Episode 41: Pathways to Aging Well with Dr. Andrea Wilkinson
This episode covers Dr. Andrea Wilkinson’s talk at the Canadian Federation of University Women’s November Speaker Series on Pathways to Aging Well. In this talk, Dr. Wilkinson highlights the importance of lifestyle modifications for optimizing the health of your brain and cognition as you age. Specifically, she covers the science behind the four key pillars of brain health (physical fitness, food & nutrition, socializing, as well as mental considerations - including sleep, stress management and mental challenges).
Physical Fitness
Why does physical activity
Enhance cognition?
Counteract age-related memory loss?
Delay the onset of neurodegenerative disease?
Hippocampus
The hippocampus is embedded deep inside of your brain, and it is the part of your brain that's important for memory and learning. It also helps consolidate your short-term memories into long term memories. The hippocampus is also important for spatial memory and it enables navigation.
The hippocampus is one of the first areas of the brain to undergo changes in the development of Alzheimer's disease (dementia), which is the reason that one of the first signs of Alzheimer's disease is short-term memory challenges.
The data show that as you age your hippocampus, the area of your brain responsible for memory and learning, starts to shrink at a rate of around 1% annually.
Neurogenesis
Neurogenesis is an incredibly powerful phenomenon that happens in the human brain: the human brain grows new brain cells every single day. It is estimated that the human brain grows around 700 new brain cells every day, and this happens specifically in your hippocampus. In other words, your new brain cells grow specifically in the area of your brain that's responsible for learning and memory.
The data are beginning to show that your lifestyle impacts the number of new brain cells that grow in your brain. One of the most powerful ways to increase the number of new brain cells that you grow in your brain is through physical exercise.
Walking and the brain
In 2017, Best and colleagues looked at data from 141 high-functioning older adults (aged 70-79 years old). The study participants were followed for 13 years and the amount of time that they spent walking was measured. What they found is that the individuals who were better able to maintain the amount of time that they spent walking showed a smaller reduction in their hippocampal volume. This research illustrates the power of walking to protect your cognition and your brain as you age. The authors talk about walking protecting a particular part of your brain called white matter (responsible for the speed at which information is passed from one area of your brain to another).
How much should you be exercising?
Dr. Andrea Wilkinson’s recommendation is really simple: move your body every day for at least 30-minutes. Of course, do more if you can - but at the very least, 30-minutes a day.
Exercise and muscle mass
As you age, your muscle mass begins to decline naturally. Muscle mass begins to decrease by around 1 to 2% every year, starting around the age of 50. By the age of 60, it begins to decrease by an amount of around 3% a year. Decreasing muscle mass can lead to issues of frailty and fall risk. Research shows that doing strength training exercises three times a week for 12 weeks can help to increase strength and skeletal muscle mass. Strength training exercises are very important for older adults to help maintain their muscle mass as they get older.
Types of strength training approaches:
Handheld weights
Use your own body weight
Resistance bands
Strength training machines
Combination of all the above
Exercise and bone health
Resistance training and strength training has also been shown to improve the health of your bones. Research shows there's a significant increase in bone mineral density following four to 24 months of resistance training. Adults who do not perform resistance training exercise can experience a 1% to 3% reduction in bone mineral density year over year. If you're doing resistance training exercises, however, it can help to reverse the decline in bone mineral density by around 1%. Any exercises that promote the strength of your muscles also increases the bone mineral density of your bones. But, if you stop doing the exercises, the benefits go away.
Exercise and cognition
As mentioned earlier, exercising increases the number of brain cells that you grow in your hippocampus (specific part of your brain responsible for learning and memory.) There are several research studies which help illustrate the connection between exercise and your mental functions. One research study looked at participants (aged 60-94 years old), who were asked to exercise with a resistance band three times per week (5-minute warm-up, 25-minutes of resistance training, 5-minute cool down). The participants were instructed to increase the thickness of the resistance band, if they were able to do ten repetitions of each movement pattern without feeling fatigued or without losing proper format. The results demonstrated that individuals who achieved a higher level of resistance during training showed greater improvements in memory performance.
Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF): When you exercise, BDNF (a very important molecule in your brain) increases. BDNF is essential for neurogenesis, as it helps new brain cells grow and it also helps new brain cells survive.
Food and Nutrition
Research by Prinelli and colleagues (2019) showed that a higher intake of optimal nutrient-dense foods was linked to a slower decline in cognition over a nine-year period.
What are examples of nutrient-dense foods?
Fruit
Vegetables
Whole grains
Fish
Poultry
Why do nutrient dense foods help protect cognition over time?
Antioxidants reduce damage to the brain from free radicals (free radicals are unstable atoms that can damage cells, causing illness and aging)
Adequate protein helps maintain the integrity and function of the brain
Vitamin D is beneficial for several reasons:
Production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) - a protein in the brain that is involved in the growth and survival of brain cells
Neurotransmitter release (e.g., dopamine & serotonin) that affect brain function
Influences inflammatory processes (controlling inflammation) & & strengthens your immune system (helps you fight infection)
The food source of your nutrients is also important. Although more research is needed, Prinelli and colleagues (2019) hypothesized that fermented dairy (e.g., yogurt & cheese) might be better for cognition than non-fermented dairy products (e.g., liquid milk).
Focus on a healthy global diet
A healthy global diet is more important than individual foods.
Supplying your brain and body with all of the nutrients it needs to function well
Taking too much of a specific nutrient can ultimately become toxic for the body.
Avoid focusing too much on single foods or single nutrients.
Socializing
People who engage in regular social interaction with other humans show:
Increased performance on cognitive tests (e.g., memory and attention)
Higher levels of empathy
Greater emotion recognition and regulation
Improved impulse control
Reduced risk of mortality
Social engagement is a predictor of positive cognitive health as you age.
Mental Considerations
Sleep and the brain
Sleep is extremely important for your brain health. When using your brain throughout the day, you create all sorts of waste. But, when you are in a deep sleep, these magical cells, called glial cells, come out in your brain and clean up all of the waste that you produced during the day. Specifically, during deep sleep, your glial cells flush out something called beta-amyloid plaques (protein clumps that build up between your brain cells and disrupt communication between brain cells). Studies have shown a 5% increase in plaque accumulation after just one night of not sleeping well. But, the good news is that your brain is extraordinarily resilient. You literally just need to get a good night's sleep, and all of that will be flushed away again. Given this, prioritizing sleep and your sleeping habits is critical.
Stress and the brain
Stress begins in your brain, specifically in an area of your brain called the Hypothalamic Pituitary Axis . When you feel stressed, a series of interactions are taking place between your brain and your body, and you start releasing cortisol (stress hormone).
When cortisol is released in your body:
Your heart beats faster to increase blood flow to your muscles
Your breathing speeds up to send more oxygen to your brain & boost mental alertness
Glucose (sugar) is released into your bloodstream to give you more energy
Dangers of chronic stress
In the short-term, stress primes your body to get ready to deal with the stress effectively, but high levels of cortisol over long periods of time can have a damaging effect on your brain. Constant stress impairs your memory, because your brain’s memory centre (hippocampus) is covered in cortisol (stress hormone) receptors. Given this, your hippocampus (your brain’s memory centre) is extremely vulnerable to consistent exposure to stress.
When you’re stressed, the memory centre of your brain (called the hippocampus) stops functioning properly
Constant stress damages your brain’s memory centre over the long-term, making it harder to remember
Research shows that long-lasting exposure to stress has even been associated with a smaller memory centre (hippocampus) in their brain
NOTE: the human brain is magnificently resilient and has the potential to heal itself from chronic stress and can even grow new brain cells (also known as neurogenesis).
Help rejuvenate your brain by:
Reducing exposure to stressful situations
Learning stress management techniques
Exercising
Eating well
Getting proper sleep
Mental Challenges
Mental challenges = sustained mental effort.
It doesn't matter what your neighbour or your best friend does to challenge their minds. Your mental challenges are unique to you. They are based on your skill level, your expertise, and your knowledge base.
Your mental challenges are unique to you.
Dr. Andrea Wilkinson takes issue with newspaper and magazine articles that include a list of mental challenges in their articles on “brain health.”
There is no list of mental challenges. What's mentally challenging is specific to you.
Dr. Denise Park’s Synapse Project looked at this whole notion of sustained mental effort. She wanted to examine the impact of sustained mental effort on mental functions and brain function. She divided her research participants into two groups:
Productive engagement: Acquiring novel information (learning how to use a digital camera and computer software or learning how to quilt using computer-based sewing machines)
Receptive engagement: Using existing knowledge (crosswords, cooking, watching documentary films)
If you're doing a crossword puzzle or cooking or doing something that is familiar to you, you're utilizing knowledge that you already have (receptive engagement).
Results revealed that individuals in the sustained mental effort (digital camera or quilting) showed:
A significant boost in memory performance after 14 weeks of engaging in sustained mental effort
Changes in how their brains functioned (they were better able to recruit additional brain regions when they were faced with a challenging task)
Interestingly, Dr. Denise Park and her researchers wanted to know whether the brain changes would last or not, so they looked at the participants' brains one year later. What they found is that a lot of people in this sustained mental effort showed that some of the brain changes were maintained, but most of them went back to the baseline level.
Take home message: Engaging in sustained mental effort, whatever that means to you, requires consistent effort. It's not just about learning something challenging and then thinking “I permanently changed my brain”, because that's not how it works. You have to continuously challenge yourself and consistently use those new neural networks, if you're going to see these changes in your brain and have them last over time.
Want to work 1-on-1 with Dr. Andrea Wilkinson?
Dr. Andrea Wilkinson’s signature methodology - the Brain Vitality Blueprint – is a 90-day brain optimization program for adults who are experiencing minor memory slips and want to improve their memory, cognition and physical vitality.
Who Dr. Andrea Wilkinson works with:
Adults aged 60+ who want to maintain or improve their memory, cognition, and physical vitality, so they can look and feel energized.
Adults aged 60+ who are relatively knowledgeable about brain health but are having trouble executing on what they know they should be doing. They need an accountability partner and someone to help them form good habits within the context of their own lives.
In the Brain Vitality Blueprint, you and Dr. Andrea will develop a customized plan to move you through the following steps:
STEP 1: Lifestyle Audit
We take an inventory of your daily & weekly routines and habits, so that we can identify which ones are causing the most damage. We will create a replacement routine, so that you can optimize your brain health.
STEP 2: Physical Movement
You’ll learn the science behind physical movement and how it impacts the health and vitality of your brain and mental functions. You’ll develop a personalized plan on how to incorporate movement into your daily life and identify your perfect workout.
STEP 3: Eating for Brain Health
We’ll break down the gut-and-brain connection, and you’ll learn the fundamentals of eating for brain health. Learn how to create your plate and build a personalized meal plan.
STEP 4: Manage Stress & Sleep Cycles
Learn how stress and sleep impact how your brain functions. We’ll cover strategies to help you manage stress and optimize your sleep hygiene daily.
STEP 5: Sharpen your Mind
We’ll cover the science behind brain fitness & cognitive maintenance. Learn science-based strategies to boost mental performance and build a personalized brain fitness plan.
The Brain Vitality Blueprint is a 90-day, 1:1 brain health coaching program. It provides you with 1-on-1 support to help you achieve your specific brain health goals in a way that is personalized to you.
You will receive:
Detailed curriculum and video modules
Weekly 1:1 coaching calls with Dr. Andrea
Daily support and unlimited access via email
Unconditional love, acceptance, and support
Ready to start your brain health journey?
On the homepage of this website, in the top banner, click on the APPLY button (www.BrainShape.ca). After submitting your application form, you and Dr. Andrea Wilkinson will get on a one-on-one phone call to talk about your brain health goals, and determine if the Brain Vitality Blueprint is the right program for you.
Dr. Andrea Wilkinson is looking forward to supporting you on your journey to improving your brain health and physical vitality!