Sense of Soul - The Age-Proof Brain

Episode Date: July 14, 2023

Today on Sense of Soul Podcast we have Dr. Marc Milstein, he is brain health expert and best-selling author of The Age-Proof Brain: New Strategies to Improve Memory, Protect Immunity & Fight Off Dementia, an easy-to-follow guide to cutting-edge medical research that will enable people to keep their brains in tip-top shape for the long haul. He earned his Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry and his Bachelor of Science in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology from UCLA. He has researched topics including cancer biology and neuroscience, and his work has been published in multiple scientific journals. Dr. Milstein has been quoted breaking down and analyzing the latest research in media outlets including USA Today, New York Post, and Oprah Daily. Dr. Milstein has also been featured on television, explaining the latest scientific breakthroughs that improve our life. Dr. Milstein's new book "The Age-Proof Brain" has been nominated for "The Next Big Idea Award" for best non-fiction work and has been a #1 best seller on Amazon in several categories, including, Aging, Longevity, and Neuroscience. Learn more https://drmarcmilstein.com Follow Dr Marc Milstein on social media. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drmarcmilstein Instagram: @drmarcmilstein YouTube: https://youtube.com/@DrMarcMilstein   Learn more about Sense of Soul Podcast: https://www.senseofsoulpodcast.com Check out the NEW affiliate deals! https://www.mysenseofsoul.com/sense-of-soul-affiliates-page Check out the Ethereal Network! https://www.mysenseofsoul.com/ethereal-network      

Hello, my soul-seeking friends. It's Shanna. Thank you so much for listening to Sense of Soul podcast. Enlightening conversations with like-minded souls from around the world, sharing their journey of finding their light within, turning pain into purpose, and awakening to their true sense of soul. If you like what you hear, show me some love and rate like and subscribe and consider becoming a sense of soul patreon member where you will get ad free episodes monthly circles and much more now go grab your coffee open your mind heart and soul it's time to awaken today on sense of soul we have have Dr. Mark Milstein. He's an internationally recognized speaker, brain health expert, and author.

And he's joining us today to tell us about his best-selling book, The Age-Proof Brain, New Strategies to Improve Memory, Protect Immunity, and Fight Off Dementia. This book is an easy- follow guide to cutting edge medical research that will enable people to keep their brains in tip top shape for the long haul. I can't wait to hear all that you have to share and about your best selling book. But tell me and the listeners a little bit about yourself. You know, where do you live, by the way? Yeah, well, I am in San Diego, California today, and I am really focused on taking the latest research on brain health and just making it usable so that we can take these really amazing discoveries and improve our brain health today, improve our memory, our focus, our productivity, really just feel our best, but also protect our brain down the road so we know that there's little things we can do each day that can lower risk of things like Alzheimer's and dementia anywhere from 30 to 60 percent so it's really my big focus is how do you take

this amazing research and make it usable so that we can get the best out of our brain today and years from now Wow so Alzheimer's my great-grandma I knew her she had it my momoa I'm her, she had it. My momoa, I'm from Louisiana, she had it. So it's something that, you know, I've kind of been conscious of for many years. How did you get into this? Did you have this in your family as well? Yes, it was a couple factors. One was a grandmother of mine, which was, you know, very, very awful to see. And really also just interested

in the brain in general, and understanding that we were learning so much about how the brain works and how to make it work better. And realizing that, you know, there's a lot of information here that we need to get out to people about how to really protect our brain. Is there something with gender? There is a higher incidence in women and there's a couple factors there. One is that women tend to live longer but that's not the only issue. There's other issues as well. We believe that there's some underlying conditions that are missed in women. So we know that dementia, Alzheimer's, they're not just one thing. And so that's actually a good thing because we realize that we can leverage and treat certain avenues that can lead to dementia or significant memory loss.

And if we can take care of those different avenues, we can bring risk down. So what we see though in women is that sometimes certain conditions are ignored or they're thought that the symptoms are missed and that the accumulation of those factors. So for example, just to give you something very specific, sleep apnea is one of our big risk factors for developing Alzheimer's if it's not treated. If it is treated, then that risk goes down significantly. But in women, oftentimes sleep apnea presents with different symptoms. Sometimes it can seem like it's hormonal changes when it's actually sleep apnea. So if this condition is not treated year after year, that can be a factor in raising risk. So it's

not the only thing, but we can see these accumulation of these different factors can raise the risk in women. So it's a combination of multiple areas that can increase the risk with women. A lot of us experience issues with sleep when we are stressed. And I have found I had issues with memory years ago. I think I was in my early thirties. I was on, gosh, I think seven years of an antidepressant. And I remember calling my doctor and saying, it's just the weirdest thing. But by the end of the day, like I was a massage therapist and I would like maybe have four clients by the end of the day, like I was a massage therapist and I would like maybe have four clients.

By the end of the day, I couldn't remember who those clients were. Right. I got off the medication. That did improve. I also gained tools to quiet my mind, you know, mindfulness, meditation. And I also at the time was having sleep issues. I believe sleep is a huge part. Yeah, it's one of the most powerful parts of our brain health.

And it's the good news is it's something that we can actually improve. We can take control of just being aware that when you go to bed at night, you're actually making your memory stronger. You take everything you learn during the day. You make a connection between your brain cells. And then when you're sleeping, actually while you're dreaming, you make those connections stronger. You actually run electricity over those connections,

making them stick. So if we don't get good night's sleep, what happens is we actually don't make our memory stronger. So we really see like at a fundamental level, sleep is just critical. It's part of the memory process. So I just recently got a Fitbit. I got it for sleep,

because I really wanted to know what my quality of sleep was, which was shit. And I am so disappointed, sucks because of hot flashes. And so there's a difference between having like insomnia and apnea. Can you explain that? Yes, definitely. So a couple of things there to talk about. Also, just going back to those devices, they can be very good because they can motivate you to prioritize and optimize your sleep, which sounds like you're

doing, which is really great, like making it a priority. But the information that comes from those devices oftentimes isn't super accurate. So what I want to reassure you is that, you know, stress and worry about not getting enough sleep can lead to not getting sleep. So it can be a window to, oh, I need to look into this and, you know, have a conversation with my doctor about it. But we're actually seeing an increase of people, you know, looking at these devices and now they can't sleep at night because they're so worried about what the device is going to tell them. So actually I was reading a study this morning about something that was just a study that

just came out a day or two ago about checking your watch, checking your clock, checking your phone throughout the night makes it harder for people to fall asleep because they do that calculation in their head of, oh no, I have to wake up in three hours. I have to wake up in two hours. I have to wake up in an hour. So like really just taking a break from all these devices and all the clocks in our lives and just letting kind of letting go a little bit can be really helpful too. And then getting back to your key question, which is insomnia is just a general

term for significant issues with the inability to fall asleep or stay asleep. It's okay to wake up throughout the night. That's another really important message that if you wake up in the middle of the night, you actually sleep in a cycle and you wake up every 90 minutes, you might not be aware of it. But if you wake up tonight, remind yourself, it's okay.

It's okay that you just woke up. It's part of the sleeping process. We just wanna not check our phones, not worry about all the things that we have to do tomorrow or we didn't get to the day before and just relax and realize that waking up is part of the process. It's OK. And then when we talk about apnea, apnea is a specific series of sleep issues, sleep diseases,

dysfunctions that involve breathing. And so that can be that somebody is having trouble getting enough oxygen throughout the night. They're either having some issues with snoring. Snoring doesn't definitely mean somebody has sleep apnea, but it's a warning sign. And then also that there could be issues with something that's happening in the brain that's causing these breathing issues. It could be something happening in the neck muscles that aren't like doing their job to keep the airflow open. So it's a specific disease that can cause insomnia. It can cause trouble with sleeping, it's a specific disease that can cause insomnia, it can cause

trouble with sleeping. But there's many things that can cause insomnia, including, you know, what you talked about stress, anxiety, worry, all those things can cause can cause issues with sleep or insomnia. Wow. So then if someone is having issues sleeping, they should actually check it out, you know, because I think a lot of times, you know, we don't think that it could be something like that. If you don't, you know, it sucks at night when you're unconscious to a lot of the things. I mean, I have chronic holding patterns as I sleep that really affect my shoulders because I sleep with my arms above my head oh it sucks yeah yeah all these sleep really is something that in our modern world for so many reasons it makes it hard to get a good night's sleep from the lights that are in our room now all the little devices that are emitting light

um to our phones to to stress to the fact that it's always like you know one more thing I need to do one more one more email one more thing on my to-do list, and then I'm just going to try to fall asleep. And so it makes it harder to sleep nowadays, but we want to take a moment and say, wait a second, this is one of the most important things I can do. And just to put in perspective, you know, we could, we could spend hours talking about why sleep is so important, but I'll just tell you when you're sleeping at night, your brain actually squeezes out waste, toxins, basically garbage that builds up throughout the day. And it squeezes it out and washes it away. And if we don't get a good night's sleep, we leave too much waste or toxins in our brain. And as we get older, that process isn't as efficient as it

once was. And so that can really interfere with our brain's ability to just think and remember the next day and years down the road. So that's why sleep is so important as we just, it's the time to not only get rest, but it's the time to clean our brain. And the clean brain is really a protected brain. I call it the car wash. Yes. Yes. You know, and I also, in my family, we have a lot of different neurological disorders. So we have, I have a sign who's on the spectrum, lots of ADHD, some social disorders and stuff like that. I know that we have a lot of ancestral trauma in our genes as well. How far back or is there any connection to some of those genetic concerns and mutations? You know, I'm checking the boxes at the doctor's office for these different ancestral connections for say, like breast cancer, ovarian cancer.

Yeah, that's those are all important things to be aware of. One is, you know, genes aren't everything, they play a role. And so we want to be on, if somebody has genetic risk, we want to, you know, really be even more vigilant and be on top of things. And that's really important. Going back to just Alzheimer's, we actually know that 95 to 99% of all cases of Alzheimer's are not strictly genetic. Genes can play a role.

They can raise or lower risk, but they're not determinant. And that's really hopeful. We have so much hope in this area now that these things that we're talking about, optimizing your sleep and your diet and social connection and underlying conditions, all these things, they play a part in bringing risk down. And so that's really uplifting and empowering that it's in 95 to 99% of all cases, it's not just genes. Genes play a role, but they're not everything. And then when it comes to the ancestral, that's a really emerging, interesting area of research that just really trying to understand that things that have happened in terms of trauma, psychological traumas in past generations might

alter aspects of our DNA. And that might be passed down through the generations. And we need to learn more about it. But also at the same time, we want to realize that what we do in this in our specific life, really does matter. And that we can we can inherit cards and we can inherit different genetics. But, you know, in many cases, there's things we can do to really improve. And sometimes it's just like you said, it wasn't it wasn't easy for you, you know, when you said you took some real steps and you saw that difference in your sleep. And it's the same thing, like these things don't happen overnight in many cases, but we do see that

the brain loves to heal and it likes to repair itself and it takes time and it takes effort. But the brain is like, I like to say it's like Waze, the app, you know, if there's something that's not working, it tries to find a way around it with new connections. And so that's also very hopeful too. I had no idea that it was that high in percentage that it is non-genetic. So what kind of things are causing us to have dementia or Alzheimer's? And actually, if you could even, something that I've thought about many times, what's the difference between dementia and Alzheimer's? Yeah, that's a great question. So we want to be really clear that genes, they play a role, but they're not determinant in 95 to 99% of all cases. There's rare cases of Alzheimer's between

one and 5% where somebody inherits a gene and tragically they're going to develop Alzheimer's if they live long enough, but that's rare. In the 95 to 99% of cases, people have genetics that can raise or lower risk for developing Alzheimer's, but it's factors that are related to, it's about 10 things and that's actually what my book is about, The Age-Proof Brain, is what are those factors? So a couple of them are sleep, how we're sleeping. Our heart, our heart health plays a key role. What's happening in our gut plays a big part. The foods that we're eating.

Social interaction plays a big role. Learning new things. Diabetes. Untreated diabetes is one of our biggest risk factors for developing Alzheimer's. But if you treat the diabetes, that risk comes all the way back down. And so it's this theme that we keep seeing over and over again is that things that you wouldn't think are connected are connected. But if you treat them, you bring the risk down. So just one other example is gingivitis raises the risk of Alzheimer's if it's not treated.

But if you treat it, the risk comes back down. And so it's about how do we identify all these little things that we can treat and that we can bring risk down and sort of push the odds in our favor and leverage. And that's where we've had this huge understanding, this revolution in our understanding of, wow, there's things we can do here because all these little strings attach. And if we can take care of all these little areas, we can help our brain. And then you asked a great question about what's the difference between Alzheimer's and dementia. And it's very confusing because for years, these terms were used interchangeably. But now we want to separate them out. And we say that dementia is just a really general term for having trouble remembering to the point where

it's interfering with one's ability to get through the day. Like they can't remember, they can't make a decision, there's changes to their personality, and it's interfering with their daily life. Many, many things can cause that. A head injury, a side effect to a medication, but the most common specific disease that causes dementia is Alzheimer's. So it's a very specific disease. We can say, OK, this is a specific disease. We look in the brain and we see that there's these plaques and these tangles, kind of that waste that we talked about. It's not the only type of waste.

It's not the only thing happening in Alzheimer's. But it's something we can point to that say, this is like a hallmark. This is something we see that happens in this disease. So it's the most common disease that causes dementia but it's not the only cause so one thing we want to always you know get this information out is that if someone's showing any signs of memory loss even little changes we don't want to say oh that's part of the aging process we now want to say wait a second let's figure out what's going on and and not assume it's something we can't treat because in many cases it we can it. If it's a hormone imbalance, a vitamin

deficiency, a side effect to a medication, it could be a heart issue. Heart issues can cause issues with memory. And we want to figure out what's going on because huge jumps forward in our understanding of slowing down progression of memory loss. If we can identify the root cause and not assuming it's something that we can't treat. Right. You know, that reminds me of like how some people can show signs of like schizophrenia from like a kidney infection or something like that. Yeah. Things are very connected. That's a great point. Yeah. Gosh, I need to get my mom to the doctor. And I feel like I do too. How early can you detect the onset of Alzheimer's? That's a great question. So in terms of, this is a really good question because

things are happening in the brain and in our body 10, 20, 30, 40 years before we'd ever see the symptoms of dementia or Alzheimer's. And that can sound really scary, but the positive side to that is that in almost all cases Alzheimer's, dementia don't happen overnight. And that's why we just want to keep talking about what are the things we can do now to lower the risk, to not see those, that memory loss, that significant memory loss. There's major breakthroughs on the horizon in terms of blood tests that will be able to detect Alzheimer's decades before you'd see a symptom. There's some amazing technology with looking in people's eyes and seeing the detection

of these plaques years before you'd see symptoms. And that's really going to be very helpful as we move forward because we want to think about, you mentioned cancer, we want to think about Alzheimer's, like we think about cancer, where we say, let's catch it as early as possible. And if somebody has a genetic risk, if they're knowing some signs, if they're seeing some signs, it's exactly what you just said, let's get let's get to a doctor, let's get to a neurologist, let's start talking about it. Let's not assume it's Alzheimer's, it can be other things. But the sooner that we get on top of it, we want to do the things we're talking about it. Let's not assume it's Alzheimer's. It can be other things. But the sooner that we get on top of it, we want to do the things we're talking about throughout our life. But we want to really think about, okay, what's causing this memory loss? How do we

get on top of it? What can we do? And also, there's some medications that have been approved or what we call conditional approval in the last year, last few weeks that are hopeful to. They're not in any way cures. We want to be very careful in saying that, but they're a step forward. And that if we can, it's a step in the right direction. And that if people have Alzheimer's disease and they've been diagnosed with it, it's now an option that they could get into some really important trials to see if these medications, as we're seeing some helpful data that they can slow things down. But really the focus is how do we be on top of our brain health each day so that we can do everything we can to lower risk.

Hey listeners, did you know that Sense of Soul has a network of Lightworkers affiliates program? Now you get to work with one of our inspiring guests and I'd like to introduce you to one of our affiliates medicine woman Carrie hummingbird Carrie has put together an exclusive package for sense of soul listeners you can take carries mini course sacred living with the four directions and also get a 30-minute shamanic healing full cleanse of heavy energy and fill up your tank with high vibrational light an amazing opportunity and also get a 30-minute shamanic healing full cleanse of heavy energy and fill up your tank with high vibrational light.

An amazing opportunity at a great price. You definitely want to take advantage of her amazing offer. You can go to www.senseofsoulpodcast.com and look under the Network of Lightworkers, or you can find this link directly to Carrie's amazing offer in the show notes now back to our amazing guest you know I remember when I actually was wrong at the same time that I was having memory issues my mom I had Alzheimer's she had been diagnosed and like she had just

lost her mother to it it was very long you know and and as with my mom she was physically fit but she knew what to look for because she had just went through it with her mother and I mean this long time ago they didn't even have they weren't even talking about it so much but I made her this memory book and she had seven children. So I put together like these packages and I sent it out to every family and I said, send me a memory and pictures. And I made each one of them a page. But there's lots of things that you see people doing like crossword puzzles and word searches. I know for myself, the more I learn as an adult, which I love to learn and I love to read, it seems like the sharper I am even on shit night sleep. Yeah. I mean, that's on the list of things that we can do and take control of that are important

for our brain health, for lowering the risk of memory loss, learning new things. You literally said the right words. It's new. That's what's really important is that if you think of it like, you know, if you're going to learn a song on the piano, that's really good for your brain because you're forcing new brain cell connections. Whereas if you're just practicing a song that you've played a hundred times, you're just making the connections you already have there stronger. And there's something about newness and new connections. So you don't have to learn piano if that's not your thing, but a new sport, painting, a new subject, a podcast, anything. It's that it's new that's so important. If you think of your brain like your body and if you went to the gym, you wouldn't just work out your arms all the time. After a while, that wouldn't look right. So the same thing with your brain, and people say like, should I just do crossword puzzles?

We really wanna say like cross-train your brain and think about your week and think of one day of the week, learn something new, like something outside of your field of expertise. Like it could be art history, it could be physics. It doesn't matter. It could be anything. It doesn't matter what it is, but just challenge your brain with something new. Then the second day of the week, do something that's related to movement like dance, ballet, yoga, tennis, pickleball. The brain balance is a use it or lose it skill. And it's, we want to learn movements, new movements. It really keeps our brain youthful. And then the third thing is, you know, a day or two of the week, just be social, like meet

a friend for coffee, go for a walk with a friend, call a friend on the phone. Like we now know that just being social and being connected is critically important for brain health, lowers the risk of memory loss. But when you're social, you're learning. And so like, just think of your week, like I'm going to learn something new. I'm going to learn something new that involves movement and I'm going to be social. And then like you've cross-trained your brain. So the oxytocin is so very important.

Yeah. The connection. So, you know, with pets, with people, we need to feel connected. COVID sucked, right? COVID was really a bad thing. I mean, I have kids from 26 to 11 and every single one of them were affected however my 11 year old and her friends those grade school kids were so affected by that and still i think are going through some of that yeah it's tough and and being aware that feeling isolated feeling

lonely feeling disconnected is a risk factor for mental health of course but it's tough and and being aware that feeling isolated feeling lonely feeling disconnected is a risk factor for mental health of course but it's also a risk factor for long-term memory so we want to just do things that make us feel connected and could be a text could be a phone call could be a zoom could be a you know meeting a friend for coffee for lunch whatever it is we just want to be aware it's not like you don't have to have you know hundreds and hundreds of friends but meaningful relationships meaningful meaningful connections, people that make you feel good. We want to just say, like, be aware that those things are really important for our brain health. And we can push it to the side, say, I'll do that next week, or, you know, kind of

keep pushing it to the bottom of your to-do list. But it's a priority for brain health. So when it comes to consciousness, we know a little bit more, but yet still kind of a mystery as to where that consciousness is and where it comes from. However, how important is it for us to connect with that higher consciousness for our brain? Yeah, that's a good one. It's so mysterious so interesting but i'll tell you some things that we have some concrete data on which is mindset and one aspect of this is that if you ask people how old do you feel not how old are you but how old do you feel at your essence and if people say that they feel younger than their actual age,

and they have a positive attitude towards the aging process, they have a 49% lower chance of developing dementia. And if you think about that, you'd say like, and it's not everything, we want to be very clear. This is a piece of a very complex puzzle. But there's something to perspective, attitude, how you feel. And if you feel more youthful, you're probably doing the things that we are talking about. You're probably, you know, being more social, you're probably learning new things. You're probably playing some sports or dancing or doing all the things that are

important for your brain health. So in terms of consciousness and how, you know, fascinating but mysterious it is where we do see some really important aspects of this that are really hard science and there's aspects of it that are more in the realm of the mind-body connection, which we're learning has an impact on our immune system. There's some very, very strong science here. So it's very hopeful and positive for people

who are interested in those things to say, oh, wait a second, these things are not only important to me, but they're important for my brain health too. Wow. I love that. You know, I had done some study on voodoo and curses and there was one case I found was amazing. It had nothing actually to do with voodoo, but it was the fact that this doctor had told somebody that they had cancer and they would die shortly after Christmas. So, I mean, he got through Christmas and he died. And then afterwards, they find out he actually didn't have a terminal illness. Well, I mean, just the power in our lives.

And also, I would say for myself, becoming the witness of my thoughts has been probably the most powerful thing for myself. And my brain seems to talk shit to me all the time. I have to put it in place. Yeah, it's interesting. And it's the awareness, because we can be so distracted, you know, between multitasking and checking our phones and everything we have to do, every responsibility and all the screens and just daily life that we can forget what our brain is telling us.

And sometimes it's telling us things that we need to listen to. Sometimes it's telling us things that we need to tell it to calm down and relax and that it needs a nice walk. It needs a nice walk in nature. It needs to listen to some good music or to listen. It just needs to relax because sometimes it's interesting that we can lose sight of our internal voice, which is our brain talking to us. And it's important to listen to that. I know. Yeah. I mean, I never had space to do that before I learned those tools when I got that medication that was part of that. But, you know, another thing I wanted to ask you about is I did have anxiety most of my life.

You know, as a child, I didn't know what it was called. You know, awareness is such a huge part and also the narrative that we're telling ourselves. So is there a way to say, which I understand there's some genetics that would be like against me but I do have the attitude you know I feel very youthful I feel like I don't want to accept that for myself like if I just accept it then I'm going to get it you know that I will get Alzheimer's you know just as you know my mom probably has or that my grandma had her gum right you know, just as, you know, my mom probably has, or that my grandma had her gum. You know, I mean, I think I'm ready to say it stops with me. That's the message is that if they're seeing it in their family, it's important to seek out the help of a neurologist and talk to your doctor too, and say that, you know, I'm concerned about this,

even though this seems like it's something that's years away. I want to know what I can do now. And so, you know, we want to understand it's a balance between genetics, they play a role, but lifestyle in many, many cases plays a very powerful role too. And so we want to double down on these things that we know are connected. And I think that's a very important message. Yeah. I know. I always think about that one experiment that Dr. Emoto does, the cells of the water and they shrink and then they play music for them and they, you know, turn into this beautiful, sacred geometry. And yeah, I mean, there's a lot out there that's emerging, interesting, and we're learning more and more about how this all works.

So it's a very exciting time. Yeah. I just kind of feel like, you know what, it doesn't have to be our destiny, you know, or it doesn't have to be part of the legacy of who you are. There's a lot of things that I've, through my ancestry, have changed. You know, I've used the Harvard bias test. Taking those tests, I bet if like three generations of my family took that test, you would see the change that has happened. Right, right. Yeah.

And so, I mean, why can't we're still trying to understand what, and that's a big area of research, is how much of us in every aspect of what we do is genetic and how much is environment and how much is things that we can change and control. And, you know, in many, many cases, we're learning that the environment and the choices that we make have a very big impact. You know, not in all cases, but in many cases. And it just brings up a, just a quick thing is I'll tell you that some people think like, oh, you know, I'm a morning person or I'm a night owl and there's nothing I can do to change it. And then they did this study recently where they found that whether or not you're a morning person

or a night owl is only 25% of it is based upon your genes. And the rest of it is things you can do. So it was, it's interesting that, you know, we tend to think that we're stuck in certain aspects, but, and, you know, again, not in all cases, but we're learning more and more about how things that we can do can impact areas of our life that we might think that we're, we've just inherited. I love that because I think that people think they are stuck. Like this is the brain I I have right literally have said to my doctor before is there anything I can do about this ADHD thing yeah do I have to have this forever you know just like with the anxiety I don't have anxiety anymore but I have tools right right that said so well I think also when I wrote my book people ask me, what was your biggest surprise?

I would say the biggest surprise is when I go around and talk to people is they say, I didn't realize I had that much control over my brain. And I think that's so great to hear. I'm surprised that that was the feedback because I thought I wasn't aware that that wasn't that that was the feeling. But that's it's really important for people to know that they have more, much more control, that they, that we're all dealt cards and we all have aspects of our lives that, you know, we've inherited, but we can, our brain can grow and change and, and, and evolve.

Oh my God, Dr. Mark, I love that because that's what I feel. I feel like we've been kept small for so long and it's time to reclaim the power that we do have. You know, we're a lot more powerful than we think. Absolutely. I thought the brain and the heart could not heal itself as like the rest of your body could regenerate. I thought once you had it, it's done. No, no, no. The brain and the heart both heal for sure. And they work together. That is one of the most powerful connections that we have is our brain is listening to our heart.

Our heart is listening to our brain. It's very much a two-way street. And just something really tangible and concrete that we know, for example, is that someone's blood pressure in their 30s is going to impact their brain health in their 70s and it's not just your 30s it's it's you know all the decades but that's where these recent studies are showing us and so just being aware of wait what's my blood pressure you know i know that's important i've heard that's important over and over again but do i know my number and thinking about getting it near like 110 over 70 and And then we realized that even little dips in oxygen

to the brain impact how our brain functions. So we have really concrete avenues where we can say like, okay, I could do this. I can get on top of my blood pressure. There's things I can do. I can take control of that. That's one of something that very, very much is between lifestyle and if necessary,

there's certain medications that can be used, combinations of both, or just lifestyle changes that we could say you know this is something i can do that can really can protect my brain i have one more question for you yeah i believe that awareness is the key to so many things the reason why i got the band is because i wanted the awareness right so that's going to be the biggest impact on me but now i know that i'm not getting quality sleep. Awareness has been everything. However, I was afraid. I'm like, I was totally down to do the DNA and find out all my genetics. However, I didn't want to know the medical side because I was afraid that like that guy died of

cancer when he didn't even have it, that I would accept that fate for me. That my brain would say, well, this is all the things that I have. I guess I'm going to die from it. But since I've talked to people like yourself who have changed my mind on that, because if I knew which system needed to be most cared for, then I could live a life that put that as a priority. Yeah, you're saying it really well. And so the idea is that it's an individualized choice of taking those tests. They tell you about genes called APOE4 and some other ones, but the idea is that that information is not determinant. It's not destiny. It tells you whether or not you have a higher or lower risk or sort of like a medium risk. They tell you the

level of risk. And some people will take that information and they'll say, okay, I'm going to, I'm going to do everything I can. I'm going to think about my diet. I'm going to make some changes. I'm going to prioritize my sleep. I'm going to be on top of these underlying conditions. I'm going to, I'm going to check every box that I can check. And I'm going to prioritize my sleep. I'm going to be on top of these underlying conditions. I'm going to check every box that I can check. And I'm going to do these things. And I'm going to bring my risk down. And other people say, that information is so stressful to me. I mean, it almost is going to just make me feel frozen.

I'm not going to be able to feel so overwhelmed. That's not good either. So if we can instead say, if the information is motivating to you, and it can make you make those changes, that can be positive. If the information, because it's not, again, it's not determinant, it's not destiny, it's risk. If that information is going to make you feel terrible, that's not good for your brain either. What we really want to say is either way, let's do these things now.

We know these things work. If it's going to be extra motivation to do it, you know, and also talking to a genetic counselor, there's people who are highly trained in how to interpret this information and how people can understand these genes because they can be very confusing because they're not yes or no answers. It's gray. It's not black or white. And so the idea is, is that either way, let's try to incorporate these little things that have a big impact. Wow. So be proactive, though, in your health early in life. Don't wait till you start having the actual disease, cancer. They are preventable, right? With some of the things that you offer in your book. Yeah. And also that, you know, when we hear about health, we were like, oh, you're taking away

everything I love. Like, don't, let's not think of it that way. Let's think of it, we're adding in things like walking is really good for your brain, being social, learning new things, playing musical instruments, playing sports, like it's all enriching. So it's, you know, it's all, let's think about how do we prioritize the things that you, whatever, whoever you are and what you love to do. There's some things in there very likely that are good for your brain. So let's make those things a priority in your week. Where can everybody find your book? Because I think everyone needs this. Oh, that's so nice. It's called The Age Proof Brain.

And it's, as they say, available everywhere books are sold. So either, you know, Amazon bookstores. Awesome. Do you have a website or social media you want to throw out? Oh, sure. My website is drmarcmilstein.com. So M-I-L-S-T-E-I-N. So drmarkmilstein.com. And then that same at Dr. Mark Milstein is Instagram or any social media where I'm starting to put more things out. Just trying to keep people updated on little things like, you know, what's a good new study? Because not all the studies are good, but what's a good new study that gives us an actionable thing that we can do? Awesome. And is there any last advice that you would give anybody?

Like something maybe really important but tangible. Yes. Walk for 30 minutes a day. It doesn't have to all be done at the same time, but walking 30 minutes a day has been shown to lower the risk of dementia or significant memory loss by 60%. So park a little farther from the grocery store, walk around your house or apartment. It makes you feel good. It's good for your mental health. It's so easy in our modern world to realize that we might not be walking as much. So it's an example of several things, but something super simple that can really be beneficial for your brain health.

And your dog will be much happier. Yes. All right. Well, thank you so much. I apologize for my voice. No, you sound great. So I appreciate you having me here and the great discussion and really appreciate it. Me too.

I feel like you're such a blessing. I really needed to hear everything you said. Oh, thank you. Thanks. I hope you feel better. Thank you. Thanks so much for having me on. Thanks for listening to Sense of Soul podcast. And thanks to our special guests for joining me. If you want more of Sense of Soul, check out my website at www.mysenseofsoul.com where you can work with me one-on-one or help support sense of soul podcast by donating to my coffee fund. Thanks for listening.