That Neuroscience Guy - Improving Brain Health in the Second Half of Life

Episode Date: April 22, 2025

We like to focus quite a bit on things you can do to improve your brain health. In today's episode of That Neuroscience Guy, we discuss the neuroscience behind how that advice might change for older individuals. 

Hi, my name is Olav Krogolson and I'm a neuroscientist at the University of Victoria. And in my spare time, I'm not Neuroscience Guy. Welcome to the podcast. Over the past couple years, I know I've talked a lot about the concept of brain health. To be fair, brain health is something that I'm really interested in and more importantly, you know as a neuroscientist What can you know, what does what can we do or what do we know that can help with brain health? you know what research is out there and

Etc, etc But one of the things we've thought a lot about on the podcast is we've never really tailored it to the second half of life. So on today's episode, a bit of a review, but brain health, the second half of life edition. So in terms of the general rules of brain health, I'm just going to give you the simple version. What really changes? Nothing. But let's discuss that.

Okay, first of all, sleep. Most people know of my obsession with sleep and the importance of sleep. Any chance I get, I shout that out to the world. And we know that people, as they older have trouble with sleep, but did you know that the actual recommendation for sleep doesn't change from the time we're about 20 till the time we pass? It's seven to nine hours a night. But you hear all the time about old timers that have trouble with this. They sleep a lot less than this. So what do you have to do about that as you get older? You've got to try and fix it. You've got to try to figure out why you're not sleeping and what you can do

to improve your sleeping. I know my mom, God bless her, she's passed now. She broke all the rules as she got older. She liked to have a cup of coffee after dinner. No. She liked to have multiple desserts. No. She'd play on her iPad till minutes before bed. No.

And my favorite of all time is she used to put a little bowl of chocolate beside her bed. So if she reached up and wanted some, it was there. No, no, no. I'm sorry, mom, but it's true. You did a lot that impacted your sleep. And guess what? She had trouble sleeping.

So if you're in that second half of life group, you need to talk to someone if you have sleep issues. Maybe you have sleep apnea and a CPAP would help you out a lot. If it's aches and pains, maybe there's a way to get your bed more comfortable so you'll fit in it. And what's interesting about the sleep one as we get older is we know that as we get older, we have memory problems. Well guess what?

This could just be tied to sleep problems. There's a lot of theories out there that suggest and have looked and there's actually research that demonstrates that if you maintain sleep quality as you get older and length of sleep, you don't have the same memory issues of those people that sleep less. And yes, because someone always brings it up when I talk about sleep, if you think you only need to sleep five or six hours a night, you're wrong. Plain and simple, the vast majority of the population

needs to sleep between seven and hours a night, otherwise it's not gonna work for them. Okay, that's number one, sleep. Number two, diet, another pillar of brain health. So as we get older, what changes? There is a loss of desire to eat. In a lot of old timers, and I hate to pick on my mom, but I remember having a piece of toast for dinner

because she just couldn't be bothered to cook. But guess what? Your dietary requirements are the same when you get older as they are when you get younger. You should be eating well-balanced meals until the very end. So in Canada, we have the Canadian Food Guide. I know there's a US equivalent, but what does that mean in this day and age? It means half your plate should be greens, right? Limit red meat, but protein is good.

Limit carbohydrates, especially the simple ones, all right? So as we get older, even though we don't feel as hungry, we have to maintain diet and eat properly. It's crucial. Now maybe your portion size goes down a little bit because you're not moving as much, but you still want that healthy well-balanced meal. If you're making a boiled egg for dinner, that is not good. All right, the third pillar of brain health, exercise. Okay, as we get older, it does get harder. I myself cannot move the

way I used to and I'm only 54. My right ankle is a total mess and I can't run anymore, at least until they fix it. But there's alternatives, right? I've taken up swimming and cycling. If you have problems with your legs in general, there's arm cycling. One that people forget about a lot, and this was some research I helped with when I was doing my post-doc at the University of British Columbia, is that we all know that cardiovascular exercise is good for brain health. Going for a brisk walk, riding a bike, etc. But the research I was a part of at the University of British Columbia was led by Teresa Louis Ambrose, showed clearly that resistance training is

equally beneficial when we get older and maintaining brain health. Alright, so, and now when I say resistance training or lifting weights, you don't have to visualize throwing around massive amounts of weights. Low weights, lots of reps, that's the way to go. And specifically, there are gyms and trainers that are designed for the 60 plus crowd. They know the problems you have and they're trained to deal with them and come up with an adapted physical program for you. and come up with an adapted physical program for you. So the classic three, sleep, diet, exercise.

The other two I like to always add in there, mindfulness. Doesn't have to be yoga or meditation. I know when I first heard the phrase mindfulness, I had some bias there. Now it can be those things. There are yoga classes for those of us as we get older. There are meditation classes for those of us as we get older. But it can be really simple, right? Some people find mindfulness just going for a peaceful walk. It's somewhere nice, right? Something as simple as breathing. It's one I've come into that I can actually do,

where you just sit quietly for 15 minutes and focus on your breathing. And it's amazing, amazing, the difference it makes on your mental state. And therefore, your brain health. Now the last one I'll mention, social connection. Now we've talked about this in the past, but as we get older and we talk about the second half of life, it's really important because we know that some elderly people isolate themselves.

They're alone in a house by themselves and they don't interact with the world. That is so bad for your brain health. The research on this is clear. All right, people that isolate have poor mental health outcomes and shorter life expectancies than people that stay socially engaged. So what does that mean? You've got to get out and engage with people in some way or any way. You just got to force yourself to do it. Find a club, join a club of

some kind. My mother was very proud that she was a member of the Croquet Club in St. Helier's Bay, New Zealand until basically until she passed. And I didn't care so much about the Croquet. I liked the fact that she was interacting with other people because she had a tendency not to do that. So as you get older, in terms of maintaining brain health, you have to interact with other people. Social connection is crucial. So the rundown, these are the same as what I tell a younger crowd.

It's just we have to remember that they're important as we get older. Sleep. But if you're having sleep problems, see someone or find a way to improve the quality of your sleep. Diet. It doesn't change. People once they get to a certain age get a little bit picky about what they eat, but you got to still eat the healthy, well-balanced diet that you always should.

Exercise. If you're struggling to exercise, reach out. There are gyms just for you. You can find a program that will work for you, I promise. And it could be just as something as simple as going for a walk if you can. Mindfulness. Try to practice it every day. Why not? You know, once I retire, there's all these things I want to do and mindfulness will be a part of it because I'll have time every day. And remember there's lots of different variations on mindfulness. Just find one that works for you. And last but not least, as I've said, social connection. It's perhaps the most important one. As we get older, it's extremely important to maintain our social connections and not isolate. All right, that's Brain Health, the second half of Life Edition.

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