or mildly
stimulating
so
they might
take
creatine
before
they
get
in
the
car
well
there's
been
studies
on
creatine
and
cognitive
performance
that are
really
interesting
particularly
in the
setting
of
sleep
deprivation
yeah
and so
when they're
jet lagged
like I think
that that
that would
make sense
there are
some newer
caffeine
related compounds
that if we
can get them
when they're
third party
tested
you know
some
may try
those
so
theocrine
or
t-creen
and parazanthine
which is a
metabolite of
caffeine
some
they
they may
have
some
fewer
of the like
anxiety
promoting
high blood
pressure
high heart
rate
effects
but
maintain
some
of the
cognitive
effects
especially
in
combination
with
caffeine
so you
have a little
bit less
caffeine
plus a bit
of those
they're
harder to get
sort of
third party
tested
and stuff
but
and
some
of the
evidence
is newer
but
that's
looking
sort of
promising
as another
thing
that people
might try
you mentioned
theanine
which is
a nootropic
there's
quite a few
different ones
that people
enjoy
you know
beta
choline
there's a
bunch of
different ones
like do
formula 1
drivers
do they
supplement
with that
kind of
thing
so
you're thinking
like alpha
gpc
yeah
so like
it's a
choline
type of
choline
it's like
it's preferentially
turned into
acetylcholine
and acetylcholine
is really
important for
like focus
and attention
some of
that stuff
isn't
isn't
regularly
used
like
mainly
because
it's hard
to get
a third
party
tested
source
is it
really
yeah
like most
of the
things
that you
take
that
there
probably
isn't
or that
anybody
would
take
there
might
not
be
an
NSF
for
sport
certified
version
there's
very few
companies
that do
that
routinely
for all
their
supplements
god
you'd
think
that
would
be
really
accessible
because
nootropics
are so
common
now
so
but
so
there's
that
plus
there's
the
when
we're
working
with
different
drivers
they each
have
very
unique
needs
so
it's
trying
to
it's
a
combination
of
what
do
I
think
is
really
going
to
move
the
needle
and
not
over
correct
I
think
most
coaches
I've
spoken
to
in
Formula
have
a
story
where
their
driver
had
three
espressos
before
it
got
in
the
car
and
then
he
overcooked
the
first
corner
right
so
it's
a
really
tricky
balance
of
trying
to
make
sure
that
they
can
systematically
get
in
the
zone
to
perform
well
in
the
car
without
sort
of
pushing
them
too
far
over
the
other
side
and
so
that's
where
supplements
become
trickier
because
it's
very
easy
to
down
regulate
if
you've
overcooked
it
through
some
of
those
physiological
means
where
I
can
do
some
breath
work
or
something
to
calm
myself
down
but
if
I've
stuffed
myself
full of
caffeine
it's
going to be
hard to
come back
from that
and then
you step in
the car
and it
could cause
some
issues
so
we tend
to focus
on some
of the
physiological
stuff
and then
maybe a
little bit
of
supplementation
because
that seems
to be
the best
balance
across
those
different
needs
well it
seems like
formula one
would be
a great
place
to develop
framework
for this
because
there's
so much
money
involved
it's
such
a
massive
sport
and
you
would
think
that
they
would
have
that
dialed
in
like
you're
168
pounds
this
is
when
you
woke
up
this
is
what
you
need
right
now
you
need
this
much
protein
this
much
this
stop
eating
X
amount
of
hours
before
the
race
so
yes
we
do
a
lot
so
like
even
like
your
biggest
rival
is
your
teammate
in
many
respects
right
because
that's
the
only
guy
you
can
go
up
against
truly
head
to
head
because
you're
in
the
same
car
right
so
yeah
you know
a lot
of what
we do
we have
to silo
within a
driver
like
this
is
the
stuff
that
works
for
this
guy
and
I
can't
use
that
to
help
this
guy
right
that's
one
reason
that's
one
reason
why
they
don't
share
information
yeah
and
that's
one
reason
why
hints
has
been
very
successful
as
a
company
is
because
they've
been
we're
very
good
at
walling
this
stuff
off
like
we
know
what's
good
for
this
guy
and
we
sort
of
leave
those
separate
because
different
frameworks
different
approaches
might
be
needed
well
it's
such
an
extreme
example
because
any
little
deviation
that
you
wouldn't
normally
feel
in
everyday
life
could
be
disastrous
in a
Formula
One
race
what
about
different
things
to
stimulate
cognitive
function
like
playing
chess
or
doing
is
there
anything
that
those
guys
engage
in
specifically
to
improve
the way
they
think
again
it
depends
a
little
from
driver
to
driver
a
lot
of
them
play
some
kind
of
video
games
which
actually
have
some
interesting
evidence
to support
them
in terms
of
improving
cognitive
function
I think
for them
though
a lot
of that
is
it's
almost
like
relaxation
like
when you
drive a
Formula
One
car
for a
living
like
playing
a
video
game
is
relaxing
isn't
necessarily
as
challenging
right
and so
a lot
of it
tends
to be
very
car
focused
right
they get
tons
of time
in the
simulator
like
during the
season
they get
a lot
of time
in the
car
so
there's
nothing
that
like
consistently
would
work
or that
everybody
does
I think
a lot
of where
the
cognitive
training
side
comes
from
is
during
driver
development
right
how can
we
get
more
sports
specific
or
sports
supporting
cognitive
challenges
in younger
drivers
as they're
developing
so we
might use
some
cognitive
training
tools
and some
other
things
to try
and support
some of
those
development
processes
because by
the time
they're at
the top
especially
if you want
to maintain
it
the main
thing that
you need
to do
is
obviously
maintain
those
driving
skills
which
you'll
get
through
the
day-to-day
aspects
of the
job
plus
then
it's
really
continually
paying
attention
to
sustained
physical
health
physical
performance
especially
because of
the
arduous
schedules
and all
that kind
of stuff
so often
again
they're focusing
on the
other areas
because they
know that
will help
them stay
at a high
level for
longer
so they're
focused on
recovery
from all
the
unavoidable
aspects
that are
going to
mitigate
your
performance
yeah
yeah
exactly
so
sleep
some of
them use
different
meditation
or breath
work
or other
devices
just to
kind of
help
maybe you
like gamify
it slightly
or you make
it a slightly
more enjoyable
experience
it's easier
to do
easier to
switch off
if you're
doing
things related
sort of
like
vibration
and that
kind of
stuff
you mean
like
pressure
plates
like
those
standing
on
shaky
plates
no
there's
turbosonic
there's a
chair
that
some
guys
use
and I mean
this is used
in a ton
of different
sports
and like
in other
military
groups
as well
it's called
the shift
wave
have you heard
of this
yeah
I have
one
yeah
so some
of the
guys
have a
shift
wave
it just
kind of
depends
on
what works
well
for them
in terms
of like
allowing
them to
down
regulate
allowing
them to
kind of
sleep
sleep
better
and again
we sort
of
often
focus
on the
more
sort
of
physiological
environmental
side
rather than
you know
trying to
throw a bunch
of supplements
at it
well it
seems like
that's a
great place
to study
formula one
drivers
because you're
dealing with
these like
fine lines
this tiny
differential
between
success and
failure
yeah
yeah
and the
one of the
interesting things
is that
the sort
of the
real performance
stuff
is kind
of siloed
within the
team
so then
right
because that's
related to
performance
in the car
and that's
sensitive
information
so a lot
of the time
we're kind
of thinking
about
and this
actually
across most
sports
the best
predictor
of performance
is subjective
well-being
how does the
athlete feel
how
and so like
there are tons
of studies
even like
coming out
now
like you
compare that
to blood
tests and
hrv
and all
this other
kind of
stuff
how they
feel
am I
tired
am I
achy
do I
feel alert
you know
all that
kind of
stuff
that seems
to predict
performance
really well
so how
can we
or and
better
some of
those
better than
some of
those other
things
the best
is a
combination
as much
as possible
but so
so we do a lot
of work
aggregating
data
but then
really the rest
of the time
is how
can I make
sure this guy
feels good
every day
right
and feels
confident
when he gets
in the car
and so then
we have
psychologists
they're a big
part of that
plus like
keeping an eye
on their body
and all that
you know
all those sort
of things
sort of
put them in
the best
spot possible
when they get
in the car
do you coach
them to avoid
toxic relationships
I'm not
I'm not sure
if anybody's
ever gotten
into that
for fighters
it is like
one of the
number one
predictors
of poor
success
in a competition
I've seen it
over and over
again
guys with horrible
relationships
yeah
you know
whoever's fault
it is
both fault
both parties
whatever it is
but those are
the ones
like when they
have like
really bad
relationships
like there was
this one guy
that I know
that was a
really high performer
very good fighter
but he had this
crazy girlfriend
and she required
so much
so much attention
that it would
drive her nuts
when he was
getting ready
for a fight
because he was
spending all his
time concentrating
on the fight
and it would peak
literally the night
before the fight
like their relationship
was so toxic
she would always
start fights
and all the coaches
knew it
she would start
fights after he
weighed in
because he was
so locked in
on the fight
the next day
that he wasn't
paying attention
to her
so she would
storm out
of the hotel
room
and go down
to the bar
by herself
and he would
freak out
and he would
always wind up
performing poorly
at least I
personally haven't
seen the evidence
of that
in that world
I will say that
fighters are kind
of crazy
though
it's an
interesting
group to
study
because it's
a very
bizarre
activity
to begin
with
the way
I describe
it is
high level
problem solving
with dire
physical
consequences
although you could
say that
Formula One
is similar
in that respect
right
very similar
there are
certainly
a lot of
drivers come
into the
sport
is often
driven by
family
relationships
so I think
that may
be an
influence
sometimes
overbearing
parents
are another
one
coaches
they come
in with
this long
history
of what
got them
there
so maybe
that affects
some of them
I'm not sure
what are the
most challenging
athletes
I assume
you've dealt
with a bunch
of different
athletes
from various
sports
what are the
most challenging
ones to deal
with
I think
the ones
that I found
most challenging
are
it's usually
because they're
pulled in so
many different
directions
that
it becomes
difficult for
them to
really engage
in the
things that
we know
is going to
help them
perform
long term
and so
as
I have
friends who
work in
the NBA
for instance
where I
think this
is amplified
even more
you have
teenage
millionaires
who can
literally
do whatever
they want
but you
have to
keep them
on task
and we
see that
in a lot
of professional
sports
and so
it's that
kind of
stuff
what's
distracting
them
what are
the other
things
that they're
doing
that's
stopping
them
from being
able to
engage
in these
processes
and so
you can
have
really good
conversations
and put
together
really good
plans
and in
the moment
they're really
engaged
and they're
interested
they want
to do
well
this is
their job
and they
love it
but
when
other things
start to
come into
play
outside of
that
conversation
they don't
engage with
things
they don't
do it
they don't
see the
results
they want
they get
demotivated
but it's
usually because
other things
in their
life
could be
like the
toxic
relationships
but it
tends to
be other
distractors
that kind
of pull
them away
from that
that sort
of like
core goal
unfortunately
success is
a big one
right
because the
motivation
to succeed
in the
first place
is you
want financial
gain
you want
recognition
you want
all these
things that
you're chasing
after
and then once
you get
them
now what
yeah
yeah
yeah
and some
some
some people
like maintain
like really
they maintain
dedication to
the craft
like this
is the
thing that
I love
and I
want to
do it
every day
and the
longer you
do it
the more
you have
to take
care of
like the
little details
like early
on in your
career
you can
train however
you want
eat however
you want
if you have
a certain
set of
skills
and training
up to that
point
you'll do
pretty well
but you want
to sustain
that for a
very long
period of time
it requires
an increasing
amount of
dedication
to the
other areas
of your life
to make sure
that you can
still do that
and I think
sometimes people
just aren't
honest with
themselves in
terms of
what they
really want
to do
or what
they're going
to spend
their time
doing
so that's
the most
frustrating
thing is
when you
sort of
you hear
one thing
but you
see another
thing
because of
like the
other areas
of life
that are
taking over
so what
what do
you do
if you
have an
athlete
like say
an NBA
athlete
and you
see all
this talent
all this
potential
but then
you notice
that they're
getting pulled
in all these
different directions
maybe they're
just like
spending money
all the time
and partying
and hanging
out with
girls
and how
do you
get them
back on
track
so I
don't do
a ton of
work in
NBA
when I
intersect
with that
I'm generally
advising on
like the
data portion
rather than
like the
interacting
with the
human
so I
don't have
good tips
but luckily
because I've
never had to
deal with that
because I
imagine it's
quite frustrating
so what
athletes do
you deal
with
like what
sports
so formula
one is
the one
where I
primarily
I'm like
face to
face with
athletes
in other
professional
sports
I'm like
an advisor
to the team
that works
with them
on like
a data
health
nutrition
got it
got it
and when
you compare
notes
what are the
differences
between like
dealing with
formula one
athletes versus
dealing with
like NFL
or NBA
or baseball
a lot of
the stuff
comes down
to
differences
in travel
schedule
and training
and the
ability to
capture data
for instance
so data
capture in
formula one
is really
hard
because of
the types
of travel
and
right
you don't
get to
aggregate
across a
team
whereas
you're
part of
a big
team
there's
several
people
you can
kind of
work
but
you work
with an
aggregate
data across
to kind of
understand
what's
happening
with
individuals
as well
as like
overall
but
I think
formula one
is unique
because
it's so
individual
in terms
of
each
driver
has
their
one
specific
team
and
it's
often
very
difficult
to
capture
some
of
the
data
that
we
might
want
to
capture
like
getting
blood
tests
on
guys
who
are
in
a
plane
every
other
day
right
really
difficult
whereas
other
places
where
they
have
a
home
base
and
this
kind
of
stuff
as usual
you
might
be
able
to
get
at
that
better
so
I
think
that's
maybe
one
of
the
biggest
differences
is
the
travel
schedule
and
how
easy
or
not
it
is
to
capture
and
aggregate
data
when
you're
working
with
these
Formula
One
athletes
how much
are you
changing
the
methods
that you
use
year to
year
it
will
depend
on
whether
my job
is to
stay on
top of
the
latest
research
so
what
what's
come out
recently
that
we think
will
meaningfully
move
the
needle
in
reality
I
think
this
is
the
case
in
the
majority
of
professional
sports
that
I've
interacted
with
the
main
thing
is
getting
the
boring
basics
done
consistently
and
again
and again
and again
we know
that's
foundational
to
sustain
performance
and
yeah
some
of
the
tools
and
technology
for
recovery
and
some
of
the
supplements
especially
if
you're
trying
to
address
nutrient
insufficiencies
based on
an
inadequate
diet
which
is
also
very
common
right
those
things
do
make
a
difference
but
the
main
struggle
at least
from the
guys
that
I
regularly
see
is
having
an
environment
and
framework
that
allows
them
to
keep
doing
that
stuff
like
stay
on top
of
a
specific
training
program
or
stay
consistent
with a
certain
sleep
routine
that
allows
them
to
sleep
well
those
are
the
things
that
make
the
biggest
difference
and
so
that's
where
we
tend
to
focus
and
then
maybe
every
year
or
so
we're
constantly
improving
our
data
capture
and
our
data
analysis
we're
constantly
trying
to
improve
the support
processes
because
we know
that
with
the
better
support
we
can
make
sure
they're
more
likely
to
do
the
stuff
that's
going to
everything
and
then
you
speak
to
a
coach
for
the
first
time
they're
like
we've
got
time
for
maybe
one
thing
and
you
better
be
really
confident
that
this
thing
is
going
to
make
a
difference
right
or
else
you've
wasted
our
time
so
how
do
you
decide
so
a
little
bit
of
it
is
of course
there's
going to
be
some
trial
and
error
and
it
does
depend
on
but
the
error
is
like
consequences
are
huge
yeah
like
and
you
just
have
to
acknowledge
that
up
front
and
the
error
is
biggest
when
you're
telling
some
guy
to
do
something
before
he
gets
in
the
car
right
because
that's
going to
immediately
have
an
effect
so
there
are
ways
to
offset
some
of
that
right
they
have
practice
periods
and
so
it's
like
right
now
it's
a new
generation
of
cars
for
this
season
nobody's
driven
them
before
they're
getting
more
extended
track
time
to
practice
with
them
so
that
might
be
a
time
when
you
could
try
a
new
supplement
there's
not
19
other
guys
or
now
21
other
guys
trying
to
get
past
you
and
then
right
so
that
so
some
of
it
is
that
right
trial and
error
you
acknowledge
that
you
just
have
to
be
really
confident
that
you
know
what
problem
you're
trying
to
solve
and
that
it's
an
important
problem
right
so
I've
worked
with
coaches
and their
driver
where
like
reaction
time
was a
very
specific
thing
like
practice
maybe
tinkering
with
some
supplements
maybe
tinkering
with
some
of
that
arousal
stuff
that
we
talked
about
earlier
so
you
need
to
make
sure
it's
an
important
problem
then
you
need
to
think
about
what's
the
hierarchy
of
things
that
have
the
highest
likelihood
of
benefit
and
the
lowest
risk
and
then
work
your
way
through
it
and
I
realize
this
is
in
the
abstract
because
it
really
depends
on
the
problem
that's
in
front
of
you
what
about
the
psychology
aspect
of
it
I
mean
this
is
a
very
controversial
aspect
of
mixed
martial
arts
in
particular
because
there's
kind of
two
schools
of
thought
there's
there's
like
I have
a good
friend
who's
a
coach
that
recently
told
me
he's
not
working
with
any
fighters
anymore
that
need
a
mental
coach
and
I
said
why
and
he's
like
you
just
can't
count
on
them
he
goes
they're
just
too
fragile
they
need
a
mental
coach
because
I
want
a
motherfucker
who
just
knows
that
this
is
what
he's
supposed
to be
doing
and
just
go
out
and
do
it
I'm
like
boy
but
that
kind
of
limits
your
athletes
right
like
do
you
do
you
think
that
there's
benefit
in
mental
coaching
or
do
you
think
like
to
reach
a
championship
level
there's
an
inherent
mindset
that
you
must
have
going
into
that
and
you
can
improve
upon
that
but
if
you
do
not
have
that
mindset
you're
not
going
to
be
successful
this
is
my
friend's
idea
I don't
want to
call him
out
because
he
recently
had a
bad
result
with one
of his
athletes
he's
like
I'm
done
no
more
guys
who
need
mental
coaches
I
want
killers
so
I
think
that
you're
but
we
have
psychologists
on our
team
who
work
with
the
drivers
regularly
other
drivers
who
aren't
you know
working
with us
bring in
sports
psychologists
very regularly
do you
collaborate
with these
psychologists
do you
talk to
them
and
compare
notes
yeah
yeah
so we
have
what
are
common
issues
the
I mean
again
it's
just
it's
so
dependent
on the
individual
but it
but it's
also
very common
across all
athletes
right
so it's
like
overcoming
failure
or
fear of
failure
or
you
maybe
it's
dealing
with
difficult
relationships
which
for
various
reasons
they can
experience
and
then
it's
how
their
inherent
thought
process
when that
happens
so we
know
that
the
most
resilient
athletes
are
those
that
tend
to
be
self
compassionate
right
so
like
interesting
yeah
that's
interesting
I would have
thought the
opposite
yeah
and so
there's
this idea
right
that
right
you want
killers
you want
people hard on
themselves
the guys who are hard on
themselves
but for
sustained
and so
this is
looking across
like as broad as
possible across
sport
those who are
most
most successful
most often
of course
there's gonna be
there's gonna be
the killer
who's just like
hard on himself
and gets the job
done
of course
right
but
these elements
of self
compassion
that include
things like
mindfulness
like
thinking about
the world
and understanding
it and about
their place
in it
and
common humanity
which is like
treating themselves
as they would
treat other
people
and acknowledging
the right
we all make
mistakes
and stuff
always happens
but I can
overcome this
I
you know
what
this has happened
to me before
like
I've sucked
I've crashed
I've done
something wrong
and hey
I overcame it
and you know
now I'm succeeding
again
those
mental skills
are
most common
amongst
the high level
high level
athletes
so I'll give
an example
this is not
I don't know him
but like
Roger Federer
has a very famous
quote
right
he gave it
some
like graduation
address
or something
where he says
that
across his
career
he only won
54%
of his points
on court
right
so that means
that 46%
of points
he lost
right
so that means
that every time
he makes a mistake
every unforced error
he has to come back
and be like
hey dude
like you've got this
I know I can do this
and like
and that's the point
that he's making
in this address
and it's those
kinds of mental skills
that seem to be
most important
so
when
you've had
a history
of beating
yourself up
and being
hard on yourself
and that's kind
of gotten you
to that point
there will
often be a stage
where there's
so much
accumulated
pressure
or stress
or failure
that just
working harder
and being harder
on yourself
isn't going to
get you past it
but
athletes who are
successful for a
long period of time
tend to have
those other
abilities
to like
think about
the bigger picture
understand what
they've overcome
previously
treat themselves
more like they
would treat others
and they seem to
be the ones who
overcome failure
and then continue
to succeed
I'm really into
professional pool
I play pool
and I follow a lot
of professional pool
players
and there's a trait
amongst the elite
pool players
that's pretty
consistent
for the ones that
are successful
and win tournaments
is the ability
to let a bad
shot go
exactly
because the guys
who beat themselves
up over bad
shots
you see it
they slump
in their chair
they start
running their
fingers through
their hair
they throw their
head back
they take a
deep breath
and then they're
carrying that
with them
when they go out
to make a shot
again
and for a
high level
pool player
so there's
performance scores
and a really
high TPA
performance score
is like
I think the best
in the world
right now
is Joshua
Filler
who's this guy
from Germany
he's arguably
if not the best
one of the top
two or three guys
in the world
his performance
score is about
I think it's like
850
out of a thousand
so that means
if he makes
a thousand shots
he's gonna make
850 of those shots
which is very elite
yeah
so you gotta think
like even the best
because they're playing
on four inch pockets
but this guy
never gets upset
when he misses
he just sits down
and he's got a dead
look on his face
the Chinese Taipei
players are the best
at it
I don't know how
they coach them
over there
so they're some
of the best
in the world
the Chinese Taipei
players
so these guys
from Taiwan
they have no
expression
when they miss
a shot
they just go
and sit down
and maybe they'll
smile
but they never
get upset
whereas a lot
of the American
players
they get fucking
pissed off
you see it
some of the
European players
do the same
thing
and those guys
they fall
off a cliff
their performance
is elite
they'll make
a couple
of bad shots
and then the
match goes
downhill
and they wind
up getting
steamrolled
and I think
you can
there's other
stuff going on
you can think
about it
in terms
of that
like arousal
curve
we talked
about earlier
right
as you get
stressed
and like
worked up
about a missed
shot
you're pushing
yourself
further and
further away
from the level
of arousal
that's required
for performance
and dwelling
on failure
and then you're
thinking about
what happened
previously
rather than
the shot
that comes
next
well that's
one of the
most important
things about
a shot
because even
if your mechanics
are good
if you think
you're going
to miss
you're going
to miss
it's weird
it's a weird
thing
because you know
what to do
you know how
to do it
but if you think
fuck I can't
miss this shot
you're going
to miss
like nine times
out of ten
it's very weird
so it's a very
mentally
the game
a giant percentage
of it
once the skills
are acquired
because most
of them
when they get
to an elite
level
have all
the skills
it's a mental
thing
it's ability
to perform
under pressure
because it's
fine motor
skills
you know
there's
I mean
across every
different aspect
of cognitive
performance
well-being
there's
you know
again and again
you see that
psychology
drives physiology
and drives
performance
like you can
you can measure
these things
as you think
them
as they then
change physiology
which then alters
how you perform
so
so I mean
this is a very
very long answer
to your
question of
like is
like psychology
and mental skills
important
absolutely
because I think
that's going to be
foundational to
whether you can
even achieve
those high levels
of performance
and
everybody needs
help
occasionally
and right
that's
that's perfectly
that's perfectly
normal
and then right
different people
are going to need
different tools
and different skill
sets
so like
different psychologists
are going to provide
you know
different things
for them to do
so like
yes that's always
something that we
have on hand
as needed
as part of the team
because that's going
to be really important
yeah the mind
controls
so much
of what you do
in life
even if you have
skills
and that's something
that elite performers
either figure out
or don't
right
they either never
achieve their true
potential
because they keep
tripping over
themselves
or they go
okay
this is not
helping me
it's only hurting
me
I keep allowing
myself to
spiral
into this
same sort of
mental state
and I have to
find a method
and so like
when you
talk with
psychologists
what do
they
what tools
and
what
sort of
strategies
do they give
these
athletes
to
abandon
negative
thinking
there
are a few
different
ways
to
approach
it
and again
like
don't want
to pretend
I'm a
psychologist
right
we have
other people
with these
skills
for a
reason
but
I think
a lot
of what
becomes
important
again
is
thinking
about
the
causes
of
maybe
initially
the causes
of mistakes
and then
the
causes
of stress
and why
that may
or may not
be beneficial
and the way
that you can
leverage it
so
there's
a lot
of
research
on
understanding
that
stress
responses
are there
to divert
resources
to something
that matters
and something
that either
requires your
attention or
adaptation to
it
right
so
understanding
that
actually
stress
in the
moment
in that
kind of
moment
is a
good
thing
and you
want to
leverage
it
rather than
be scared
of it
so
and we
know
that people
who
are trained
in this
mindset
so this
is work
by
Alia Kram
at Stanford
the stress
is enhancing
mindset
also
like predicts
how well
Navy SEALs
do during
training
like how
much
they sort
of like
appreciate
that stress
response
is important
this is me
rising to
the occasion
not only
that you
still get
stressed
where you
still can
measure
stress
hormones
that still
happens
but you
release
other things
that help
to
also
like
counteract
that and
drive
adaptation
and
it
results
in
better
decision
making
when
stressed
so
like
reframing
some of
these
responses
can be
important
as well
as then
thinking
about
like
after
a mistake
happened
you know
thinking about
other examples
of times
when you
did that
and you
overcame
it
or
you know
having
having
like
these
different
parts
of
understanding
what it
is to be
a human
even when
you're
performing
at an
elite
level
maybe
some
of
it
is
building
in
routines
so that
you
feel
confident
in a
given
situation
right
like
these
are
the
things
that
I
do
and
when
I
do
these
things
I
know
I'm
going to
perform
well
that
can
be
a
double
edged
sword
for
some
people
because
and I
think
this
we
see
a lot
of
this
in
the
world
of
health
optimization
we
assume
that
we
need
to
do
all
these
things
in
order
to
perform
well
and
so
then
if
those
things
don't
happen
we
think
we
won't
perform
well
right
so
that's
another
way
for us
to
get
in
our
way
our
own
way
so
you
have
getting
increasingly
frustrated
because
you're
not
making
your
shots
it's
almost
impossible
to
think
your
way
out
of
that
right
your
brain
is
too
busy
being
dunked
in
adrenaline
to
make
good
decisions
so
that's
where
you
might
have
tools
like
leveraging
your
physiology
breath
work
closing
your
eyes
visualization
those
things
sort of
work
from
the
bottom
up
to
kind
of
help
your
mind
get
a
grip
and
get
back
in
the
game
so
it's
a
whole
bunch
of
different
things
depending
on
what
you
might
need
is
it
I
need
to
regulate
myself
in
the
moment
is
it
how
do
I
set
myself
up
for
success
through
a
series
of
and
it
could
be
like
what's
my
warm
up
what's
my
what am
I
thinking
through
what am
I
visualizing
before
I
perform
or
is
it
tools
to
deal
with
the
processes
of
failure
afterwards
and
I
would
also
think
that
even
just
the
knowledge
that
these
high
stress
situations
where
you
do
encounter
failure
can
produce
a result
inside
the
mind
that
can
be
beneficial
if
harnessed
yes
yeah
exactly
and
so
one
one
of
the
ways
that
this
is
taught
to
other
people
right
not
just
athletes
is
like
think
about
all
the
people
who've
performed
under
significant
stress
right
this
is
what
the
human
mind
and
human
body
is
capable
of
if
only
we
allow
it
to
do
that
right
that's
what's
important
right
is
like
I
think
inspiration
is one
of the
most
powerful
fuels
that
we
can
use
and
inspiration
from
other
people's
examples
is one
of the
best
versions
of
that
yeah
because
I
think
there
was a
young
kid
who
recently
broke
the
world
record
of
the
mile
did
you
see
that
oh
yeah
yeah
I
watched
that
it was
340
something
348
maybe
yeah
348
which is
nuts
which is
nuts
we didn't
think that
people can
get below
four minutes
before
this
16
year old
kid
hits
348
and
I
immediately
thought
wow
through
the
inspiration
of
this
kid
being
able
to
do
this
who's
going
to
break
340
now
you know
that
I
heard
from
somebody
that
in
the
run
up
to
the
race
he
hadn't
raced
a bunch
recently
this
was
just
going to
be
a run
out
he
was
going to
loosen
his
legs
up
get
back
into
the
race
in
that
situation
he's
put
no
pressure
on
himself
right
all
the
brakes
nothing
to
lose
and
so
like
in
that
situation
that
you
could
like
incredible
performances
are
possible
and
it's
crazy
because
that's
only
the
11th
fastest
indoor
mile
that's
what
it
says
here
I
thought
it
was
the
fastest
ever
but
it's
the
fastest
ever
for
under
18
record
yeah
so
crazy
that's
so
fast
to
run
a
mile
whoo
I
mean
I'm
not
sure
I
could
go
that
fast
full
stop
ever
like
for
any
period
of
time
20
feet
yeah
exactly
it's
kind
of
amazing
but
I
mean
this
is
one
of
the
things
we
talk
about
all
the
time
with
mixed
martial
arts
athletes
in
particular
is
that
today
is
such
an
amazing
time
for
them
because
there's
so
much
access
to
video
so
you
can
watch
all
these
performances
by
all
these
elite
athletes
and
then
it
raises
your
personal
standards
because
you're
mirroring
what
these
people
are
capable
of
doing
and
in
your
head
you
have
a
very
high
standard
because
you've
seen
it
and
that
inspires
people
to
become
better
and
so
the
athletes
that
we're
seeing
today
I
say
all
the
time
that
martial
arts
has
evolved
more
in
the
last
30
years
than
it
has
in
the
last
30,000
years
and
it's
true
and
it's
true
just
based
on
my
own
personal
experience
of
seeing
athletes
from
1997
when I
first
started
working
with
the
UFC
to
2026
it's
a
completely
different
standard
they're
so
much
better
they're
so
much
more
elite
they have
so
much
more
balance
in
terms
of
their
game
is
balanced
striking
grappling
wrestling
all
of it
together
it's
it's
amazing
because
they've
they're
walking
on the
foundation
that
was
set
by the
athletes
before
them
so
it's
the
mind
recognizing
what's
possible
absolutely
or
not
thinking
that
something
is
impossible
right
it's
the
opposite
too
and
maybe
that's
more
of it
right
it's
the same
with
Roger
Bannister
in the
four
minute
mile
right
as soon
as he
did
it
everybody
not
everybody
but
lots
of
people
started
to
do
it
well
and
also
the
ignorance
of
youth
which
they don't
they don't
worry
about their
own
limitations
they also
don't have
mortgages
they don't
have wives
they don't
have kids
they don't
have
bills
but this
is also
the thing
is right
if we think
about
these traits
that we'd
maybe like
to carry
over
that
help us
perform
or maintain
performance
for long
periods of
time
later in
life
like
some
of
that
curiosity
not
worrying
about
like
these
burdens
continuing
to engage
in these
things
that
challenge
ourselves
that
kids
just
like
readily
do
right
the
brain
is
exploring
and
trying
to learn
I think
we need
more
of
that
as
adults
but
when
you
think
about
the
standard
being
set
or
thinking
that
things
aren't
impossible
there's
two
parts
to that
one
yes
that's
a
huge
aspect
of
achieving
higher
and higher
levels
of
but
for
many
of
us
regular
people
when
you spend
a lot
of time
seeing
other
people
performing
so much
better
than
you
it
can
have
the
opposite
effect
I think
this is
something
that we
see
on
social
media
there's
some
really
interesting
studies
on
social
rank
so
we are
always
trying
to see
where
we
rank
in
the
world
compared
to
others
it's
the
part
of
us
being
social
beings
and
so
if
you
spend
all
day
looking
at
people
who
are
richer
more
beautiful
more
jacked
than
you
are
internally
you
demote
yourself
right
you
give
yourself
a
lower
social
rank
and
that
creates
a
social
stress
that
triggers
genuine
stress
responses
right
increased
sympathetic
activation
activation
of some
inflammatory
process
in the
body
very
similar
to
if
you
are
socially
isolated
so
for
some
people
who
have
the
you
know
are
on
a
trajectory
to
improve
their
performance
you
know
because
they're
elite
athletes
and they're
seeing
these
other
guys
do
it
and they're
like
oh yeah
I can
do
that
right
that's
really
beneficial
but in
like the
general
world
the rest
of us
when we
spend
so much
time
seeing
other
people
do
other
things
better
than
us
it
can
almost
have
the
opposite
effect
but
not
with
everybody
no
no
it's
that's
the
thing
between
the
difference
between
an
athlete
and
someone
who
is
intimidated
by
other
people's
performances
instead
of being
inspired
yeah
so
but
that's
what I
mean
is
that
when
you're
one
type
of
when
you're
an
athlete
and
you're
seeing
other
guys
like
you
do
this
thing
right
that's
like
oh yeah
that creates
a bar
you want
to try
and hit
but
that
same
thing
is
very
like
seeing
how
we
compare
to
others
well
particularly
in
things
you
can't
control
like
your
looks
or
your
wealth
yeah
but
wealth
in
some
ways
can be
achieved
but
your
mind
doesn't
interpret it
that way
right
you don't
you don't
immediately
rationally
think
well I
can never
be that
right
I'm
never
going to
look
like
Brad
Pitt
right
right
you
can't
you
can't
apply
that sort
of like
rational
thinking
to it
well
then
even worse
for
young
girls
because
a lot
of
them
are
getting
surgery
because
they
know
that
some
girls
have
radically
improved
their
looks
through
surgery
and so
they
think
like
this
is
the
solution
to
everything
and I
just
need to
get a
nose
job
and a
chin
job
and a
this
and
that
which
of course
never
results
and also
it's like
the
psychological
aspect
of being
controlled
by
paying
attention
to other
people's
lives
is very
weird
and it's
you know
Jonathan Haidt
wrote a great
book about it
called
The Coddling
of the
American
Mind
about the
impact
of social
media
and particularly
on young
girls
it's
really bad
so he
did write
Coddling
of the
American
Mind
that was
more about
changes
in like
academia
and helicopter
parenting
and safety
as
the anxious
generation
was the one
about
social media
that's
right
and that
aspect
of it
of comparing
yourself
to other
girls
is particularly
devastating
it's like
there's
you see
when the
impact
of social
media
when social
media gets
introduced
into the
world
immediately
you see
more self
harm
suicidal
ideation
all these
different
things
increase
whereas
like
so those
same
stressors
if you
were in
a position
like an
athlete
and you're
a competitive
athlete
and you see
someone who's
elite
you would be
inspired
but you
feel
helpless
to achieve
these
goals
that
you know
like you
can't
get any
taller
you can't
get any
better
looking
you can't
like it's
just this
is what
you got
and then
you see
people that
are using
filters
so it's
not even
what they
really look
like
yeah
so that
I think
that's
why
there's
this
it's
interesting
that
very
similar
exposures
depending on
who you
are and
what you're
trying to
achieve
and what
you have
the ability
to achieve
can have
dramatically
different
effects on
mental
and other
well-being
right
and
but
you would
imagine
that for
competitive
athletes
you've
already
developed a
certain
amount
of resilience
already
you already
have a
competitive
spirit
and you
are working
towards a
thing
that's a
high level
of achievement
and something
you're already
doing
so seeing
a Michael
Jordan
seeing a
LeBron James
seeing if
you're a
basketball
player
you would
be inspired
and instead
of being
like I'll
never be as
good as
that guy
you'd be
like fuck
I want
to be as
good as
that guy
what do
I have
to do
well Kobe
Brian worked
out every
day and he
did this
and he did
that so I'm
going to do
that
so but
that's
the key
difference
right
something else
we didn't
talk about
this in
terms of
like the
the approaches
of the
most successful
athletes
is that
they don't
just say
I want to
be like
LeBron
or Kobe
they say
what did
he do
what can
I do
so they
focus on
the process
right
you have
to love
and focus
on the
process
because
you
you can't
guarantee
a certain
outcome
right
so like
and I talk
about this
I talk about
this in the
book and I
give the
example of
the 2012
Olympics
right
the guys
who came
second third
and fourth
ran personal
best times
like several
other national
records were
set during
the during
like the
whole hundred
meter sprint
competition
all the different
rounds
but like
Usain Bolt
ran
right
and so like
you can
like
you can be
the best
you've ever
been
and be
amazing
like you
can run
fast enough
to have
won a gold
medal
any other
year
but like
sometimes
you're
out of
luck
because
Usain Bolt
shows up
so like
you've got
to focus
on the
process
because you
can't
guarantee
the outcome
but by
focusing
on the
process
right
you're
gonna get
you're
gonna get
much
closer
yeah
that's
interesting
because if
you are
a person
trying to
be the best
in the
world
and you
happen
to be
in the
same
weight
class
as
Mike
Tyson
it's
gonna
be
tough
yeah
but I
mean
that's
always
been
the
case
that's
the thing
in
championship
level
fighting
you find
that
when
someone
is
a
real
outlier
that
what
happens
is
all
the
other
people
in
that
weight
class
tend
to
achieve
a
very
high
level
even
if
they
never
wind
up
being
being
a
very
competitive
contender
class
underneath
it
and much
more
competitive
than
divisions
that are
not being
dominated
by elite
fighters
yeah
it's a
very
large
book
so I
know
it
can't
just
be
the
stuff
that
we've
already
covered
what
other
things
do
you
think
are
in
here
that
are
important
when
you're
talking
about
future
proofing
your
mind
we'll
say
you're
looking
at
a
dummy
copy
so
all
the
page
yeah
that's
crazy
I read
this
I'm like
maybe
it's
a
trick
the
yeah
you're
just
not
paying
attention
enough
the
book
is
as
thick
as
the
real
one
will
be
I
believe
you
so
and
that's
on
purpose
I've
never
been
given
a
dummy
copy
of
a
book
before
so
does
it
even
have
writing
no
writing
good
I'm
going
to
use
this
as
my
new
joke
book
well
once
once
the
full
thing
is
printed
we'll
send
you
a
real
one
okay
you
did
trick
me
though
thank
god
I
didn't
try
to
read
from
it
so
the
first
part
of
the
book
is
about
some
of
the
history
of
neuroscience
and
why
we
think
about
the
brain
the way
we
do
and
some
of
the
limitations
that's
created
like
why
we
think
about
Alzheimer's
disease
as
just
being
like
the
accumulation
of
amyloid
and
tau
proteins
in
the
brain
which
people
might
have
heard
of
right
that's
what
it's
been
boiled
down
to
when
there's
actually
a much
bigger
picture
of
many
other
things
that
that
are
important
wasn't
was it
Alzheimer's
where the
amyloid
plaque
where that
idea
was
sort
of
proven
to be
a little
bit
bullshit
so
there
have
been
so
not
really
but
kind
of
so
there
were
several
seminal
papers
that
were
manipulated
in some
way
right
they
and
this
is
this
unfortunately
is quite
common
where you
you change
the figures
you manipulate
these blots
to make
them show
different
things
and you
kind of
move
them
around
and copy
and paste
and it
kind of
shows
what you
want
to
show
and so
like
for
some
of
the
seminal
papers
in
Alzheimer's
that
turned
out
to be
the
case
but
people
have
increasingly
looked
away
from
just
the
accumulation
of
certain
proteins
in the
brain
for two
reasons
one is
that
we had
as a
field
they had
to create
new ideas
like
resilience
and there's
this thing
called
cognitive
resilience
which is
how much
cognitive
function
do you
maintain
in the
face
of
these
proteins
building up
in the
brain
and that's
because
the amount
of amyloid
you have
in your
brain
doesn't
really
predict
cognitive
function
and
cognitive
decline
that
well
so
some
of
that
is
related
to
other
things
so
we know
that
exercise
is an
important
part
of that
and
then
we know
there are
these other
things
that are
important
as well
so
inflammation
other cells
in the
brain
that become
critical
so like
the white
matter
is a
really
critical
structure
in the
brain
it's
what
allows
us
to have
really
fast
processing
speed
decision
making
executive
function
the function
of the
prefrontal
cortex
all of
that
is
dependent
on
white
matter
structure
and
that
seems
to be
really
related
to
vascular
function
vascular
health
resistance
training
is really
important
to support
that
so
all these
other
things
become
important
as well
so
that's
kind
of
the
it's
just
showing
the
first
part
of
the
book
is
saying
hey
we
focused
a lot
here
but
actually
it's
not
that's
not
important
but
there's
a whole
bunch
of other
stuff
that's
important
too
and a
lot
of
it
is
related
to
things
that
we
have
control
over
so
then
I
talk
about
all
the
different
types
of
exercise
how
different
types
of
exercise
affect
different
parts
of
the
brain
in
different
ways
nutrition
talk a lot
about
cognitive
stimulus
social
connection
sleep
like I
said
stress
management
and stress
mitigation
and how
you can
kind of
manage
your
performance
in the
moment
and then
all of
that comes
together
in terms
of
into
like
a
model
that I
call
the
3S
model
of
how
these
different
like
things
kind
of
interact
and
affect
you
on a
day
to
day
basis
so
the
first
S
being
stimulus
right
we've
talked
about
all
the
reasons
why
that's
important
the
second
S
being
supply
which
is
if
you
stimulate
a part
of
the
brain
or
a
network
in
the
brain
with
a
new
skill
that
area
of
the
brain
the
neurons
and
the
astrocytes
there
they ask
for
more
blood
flow
so
the
blood
vessels
have
to
widen
they
dilate
to
bring
in
more
oxygen
bring
in
more
glucose
or
whatever
metabolic
substrate
you're
using
ketones
lactate
etc
and so
you need
really good
cardiovascular
health
that's
critical
so
that's
a big
part
of what
we
talk
about
you
also
need
good
metabolic
health
so
high
blood
pressure
and
high
blood
sugar
are
two
of
the
biggest
risk
factors
for
later
dementia
because
they
affect
this
supply
component
either
the
blood
flow
getting
there
or
being
able
to
regulate
energy
and
iron
magnesium
because
they have
B vitamins
they have
very specific
functions in
the brain
that we
know
that if
you're
deficient
you have
an
increased
risk
of
cognitive
decline
and
dementia
and
then
you've
stimulated
a part
of the
brain
you've
given it
all the
substrate
it needs
to do
its
job
like
we've
talked
about
adaptation
occurs
and
function
gets
enhanced
when we
sleep
or when
we
recover
so
that
support
is
the
third
bucket
so
sleep
is
a part
of
that
other
support
you might
get
like
hormonal
status
is
important
trophic
factors
hormones
that get
released
or
proteins
that get
released
that support
neuroplasticity
in the
brain
things like
brain-derived
neurotrophic
factor
and then
you want
to avoid
things that
inhibit
that
process
chronic
stress
can do
that
it
creates
an
overtraining
picture
in the
brain
smoking
excessive
alcohol
air
pollution
those kinds
of things
can have
a negative
effect
so
that's
how
they
all
interact
and
the fact
that
they
interact
means
that
depending
on
what
feels
most
impactful
to
you
like
what's
the
thing
that
you
think
you
can
move
the
needle
on
by
focusing
on
one
area
the
whole
network
starts
to
shift
and
we
see
that
in
multiple
different
studies
so
if
you
focus
on
sleep
and
you
sleep
a
bit
better
then
the
next
then
we
see
that
inflammation
decreases
and
blood
pressure
improves
and
blood
sugar
improves
and
the
next
day
you
feel
more
sociable
so
you're
more
likely
to
interact
with
other
people
in
a
friendly
way
and
you're
more
likely
to
engage
in
cognitively
stimulating
tasks
because
when
we're
tired
we
shy
away
from
those
things
and
it's
the
same
if
you
so
there
are
studies
in
older
adults
where
you
give
them
a
brain
training
program
and
they
sleep
better
because
when
you
stimulate
a
tissue
you
then
drive
greater
need
for
recovery
afterwards
it's
the same
if
you
exercise
more
you
sleep
better
so
it's
not
like
this
long
list
of
things
that
everybody
has
to
do
because
when
you
give
somebody
a
list
of
37
things
they'll
do
zero
things
right
we
know
that
yeah
so
if
you
just
know
that
they
all
communicate
and
interact
anywhere
you
come
in
you
can
start
to
shift
things
in
your
favor
now
when
you're
compiling
a book
like
this
I
would
imagine
there's
a lot
of
editing
and
so
how
do
you
decide
what
to
leave
in
I
mean
this
looks
like
it's
I
mean
obviously
these
are
all
blank
pages
so
they're
not
numbered
but
it
looks
like
this
is
at
least
a
300
page
book
the
final
book
is
about
450
pages
165
thousand
words
and
the
reference
list
so
unlike
most
health
books
every
time
I
make
a
statement
or
I
mention
a
study
there's
a
little
number
and
that
gives
you
the
paper
or
papers
that
I'm
talking
about
that
supports
that
right
it's
2000
papers
long
and
so
like
that
all
has
to
go
online
because
they
couldn't
afford
to
it
in
the
book
but
that's
probably
better
anyway
yeah
yeah
like
there's
like
seven
people
who
will
do
that
right
and
then
they'll
go
and
look
psychos
yeah
so
it's
important
to
me
like
anyway
people
who
want
to
do
that
can
do
that
but
in
I'm
not quite
sure
how it
ended up
being
this way
but
I
actually
had to
cut
very
little
but
there
were
things
where
I
kind
of
went
down
a little
bit
of a
rabbit
hole
and
my
editor
was
like
I'm
not
sure
we
really
need
this
but
I
basically
wrote
until I
got to
the word
limit
and then
I
stopped
and
I
focused
on
the
things
that
I
knew
that
were
important
and
where
to
stay
important
even
in
the
age
of
AI
and
as
technology
improves
and
changes
so
there
wasn't
a ton
that
ended
up
getting
cut
out
but
when
you're
putting
it
together
how do
you
decide
what's
prominent
what's
the most
important
thing
to focus
on
where
to
put
things
so
when
when
I
started
when I
started
writing
as you
saw
I'm
going to
disagree
with my
former
self
I wrote
the first
part of
the book
like three
times
and
like the
first time
I wrote
it
it was
like
40,000
words
all
focused
on
psychology
and
like
super
like
esoteric
and
academic
and I
was
like
nobody's
going to
read
this
so
like
had to
be
scratched
a couple
of
times
so
then
the
core
middle
part
of
the
book
is
all
those
different
areas
that we
know
are
important
like
the
big
rocks
and
practical
frameworks
for how
to
address
those
and
then
there's
an
introduction
to
why
should
you
care
about
this
like
in
individuals
over
40
dementia
is
the
most
important
health
concern
right
more
than
10%
say
they've
experienced
changes
in cognitive
function
we know
that the
rates of
dementia
are going to
double or triple
in the next
two or three
decades
like so why
do people care
about this
and like
some history
there
and then
the middle
part is
which I always
knew I was
going to write
these are the
most important
things and
they're always
going to remain
the most
important
things
and then
the last
chapter
is sort
of like
just kind
of bringing
it together
does that
answer your
question
it does
it does
well
I'm glad
you wrote
it
because I
think it's
a very
important
thing
and I
think
there's
a lot
of people
out there
that don't
understand
the risks
of being
sedentary
and that
these are
things that
you can
change
and that
you can
improve
the quality
of your
life
by making
those
changes
and
it might
make you
uncomfortable
to begin
something
like that
but there's
some real
value
in that
uncomfortable
feeling
of trying
something
new
and then
it really
does change
the way
your brain
functions
and it'll
improve the
quality of
your life
and in
this case
if possible
hold off
dementia
and just
hold off
cognitive decline
without calling
it dementia
so many people
experience cognitive
decline because
of atrophy
yeah
so it's
that's kind
of like
the worst
possible end
state we want
to avoid
but you
want to
maintain
your current
level of
cognitive
function
for as
long as
possible
and
possibly
improve it
and possibly
improve it
and there is
evidence you
can improve
it even
later in
life
and so
a big
part of
this
is that
when you
right
earlier we
talked about
this graph
of cognitive
function
right
it increases
to 20 or
30 and
then it
declines
when we're
doing studies
that show
that kind
of thing
what we're
doing is
we're looking
at a whole
bunch of
people
maybe tens
or hundreds
of thousands
of people
and we're
saying like
you plot
them all
on a graph
and yeah
as you
sort of
increase in
age there
are some
people who
are going
to lose
function
you kind
of like
draw the
average down
but we've
known
essentially
since for
the last
50 years
that when
you look at
the same
person over
several decades
it's actually
very normal
for us to
maintain
function
so like
the Seattle
longitudinal study
was run
by a guy
called
Warner
Shai
in Seattle
and it
was one
of the
first
studies
where they
measured
cognitive
function
in the
same
people
every
seven
years
for several
decades
and like
every seven
years they
measured
the same
people
and brought
in new
people
and so
they ended
up with
people who
were like
in their
twenties
up to
over
a hundred
years old
and they
found that
the average
effect by
that I mean
that more
than 50%
of people
maintain the
same level
of cognitive
function into
their 50s
60s 70s
and 80s
and those
data were
used to
actually raise
the retirement
age in the
US in
the 1980s
because they
showed that
it actually
wasn't normal
for people
to decline
but the
problem is
now we've
embodied this
idea that
as you get
older you
will decline
and as a
result you
stop engaging
in all the
things that
we've talked
about
because you're
like oh I'm
too old
to lift that
I'm too
old to learn
a new skill
I don't have
time to do
that and as a
result it's a
self-fulfilling
prophecy you
stop engaging
in those
processes and
decline happens
as a result
but if we
know that it's
possible to
maintain function
and we
continue to
engage in
those processes
the norm
should be that
function is
maintained
last question
did you do
an audio
version of this
yeah I'm
recording at the
moment
all right
when will that
be available
be out on
the same
day
March 24th
March 24th
stimulated
mind
Dr. Tommy
Wood
go get it
folks I
promise it
won't be
like this
thank you
Tommy I
really enjoyed
this
thanks so much
thank you very
thank you very
much I
think it's
really important
information too
and I think
it's something
that everyone
should apply
thank you
all right
thank you
bye everybody