Science, research, and innovation has been integral in providing us with better health, disease reduction and longer lives.  In fact, we are living longer, and most adults can expect to live many more years than their predecessors.  However good this trend of longevity is, it is met and rightly so, with pushback. 

What is the purpose of longevity if it’s not met equally with Quality of Life.  What is quality of Life?  It’s the meaning, value, and the WHY we place on how well we live our lives and how satisfying they are. 

In this episode of the Brain Health 365 podcast, host Brian Browne and co-host Lizzy Rasmussen tackle “What is quality of Life?” And, “How does Quality of Life impact my brain health and overall wellness?” We invite you to listen to the episode and join the conversation. 

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Time stamps 

 0:55 Defining Quality of Life

6:08 The Physical Domain: pain, energy, and sleep

11:20 The Psychological Domain: attitude, mood, and self-esteem 

16:50 The Social Domain: social support and personal relationships 

22:24 The Independence Domain: level of independence, activities of daily living, work, and self-medication

28:20 The Environment Domain: freedom, physical safety, home and neighborhood environments, social determinants of health, ability to learn, and more 

33:37 The Spirituality Domain: religiosity and spirituality 

37:39 Less Stress Tip:  

38:33 Fun Food Fact:

Providing a good quality of life and a creating moments of joy are the gold standard those living with dementia and their caregivers. Imagine using a simple app that provides a sense of familiarity, accomplishment and produces positive dementia behaviors as a byproduct. In this episode, Brain Health 365 host, Brian Browne has an inspiring discussion with Bruce Elliott, cofounder, and CEO of Memory Lane Games. Memory Lane Games has created a digital health platform for monitoring and managing cognitive decline with games. Find out how two guys having a drink in an English pup led to the creation of an award-winning technology creating a meaningful impact for caregivers.

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While there are some risk factors you cannot control for dementia, such as age, gender and genetics, reducing major risk factors that can be controlled is the gold standard.  While heart disease remains the number one killer in the United States, it also heavily impacts your brain health risk for dementia.  Host Brian Browne and Co-host Lizzy Rasmussen guide this episode of the podcast with some detailed insights and recommendations to keep your brain, dementia risk and your cognitive health in good shape as you age.

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“Functional Movement” refers to movements that occur in activities of

In this episode, host Brian Browne and co-host Lizzy Rasmussen discuss “The Big Five” of functional movement: strength, balance, flexibility, agility and endurance. They examine each component’s role in daily living and healthy aging and provide practical tips for improvement. 

Timestamps 

1:03 Introduction 

2:18 What is functional movement and how does it change as we age 

4:12 Assessing functional movement 

5:00 “Good” functional movement: efficiency, coordination, mobility, and

9:35 Importance of body awareness and core strength 

12:38 “The Big Five”: a roadmap for assessing and improving functional

13:08 The Big Five - Strength 

19:37 The Big Five - Balance 

23:50 The Big Five - Flexibility 

28:23 The Big Five - Agility 

32:38 The Big Five - Endurance 

35:54 The role of functional movement in healthy aging 

37:15 Where to start to improve your functional

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The average person spends 26 years of their life sleeping. That is approximately one-third of our entire lives spent asleep. Yet, the importance of sleep in health is often misunderstood and under-appreciated. Sleep plays a critical role in overall health, impacting every major organ in the body, every physiological system, and every brain process. Still, many adults do not get the recommended amount of sleep every night.

In this episode, host Brian Browne and co-host Lizzy Rasmussen discuss the science of sleep, the role of sleep in brain and overall health, common sleep disorders, how sleep changes as we age and the link between sleep and Alzheimer’s Disease, how to optimize your sleep, and more.

Timestamps:

0:45 Introduction

1:14 Why do we sleep?

3:00 Sleep types and stages: REM & NREM 1-4

6:43 The Circadian Rhythm

10:55 Disordered sleep: working the night shift

13:56 Disordered sleep: the role of alcohol in sleep disruption

16:00 Disordered sleep: sleep apnea

17:52 Disordered sleep: insomnia

19:14 Impact of aging on sleep: reduced quantity/quality, reduced efficiency, and earlier melatonin release

23:14 Adenosine “sleep pressure” & the impact of napping

25:50 Impact of aging on sleep: age-related changes to the Circadian Rhythm

26:15 Sleep and brain health: memory, learning, concentration, processing speed

29:32 Sleep & Alzheimer’s Disease

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A common misconception is that dementia is a disease, but it’s actually a category of disease used to describe a group of symptoms that affect memory, thinking, navigation and even social abilities. There are many different types of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and more. In this episode, host Brian Browne and co-host Lizzy Rasmussen discuss the second most common cause of dementia: vascular dementia. They discuss the science of developing vascular dementia, signs and symptoms, modifiable risk factors, how to seek a proper diagnosis, and what life may look like if you or a loved one is diagnosed with vascular dementia. 

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Drinking alcohol has become a mainstream activity for adults all over the world. Over 70% of U.S. adults report drinking alcohol at some point in their lives. While we drink alcohol for a myriad of different reasons throughout our lives, one inescapable fact is that alcohol has a definitive effect on the brain as well as impacting other aspects of our health. In this episode host, Brian Browne and cohost Lizzy Rasmussen discuss the science of alcohol and its short-term and long-term effects on the brain and body.

Timestamps:

1:38 Culture of alcohol

2:30 Metabolism of alcohol

6:05 Effects of alcohol on the brain: cerebellum

8:36 Individual differences in alcohol tolerance

10:06 Effects of alcohol on the brain: prefrontal cortex

11:57 Effects of alcohol on the brain: hippocampus

14:15 Alcohol, stress, & the HPA axis

16:42 Alcohol used as self-medication

17:39 Effects of alcohol on other aspects of the body: blood pressure & pain threshold

18:50 The relationship between red wine and cardiovascular disease

19:15 Distilled versus fermented alcohol: impact on the gut microbiome

22:06 Populations with the greatest longevity and quality of life: “The Blue Zones”

25:00 Resveratrol

25:50 Psychological aspects: serotonin & dopamine alterations

28:12 Alcohol as a depressant

28:50 Dehydration

29:43 Impact on sleep

30:20 “Wet brain” & recommendations for alcohol intake

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If you’re interested in learning more, the episode Fact Sheet can be downloaded on our website by clicking here.

Research has uncovered trauma and traumatic experiences  are powerful forces that possess an ability to affect your health and rate of aging.  Trauma exposure is linked to a propensity for developing a wide range of conditions that can negatively impact health. Does your trauma history put you at risk for rapid cellular aging, changes in brain structure, higher rates of physical, mental, and cognitive decline?  Join host Brian Browne and co-host Lizzy Rasmussen on this episode as they discuss traumatic experiences and their effect on aging.

Timestamps:

1:15 What is trauma?

2:48 Physical trauma

6:31 Emotional trauma

7:54 Signs of trauma, healing from trauma, & resiliency

9:30 A landmark trauma study: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) Study

13:38 Trauma & associated aging implications

14:18 Accelerated cellular aging & chronic conditions

15:55 Role of depression in abnormal aging

18:05 Trauma and health risk behaviors

20:29 Health risk behaviors as a coping mechanism for trauma

22:30 Trauma & physical health conditions

22:55 Assessing trauma & cognition in the clinic

25:22 ACEs-associated Alzheimer’s Disease risk

27:20 Physiological mechanism between trauma, decision making, & health outcomes

29:00 Role of HPA axis in traumatic experiences

29:46 Trauma as a root cause: how to recognize trauma & seek care

32:08 Epigenetics & intergenerational trauma

33:27 Importance of trauma awareness

If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe to the podcast, follow us on social media, and consider leaving a 5-star Apple Podcast review.

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If you’re interested in learning more, the episode Fact Sheet can be downloaded on our website by clicking here.

Feeling stressed is something that everyone can likely relate to, but did you know that your stress levels and how you manage stress can have a big impact on your health and aging? Unmanaged stress can contribute to many health problems and is associated with accelerated, abnormal aging. In this episode, host Brian Browne and co-host Lizzy Rasmussen discuss causes and types of stress, the stress response system, the role of stress in physical and cognitive health, implications of stress in aging, strategies to manage stress, and more.

Timestamps:

0:59 What is stress?

1:45 Overview of the stress response system

3:15 Common stressors

4:49 Stress response system physiology & stress hormones

7:38 Sex differences in stress management & treatment

10:55 Types of stress: acute, episodic, & chronic

13:08 Stress “toxicity”

15:43 Is all stress “bad”?

17:55 Stress throughout the lifespan

21:20 Role of maladaptive stress response in health and healthy aging

26:20 Strategies to manage stress

32:33 When to seek professional help

If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe to the podcast, follow us on social media, and consider leaving a 5-star Apple Podcast review.

Follow us on social media:

@brainhealth365 on Instagram

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If you’re interested in learning more, the episode Fact Sheet can be downloaded on our website by clicking here.

What we eat affects our brains just as much as our bodies. Because of convenience and lack of information, many people have poor, suboptimal diets, increasing the risk of disease and abnormal aging. Macronutrients are converted into glucose which is the main fuel source for the brain and body . Making wise choices for macronutrient fuel helps ensures optimal brain functioning. In contrast, poor choices cause impaired glucose and insulin metabolism which is linked to processes like oxidative stress and inflammation which damages the brain.  In this episode, Host Brian Browne along with cohost Lizzy Rasmussen lead a conversation and give insight to help guide our fuel choices correctly. 

Timestamps: 

1:06 Introduction to macronutrients: how food fuels the body

2:35 What are macronutrients?

3:18 Types of carbohydrates – simple & complex 

4:40 Simple carbohydrates 

7:00 Complex carbohydrates 

11:04 Protein 

15:50 Types of fats – saturated, trans, & polyunsaturated 

18:15 Target daily amount of each macronutrient 

25:48 Animal protein versus plant protein 

29:45 Discussion of food label 

If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe to the podcast, follow us on social media, and consider leaving a 5-star Apple Podcast review. 

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If you’re interested in learning more, the episode Fact Sheet can be downloaded on our website by clicking here.