June 28, 2021 • 7 mins
The good news is that our brains are not fixed or static, that we can continue to develop them during our lifetimes—as long as we keep them in good shape. We revisit this episode with neuroscientist Dr. Tara Swart, author of The Source: The Secrets of the Universe, the Science of the Brain; she reveals five tips to keep our brains in peak condition.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to this episode of Here's Something Good, a production
of the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio.
Each day we aspire to bring you the good news,
the silver lining, the glass half full, because there is
good happening in the world everywhere, every day, we just
need to look for and share it. Here's something good
(00:27):
for today. It might be considered the most important organ
in your body, and certainly the most complex. The human
brain weighs on average three point three pounds and produces
every thought, emotion, movement, and memory. And here's some good news.
The brain is not a fixed entity. Our brains don't
stop developing once our bodies stopped growing. In fact, according
(00:50):
to a discipline known as neural plasticity, our brains can
continue to improve providing we treat them correctly. And that's
what we're going to tell you about today. How to
keep your brain in top operating condition for peak performance.
We sat down with neuroscientists Dr Taras Swart, who reveals
the five things you must know to optimize brain performance.
(01:11):
Dr Swart is the author of the best selling book
The Source The Secrets of the Universe, The Science of
the Brain. Here's what she had to say, So Dr Swart,
thanks so much for joining us. Thank you for having me.
So you've written an incredible book called The Source, The
Secrets of the Universe, The Science of the Brain. What
led you to write that book? I mean, it's really
(01:31):
kind of my life's work in a way in that
it brought together my research on neuroplasticity and brain agility.
So ner a plasticity is the ability of the adult
brain to keep growing and changing throughout life so that
we can continually learn and improve. You also talk a
lot about how to keep your brain healthy. Could you
give us a little bit advice on ways to keep
your brain healthy. It's absolutely fundamental to create the physical
(01:54):
conditions for success in your brain body system, and I
have kind of whittled these to rest, fuel, hydrate, oxygenate,
and simplify. So rest is basically sleep. It's about the
length and quality of your sleep overnight. Um, there are
some generalizations in terms of advice around this, which is
(02:17):
ideally seven to nine hours per night, but we we
know now that it's actually really important that your sleep
times and wake times are the same, that they don't
vary over the different days, even if you still get
eight hours sleep. So seven to nine hours of good
quality sleep with regular weight and sleep times. We know
that there's a very efficient and active cleansing process of
(02:41):
the brain that goes on during the night, flushing out
toxins that can lead up to UM building up and
creating the symptoms of dementing diseases later in life. So
it's super important to get that block of sleep. It
can't be made up for by napping or um you know,
broken up into a short a pair it. And the
way to know what your number is is that if
(03:03):
you naturally wake up at the weekend the same time
that you have to wake up during the week you're
probably getting enough sleep. If you have to lie in
or take naps, or if you feel like I wish
I could sleep all weekend, then you're probably not getting
enough sleep. UM fuel is about the food that we eat,
and a lot of people don't really think this because
(03:24):
the brain only weighs four or five pounds. It's very
small percentage of our body weight, but it's the most
metabolically active organ in the body, and it uses up
at least twenty maybe even of the breakdown products of
what we eat. But most people don't choose their diet
to be brain first. They might choose it to be
(03:46):
healthy or lose weight, or because something is delicious, or
because they're trying to build a muscle. But I really
believe that we should be choosing our diet brain first.
And so that includes a nutrition dense diet that's high
in leafy greens, oily fish, good fats, nuts and seeds,
olive oil, eggs, avocado, and hydrating fruits and vegetables, because
(04:08):
you actually get more water from the food that you
eat than the water that you drink. Having said that,
hydration is the next one. It's super important. You'd never
drive your car without making sure that it had enough
water in the tank. But we all sort of go
to work or go to school and think that we
can get by without drinking in our water actually really
directly impacts our concentration and our memory and our focus
(04:30):
um and we recommend half a liter for every thirty
pounds of your body weight per day. Oxygenation is about
exercise and not being sedentary, and the recommendations there are
five to ten thousand steps a day, plus a hundred
and fifty minutes of mostly aerobic exercise per week. But
actually what I'm seeing particularly now. And you know in
(04:52):
stressful situations is people doing shallow breathing or breath holding,
and so actually just breathing obviously oxygen. It's your brain.
So if you are sedentary, just try to remember to
focus on your breath from time to time. And finally,
simplification is partly about mindfulness, which can be focusing on
your breath, or it can be doing using a mantra
(05:14):
or monitoring your thoughts or you know, there are several
different types of meditation and lots of great apps out there.
But it's also about choice reduction. So as you said earlier,
we're bombarded with information from so many people technologies and
so that is very overwhelming for the brain and it
drains the brain. So reducing your choices, like having meal
(05:38):
plans or having a sort of formula for your wardrobe
can actually really help to artificially reduce some of that
distraction for your brain. Well, there you have at five
great tips for a better brain. So here's something good
for today. It's reassuring to know that our brains can
continue to improve, that we can grow and learn and
be better versions of ourselves as long as we keep
(06:00):
our brains healthy. Doctor swarts advice is classic and well
worth listening to, just as you've probably suspected, eating right,
getting enough sleep, and exercise are the ingredients for a healthy,
high functioning brain now and as protection for later in life.
And pay particular attention to her advice about simplification. I'm
(06:20):
a big fan of psychologist Barry schwartz book The Paradox
of Choice, which explains that we often feel overwhelmed because
our society offers way too many choices. So, as Dr
Schwartz suggests, we might want to try to keep life
simple where we can to avoid decision fatigue and to
maintain our brains in top condition. Thank you for listening,
(06:51):
and please share Today's Something Good with others in your life.
This is Kim Azzarelli, co author of Fast Forward and
co founder of Seneca Women. To learn more about Seneca Women,
go to Seneca Women dot com or download the Seneca
Women app free in the app store. Care's Something Good
is a production of the Seneca Women podcast network and
I Heart Radio Have a Great Day. For more podcasts
(07:18):
from I Heart Radio, check out the I heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to this episode of Here's Something Good, a production
of the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio.
Each day we aspire to bring you the good news,
the silver lining, the glass half full, because there is
good happening in the world everywhere, every day, we just
need to look for and share it. Here's something good
(00:27):
for today. It might be considered the most important organ
in your body, and certainly the most complex. The human
brain weighs on average three point three pounds and produces
every thought, emotion, movement, and memory. And here's some good news.
The brain is not a fixed entity. Our brains don't
stop developing once our bodies stopped growing. In fact, according
(00:50):
to a discipline known as neural plasticity, our brains can
continue to improve providing we treat them correctly. And that's
what we're going to tell you about today. How to
keep your brain in top operating condition for peak performance.
We sat down with neuroscientists Dr Taras Swart, who reveals
the five things you must know to optimize brain performance.
(01:11):
Dr Swart is the author of the best selling book
The Source The Secrets of the Universe, The Science of
the Brain. Here's what she had to say, So Dr Swart,
thanks so much for joining us. Thank you for having me.
So you've written an incredible book called The Source, The
Secrets of the Universe, The Science of the Brain. What
led you to write that book? I mean, it's really
(01:31):
kind of my life's work in a way in that
it brought together my research on neuroplasticity and brain agility.
So ner a plasticity is the ability of the adult
brain to keep growing and changing throughout life so that
we can continually learn and improve. You also talk a
lot about how to keep your brain healthy. Could you
give us a little bit advice on ways to keep
your brain healthy. It's absolutely fundamental to create the physical
(01:54):
conditions for success in your brain body system, and I
have kind of whittled these to rest, fuel, hydrate, oxygenate,
and simplify. So rest is basically sleep. It's about the
length and quality of your sleep overnight. Um, there are
some generalizations in terms of advice around this, which is
(02:17):
ideally seven to nine hours per night, but we we
know now that it's actually really important that your sleep
times and wake times are the same, that they don't
vary over the different days, even if you still get
eight hours sleep. So seven to nine hours of good
quality sleep with regular weight and sleep times. We know
that there's a very efficient and active cleansing process of
(02:41):
the brain that goes on during the night, flushing out
toxins that can lead up to UM building up and
creating the symptoms of dementing diseases later in life. So
it's super important to get that block of sleep. It
can't be made up for by napping or um you know,
broken up into a short a pair it. And the
way to know what your number is is that if
(03:03):
you naturally wake up at the weekend the same time
that you have to wake up during the week you're
probably getting enough sleep. If you have to lie in
or take naps, or if you feel like I wish
I could sleep all weekend, then you're probably not getting
enough sleep. UM fuel is about the food that we eat,
and a lot of people don't really think this because
(03:24):
the brain only weighs four or five pounds. It's very
small percentage of our body weight, but it's the most
metabolically active organ in the body, and it uses up
at least twenty maybe even of the breakdown products of
what we eat. But most people don't choose their diet
to be brain first. They might choose it to be
(03:46):
healthy or lose weight, or because something is delicious, or
because they're trying to build a muscle. But I really
believe that we should be choosing our diet brain first.
And so that includes a nutrition dense diet that's high
in leafy greens, oily fish, good fats, nuts and seeds,
olive oil, eggs, avocado, and hydrating fruits and vegetables, because
(04:08):
you actually get more water from the food that you
eat than the water that you drink. Having said that,
hydration is the next one. It's super important. You'd never
drive your car without making sure that it had enough
water in the tank. But we all sort of go
to work or go to school and think that we
can get by without drinking in our water actually really
directly impacts our concentration and our memory and our focus
(04:30):
um and we recommend half a liter for every thirty
pounds of your body weight per day. Oxygenation is about
exercise and not being sedentary, and the recommendations there are
five to ten thousand steps a day, plus a hundred
and fifty minutes of mostly aerobic exercise per week. But
actually what I'm seeing particularly now. And you know in
(04:52):
stressful situations is people doing shallow breathing or breath holding,
and so actually just breathing obviously oxygen. It's your brain.
So if you are sedentary, just try to remember to
focus on your breath from time to time. And finally,
simplification is partly about mindfulness, which can be focusing on
your breath, or it can be doing using a mantra
(05:14):
or monitoring your thoughts or you know, there are several
different types of meditation and lots of great apps out there.
But it's also about choice reduction. So as you said earlier,
we're bombarded with information from so many people technologies and
so that is very overwhelming for the brain and it
drains the brain. So reducing your choices, like having meal
(05:38):
plans or having a sort of formula for your wardrobe
can actually really help to artificially reduce some of that
distraction for your brain. Well, there you have at five
great tips for a better brain. So here's something good
for today. It's reassuring to know that our brains can
continue to improve, that we can grow and learn and
be better versions of ourselves as long as we keep
(06:00):
our brains healthy. Doctor swarts advice is classic and well
worth listening to, just as you've probably suspected, eating right,
getting enough sleep, and exercise are the ingredients for a healthy,
high functioning brain now and as protection for later in life.
And pay particular attention to her advice about simplification. I'm
(06:20):
a big fan of psychologist Barry schwartz book The Paradox
of Choice, which explains that we often feel overwhelmed because
our society offers way too many choices. So, as Dr
Schwartz suggests, we might want to try to keep life
simple where we can to avoid decision fatigue and to
maintain our brains in top condition. Thank you for listening,
(06:51):
and please share Today's Something Good with others in your life.
This is Kim Azzarelli, co author of Fast Forward and
co founder of Seneca Women. To learn more about Seneca Women,
go to Seneca Women dot com or download the Seneca
Women app free in the app store. Care's Something Good
is a production of the Seneca Women podcast network and
I Heart Radio Have a Great Day. For more podcasts
(07:18):
from I Heart Radio, check out the I heart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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