Well with Arielle Lorre - 329: How Women Can Increase Healthspan, Brainspan & Lifespan with Maddy Dychtwald

Episode Date: July 3, 2024

Maddy Dychtwald is an internationally acclaimed author, speaker, and thought leader on longevity & aging. Maddy co-founded Age Wave, the world’s leader in understanding and addressing the impacts of longevity and our aging population, and has been recognized by Forbes as one of the top 50 female futurists globally. In this female-focused episode, Maddy shares the top “levers” we can pull to improve our brain health and prevent neurodegenerative diseases, including some surprising contributors. She also shares the importance of purpose as we age and exactly how to find 'little P' and 'big P' purpose. We also explore aging standards, top supplements for longevity, & new findings on the toxicity of alcohol.Subscribe to Patreon for exclusive weekly content: patreon.com/ArielleLorreShop Maddy’s book, Ageless Aging: https://amzn.to/3zvKnL1This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode.Visit ro.co/BLONDE to pay $99 for your first month.Go to koraorganics.com and use code BLONDE for 20% off your first purchase. Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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So, would auto-huees-on-sor-sonder-zorger. Go to your re-sadviseur or sunnycars. The following podcast is a dear media production. Welcome to the Blonde Files

podcast. I'm your host, Ariel Lori, and I'm here to talk all things wellness. From how to achieve optimal health and well-being to the best beauty tips and everything in between, no topic is off limits. I know there's so much information out there, so I'm bringing on expert guests and sharing my own experiences to help you sift through all the wellness stuff without the BS. Enjoy the show. Hi, everybody. Welcome to the show. I have a great episode for you today. I am talking to my guest. I am talking to my guest about topics that affect us all. We are talking about aging and also how to not only increase our lifespan, but our health span and our brain span because what good is increasing your lifespan if you don't have your health? So I'm talking to Maddie Dykewald.

She is an internationally acclaimed author, speaker, and thought leader on longevity and aging. She co-founded Age Wave, the world's leader in understanding and addressing the impacts of longevity and our aging population, and she's been recognized by Forbes as one of the top 50 female futurists globally. So in this female-focused episode, Maddie shares the top lovers that we can pull to improve our brain and our health and prevent neurodegenerative diseases, including some surprising contributors that you may not have heard discussed before. She also shares the importance of purpose as we age and exactly how to find little P and big P. purpose. We also, of course, explore aging standards, top supplements for longevity, and new findings

on the toxicity of alcohol. You guys know that I love to explore the topic of aging, but as somebody who is 38 years old, I'm still relatively young. So speaking to somebody who is so vibrant in her 70s, I really learned some new insights and gained a new perspective when it comes to aging. So please enjoy Maddie Dykewald. Welcome, Maddie. Thank you, Ariel. It's great to be here with you. Great to be here too. We have a connection we were just talking about, which is that I know your daughter. I know. I think that's so cool. Yeah, she's great. Thank you. Yes. So I was so happy when she was like, you're having my mom on your show. And I went, what? Because you guys have different last names. That's right. Well, she actually has my, she uses my maiden name, which is Kent. Because she likes it so much better than

my last name, which is Dykewalt. Well, welcome. I'm really looking forward to talking to you. I love the topic of aging. And you have a book, Ageless, aging. Yes. So first, I would love to know how you got into this space. And then I'd love to know, like, what is ageless aging to you?

Sure. Two really smart ways to start this conversation. So I've been on this beat for close to 40 years. My husband, Ken and I co-founded Age Wave. We literally started it at our kitchen table, and we decided that what we wanted to do is we wanted to really impact the way people thought about aging. Because at the time, particularly in corporate America, people thought about aging as being really bad, something that you wanted to avoid. And they also thought that 50 was pretty much over the hill. So we wanted to change that dynamic. Now remember, at the time I was in my 30s, and that was close to 40 years ago. So, yeah, so I am now 74.

You look amazing. Thank you. Yeah. So along the way, we've been doing thought leadership research. We've worked with more than half of the Fortune 500. We do consulting. We do a lot of keynote speaking. So, yeah. we've been doing this for a long time. And one of the great things that has happened for me is along the way, I've gotten to interact with the key experts, scientists, researchers, physicians who are at the cutting edge of longevity and aging and even retirement. And what I realized is they all had these kind of insider tips that they wanted to tell me about. And so I used myself as a little bit of a guinea pig, tried a lot of these things. Some worked. Many didn't. And during COVID, I decided, you know what? There's millions and millions of women in their 40s, their 50s, their 60s and beyond who are beginning to realize that they're going to be living a lot longer than they ever expected. And they really are experiencing the aches and pains you might get as you get older. maybe a chronic disease like heart disease or even cancer. And I wanted to be able to give them information, clear up the confusion, give them some tips, some hacks that were really designed not just for anybody,

but for women specifically. Because when I looked out into the world of books on longevity, there weren't any books that were focused specifically for women. And let's face it, women and men were really, different. And I feel like a lot of the studies are done on men as well. So we're kind of left out of that. Yeah, it's kind of crazy, but it wasn't even until 2016 that the FDA told pharmaceutical companies that they needed to at least include a few women in the clinical trials, but before that. I mean, that was 2016. Not even 10 years ago. That's exactly right. That's crazy.

It is crazy. And think about it. I mean, I know that I like to experiment with different things. And I tried the longevity drug metformin, which has been out there forever. You know, it's well tested, but well tested in men. And so I asked my doctor if she would be willing to write me a prescription. She said, sure, but we really want to check in once a month because this is really not been tested on women. Well, I started taking it and literally within five days, I had the absolute worst gut symptoms that you can imagine. And it took me weeks to get over it. So, you know, that's just one example of how these pharmaceutical products and many other things are just not tested on women. That's an interesting one too because it's so regularly prescribed to women for PCOS. That's right. I took it for PCOS years ago for such a short. period of time because I think I had GI issues on it as well. But that's, it's just so kind of backwards that like this medication that's used primarily for women is tested on men. I know that now, like a lot of research is coming out about, you know, its effects on aging and longevity and all of that. But that's very recent, right? That's not something that they figured out. Well, recent in the last few years. I mean, you'll see a lot of the biohackers who are at the cutting edge. They really tout

metformin. I mean, they use it all the time. And it makes it kind of appealing. And I know a lot of women who are dealing with all kinds of issues are now doing OZempic. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Micro-dosing OZemphic. I know that's a big thing here in L.A. I'm sure that it is here in L.A. Yeah. So I want to rewind a little bit because you said that you started doing this in your 30s. And I'm curious how your perspective of aging has changed since then with everything that you've learned. and everyone that you've talked to because I feel like I had a big shift

really in the last year where, you know, of course when I turned 30, I thought, oh my God, I'm ancient. Like, you have this kind of existential thing going from your 20s to your 30s because it just sounds like, you know, a whole new bracket

that you're in. Yeah, it is. Yeah. But when I went from 30, I would say 36 to 38. I'm 38 now. I had that again where I was like,

oh my God, especially after, 35. After 35, I was like, whoa, 36, 37, sliding into 40. That was a big one. And then when I turned 38, I think I accepted it because I was resisting so much. And I was like, well, what am I going to do? And also, it's such a privilege, you know, but it's, it's hard for women. So what was your experience like? And yeah, how has your perspective changed over the years? I would say that I haven't always been comfortable with my own personal aging, very honestly. It's been a struggle like it is for so many people, but it was mostly a struggle because I recognize the fact that as

you get older, it's kind of like playing dodge ball. You're dodging chronic diseases, emotional issues, all kinds of different things. And then there's this perception of aging. It's kind of the last ism that's acceptable. I mean, it's so, embedded in our society and it's worse for women than it is for men. Let's be honest about it. Yeah. Yeah, I mean a lot worse for women. Yeah. There's even been studies that show that as men get older in the workforce, they're often considered wiser, more distinguished, more leadership role type people. Women, they're just getting older. Yeah. And it's just not fair. Yeah. So I wanted to change that. I wanted to be able to take aging sort of out of the mothballs, if you will, bring it out, let it air out.

And in so doing, I had to really be candid about my own age. And, you know, when I first started saying my age, it felt really uncomfortable. One thing to say it when you're 37 or 38, but when you're 74 and, you know, people think they're giving me this great compliment, oh my God, you look so young. But, you know, I would rather they say to me that I look more ageless. Honestly, when I think about what is ageless, that's something that kind of resonates with me. So, you know, two things I would just add about that. Number one, I think that we all need to make it our business to change the narrative of aging, to make it more positive. Because, you know, as you said before, it's a privilege. Yeah. We really want to take advantage of that privilege.

want to add purpose to our lives and add a sense of fun and be energetic. And there are things that we can do to really, as you know so well, to make our physical aging better than what would be expected as being sort of the stereotype of women getting older. I think women are also in a tough position because we're kind of damned if we do, damned if we don't. And I'm just kind of thinking of like external aging and then we'll get to the internal. But when you were talking about how men are seen as maybe more wise, more distinguished, more experienced, and women are just kind of forgotten. You know, same thing goes for looks.

I mean, think of men in their 50s, 60s, even like 70s in Hollywood, for example, who are revered for being like so hot and silver fox and this and that. And then I think of like, you know, an Andy McDowell, right, who she let her hair go gray. She, you know, obviously hasn't had any cosmetic work done. And she's gotten dragged, you know, by people for her appearance. But then if somebody gets Botox and dives their hair and is, you know, doing cosmetic upkeep or whatever, then they're dragged as well. And it's like, you can't win. Yeah, I think that that's really unfortunate. My perspective, personally, is that women, no matter what they do, they should feel comfortable.

with it. I mean, if you're really concerned about, I have a really good friend who just had a facelift. And she looks so amazing. I can't tell you. I looked at her and I said, you know, maybe I should get a facelift. But then she showed me photos of what they did to her and it scared me to death. So I wouldn't do that. But that's just me. I have no judgment one way or the other of what people do. If you want to go gray and just be on natural, you know, cheers to you. And if you want to really feel more comfortable by dyeing your hair, I mean, I definitely have highlights and cover my gray. I'm very comfortable with that. Botox, whatever it is, as long as you can get good work done, honestly. Yeah. Because some people

overdo it and some people just don't get good work done. And that's really sad. I'd rather look old than done and done badly. Yeah. Yes. That's. is true. So true, because you can always tell. And then it's just like, and then you get judged for that for having work done because it's so obvious. And you feel bad about it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I can't imagine. I am on the East Coast right now. It is very hot. I'm in the sun a lot. I'm enjoying that East Coast summer. And I have to say, I have been getting a lot of compliments on my skin. And that is because I'm using Cora Organics, silky sun drops. These are amazing. So it's 100% mineral sunscreen serum. It has broad spectrum SPF 30 and it is the ultimate skincare step

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Again, row.com slash blonde. Okay, so you talk about kind of these different areas of healthy aging, right? Which are health span, brain span, lifespan, lifespan. That's right. Is there one that's more important than the other? When I decided to write ageless aging, at the time there were some new studies that came out from Calico Labs, which is part of Google. Their longevity experimentation slash find laboratories, I guess you would say. Anyway, and they came out and said, you know how we used to really think that genetics was kind of our destiny, whatever our genetic pool was?

it doesn't matter what you're going to do. It's just what's, this is what you're going to be like. Forget it. Don't worry about it. But they came out and said up to 90% of our health and well-being, including our brain health. So let me say that again. Up to 90% is in our control. Wow.

And so when you put that into our control, I think that that gives us a lot of opportunity to both increase. our brain span and our lifespan. So let's just like untangle that a little bit. Lifespan, yeah, it's great to make it longer, but, you know, frankly, women already are winning the longevity lottery. I mean, we live six years longer than men on average. But the bad news is that we may live longer, but even when you correct for the fact that we live longer, women's health is worse than men's health, we spend the last 12 to 14 years on average in a cascade of poor health. And who wants that? So I would say health span is more important than lifespan. I would also say that brain span is having a

moment for all of us. I mean, I know that Alzheimer's runs in my family. So the idea of cognitive decline completely freaks me out. But in the last several years, for the very, first time, the scientists of the cutting edge have come out and said, you know what? There are steps you can take. There are actions you can take in your life, levers you can pull that can actually either prevent or delay Alzheimer's disease. Now, to me, that's like a miracle. That's really what motivates me to live better. I mean, to take the steps necessary. And when I was talking to all the experts when I was putting together ageless aging, it became really clear that it wasn't about just one thing, that there was a holistic recipe. So yeah, diet and exercise and sleep are really important,

but so are the idea of purpose and the idea of social connections and even our finances and these things all work together. They're not silos that are independent of one another. So just as an example, if you don't have your financial health together, and a lot of people don't think about finances as being a key to longevity, but it is, if you don't have that together, you're going to get stressed out. It can create all kinds of health issues, brain fog, chronic conditions of all sorts. It can even cause things like diabetes, and you don't want that to be going on. Then you can't even necessarily afford to take the kind of steps necessary. to get the best health care possible.

Yeah, I remember I had Sally Krawcheck on my show. She's the CEO of Elvesh. She's amazing. And she was also talking about how women outlive men. And so often women delegate the finances in the marriage or the family to the man. And then the man dies. And they don't even know, first of all, they have no financial literacy. And two, they don't even know what they have or they don't have.

And I can't imagine. being at, you know, an older age, say in your 80s, your spouse passes away, and then you're left with, you know, this maybe potential financial burden and just the stress and the detrimental effects that that could have on your health, even just at that point. Absolutely. And it's even, you know, most 90% of women spend part of their adult life as a single person. And it's generally at the end of their lives. And you're absolutely right about this idea that, you're, you know, that, you know, if you don't understand your finances, if you don't have that financial literacy and acumen, and you don't have even someone you can talk to, an advisor of some sort, it's complicated

stuff. You need to be able to work with someone who can help you figure it out. Can you talk more about the purpose aspect of that? Because I think that that's really overlooked as well. It is not only overlooked, but it's one of the more exciting parts of living along. life. I mean, the idea that maybe when you're in your 50s or your 60s or your 70s, you might even be able to reinvent yourself. But let me put it into scientific terms, because that's where it gets interesting. There have been studies that have been done that show us that having a sense of purpose can actually add seven to 10 years to your life. Wow. Now, that's crazy. One of the people I interviewed a physician who's head of the Columbia School of Public Health, Dr. Linda Fried,

she told me that one of the most common prescriptions that she writes when people come in and have feelings of exhaustion and no energy and just not being, they feel sick. They just feel sick. She said, after she does all the tests, what she ultimately ends up doing is writing them a prescription to find a sense of purpose. Now, I think that's amazing. And one of the studies we did at Age Wave, most recently, we asked people, where do you get your sense of purpose? And believe it or not, there are a lot of people said that one of the things they would be willing to do is to adopt a pet. So, yeah, I know. I love that one. Yeah, I think that so many people hear that, no matter what age they are. and they just don't know how to find that sense of purpose, you know, and I get that feedback from

women in their 20s even. Yeah, I'm sure. You know, they hear this and they think, okay, that's great. I would love to have a sense of purpose, but I don't have one. So how does somebody go about finding one? I mean, adopting a pet, obviously, that sounds like one way. Yeah. Easy, pacy. But, you know, I think that we think about purpose and we say, oh, I need to start my own business or I need to start a nonprofit. But purpose doesn't have to be that way. There's purpose with a big P, which are those kinds of things. And many people get that sense of purpose from work. But there's also purpose with a little P that's like maybe walking the dog or taking care of your grandkids or your own kids. And, you know, a lot of people feel tremendous purpose from those

things. So it's like, what gets you out out of bed in the morning and makes you want to take on the day in a positive way. And that feeling of positivity connected with purpose has tremendous impact both on your, I think, on your lifespan, brain span, and your health span. Yeah, and you mentioned also a sense of community. And I think that those two things are kind of closely intertwined, right? Like having a community and having a purpose. Yeah, you are so right. They are in one of age waves more recent studies. We asked people, what was the number one way you got a sense of purpose? And they said it was through their family and friends. So I thought that was kind of beautiful. And also, social connection. It's been getting so much attention lately. Yeah. Because we know that loneliness

is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. So, I mean, it's crazy. It has a huge impact on our health and well-being. And frankly, it's younger people who are having the worst time of it right now with this whole concept of loneliness. I used to be lonely and smoke 15 cigarettes a day. 10 years ago prior to getting sober. I was both of those things. I mean, can everybody turn it around at a certain point? You talked about finding a sense of purpose and reinventing yourself at 50. And you always hear these examples. of like, I don't know, I think Oprah, right, got her TV show in her 40s or 50s. And there's so much pressure, especially on women, to figure it out, know what you want to do, get the career or get married, have the kids. You know, there are these social construct. That's right. But, I mean, to your point, like, not only do women live longer, but our lifespan is increasing. So, I mean, there are so many opportunities to reinvent yourself. They really are. Yeah. Yeah, I think that we need more role models.

Yeah. And, you know, I try in my small way to be a role model, but we have some, you know, celebrity role models. Look at Jane Fonda. You may hate her politics, whatever. But the fact is that she is an advocate right now for climate change in such a big way. And she's in her 80s. I have the great pleasure of knowing Rita Moreno. She's in her 90s. She's in her 90s. And she, she, she, she, she, just presented at the Academy Awards. Yeah, that was amazing. And she looked absolutely gorgeous. I think we can agree on that. Yes. Now, 91 and looking gorgeous and having so much energy and

vitality, that's the kind of role models that we need. Absolutely. Okay, I want to go back a little bit to the brain health because you said that this is, you know, so important. And it's your big motivator now. And, you know, you touched on obviously, like quantity of life is. You know, great, but what's quantity if there's no quality of life? And I think everybody probably has that fear of cognitive decline later in life. And I've had people on the show who have said, like, it starts sometimes decades before you're even symptomatic. So what are some of the things that you're learning when it comes to brain health and, you know, prevention of these like neurodegenerative diseases? Yeah. As I said before, and I bears repeating, there are a lot of levers we can pull

There's been 15 that have been identified, which is fantastic. I mean, that's such great news. And just last week a new study came out that said that there were three that were more important than all the others combined. So I thought that was kind of crazy. But what they were, diabetes, and they didn't distinguish between type one and type two. And I'm not sure why, but I thought that was interesting. air pollution, which is another thing that we can do something about, maybe not everything about, but we can certainly control the air quality in our homes. And that's a good place to start.

But the third thing has been getting quite a bit of attention, and that is alcohol. Alcohol is toxic. It kills brain cells. And we used to think it was just excessive drinking, but now they're saying, no, it's all drinking. So, which is kind of a, you know, I love to drink wine. So, you know, I've really pretty much given it up. And I do feel better for it. Yes. Well, I have that going for me at least. I've had no alcohol in 10 years. Wow. Well, that's great. Do you feel different from it? Well, yes. I mean, I was a hardcore alcoholic. So, you know, it nearly killed me. Oh, boy. But yeah, I mean, I feel fortunate that I got kind of a head start on that because for years, they were talking about the benefits of wine, right? The health benefits and it has resveratrol and all of that. And then it just feels like in the last couple years now you're hearing, no, no, actually, we need to rethink that. Yeah. Yeah. And of course, there are lots of other things and I'm sure

you probably do a lot of them. Exercise is like a silver bullet. And it's not just, by the way, one of the great things about exercise is that women get a better benefit from the same exercise that if they're doing the same exercise as men, they get a better benefit, particularly for their cognitive experience reserve. Interesting. Yeah, it's really pretty cool. It's not just doing cardio, of course, especially as you get older, but doing strength training in particular has been shown to be really good for your brain. So I love doing that and love telling other people to do it. And I've actually, it's an easy way, it's kind of an easy fix to just, lift some weights. And there's so many apps that are available and things on YouTube that you can do

that make it something almost anyone can do. So I love that. There's what we eat, of course, makes a huge difference. What we take out of our diet, I think, is even more important than what we put in. You know, the ultra-processed foods are just another toxin that we're putting into our system. A sugar, we know is a toxin to keep it simple. as eating the rainbow, although I eat an anti-inflammatory diet. I do that because I really am concerned about cognitive decline and want to do everything I can to make sure I never have to deal with it. What does that diet look like for you? It's really pretty easy. You know, it is cutting out all the ultra-processed and the sugar. It's also a matter of eating, you know, mostly a plant-based diet,

but not completely. I do eat a lot of fish. But it's taking out all the dairy, taking out all the gluten, and taking out all the sugar. Those are the three key components of an anti-inflammatory diet. And, you know, it's kind of hardcore, but it also, you know, I think we should get pleasure from our food. Yeah. It doesn't really get in my way. Yeah, I think that it's totally manageable if you prepare as well. So if you are buying a lot of whatever it is, fish, vegetables, grains, you know, whatever, carbohydrates, sweet potato, and you just prep a couple days of that, then it's not that hard. And I feel like now it's so easy to not eat dairy and gluten and sugar, at least in L.A. I think in L.A. we're in kind of a bubble, but I feel like it's getting a little

bit more widespread. I've been eating out so much lately, which normally I don't do. I love cooking. And it's crazy the difference that I feel just from getting, you know, the oils, the sugar, added sugar, the gluten, the dairy. It's on my skin. I have this, like, rash around my hair, you know, and it's just like, it's crazy. And I think people don't realize how different you can feel when you do cut out some of those things. Yeah, just as an example. As I said, as you get older, you're playing dodge ball a little bit. And I, a couple of years ago, about five years ago was having horrible pain in my hips. And I'm a big exerciser. So it was definitely getting in my way. And I did a lot of things. You know, I got cortisone shots. I got PRP. I did everything I could. And I was

literally limping around. So finally I got an MRI and found out that I was bone on bone in both my hips. Wow. And I was born with hip dysplasia, which in babies today they fix immediately. But this was, 74 years ago. They didn't even know what hip dysplasia was. So anyway, I had surgery ultimately, but in the meantime, I couldn't get surgery for a few months. And so I called on some of the experts that I was lucky enough to have in my network, asked them, what should I do? Like, how can I deal with all this horrible pain? And that's when I discovered the anti-inflammatory diet. And when I changed the way I ate, literally within six weeks, all the pain I had went away. Wow. Wow. Yeah, it was pretty incredible. What about supplements? Like, do you have any secret supplements

that people don't know about? You just told me about one before we started recording because I've a cold right now that I had never heard of. And I feel like I've heard of all the things. But I feel like I feel like you kind of have your finger on the pulse and you might know some things that we don't know. Maybe. I don't know. You know, I'm not a doctor, and I want to be careful about the fact that I'm not a doctor. That's part of why I interviewed over 100 physicians, scientists, and researchers for my book. And there were a few that everyone agreed were good, and I can mention what those are. But I have a caveat about it. And that is, I think that the manufacturing process for some companies is not that great. And you may not be getting something that's bioavailable or it may have

toxins in it. I mean, so you need to really do some homework on the brands that you choose. Yeah. So I'd begin with saying that everybody agrees that taking vitamin C, taking omega-3s, those are good things to do. I think pretty much everybody agrees that taking some form of of magnesium, especially it's a calming agent, so it's great for sleep. I take calcium 3 and 8 at night and it definitely works. I also... Against things like osteoprocess or what is that for? No, it's literally, it's a calming agent and it helps you sleep at night. Oh, I don't know that one. No. Oh, wow. Okay, have another good one for sleep. Rating that down. Calcium 3 and 8. Yeah. Oh, no, magnesium 3 and 8. Oh, magnesium 3.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Magnesium 3.8. Oh, yeah, I do magnesium 3 in 8. Yeah. Mm-hmm. It's great. And then I also, if I really have trouble sleeping, I'll use a little lemon bomb. Mm-hmm.

Do you ever do that? I use these symbiotica products. Yeah. So I do the liposomal. I can't remember what the cacao one is, but it has passion flour, lemon balm. Oh, that's good. And then I also like their magnesium 3-9 as well. Yeah, that's great.

Yeah. And then I also, for sleep. obviously sleep, which is a superpower, by the way, for cognitive reserve. Yeah, I am not the best sleeper in the world. I used to wake up in the middle of the night, not only wake up, which I still do, but I'm able to fall back to sleep, but I'd wake up and my brain started moving like at 60 miles an hour. And so somebody recommended I take some GABA and I do that now, and I think it works

like a charm. Really? Yeah, I love it. I've experimented a little bit with Gaba and there was one brand that I felt like I liked and then I tried this other brand. I was in New York like a few months ago. I went to this health food store that I go to and they said, oh, this is the best Gaba. It's like from Europe and you can't even get it here. I was like, great. I need all the Gaba right now. Took it and it had the opposite effect. I mean, I felt like I was cracked out. It was awful. So to your point, you do have to be really careful about that. You really do. You know, and I know I've experimented with pretty much everything you can experiment with for sleep. And I do find that GABA and magnesium together, it's just, it works like a charm for me. I'm going to add another one in there, Elthianine. Yeah, I take that sometimes too.

Magnesium trifecta. That's my. Yeah, I agree with you. I think you're right on. Yeah. What was the most surprising thing that you learned from all of these people that you interviewed, if you can remember one? Well, there's so many. I had the great honor, really, and pleasure of interviewing Dr. Walter Longo, who is the pioneer behind intermittent fasting. And first of all, he was so charming. So, so Italian, you know. But besides that, he gave me some information about intermittent fasting, especially for women that I was surprised by. You know, we hear all these biohackers at the cutting edge going 16 and 18 hours without eating.

And he said he thought that was actually bad for your health. He thought that there should be just a window of 12 to 13 hours going without eating, which is really easy. to do. I mean, you know, stop eating dinner at eight at night, don't have breakfast till eight in the morning. He also told me, and I thought this was amazing, breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Yeah. So it's kind of like what my grandmother taught me when I was a kid. I know. It's like they were onto something. It's so interesting because we get so much conflicting information now. And, you know, there's obviously the people who don't eat until 12 or, to your point, the 16, 8, or even more than that with the fasting. But I found for myself, I usually, I love eating dinner around like

5.30 or 6. That's not happening lately. And then eating breakfast first thing in the morning, I used to wait until like 10 or 11 and I would eat like a bowl of oats, you know, lots of carbs, which is nothing wrong with that. But I started eating around that 12 hour window. So if I eat dinner at 6, get up at 6, eat around like 630, which is so hard for me to train myself. to do that and then eat higher protein and it changed everything for me. And then it became easy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now that's great. That's eating dinner early like that. It's a thing. I mean, there's a lot of people doing it. Yeah. Yeah. Lately I'm eating at like 830, 9, which is I'm so off all my routines and I feel it, you know, but I know what to come back to. Exactly. Yeah. And I don't think we need to be so

restrictive in our lives that we can't do that. I mean, if you want a glass of wine every once in a while, okay, one glass of wine is not going to kill you. But, you know, same thing with what time you eat. I think one of the key things that really does also work for me in terms of eating that Dr. Longo mentioned to me, and that is to make sure that you don't go to sleep right after you eat. Now, if you eat dinner really late at night, I know that sometimes I just get right into bed afterwards. And that's not such a good thing. He said you need three hours before you go to sleep. So I'm really trying to do that. And that's a little harder. Well, I can't wait to read your book and get all the tips and tricks. Tell everybody where they can find it and where they can find you.

It's available wherever books are sold as well as on my website. And if you get it through my website, we're offering some great little checklist gifts, one on brain health and one on financial well-being. Amazing. Thank you so much for coming on. Oh, thank you. It's been great. Thank you.

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