In episode 25 for Jason Prall podcast, he talks with Max Lugavere about ways of preventing cognitive decline can & Alzheimer’s Disease. You can watch it on this YouTube..
Max’s mother has dementia. He is now making a documentary about how to prevent cognitive decline called “Bread Head“. It is a catchy title kind of similar to the title of Dr. Perlmutter’s book Grain Brain. The idea being that both bread and grains are not good for the brain.
Max and Jason get into more of the practical applications of preventing cognitive decline the latter half of the video. I’ve learn two new terms from them.
One from Jason: “flaneuring” from the French word “flaneur” which means to “stroll, loaf, saunter”. But in our context, it means to stroll around in own city with no purpose other than to explore, which improves the brain as in mice being put in an enriched environment.
One from Max: “quotidian” meaning everyday thing.
Other take-away points from the video…
Exercise is beneficial to the brain. But don’t over-do it. Because endurance athletes tend to have GI problems and leaky gut due to high cortisol and over-training. Outside of that, the more exercise the better, especially aerobic exercise. It decreases insulin resistance and create new mitochondria (including mitochondria in brain).
Green odor from grass and nature boosts BDNF. Being in enriched environments like travelling improves cognition.
Eating fiber boosts butyrate in the colon.