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Engage Your Brain · Talking FACS

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  Welcome to Talking FACS, what you need to know about family,
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  food, finance, and fitness.
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  This nationally recognized, award-winning podcast is hosted by the University
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  of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
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  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families,
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  and communities to improve quality of life.
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  Hello, and welcome to Talking FACS, what you need to know about family,
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  food, finance, and fitness.
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  I am your host, Mindy McCulley, Extension Specialist for Instructional Support
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  with Family and Consumer Sciences Extension at the University of Kentucky.
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  We are housed in the Martin Gatton College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment.
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  Our topic today is Engage Your Brain. As we age, our brain ages too.
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  And if we can keep our brains just a little bit younger, then we will feel more
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  vital and more engaged with our communities.
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  Our guests today are Dr. Elizabeth Rhodus, Assistant Professor with the Sanders
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  Brown Center on Aging, and Dr.
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  Amy Kostelic, our Extension Specialist for Adult Development and Aging.
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  Welcome, Elizabeth and Amy. Hi, thank you.
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  I am so excited that you are here to talk with me today because I feel my brain
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  aging every day. And I think that this is going to be such a fun conversation.
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  Let's just kick this conversation off with how does a healthy brain work?
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  That's a great question. You know, in thinking about a healthy brain,
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  the majority of our brain is water.
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  So water is actually critical and hydration is critical to make sure that our
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  brain is working as well as it can.
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  So a healthy brain is well hydrated.
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  It also has lots of sleep. While we sleep, our brain actually cleanses itself of toxins and things.
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  So a strong, healthy brain is going to be well-rested. It's going to be hydrated and active.
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  The more that we engage in activities that are meaningful, that we enjoy,
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  the better our brains are going to work.
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  That's kind of an oxymoron too, isn't it? Because it seems like the older I
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  get, the harder it is to sleep.
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  It is true. Our circadian rhythms and things change as we get older.
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  When we see brains that are experiencing different diseases like Alzheimer's,
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  what are we seeing those brains going through?
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  It's a huge question and we can get into the nitty gritty, but I'm going to
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  give you a brief overview.
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  With Alzheimer's disease in particular, or there's other types of dementia,
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  there's pathology that sets up in your brain.
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  We have different proteins and different buildup of plaques and tangles and
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  things like that, that actually cause damage and harm to the neurons in the cells in your brain.
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  Those neurons and cells lack oxygen and they actually will continue to die off.
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  And so the pathology will take over.
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  As we have increased pathology in our brain, we have decreased communication
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  and decreased cells that are available to work for our active days and keeping us engaged.
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  As we have Alzheimer's disease or other dementias, the brain will,
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  it depends on the rate of the speed. Some are very fast and some are very slow.
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  So when people have vascular dementia, for example, they may have a vascular
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  event in their brain, such as a mini stroke or other events that might impact
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  the vasculature or the blood network within the brain,
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  causing that area of the brain to not have enough oxygen and blood and nutrients.
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  And then that area dies off. So with vascular dementia, we actually see a stairwise
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  progression of the disease.
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  So people are stable, a vascular event will happen and their function will kind
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  of drop, and then they'll stabilize, a vascular event will happen,
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  and then again, their functional level will drop again.
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  Whereas Alzheimer's disease, we see a gradual decline as the brain is impacted by the pathology.
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  We have overall shrinkage of the brain as a mass or as a whole,
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  so we have gradual decline in function.
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  We have other types of dementia, such as frontal temporal lobe dementia,
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  and we see specific behavioral changes with that type of dementia.
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  So when we're thinking about dementia and Alzheimer's disease,
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  it's really what is happening specifically at the cellular level regarding the
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  pathology in the brain or the diseases that are impacting the brain and what
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  areas of the brain are impacted.
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  I love that we have to think about the brain as a communicator because I know
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  when I don't communicate with those around me in an effective way,
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  then the messages get lost and
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  we don't get things done in a way that is beneficial to my whole family.
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  And that's sort of how the brain works as well. If the messages get lost,
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  then everything fails to function in the way it should, right?
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  You're exactly right. You're exactly right. You know, we think about physical
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  therapy or our our physical bodies of moving and exercise and strength. And that's fantastic.
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  Our bodies need to continue to serve us. But if we think about the conductor
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  of our body and our movement, it's really the brain.
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  If we think about our emotions and what we're thinking and our thought process
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  and how we're feeling, it's the brain.
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  If we think about how we're going to decide what to eat for dinner and cook
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  and get those ingredients from the grocery, it's the brain.
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  Our brain is really the driver of everything that we do throughout our life.
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  It's critical to think about making sure that our brain stays as healthy as
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  possible, but also as we get older, planning activities that will specifically
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  enhance our brain health and keep it as functional as possible for as long as possible.
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  Because as those changes might happen, if you do have a disease or pathology
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  in your brain, you'll need additional supports for function over time,
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  which is not always a bad thing. Sometimes we like that social interaction and health.
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  But our goal is to help people stay as strong as possible for as long as possible.
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  Isn't it important to look at or think about brain health throughout the lifespan?
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  Absolutely. Throughout the lifespan is critical. My training was actually heavy in pediatrics.
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  I really love neurodevelopment, even from the moment in utero.
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  What is the mother eating and what medications is that mother taking? How is her rest?
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  All of that impacts the very initial stages of brain development.
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  We can see genetic changes from the moment people are born in the environments that they're born in.
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  I know personally, I have two children that were both born prematurely.
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  One was three months early and the other one was two months early.
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  So when we think about their brain development from the very get-go,
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  we had to create a supportive environment that was going to allow that brain
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  to really develop fully so that they can have a long lasting life from the very beginning.
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  But it's also critical to think about how we're nurturing these brains into
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  childhood and into adolescence and into adulthood.
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  What experiences are they having? How can we develop this idea of cognitive
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  reserve across the lifespan?
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  I'm not sure if you guys are familiar with cognitive reserve,
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  but it has to do with the density of neural networks in your brain.
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  And they say that the more enriched and engaged your life experiences are,
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  so the more trips you take or the more challenging your job might be,
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  the more full environment that you have through a sensory input and things like that,
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  the more exercise you have really creates a dense network in your brain that
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  will offer you resiliency as you age if pathology sets in.
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  So the more dense your brain connections are, the higher cognitive reserve you
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  have, the more pathology with dementia you can withstand.
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  So we build this cognitive reserve across our lifespan through enriched engagement
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  and environmental supports, and that will actually be neuroprotective towards the end of your life.
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  So this lifespan approach And we know that the brain doesn't fully develop until
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  way past adolescence and even into late 20s.
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  Absolutely. And I was going to say, so if it's not fully developed until way
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  past this point of childhood,
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  then does it start declining really, you know, after it finishes developing?
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  That's a good question. They say that our frontal lobe isn't fully developed until we're 25.
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  25. Our frontal lobe is what's in charge of executive processing and making
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  really strong decisions, Decisions, planning, sequencing, the ability to determine
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  if things are really safe or not.
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  So if you think about all of the kids at college now, I say kids,
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  they're not kids, all of the young adults at college, they're still growing
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  and developing specifically in these areas before they reach full maturation.
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  Going to the second part of your question, it is also important to think about
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  this idea of neuroplasticity.
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  Our brain is plastic in that it continually changes and grows.
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  It can modify even until you're in your very last stages of your life.
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  Even if you have advanced pathology, our brain will still grow new cells and
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  new networks. It will change.
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  So even if it fully develops by the time you're 25, that doesn't mean that it
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  starts to degenerate at that point.
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  It will continue to grow and proliferate and change based on the experiences
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  that you have throughout your life. Right.
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  Okay, so I know that there are pillars of brain health. What are they?
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  There are six areas that are critical to think about how we get strong enrichment
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  and engagement in our life for a fully healthy brain as much as we can.
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  So thinking about these six areas, one is socialization.
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  When we think about how we engage with other people, what does that do to our brain?
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  When we talk to someone or engage in a social situation, our brain is forced
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  to think in different directions and different ways than what it would naturally if we were by ourselves.
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  We are also getting endorphins and feeding off of other people's emotions through
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  this idea of emotional contagion when we're around other people.
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  And this is very enriching for our brain.
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  They have shown or researchers have shown that social engagement can be neuroprotective
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  for our brain. Another idea is sensation.
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  When we think about how our brain perceives the world or the environment around
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  us, if I keep talking about this idea of a supportive environment,
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  how does that information actually get into the brain? It's through our sensory systems.
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  Researchers have now shown that hearing loss is significantly related to the
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  onset of cognitive impairment and dementia.
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  Hearing is a sensation that feeds and fuels our brain for thought.
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  So if you think about just a second ago, I mentioned socialization.
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  Well, if we can't hear people in a social setting, we're not going to get the
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  same feedback and information to our brain as if we could hear them.
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  So if you do have hearing loss as you age, it's really critical that you address that specific area.
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  In addition to this idea of sensation, we have vision and touch,
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  touch, movement, all of these different senses fuel and feed our brain.
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  There's four other areas. The next one is physical activity and engagement.
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  We know that aerobic activity, things that are increasing your heart rate,
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  are going to increase the oxygen and nutrients to our brain.
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  Our goal is 150 minutes per week of moderately active or moderately intense activity.
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  Things like walking and running, bicycling, dancing, anything that's really
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  going going to get your heart rate up, you want to shoot for about 30 minutes a day, five days a week.
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  We also want you to do some strength training. There's benefits to the brain
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  by doing resistance training and making sure that your muscles are strong as well.
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  The next area is cognitive challenge or novel cognitive stimulation.
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  We have lots of people that say, you know, I do crossword puzzles every day and I do Sudoku.
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  That's going to keep my brain strong. What that does is create a splinter skill.
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  A splinter skill is something that you become really good at,
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  and then you get really, really good at it the more you do it.
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  So for thinking about crossword puzzles, if you do that over and over,
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  you're going to get really good.
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  Your brain is going to get very strong at doing a crossword puzzle.
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  Are those same skills transferable to other areas of cognitive performance in your life?
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  Maybe, maybe not. When we want to think about cognitive stimulation,
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  we want to think about novelty.
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  So is it new? Maybe try learning a new instrument or doing something that you
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  don't typically do like writing with your non-dominant hand.
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  Just that activity alone is going to cross the midline of your brain and it's
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  going to make that brain think differently than it usually does.
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  So novel. You also want this idea of goodness of fit.
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  If it's too hard, the brain's going to shut down and kind of say,
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  I'm not going to keep fighting with it. I'm not going to do it.
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  If it's too easy, the brain's going to say, this is too easy.
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  I'm not really in tune to it either.
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  So you want to kind of find these activities that are just enough challenge
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  to push you and keep you interested, but not too easy, not too hard.
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  Kind of like the Goldilocks effect.
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  There are two others. I mentioned one earlier, sleep.
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  Sleep is critical that we're making making sure that we are cleansing our brain
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  while we sleep. The brain is able to restore.
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  Learning and new memories are set while we sleep. So it's important that our sleep hygiene is good.
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  If you have any concerns about your sleep, talk to your physician about that
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  so that you can see if there's anything that might be able to modify or increase your ability to sleep.
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  The last area of these six pillars of brain health has to do with diet.
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  When we're thinking Thinking about what is a good diet, research has shown that
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  the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet,
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  which is a low-sodium, low-blood-pressure type of diet, the Mediterranean and
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  the DASH diet, when they put it together, they call it the MIND diet,
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  it's critical for brain health.
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  Mediterranean diet has a decent amount of healthy fats like olive oil and avocados,
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  things like that. It also has low processed foods and high in the leafy greens
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  and nutrients in the vegetables.
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  The low sodium diet or the DASH diet, as you can assume, also has low processed foods.
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  And you're really decreasing your salt and your sugar intake with that as well.
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  So six areas just in summary.
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  Socialization, sensory input, physical activity, cognitive challenge, strong sleep,
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  and a healthy diet. These are all amazing. I can see how they would contribute
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  to just a really full life, not to mention strong brain health.
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  I've been to a presentation or two of Dr. Otis's, and I remember you sharing
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  kind of a challenge and said, if you can even combine, can create an activity
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  that combines the senses.
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  So maybe you go out gardening and you're doing a new container gardening or
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  learning about a new type of vegetable or flower or something,
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  and you've got the combination of some physical activity,
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  nature, where you're smelling and feeling the wind and feeling the dirt and
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  getting dirty and learning about something at the same time,
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  how that can even be more beneficial.
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  Absolutely. The more that we can get these different areas together and engage
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  throughout our day, the stronger input we're going to have in our brain.
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  There's research that shows that this idea of mindfulness is significantly improving
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  areas of mental health and well-being, and it will actually grow your brain.
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  Mindfulness is this idea of thinking about the sensations in our current moment.
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  It starts out by just thinking about the sound of your breath and thinking about that over and over.
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  But as you progress, you can start to think about how do things feel in your hand?
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  So if you are in the garden, in the dirt, what does that actually feel like
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  in the dirt and with your hands or the sunshine on your cheeks or on your shoulders?
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  What does that feel like? And literally taking a moment of your brain attention
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  to think about the input coming into your body, it will physically grow your brain.
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  We know that people who engage mindfulness, their brain volume or their weight
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  can significantly increase after six to eight weeks of mindfulness meditation
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  and mindfulness activity.
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  So as we're out engaging in these activities that are working on exercising
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  our body and bringing input to our brain,
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  also paying attention to that in the moment, it's easy for our brain to start
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  thinking about a million different things or think about what we're going to do next.
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  But the more that our our brain and our attention is focused on the activity
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  and what it feels like to our body, the better it is for our brain.
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  Amy, I know that there is a program that you talked about with the University
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  of Illinois called WITS.
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  Can you share a little bit more about what that program is? Yeah,
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  we are really excited to have an opportunity at the University of Kentucky and
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  through FCS Cooperative Extension to share WITS Workout,
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  which, like you said, it was created at the University of Illinois through two
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  of their specialists, Molly Hofer and Chelsea Byers.
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  And they created this program that follows what Dr.
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  Rodas has been talking about all podcast long, how we can strengthen the six
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  pillars of brain health, the quality of sleep, a healthy diet, regular exercise.
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  They include stress management, social connections, intellectual challenge.
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  And so they created this program that has different lessons where they bring
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  people together for the social connection piece, and they challenge the group
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  to do these intellectual.
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  Almost like games, I would say, but not in a way that they become routine, like Dr.
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  Rodas was saying, like doing a Sudoku puzzle. These are going to look at things
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  like, you know, everyday occurrences or pop culture, or it could be your state or city history.
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  And they challenge people to work together and to work individually,
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  to think through answers, build rapport with each other and within the group.
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  And so there's lots of opportunities for these programming lessons where people
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  can come together and have group opportunity to challenge your brain and engage
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  your brain and work on brain health.
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  It sounds like the little quizzes that my husband occasionally gives me,
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  like where he gives us three bars of a song and I have to guess what the song
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  is. That's not a bad idea, right?
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  Exactly. Emily, at least that's what I think. And that's what WITS workout is all about too.
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  Yeah, I'm going to give you the first three lines of a song.
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  Can you finish the chorus or can you name that tune?
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  Those are kind of fun ways to engage your brain that people might not even think
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  about out as brain exercise.
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  And yet it's helping people in a fun way and not in a frustrating way.
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  Like Dr. Rhodus was saying, you know, sometimes we think, oh,
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  we've got to do that New York Times crossword puzzle.
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  But if it becomes so frustrating, then you're not helping yourself.
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  That sounds good. I love the opportunity of these as well, because lots of people
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  ask me, you know, what activities can I get engaged in? What are the resources available?
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  How do I get out and do activities. So the opportunity to do the WITS program
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  through the extension office is a fantastic opportunity for older adults to
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  get out and socialize and meet new people who they might not come in contact with.
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  And not only that, or you're meeting new people, but you're engaging your brain
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  and you're pushing your cellular growth, your brain connections.
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  You're really helping that brain grow and stay active while you're also meeting
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  new people in your community. It's an awesome opportunity.
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  And it sounds to me that it can be intergenerational. It doesn't just have to
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  be for senior adults. It can be for any age group.
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  And so then you also are making those intergenerational connections as well.
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  Absolutely. I've participated in a couple of the programs.
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  There's 24 different lessons. And I will say there, they can be challenging,
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  but lots of laughter, lots of you're puzzled at times.
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  And there were, I remember moments where I thought, oh gosh,
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  I wish somebody younger or we're here to help us with this one.
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  Or I wish someone older were here because they would for sure know this answer.
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  So I think it's an awesome opportunity for intergenerational brain engagement
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  too. And that's what we were saying earlier.
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  You know, brain health is something we need to think about throughout or across
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  the lifespan, not just after we turn 65.
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  Sounds great. Dr. Otis and Amy, thank you so much for taking the time to share
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  with me today. I know that this is fascinating for me and I hope it is for our listeners as well.
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  I know that there's a study that is available.
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  And if you want to take a few moments to share about that before we wrap up.
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  Thank you. Absolutely. We have a study that combines these six areas for caregivers
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  of people who are caring for someone with dementia, who is living in the home
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  environment or the community.
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  So if you are caring for someone, we want to equip you with the skills and the
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  knowledge and the strategies to create these six pillars of brain health for
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  the person that you're caring for,
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  as well as applying it to your own life and activities and things like that. Yeah.
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  So our intervention, it's a clinical trial. It's funded by the NIH.
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  It's an eight-week, one-time-a-week telehealth intervention.
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  We're going to connect you with an interventionist over telehealth or Zoom.
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  You get to meet at a convenient time that works for both you and the interventionist.
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  And we offer you training for caregiver tips and techniques.
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  I had one person call it caregiver hacks.
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  But it's really how can we create an environment that's supportive for the person
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  with cognitive impairment and memory loss through these different areas of sensation
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  and behavior modification,
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  really focused on an enriched environment for improved livelihood and caregiving
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  skills as well. Thank you both for your time today.
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  And I will share links in the show notes so people can access the information or can access the study.
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  Thank you again. If you're just tuning in, you're listening to Talking FACS,
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