Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee - Why Anxiety Is Your Superpower & How Exercise Changes Your Brain with Dr Wendy Suzuki #325

Episode Date: January 11, 2023

Every morning, my guest on this week’s episode starts her day with 30-minutes of exercise. She knows – from personal experience backed by scientific research – that this makes her more focused, happy, motivated, and even creative. She knows it’ll help her grow new brain cells and neural pathways, long into old age. And she wants you to reap all these benefits too.   Dr Wendy Suzuki is a neuroscientist and a Professor of Neural Science and Psychology at New York University’s Center for Neural Science. Her 2016 book Healthy Brain, Happy Life is a thought-provoking, life-changing look at the plasticity of the brain – and the research-based ways we can change it for the better.   In our conversation, Wendy shares her realisation that the ‘bubble bath of feelgood chemicals’ released during movement were having powerful unexpected effects in her brain. And she explains how even just a small amount of exercise creates profound changes in the brain that go much further than simply boosting mood.   We talk about the effect exercise had on the hippocampus, the part of the brain critical for long-term memory and imagination, as well as the pre-frontal cortex, responsible for our working, moment-to-moment memory. It’s all inspiring proof that our brains are plastic and can change at any age, and that we can take action to make them healthier, younger and stronger.   We also discuss anxiety. Wendy’s latest book, provocatively titled Anxiety Is Your Superpower is all about reframing this ‘misunderstood emotion’ as a signal designed to protect us. Anxiety and fear levels have certainly risen over the past few years but if we can understand anxiety as part of the fight or flight stress response, says Wendy, we can begin to see it as an evolutionary tool for productivity. The key, she says, is turning a panicked list of ‘what ifs’ into a practical list of ‘to dos’.   Wendy explains the detrimental effects of alcohol on brain health, the wonders of meditation and how listening to your favourite piece of music is one of the easiest ways to nourish your brain.   This is a practical and inspiring episode that I’m certain will have you taking action immediately. Support the podcast and enjoy Ad-Free episodes. Try FREE for 7 days on Apple Podcasts https://apple.co/feelbetterlivemore. For other podcast platforms go to https://fblm.supercast.com. Thanks to our sponsors: https://www.vivobarefoot.com/livemore https://www.athleticgreens.com/livemore https://www.calm.com/livemore Show notes https://drchatterjee.com/325 DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on the podcast or on my website.

Where would you be without your own personal memories, your likes, your dislikes, the things that make you laugh like there's no tomorrow. All those things are stored in your memory. And that is because of this beautiful structure that we all have, one on the right, one on the left, that is our right and left hippocampi. That is the structure that we get

to get brand new brain cells in. And I've just given everybody the secret tool to do that. Hey guys, how you doing? Hope you're having a good week so far. My name is Dr. Rangan Chatterjee, and this is my podcast, Feel Better, Live More. live more. What do you do first thing in the morning? Well, my guest today, Dr. Wendy Suzuki, starts every single day with 30 minutes of exercise. She knows from personal experience, as well as the latest scientific research, that this is going to increase her focus, motivation, creativity, and it's going to make her happier. She also knows that it is going to increase her focus, motivation, creativity, and it's going to make her happier. She also knows that it's going to help her grow new brain cells and nerve pathways

long into old age, and she wants you to experience all these benefits as well. Wendy Suzuki is a neuroscientist and the professor of neural science and psychology at New York University's Center for Neural Science. Her 2016 book, Healthy Brain, Happy Life, is a thought-provoking, life-changing look at the plasticity of the brain and the research-based ways we can change it for the better. In our conversation, Wendy shares her realization that the bubble bath of feel-good chemicals released during movement were having powerful, unexpected effects in her brain. She explains how even just a small amount of exercise can create profound changes in the brain that go much further than simply boosting our mood. We talk about exercise's

impact on the hippocampus, the part of the brain critical for long-term memory and imagination, as well as the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for our working moment-to-moment memory. It's all inspiring proof that our brains are plastic and changeable at any age, and that we can take action to make them healthier, younger, and stronger. We also spent some time talking about anxiety. Wendy's latest book, provocatively titled, Anxiety is Your Superpower, is all about reframing this misunderstood emotion as a signal designed to protect us. Anxiety and fear levels have certainly risen over the past few years.

But if we understand anxiety as part of the fight or flight stress response, says Wendy, we can begin to see it as an evolutionary tool for productivity. The key, she says, is turning a panicked list of what-ifs into a practical list of to-dos. We also talk about the impacts of chronic stress and alcohol on the brain, the wonders of meditation, and how listening to your favourite piece of music is one of the easiest ways to nourish your brain. This is a practical and inspiring episode that I'm certain will have you taking action immediately. I hope you enjoy listening. And now, my conversation with Dr. Wendy Suzuki.

You are a neuroscientist that is widely respected all over the world. A lot of your research has completely changed the way we understand our brains. So I thought a really great place to start would be around a part of your morning routine. 30 minutes of exercise every single morning, routine, 30 minutes of exercise every single morning, Monday to Friday, but also at weekends. And I believe that that has been informed by your research. So why do you do that? I do that because I know from not just my research, but the research of all of my colleagues, that every single time you move your body, starting with just walking, but I like to do kind of cardio weights workout for 30 minutes. What that is doing, it is releasing a whole bunch

of neurochemicals in your brain. And all your listeners out there have heard of some of these neurochemicals, dopamine, serotonin, noradrenaline, but also growth factors are being released. And I like to say that it's like giving your brain a wonderful bubble bath of neurochemicals. And what do these neurochemicals do? Well, the dopamine and serotonin are making you feel good. They're bringing your energy up. And the other thing that we know that happens with movement, physical activity is that the functions of your prefrontal cortex right behind your forehead get sharper. They get better. And so I do that first thing in the morning, and I do that to prepare my brain for work.

And I want to come into work. I want to be happy. I want to be motivated, and I want to be able to focus well. And the reason why I do it every morning for 30 minutes, no matter what day it is, is really about habit formation. I was all over the place. You know, I would go for, you know, seven days in a row and then, oh, I'd be too tired. I found really during the pandemic that 30 minutes, first thing in the morning, was something that I could do. I could keep doing it every single day.

It didn't tire me out the next day. And I still felt motivated to come and my muscles weren't too sore. And it just helped with that gradual habit formation. So I do it for my brain and for my brain productivity. And the 30 minutes every morning is really about building that habit that will stick with you and does not go away. You mentioned a lot of things there that I think we all want. Happiness, motivation, happiness motivation focus productivity thinking better you know these are things that no matter who we are we're all seeking them in our lives now you've found that when you do this as part of your morning routine you almost set your body and brain up for the day with those

emotions and feelings that you want. I think that's really, really powerful. Can you rewind to when you didn't do this first thing in the morning? How did your day go then compared to how does your day go now? And do you also remember, was there a specific bit of research that when you did it or read it, you thought, Was there a specific bit of research that when you did it or read it, you thought, wait a minute, I've got to change something? Yes. Yes to both. Okay. So here's how it goes when you don't do that movement. Don't put that movement in your day. And this was a lived experience. I was going through a really, really stressful part of my career, which is trying to get tenure at an American university.

They give you six years and they say, okay, you have six years to make your name. And if you don't do it, we're going to fire you. And if you are going to do it, then, then we will embrace you for the rest of your career and we can't fire you. So, you know, no big deal. And so you have six years to do this. And so what did I do? My wonderful strategy was to only work. I'm just going to work. I'm going to just go into the lab and I'm going to relinquish my social life. And I'm just going to work and I'm going to eat all the wonderful takeout in New York City because that's so fast and efficient and it's delicious with lots of calories. And so I'm going to do that too. And so I got stuff done, definitely, but I had no social life. I found myself with much more weight than I was used to because I wasn't moving at all. was used to because I wasn't moving at all. And mainly I was unhappy. I was just unhappy. I was doing, I was working really hard, but very, very unhappy. And my wake-up call came when I gave myself a vacation, but because I had no friends, because I had no social life, I went by myself.

I went on a river rafting trip to Peru. So I was trying to get as far away from New York City as I could. So I went by myself on one of these group, you know, river rafting trips to Peru. So I was trying to get as far away from New York City as I could. So I went by myself on one of these group, you know, river rafting trips. And it was so much fun, so beautiful, walking around Inca ruins. But I realized I was the weakest one on this whole trip. There were 65-year-old triathletes that were so strong. And there were 16-year-olds that came with their father that were also stronger than me. And so I came back saying, okay, I got a little bit of outdoors. I felt so good after this. I need to go to the gym and get a little bit more movement

in my life. And it was really that, that was my, that was my realization when I started going to the gym. And I remember the very first class I took was a hip hop dance class. Oh my God, I'm really bad at hip hop dancing. And, but it was very, very, it really pushed my limits. And I remember coming out of there going, oh my God, I hope nobody, you know, took any pictures or anything, but really got my aerobic activity up. And I still felt good, even though I felt like a terrible hip hop dancer, I still felt great. And that is what made me go back to the literature. When I started feeling so much better after this, so much better than a month before, when I was only working 100% of the time.

That's when I went back and looked at all of the research showing that movement changes your mood. Movement, regular movement can be as effective as some of the most commonly used antidepressants. And while I wasn't depressed, I wasn't happy. I was not a happy person in my life and I felt myself shifting out of that first with this trip to Peru but then with that regular bringing movement into my life so it was kind of a self-realization kind of backed up by the neuroscience that I was able to go back and research because I happen to be a neuroscientist. Yeah. I mean, that's so interesting. Um, that hip hop dance class sounds like a lot of fun. Do you still do that at the moment? I do. I will. Um, I, during the pandemic, I switched to, um, video workouts at home. So now

I do it, do it at home and I don't know, it's not as fun to do a hip hop dance on video. So occasionally I'll go out and take a class now. But yeah, I got much better at dance after that very first, not so much hip hop. And that's still not my forte, but it's about playing. And for me, it was about discovering, turns out I love kickboxing. And when I say that, people go, oh, don don't get Wendy mad but it's about the rhythm and the power moves that you're doing in kickboxing that really I love yeah what's interesting for me is that you went on this vacation from your life and that inspired you to get moving you start moving and you feel these kind of emotions that you have never felt before.

And that then encourages you, because you're a neuroscientist, to go and study. But presumably, before you'd experienced that, you were probably aware, I'm guessing, that movement's kind of good for the body. It's kind of good for the mind it's kind of good for the mind but you know what I guess where I'm getting to with this is that a lot of us know things we've read it in the media we've heard it on podcasts but we can know stuff but it doesn't land in our brain so we take action and so it's really interesting for me that you had to even with all your prestigious training and your prestigious position as a professor, you had to feel it first. And that feeling, that experience is what led you to actually do more

research. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's easy to understand. I mean, if we ask, are all MDs peak health? Are they all exercising and eating to the best, you know, that science tells us? Clearly, with all due respect to my MD colleagues, the answer is no. And certainly the answer is no for neuroscientists, exercise physiologists. Sometimes it takes a wake-up call. And I have to share for the scientists listening today, the other wake-up call that came in, this was, I don't know, a year and a half in, and I'm feeling good, you know, clearly lots more energy. But the thing that really made me so interested that I actually shifted my research from study of memory, which is how I started my research career, to starting to explicitly study the effects of exercise,

is I'll always remember I was sitting in my office and I was writing a grant. And so all the scientists out there know how excruciating it is to write a grant. This is your lifeblood, right? This says whether you're going to be validated by your peers or, you know, you're not going to be able to do the science that you want. And I had this thought that came through my mind while I was writing this particular day in my office. And that thought was, gee, writing went well today. I had never had that thought ever in my entire career. It was, and then I thought, well, I'm just having a good today. I had never had that thought ever in my entire career. It was, and then I thought, well, I'm just having a good day. I'm feeling really good. I did go to the gym that day, but no, I realized that my writing had gotten better. Like it was flowing

better. So that's when I realized that the only thing at this point that I changed in my life was this exercise. It was a year and a half in. I had gone through, you know, no movement to regular movement. And going back to the literature, I know it helps the functions of the hippocampus. Important for memory, which you need when you're writing a grant. All those details of all the papers that you have to put together in your multimillion dollar grant proposal and focus to write, you need deep, continuous focus. I'm like, both of those things are better. That I think appears to be why my writing is getting better. So that was like that hit home that your lifeblood you're doing it better and it seems like all these functions are are coming because you're exercising wow that that is life-changing yeah

that was life-changing moment yeah it's so interesting that you know reflecting on what you've been saying so far wendy it's fascinating to me that you were, at least from the outside, crushing life, right? You were successful. You're living in New York City. You are being made professor. You're doing great research. You're teaching people. You're being invited for TED Talks. The sort of thing that a lot of people would regard as, hey, that's what I want. That's the sign of someone who's successful. Yet you've also said at the same time you were productive you were successful but you weren't happy right that's that's really interesting because I think there'll be a lot of people who can resonate with that they

are doing the things that you know they they think they need to do that society has told them they need to do and it sounds like you were they need to do. And it sounds like you were, you know, well, yeah, you weren't just surviving, you know, in your work, you were thriving, but in your personal life, I know from your first book, Healthy Brain, Happy Life, you've been very, very open in that book about the struggles you had with relationships and actually the fact that you never spent any time prioritizing those relationships. And it's fascinating to me that just that one change movement, which you now put into your morning routine, is having all these kind of myriad

benefits. It is. And it's really interesting to analyze my own career kind of before and after this realization, particularly on the topic of creativity. So I was a very by-the-book scientist before this realization. I did my undergraduate. I went to graduate school. I got my PhD. I did a postdoc. And then I got a faculty position. So that's all, you know,

that's great. That is successful. And I was thrilled to be here at NYU. But always by the book. All my classes were by the book. But then, and by the way, I want to clarify, the TED Talks came after the transition. I was not giving TED Talks. That was part of the creativity. So then this transformation happens. I realized that I was unhappy. I ended up going to the gym because of this Peru trip. And one of the interesting things is that I think everybody's motivation, part of everybody's motivation to move more regularly, besides that bubble bath of neurochemicals that I told you about, is that one of the things that we know that exercise does is it releases a whole bunch of growth factors in the brain.

And that goes directly to your hippocampus, which is important for memory and literally helps new brain cells grow. So if you want shiny new brain cells in the part of your brain critical for long term memory, that is your motivation to exercise. That is my personal motivation to exercise. But it turns out that the hippocampus doesn't only help us with memory, but it helps us put information in our memories together in new ways. In other words, it's important for imagination. And if you look at my teaching and my work and my career before and after this, what you'll see is after I started working out, what did I do? I created new courses like Can Exercise Change Your Brain, where I brought physical activity into the classroom. I literally got trained

as an exercise instructor so I could make the whole class work out with me before the class. And actually, that's because my department wouldn't pay for an exercise instructor. I was like, can you hire an exercise instructor for me? And they're like, no, you teach the class. So I went and I got trained as an exercise instructor because I was going to the gym all the time anyway. Did that. I made them, that class, my very first kind of clinical study.

So I tested them before and after the semester of every week we would exercise together for an hour. And I compared them to another class that didn't exercise. I created Art Meets Brain, where I brought in all of my new friends that I made that were artists and dancers talked about their craft. And then we talked about the neuroscience of movement. I had a world-class cellist come in and go through the process of learning a new piece. And then I talked about, again, a different version of motor learning. So all sorts of artists. And I just had the time of my life.

And that's when I was creating my TED Talks and kind of going outside of the classroom because I realized, oh, my God, this information is so important. And while I love lecturing to my, you know, 120 students that I teach in my, in the regular class that I teach, everybody should know about this. And so that's why I wrote the first book, Healthy Brain, Happy Life.

And that's what got me the TED Talk. Yeah, it's so inspiring to hear about your story. You know, I love your energy and your passion to, I guess, hammer home that, you know, this message that we've been hearing since we were kids that physical activity is important for our physical health, which I think we've all heard over and over again. Your research and, you know, certainly your first book, I think in many ways is just, it's expanding out our view of physical activity. It's not just for your physical health. It makes you a better human, right? It makes you more creative, more productive,

makes you happier, more motivation, helps you with memory, all these things. I think it's absolutely fantastic. One point I just want to clarify, I know you do 30 minutes every morning, okay? And some people will hear that and go, I can't do it in the morning, Wendy. You know, I've got kids, I'm busy. I don't think I can fit that in. So the first point there was, I don't think I can fit that in. So the first point there was, is the time of day important? But related to that, I know in Healthy Brain, Happy Life, there's lots of talk of four minute hacks, right? So the second part of that question is four minutes. What's so great about four minutes? Yeah. So four minutes was really chosen. So at the end of every chapter in Healthy Brain, Happy Life are different hacks that you can do focused

on the topic that was in that chapter. And we chose four minutes because it was doable. And frankly, it was a doable time period. We didn't want to give you 30-minute activities because nobody would try it ever. And so all these things are fun things just to get people in the groove of meditation, in the groove of creativity, in the groove of movement. And so, but going back to what is that minimum or optimum exercise regimen, that's the most popular question that people always ask me. Really, how little movement do I really need to do to get all that good mood, we know that significant decreases in anxiety and depression levels, not clinical anxiety and depression, just our overall anxiety levels can come with just 10 minutes of walking. That comes from the science. That is the kind of minimum amount that has been shown to have an effect. And I love, usually I start with that

because 30 minutes can be a little bit daunting and it does not have to be in the morning. That's when I do it, I can do it. And so the first thing to say is that anytime you can bring movement into your life is the perfect time to do it. And you don't have to run a marathon. You don't have to go to those scary classes. Walking, starting with walking has a significant effect, specifically 10 minutes of walking can decrease those negative mood states and increase the positive mood states. So that's, I always like to start with that, that doable message that really anybody can bring into their day. Yeah, no, I love that. You've obviously found what works for you. You can do 30 minutes in the context of the rest of your life. So you do it, right? And you've experienced the benefits.

One thing I've spoken about on this podcast for many years is that I do a five minute strength workout every morning, like you seven days a week, because the workout has been created around my coffee consumption. So as my cafeteria brews the coffee for five minutes, in those five minutes, instead of going on YouTube or Instagram or emails, I do a strength workout in my pajamas. And I always say that because the point is I've made it as easy as possible. And I wrote a book about five minute interventions, how powerful they can be. So that's why I was so interested in this four minute number, because I think we've been conditioned, Wendy, to think that, oh, there's no point doing it if it's only four minutes or five minutes. Yet, I think I keep in really good shape from a five-minute

strength workout seven days a week because it's so small that I can do it every day, pretty much. I, like you, am very passionate to get the idea out there. I remember actually, Wendy, And I, like you, am very passionate to get the idea out there. I remember actually one day, you know, I used to work in a GP practice. Maybe this specific practice, I'm going to guess maybe eight, nine years ago. And no, it was actually longer because it was before I had kids, right? So there was life pre-kids and post-kids, right? Before I had kids, I still loved getting up early, but I'd go to the gym at 6.30 in the morning on the way to my GP surgery. And my colleague asked me,

how long do you do? I said, well, I don't have much time really. I think I did, I don't know, 15 minutes weights, maybe 15 minutes cardio, and then a bit of steam room, and then I'd get ready, shave, and I'd turn up to work. And she said to me, yeah, but you know, it's not enough really, is it? You know, I never go unless I could find time for an hour. And she, for many reasons, was really struggling with various aspects of physical health and mental health. And I remember thinking, that's incredible, isn't it? That that person is not going to move because she thinks I have to do an hour or it doesn't count. But as I've just shared, and as you just shared,

even little bits make a difference. So 10 minutes can change your mood of walking. Any other research to help people understand that you don't need to do that much? Yeah. I mean, that's my best go-to kind of research because like your colleague, a lot of the researchers look at minimum 30 minutes of workout, either for cardio health or, you know, exercise physiology or brain health. And so this is, this is a great one. The, the, the studies that have confirmed that 10 minutes of walking can absolutely change your mood. It's consistent with the whole broad spectrum of work that says that mood change is one of the most consistent, strongest effects of physical activity. Now, the hippocampal cells have been

studied extensively in animal model systems, and we don't have an exact how much a day for how long do you need to have that. However, the study that I love to highlight is a correlational study done in Swedish women. It was published in 2018, and it was a 44-year follow-up study. So in the 1960s, they went and looked at 300 women in Sweden and characterized them as low-fit, mid-fit, or high-fit. Just what is your physiological level? Again, they were in their 40s.

They did no intervention. They came back 44 years later and asked what was their status now that they're in their 80s. what was their status now that they're in their 80s. And it turns out that relative to the low fit women, the high fit, the women that were high fit in their 40s, 1960, they staved off dementia by an extra nine years, nine years. And so, so what does that mean? Well, I immediately go to, I know that regular exercise is increasing growth factors, which is increasing the number of hippocampal brain cells. That's not curing dementia, but it's making your hippocampus, as I like to say, big and fat and fluffy. That just takes longer for any disease to come in and damage it. And what does

both normal aging and dementia do? It goes in and it attacks the hippocampus, which is why in dementia that memory problem comes in early. So let's look at those high-fit women. What's happening? They're staving off dementia by nine years. Now, as I'm sure you recognize, and many of our science colleagues will recognize, that's not a causal relationship because it was just a correlational study. However, it is consistent with the science, the neuroscience that we understand about what regular long-term exercise can do, particularly to the hippocampus and your memory function. Again, that study to do in a direct causal way is very, very, very difficult. But those studies that continue to come out, there are many studies that are in that same

direction, can suggest that regular exercise, as much as you can do for as long as you can do during your lifetime, is helping your brain, particularly two areas that are sensitive to aging, the hippocampus we just talked about and the prefrontal cortex, stave off those debilitating effects that can come with aging. You've mentioned growth factors a few times. I wonder if we could just dive into what exactly is going on here? Why is it or how is it that exercise is giving us these incredible benefits? You mentioned BDNF. What exactly is BDNF and what does it do in our brains? Just taking a quick break to give a shout out to AG1, one of the sponsors of today's show. Now, if you're looking for something at this time of year to kickstart your health,

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connections happen. They facilitate connection or synapse formation in the brain. And then what happens when we're adults? Well, in adulthood, it's also facilitating synapse, new synapse formation, which is happening all the time. You learn something new, there are changes in those connections in your brain and BDNF plays a role. But in particular, this, so BDNF stands for brain derived neurotrophic factor. All you need to know that is that it's a growth factor and it is essential in the hippocampus to help brand new brain cells grow. There's only two areas in the human brain where brand new brain cells grow in adulthood. Just two.

They're not growing all over the brain. Just in two areas. One is the hippocampus and the other is the olfactory bulb. and the other is the olfactory bulb. But the hippocampus is the only place where exercise can stimulate the release of growth factors. Where does that come from? It seems to come from muscles in your body, from liver release, factors released in the liver that then release BDNF that goes into the brain that goes straight to your hippocampus and helps those brand new brain cells grow. Exercise doesn't do that to the brain cells in the olfactory bulb. So this is, I mean, if there was going to be one area that I could have that has brand new brain cells, I want it

to be my memory area. Okay. I'm a little biased because I studied memory for 25 years in my neuroscience career and I love it. And it's so, you know, it's critical to our personal histories. It defines us as people. You don't realize, you know, where would you be without your own personal memories, your likes, your dislikes, the things that make you laugh like there's no tomorrow. All those things are stored in your memory. And that is because of this beautiful structure that we all have, one on the right, one on the left, that is our right and left hippocampi. That is the structure that we get to get brand new brain cells in. And I've just given everybody the secret tool to do that. Move your body.

You know, I love what you said about memory there in terms of what it does for us what it gives us as humans because i think when a lot of us think about memory and not losing our memory i think many of us think about no i need to be able to remember to do stuff. I need to remember where I put my keys, these kinds of things. But what you're saying is that it goes far beyond that. It's about our sense of who we are, our personal story. That's really profound, Wendy. Yeah, it is. And it comes from years and years and years of studying patients who have the unfortunate event of having amnesia, which is usually their hippocampi get damaged. And so the most famous, probably the most famous neurological patient that ever lived was an amnesic patient whose initials were HM. He passed away and we now know his name was Henry Mollison. And I grew up

as a scientist learning about this patient who had severe, severe epilepsy, and epilepsy starting at seven years old. It got worse and worse and worse into his 20s, so he couldn't go to school. He couldn't work. His epilepsy was so bad. And he went to a neurologist. And at that time, they were doing experimental brain extractions. And they knew that taking out one hippocampus could help epilepsy. That's still done today. But what they did back there in the 1950s, they took out both of his hippocampi because his epilepsy was so bad. And it was experimental. And he agreed because the epilepsy was so bad. The good news was it cured the severity of his epilepsy. The horrible news is that it left him unable to form any new memories from that point in time until he died in his 80s. He was 27 years old. And then he became the most famous amnesic patient. I mean, nobody knew that the hippocampus was so important for memory before this patient. And so first,

they went out and they said, okay, nobody take out both hippocampi ever again. Look what happens. And then, of course, they went on to study him and realized that without your hippocampi, you can no longer form any new memories for facts and events. But he did maintain his memories from childhood. He remembered his mother, his father, his childhood friends, which meant that those memories kind of got processed through the hippocampus. It got stored, presumably someplace else, and he was still able to access them. He learned language, so all of his language skills remained intact. In fact, he liked to do crossword puzzles up until the end of his life, but he could not form any new long-term memories.

And he had the wherewithal to say that, you know, who am I without my memories? He maintained his persona of 27 years old. And people always ask the neuroscientists who studied him, did he recognize himself? Because there's an 80-year-old face staring at him in the mirror. He only remembers his 27-year-old face. And the answer was yes, he could recognize himself gradually aging in the mirror. But it makes you think about all the amazing things that the hippocampus and helps us grow new nerve cells. And I guess in many ways, bulletproof it from future problems.

Not bulletproof, you know, make it less likely, insulate it. Maybe that's a better way. There's other growth factors there as well, aren't there? I think, what is LTP, long-term potentiation? Where are we at with our knowledge of that at the moment? So we studied this. Okay. So let me define what it is. Long-term potentiation is this physiological pattern of activity that people discovered in the hippocampus in the 70s. And by the 70s, we understood the hippocampus is important for memory. So what kind of magical physiology is going on in the hippocampus so that it helps us make all these memories? And so LTP, it's basically a physiology trick.

And so what you do is you can give a little stimulation and get a little response out of the hippocampus in the synapses in the hippocampus. But then if you give a bigger, it's called a titanic stimulation, which is higher frequency stimulation, then in the hippocampus, but not in many, many other brain areas, you increase the output of those synapses after this one higher frequency stimulation, and it stays changed for a very long time. And so that was touted for a long time as, ah, this is what memory looks like in the hippocampus, which is true and not true.

It's very artificial. And now we're much more sophisticated about not just the physiology, but the molecular cascade of events that happens in these amazing hippocampal synapses, those connections between neurons in the hippocampus that do result in change after an experience. So I have the new experience of speaking to you this morning. I've never met you before. I've never seen your face before. But now I will recognize you next time I'm walking down a London street, I suppose, and I run across you.

down a London street, I suppose, and I run across you. That means that something, and if I do recognize you, something in my brain, something in my hippocampus is literally changing right now to help that memory form that will be there when I'm walking down that street in London. That's LTP and that's the implication of what LTP is and does exercise enhance LTP so increase the positive effects of this I mean how does exercise play play a role here yeah so exercise is doing many different things exercise is increasing the number of neurons in the hippocampus. It is increasing LTP in those neurons. That has been showing. But also, interestingly, one of my favorite findings for hippocampal nerds, which I am,

is that it's been shown that those brand new hippocampal neurons that are born in adulthood, particularly, you know, with exercise, you can give, for example, a rat lots of exercise, a running wheel to go on, and you could show that they have lots more new hippocampal cells than the rats that don't have the running wheel. Well, it turns out that those shiny new hippocampal cells are kind of like teenagers. They're really active and they get involved in lots of things. And what do they get involved in? New memory circuits. So we're now sophisticated enough to learn to be able to see an activation of hippocampal cells in a particular memory circuit. And it turns out that those brand new cells that are being formed with sprinkling BDNF on the hippocampus, those are more likely to get engaged in memory formation.

So that is consistent with the finding that if you give rats more exercise, they are better at a whole bunch of different spatial memory tasks than rats that are couch potato rats. Now, I knew coming into this conversation that the hippocampus was your favorite area of the brain. I'm definitely getting a strong sense of why that is, having been talking to you. What did you call yourself? A hippocampus nerd. Yeah, I'm totally a hippocampal nerd. Yeah, a hippocampal nerd. I love that. That's a great phrase.

If we think about the hippocampus and how important it is, one of the things that we're seeing, even pre-pandemic, stress was huge across the world to the point where it was called the health epidemic of the 21st century. This is four or five years ago. And obviously for many people that has increased over the past couple of years or so. What does stress do to the brain? And in particular, what does chronic unmanaged stress do to the hippocampus? Yeah. So that's a great question. The hippocampus we've known for a long time is particularly vulnerable to high levels of stress.

And let me just go to the end phase, PTSD. Somebody with PTSD, which is chronic, you know, unmanaged stress, highly, you know, military kind of stress for a long, long, long time. We've known for a long time that that results in smaller hippocampus. Their hippocampus is smaller. Why is that? We know that as well. Many, many receptors, which are kind of the doors that bring particular chemicals in, there are receptors to cortisol, the stress hormone,

lots of them in the hippocampus. So high levels of cortisol will have a big effect on hippocampal cells. And what is that effect? Well, unmanaged, it will start to first damage hippocampal cells, but then with unmanaged stress, it literally kills cells in the hippocampus resulting in that physically smaller hippocampus resulting in that, that physically smaller hippocampus. In fact, patients with PTSD have a smaller entire temporal lobe. And that is the cause of, that is the result of long-term stress. And that's just on only on your brain. It's causing havoc in your cardiovascular system, in your digestive system, in your reproductive system as well. So it's bad news. A little bit of cortisol will kind of wake

the hippocampus up and make it work better. You remember those moments of, you know, a little bit of high stress. Somebody calls on you in class and, oh yeah, I remember when Professor Suzuki called on me. However, if we go into military long-term stress that is really activating the hippocampus, that starts to damage it. And the branches of the neurons will start to kind of prune away, get smaller, receive less information, and eventually high levels of cortisol will kill hippocampal cells. Yeah, I think there's a really important distinction there that you covered that a little bit of stress, especially if we have time to rest

and recover from it, it's good for us. It's going to help us perform better. And when I give talks to companies to try and help them with well-being, a lot of the time I say, look, we're not trying to get rid of stress, right? A little bit of it. You know, if you come on stage to talk and help them with well-being a lot of the time I say look we're not trying to get rid of stress right a little bit of it you know if you come on stage to talk and you have a little bit of stress if it's the right amount it's going to help as you're saying your hippocampus work better right it's going to help you focus and your memory you're going to pull things out of your memory that you maybe didn't have front of mind it's when it goes on for too long and it's too much that what started to help you in the short term now becomes very toxic and harmful.

In your view, Wendy, like I've spoken to a lot of my colleagues about this as well, and we are seeing an increase in memory problems or certainly patients coming in complaining of memory problems, I would say these days in our 30s and 40s. Now, I know there's many possible causes for that. Of course, we can do blood tests, we can look for things like B12 and all sorts of things that may be playing a role. But this is not really age-related dementia. My feeling, Wendy, for many years has been is that My feeling, Wendy, for many years has been is that stress has gone through the roof and people are constantly switched on. They're always on the devices.

They're staying late. They're not allowing their brains to switch off. And I feel this has impacted their memory. I'd love your perspective on that. Yeah, I have exactly the same feeling. Here in the States, there was kind of the epidemic of brain fog. Everybody had more brain fog. They're staying home all the time. And actually, that and so many of the reports of increased anxiety is part of the reason why I wrote this book, Good Anxiety. I think that uncertainty, the difference between that good stress that you

were talking about when you go give a talk and that little boost, it's a little scary, right? You want your audience to listen to you, but you chose that talk. You have controlled anxiety. However, if you're in the middle of a pandemic, you have no health insurance, you don't know whether your boss can fire you tomorrow, that leads to uncontrolled anxiety, a lot and lot of uncertainty. And my simple definition of anxiety is the fear and worry that comes with situations of anxiety, which everybody can immediately see why anxiety levels went through the roof during the pandemic. And I think those uncontrollable levels of anxiety that always comes with stress. So stress is a physiological response that is created by part of our nervous system or is controlled by part of our nervous system

called the sympathetic nervous system, it just gets released every time you get an anxiety provoking kind of situation from an email to the news coming on. And that is releasing all the cortisol. It's increasing your heart rate, increasing your respiration rate, and chunting blood from your digestive and reproductive organs to your muscles. Now, we just talked about all the bad things that stress can do for your brain. Let's talk for just one second about what that stress and that it's called the sympathetic fight or flight response. People have always heard of the fight or flight response. What does that do for your body?

flight response. People have always heard of the fight or flight response. What does that do for your body? Well, imagine long-term increases in heart rate, cardiovascular disease, long-term leaving of blood from your digestive system, ulcers, long-term leaving of blood from your reproductive organs, reproductive problems. So I think all of these are kind of contributing to the new normal level that we're seeing. I'm not saying it's not reversible. I'm just saying we know a lot, as you know, as a GP, of what stress can do to us, which really should motivate us even more to learn how to relax. And that's the good news, right? The answer is learn how to be kinder to yourself, learn how to be kinder to others, because empathy is something that also increases dopamine in your brain, if you didn't know that. And so the message is a good one, even though it's not easy sometimes to see your way out of not looking at your devices, not stressing yourself with the news cycle. It is absolutely possible and your brain and your body will thank you for it. Yeah, really great explanation. We're going to talk

about anxiety in some detail. Before we do that, just going back to the hippocampus. Now, I'm conscious that a lot of people who are listening or watching this right now may be thinking, oh man, I've been under a period of chronic stress. I've been killing it really hard. I've had brain fog. Oh no, are my brain cells in my hippocampus dying? Are they dead? What impact is that going to have on me? So I wanted to just double check with you whether those cells can regenerate or whether, listen, or whether we can just take that optimistic view that, hey, listen, you can't change what's happened. But if you change what you do going forward, you can absolutely regenerate and create new nerve cells. So give us a little bit of hope there, Wendy, if you can.

Yeah. So yes, the answer is there is hope. And that is why I think I'm an optimistic person. I've studied what's called brain plasticity for my entire neuroscientific career. Brain plasticity says that the environment that you live in can actually change the connections of your brain. And they can change it in two ways. Certain experiences can up those brain cells, make your trees of your neurons big and beautiful. And other experiences, chronic stress, chronic anxiety, can trim those branches and make your neurons smaller and sometimes even kill those neurons. It is a constant dynamic, and that's part of what makes the human brain

literally the most complex structure known to humankind. It is so highly responsive to our environment, which gives us the power to change that environment to one that favours positive brain plasticity, growth of neurons, and disfavours negative brain plasticity. So yes, your history does not define it. What you do today is what your brain is going to be responding to. So if that neuron or nerve cell is getting smaller because of chronic stress, and you then make a change, can that same neuron get bigger again? Or is it simply a case? Yeah, the same one. Wow, that's really empowering. But also new ones can be created as well. Yes, in the hippocampus. In the hippocampus. You've mentioned the prefrontal cortex a couple

of times during this conversation. And I'm just thinking about Wendy, a few years ago, I wrote a book on stress. And I seem to recall reading some research that people who suffer from chronic work stress have got a smaller dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, which in turn reduces their ability to self-regulate and make good decisions. Sure, sure. So the prefrontal cortex is another one of the many amazing areas of the human brain. It basically does so much. The prefrontal cortex is large. You referred to one portion of the prefrontal cortex that we know a lot about. That particular area is important for what's called working memory, which is not the same as the long-term memory that the hippocampus is involved in, but it's your moment-to-moment ability to remember the conversation. So for me

to remember that we are now on the topic of prefrontal cortex, we finished the hippocampus for now, that is being processed by my prefrontal cortex. It is what keeps you in a conversation without, you know, embarrassing yourself and or saying the wrong name to the person or all the other things that we all embarrass ourselves with every once in a while. That is called working memory or scratch pad memory. Back in the old days, people used to say that's the memory you needed to remember the phone number from the phone book before you actually called it. But of course, now we have no memory of that because it's all in our phones or in Google. But scratch pad memory is a good way to call it. And it really is part of our everyday life. And it allows us to function normally at work, to go from one thing to another,

to order our days appropriately. If you have damage in this area, very hard to bake. Why? Because you need order to bake. You can't put the eggs in first. You have to put the flour and the dry ingredients first. So that kind of ordering is so important for the prefrontal cortex. And we also use it, actually, what I've studied most is the role of the prefrontal cortex to shift and focus our attention. Can you pay attention to this part of the spreadsheet, which is the top of conversation and filter out that other part, even though you may know more about that other part, it's being able to do that. And I think we'll probably talk about meditation just a little bit.

Meditation is really an exercise of the prefrontal cortex to be able to say, actually, can I focus on my breath? That is one of the simplest forms of meditation. Any yoga class you go to, focus on your breath. That ability to filter everything out. Oh, I like her outfit. Ooh, this mat isn't thick enough. No, you have to focus on your breath. That is a major function of the prefrontal cortex and helps us to understand why the practice of meditation goes far beyond the mat or the yoga mat, but it goes to everything that we're doing because it is strengthening a major function of our prefrontal cortex, our ability to specifically shift and

focus our attention to where we choose, not where the environment chooses. And going back to, I think what you said at the start, exercise helps the hippocampus and it helps the prefrontal cortex right absolutely it does so exercise uh it it has an immediate effect one of the things that i've shown in me in my lab is just one workout session we happen to do 30 minutes can improve your ability to shift and focus attention of the prefrontal cortex. And that effect lasts for at least two hours after the workout. Regarding anxiety, a lot of people, when they feel anxious, turn to alcohol to help them alleviate that.

With respect to what we've been talking about, let's say the hippocampus and I guess the wider brain, we've talked about the impact that long-term unmanaged stress has on our brains. But long-term chronic alcohol intake can also be regarded as a stressor on the brain. Are you able to give us a little outline as to what too much alcohol for too long does to those kind of structures in our brain? Yeah. So I think the easiest way to understand what alcohol is doing is to first step back and say, there are two kinds of

activation that you can get in your brain cells, a positive activation, more activity caused by what's called excitatory neurotransmitters, which are those chemicals that, that help the communication or define the communication between brain cells, or inhibitory neurotransmitters that decrease that activity. Well, guess what? Alcohol acts as an inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. And so what that does is lots of things. First, think about pouring lots of inhibitory neurotransmitters over your brain for a long, long time. That is part of the effect that we're seeing with alcohol, but on a kind of night-by-night basis, it might lull you into sleep

It might lull you into sleep quicker, which I think many people use. However, we also know that it is a significant good sleep disruptor. And that is part of the long-term detrimental effects of alcohol on your brain. So I don't know if you've experienced this, where you might get drowsy if you had a little bit too much alcohol to drink, but the sleep that you get after that night of alcohol consumption, unless you're kind of blacked out, but just like a little bit more than usual, you're not, you don't get a very good night's sleep. And that sleep deprivation, I should say, is so detrimental to normal brain function. I like to tell my undergraduates, you know what happens when you deprive people or animals of sleep for too long? And they say, oh, they get cranky. They die. It is a physiological function. So long-term sleep deprivation, it causes death. So it's that critical. And so those studies helped me kind of get motivated to really look at how to improve my sleep.

And one of the things that is a common detriment to good sleep that really helps your brain regenerate and work best the next day is alcohol. Even a little bit of alcohol can have those negative effects. Yeah. Do we know, I mean, you just mentioned there just a little bit. I don't know, with alcohol, it gets very hard to give guidance. And, you know, there are sort of government guidance in terms of what sort of unit range people should stick to. Certainly here in the UK, there are. You're making the case, I guess, from that, that even one glass of wine can have a detrimental impact on the brain? Well, one glass of wine will affect sleep. It's not going to kill your brain cells,

one glass of wine. But if you want to optimize that brain regeneration kind of mechanism that we all have at our disposal, you'll want to decrease that alcohol consumption. So moving to anxiety now, anxiety is on the rise. Now I can see on the shelf behind you that you've got this beautiful red cover. It's called Good Anxiety. I think in the UK it was released with the title, Anxiety is Your Superpower. Yes. Yeah? It was.

Wanted to make that super clear, depending on who's listening to this, where, in case they want to get hold of it. One of the really interesting things I felt about this book is that you call anxiety protective, and you also call it a powerful self-help tool. Yeah. Now, most people who suffer with anxiety don't think that it's protective. They don't want to have it. They don't want to feel like that. They certainly don't call it a powerful self-help tool.

So I wonder if you could elaborate, Wendy, in terms of what exactly you meant by that. Before we get back to this week's episode, I just wanted to let you know that I am doing my very first national UK theatre tour. I am planning a really special evening where I share how you can break free from the habits that are holding you back and make meaningful changes in your life that truly last. It is called the Thrive Tour. Be the architect of your health and happiness. So many people tell me that health feels really complicated, but it really doesn't need to be. In my live event, I'm going to simplify health and together we're going to learn the skill of happiness, the secrets to optimal health, how to break free from the habits that are holding you back in your life. And I'm going to teach you how to make changes that actually last. Sound good?

All you have to do is go to drchatterjee.com forward slash tour. I can't wait to see you there. forward slash tour, and I can't wait to see you there. This episode is also brought to you by the Three Question Journal, the journal that I designed and created in partnership with Intelligent Change. Now, journaling is something that I've been recommending to my patients for years. It can help improve sleep, lead to better decision-making, and reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. It's also been shown to decrease emotional stress, make it easier to turn new behaviours into long-term habits, and improve our relationships. There are, of course,

many different ways to journal, and as with most things, it's important that you find the method that works best for you. One method that you may want to consider is the one that I outline in the three-question journal. In it, you will find a really simple and structured way of answering the three most impactful questions I believe that we can all ask ourselves every morning and every evening. Answering these questions will take you less than five minutes, but the practice of answering them regularly will be transformative. morning and every evening. Answering these questions will take you less than five minutes,

but the practice of answering them regularly will be transformative. Since the journal was published in January, I have received hundreds of messages from people telling me how much it has helped them and how much more in control of their lives they now feel. Now, if you already have a journal or you don't actually want to buy a journal, that is completely fine. I go through in detail all of the questions within the three-question journal completely free on episode 413 of this podcast. But if you are keen to check it out, all you have to do is go to drchatterjee.com forward slash journal or click on the link in your podcast app. So the reason why we called the book in the UK, Anxiety is Your Superpower, and in the US, Good Anxiety. So people would look at it and be like, what? What could she be talking about?

And so here's what I mean by anxieties are superpower. Anxiety, evolutionarily speaking, anxiety and that underlying physiological stress response that we spent so much time talking about over the last hour, evolved to protect us. Okay. So that is truly the reason why it evolved. Now we're talking 2.5 million years ago when those stresses came from physical danger, the lion, the tiger, the bear. When somebody walking around trying to gather food, here's the crack of that twig, what would happen? Ooh, anxiety. That could be a bear or a lion to kill me. That releases the stress response. And what does the stress response do? It increases your heart rate. It shunts blood to your muscles. So you can either fight the lion

or run away. Perfect mechanism. It is why we are here today. Unfortunately, that mechanism has not evolved with our evolving culture. And so while I have not been attacked by many lions or tigers or some rats here in New York, but no lions and tigers and bears, I do get anxiety through lots of different mechanisms. Every time the email, the text comes in, oh God, what is that? The news cycles, social media are real causes of anxiety that still release that stress response. And it's got us to the situation that we were just talking about, brain fog, high levels of anxiety. And so everybody's saying, okay, well, you just answered your own question. It's not helpful, right? And my answer is yes, it is helpful because at the core, anxiety is protective.

And what this book does is shows us all how to get to that protective level of anxiety. And the first step is to turn the volume down. So absolutely, I'm with everybody. Our anxiety levels are too high. I'm not saying that this level of anxiety, high level, kind of uncontrolled is good. We have to get to that controlled level. As you pointed out, your beautiful example of giving a talk, that is good anxiety. That propels you to give a better talk than if you're in the weekend Netflix kind of level of activity. You would give a terrible talk if you were at that level. No, you need that little fear. You need a little bit of anxiety. I do too, to give the best talk that I could give. That's what we're looking for. And that's what my book

outlines and shows us how anxiety can bring us gifts or superpowers in many parts of our life. Anxiety, as you say, at its core, is there to protect us. I think, you know, through the lens of that wild predator 2.5 million years ago, that feeling of anxiety would result in us taking some kind of action. So looking at it through that lens, the same response is happening for many of us now to our email inbox or the state of our lives or our to-do lists. First of all, is it accurate to say that it's the same response, like the body literally cannot tell the difference whether it's a lion or 42 emails you've got to reply to? Is that, first of all, accurate? And secondly, in terms of creating this feeling that causes us to take action, as I briefly touched on already,

some of the actions that we tend to take to try and change our state or not feel that anxiety, our alcohol, sugar, food, whatever it might be. So, you know, so, so what can people do about that? Okay. So let me tackle the accuracy question first. And that's a great one. So like, like 2.5 million years ago, there could be a certain stress response to a fox versus a lion. I think I would be a little bit afraid of a fox and a lot afraid of a lion. So there was that gradation in 2.5 million years ago. Today also, I mean, a little text when I'm looking forward to a friend responding back, that might not stress me out.

But 42 emails coming in first thing Monday morning, that could stress me out. Or that unexpected Zoom request from your boss that comes Sunday night, that could also really stress me out. So just like the fox versus the lion, we have different gradations of stress response. So it does work in a very similar manner. And what you outlined about the action orientation of that original stress response is beautiful because you've just outlined the rationale for the superpower of stress that I always like to start with, which is, did you realize that one of your superpowers,

because you and everybody else has this emotion of anxiety, is that it comes with a superpower of productivity? Let me explain how that works. with a superpower of productivity. Let me explain how that works. So this comes with a very common form of anxiety, which is that what-if list. What if the boss emailed me at Sunday night to ask for a Zoom meeting because she wants to fire me? She hates my work. She hates me. She hates everything about what I've been doing on this new project. That what if list is a very common form of anxiety. But the other thing to note is that that what if list is revolving around things that you care about. I don't have what if lists about how many shows on Netflix I've watched or not watched. I

have what if lists about my work, about the meetings coming up that are more difficult or more easy. These what-if lists are showing you what is valuable for you, what you care about in your life. That's the first thing to notice. The second thing is what am I going to do about it? What you're going to do about it is you're going to shift your what-if list into a to-do list. You're going to put the action on it as you just identified as that kind of fundamental response to that anxiety-provoking activity 2.5 million years ago. So what are you going to do? Well, you can't do anything late at night if that, well, let's say the email comes in from your boss first thing in the morning. What can you do?

You're worried about, you know, your productivity at work. Go ask three people about how they think you're doing. Ask advice about things. Two, go to your coaches, go to your advisors about this. Three, go to your friends. Talk through the anxiety with somebody that cares about you, cares about what you're doing. Take action on each one of those things that come up in your to-do list. And that will help relieve that anxiety because you are, and actually help prepare for that meeting that you're going to have to have anyway. It is making your anxiety and acknowledging your anxiety as something that is centered around things you care about and taking action on that. So that is the superpower of productivity that comes from your anxiety.

Yeah, I think that's a very powerful idea. It speaks to that kind of central point you make, that anxiety is protective. Because it's really there to give us a message, isn't it? Yeah. It's, you know, the message 2 million years ago is you need to run now you need to move your tribe and your things yes and instead of maybe looking at it as a problem although i understand the temptation and i understand why people would think that this is basically saying well one way you might want to look at this is go well well, what is this teaching me? What is this telling me about the state of my life or the particular thing I'm anxious about? Instead of trying to shun it away, as you say, turn that what-if list into a to-do list. So in some ways, you're really asking people to reframe their anxiety, aren't you?

Yes, yes. And that's another big topic in this book, which is the power of mindset in addressing your anxiety. In fact, I also call it a superpower of anxiety. This comes not just from me, but lots of psychologists that have looked at approaches to anxiety. Can you look at the thing that's making you anxious in a different way? Let me start with one that is in my history a lot. While I'm a speaker now, I was a very shy young child, but I was really interested in my classes. And I had this battle, like every time I wanted to ask a question, oh, you know, I want to ask it, but I'm going to look stupid. And then they're going to think I'm stupid if I ask this question. Just that battle for years and years and years. is ask yourself why you're there in that classroom. What if I give you the job of asking at least two questions in class? Not about whether you're gonna make a right answer

or a wrong answer, but that's your job in what you bring to being in this classroom. That is part of your responsibility. So it goes from, ooh, I don't know whether I should ask that question to, oh, I'm assigned to ask two questions that are of interest to me as part of my kind of contract in being in this class, which is what I tell my students in my own class. And so it really switches the narrative. It switches your, your mindset from I'm putting myself out there on

the line to be ridiculed by everybody, which was my mindset to, ah, I have to, I have to, I have a job to do in this classroom. This is part of my responsibility. And of course, you know, not being ridiculed and not being made fun of as a teacher. Of course, I don't do that. But it really is powerful, the belief system that you go in with. And that is something that can be addressed and modified in so many different situations of anxiety. Yeah. You know, reframing that anxiety, it's so powerful, isn't it? Because ultimately, if you don't reframe it, if you think, why am I feeling like this? I don't like this. I want this to go away. A, you've lost a bit of agency over what's happening. B, you think there's something

wrong with you. And I think certainly what I do with my patients, very similar ideas to what you've been writing about in your latest book, which is, no, the anxiety is trying to help you. Let's try and figure out what the message is behind it. You don't want to get rid of it necessarily. It's a signal, right? It's a signal to learn from. Yeah, exactly. It is learning. And you can say that for any uncomfortable emotion, all these uncomfortable emotions were not just invented to annoy you in your life and sadness, anger, anxiety, all of them, they're all warning systems. And my favorite way that a very smart friend of mine, Desi Levinson, has taught me to think about it and talk about it

is instead of anxiety as this big, heavy weight that's around your neck and weighing you down, what if you think of it as a little kid that's just going, hey, hey, over here, project over here needs some attention. And just completely shifting that, you know, heavy, oh, God, why me, to, ah, yes, that project is very important to me. That's just a reminder. It's still an uncomfortable emotion. I'm not getting rid of it. that's just a reminder it's still an uncomfortable emotion i'm not getting rid of it and don't believe anybody that tells you they're going to get rid of all your uncomfortable emotions because that is unhuman um but but um reframing it to something that that can direct you more more

clearly to that thing that is important to you. Yeah. And tying this back to exercise, of course, is going to help here, right? Not necessarily with reframing, although it may help you see the world differently after your workouts. But going back on that evolutionary level, the anxiety often is there to encourage you to move, to run, to hide, to get away from danger. Yet, of course, these days, a lot of the anxiety is coming down while we're sat on our bums looking at a computer screen. So what is the relationship between exercise and anxiety? So that is a great question. I mean, there is a direct relationship between exercise and anxiety, and it goes back to that 10 minutes of walking. Only 10 minutes of walking can have an immediate positive effect on anxiety levels. That is, it will decrease your anxiety levels. And the reason for that is what we talked about, what we started with, that wonderful bubble bath of neurochemicals. By moving your body for 10 minutes walking,

you are releasing serotonin, dopamine, noradrenaline. By the way, these are the things that are in common antidepressants. You get it for free just by walking inside or outside, up the steps or down the hall, it comes with that. And so good anxiety is not just healthy brain, happy life about anxiety. I go into lots of different areas, but of course I can talk a lot about the powerful direct effects of just 10 minutes of walking on modulating that mood state, which is something that everybody needs to know about, but more importantly, to do. Yeah. And in your book on anxiety, you also talk about resilience and the seven characteristics. One of those from recollection is

about having an optimistic outlook, which is something you've already said that you have. And what I love about what you're saying is that an optimistic outlook is something that you can work on and cultivate for yourself. It's not something that's necessarily given to you. You can create it and practice it. Right, right. It is. And it goes back to mindset. Do I have a negative mindset that everything is going to go bad? Or do I have a belief system that says that if I work on my regular exercise, that I will get better, I will get stronger. If I create positive relationships in my life, it will just grow and expand. So sometimes it's helpful to have a coach or a guide to get you started if you're having a hard time doing that. But I'll tell you, once you get into it, it gets even more powerful because

you see what works for yourself and you can create those mindsets for your own self and kind of create this wonderful life environment that is good for your brain and your body. Yeah, I mean, there's so many tips on anxiety in the latest book, which I think is going to be so helpful for people who are struggling, you know, in terms of reframing it, looking at it a different way, looking at it as a superpower, right? I think people are going to really, really get a lot of value from that. You mentioned meditation briefly before. I know a longer tea meditation is part of your morning routine, but you've also done some research, haven't you, that 10 minutes of meditation can have profound effects on us. So I wonder if you could talk us through what does the research currently say about meditation and why should we consider doing it?

And if you can also touch on music, I know there's a little section in your first book on the benefit of music for our brain. Sure. So meditation, there is a growing literature on the beneficial effects of meditation on the brain, what changes in your brain from meditation. My favorite meditation studies were done in collaboration with the Dalai Lama on some of his Tibetan Buddhist monks who they measured their brain activation with a measurement called EEG.

And they showed that even at rest, these monks were very, very different than non-monk controls. And that when they were at, monks were asked to meditate, I always love to quote from this study that there's a particular frequency called gamma that you can measure in EEG, the electroencephalogram. And their level of gamma, it says in the paper, went up so high, never seen in non-pathological situations, but they were just meditating. There was nothing wrong with their brain. They had practice and these monks had had,

you know, tens of thousands of hours of meditation practice. That just shows that at the extreme, meditation can change your brain. It is an example of positive brain plasticity. And while my brain is probably not like the monk's meditation, I do practice this. is that meditation also has benefits on your mood, decreasing negative mood states like anxiety and depression, increasing positive mood states like optimism. It also can improve your focus and attention like exercise. So it's very interesting that an activity that is so quiet and an activity that makes you move around all the time

has similar beneficial effects. And you might ask, well, Wendy, what's going on there? And my answer is, well, we don't know all the mechanisms. I suspect that there are different mechanisms resulting in the same behavioral output, better mood, overall better mental health status, and better prefrontal function because the prefrontal cortex function seems to be very, very amenable to both exercise, moving your body and meditation.

And my, my morning ritual is, comes after years of trying, like I want to meditate. I should, I feel like I should meditate. And then I fail. I've tried everything. Oprah, Deepak, they, I tried them all. And then I did it for a little. And then I fail. I've tried everything. Oprah, Deepak, they, I tried them all. And then I did it for a little while and then I failed. I don't know if you can relate to that, but I, I finally found this situation. It's called the tea meditation, which is meditation over the brewing and drinking of tea that,

that the UK culture will, will appreciate. But no phone, no paper, just waiting and meditation during the brewing, during the pouring, during the drinking and starting over. That ritual got me to stay in meditation for longer than ever than I ever had and has kept me coming back. I learned it on my birthday seven years ago. And ever since I learned it, I've done it with my exercise every morning before the exercise. And I'll end with music. And so music, my favorite study, neuroscience study of music, asked people to come in with their favorite musical piece, that piece that gives them goosebumps every single time they listen to it. And they were scanned in a MRI scanner while being played. That piece of music that was different for everybody that gives them

goosebumps. And the response was a huge activation in part of the reward areas of the brain, the same reward area, despite the different music and the different people. And the bottom line there is that music is something that is very, very rewarding for the brain. And so as we're searching for things that will decrease our anxiety and increase our happiness, find that piece of music that gives you goosebumps and simply listen to it. Yeah, Wendy, I love it. Your enthusiasm is infectious. I love it. Your enthusiasm is infectious. Your research has been life-changing for many of us all around the world. These two books you've written are absolutely fantastic.

Wendy, this podcast is called Feel Better, Live More. When we feel better in ourselves, we get more out of our lives. And just right here at the end of our conversation, of our lives. And just right here at the end of our conversation, for someone who's listening and who's feeling inspired by what you've had to say, but is also thinking, yeah, but life's not great. I've got all kinds of stresses in my life. I feel anxious. I can't see a way out of here. What would you say to them? I would say there is a way out and start small. Can you walk for 10 minutes? Try walking when a moment of anxiety comes in. Try doing a short breath meditation. And if you can't find one, go to YouTube. They're free and they have millions and millions of likes. You can start small, but there are tried and true scientifically based ways to decrease your anxiety and improve

your mood state. And this podcast, books like my books, will help you find those things and do it in bite-sized pieces and everybody can benefit. This is what works and there is hope and just give it a try. Professor Weni Suzuki, that's it coming on the show. Thank you so much. What a great conversation. Really hope you enjoyed that conversation. As always, do think about one thing that you can take away and start applying into your own life. Now, before you go, just wanted to let you know about Friday Five. It's my free weekly email containing five simple ideas to improve your health and happiness. In that email, I share exclusive insights that I do not share anywhere else, including health advice, how to

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