March 12, 2025 • 20 mins
What separates those who maintain sharp minds into old age from those who experience cognitive decline? The answer seems to not just rely on genetic luck, but rather in 6 specific daily habits that create what neuroscientists now recognize as the true fountain of youth.
A fascinating study comparing elderly nuns to Alzheimer's patients revealed something remarkable: despite having identical brain pathologies – the same neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques – the nuns maintained perfect cognitive function while the others declined. The difference? Six consistent lifestyle factors that protected their brains despite physical markers of disease.
These protective factors include quality nutrition focused on whole foods rather than processed ones; consistent deep sleep in optimal environments; effective stress management that builds resilience rather than avoiding challenges; appropriate exercise that gradually strengthens both cardiovascular and skeletal systems; truly novel mental activities that create new neural pathways; and perhaps most surprisingly, meaningful social connections that provide purpose and authentic engagement with others.
As Dr. Kyle emphasizes, "The most valuable commodity on earth isn't just time – it's time while you're healthy." This perspective shifts how we might approach our daily habits. One particularly striking insight reveals why crossword puzzles fail to protect our brains (they use existing knowledge) while learning a new language or instrument creates the neuroplasticity that shields against cognitive decline. Similarly, the wisdom from highly successful individuals who define happiness as "the freedom to do what you enjoy with the people who mean the most to you" aligns perfectly with the neuroscience of meaningful social engagement.
Whether you're an athlete seeking peak performance or simply someone who wants to maintain quality of life as you age, these evidence-based strategies offer a blueprint for longevity that goes far beyond simplistic health advice. Share this episode with someone you care about – these insights might just change their relationship with health forever.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
If you're a driven, active person who wants to reach
and pursue a higher qualitylife with some ambition, then
guess what this podcast is foryou.
This is the Driven AthletePodcast.
What's up?
Y'all, it's your man.
Dr Kyle Got a really cool topicof stuff to talk about today.
It's something that I heard on aTED Talk actually another
(00:22):
podcast.
They were mentioning it too,some other people that I really
admire and would recommend y'alllistening to.
But really interesting topicthat I feel like has shaped the
perspective and habits that I'vetried to incorporate in my own
life but then also likeinstilling in my family and with
my patients and stuff andpeople are training really hard,
but anyway, it's really thefountain of youth and the six
(00:45):
qualities or habits and thingsto focus on that a
neuroscientist has found to beand other studies included, that
a combination of all thesethings kind of over the span of
a long period of time and reallyit's just consistency over a
long period of time if you'redoing a little bit all the time
has really been found to improvethe quality and length of
(01:07):
quality of life, because I feellike time isn't really
necessarily the most importantthing in life if you think about
it.
It's not time, because I've metplenty of people that weren't.
They're ill, they're not welland they've lost family members
and they're like ready to go.
You know what I'm saying.
So they have plenty of timeleft, but they're like ready to
go.
You know what I'm saying.
So they have plenty of timeleft, but they're like they're
not enjoying it.
(01:27):
It's way different, right?
So I'm like man, let's take ita step further.
It's not time, but maybe it'stime while you're healthy.
That might be the mostimportant thing in life and the
most valuable commodity on earth, and one of our mission
statement quotes that things webelieve in on earth, and one of
our mission statement quotesthat things we believe in, but
anyway.
So the fountain of youth tohelp for longevity and the
(01:48):
consistency and length ofquality of life that we can
maintain for ourselves.
And it was just a reallyinteresting topic that this
neuroscientist that I wasintroduced to with this topic
was talking about the six keysand qualities for the fountain
of youth to focus on.
All right, and what she wassaying was that she was studying
there was a study about theseAlzheimer's patients for mental
(02:09):
health and, just being sharpright, they studied this group
of patients that were displayingAlzheimer's symptoms Okay, and
they're definitely decliningcognitively, unfortunately, all
right, and we know thatAlzheimer's is a progressive
disease that really can't bereversed, unfortunately.
And then they were studyingthis other group, a control
group of nuns that were of thesame age group and they were
(02:33):
studying the images of the brainscans that they were going
through.
And neurofibrillary tangles andamyloid plaques are the two
things that seem to be reallyconsistently found on patients
with Alzheimer's anddegenerative brain problems and
cognitive decline, all right,and they were finding that this
group of nuns in the controlgroup had the same, if not more,
(02:53):
images of amyloid plaques andneurofibrillary tangles that
these Alzheimer's patients alsohad.
So they both had really thesame amount of these
abnormalities found in theseimages for their brain scans
that you would think oh, they'refour.
Then they would both havesimilar Alzheimer's symptoms and
cognitive decline, sundowning,memory loss, stuff like that.
(03:14):
And really that's not the case.
The group of nuns actually weretotally fine, they were sharp,
they were doing well, they werestill high cognitive thinkers
and really to function reallyhigh and well.
So higher quality of life atthat stage and demographic.
And then the other group, theexperimental group that had
symptoms of Alzheimer's, right,were definitely not as sharp as
(03:35):
they would like to have been atthat stage, right?
So, anyway, they were like howis that possible, right?
So what they were finding?
This neuroscientist was studyingthis stuff and she was like the
difference seemed to be acollection of these six things
over a consistent period of timeand just focusing on that stuff
.
And the six things are this allright?
(03:55):
The first one is nutrition.
Okay, it's across the boardnutrition and the things that we
consume and eat as people isdefinitely one of the biggest
influences in our health andlongevity, for physique and
mental health, right, recovery,body composition and physicality
, right.
(04:15):
And joint health, all thatstuff, immune health, across the
board, right, nutrition.
And it's interesting is I waslike let's reframe this Then.
All right, you got to eat good.
All right, what does that notlook like?
What does it not look like?
And what they were suggestingwas excessive amounts of alcohol
, excessive smoking, highcholesterol, consuming a bunch
(04:38):
of simple sugars and a diet thatdoesn't consist of more organic
sources of stuff All right,high vegetables and fruits, lean
protein sources and anappropriate amount of carbs, and
a diet that doesn't consist ofmore organic sources of stuff
all right, high vegetables andfruits, lean protein sources and
an appropriate amount of carbsright.
Carbs aren't bad, it's just amatter of like what the sources
are and how much.
All right, moderations in theportion sizes and that was the
other one is portion sizes,smaller portions and then
(04:59):
multiple times throughout theday.
So eating lean and eating well,not smoking and then not
consuming a ton of alcohol right, that seems to be what the
nutrition looks like.
That component, the nextcomponent that was really
important is sleep.
It's also across the board.
It seems like a lot of peoplethat I've respected and admired
(05:21):
across the board in health andfitness and wellness field, that
sleep is the most importantthing for recovery and feeling
rested and feeling energetic forthe next day.
It's like what can I take tofeel energetic tomorrow or today
?
Right, and the answer isusually coffee, right, caffeine
or a Red Bull of taurine right,seems to be the active
(05:43):
ingredient there.
And then, unfortunately, withthe medical prescription med
pandemic or epidemic we havegoing on with just candy,
prescribing everything butAdderall for ADHD and just
giving it to kids andover-prescribing to kids in my
humble opinion, but that seemsto be the route people go when
it really it's like man, themost influential thing is just
(06:03):
consistently getting qualitysleep the night before and then
consistently over time.
And it's interesting like, whatdoes that not look like?
Not getting deep, not reachingdeep sleep for an optimal amount
of time, and the things thatcan influence that and what the
studies have suggested.
Again, it seems to be like acold, dark room and then
(06:25):
minimizing distractions andthat's where like earplugs or
like eye patch, like a eye patchvisor, can work for that, and
then even a white noise machinethat helps to keep yourself from
being distracted but thatallows you to reach a deeper
sleep and then consistentlydoing that over a long period of
time.
That helps for recovery and wecan't neglect that the most
(06:47):
important thing for recovery andhealing and also mental
recovery is the sleep that youcan get at night.
But anyway, so less than optimalamount of volume of sleep has
been shown to negatively affectyour immune function and defense
mechanism in your body forpathogens.
Even just missing a couplehours in one night has been
(07:08):
shown to have a significantpercentage drop in immune
function.
But then I'm like okay, well,no need to panic.
It's like I didn't sleep goodlast night.
Or if you're laying in bed andyou're like looking at the
ceiling and staring and likejust fall asleep, fall asleep
right now.
I just need to sleep.
And you're getting pissed off.
Right, it's like gettingfrustrated because I'm kind of
get like that.
It's like no, I'm missing outon my recovery potential and I'm
(07:29):
going to feel good tomorrow.
There's also been studies tofind that even just laying in
bed with your eyes closed andjust relaxing as if you were
trying to sleep there even isstill, at that point, some kind
of benefit.
That the same way as if youwere getting real sleep.
So even you're still getting abenefit if you're just laying in
bed and just attempting tosleep similar benefit as if you
(07:52):
were actually asleep.
But anyway, the goal eventuallyis to get enough quality and
reach deep sleep for a long,long enough amount of time and
of course, studies range betweenlike seven to nine hours, right
, that's across the board.
Some people are different thanother people, but anyway, at
least getting an adequate amountof sleep, that's right for you
and then reaching a deep sleepto get to there.
But anyway.
(08:12):
So the the that was a tough onefor me, cause I'm like man,
there's definitely times whereI'm, I'm, I'm grinding at night.
I'm finishing up some workstuff, or I want to train, or
like my kids are like not goingto sleep and getting.
It's been rough the past coupleof nights, by the way, for our
kiddos just getting out of bedand like ready to play.
It's like it's time to go tosleep and you're an hour and a
(08:33):
half past your bedtime and meand my wife are like ready to go
to bed.
Now that's a tough one, butanyway, that's a super important
one we can't neglect.
So nutrition, sleep.
And then the third one seems tobe stress management.
So stress always comes in ourlife and by no means am I an
expert on this stuff.
I'm just relaying informationthat I've heard from more apt
and qualified individuals andjust sharing with you all
(08:55):
because I thought it wasinteresting.
But it seems like stressmanagement is also high on the
list where chronically beingoverstressed or not managing
your stress well for a personjust increases the likelihood
for cardiovascular disease inthe future.
And my also suggestion withthat is like, if stress
management seems to be an issue,right, because this is for
(09:16):
everybody, it's an issue for metoo.
I'm not saying I'm perfect byany means.
Let's get to the root cause ofwhat's causing the lack of
stress management and oftentimesit seems like the mental health
component is really a bigstimulation for the root cause
of that.
So I'm like that's the causeand the only way to fix that is
to address the mental healthissue in that person's life
right, and that's usually what Icall it in professional, but
(09:38):
anyway that can really affectthen also sleep and also stress
eating.
So it's interesting how thesethings kind of play together and
how they can influence eachother and it's a cascade then
that leads to just chronicallyand consistently not
implementing these as optimalthings as possible for the
fountain of youth.
So stress management right,that's a.
That's a key one, I guess.
(09:59):
Another thing I was gonna saywith that is stress comes and
goes all the time.
It doesn't get any less and andsome mentors that I've had in
the past have always been like,as you get older and more
responsibilities layer in withkids and family and other
responsibilities stress doesn'tdecrease, it actually increases.
But your capacity and abilityto tolerate and handle that
(10:21):
stress gets better and betterand better and improves.
So I was like that makes totalsense.
So how can I improve and managemy ability to tolerate the
stresses that come towards me.
That just comes with practiceand purposefulness and awareness
to be at the beginning.
But anyway, so fourth one okay,number four out of six is
getting enough appropriateexercise and fitness and same
(10:45):
kind of thought.
Let's look at what is that?
Not Overtraining, vanity andkind of also taking over your
life?
However, there's worse thingsto be addicted to than working
out a ton all the time, right.
It's more just aboutappropriately stressing your
system and your body, mainlyyour cardiopulmonary system,
(11:06):
your heart and your lungs andthey relate together and their
efficiency and effectiveness todeliver oxygen to your tissues,
and then also your skeletalmuscle and your bones right, the
skeletal system, all right.
So your muscles and your bonesget more dense and thicker,
they're able to tolerate morestress physical, physical wise
and then also your heart andlung system as they work
together, getting more efficientand able to tolerate um,
(11:30):
deliver oxygen to the tissuesfor your organs and health and
nervous system.
All that stuff right, but wecan't neglect.
There's a ton of research andthis is another podcast topic,
by the way in the future talkingabout the benefits of strength
training and exercise.
It's just a matter of doing itappropriately and not doing too
much, too fast.
People get really motivatedthat I've noticed right, and
(11:56):
it's like man, I'm going to workout a ton and then they just
get after it.
Um, but not gradually,progressively increasing the
load and the, the, the for thelevel to tolerate at the moment,
but, um, jumping in too much,too fast, with a flash of
intensity, and then it's toomuch and they get sick or like
they don't feel good and they'regetting super sore, they're
over training, they're notrecovering well enough, with not
adequate sleep.
The nutrition isn't also beingfocused on, so they don't feel
good and they're not getting thebenefits they could get out of
(12:18):
it.
That's when it falls off andthat's also not a great look at
like what that should be forfitness and exercise.
So it's interesting with theFountain of Youth.
They're all correlated and allkind of work together.
But an appropriate nutritionschedule that looks like
sleeping adequately and reachingdeep sleep as best as possible
cold, dark room,non-distractions, white noise
(12:39):
can be a good thing, and thenalso a weighted blanket, and
then managing stress and thenalso exercise.
And then the fifth one isactively and regularly trying to
incorporate mentallystimulating activities.
Let's look again.
What does that not look like.
It doesn't look like what theand this is what the research
suggests.
So if I'm offending anybody,I'm sorry.
(13:00):
Doing crossword puzzles seemsto not be what they're talking
about here.
The reason is because you'rejust learning things that you
already know.
So the key with this is youhave to create new synapses in
your brain and the neurons tostimulate new pathways for the
neuroplasticity benefit that wehave in our brain, which is in
our nervous system, which isreally cool.
We can leverage ourneuroplasticity to maintain this
(13:23):
mental health and cognitivesharpness.
It's just a matter of beingwilling to trudge through the
mud and learn something newthat's challenging, which sucks
right, like it's a hard thing todo and with anything with
discipline, it seems like that'sthe main thing that people are
unwilling to trudge through themud and work through the really
(13:44):
challenging discomfort at thebeginning, the pain and
discomfort short-term at thebeginning for the long-term win
and the long-term benefit.
It is a matter of being okaywith sucking for a while,
whatever the new thing is, butbeing consistent in trying to
incorporate and learn new thingsthat are challenging, to
stimulate new synapses and newneuron activity and development,
(14:07):
angiogenesis andneuroplasticity for the
long-term cognitive sharpness.
That seems to be what they'resuggesting, versus learning
things that you already know,like a crossword puzzle.
Or, if you're a musician,learning a new instrument or a
new avenue for music, versusjust practicing the same things
you already know.
That's not stimulating newactivity in your nervous system
(14:30):
and neural development andneuroplasticity.
You're just learning thingsthat you already know.
That's not stimulating newactivity in your nervous system
and neural development andneural plasticity.
You're just learning thingsthat you already know.
That's not creating newpathways.
So, anyway, the suggestion islearn mentally stimulating and
challenging things, which lookslike learning new things, as in
like a new language, likelearning Spanish, french,
italian, whatever, learning anew instrument.
Those are two things that theywould suggest as, like you know,
(14:52):
that's challenging to do tolearn and that's just a mentally
stimulating activity that canreally be a huge benefit for
cognitive sharpness and loweringthe risk of cognitive decline
over time.
All right, so the last one andthis is a very interesting one
that seems to be verydemographic dependent is
(15:17):
meaningful social engagement.
So the sixth thing in thisfountain youth is meaningful
social engagement, and thatlooks like having more
meaningfulness and purpose ofyour life and believing that
what you're doing is meaningfuland then also doing it with
people that are like-minded andsharing good social
relationships and the community.
That's what it looks like.
(15:37):
So when I said like this isdemographic dependent, what I
meant was it's like dudes andmen are usually more likely to
isolate and be like, nah, Idon't want to go, I don't need
to do that.
Or like I don't need to go,share my feelings and emotions
with people or share experiences, like I'd rather just do it by
myself, I'd rather sit in myrecliner and drink by myself and
watch Fox News or CNN than gooutside.
But meaningful social and womenare usually more likely to like
(16:00):
, congregate and share andengage in social activity.
So that's what I meant bydemographic dependent.
But anyway, they weresuggesting this study.
The difference between thisstudy they were doing with the
control group of the nuns werevery highly socially engaging,
they were in groups all the timeand they were participating
with each other in meaningfulsocial relationships that they
felt meaningful and sharingtheir emotions, experiences
(16:23):
together, and the other groupthat were a little more isolated
at this point in their life andthey weren't actively trying to
engage in social interactionsand meaningful social engagement
.
So that was really interestingand I heard this from another
person that I admire on apodcast that they were
(16:45):
describing.
This person was describing howthey're very successful.
Okay, this person and it mademe think of this right away this
person was suggesting they'revery well off, they've made
hundreds of millions of dollarsand they're still youthful, but
they were describing the mostimportant thing for them.
And the most important thing forthem, that is the definition of
(17:06):
happiness that they want topursue and implement more.
Like why do I do what I do?
It's so that I can do this more.
It's the freedom and theability to do what they enjoy
with the people that mean themost to them.
And I was like yo.
That makes total sense.
Like that's exactly what I'mtrying to pursue is having the
number one the available timeand freedom to do that, versus
being locked in with a currentemployment situation or whatever
(17:30):
, but the freedom andavailability with the people
that I love the most.
So those two things at the sametime.
And I was like yo.
That makes total sense.
And I was like this dude issuper wise and has a lot of
success and a lot of materialpossessions that he could if he
wanted to.
And this person is verysuccessful and well off, but yet
(17:50):
the most important thing thatthis person was describing, that
he wanted to pursue, and themost hands down pinpoint
definition of happiness, isdoing the things that they enjoy
with the people that they lovethe most, and I was like that
makes total sense, like I'm onboard, let's do that.
(18:12):
And that's the sixth thingreally of like the of this
fountain of youth is meaningfulsocial engagement deep,
vulnerable, authenticrelationships, energy giving
relationships, which is a bigengagement.
Deep, vulnerable, authenticrelationships.
Energy giving relationships,which is a big difference.
Right, there's energy drainingrelationships and energy
vampires, I feel like ineveryone's life, and then
there's also energy givingrelationships.
This is something to a littlefood for thought and reflect on.
(18:33):
But anyway, those six thingsseem to be the key factors for
what this neuroscientist andother researchers was suggesting
as the fountain of youth.
Some of these things for my ownlife, right, and instill that
in some of my team members andalso my patients and clients
that we work with.
And then I was like man I wantto relate this to you guys and
listeners because I think thisis a really key thing and, again
(18:58):
, in my humble opinion, I feelthat the most valuable commodity
on earth is time while you'rehealthy versus just time right,
because there's a lot of timeavailable, for some people they
don't want it, but a time whileyou're healthy with a high
quality?
If that's the case, then howcan we purposefully implement
and manage our time and then howcan we have the highest quality
(19:18):
within that time over thelongest period of time possible,
right For longevity?
And it seems like these sixhabits or things, aspects of
life to focus on, are the forhealth, wise and also mental
health seems to be the biggestinfluencers for longevity and
health over time.
But anyway, so I'm always opento suggestions and questions and
(19:40):
comments and concerns on thisstuff.
So definitely shoot me a textor email or comment on on here.
But uh, that seems to be thereally influential things that I
try to implement my own life.
Hey, hold up.
As you know, we're a smalllocal practice and we don't run
any ads or something on thispodcast, but it would mean the
world if you could share, writea post or word of mouth
(20:03):
recommendation for somebody justlike you that's athletic and
active, that wants to live theirdynamic lifestyle and pay some
good karma and pay it forward tosomebody else just like you,
and who knows, you could changetheir world, and a 10 second
review could be that avenue.
If you're a driven, active person who wants to reach
and pursue a higher qualitylife with some ambition, then
guess what this podcast is foryou.
This is the Driven AthletePodcast.
What's up?
Y'all, it's your man.
Dr Kyle Got a really cool topicof stuff to talk about today.
It's something that I heard on aTED Talk actually another
(00:22):
podcast.
They were mentioning it too,some other people that I really
admire and would recommend y'alllistening to.
But really interesting topicthat I feel like has shaped the
perspective and habits that I'vetried to incorporate in my own
life but then also likeinstilling in my family and with
my patients and stuff andpeople are training really hard,
but anyway, it's really thefountain of youth and the six
(00:45):
qualities or habits and thingsto focus on that a
neuroscientist has found to beand other studies included, that
a combination of all thesethings kind of over the span of
a long period of time and reallyit's just consistency over a
long period of time if you'redoing a little bit all the time
has really been found to improvethe quality and length of
(01:07):
quality of life, because I feellike time isn't really
necessarily the most importantthing in life if you think about
it.
It's not time, because I've metplenty of people that weren't.
They're ill, they're not welland they've lost family members
and they're like ready to go.
You know what I'm saying.
So they have plenty of timeleft, but they're like ready to
go.
You know what I'm saying.
So they have plenty of timeleft, but they're like they're
not enjoying it.
(01:27):
It's way different, right?
So I'm like man, let's take ita step further.
It's not time, but maybe it'stime while you're healthy.
That might be the mostimportant thing in life and the
most valuable commodity on earth, and one of our mission
statement quotes that things webelieve in on earth, and one of
our mission statement quotesthat things we believe in, but
anyway.
So the fountain of youth tohelp for longevity and the
(01:48):
consistency and length ofquality of life that we can
maintain for ourselves.
And it was just a reallyinteresting topic that this
neuroscientist that I wasintroduced to with this topic
was talking about the six keysand qualities for the fountain
of youth to focus on.
All right, and what she wassaying was that she was studying
there was a study about theseAlzheimer's patients for mental
(02:09):
health and, just being sharpright, they studied this group
of patients that were displayingAlzheimer's symptoms Okay, and
they're definitely decliningcognitively, unfortunately, all
right, and we know thatAlzheimer's is a progressive
disease that really can't bereversed, unfortunately.
And then they were studyingthis other group, a control
group of nuns that were of thesame age group and they were
(02:33):
studying the images of the brainscans that they were going
through.
And neurofibrillary tangles andamyloid plaques are the two
things that seem to be reallyconsistently found on patients
with Alzheimer's anddegenerative brain problems and
cognitive decline, all right,and they were finding that this
group of nuns in the controlgroup had the same, if not more,
(02:53):
images of amyloid plaques andneurofibrillary tangles that
these Alzheimer's patients alsohad.
So they both had really thesame amount of these
abnormalities found in theseimages for their brain scans
that you would think oh, they'refour.
Then they would both havesimilar Alzheimer's symptoms and
cognitive decline, sundowning,memory loss, stuff like that.
(03:14):
And really that's not the case.
The group of nuns actually weretotally fine, they were sharp,
they were doing well, they werestill high cognitive thinkers
and really to function reallyhigh and well.
So higher quality of life atthat stage and demographic.
And then the other group, theexperimental group that had
symptoms of Alzheimer's, right,were definitely not as sharp as
(03:35):
they would like to have been atthat stage, right?
So, anyway, they were like howis that possible, right?
So what they were finding?
This neuroscientist was studyingthis stuff and she was like the
difference seemed to be acollection of these six things
over a consistent period of timeand just focusing on that stuff
.
And the six things are this allright?
(03:55):
The first one is nutrition.
Okay, it's across the boardnutrition and the things that we
consume and eat as people isdefinitely one of the biggest
influences in our health andlongevity, for physique and
mental health, right, recovery,body composition and physicality
, right.
(04:15):
And joint health, all thatstuff, immune health, across the
board, right, nutrition.
And it's interesting is I waslike let's reframe this Then.
All right, you got to eat good.
All right, what does that notlook like?
What does it not look like?
And what they were suggestingwas excessive amounts of alcohol
, excessive smoking, highcholesterol, consuming a bunch
(04:38):
of simple sugars and a diet thatdoesn't consist of more organic
sources of stuff All right,high vegetables and fruits, lean
protein sources and anappropriate amount of carbs, and
a diet that doesn't consist ofmore organic sources of stuff
all right, high vegetables andfruits, lean protein sources and
an appropriate amount of carbsright.
Carbs aren't bad, it's just amatter of like what the sources
are and how much.
All right, moderations in theportion sizes and that was the
other one is portion sizes,smaller portions and then
(04:59):
multiple times throughout theday.
So eating lean and eating well,not smoking and then not
consuming a ton of alcohol right, that seems to be what the
nutrition looks like.
That component, the nextcomponent that was really
important is sleep.
It's also across the board.
It seems like a lot of peoplethat I've respected and admired
(05:21):
across the board in health andfitness and wellness field, that
sleep is the most importantthing for recovery and feeling
rested and feeling energetic forthe next day.
It's like what can I take tofeel energetic tomorrow or today
?
Right, and the answer isusually coffee, right, caffeine
or a Red Bull of taurine right,seems to be the active
(05:43):
ingredient there.
And then, unfortunately, withthe medical prescription med
pandemic or epidemic we havegoing on with just candy,
prescribing everything butAdderall for ADHD and just
giving it to kids andover-prescribing to kids in my
humble opinion, but that seemsto be the route people go when
it really it's like man, themost influential thing is just
(06:03):
consistently getting qualitysleep the night before and then
consistently over time.
And it's interesting like, whatdoes that not look like?
Not getting deep, not reachingdeep sleep for an optimal amount
of time, and the things thatcan influence that and what the
studies have suggested.
Again, it seems to be like acold, dark room and then
(06:25):
minimizing distractions andthat's where like earplugs or
like eye patch, like a eye patchvisor, can work for that, and
then even a white noise machinethat helps to keep yourself from
being distracted but thatallows you to reach a deeper
sleep and then consistentlydoing that over a long period of
time.
That helps for recovery and wecan't neglect that the most
(06:47):
important thing for recovery andhealing and also mental
recovery is the sleep that youcan get at night.
But anyway, so less than optimalamount of volume of sleep has
been shown to negatively affectyour immune function and defense
mechanism in your body forpathogens.
Even just missing a couplehours in one night has been
(07:08):
shown to have a significantpercentage drop in immune
function.
But then I'm like okay, well,no need to panic.
It's like I didn't sleep goodlast night.
Or if you're laying in bed andyou're like looking at the
ceiling and staring and likejust fall asleep, fall asleep
right now.
I just need to sleep.
And you're getting pissed off.
Right, it's like gettingfrustrated because I'm kind of
get like that.
It's like no, I'm missing outon my recovery potential and I'm
(07:29):
going to feel good tomorrow.
There's also been studies tofind that even just laying in
bed with your eyes closed andjust relaxing as if you were
trying to sleep there even isstill, at that point, some kind
of benefit.
That the same way as if youwere getting real sleep.
So even you're still getting abenefit if you're just laying in
bed and just attempting tosleep similar benefit as if you
(07:52):
were actually asleep.
But anyway, the goal eventuallyis to get enough quality and
reach deep sleep for a long,long enough amount of time and
of course, studies range betweenlike seven to nine hours, right
, that's across the board.
Some people are different thanother people, but anyway, at
least getting an adequate amountof sleep, that's right for you
and then reaching a deep sleepto get to there.
But anyway.
(08:12):
So the the that was a tough onefor me, cause I'm like man,
there's definitely times whereI'm, I'm, I'm grinding at night.
I'm finishing up some workstuff, or I want to train, or
like my kids are like not goingto sleep and getting.
It's been rough the past coupleof nights, by the way, for our
kiddos just getting out of bedand like ready to play.
It's like it's time to go tosleep and you're an hour and a
(08:33):
half past your bedtime and meand my wife are like ready to go
to bed.
Now that's a tough one, butanyway, that's a super important
one we can't neglect.
So nutrition, sleep.
And then the third one seems tobe stress management.
So stress always comes in ourlife and by no means am I an
expert on this stuff.
I'm just relaying informationthat I've heard from more apt
and qualified individuals andjust sharing with you all
(08:55):
because I thought it wasinteresting.
But it seems like stressmanagement is also high on the
list where chronically beingoverstressed or not managing
your stress well for a personjust increases the likelihood
for cardiovascular disease inthe future.
And my also suggestion withthat is like, if stress
management seems to be an issue,right, because this is for
(09:16):
everybody, it's an issue for metoo.
I'm not saying I'm perfect byany means.
Let's get to the root cause ofwhat's causing the lack of
stress management and oftentimesit seems like the mental health
component is really a bigstimulation for the root cause
of that.
So I'm like that's the causeand the only way to fix that is
to address the mental healthissue in that person's life
right, and that's usually what Icall it in professional, but
(09:38):
anyway that can really affectthen also sleep and also stress
eating.
So it's interesting how thesethings kind of play together and
how they can influence eachother and it's a cascade then
that leads to just chronicallyand consistently not
implementing these as optimalthings as possible for the
fountain of youth.
So stress management right,that's a.
That's a key one, I guess.
(09:59):
Another thing I was gonna saywith that is stress comes and
goes all the time.
It doesn't get any less and andsome mentors that I've had in
the past have always been like,as you get older and more
responsibilities layer in withkids and family and other
responsibilities stress doesn'tdecrease, it actually increases.
But your capacity and abilityto tolerate and handle that
(10:21):
stress gets better and betterand better and improves.
So I was like that makes totalsense.
So how can I improve and managemy ability to tolerate the
stresses that come towards me.
That just comes with practiceand purposefulness and awareness
to be at the beginning.
But anyway, so fourth one okay,number four out of six is
getting enough appropriateexercise and fitness and same
(10:45):
kind of thought.
Let's look at what is that?
Not Overtraining, vanity andkind of also taking over your
life?
However, there's worse thingsto be addicted to than working
out a ton all the time, right.
It's more just aboutappropriately stressing your
system and your body, mainlyyour cardiopulmonary system,
(11:06):
your heart and your lungs andthey relate together and their
efficiency and effectiveness todeliver oxygen to your tissues,
and then also your skeletalmuscle and your bones right, the
skeletal system, all right.
So your muscles and your bonesget more dense and thicker,
they're able to tolerate morestress physical, physical wise
and then also your heart andlung system as they work
together, getting more efficientand able to tolerate um,
(11:30):
deliver oxygen to the tissuesfor your organs and health and
nervous system.
All that stuff right, but wecan't neglect.
There's a ton of research andthis is another podcast topic,
by the way in the future talkingabout the benefits of strength
training and exercise.
It's just a matter of doing itappropriately and not doing too
much, too fast.
People get really motivatedthat I've noticed right, and
(11:56):
it's like man, I'm going to workout a ton and then they just
get after it.
Um, but not gradually,progressively increasing the
load and the, the, the for thelevel to tolerate at the moment,
but, um, jumping in too much,too fast, with a flash of
intensity, and then it's toomuch and they get sick or like
they don't feel good and they'regetting super sore, they're
over training, they're notrecovering well enough, with not
adequate sleep.
The nutrition isn't also beingfocused on, so they don't feel
good and they're not getting thebenefits they could get out of
(12:18):
it.
That's when it falls off andthat's also not a great look at
like what that should be forfitness and exercise.
So it's interesting with theFountain of Youth.
They're all correlated and allkind of work together.
But an appropriate nutritionschedule that looks like
sleeping adequately and reachingdeep sleep as best as possible
cold, dark room,non-distractions, white noise
(12:39):
can be a good thing, and thenalso a weighted blanket, and
then managing stress and thenalso exercise.
And then the fifth one isactively and regularly trying to
incorporate mentallystimulating activities.
Let's look again.
What does that not look like.
It doesn't look like what theand this is what the research
suggests.
So if I'm offending anybody,I'm sorry.
(13:00):
Doing crossword puzzles seemsto not be what they're talking
about here.
The reason is because you'rejust learning things that you
already know.
So the key with this is youhave to create new synapses in
your brain and the neurons tostimulate new pathways for the
neuroplasticity benefit that wehave in our brain, which is in
our nervous system, which isreally cool.
We can leverage ourneuroplasticity to maintain this
(13:23):
mental health and cognitivesharpness.
It's just a matter of beingwilling to trudge through the
mud and learn something newthat's challenging, which sucks
right, like it's a hard thing todo and with anything with
discipline, it seems like that'sthe main thing that people are
unwilling to trudge through themud and work through the really
(13:44):
challenging discomfort at thebeginning, the pain and
discomfort short-term at thebeginning for the long-term win
and the long-term benefit.
It is a matter of being okaywith sucking for a while,
whatever the new thing is, butbeing consistent in trying to
incorporate and learn new thingsthat are challenging, to
stimulate new synapses and newneuron activity and development,
(14:07):
angiogenesis andneuroplasticity for the
long-term cognitive sharpness.
That seems to be what they'resuggesting, versus learning
things that you already know,like a crossword puzzle.
Or, if you're a musician,learning a new instrument or a
new avenue for music, versusjust practicing the same things
you already know.
That's not stimulating newactivity in your nervous system
(14:30):
and neural development andneuroplasticity.
You're just learning thingsthat you already know.
That's not stimulating newactivity in your nervous system
and neural development andneural plasticity.
You're just learning thingsthat you already know.
That's not creating newpathways.
So, anyway, the suggestion islearn mentally stimulating and
challenging things, which lookslike learning new things, as in
like a new language, likelearning Spanish, french,
italian, whatever, learning anew instrument.
Those are two things that theywould suggest as, like you know,
(14:52):
that's challenging to do tolearn and that's just a mentally
stimulating activity that canreally be a huge benefit for
cognitive sharpness and loweringthe risk of cognitive decline
over time.
All right, so the last one andthis is a very interesting one
that seems to be verydemographic dependent is
(15:17):
meaningful social engagement.
So the sixth thing in thisfountain youth is meaningful
social engagement, and thatlooks like having more
meaningfulness and purpose ofyour life and believing that
what you're doing is meaningfuland then also doing it with
people that are like-minded andsharing good social
relationships and the community.
That's what it looks like.
(15:37):
So when I said like this isdemographic dependent, what I
meant was it's like dudes andmen are usually more likely to
isolate and be like, nah, Idon't want to go, I don't need
to do that.
Or like I don't need to go,share my feelings and emotions
with people or share experiences, like I'd rather just do it by
myself, I'd rather sit in myrecliner and drink by myself and
watch Fox News or CNN than gooutside.
But meaningful social and womenare usually more likely to like
(16:00):
, congregate and share andengage in social activity.
So that's what I meant bydemographic dependent.
But anyway, they weresuggesting this study.
The difference between thisstudy they were doing with the
control group of the nuns werevery highly socially engaging,
they were in groups all the timeand they were participating
with each other in meaningfulsocial relationships that they
felt meaningful and sharingtheir emotions, experiences
(16:23):
together, and the other groupthat were a little more isolated
at this point in their life andthey weren't actively trying to
engage in social interactionsand meaningful social engagement
.
So that was really interestingand I heard this from another
person that I admire on apodcast that they were
(16:45):
describing.
This person was describing howthey're very successful.
Okay, this person and it mademe think of this right away this
person was suggesting they'revery well off, they've made
hundreds of millions of dollarsand they're still youthful, but
they were describing the mostimportant thing for them.
And the most important thing forthem, that is the definition of
(17:06):
happiness that they want topursue and implement more.
Like why do I do what I do?
It's so that I can do this more.
It's the freedom and theability to do what they enjoy
with the people that mean themost to them.
And I was like yo.
That makes total sense.
Like that's exactly what I'mtrying to pursue is having the
number one the available timeand freedom to do that, versus
being locked in with a currentemployment situation or whatever
(17:30):
, but the freedom andavailability with the people
that I love the most.
So those two things at the sametime.
And I was like yo.
That makes total sense.
And I was like this dude issuper wise and has a lot of
success and a lot of materialpossessions that he could if he
wanted to.
And this person is verysuccessful and well off, but yet
(17:50):
the most important thing thatthis person was describing, that
he wanted to pursue, and themost hands down pinpoint
definition of happiness, isdoing the things that they enjoy
with the people that they lovethe most, and I was like that
makes total sense, like I'm onboard, let's do that.
(18:12):
And that's the sixth thingreally of like the of this
fountain of youth is meaningfulsocial engagement deep,
vulnerable, authenticrelationships, energy giving
relationships, which is a bigengagement.
Deep, vulnerable, authenticrelationships.
Energy giving relationships,which is a big difference.
Right, there's energy drainingrelationships and energy
vampires, I feel like ineveryone's life, and then
there's also energy givingrelationships.
This is something to a littlefood for thought and reflect on.
(18:33):
But anyway, those six thingsseem to be the key factors for
what this neuroscientist andother researchers was suggesting
as the fountain of youth.
Some of these things for my ownlife, right, and instill that
in some of my team members andalso my patients and clients
that we work with.
And then I was like man I wantto relate this to you guys and
listeners because I think thisis a really key thing and, again
(18:58):
, in my humble opinion, I feelthat the most valuable commodity
on earth is time while you'rehealthy versus just time right,
because there's a lot of timeavailable, for some people they
don't want it, but a time whileyou're healthy with a high
quality?
If that's the case, then howcan we purposefully implement
and manage our time and then howcan we have the highest quality
(19:18):
within that time over thelongest period of time possible,
right For longevity?
And it seems like these sixhabits or things, aspects of
life to focus on, are the forhealth, wise and also mental
health seems to be the biggestinfluencers for longevity and
health over time.
But anyway, so I'm always opento suggestions and questions and
(19:40):
comments and concerns on thisstuff.
So definitely shoot me a textor email or comment on on here.
But uh, that seems to be thereally influential things that I
try to implement my own life.
Hey, hold up.
As you know, we're a smalllocal practice and we don't run
any ads or something on thispodcast, but it would mean the
world if you could share, writea post or word of mouth
(20:03):
recommendation for somebody justlike you that's athletic and
active, that wants to live theirdynamic lifestyle and pay some
good karma and pay it forward tosomebody else just like you,
and who knows, you could changetheir world, and a 10 second
review could be that avenue.
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