Dhru Purohit Show - Why Cognitive Decline Isn’t Inevitable and What You Can Do About It

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hi everyone, Drew Brode here. A lot of people think that losing your memory is just part of getting older. And as we age, many of us fear losing our independence, our ability to move freely and think clearly. And remember the moments that matter most to us. Now, groundbreaking research is providing promising results about the possibility of reversing or even preventing cognitive decline, especially when we get involved early. And in today's episode, I'm diving into some of that research by highlighting a powerful moment from a conversation. I had with Dr. Heather Sanderson. Now, a little bit about Heather. Dr. Sanderson is a renowned naturopathic doctor specializing in neurocognitive medicine. And she's the founder of the Solcerre Health Clinic in San Diego, which is a premier brain optimization clinic. And Marama, the first residential memory care facility

Starting point is 00:00:48 to have the goal of returning cognitively declined residents to independent living, again, especially at the early stage. We're still not there fully for my understanding. yet on severe cognitive decline, but at least there's a lot that can be done for folks that are super early. Now, a little bit more about Dr. Sanderson, the primary author of the peer-reviewed research observed improvement in cognition during personalized lifestyle intervention in people with cognitive decline, which was published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease. Dr. Sanderson is the host of the annual online reverse Alzheimer's Summit, where she shares cutting edge

Starting point is 00:01:27 and tried and true insights on what's possible for dementia patients. And in this featured moment, which we're highlighting for you today, Dr. Sanderson discusses what the participants in her groundbreaking proof-of-concept study did to improve their brain health. She also shares diet and lifestyle changes that made the biggest difference, as well as how sleep, exercise, and mindfulness all fit into the picture. And she also emphasizes why this isn't about finding a quick fix or miracle pill. Rather, it's about adopting a sustainable lifestyle for brain health.

Starting point is 00:01:57 So whether you're looking to support a loved one or simply want to future proof your brain to the best degree you can, this conversation is full of practical tools and a lot of hope about the power of lifestyle to improve our brain health and catch cognitive decline early. Let's jump in. You know, in your proof of concept study with the 23 participants, one of the reasons it was so groundbreaking was because you showed that in a shorter period of time, people could improve their sense of cognitive decline that you guys were measuring, right, through this moka squirt. What did you tell them to do and follow in that shorter window when it came to diet and sleep? What did you have them doing and what did you have them not doing?

Starting point is 00:02:48 Yeah, so we recommended pretty much the same thing to everybody. Many other clinicians especially would ask, where do you start? Do you just start in the gut or do you just start with diet or like, no, we do all of it. We do everything. So we hope that people dive in fully. I mean, if we are treating people with cognitive decline on their way towards Alzheimer's or with Alzheimer's, we are asking for a miracle. There is not an easy button out of this.

Starting point is 00:03:12 I wish that there were. If I could give you a pill that would take that away, I would be screaming from the rooftops telling everybody about it yesterday. But this takes work. It takes effort. And we have the highest confidence when people start earlier in the disease process. So with those early warning signs or even. in before in prevention.

Starting point is 00:03:30 And we have the highest confidence when people dive in fully, when they're not just dipping their toe into like, okay, maybe I'm going to reduce my sugar or alcohol and maybe I'll go to bed an hour earlier. But when they're like, really like, okay, what are the supplements? What is what kind of diet? How do I fully get into ketosis as quickly as possible? I'm getting my sleep study done. I'm getting my dental work done to make sure I don't have gingivitis or mercury exposure from

Starting point is 00:03:53 in there. We were doing it all. So we were looking at all six components. components. And there were foundational things that we had everybody do. So one of them was a notropic supplement, vitamin D, omega's, probiotics. I think we did digestive enzymes for pretty much everybody. And so we did do some supplements for everyone. We had people change up their exercise. So we evaluated. Are you getting enough strength? Are you getting enough aerobic? If not, how do we increase that? Or do we need to change it up a little bit? Have you been going for a run for 30 minutes every day for most of your life? you're not ever getting strength training or you're not getting dual task exercise,

Starting point is 00:04:32 which is where we combined both cognitive and physical exercise together. That's a great way to kind of get more out of your workouts. We had people prioritize sleep and make sure that they were getting enough. And we also had them wear watches to evaluate if they were potentially going towards a low O2 sats at night. So we did evaluate for that. We had people start either a meditation process. Kirtan Kriya has a lot of great research. on it, there's a gentleman Kasa who's published extensively, including review papers, that

Starting point is 00:05:03 shows that Kirtanker just 12 minutes a day of the Satanama meditation, that that increases the length of telomeres, it enhances insulin sensitivity, it helps with depression and anxiety, it helps with cognition, most importantly, it helps with blood pressure, basically helps with a lot of these causal level factors that can create neurodegenerative disease. And so just 12 minutes a day totally free. We recommended that everybody do that. And some people push back. They were more comfortable adopting a prayer practice or a gratitude journal or something different, but some sort of mindfulness practice every day. And so those, we had people drink half their body weight in ounces in terms of water. So we had them hydrate. We made sure they were having a bowel movement

Starting point is 00:05:48 every day so that we could have, they would be eliminating. I'm sure there's other things that I'm forgetting. But all of this is in a diagram in the paper. and typically where we start with patients these days as well. And is that protocol also featured inside of the book that you walk people through? Yep. Great. So a good reason for anybody watching today. If you want to know exactly what people did, it's reversing Alzheimer's, the new toolkit

Starting point is 00:06:11 to improve cognition and protect brain health. I believe it came out just in June 11th around them. Exactly. And so it's available. You can get on Amazon. We have the link in the show notes below. So a couple questions for you on this. For the individuals that went through your protocol, or let's say, you know, Dale Breda

Starting point is 00:06:28 study that you hinted at earlier. Did you have? Because making the claim that Alzheimer's is reversible is a bold claim, right? And you know that and you addressed it earlier. Were there independent individuals saying that, hey, this person doesn't present with this disease anymore? Or is it based off of just the shift in the Mokas score? Like were there people that came in with Alzheimer's and now they're not being sort of

Starting point is 00:06:55 diagnosed as having Alzheimer's disease? The holidays are here, which means we want to look the best for parties, family gatherings, and the holiday season. One thing I know a lot of guys and gals are self-conscious about is their hair thinning. It's a touchy subject. But this is where the I Restore Elite comes in. It uses 300 lasers and 200 LEDs to bathe your scalp in red light therapy, a technology that's been studied for its potential to support hair growth. Many users notice thicker, fuller, healthier hair, no pills, no foams, or whole. harsh chemicals required. You've probably seen I Restore on TV. It's an easy at-home system that

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Starting point is 00:09:50 My go-to personal flavor is Cabanero. It's smoky, spicy, and perfect with a little guise. or salsa. So if you're ready to give Masa a try, go to masa chips.com slash drew and use the code Drew for 25% off your first order. That's Masa M-A-C-H-I-P-S-A-C-H-I-P-S-D-R-U and use the code Drew for 25% off your first order. Yeah, great question. So we did include people with Alzheimer who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's in the trial. And it's kind of interesting because one of the gentlemen who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, he actually had Lewy body. So it was like even a misdiagnosis.

Starting point is 00:10:30 This is pretty common in the medical community, unfortunately. But even since we created the clinical trial, things like Ptow 217 is now available. The imaging that we get is now has changed so that we can get better diagnoses. In the book I talk about chapter two is really a set. There's more to it than that. But there's a summary essentially of the work of the book. called how not to study a disease, the story of Alzheimer's, which is by a gentleman named Carl Haroub. And there's a lot of nuance and there's a lot of confusion and there's a lot of

Starting point is 00:11:04 reasons that are absolutely not scientific that we diagnose something as Alzheimer's. And so the, really the diagnosis itself, I think we want to put a fancy word. We want to diagnose something so that we have this understanding. We feel like we understand it. Right. And yet it's such a complex disease that, again, there's not one cause of it. There's not one way out of it. Now, to your point, you know, have we reversed Alzheimer's? So people who have mild cognitive impairment are on the way towards Alzheimer's, right? There's these different stages of Alzheimer's. There's the pre-symptomatic phase that I was alluding to. That's where it's great. Before we even have any of these early warning signs, before there's any symptoms at all, if we can understand

Starting point is 00:11:49 what might lead to neurodegeneration, if we can catch it then, that's. fantastic. So that's that pre-symptomatic phase. And then- Just like any other disease, right? Like cancer, the earlier you catch it, the easier it is to treat it. Right. And the reason people don't is because they're afraid of it, they're in denial, because we thought there was nothing you could do. But that's not right anymore. That's not true anymore. So this really matters. Now, the second phase is that symptomatic phase. It's the subjective cognitive impairment where we're starting to feel different. And maybe our kids are noticing that we're not remembering things. We're not able to take on the activities that

Starting point is 00:12:22 we used to. We feel more overwhelmed or confused more easily. And the third phase is where it's measurable cognitive impairment or mild cognitive impairment. Now this is mild cognitive impairment. You'll see it abbreviated to MCI. This is a bit of a misnomer because there's nothing mild about this. This is basically on your way to Alzheimer's, probably not working anymore, having trouble keeping up with appointments. There's confusion setting in. And this is people often, this is making an impact in your life. Now, diagnose Alzheimer's, some of this has been arbitrary for a long time. Like, where is it Alzheimer's versus mild cognitive impairment? And does, you know, what are people measuring? And to be clear, in our clinical trial,

Starting point is 00:13:02 we did measure mocha scores, certainly. And we published that because we saw statistically significant improvements in that across the means. But also, we looked at the Cambridge brain sciences battery of testing, cognitive testing. So we did more robust, validated cognitive testing than just the mocha. And both of those matched each other. So it wasn't just one time. So it wasn't just one type of cognitive testing. Now, if we were redoing this trial again, we would be looking at the imaging and we would be looking at the Ptow 217, which can give us directionality. Are we reversing this disease process? And in Bredeson's group, the Ptow 217 wasn't available yet, but the imaging was. And what you see is increases in brain size, right? So instead of atrophy, instead of shrinking,

Starting point is 00:13:46 they were actually creating more brain tissue, right? So this is a reversal of the disease process. Now, there are people in my patient group that we need to publish that have had diagnosed Alzheimer's who have reversed that process. Now, this is not a cure. I want to be very clear about that language. I think of a cure of like you get a UTI and you take a pill and it goes away and you never think about it again, right?

Starting point is 00:14:13 Or you get pneumonia and you take some antibiotics and it goes away. and you don't have pneumonia again. That's like a cure. And we've even socialized to kind of have this idea that we should go to the doctor and get a pill and then be cured. That's not what this is. This is adopting a lifestyle

Starting point is 00:14:27 that supports brain health and keeps us oriented towards that regenerative direction versus that attacked, defend, shrink, atrophy direction. And what we see is that when people fall off the wagon, when they're not maintaining that healthy lifestyle, they go right back in the direction of cognitive decline pretty quickly. And so this is really about adopting a lifestyle that helps to manage this potential towards neurodegeneration.

Starting point is 00:14:59 And I think that when we're in prevention and delay mode, we have a lot of luxury, right? If we can go a little slower, we don't have to do as much to get the outcomes and the benefits. But once we're on that path towards Alzheimer's, it's less likely we're going to be able to turn it there are no guarantees in this and it takes more work it often takes labor of love of someone who's willing to put aside time and effort and energy to put into making sure you get the right diet and you're getting to the exercise and you're getting to bed on time and you're getting to the sleep study all of those things you're relying on someone else to do it and so it's much more challenging much more effortful but we see it we see people with alitimers improve now not necessarily go back

Starting point is 00:15:42 to work not necessarily get back to a mocha of 30 but we see them improve often. That's incredible. Thank you for breaking that down because, as you've mentioned, this area is so complex and it's also so scary for a lot of people. But I think that what you're really bringing to the table here is that is somebody's willing to, you know, you can fall into sort of two camps for sort of simplicity purposes.

Starting point is 00:16:05 Number one, there's a bunch of things that we're all doing. Every single day and some of those behaviors could be taking us in the direction towards cognitive decline, and some of those are going to take us away from those. A lot of those six that you mentioned earlier. And so being aware that the majors matter, and we want to focus on them, the sleep, the diet, staying away from ultra-processed foods, maintaining lean muscle mass, exercising, getting in some sort of resistance training or something that's challenging to the body at least a little bit, right that can even be working with bands it could be anything prioritizing sleep etc but also

Starting point is 00:16:50 you're being realistic with anyone that's already experiencing as the medical industrial complex we call it mild cognitive decline you're being serious with somebody and saying look that's very serious and how strict you are is how sick you are so if you are in that camp where you're already experiencing those themes, you are already having a diagnosis, even if that diagnosis is mild cognitive decline. If you want to see improvement, you have to not only take this seriously, adopt this as a lifestyle, this is just a new way of being, but also you have to give all of these areas priority until maybe one day, you know, five, 10, 15 years down the line, you guys see that, hey, these things matter more than other things.

Starting point is 00:17:42 We don't have to focus on these things as much. But at least the research shows right now that you guys are involved with right now, and more importantly, the clinical experience, that all of these things deserve equal attention, which is why you have patients go full on. Now, the question that I have is number one, is that right? And number two, then for most patients who are in that boat, anybody who's listening to this podcast.

Starting point is 00:18:11 Is it, would it be fair to say that if you're serious about this, you have to find a practitioner that you can work in conjunction with. The holidays are a time for connection, but let's be real. They can also bring up stress, family dynamics, and old patterns to the surface. You guys know I'm a huge believer of doing the inner work, especially when it comes to relationships. Early in my relationship, my wife and I went to go to a couple's therapist, not because something was wrong, but we wanted to build a strong foundation. Seeing a therapist helped us

Starting point is 00:18:42 have real conversations about all the important things, money, intimacy, family, our future, and it made a heck of a difference. But honestly, finding the right therapist back then wasn't always easy. Between searching, scheduling, and figuring out insurance, it was a part-time job looking for one. That's why I'm a huge fan of Rula. Rula makes high-quality mental health care simple and affordable. They take most major insurance plans, and the average copay is just around $15 a session, sometimes even zero. You can match with a licensed therapist and start as soon as the next day. Every provider is carefully vetted, so you know you're actually getting quality care. Whether you're looking for a couple's therapy, which I'm a huge fan of, individual therapy,

Starting point is 00:19:22 I'm also a huge fan of that, or medication management, rules got you covered. Honestly, if you've been thinking about starting therapy or getting back into it, this is your sign. This is your reminder Do it. Thousands have already trusted Rula to support their journey toward improve mental health and overall well-being. So if you want to do the same, head over to Rula.com slash true. That's Rula.U-L-A-com slash drew to get started today. After you sign up, they'll ask you where you heard about them. Please support the show and tell them we sent you. That's R-U-L-A- dot com slash Drew, D-D-H-R-U, to take the first step towards better mental health today. Yeah, so I do want to make one point because thank you for that was very eloquent. It could be wrong, but it could be eloquent, but it could be wrong. No, it was absolutely right. And I just want to double click on one thing there. No one in our trial did everything. So you don't have to do it perfectly, but you have to be willing to do something significant. And so I think that that is, there's a little bit of nuance there. It's like, yes, we want you to dive in fully.

Starting point is 00:20:31 we want you to be fully committed. You're going to have to work hard. But you don't have to do it perfect, right? So I don't want the perfect to be the enemy of just getting it done. And there can be so much joy in this. Like, what are we going towards? I think of channeling like my inner Betty White. Like I just want life to get better as I get closer and closer to 100.

Starting point is 00:20:50 That we have the capacity to have really fulfilling, meaningful lives. And that's why we're making these decisions. We have the capacity to continue to connect with our loved ones. and make memories and look forward to things and enjoy holidays and birthdays and celebrations into our 90s and beyond. And so we're making that choice. Like this is really about empowerment and choice and hope and looking forward to that phase of life and that it's not about deprivation and pain, but it's really about stepping in and taking this invitation towards this meaningful, fulfilling last chapter of life. And so you don't have to be.

Starting point is 00:21:31 on board. You don't have to take the invitation. And it's not for everyone. But there is hope. There is an option. There is a way to enhance cognitive function throughout our lives, no matter where we are. Fantastic. Whether you have a family member that's been impacted by cognitive decline dementia, Alzheimer's, I have, or you have an increased concern about your own risk of these diseases. I hope today's episode shed a light on the fact that there's so much that we can do to take control of our brain health. And a lot of it is actually focusing on the basics. As you've heard, reversing or slowing cognitive decline isn't about perfection. It's all about commitment and consistency.

Starting point is 00:22:20 As Dr. Sanderson shared, you don't have to do everything perfectly, but you do have to take meaningful and intentional actions. And if you'd like to hear more from our conversation with Dr. Sanderson, I really encourage you to expand on today's featured moment and listen to the full-length conversation. You can find the full-length conversation where we discuss early warning signs and detections of Alzheimer's disease, as well as lifestyle habits that can prevent or lead to cognitive decline. We also get into the topic of body composition and its role for brain health and the types of infections found to be associated with cognitive decline, all in that conversation.

Starting point is 00:22:58 And I've included a link to that in the episode show notes below. you'll also find a link to a newsletter that me and my team put together on the power of one supplement in particular that can significantly reduce cognitive decline at least based on some of the early data that's out there. So check that out as well. And as always, if you enjoyed this moment, please share it with a friend or a family member who could benefit from hearing this message. As always, thanks for tuning in. I'll see you next week.

Dhru Purohit Show - Why Cognitive Decline Isn’t Inevitable and What You Can Do About It

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