Neuroscientist Reveals The #1 Thing You Can do to Stop Cognitive Decline (it’s NOT diet)

Summary

In this engaging discussion, neuroscientist Dr. Tommy Wood explores the intriguing link between muscle mass, resistance training, and cognitive function. Debunking the myth that muscular individuals are less intelligent, he presents evidence suggesting that muscle mass is a strong predictor of brain volume and cognitive health. The conversation delves into how resistance training can positively impact brain structure and function, with studies indicating improved white matter and cognitive performance. The dialogue also touches on the potential short-term cognitive benefits of exercise and the importance of arousal in performance, offering valuable insights into brain health and physical activity.

Takeaways

• 💪 The stereotype that muscular individuals are less intelligent is debunked by recent research.
• 🧠 Neuroscientist Dr. Tommy Wood discusses the correlation between muscle mass and brain health, suggesting that more muscle mass can be linked to better cognitive function.
• 🏋️‍♂️ Resistance training is highlighted as a significant factor in maintaining and potentially improving cognitive function, especially in older populations.
• 🧐 The brain's white matter, responsible for fast communication between neurons, shows improved structure with resistance training.
• 💊 Creatine supplementation is mentioned as a way to support muscle mass and potentially cognitive function.
• 🧘‍♂️ The importance of functional muscles over just big muscles is emphasized for cognitive benefits.
• 🧬 The release of certain marines during muscle work, like BDNF, is crucial for long-term cognitive function and brain structure.
• 🩸 Improved blood sugar regulation due to muscle mass is linked to better long-term cognitive health.
• 🏋️‍♀️ The physical act of lifting weights, especially learning new skills, directly stimulates the brain and improves cognitive function.
• 🧠 The concept of 'neurovascular coupling' is introduced, explaining how active neurons require more blood flow, which is facilitated by a healthy vascular system.
• ⏰ Short-term cognitive benefits from exercise are noted, with the optimal duration being around 10-20 minutes of moderate to high-intensity activity.

Q & A

What was the main focus of the paper discussed in the transcript?

The paper focused on whether resistance training could protect certain regions of the brain that are at risk for cognitive decline and dementia.

What is the relationship between muscle mass and cognitive function according to the studies mentioned?

Studies suggest that having more muscle mass is associated with better cognitive function, and it can be a better predictor than fat mass and BMI.

What is the role of body composition in brain volume?

Body composition, particularly muscle mass, is one of the best predictors of brain volume, which is the amount of brain tissue inside the skull.

How does resistance training affect brain structure and function?

Resistance training has been shown to improve the structure of white matter tracks in the brain and is associated with significant improvements in cognitive function.

What are the potential benefits of creatine mentioned in the transcript?

Creatine can help preserve muscle mass and maintain strength, even when in a caloric deficit, which may support cognitive function and brain health.

What is the importance of functional muscles in relation to cognitive function?

It's not just about having big muscles; they need to be strong and functional, as this is likely what drives cognitive function.

How does the brain's white matter play a role in cognitive function?

White matter in the brain, composed of myelinated axon sheaths, is responsible for fast communication between neurons, which is crucial for cognitive function.

What is the concept of neurovascular coupling, and how does it relate to exercise?

Neurovascular coupling is the process where active neurons draw in additional blood flow for more oxygen and nutrients. Physical activity can enhance endothelial function, which is vital for this process.

Can short-term exercise or resistance training improve brain function acutely?

Yes, acute exercise, especially of moderate intensity and duration, can improve cognitive function on standardized tests.

What is the role of arousal in cognitive performance during physical activity?

Arousal needs to be at an optimal level for peak cognitive performance. Too little or too much can be detrimental, with the ' Yerkes-Dodson Law' illustrating this relationship.

How does Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) training affect cognitive function?

BFR training provides a significant stimulus without a large metabolic load, potentially improving cognitive function by increasing arousal without causing significant fatigue.

Outlines

00:00

💪 The Link Between Muscle Mass and Cognitive Function

The paragraph discusses a paper that explores the stereotype that individuals with larger muscles might not be as intelligent. It introduces the guest, Dr. Tommy Wood, a neuroscientist and weightlifter, who explains that there's actually evidence suggesting a positive correlation between muscle mass and cognitive function. He mentions that muscle mass is a better predictor of brain volume than fat mass or BMI, and that people with more muscle mass tend to have better cognitive function and slower cognitive decline over time. The conversation also humorously touches on the differences between Australians and Brits, and Dr. Wood's personal interest in the topic.

05:03

🧠 Brain Health and Resistance Training

This section delves into the specific areas of the brain that are at risk for Alzheimer's disease and how resistance training can positively impact these areas. It discusses how resistance training can improve the structure of white matter tracks in the brain and enhance cognitive function. The conversation also mentions the potential metabolic benefits of resistance training for the brain, such as the release of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and improved blood sugar regulation, which are both important for cognitive health.

10:05

🏋️‍♂️ The Effects of Straining on Brain Health

The discussion here explores the idea that the physical act of straining during weightlifting could have positive effects on brain health. It suggests that the increased pressure during straining might improve vascular function in the brain, which is crucial for cognitive function. The conversation also touches on the potential neuroprotective effects of straining in the context of traumatic brain injury and how it might help prevent brain distortion.

15:08

🏃‍♂️ Short-Term Cognitive Benefits of Exercise

This paragraph examines the short-term cognitive benefits of exercise, particularly resistance training. It highlights that while the exact dosage of exercise needed for cognitive improvement is not known, there is evidence that both aerobic and anaerobic exercises can acutely improve cognitive function. The conversation points out that exercises should not be so exhausting that they negatively impact cognitive function immediately after, and that there is a sweet spot for arousal levels that optimizes performance.

20:10

🤔 The Role of Arousal in Cognitive Performance

The final paragraph discusses the role of arousal in cognitive performance, suggesting that there is an optimal level of arousal for achieving peak cognitive function. It reflects on personal experiences with different types of workouts and their effects on cognitive readiness, particularly before tasks like public speaking or filming. The conversation considers the possibility that certain types of exercise, like Blood Flow Restriction (BFR) training, might be particularly effective for enhancing cognitive function due to their ability to increase arousal without causing significant metabolic fatigue.

Keywords

💡Neuroscientist

A neuroscientist is a scientist who specializes in the study of the nervous system, which includes the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. In the video, Dr. Tommy Wood identifies himself as a neuroscientist, indicating his expertise in understanding how the brain works and its relation to physical activities such as resistance training.

💡Resistance Training

Resistance training refers to a type of physical exercise designed to build strength, muscle mass, and endurance using resistance against which a force is applied. In the script, resistance training is discussed as a method that may have positive effects on brain structure and cognitive function.

💡Cognitive Function

Cognitive function encompasses a set of mental processes such as memory, attention, perception, and problem-solving. The video explores how resistance training might improve cognitive function, suggesting a link between physical strength training and brain health.

💡Muscle Mass

Muscle mass is the amount of muscle in the human body. The script mentions muscle mass as a significant predictor of brain volume, indicating that individuals with more muscle mass tend to have better cognitive function and brain health.

💡Brain Volume

Brain volume refers to the total size of the brain, including both the gray matter (cortex) and white matter (tracts). The video discusses how brain volume decreases with age and how resistance training might help maintain or increase it, which is associated with better cognitive function.

💡Epidemiological Studies

Epidemiological studies are used to examine patterns, causes, and effects of health and disease conditions in defined populations. The script refers to these studies to highlight the correlation between muscle mass and cognitive function but notes their limitation in establishing causation.

💡White Matter

White matter in the brain consists of myelinated axons that facilitate communication between neurons. The video script mentions that resistance training can improve the structure of white matter tracks, which is linked to enhanced cognitive function.

💡Randomized Control Trials (RCTs)

Randomized control trials are a type of scientific experiment that provide strong evidence for determining the effectiveness of an intervention. The script discusses RCTs of resistance training to examine the impact on brain structure and function, providing a more causative link than observational studies.

💡Neurovascular Coupling

Neurovascular coupling is the process by which active neurons receive increased blood flow to meet their heightened metabolic demand. The video suggests that a healthy vascular system, which can be improved by resistance training, is crucial for maintaining cognitive function by supporting neurovascular coupling.

💡Arousal

Arousal, in the context of the video, refers to the state of being awake, alert, and responsive. It is discussed in relation to cognitive performance, suggesting that moderate levels of arousal, possibly achieved through exercise, can enhance cognitive function without causing fatigue.

💡Blood Flow

Blood flow is the movement of blood through the circulatory system. The script connects increased blood flow to the brain with improved cognitive function, which can be achieved through resistance training by enhancing vascular health and neurovascular coupling.

Highlights

Dr. Tommy Wood discusses the relationship between muscle mass and intelligence.

A recent paper challenges the stereotype that muscular individuals are less intelligent.

Epidemiological studies suggest muscle mass is a better predictor of brain volume than fat mass or BMI.

Having more muscle mass is associated with better cognitive function.

Resistance training can improve brain structure and function.

Muscle function, not just size, is crucial for driving cognitive function.

Studies show resistance training can protect the brain from cognitive decline and dementia.

White matter tracks in the brain improve with resistance training in older individuals.

Creatine supplementation is suggested to help preserve muscle mass and cognitive function.

Physical activity, including resistance training, can have a positive impact on vascular function and brain health.

The potential neuroprotective effect of resistance training against traumatic brain injury is being researched.

Short-term cognitive benefits from exercise are supported by evidence.

Arousal levels influenced by exercise can affect cognitive performance.

BFR (Blood Flow Restriction) training may provide cognitive benefits without significant metabolic load.

Dr. Wood shares his personal protocol for enhancing cognitive function before talks or filming.

The discussion suggests that BFR might be an effective method for cognitive enhancement.

Dr. Wood's findings and research are shared on Instagram and his podcast.

Transcripts

all right Dr Tommy wood there's kind of

this old thought that if you resist

trrain or you have muscle that you're

you're probably not the smartest person

in the world and I know that that's true

for me and maybe a couple other people

but you guys just published a pretty

interesting paper that looked at this

basically to find like people that

resistance strain are they actually

stupid and I know that's and I know

that's not literally what the paper was

about but it's basically what it looked

at in a weird different way so I'll let

you kind of explain what you guys did

with this CU it's really interesting

stuff sure so I'll I'll give a a little

bit of background first and obviously I

study the brain I'm a neuroscientist

it's it's it's my day job um and I also

like to lift weights so you also work at

chip and

Del I

um my I went to I went to Vegas with um

my wife last year and she went to see

Thunder from from Down Under and they

worried they would try and recruit me

which is a very nice compliment on her

part I'm not sure that would be

Australian I I know exactly I don't have

the which actually then is also a um

it's it's a really big um it's very

offensive to Brits to be to be confused

for Australians so that's that's a whole

lot of thing wow we really started this

off badly um confirming my

point um so uh I would obviously like it

to be the case that if you were more

jacked you were smarter right that would

fit that would fit my personal uh

preferences um and there is actually

some data to support some of that so or

and but a lot of it is epidemiological

but if you look at things like um how

much brain you have in your skull and

that has to be uh it has to be relative

to your skull size right because

different people are different sizes

they have different Siz skulls they have

different size brains that actually

isn't related to intelligence or

cognitive function at all um but how

much of your skull is filled with brain

is so particularly as you get older you

start to lose brain volume and you just

have less brain inside that inside the

skull um when you look at predictor like

body composition predictors of brain

volume you know how much brain you have

in your skull um muscle mass is one of

the best predictors actually better than

um

uh fat mass and and BMI in some studies

at least there are also studies that

suggest that those who have more muscle

mass have better cognitive function uh

that's they've done that in

some uh uh cohorts like the UK B bank

and then there are also uh studies that

show that those who have more muscle

mass or particularly those who don't

have low muscle mass um have better

maintenance of cognitive function over

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so there's certainly this idea that um

those with more muscle mass at the

population level have better cognitive

function and they're less likely to

experience against cognitive decline um

however what and we've actually

published um similar studies looking at

cognitive function and how that relates

to body composition and you at least

what we found was the most important

thing was how functional those muscles

are so it's not just enough to have big

muscles you have to have those muscles

need to be strong as well they need to

be functional because it's probably that

function that's driving uh cognitive

function so this most recent paper we

published Louis niola was was the was

the first author um the idea was to look

at whether resistance training

particularly protected regions of the

brain there were at risk in cognitive

decline and dementia and to do that uh

using you randomized control Trials of

resistance training that then looked at

the structure and function of the brain

because we know that when we look at

epidemiological studies they're

observational you don't you can't

address causation um you can't really

know that it's the bigger muscles that

are driving the bigger brains or the or

the or the better cognitive function

but what we went through first was you

know which areas of the brain in

particularly at risk in Alzheimer's

disease which is the commonest cause of

dementia and it's the one that I think

most people are really concerned about

long term in terms of their cognitive

function and there were several areas of

the brain but um some of that includes

uh tracts of the white

matter which is the the M the melinated

axon sheaths that are they're

responsible for really fast

communication between neurons and both

the outer layer of the sort of like the

the wrinkled outer layer of the brain

the gray matter there the cortex and

then also the deeper parts of the brain

and then the rest of the body so this

the white matter is really responsible

for fast connections um and what the

studies show is in individuals and this

is older individuals um either Peron PR

menopausal and postmenopausal women or

um both men and women in their sort of

60s and 70s when they undergo a

resistance training program you start to

see um improved structure in these white

M tracks in the brain and associated

with that you also start to see some

significant improvements in cognitive

function so this is like direct um

Interventional evidence that suggests

that by lifting weights and it's uh very

standard weight training programs um you

can start to see significant

improvements in both brain structure and

and in brain function dang and that's

uh when you look at that that's somewhat

interlaced also with I mean we have some

evidence metabolically not just in

structure that I mean resistance

training and and lactate and whatnot can

be supportive of the brain too so I mean

there's some other so this was much more

was this looking at existing bodies of

research and kind of just compiling that

data and then there's some other I mean

is there other evidence to support

resistance training with the brain as

far as metabolic functions concerned I

think I've seen some stuff like that

there's there's probably multiple ways

that this

could could work and could act and some

of it um is probably related to mine um

release we know that um as you as you

work the muscles you're going to release

a whole bunch of Marines including

things like brain derived neurotrophic

factor that seems to be um important for

maintaining uh long-term cognitive

function and brain structure we know

that as you work the muscles but also as

you um start to gain muscle tissue you

have this bigger uh buffer for blood

sugar regulation and um you improve

blood sugar regulation and we know that

you because muscle muscle is your most

important glucose znc

and we know that blood sugar regulation

is is critical for long-term cognitive

function and the worse your blood sugar

regulation the higher your HBO andc the

faster your your rate of cognitive

decline on average um and then another

thing could just be the physical and

this is probably related to to some of

the things that you've seen is the the

physical act of lifting weights and

particularly learning the new skill of

lifting weights like the motor

coordination required to perform the

exercises that you're directly

stimulating the brain as you learn those

skills and as you you know work those

neuromuscular connections so I think

there's multiple levels at which um it

seems that resistance training can

significantly improve brain health is

there any benefit to it's going to sound

funny but sort of the straining that

comes and like intracranial pressure

lymphatic clearance like anything like

like when you're straining when you're

actually like really working hard is

there any literature to support that cuz

I I've kind of thought that before you

know like you go in a in a sauna our

mutual friend Paulie you know he's

talked about like one of the benefits of

being in a sauna is you kind of create

this interradial pressure that can help

that which you know can be good for

cerebral spinal fluid and whatnot so is

there possibly a benefit with sort of

the straining and the pressure that's

created if you're lifting heavy enough

or could it be more detrimental um so

the straining certainly doesn't seem to

be detrimental unless you happen to have

an Undiscovered aneurysm and there are

certainly people who've who've had um uh

brain hemorrhages due to straining

during weightlifting but it's

exceptionally rare so so certainly not

something that the people should be

worried about but this is an interesting

idea and actually we're um in my in my

lab currently we're using this idea as a

potential neuroprotective effect during

traumatic brain injury where um you

essentially create a simulated valala

maneuver so that's

straining what happens then is you do

you pressurize the vascular system in

the brain and then if you if the if the

skull is hit you've you've essentially

created this much stiffer network of

blood vessels that stop the brain the

Distortion that happens in the brain

when when you have when your brain gets

hit or your head gets hit um so in that

and there is there is already some

evidence that support this idea and

we're sort of like developing advice and

and we have a a model of TBI or

traumatic brain injury or concussion in

my lab that we're using for that but

when you're then thinking about uh more

generally there's certainly a

possibility that this could be

beneficial mainly

because one of the most important things

long term for cognitive function is

vascular function um and the function

and health of the blood blood vessels in

the brain and I mean also the peripheral

body and there's there kind of this old

adage that says that what's good for the

heart is good for the brain generally

because you have improved vascular

function um and that does seem to be the

case this is important

because whenever you do something

different with your brain different

regions of the brain become active and

when that happens you have this thing

called neurovascular coupling which

basically means that the neurons that

are more active they then draw in

additional blood flow so that you can

have more oxygen and nutrients going to

that part of the brain but if you don't

have a healthy vascular system it can't

respond in that way so imagine if you

had a brain that was just full of AOS

scerotic plaques um and that's it's an

over exaggeration but if you imagine

these like really stiff old nasty blood

vessels they can't dilate and contract

as you as they need to in order to

direct blood where it needs to go so you

do need a healthy vascular system now

one of the main drivers of um the

function of the vascular system is

endothelial function so that's the the

cells that line the inside of the blood

vessels and we know that physical

activity

and the changes in blood flow and blood

pressure that come with physical

activity that that can help Drive

endothelial function and actually having

some pressure against the wall of those

blood vessels can be important for their

function so hypothetically when you

pressurize the blood vessels in the

brain by straining you could be sort of

you could Al almost be training those

blood vessels at the same time as you're

training uh the muscle tissue I don't

know if anybody's actually looked at

that but it's possible that that some of

the benefit uh could come from that as

well what about short-term cognitive

benefit okay so you talked about your

paper that's showing sort of a long-term

cognitive effect of resistance training

any evidence that exercise actually in

the short term you know there's a lot of

anecdotal things out there a lot of

people that talk about how you know

their brain feels more turned on after

they work out personally you know after

I do like bfr or I do something fairly

High intensity like I feel like if I

don't as long as I don't gas myself like

that high intensity work if like my

brain feels turned on I feel more but

you know again I could be placeboing

myself into that it could be purely

anecdotal but is there evidence that

even in the short term like some

exercise or resistance training can

increase brain function Yes actually

there's a lot of evidence um what we

don't know is the exact dose volume

intensity that that does it um but it's

certainly there are um when it if if you

look just at aerobic exercise there are

some there are some uh meta analyses and

systematic uh reviews um when you look

across all the different types of

exercise you can kind of build this

picture of of of what it looks like so

acutely exercise does seem to improve

cognitive function on standardized

cognitive function tests so maybe it's

um the the Stroop test uh which is a

measure of both processing speed and

some some aspects of executive function

um or maybe it's um you know some

working memory tests or or some other

things you do seem to see um benefit you

it's

probably um as with most things in

exercise it's probably related to total

volume as in the you know uh intensity

times time so you probably need um it to

be intense enough for long enough so

something like a St like going for a jog

for like 20 to 30 minutes that seems to

that's probably been tested most

frequently and certainly seems to

improve cognitive function um acutely

there have also been studies doing say

um like high-intensity interval training

so like 30 seconds Max on on a bike with

a a few minutes rest in between and

doing that a few times that's Al that

there a study that uses stoop Stroop

test that show that was that was um

beneficial the other side of that is it

probably needs to not be fatiguing like

it it shouldn't be Max effort or if you

do do Max effort you shouldn't assess

cognitive function immediately

afterwards so um when you and I worked

out before a

recording when we sat down for the first

few minutes my brain wasn't working very

well because we did a pretty hard

workout so um from my own anecdotal

experience you can see that but you can

also see that from the literature so

when they've done uh exhaust maybe not

fatiguing is maybe not the right word

exhausting exercise when you really

exhaust yourself that acutely may

negatively affect cognitive function but

in general doing lower levels of

physical activity lower levels of

exercise for is probably at least 10 to

15 minutes again depending on the

intensity um whereas if it was more

intense you know maybe just like a few

short Sprints might um uh get things get

things moving then you do seem to see

significant benefits part of it is

related

to um so some of it may be related to

the things that get released during

exercise uh blood flow all that kind of

stuff but parts of it might also just

generally be related to um how arousal

affects performance so for any specific

function including cognitive

functions uh your level of arousal um so

if you imagine a curve and people may

have heard of the yys Dodson arousal

curve it's like really popular uh in

sport in particular because it's it's an

important kind of concept but

essentially along the bottom you have

arousal uh and on on the side on the y-

axis you have performance and for

complex uh complex skills or or complex

activities um it's a bell shape so you

need some arousal to to see Optimal

Performance but if you're too aroused it

starts to be detrimental so it's kind of

like if you just kind of wake up and you

try and do something cognitively

difficult you're going to be at that

bottom end of the bell curve you're not

going to perform as well um as you might

want to if you slammed 18 espressos and

then tried to do something difficult

with your brain you're going to be

hyperaroused and then cognitive function

is going to be poor as well but there's

a sweet spot in the middle so some of it

is probably related to all the other

magical things that physical activity

does and then some of it is also going

to be related to arousal and the reason

why I say that is then because even

though they haven't studied you know

what's the effect of going like doing a

few quick 10-minute Sprints or on

cognitive function that's something that

um you know that some of the coaches so

I work in in Formula 1 as uh primarily

in terms of like the athletic World

those kinds of things have been used to

kind of you know get people in the zone

or get drivers in the zone when they

when they have to perform cognitively

that's you know driving a Formula 1 car

is primarily a cognitive skill although

physical physical um Fitness is

important as well um but just those

short bursts of activity probably going

to be probably improve function as well

but that may be more related to arousal

than related to you know blood flow and

some of those other things interesting

so when it comes down to getting the I

mean you would not want to go more than

probably 15 20 minutes of arousal was

sort of your goal in that right it's

just seems like there's I mean even as

far as performance in the gym is

concerned I noticed that like not just

cognitively but arousal is extremely

important like right this being able to

uh mind muscle connection being able to

like if I'm groggy if I'm not aroused

then that is a completely I'm having a

hard time talking about arousal I've got

to be honest

so I thought so when you're in the gym

you want to be aroused all the time all

the time and that's why noof fap is

absolutely imperative for your gains but

so it's very difficult because I have a

12-year old brain so anyhow but it's

hard to even like get things

moving

so it's hard to get the weight up no

wait there I go again anyway okay I'm

I'm 12 years old point is it's hard even

from a physical standpoint uh but if you

push it too far then that arousal kind

of goes down right so it's like for me

and that's highly variable like if I I

definitely have sort of a an internal

like protocol before I film and things

like that part of it is superstitial at

this point where it's like I like to do

certain things before like a longer

filming day that I feel enhance my

cognitive function you know it's usually

an intense workout but a short intense

workout where I'm not completely fried

afterwards and now that you mention it

like I mean I always chocked it up to

like a metabolic thing I would do uh

like bfr for instance because I thought

okay maybe maybe it's the lactate maybe

there's and there could be like a

metabolic reason behind that but now

that I think about it there is a level

of like the like sort of no subception

and like the pain that happens with uh

bfr where it's it almost gets you

aroused in a weird way because it's a

high pain type of movement like when you

have bfr cuffs on it's short and it's

intense and that pain is just high

enough where you kind of feel on right

so now I'm almost wondering if it's it's

more that effect and doing something

short that is relatively painful in

terms of exertion is like exactly what I

need versus like taxing myself

metabolically which may impede my

cognitive performance you know four five

six hours later yeah that's the nice

thing about bfr is you get this you know

very significant stimulus without a very

large like CNS or or like to overall

body metabolic load um or demand and

that you so that may be a nice sweet

spot um I'd like to you know I'm a big

fan of bfr so I'd like to to think that

um bfr could be the the perfect

cognitive enhancer and it certainly

makes sense for for why for why that

could be the case because you sort of

can stimulate some of these Pathways

without without generating that

generating this you know significant um

overall fatigue that would last for long

periods of time if you know compared to

say a very intense Sprint session on uh

you know the the Echo Bike or something

like that yeah our mutual friend Paulie

is kind of the one that turned me onto

looking at uh bfr differently because I

mean as a you know laced is a signaling

device for hypertrophy and all that

stuff that's that makes sense and that

could be one of the reasons why bfr is

good for hypertrophy possibly but I

think some of his theories on just like

almost getting you to to failure faster

um and sort of that it almost makes more

sense it's like you're able to get to

failure and reach in some ways that pain

slash kind of even arousal just like it

wakes you up in in that sense faster

without the metabolic drain yeah right

like you've a achieved failure

significantly faster albe it comes at a

cost of being painful and that's why

it's you know not for everybody too

because it doesn't exactly feel good um

anyhow so I mean that's that's my weird

protocol yeah I

um I often when when I travel

particularly to give um talks and things

like that I'll usually do some some bfr

before I get on stage it's mainly to

make my my guns look better than um but

but I I do notice that it helps you get

switched on without having to be a you

know uh more broadly strenuous kind of

workout yeah and without being a sweaty

mess so it's is interesting because this

discussion has given me a different a

different spin on it because it wasn't

always repeatable if it was something

that was just intensity based like uh

sometimes it would backfire you if I

would say okay I'm going to go run some

some intervals or something like that

like yeah seven times out of 10 I I get

lifted up out of it but those three

times of like okay now the whole filming

day is ruined because I'm just like this

just pushed me over but now that I think

it's like it's just about getting the

right dose to kind of get get that

arousal and kind of wake you up a little

bit that makes a lot more sense yeah uh

Dr woodw can everyone find you um best

place is probably Instagram Dr Tommy

wood uh post so papers like this we have

we have some more in the pipeline

they'll they'll go on there um then I

have a podcast about the brain the best

brain Fitness podcast with my friend Dr

Josh Turk who's a neurologist and we

also have uh the better brain Fitness

substack which is better brain. Fitness

very arousing stuff man thank

you that's what I always aim for