How do you maintain cognitive health as you age? Our guest today is Dr. Krystal Culler and she shares a range of useful practices for brain health and staying sharp.

We discuss with Dr. Culler:

How she became interested in Gerontology and Health & Wellness

How she defines brain health

The misconceptions she sees people having about brain health

The relative importance of lifestyle factors versus genetics in cognitive health

What people should do to foster brain health

The role habits play in cognitive health

What we should know about neuroplasticity and lifelong learning

A book that's had a big impact on her

Where people should start in cultivating better brain health

Dr. Culler joins us from Ohio.

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Bio

Dr. Krystal Culler is a Doctor of Behavioral Health with a background in the behavioral sciences (psychology of aging, gerontology, and sociology). She is a Senior Atlantic Fellow with the Global Brain Health Institute, where she was the first scholar from the United States to complete her residency training at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland on dementia prevention and the social determinants of brain health. She has an unwavering commitment to promote brain health equity to individuals of all ages and the communities she serves.

Dr. Culler is the Founder & Creative Director of the Virtual Brain Health Center. Krystal has spent nearly 5 years in Executive-level positions with health non-profit organizations and has 15 years of experience working with individuals with brain health concerns, their families, and advocacy organizations.

Under her leadership, the centers have received 4 international and national awards from leading organizations in the aging care sector for innovation in brain health programming and community impact including honors from the International Council on Active Aging, Mather Lifeways Institute on Aging, the American Society on Aging and the Southern Gerontological Society on Aging.

Additionally, she has been recognized through the receipt of 4 personal leadership awards for her contributions to the field including the Global Brain Health Leaders Award (2019) from the Alzheimer’s Association, Alzheimer’s Society, and Global Brain Health Institute, and Crain’s Cleveland Business 40 Under Forty (2017).

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Wise Quotes

On Lifestyle versus Genetic Factors

"One of the most fascinating things about our field is how fast things are growing. So usually we were saying it is about 70% lifestyle and 10% genetics. And Dr. Sanjay Gupta's new book was just released early this year. And the research is actually slanting a little bit more where now 90% of our lifestyle is in our hands and it's 10% genetics. So I like to think that's really empowering for us to know that there are variables that we are able to control own [rather than] inherit, but for the most part, there are many things that we are able to manage and think about in a mindful way to move us forward on our personal brain health and wellness journey, all across our lives."

On How to Cultivate Brain Health

"We have different reports that have come out over the years that pinpoint about 15 different factors. And the Lancet report shows that when we look at these different lifestyle factors and we talk about dementia, risk reduction across the world, we can prevent about 40% of those cases. And what we tend to think about kind of categorizing these factors. If we were to think about them in terms of your brain, your body, and your environment with your brain, you want as much education as early in life as you can. You want to stay stimulated, protect your brain, minimize stress or ongoing chronic stress sleep well, minimize depression,