Recap: How exercise slows brain ageing | Dr Wendy Suzuki

0:00Hello and welcome to Zoe Recap, where each week we find the best bits from one of our podcast episodes to help you improve your health. Today, we're asking how can we boost our brain? Our brain is a living morphine organ that is constantly responding to the stimuli we feed it. So the big question is, what sort of stimuli will keep our brain strong and healthy? Is it brain puzzles? Supplements? Neuroscientist Dr. Wendy Suzuki believes the most powerful way to support your brain is by simply moving your body. And she's joining me today to explain why.

0:41As we get older, basically this organ can get less efficient. Do any parts of it shrink or is it just that it stops working as well?

0:50Dr. Wendy Suzuki:So lots of different things happen. There are loss of synaptic connections. Synapses are the connections between individual brain cells. And it's not so much people think, oh, there's widespread cell death. Cells aren't dying in normal aging. It's usually the synapses that leave and that are damaged. And that's the most common thing that's happening with aging. So basically the connections between the different cells in my brain, there were lots of them and there's less and losing those somehow reduces how well it works and processes every part. So is it possible to do anything to prevent the loss of these connections between these cells, prevent this damage to your brain as you get older?

1:37Dr. Wendy Suzuki:Yeah. So this is kind of the topic that I've studied for the vast majority of my career, which is the area of brain plasticity. How things in the environment, things that you do, how you live your life, how it affects literally the anatomy, physiology, and function of your brain. And there's two flavors of brain plasticity. Positive brain plasticity, where the experiences that you give yourself can increase size, increase function, and negative brain plasticity, which we just talked about. PTSD, long-term stress, can take those connections away can make sizes smaller in particular brain areas.

2:19And are there real scientific studies that have demonstrated this?

2:22Dr. Wendy Suzuki:Absolutely. For all the musicians out there, it's clearly shown that long-term practice at a level of a professional musician will increase the size of your motor cortex. Specific for that, if you're a violinist, it's the left hand that gets so much work. If you're a pianist, it's both hands. that will change the size and representation of those motor areas that you are working. So my mother made me practice an instrument every morning from when I was like four, and I kept doing this until I was growing up. And then I dropped it quite fast after I left home. I'm sorry, mom. Have I got any long-term benefit from that?

3:01Or is the fact that I've dropped it now means that I lost out on any of the plus?

3:05Dr. Wendy Suzuki:You probably have a little bit of it left. You could probably relearn pieces faster than somebody that never practiced for those years. But no, it doesn't last for a lifetime. You can't kind of take one summer and say, okay, here's the exercise I'm going to do for the rest of my life and it's going to last. It really does have to be a regular habit that you form. I had a terrible feeling you were going to say. It's a bit like exercise and good food, right? I can't just eat really well last decade and then like now just have ice cream and burgers. Sadly, sadly, no. So other than playing music really well every day for the rest of my life, is there anything else that can help to improve this brain health?

3:46Dr. Wendy Suzuki:Absolutely. So many different things. I'm going to start with my favorite, which is moving your body. Physical activity is so powerful. As I said, my most amazing thing is moving your body is the most transformative thing that you can do for your brain. And I think people realize that moving your body is great for your heart and cardiovascular and your muscles, but they don't realize that in this sense, your brain acts kind of like a muscle. And what is happening is different from when you're using weights or running for your muscles. What happens is every single time you move your body, there is a rush of neurochemicals that gets released in your brain.

4:28Dr. Wendy Suzuki:And those neurochemicals is the secret for why exercise is so transformative. Let's go for the immediate benefits that happen with this rush of neurochemicals. You get dopamine, serotonin, noradrenaline, endorphins released with exercise. And I'm not talking about marathon running. I'm talking about a power walk, a 10-minute walk that you can take at lunch, walk up and down the stairs during your day. That can lead to this rush of neurochemicals that I like to call a bubble bath of neurochemicals that happens every time you move your body. And that's going to lead to an immediate mood boost. Now, is that going to change your mood for the rest of your life?

5:09Dr. Wendy Suzuki:No. The duration of that mood boost is going to depend on how long, how hard you worked out. And there's a bell-shaped curve there. But that's not all you get. moving your body also improves the function of your prefrontal cortex, the one right behind your forehead, really critical for your ability to shift and focus attention. You and I as a podcaster and as a teacher need our prefrontal cortex. Do you remember questions that were asked and the questions we want to bring up? Critical. And that single bout of exercise can help with the functioning of that prefrontal cortex. And the third thing you get is reaction time.

5:49Dr. Wendy Suzuki:So your ability to respond to a question is faster after a single workout than if you didn't work out at all. And this is all having to do with that bubble bath that you're giving your brain. But the most transformative thing happens when you don't just do a one-off of exercise. I was just going to try it once. Okay, I did it. I got the bubble bath. Give me all the benefits. you get a short-term benefit with a single exercise bout. Let's say you include more exercise in your life, which I call long-term exercise, and you do that on a regular basis. That means your brain is getting more of a bubble bath.

6:30Dr. Wendy Suzuki:And here I'm gonna add one other element to that bubble bath that gets released every time, which is a growth factor called BDNF, or brain-derived neurotrophic factor. This goes to my favorite structure in the brain, the hippocampus, and it actually helps the hippocampus grow brand new brain cells. So I like to say regular exercise is going to make your hippocampus big and fat and fluffy. And that is what you want. You want the biggest, fattest, fluffiest hippocampus that you can have. It's also actually changing the size of the prefrontal cortex, not because of new cells, but because of new synapses.

7:10Dr. Wendy Suzuki:And so that is the transformation. That all sounds pretty amazing. And if I just caught that bit at the end, what you're saying is that although you said at the beginning that maybe our brain overall doesn't grow, you're saying that this particular part, which is your favorite part of the brain. I never had a favorite part of the brain before, but I like that you have a favorite part of the brain, actually grows as you are doing this exercise on a regular basis. Yes, it does. And also, even if you don't do any exercise, every one of us has a little bit of, it's called neurogenesis, the birth of brand new brain cells in our hippocampus.

7:49Dr. Wendy Suzuki:But with exercise, I like to think of the image of a watering can of growth factor that goes up and down the hippocampus. every time I'm working out, this is my nerdy motivation to work out in the morning is I want that watering can of growth factor going into my hippocampus and growing as many brand new brain cells. Because those brain cells means my memory is going to be better and my hippocampus is going to be bigger and fatter and fluffier. So somebody's listening, they're completely sold on exercise. What can they do and do they have to become a marathon runner? Yeah, yeah. So first, you don't have to become a marathon runner.

8:28Dr. Wendy Suzuki:Walking slash power walking works just fine. For mood, that immediate mood benefit that we talked about after a single workout, just walking for 10 minutes, getting outside, walking for 10 minutes, I think so many of your listeners will have experienced that already. But the key for getting those long-term changes, especially the big, fat, fluffy hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, is doing anything with your body that increases your heart rate. That's called aerobic activity. And let me emphasize again, power walking will get your heart rate up. And I like to say that, you know, even if you haven't started, it's not part of your regimen, it actually is faster to get your heart rate up, you know, when you're just starting out than if you have a regular exercise regimen.

9:15Dr. Wendy Suzuki:It's like, oh, I have to, you know, get into there for at least 30 minutes before my heart rate gets up. So all the beginners have a little advantage there. But every moment that you get that heart rate up for whatever you do, including fun things like dancing, gardening, you know, walking around a museum, there's so many creative ways that you can do this. That is what's going to give you that big, fat, fluffy hippocampus, prefrontal cortex, and beautiful brain. And is it more important, therefore, to be doing faster steps than to be doing more steps as I listen to that? That's a great question.

9:53Dr. Wendy Suzuki:I would say that, you know, those that are doing lots of steps, maybe at a lower aerobic activity, can put on their to-do list, add more fast steps into that. And those that are doing small numbers of steps that maybe have higher aerobic activity. You know, I like to say every step counts. Every step counts. So don't, people come up to me all the time. It's like, all I do is walk. I'm like, that is great. You know, celebrate that. People don't realize that walking to the store, walking from your car to the store and walking around a shopping mall, all of that counts too. So just to try and get more.

10:35Dr. Wendy Suzuki:And I think the secret is not just more, make it fun. Because if it's not fun and enjoyable, you're not gonna do it. that's fascinating what sort of exercise target should someone be thinking about and i'm sure you're saying it's different based upon their starting point but like how often a week like how much time do people need to devote because i think sometimes you listen to things on the internet it's like well if you're not doing three hours of crazy exercise none of this matters is that the reality for your brain no it's not and i can be very specific because one of my goals over the last 10 years has been to try and head towards a prescription of exercise.

11:17Dr. Wendy Suzuki:People want to know exactly how much. So I'm going to start with a study we did in people that were not exercising so much, less than 20 minutes a week for the last three months, 20 minutes of exercise per week. And what we showed is in those people that three times a week aerobic exercise, 45 minutes each. There's the specificity. Got them baseline mood changes, improved prefrontal function, and improved hippocampal function. Three months of that. And so again, how much was the exercise they were having to do? Three times. Actually, what they ended up doing was between two and three times a week.

11:56Dr. Wendy Suzuki:I think it was 2.6 times a week on average, this group did. 45 minutes each. of a, it happened to be a spin class. So we chose a class where clearly the goal was aerobic activity. So that got these brain plasticity changes. That was, we were thrilled with that. And then I have one more piece of data to give you, which is what about mid-fit? People that are exercising maybe two, on average, two times a week, but a good spin class or run or something like that. What about them? Well, we did a study in that population and we said, okay, exercise as much as you want for the next three months. We're going to give you free workouts, again, at a spin studio.

12:40Dr. Wendy Suzuki:And we had people that went seven days a week for a 45-minute class and those that stayed at two to three times, yeah, two times a week. What we found is every rotation of the wheel helped. The more you worked out at this mid-fit level, the more benefit you got in all of these things, in mood, in focus, and in memory. I like to say every step, every drop of sweat counts. Whether you're just starting out, you're in the middle, and Olympic athletes, I would love to do a study on you because I know what the outcome is, and I would love to show that. But most of us are not Olympic athletes, which is why I started with the lower fit people and the people exercising twice a week.

13:28As you can imagine, hosting this podcast, running Zoe, juggling family life, it all keeps me pretty busy. So I try as best I can to stay energized and show up well in all those parts of my life by fueling my body with the right food, by exercising, and by adding a scoop of Daily 30 to my meals every day. If you haven't heard of Daily 30 yet, it's the gut supplement designed by our gut health scientists here at Zoe. It's made of over 30 high quality hand-picked plants, including seaweed, fungi, and different types of fiber. Better yet, it contains ingredients that support gut health, digestion, and energy, which is ideal for packed calendars and busy lives.

14:11Simply add one scoop a day to any meal for an extra boost of fiber and plant diversity. And because it tastes delicious on just about anything and adds a satisfying crunch, it quite quickly slots into your life, becoming a daily healthy habit you'll always have time for. By the way, whenever we talk about Daily 30 as a good source of fiber, we're required to say that it contains four grams of total fat per serving. Obviously, that's all amazing healthy fats from plants. So order yours today at zoe.com slash daily 30. thanks for listening and see you next time