All Episodes

May 8, 2025 37 mins

Is Alzheimer’s disease just something we have to wait and worry about as we age? Amy Lang doesn’t think so.

In this episode of The Optimal Aging Podcast, Jay Croft talks with Amy Lang, a brain health coach and former gym owner whose personal experience with Alzheimer’s — both her mother and grandmother were diagnosed — set her on a mission to educate others.

Amy shares how lifestyle factors like exercise, nutrition, stress, sleep, and social connection can dramatically reduce the risk of cognitive decline. If you're a fitness or wellness professional serving clients over 50, you’ll hear why this is a conversation you need to be having — and how you can help lead the way.

This is a hopeful, empowering episode packed with real-life insight and practical takeaways.

 Connect with Amy Lang:

🔗 Learn more at https://primefitcontent.com
📬 Contact: jay@primefitcontent.com
📱 Follow Jay:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/primefitcontent
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/croftjay

Thanks for listening!

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you pay attention to what's going on with
Alzheimer's research right now,up until this point we have only
been diagnosing people aftersymptoms appear, and we actually
I think a lot of people avoidthe diagnosis because if you
believe there's nothing you cando, there's a stigma associated
with it, right?
So if you're listening to this,I would say the earlier you act

(00:25):
, the better.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hi everybody, I'm Jay Croft and welcome to the
Optimal Aging Podcast, where wediscuss the business of exercise
, healthy living and well-beingfor people 50 and over.
Each week, we explore whathealthy living means for
millions of people over age 50and what's coming next, with a
focus on communications, contentand making powerful connections

(00:48):
.
I want to start by sharing astory short anecdote from my
guest.
When I was 16 years old, oursummer vacation was a trip to
Taiwan to visit my mom's family.
On the morning after we arrived, we had just finished eating
breakfast and were in my aunt'sliving room.
My mom was sitting on thecoffee table facing her mom and

(01:12):
telling her I'm your daughterfrom the United States.
My grandmother looked at my mom, studying her face, and then,
after about 30 seconds, sheasked you're from the United
States?
My mom nodded yes and mygrandmother continued I have a
daughter who lives in the UnitedStates.
It was heartbreaking.
I was told grandma hadAlzheimer's disease.

(01:33):
That's from Amy Lang, my guestthis week on Optimal Aging, the
show for fitness, health andwell-being professionals who
want to grow their businesseswith more people over 50.
Amy is a former gym owner,podcast host and author and now
a brain health coach with amission inspired by her family

(01:55):
history, and the question behindher mission is one we can all
relate to our genes' destiny.
On the subject of Alzheimer'sdisease, is there anything we
can do to protect ourselves?
It's a hot question these days.
Lots of research on brainhealth that seems clear that yes
, there's a lot we can do in ourlifestyle behaviors that affect

(02:17):
our risk of developingAlzheimer's disease or other
forms of dementia.
And this is all moving into thefitness industry as well.
In fact, there's a newfranchise, marbles Brain Body
Fitness, that opened its firstlocation recently in Indiana.
Now, last year on the show Ihad Dr Cody Seip of Marbles

(02:39):
Brain Body Fitness on the showand it's a topic that I'll be
returning to again and again.
I'm sure it's that compelling,it's that fascinating and it's
that important.
And I'm sure you'll agree afterlistening to Amy share her
story and her expertise.
Hi, amy, thanks for joining meagain.

(03:00):
I'm so happy that you're here.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
I'm happy to be here.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, you've been on the show a couple of times and
do you know you are among themost downloaded episodes of my
podcast?
For the last five years havebeen the two that you were on.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Wow, that's amazing.

Speaker 2 (03:16):
You have fans among my audience Amy Lang.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
Well, this is the third time and my lucky number,
so let's plan on blowing awaythe other two.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
We're going to blow them all away, amy.
That's what we're here to dotoday.
Now, joking aside, we're hereto talk about a very serious
topic, but one that is not ashopeless as we had generally
been led to believe, and that'sAlzheimer's disease, and you
have a new venture regardingthat, and I want you to tell us

(03:51):
about that.
But before you do, I want youto tell us about what happened
within your own family last year, but even in the few years
before that, that made youdevote your time to this.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
So back in 2016, my mom was diagnosed with
Alzheimer's.
I turned 50 that year.
That was not the birthdaypresent I wanted, so my mom is
still alive today.
She is 86 years old, stillknows who I am.
I'm very grateful for that.
But I remember in the beginning,every time my mom sees me so

(04:28):
she lived back in Michigan atthat point.
Right when I'm back in 2016,every time she saw me she would
say I hope I didn't give this toyou.
And I would say I hope so too.
It was the lamest answer interms of like.
I didn't want my mom to beworried about that, and she
still says that now.
But these days, when she says Ihope I didn't give this to you,

(04:52):
I can actually say don't worry,mom, you didn't.
And that is such a gift to beable to do that.
And what I'm wanting to sharewith folks now is really what I
learned, what I discovered, sothat you know, with the same
confidence and conviction that Ihave, that Alzheimer's can be

(05:15):
prevented, that cognitivedecline doesn't have to be a
normal part of aging.
We can really age well.
You know, last year my dadbroke his hip and we were all
helping my mom at that point andmy dad and I remember she said
I hope I didn't give this to youand it really it just to be
able to say don't worry, mom,you didn't.

(05:36):
It's a relief at one level,right, and it's just so
empowering.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
Let's be clear about what you're talking about.
When you say, don't worry, mom,you didn't give me this, you
don't mean that you found avaccine or that your doctor did
some fancy genetic therapy onyou.
Tell people what you mean whenyou say, don't worry, mom, you
didn't give this to me.

Speaker 1 (05:59):
So it turns out like is Alzheimer's hereditary?
The answer is yes, right, likeAlzheimer's, in every case has
some genetic component to it.
But it turns out that theearlier the onset, the more it's
about genes, right, as in likedeterministic.
So early onset Alzheimer'ssomeone is showing symptoms in

(06:23):
their 40s and 50s, okay, andwhen you look at what's going on
, there's actually three genesthat cause that Late onset
Alzheimer's.
You're seeing symptoms afterthe age of usually 65.
My mom again was diagnosed when, in 2016, she was 78 years old.
So later the onset.
It's more lifestyle andenvironment that are playing a

(06:46):
factor.
So maybe you've heard ofepigenetics, right, where it's
like your genes load the gun,but lifestyle pulls the trigger.
So you may have apredisposition, but lifestyle
ultimately is the biggestdeterminant of the outcome,
right?
So in other words, we haveagency, you have agency.

Speaker 2 (07:07):
Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
Right.
You have the ability to makechoices and decisions that
influence, that can change thetrajectory.
So what I learned is, byoptimizing your brain health,
you have the ability to, if notdelay the onset, prevent the
disease altogether.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
Got it.
So that's pretty radicalthinking for a lot of people,
because you and I are about thesame age and we were taught
growing up, as people were, thatif there's nothing you can do
to prevent yourself fromdeveloping Alzheimer's or some
other dementia, if it happens,sorry.
There.
You are right, and I think thatthat's still mostly what people

(07:52):
think about it.
But I think in the last fewyears we're getting more
research on brain health andAlzheimer's and related ailments
and we're learning that that'snot necessarily a case, but it's
not.
The message isn't getting outthere, I don't think.
I don't think people see therelation between eating right

(08:12):
and getting good rest andavoiding bad habits and adopting
good ones.
I don't think that they see howthat can later determine
whether or not they sufferAlzheimer's.
Is that correct?

Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah, I think.
So I actually just did a freemasterclass where I broke down
the science behind it as to howall of that works.
So I'd say one of the thingswith prevention if we're talking
prevention, so I say one, youhave agency, and two early is
everything Okay.
So we're not just talking like,obviously you could get genetic

(08:47):
testing done to find out if youhave any of the genes that make
you more susceptible, right?
So there's like APOE4.
So APOE4 is the variant that isassociated with the higher risk
of developing Alzheimer's.
There was a miniseries ofLimitless on National Geographic

(09:11):
that starred Chris Helmsworthof Avengers fame and Peter Attia
, who's like the longevity doc.
He was on that as well, right?
So Chris Helmsworth got genetictesting as a result of being on
this show all about longevityonly to find out that he is a
carrier of not one but twocopies of ApoE4.

(09:31):
So what that means is, if youhave like one copy, I believe
your chances of developingAlzheimer's is something like 20
to 40%.
If you have two copies, it goesup to like 55%.
Some estimates put it as highas like 70 or 80%.
So it depends on what researchstudy you're looking at, but

(09:53):
you're still talking about likea 50-50 chance of developing
Alzheimer's, which is hard newsto hear, and even Peter Attia
was saying.
But when you look at thatstatistic, that means, though,
that there's still 50% who arecarriers, who don't develop
Alzheimer's.
And again, I go back to genesare not your destiny.

(10:16):
Lifestyle is the biggestdeterminant of the outcome,
unless you're talking aboutearly onset Alzheimer's, right?
That's much more deterministic.
That's a different thing.
So early is everything when Isay that I'm talking about, if
you look at the progression ofthe disease, we have the ability
now to brain imaging, toactually like PET scans that

(10:38):
actually see amyloid plaques,which are one of the hallmark
signs of Alzheimer's, along withtau tangles, right?
Those are the two that, ifyou've done any research, you've
probably heard about.
There's a third thing, which isinflammation in the brain,
neural inflammation, and whenthat activates, this is the
difference between a brush fireand a wildfire in terms of

(11:02):
what's happening in your brain,right.
So the damage is spreading insort of an uncontrolled fashion.
When you're talking about awildfire, if you want to prevent
it, you need to catch it.
When it's still just a brushfire, or if you notice like
there's kindling, dr Rudy Tanzi,who is the founder of the

(11:23):
Alzheimer's Genome Project.
He's also a professor ofneurology at Harvard and he
talks about how, when you lookat the disease progression,
we're talking 10 to 30 yearsbefore symptoms appear.
So he likens amyloid to a matchand tau to a brush fire and he

(11:44):
says what if we were looking atamyloid like cholesterol, where,
if we could have medicationthat could lower your amyloid
load?
Just like we're not waitinguntil someone has a heart attack
, right?
Or congestive heart failure,like we don't want to wait until
you're symptomatic, we want tocatch it early on.
So if you had diabetes, right,we catch it when you have

(12:08):
elevated glucose levels, notwhen you're starting to go blind
.
We do that with cancer.
We don't wait until you havesymptoms.
If you go get a colonoscopy andthey find a polyp, they remove
it, right.
So this is when I say early iseverything I'm saying.
If you pay attention to what'sgoing on with Alzheimer's

(12:29):
research right now, up untilthis point we have only been
diagnosing people after symptomsappear.
I think a lot of people avoidthe diagnosis because if you
believe there's nothing you cando, there's a stigma associated
with it, right?
So if you're listening to thisor you're watching this I would
say the earlier you act, thebetter.

(12:51):
Like even early diagnosis rightnow gives you more options for
treatment.

Speaker 2 (12:57):
Okay, I want to ask a couple of questions.
When you say prevent, you don'tmean 100% certainty that you
will not get Alzheimer's disease.
If you do these things, youmean greatly reducing your risk,
correct?

Speaker 1 (13:10):
Right now, I would say I would hedge my bet and say
, yeah, you're greatly reducingyour risk.
There are, like the LancetCommission report put out, a
list of 14 modifiable riskfactors.
They're being very conservative, right.
They look at a lot of researchto then say, yes, there's like
this preponderance of evidence.

(13:30):
And with those 14 modifiablerisk factors, they're saying, if
you address them, you reduceyour risk by this much.
Okay, so between the first timethey put out that report I
think it was 2017 and last July,in 2024, the percentage went
from I want to say it was 30something to 45%.

(13:54):
So every few years, they'refinding more and more modifiable
risk factors where, if youaddress them like, hearing loss
is one of the modifiable riskfactors.
If you're experiencing hearingloss, you're not able to follow
conversations, you can't hearthem.
You might have a little toomuch pride to say like, or you

(14:14):
just don't want to be annoying,right, like, can you repeat that
?
But you're not able to followconversations, so your brain
isn't getting the simulationright.
Vision loss is in that samebucket.
So, if you're experiencinghearing loss, go get your
hearing checked.
And you know, even if you don'tlike wearing hearing aids,
understand, you're helping yourbrain stay active.

(14:37):
So when I say preventingcognitive decline, I think it
would depend literally on howaction-oriented someone is, how
diligent they're being abouttaking care of their brain
health, because I would say ifyou have a healthy brain, you
don't have Alzheimer's.
So if you keep your brainhealthy now, when you look at

(14:58):
the progression of the disease,like if you can keep that
amyloid level lower like I usecholesterol as the example,
right the metaphor If you cankeep your amyloid beta levels
lower, that definitely makes abig difference, because whether
amyloid is the match or amyloidis the kindling it depends on.

(15:21):
There's not agreement on exactlywhat causes Alzheimer's.
Okay, they know that amyloid isa player, they know that tau is
a player, they know thatinflammation is a player, and
when inflammation kicks in,that's when all hell breaks
loose, right.
But if you can keep thatamyloid level low, and so one of
the things that helps withclearing amyloid is sleep, deep

(15:44):
sleep, specifically.
So whether you're looking atnutrition or exercise to help
with deep sleep, especiallyearly on, right, I said, early
is everything.
If you look at the chart,amyloid is accumulating, like it
gets to it, it's naturallyoccurring.
That's how cholesterol is sucha lovely metaphor for it,

(16:04):
because you're supposed to havecholesterol in your body, you're
supposed to have amyloid inyour body, you're just not
supposed to have it elevated.
And when you get a good amountof deep sleep and stage four,
that's when your brain reallyit's like the primary time for
your brain to clear that amyloid.
Okay, okay, so sleep happens tobe one of the eight protective

(16:27):
lifestyle factors for preventingcognitive decline.

Speaker 2 (16:32):
You mentioned getting diagnosed early.
How do you get diagnosed earlyfor Alzheimer's, before symptoms
show up?

Speaker 1 (16:39):
So they actually have blood tests.
Now I can't remember the nameof the company.
They've come up with bloodtests that can actually detect
their blood biomarkers foramyloid beta as well as
phosphorylated tau.
So that would be, then, notwaiting for symptoms right, okay

(17:01):
.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
And the result from those blood tests would reveal
indicators.

Speaker 1 (17:06):
They're indicators, so I believe that it's 90%
accurate compared to brainimaging.
So they could do PET scans tooright.
And I believe so.
They're measuring bloodbiomarkers for amyloid, for tau,
I believe for inflammation aswell.
They can detect all three.
Now, okay, but they're not FDAapproved for the diagnosis of

(17:29):
Alzheimer's yet, so you need topay out of pocket until you're
symptomatic.

Speaker 2 (17:34):
Of course we wouldn't want to help anyone before they
get sick, would we?
That would be silly.

Speaker 1 (17:39):
The whole insurance companies right, like if it's
not considered actionablewithout a pill or procedure,
then yeah, it's not covered, butlifestyle interventions are
actionable.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
Hey, are you a fitness professional trying to
grow your business with peopleover 50?
If you are, then you need toknow how to communicate with
them, how to market to them andhow to get them to trust you
with their fitness, well-beingand money.
We're talking about millions ofpeople who are a little older
than the typical market that thefitness industry usually
pursues.
They have more money, more timeand better motivation to make

(18:17):
the best long-term fitnessconsumers you'll find anywhere.
If you're not focusing on them,you should be.
Prime Fit Content is the onlycontent marketing company
designed specifically to helpyou engage people in this group
and to help you distinguishyourself from competitors in
your community.
It's effective, affordable andsuper easy to use.
Check it out atprimefitcontentcom.

(18:40):
That's prime, like prime ofyour life, fitcontentcom.
Back to the show, right, and Iwant to get to those behaviors
in a minute, but before I do so,this test determines if I have
these indicators and then mybehavior will determine whether
those indicators lead toprogression of alzheimer's.
Is that what you're saying?

Speaker 1 (19:01):
so by the time you're these blood biomarker tests,
they are detecting thosehallmark signs of Alzheimer's.
Okay.
So it would be like for cancerI talked about polyps or you
know.
If you go to the dermatologistand see some abnormal cells, I
would say that's like stage zerofor cancer.

(19:21):
Right.
Stage one you have a localtumor.
Stage two it's spread to yourlymph nodes.
Stage three nearby organs, Ithink right now, when you get a
clinical diagnosis, meaning youhave symptoms of Alzheimer's,
that's the equivalent of stagethree cancer.
So stage two cancer might bewhat you're detecting through

(19:46):
those blood biomarker tests.
So the equivalent of stage.
So it's still the disease hasalready kicked in.
It's just you're catching itearly, before the symptoms
appear, which means if you canslow down the progression,
you're still potentiallydelaying the onset of the
symptoms.
The impairment Does that make?

Speaker 2 (20:06):
sense it does.
And the reason I keep harpingon this is because the word
prevention can be heard to meanabsolute.
If I do this, I will not getAlzheimer's disease, and I don't
think we can say that, can we?
I think, if you catch, it earlyenough.

Speaker 1 (20:22):
We could I actually do.
I mean, if you look at theprogression of this disease 10
to 30 years if folks were doingstuff.
And, mind you, it also doesdepend on your genetics, right?
Sure exactly.
So there's when we say early iseverything.
When I say early is everything,I'm looking at things like the
prediction side of it.

(20:42):
If you got genetic testing, youmight understand how diligent
you need to be.
Genetic testing, you mightunderstand how diligent you need
to be.
If you're prioritizing sleepand exercise and eating well and
all that stuff, then you'redoing a lot to prevent those
risk factors from developing aswell.
And they keep finding more andmore risk factors.

(21:07):
That list continues to grow.

Speaker 2 (21:09):
It just came out.
There was just a new reportabout it within a couple weeks
ago.
The number's at 17, right.

Speaker 1 (21:16):
I mean they've found, in addition to the 14 that's in
the Lancet Commission report,they have now found the disease
the bacteria from gum disease,periodontal issues, so poor
dental hygiene.
They're finding that bacteriain the brains of Alzheimer's
patients.
So it's creating, it's aninfection, it's creating

(21:39):
inflammation Herpes simplex,virus 1, the one that creates
those cold sores, alsoassociated now with Alzheimer's
research.
So every few months I'm seeingwhat they're calling novel risk
factors, new ones that they'veidentified.
So that list is going to keepgrowing.

(22:00):
So if you have infections inyour body and you're creating
systemic inflammation, like thebrain doesn't work in isolation
to the body.
Yes, we have a blood-brainbarrier, but there's still stuff
that can cross that barrierright.
So yeah, I say prevention.
Yeah, I'm not going to say 100%, but certainly we can delay the

(22:21):
onset, if not prevent it.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yes, okay.
So that's what I'm getting atAgain.
Maybe I'm being too nitpickyabout it.
I just want to be crystal clearwhat we're saying.
And what we're saying isthere's a lot of stuff you can
do to lower your risk of gettingAlzheimer's disease.
Yeah, yes.
Absolutely.
When we talk about what kind ofbehaviors we're talking about,
give me two or three.
What are we talking about here?
Do I have to go run a marathonevery year or just brush my

(22:44):
teeth every day?
What are we talking about?

Speaker 1 (22:46):
So the restored protocol that I have actually
has eight protective factors.
You can actually go to mywebsite and download the
restored protocol, yeah, and itgoes through and it actually
gives you, like, some of thescience behind it and it's not
just what the protective factoris but actually the daily habits

(23:09):
and practices that would goalong with them.
So I don't want it would be adisservice to give you all eight
and then overwhelm people.
But clearly one of them isgetting enough restorative sleep
.
The E in restored would beeating nutrient-dense foods.

Speaker 2 (23:24):
And so.

Speaker 1 (23:25):
I always point people to like the mind diet Okay, the
S would be staying hydrated.
So we want half your bodyweight in ounces of water.
So your brain understand likeit's made up of, say it's like
70% water, 80% water, somethinglike that.
So even being slightlydehydrated two to 4% actually

(23:50):
affects your cognitive function.
I know my mom is chronicallydehydrated.
We can't get her to drink morewater at this point and my dad
too, for that matter.

Speaker 2 (23:59):
Yeah, that's a good sign of what we're talking about
here.
We're not talking aboutextraordinary, crazy, woo-woo,
newfangled stuff.
We're talking about taking careof yourself, getting enough
good sleep, eating good,nutrient-dense food, drinking
enough water the same stuff thatwe hear and repeat about all

(24:20):
kinds of health measures that wecan take right.
We're not talking about crazystuff regarding brain health.
Yeah, okay, you've gotobviously a very compelling
personal story to cause you totake this on as your new work
focus, and it's a very commonanxiety or fear that we all have

(24:40):
, particularly people our age,because we might still be caring
for a parent, as you are, andwomen who have gone through
menopause might be aware of someof the risk associated there.
Give us a little bit ofinformation about how this is
different between men and women,particularly because of
menopause.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
So women outnumber men two to one when it comes to
Alzheimer's right.
So the number of people livingwith Alzheimer's right now is
estimated to be 7 million herein the US.
So two to one.
And more and more research nowis being done menopause,
perimenopause and what they'veactually found is a connection

(25:25):
between menopause andAlzheimer's, and it has a lot to
do with the loss of estrogenand its protective effects.
So women's brains agedifferently from men, right as
men age, your testosteronelevels decrease gradually over
time.
For women, just liketestosterone for men.

(25:47):
Estrogen is not just a sexhormone, right, it affects a lot
of things in our body.
It is actually a masterregulator in our brain,
andifiable risk factors obesity,high blood pressure, depression

(26:18):
, type 2 diabetes, chronicinflammation, poor sleep,
menopause and that loss ofestrogen contributes to those.
So you know, I don't know howmany women who have hot flashes,
night sweats, also have sleepdisturbances as a result of that
right, or their insulinresistance level goes up, so

(26:40):
type 2 diabetes kicks in.
There's that Weight gain intheir midsection right, more
visceral fat, so that modifiablerisk factor stuff kicks in for
women.
If you've ever had frozenshoulder, that's inflammation in
your body.
So, yes, I think when we talkabout timing, when I say early
is everything for women thisperiod, perimenopause,

(27:05):
postmenopause if we take actionnow, we're either helping to
prevent or delay the onset ofthe disease.

Speaker 2 (27:14):
Okay Now, Amy, you've had several phases in your
career, even before you got intofitness, but even in fitness
you've had a few, and so tell usabout this new one.
What are you doing for folks tohelp them with these issues?

Speaker 1 (27:32):
I thought about what do I actually want to be known
for?
Right, when you think about,like your legacy.
And if I could help people nothave to worry about cognitive
decline?
Right, if I could really helpto prevent Alzheimer's.
That's what I want to be knownfor, and I do believe that for

(27:52):
women, menopause again is thatwindow that we have.
I want to change the narrative,too, around menopause.
Like I'm hearing it, there's alot being talked about like this
is no longer your mom'smenopause.
We're talking about it.
Now we're finding out there's alot we can do in addition to

(28:14):
say, hormone replacement therapyright, and just to be fully
transparent, like I am onhormone replacement therapy.
So I'm not against it, but I'mtrying to do everything I can to
support my brain and my body aswell.
So the narrative, though, hasbeen almost turned into
menopause being like a medicalcondition, has been almost

(28:37):
turned into menopause being likea medical condition.
Right, in traditional Chinesemedicine, menopause is actually
referred to as diarachuan, whichmeans second spring.
I want women to see it as likenew possibilities, as a new
beginning.
As you know, if you're nolonger having to spend all your
time and energy taking care ofother people and you can spend

(28:58):
some of that exploring within,tapping your into your own inner
wisdom and really being able to, like, reclaim a lot right,
reclaim your clarity, yourconfidence I talk about power
like you have agency again.
Then it like how we get to growand develop and, right, second

(29:20):
spring, we get to blossom asopposed to decline.
Like, oh, menopause is thebeginning of the end.
I think, that's right, that'show it's being.
Mark Middleton talks aboutgrowing bolder.
It's that same sort of there'sall this messaging.
How do we change the narrativefor ourselves?
Where do you believe thatmenopause is the beginning of
the end for you?

(29:40):
Or is it your second spring?
And how much more power do youhave?
Right, the ability to livefully?
So, yes, I care about preventingcognitive decline, but I can't
control that outcome.
What I can do is focus on whatI do today, in the present,
because tomorrow is not promisedeither, right?

(30:00):
So we got to focus on what wedo today, and so when I do
health coaching, it's alwaysabout, like you know what to do,
are you doing it?
Those eight protective factorswhen I talk about you now know
what to do.
Factors when I talk about younow know what to do.
And I do want to break it downinto habits, just discrete
things, because otherwise it'sjust this vague thing I'm

(30:21):
supposed to be doing, I shouldbe doing.
We want to narrow that gapbetween what we know and what
we're actually doing.
That's why I love coaching isseeing that happen for folks.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
So you help people, you coach people into developing
habits that will build up theirbrain health.
Yes, yes, Okay, gotcha.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
That's why on Instagram I'm at habitwhisperer
right, helping people formhabits.

Speaker 2 (30:48):
And your book was all about habits.
Yep yeah, thoughts are HabitsToo.
By Amy Lang.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
Thanks for the plug.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
I've read it.
Everyone should get your copy.
Now Tell me briefly, and then Iwant to get back to what you're
offering folks and tell themwhere to go to learn more about
it.
You know the podcast isgenerally related to exercise
and fitness.
What kind of role does fitnessplay in the topic broadly and
then perhaps also in whateverrecommendations you might give

(31:18):
someone?

Speaker 1 (31:19):
So, yeah, one of the E's in restored is to exercise
regularly, and I look at threethings cardiovascular training,
strength training andflexibility, or balance training
Sure, balance training.
So traumatic brain injury wouldbe something you want to avoid,
and balance helps with fallprevention.
Strength training does a wholebunch of stuff.

(31:41):
So, in addition to just beingfunctional in nature right where
you're able to do the thingsyou want to do and stay
independent, it also helps with,like insulin sensitivity.
So if you're worried aboutdeveloping type 2 diabetes or if
you're pre-diabetic, that playsa huge role.
And then, when we talk aboutjust movement in general, right,

(32:04):
cardiovascular health, we'retalking about improving blood
flow, and blood flow is how yourbrain gets the nutrients that
it needs.
So fitness definitely is reallyimportant.
So a few years ago I actuallystarted taking tennis lessons
and one of the things I hadlearned it might have actually

(32:25):
been through Dan Ritchie andCody Seip with their functional
aging stuff, or maybe MarkMiddleton, I can't remember, but
there was this talk of.
You know, when you're learninga new sport, learning something
new, you can't help but triggerthe formation of those new

(32:46):
connections.
And exercise triggers therelease of BDNF, brain-derived
neurotrophic factor.
That's like miracle growth foryour brain.
So again, it's helping tofacilitate that new connection
and, like tennis, you're moving,so you're getting the movement
in it's cognitively stimulatingright.

(33:07):
Because you're having to learnnew stuff, pay attention to what
the other person is doing thisball and what it's doing.
So you're getting outside, soyou're in sunshine.
Vitamin D is really good foryour brain, so there's all this
stuff.
And then, on top of it, anytimeyou cross the midline, your
brain right now you're usingboth sides of your brain too.

(33:29):
You're crossing that corpuscallosum, which is also really
important for brain health.
So, and I'm learning somethingnew, right?
So there's all of this stuff.
So I think, learning new sportsand cardiovascular, right.
So you have to balance all ofthis stuff.
So, like learning new sports,if you take on a new sport, that
can be really, really helpfulas well.
I just love tennis too.

(33:50):
So I always had it in my headlike I wanted to get pretty good
at tennis.
I'm still not, but I'm like Ican do a slice now.
I can do a slice I can serve.
So these are all things likeserving looked really
complicated.
It still is complicated, but Ican kind of do it now.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
Okay, so you might recommend that someone who's not
exercising begin exercising.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
Yeah, and so in my book I called it mindful
movement.
I think exercise we talk about.
I say thoughts are habits too.
Now right, exercise.
People attach all kind ofmeaning to exercise and I just
want the word like oh, I have toexercise, you know 30 minutes a
day, blah, blah, blah.
And yeah, there's all this likein the weight loss world it was

(34:36):
very much of a if I didn't needto lose weight, I wouldn't be
exercising.
That was something right.
Like oh, you hear people it'sflipped around.
Oh, I'm going to join a gymbecause I want to lose weight,
as opposed to I want to join agym because I want to take care
of my body and I like thefeeling of being strong and

(34:57):
taking a flight of stairs andnot even having to think about
it.
Right, it's a differentmotivation.
Yeah, so I like to say mindfulmovement, it just all movement
counts.
You know, find stuff that youlove doing, because then it's
not a chore, you don't have todo it.
I get to go play tennis twice aweek, at least, you know,

(35:18):
unless it's too hot, and then Idon't like it, but then I melt.

Speaker 2 (35:23):
Okay, so I want to conclude by telling people where
to go to learn more about whatyou're doing and how you can
help them and answer theirquestions about this.

Speaker 1 (35:35):
Okay, so best place to go on the web is probably
moxie-clubcom, that's my websitemoxie-clubcom.
You can follow me on Instagramat Habit Whisperer, on Facebook
at I believe it's Amy LangCoaching.

Speaker 2 (35:55):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
So I wish they were all the same, but they're not.

Speaker 2 (35:59):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (36:00):
And if you go to the website, you can get the
protocol, the restored protocol.
I also have a free masterclassthat you can register for and
actually it's like instantaccess, so you can watch the
replay of the live masterclassand yeah that would like instant
access so you can watch thereplay of a live masterclass.

Speaker 2 (36:20):
Okay, and yeah, that would be my gift is it goes
through what I believe youreally need to understand, like
the five keys to protecting yourbrain health All right, and I
will put all of that in the shownotes so people can find that
how to reach you and learn moreabout this, and I want to thank
you, amy, for joining me.
Thanks again.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
You're very welcome.
Thank you for having me again.

Speaker 2 (36:39):
Okay, Bye.
Thank you for listening to theOptimal Aging Podcast.
I'm your host, Jay Croft ofPrime Fit Content.
I hope you enjoyed it and Ihope you'll subscribe, review
and tell a friend.
All of that helps me grow myaudience.
I hope you'll share anycomments you have with me,
including suggestions aboutpeople I should interview and
topics I should cover.

(37:00):
You can learn more about mynewsletter and content business
at primefitcontentcom and writeme at jay at primefitcontentcom.
Again, thanks for listening.
Join me next time.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce

New Heights with Jason & Travis Kelce

Football’s funniest family duo — Jason Kelce of the Philadelphia Eagles and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs — team up to provide next-level access to life in the league as it unfolds. The two brothers and Super Bowl champions drop weekly insights about the weekly slate of games and share their INSIDE perspectives on trending NFL news and sports headlines. They also endlessly rag on each other as brothers do, chat the latest in pop culture and welcome some very popular and well-known friends to chat with them. Check out new episodes every Wednesday. Follow New Heights on the Wondery App, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free, and get exclusive content on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And join our new membership for a unique fan experience by going to the New Heights YouTube channel now!

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.