The One You Feed - Alan Castel, Ph.D. on Successful Aging

Episode Date: May 29, 2019

Alan Castel, Ph.D. is a professor in the Department of Psychology at The University of California Los Angeles. His research focuses on how cognition changes with age and how people selectively remember important events. His work has been supported by the National Institute on Aging and has been featured in The New York Times and Time Magazine. In this episode, Eric and Alan discuss his book, Better with Age: The Psychology of Successful Aging.Need help with completing your goals in 2019? The One You Feed Transformation Program can help you accomplish your goals this year.But wait – there’s more! The episode is not quite over!! We continue the conversation and you can access this exclusive content right in your podcast player feed. Head over to our Patreon page and pledge to donate just $10 a month. It’s that simple and we’ll give you good stuff as a thank you!In This Interview, Alan Castel, Ph.D. and I Discuss…His book, Better with Age: The Psychology of Successful AgingHow mindset matters in agingRole models in successful agingThat life can get better with ageSocio-Emotional Selectivity TheoryThe realization that time is finiteThe ways that life can get better the older we getWhat helps prevent cognitive declineThat older adults often have less regret than younger adultHow we’re better at focusing on what’s important as we ageWalking or getting physical exercise (getting blood flow to the brain) is key in preventing cognitive declineThe importance of balance training when it comes to healthy agingHow illuminating it is to test your balanceHow helpful it is to be around people who do the things that we’re looking to do in our livesThe challenges that come with retirement – and how to overcome themThe middle way as it applies to retirementThe two most important things in lifeAlan Castel, Ph.D. Links:memory & lifespan cognition labgoogle scholarNetsuite by Oracle – the business software that handles every aspect of your business in an easy to use cloud platform. Get Netsuite’s free guide, 7 Key Strategies to Grow Your Profits, by going to www.netsuite.com/wolfPhlur makes stunning, non-toxic perfumes, listing every ingredient and why it’s there. Visit www.phlur.com and enter promo code WOLF to get 20% off first custom sampler setThe Upper Room – a global ministry where you can join a worldwide community of Christian believers in daily prayer and devotional practice. Go to www.upperroom.org/welcome to get a free 30-day trial.If you liked this episode, you might also enjoy these other episodes:Jonathan RauchParker J. PalmerSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Although we're not consciously thinking about how old we are and how much time we have left, we realize that time is finite and that's not something younger people think about. Welcome to The One You Feed. Throughout time, great thinkers have recognized the importance of the thoughts we have. Quotes like garbage in, garbage out, or you are what you think ring true. And yet for many of us, our thoughts don't strengthen or empower us. We tend toward negativity, self-pity, jealousy, or fear. We see what we don't have instead of what we do. We think things that hold us back and dampen our spirit. But it's not just about thinking. Our actions matter.

It takes conscious, consistent, and creative effort to make a life worth living. This podcast is about how other people keep themselves moving in the right direction. How they feed their good wolf. I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together, our mission on the Really Know Really podcast is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions like why the bathroom door doesn't go all the way to the floor? What's in the museum of failure?

And does your dog truly love you? We have the answer. Go to reallynoreally.com. And register to win $500, a guest spot on our podcast, or a limited edition signed Jason bobblehead. The Really No Really podcast. Follow us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for joining us. Our guest on this episode is Alan Castell,

a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research focuses on how cognition changes with age and how people selectively remember important events. His work has been supported by the National Institute on Aging and has been featured in the New York Times and Time Magazine. Hi, Alan. Welcome to the show. It's great to be here. You have a book called Better with Age, The Psychology of Successful Aging, which we are going to jump into in a minute. But let's start like we always do with the parable. There is a grandmother who's talking

with her granddaughter and she says, in life, there are two wolves inside of us that are always at battle. One is a good wolf, which represents things like kindness and bravery and love. And the other is a bad wolf, which represents things like greed and hatred and fear. And the granddaughter stops and thinks about it for a second and looks up at her grandmother and she says, well, grandmother, which one wins? And the grandmother says, the one you feed. So I'd like to start off by asking you what that parable means to you in your life

and in the work that you do. It's a great question. And as a cognitive psychologist, I think mindset really matters. So when we think about how we age or how we live, our focus on life is very important. Do we focus on the good things? Do we focus on the bad things? And I think many people think about aging in negative ways. And there's certainly challenges as we get older. But in many ways, life can be very satisfying as we get older, especially when we reflect on our lives, what we've done, our family connections. So the book focuses on successful aging because we can do this in many different ways. And so getting back to the parable, we might need role models to show us how good life can be after 60, 70, or 80. So in this book, I focus on the science of

successful aging, but also interviewed many interesting older adults such as Jack LaLanne, Bob Newhart, Maya Angelou, and John Wooden, the UCLA basketball coach, many years ago. And they all had really important insights and mindsets about what it means to age well. Yeah, one of the things that I think is very interesting that you reference a couple studies in the book that find that people who hold a negative belief about aging earlier in life actually have poorer memory in old age. Yeah, exactly. And I think that shows that our perspective really does matter. And if we think aging is downhill, then we might not do healthy behaviors that can allow us to age well. So it's not all about our biology or our genes. It's about what we do

with our time to give us this healthy outlook on aging. We had a guest on not too long ago, Jonathan Rauch, who wrote a book called The Happiness Curve. And it talks about how, you know, we tend to be happier earlier in life. And then we have a little bit of a middle-aged sort of, you know, U-shaped curve. And then we get happier earlier in life, and then we have a little bit of a middle-aged sort of, you know, U-shaped curve, and then we get happier later in life. And what I really liked about that was it reverses this idea that, you know, it's kind of all downhill. You know, you turn 50, you're over the hill, and it's all bad from there. And I like that your book also sort of sheds light on the fact that that's not really

the case. And then in a lot of ways, our older years can really be great years. I think it really depends on how you think about happiness. Life satisfaction can get better in older age and older adults often report higher levels of day-to-day happiness compared to college age students. But it's likely a different kind of happiness in older age. Often older adults will focus more on positive things in their lives, whereas younger people may worry more and fret over important life decisions. And like you mentioned, it's surprising that it's middle age, which seems to be a low point in terms of happiness, which could be for a number of reasons. But I think it's nice to know that it can get better. Yeah, I agree. I think that's such an important thing. And

particularly given what you said, which is our negative beliefs about aging can actually cause us to age in a less useful way. I want to talk about something that you call socio-emotional selectivity theory. So talk to me about what that is and how that applies to aging. Yeah, this theory, socio-emotional selectivity theory, it's a big term, was developed by Laura Karstensen at Stanford University. And her focus is that as we age, our goals change. And so when we're younger, we're focused on getting a job, information acquisition, learning new skills. But, as we're older, we turn more to emotionally meaningful goals. That can still involve learning, but it can also involve focusing on family,

focusing on what's important. It's an interesting theory because it's not related to decline, So it's an interesting theory because it's not related to decline necessarily. It's related to how we change over time. And I think the mindset is important here because as we age, we turn to different things. As we retire, we might focus on different things. It's not that simply as we get older, we get slower or we can't remember as much. Right. You say that in this theory, it says that basically in early adulthood, we're focused on gathering information, achieving future goals,

you know, the sort of classic family and career. And that when we get older, we focus more on being present and really realizing more emotionally relevant goals. And you say, as a result, older adults tend to focus on and later remember positive emotional information, more so than younger people. And then you go on to sort of point out that if an adult, an older adult are distracted or their attention is divided, they act a lot more like younger adults and focus on the negative. Yeah. And that's the interesting finding is that

it seems like it's a perspective or a goal that we have. And when we're distracted, we kind of lose that focus. So older adults might actually have a very healthy approach to how to spend their remaining years. And it's another aspect of this theory is that, although we're not consciously thinking about how old we are and how much time we have left, we realize that time is finite, and that's not something younger people think about. We want to spend our time doing the things we enjoy, the things that are emotionally meaningful, spending time with the people who are important to us. That might mean focusing on things but also not spending time on the things that are negative or put us in a bad mood, even though we're aware of those things and they exist in the world,

we're better at using our time wisely. It's so interesting because there's such a stereotype of the grumpy old man, right? Or the grumpy old woman, you know, get off my lawn. But what some of these studies are showing is that's really not the case. I mean, obviously there's huge variation within a population. So we're talking about a group. One person could be very much that way. But as a general trend, that is certainly not what we think of. Absolutely.

You know, that's why I wrote this book is there's a lot of negative stereotypes about aging. And there's also a lot of myths about aging. And it's true. There are grumpy older people. And there are people, you know, you might, you know, have these stereotypes of slower drivers or people who eat the early bird special. But there are also myths about aging and these stereotypes are not always true. So many older adults, like we talked about, report high levels of life satisfaction,

like we talked about, report high levels of life satisfaction, feel busy, stay active, feel more confident about oneself, and have greater self-esteem and are less self-conscious than younger adults. Older adults might also be better at regulating emotions, having a more balanced perspective on life, and are also curious to learn for the sake of learning or focusing on the things that really interest them. While some habits may be more pronounced and predictable, like wanting to go to the same restaurants or, you know, do the same things, often as we age, we're interested in learning new things or traveling. So I think lifelong learning is an important part of successful aging. And we never stop learning just because we aren't in school. successful aging. And we never stop learning just because we aren't in school.

Yeah, yep. I agree. I think it's important at any age to learn for the love of learning. But as we get older, and we aren't driven by external goals as much, this being able to really learn what really interests us is such a gift. Absolutely. And a lot of older adults, you know, as you get older, you realize it's important to stay active, but that doesn't mean you need to learn Japanese or, you know, learn how to crochet. You really need to focus on what is important to you. And I think the advice I was given by many older adults is stay busy, but you're not staying busy just for the sake of staying busy. You're staying active. You're trying new things. You're having some variety. Yeah. And I think we're going to

get to in a minute what helps prevent cognitive decline and what doesn't. But I wanted to touch on another bit of research that you mentioned in the book that I thought was really interesting, which is that older adults often have less regret than younger adults, which seems completely counterintuitive. You'd think you're older, you have a lot more time to build up regrets. Absolutely. And it's a little bit surprising if you talk to older adults. And I think that's, you know, I got interested in this by having several sets of grandparents around when I was younger and just seeing what their focus was on in life. And I learned lots of things from them. And they also told me many stories that my parents didn't tell me about our

family. They had access to a lot of things that were important. Those connections with family can be very important as we get older. What do you think it is that is driving less regret in older people? I think when we look back on our life, we realized, you know, the regrets that older adults will have are kind of interesting. They'll say, you know, I wish I didn't work so much or spend so much time obsessing over decisions or details that didn't end up mattering as much as you might think. And it's easy to say that in retrospect, but we spend a lot of our life worrying about things and wondering and trying to plan.

And older adults will often, and I think the reason there's not as much regret is they see the big picture a little bit better. Sure, they might've wished they bought this car instead of that car that was a lemon, but in the grand scheme of things, it works out. So as long as you have good health and you're surrounded by people that, you know, who love you, I think those are

the things that older adults will say are kind of the important things and the rest are details. And so when you think about regret, certainly there can be things people might say, well, I wish I might have done this differently or could give advice. But in the big picture, which older adults will often take when you ask that sort of question, they won't report as much regret as you might think. Thank you. I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together on the Really No Really podcast, our mission is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions like why they refuse to make the bathroom door go all's baffling questions like... Why they refuse

to make the bathroom door go all the way to the floor. We got the answer. Will space junk block your cell signal? The astronaut who almost drowned during a spacewalk gives us the answer. We talk with the scientist who figured out if your dog truly loves you and the one bringing back the woolly mammoth. Plus,

does Tom Cruise really do his own stunts? His stuntman reveals the answer and you never know who's going to drop by mr brian cranson is with us how are you hello my friend wayne knight about jurassic park wayne knight welcome to really no really sir bless you all hello newman and you never know when howie mandel might just stop by to talk about judging really that's the opening really no really yeah no really go to really no really.com and That's the opening? Really, no really. Yeah, really. No really. Go to reallynoreally.com and register to win $500, a guest spot on our podcast,

or a limited edition signed Jason Bobblehead. It's called Really, No Really, and you can find it on the iHeartRadio app, on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What do we know about

cognitive decline? Well, it's the first concern people have when you talk about aging or when you notice gray hairs or is forgetfulness, really. And people are very concerned. And the truth is, that's just kind of a natural product of getting older is that especially for names, people have trouble remembering names. And there's a variety of theories. But one is that it's kind of an information overload. And as you age, you just have more information in the brain. So it's harder to access things.

It takes a little bit longer. And also things aren't as distinct. So if you meet someone named David, you've met hundreds of Davids compared to someone who's 20 who's met a handful of Davids. So I think our memory becomes more selective as we get older, and we're capable of focusing on the things that are most important. And that's kind of a focus of my research, is to examine how, as we get older,

we're better at focusing on what's important. And sometimes that'll be names, but sometimes you realize, well, if I can't remember that person's name, as long as I remember I met them at the bank or I had a good conversation with them, they liked playing cards, these sorts of things, those things are more relevant. So having that focus can actually be useful and can compensate for not remembering as much. can compensate for not remembering as much. But in terms of the best ways to stay sharp, I think older adults will often say staying active, trying new things. But the research really supports walking or getting physical exercise. And sometimes people are surprised by that. But the hippocampus, the part of the brain that is really involved in memory,

tends to decline in volume by about 1% every year after the age of 50. But research has shown that if you randomly assign people to walk for 40 minutes three times a week or stretch for the same amount of time and follow up with these people six months and a year later, the walking group has better memory, performs better on a variety of memory tests. And also, when they did some brain imaging, they found that the hippocampus actually increased in volume by 2% after one year. So, literally, your brain is growing, and you're performing better on these memory tests for the group that walked compared to the group that stretched. It's still doing some exercise exercise but it's that cardiovascular component it's getting blood flow to the brain because the

brain really needs oxygen it needs to clean out things and that can improve memory and so when i tell people you know that's the best thing to do people are sometimes surprised because they think well you know it's you know that's for the body, but my mind, my brain, well, they're intimately connected. And I think people are also surprised because people are waiting for the next drug or pill or kind of quick fix. And physical exercise can be great for your entire body, for your brain, great to do with someone else. Maybe you can walk with someone.

It's really good for balance as well. Falls are often things that can hospitalize people after the age of 50. And so balance training is also incredibly important to keep your brain sharp and to keep you on your feet. You don't need to go to a yoga class to do balance training. I actually practice it every morning when I'm brushing my teeth. I stand on one leg for one minute and then switch and the other leg for one minute. I probably shouldn't multitask, but it's a routine I've started and I noticed that my balance has improved. Most people don't notice poor balance until they've suffered a bad fall. I think physical exercise and balance training are probably the two things that can really keep you, your brain sharp and keep you on your feet.

Yeah, I'm in the middle of dealing with, my mother fell, I don't know, it's been a week and a half ago or so, maybe two weeks. She's been in, you know, she was in the hospital. Now she's in a longer term rehab. So I'm familiar with the dangers of falling in people who are older. really illuminating because, you know, I thought, of course, I had good balance, but it's very hard to balance. And then the falls typically will happen when you're getting out of bed at night because you're going to the bathroom and it's dark and you trip over a carpet or a pet. And so, you know, those are really challenging things. And if you fall, like you said, you know,

you fracture something, you're in the hospital, you're now you're not walking. So your memory might start to decline. And it's this kind of pathway that can really lead to a loss of independence and declines that are really quite serious. that just seems to come up over and over and over as being so helpful. Obviously, physically, we all know that. And then, you know, I'm very aware of all the studies that talk about how useful exercise is for our emotional health, dealing with things like depression and anxiety. Wish there was a different answer, but boy, is it a good answer. Yeah, I think, you know, you don't want to think that modern medicine is going to create a pill, but walking is both good for your brain and your body. And so despite the belief that crossword puzzles or eating blueberries can help your brain stay healthy, exercise, I think has the biggest effect and it's free. So, um, I think that's why it's interesting to be a psychologist because then the question is how do you motivate people to exercise?

And it doesn't have to be strenuous exercises. Walking can be something you incorporate into your daily routines, like walking to the grocery store or walking to the library or walking to the park, even though you could drive there. So those are things that if we're more aware of how we can set up a lifestyle that allows us to, to walk, we might see brain benefits. Right. I am also very interested in how you motivate people to, to do something and how to get people to stick with things. I do behavioral coaching, work with people. So that's something I'm, you know, I'm kind of always focused on. How do we get people to

create positive habits and to stick with them? Yeah, it's always a challenge. But I think being around people who have similar habits, who can motivate us, can be a good way to ensure that we're doing things that are positive. You know, social connections, meeting friends, professional colleagues can lead to cognitive stimulation that can be very important. Many people say they feel retirement allows them more time to do what they really want to do without the stress of a packed schedule or things that they don't really do.

But it's also a time where you need to build in these habits. Otherwise, you could end up, you know, laying could end up laying on the couch or drinking more alcohol. So I think those are the motivational challenges that present themselves as we get older. I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together on the Really No Really podcast, our mission is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions like why they refuse to make the bathroom door go all the way to the floor. We got the answer.

Will space junk block your cell signal? The astronaut who almost drowned during a spacewalk gives us the answer. We talk with the scientist who figured out if your dog truly loves you and the one bringing back the woolly mammoth. Plus, does Tom Cruise really do his own stunts? His stuntman reveals the answer. And you never know who's going to drop by. Mr. Bryan Cranston is with us today.

How are you, too? Hello, my friend. Wayne Knight about Jurassic Park. Wayne Knight, welcome to Really, No Really, sir. Bless you all. Hello, Newman. And you never know when Howie Mandel might just stop by to talk about judging. Really? That's the opening? Really? No, really. Yeah, really. No, really. Go to

reallynoreally.com and register to win $500, a guest spot on our podcast or a limited edition signed Jason bobblehead. It's called Really? No, really. And you can find it on the iHeartRadio app on Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. I think retirement is another version of a phenomenon that I see in people I work with a lot, which is that if you all of a sudden have all the time in the world, it can be really hard sometimes to do anything because it just that complete lack of structure can be so difficult to deal with? Yeah, and I think many people don't realize that when they retire or move, they leave behind a large social network. And even just occasional small talk at our workplace can be an important part of being socially connected.

And there's certainly some stigma associated with saying you're lonely. So people might not talk about it, and it really makes it a silent issue. Having family, friends, even pets can help, but often people need to have regular social interactions that make them feel valued or understood. Sometimes just being a regular at a coffee shop, at a library, a volunteer group, or an exercise class can be a great way to stay connected. And connected not just to Facebook, you know, not just to the internet. Because we know face-to-face contact, getting outside, you know, getting some exercise, walking, those are things that are really important, especially as we get older. Yeah, Yeah. Social connection is, is so critical. And I, I left,

um, a full-time job to do what I'm doing now full-time. I don't know, it's been about nine months ago and, um, I've got a reasonable social life and I work with a lot of people, uh, through my, my coaching work, but I've been a little bit struck by how much I miss the sort of social aspect of going into an office every day. It just provides this sort of people kind of all around all the time, which there are times it's like, oh, I could use a little space. But I have noticed that's something I've had to actively work to overcome missing that and to find other ways to fill that. Yeah. And I think the key when I've talked to many middle-aged older adults is finding balance,

right? Like you can't retire and just be at home all the time. And so a lot of older adults will go back to working part-time or volunteering or doing something that gives them that sort of structure, but it also gives them some flexibility as well. And having more time to do what you really want and less of the things that you don't like when you're in an office or filling out paperwork and forms. I think achieving balance is probably the most important thing. I think that's why in middle age, people struggle because you have a family. Let's say you have a job. You have a lot going on and you're focused on these things. You don't have as much time for yourself. You're not doing the things that you might enjoy as much because there's never enough time.

Then, if and when you finally retire, you think, well, now I can travel and do all these things I wanted to do, but you need that structure. I think it's very important to set specific goals when you retire of this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to travel to Italy with my friend next year. And those things are important to have, especially as we enter retirement. Yeah, you talk about that in the book a fair amount, about really thinking, getting more specific about retirement. Now, a lot of us get specific about how much money we'll need to retire, but that you also recommend, like you just said, sort of planning, all right, what am I really going to do? And I think what are you

going to do and when are you going to do it and realize you're not going to be traveling all the time. And, you know, maybe you're going to help with grandchildren, but maybe you don't want to be around your grandchildren or children all the time. And maybe they don't want that either. So you need to kind of navigate these things even before you retire or make decisions. Some of them have financial implications. But again, I think balance is really important. And, you know, one study I found very interesting shows that people who spend about five hours a week with their grandchildren have better memory than people who are not spending time with their grandchildren. But it's important to also show that people who

spend more than 10 or 15 hours a week with their grandchildren show worse memory. So, there is a sweet spot, right? And, you know, you want a little bit of things in your life, but maybe too much of anything can be, you know, too much family, too much travel, things that we typically think are things that we really enjoy in large quantities. Maybe that's not the way, you they're they're meant to be yeah i'm uh i'm a big fan of the the buddhist teaching of the middle way right which speaks to this like i just think too much of anything becomes a problem or too little of certain things is a problem there's there's a right amount and i think that's part of our goal is to find out what that right amount is how much time do we want

how much money how much you know we have friends and, but it doesn't mean we want to be near them or with them all the time. And so that was one theme from a lot of the people I interviewed was finding balance, but a lot of people couldn't retire. You know, they were very well known in their field. It's kind of what kept them going. So it's hard to walk away from a job or a career where you feel very valued to then saying, well, now I'm just going to travel or play golf or spend time with the grandkids. People usually realize quite quickly that they're going to have to find a balance or a schedule that they can work well with. And sometimes that does involve taking part-time job, even if you call it a job. Some people drive for Uber or, you know,

start a podcast or tinker on a website, do the things they want to do, realizing that, you know, they're making some sort of impact, but it's not a nine to five job. Yep. And you reference the famous UCLA basketball coach, John Wooden, who said that the two most important things in life were love and balance. Yeah, he was an exceptional person, both for his career, but he also did retire at 65 and then lived till the age of 99. So he had a long period of time, sadly, his wife passed away much earlier, where he, you know, was giving back to the community, but also wanted to stay connected. He had a large social network, people stopping by his house, you know, he'd go out to

his regular restaurant for breakfast. And when I asked him kind of what are the keys to successful aging, he really said the two most important things in life were love and balance. Find who and what you love and have balance in your life, both mentally and physically. And he did suffer a fall in his late 80s where he, you know, broke his hip and his collarbone. And he lay on the floor for six or seven hours until help came. And he was lucky that he survived that fall. But I think those words, balance and love, are really some keys to lead a happy and healthy life, and hopefully a long life. And again, he lived till age 99. Yeah. Let's talk about Alzheimer's for a second. I'm in the middle

of dealing with that with one of the older adults in my life and we're, we're living caregivers half the time. So it's something I'm very interested in. And it's interesting that twice in the last week, I heard this statistic that Alzheimer's diagnoses are actually going down a little bit in our culture, which struck me as strange because, you know, when obviously once you see it in your life, it seems like it's everywhere. But so they're actually going down. Well, the number of people who have Alzheimer's disease is projected to rise, but that's simply because people are living longer. And, you know, those are the demographics as well. But as you say,

some studies suggest there's actually a decline in the proportion of people who are getting the disease now compared to a few decades ago. And this decline could be because people now have higher levels of education and do things in their lives that can help prevent or delay the disease, such as walking, eating a more balanced diet, and being socially connected. So since there is no cure for Alzheimer's disease, what we do earlier in our lives and the habits that we develop can potentially protect us from dementia and older age. And so I think that's kind of interesting because, and some of these habits can be things like, there's some research showing that reading, especially reading fiction, walking, eating a balanced diet.

Those are the things that can prevent Alzheimer's disease because there really is no cure right now. So prevention is the key. Right. And I saw an article earlier this week that I thought was very interesting, particularly as you were talking about walking and why walking is so helpful, because vascularly it helps, there are more and more scientists who start, are starting to believe, or at least a school of scientists who believe that Alzheimer's is very much a vascular disease. And so, you know, walking would line up as a good prevention tool. Absolutely. And I think anything that, you know, and a lot of the older adults I talked to just basically said the key to

staying active is just to keep moving. And whether it's walking, whether it's, you know, taking breaks, standing and not sitting all the time, just move. And that'll give you good balance.

And I, you know, the vascular component is incredibly important because the brain is kind of a big oxygen hog. It's constantly demanding your new blood and fresh blood, cleaning things out. So if you're not moving, then you're not going to sleep well. And these things are very connected. Yep, they certainly are. Well, Alan, thank you so much for taking the time to come on the show. And these things are very connected. Yep, they certainly are.

Well, Alan, thank you so much for taking the time to come on the show. We're kind of at the end of our time here, but I found this conversation to be really helpful and useful, and I hope the listeners have too. It was great talking with you. Thank you so much. Bye. If what you just heard was helpful to you, please consider making a donation to the One You Feed podcast. Head over to oneyoufeed.net slash support. The One You Feed podcast would like to sincerely thank our sponsors for supporting the show. I'm Jason Alexander. And I'm Peter Tilden. And together, our mission on the Really Know Really podcast is to get the true answers to life's baffling questions like

why the bathroom door doesn't go all the way to the floor? What's in the museum of failure? And does your dog truly love you? We have the answer. Go to reallynoreally.com and register to win $500, a guest spot on our podcast, or a limited edition signed Jason bobblehead. The Really No Really podcast.

Follow us on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.