5 Steps To Prevent Alzheimer's And Dementia Naturally

Worried about memory loss or brain fog? In this episode, we break down 5 actionable steps to prevent Alzheimer's and dementia using functional medicine principles. 

We explore how simple, evidence-based habits rebuild brain health and why aligning daily life with our biology drives recovery, focus, and longevity. Board Certified Neurologist, U.S. Navy Veteran, Dr. Ryan Williamson shares a practical BRAIN protocol, insights on neuroplasticity, creatine for cognition, and hope for invisible injuries.

Chapters

• 0:00 Defining Ancestral Health Pillars
• 1:16 Welcome And Guest Introduction
• 2:42 Modern Life Versus Human Biology
• 5:10 Core Pillars For Brain Longevity
• 6:01 Inside The Incredible Brain Book
• 8:29 Purpose, Neuroplasticity, And Recovery
• 10:56 Mechanisms And Interventions Framework
• 13:16 The BRAIN Protocol Explained
• 16:28 Habit Stacking And Fast Wins
• 18:20 Creatine Monohydrate For Brain Health
• 25:42 Listener Q&A: Developing Brains In Combat
• 29:56 Listener Q&A: Time Perception After TBI
• 34:05 Living With Invisible Injuries
• 36:05 How Much Is Lifestyle Versus Genes

• ancestral habits that support modern brain and body health
• purpose as the driver of neuroplasticity and recovery
• the BRAIN protocol: breathwork, rest, activity, intake, nurturing
• step-by-step habit stacking for fast, sustainable wins
• creatine monohydrate for brain energy and TBI support
• whitewater kayaking as cognitive training and flow
• developing brains under combat stress and resilience
• time perception changes after blast injury
• empathy for invisible injuries and clear communication needs
• lifestyle’s outsized role versus genetics in health outcomes
• where to find the book, free group, and resources

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Transcript

Defining Ancestral Health Pillars

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Uh when we look at the medical evidence, what we know actually helps with brain health and body health long term, it respects those pillars that that do respect our biology and and is closer to what again our ancestors were doing. Um, namely, you know, eating a a nice whole food, balanced diet, keeping in mind our caloric needs, not overconsuming, moving regularly, lowering our stress, connecting with people, having you know, groups or this sort of tribe-like mentality, uh, getting quality sleep, getting exposure to light early in the day. I mean, all of these things we know have a massive, massive impact on our biology and our ability to actually heal ourselves and to be well.

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Hi, friends, welcome to the New Normal Big Life Podcast. We're bringing you natural and integrative health information and stories about nature that we hope will inspire you to get outside an adventure, along with a step-by-step plan to help you practice what you've learned, create your own new normal, and live the biggest life you can dream. I'm your host, Antoinette Lee, the Wellness Warrior. Let's get into today's topic. Dr. Ryan Williamson is a board-certified neurologist, U.S. Navy veteran, best-selling author of The Incredible Brain, an advocate for human longevity. He's the owner and founder of Trans and Health. He uses his expertise to help individuals optimize their health, extend their lifespans, and create more meaningful legacies. He has a passion for veterans as well as brain health and longevity, which we'll talk about today. Thanks to all of you, my wonderful new normal big life health and wellness warriors, for sending in your questions for Dr. Williamson. If you're not following Dr. Williamson on X at R WilliamsonMD on Instagram at dr. Which is packed with free resources at the Brain Foundation on Facebook. You're missing out on brain health and longevity tips. Friends, let's dive into today's topic with Dr. Ryan Williamson. Dr. Williamson, welcome to New Normal Big Life.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Thank you so much for having me. I'm excited to be here.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

First, I want to start off with thanking you for your service.

Modern Life Versus Human Biology

Core Pillars For Brain Longevity

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Oh, thank you, Antoinette, and thank you for everything that you have done in the Army. As you know, it's a it's a very difficult life to be uh an active duty service member and you know it requires a lot of time away from home and you know, giving up autonomy for a period of years. And and so no, it's it's no easy feat. So so thank you and and and any of your listeners too, who are fellow veterans, thank you for what you've done and what you do. Oh, thank you for that, because we actually do have a lot of veterans who listen and the paradigm that I like to think about when it comes to our just an idea of total wellness is the uh for for us to all understand the disconnect between our modern world and how we evolved as people. And what I mean by that is that when we think about what our ancestors used to do, you know, and that this was not that long ago, by the way. We're not talking about, you know, millions of years ago. This was, you know, maybe maybe on the order of, I don't know, just even a couple hundred years ago, that life was very, very different for all of us. But let's let's go back to the hunter-gatherer cave dwellers, because that's that's kind of the example that I like to give. But our ancestors woke up with the sun and they lived together in tribes. And when they woke up, they they probably felt hungry because maybe they had something to eat the day before, maybe they didn't. But one thing was for sure, they would go, they'd go walk, they'd have to go move to find food if they didn't have anything in camp. So you know, provide a sense of daily movement to go find something, maybe you know, a small game, excuse me, a handful of blueberries or whatever it was. And and then they would, you know, maybe come back to camp and and then bed down for the night. Nothing really stressed them out too much. And they weren't worried about, I don't know, what the their stock portfolio was doing or what their boss or their emails were were telling them, right? They just sort of got back together, told stories, and then went to sleep. And you know, when it got dark, and then they woke up the next day and did it all over again. And to state the obvious, Antoinette, we, you know, life is not like that at all. I mean, we we live in comfortable climate-controlled environments. You know, we we wake up to alarm clocks, uh, we we live in artificial, artificially lit environments, uh, food is abundant. I mean, you just have to go to the pantry and you can grab whatever you want or Costco or wherever. And as we are both sitting here and enjoying a podcast together, we we sit all day. We're sedentary. We don't we don't move like we're supposed to. And the reason I paint that picture and that that difference is that this is not congruent with our biology. And when we think about how our brains work, how our bodies work, how we're designed to heal, how we're designed to recover, just how we're designed to function. Modern life has rapidly, or our social evolution has rapidly outpaced our biology. And again, modern life does not set us up well to be healthy. So, so that that's the paradigm that I like to at least educate people on, and I want I want your listeners to think about. And uh, when we look at the medical evidence, what we know actually helps with brain health and body health long term, it respects those pillars that that do respect our biology and and is closer to what again our ancestors were doing, namely, you know, eating a nice whole food, balanced diet, keeping in mind our caloric needs, not overconsuming, you know, moving regularly, lowering our stress, connecting with people, having groups or this sort of tribe-like mentality, uh, getting quality sleep, getting getting exposure to light early in the day. I mean, all of these things we know have a massive, massive impact on our biology and our ability to actually heal ourselves and to be well, uh, and especially after something like a traumatic brain injury, this becomes even more important. So that's that that's sort of it in a nutshell.

Inside The Incredible Brain Book

SPEAKER_01 5:59

And you made it simple for us to follow with your first book, The Incredible Brain. Can you tell us what you can find in this book?

SPEAKER_00 6:07

Yes. Thank you for the opportunity to talk about the book. So very humbled that we hit, we we launched the book last month, hit bestseller. And I think that's a reflection of actually thank you, of it actually helping people. And that has been the feedback. People that have picked it up have really gotten something out of it and enjoyed it. But I have I've tried my best to distill what I know from the medical literature and what I have been telling my patients for years about how to take care of themselves and into one resource that anybody can have, whether I see you as a patient or not, or a client, or whether we never meet, hope we do, but even if we don't, uh just a resource to hand somebody to say, here, try it, try this because we we know this helps. And the way that it's organized, before I get into the first bit of science on brain structure, function, or you know, what could happen with traumatic brain injuries, or God forbid, Alzheimer's, or strokes or heart attacks, or any of that, the first chapter is called Find Your Why. And Antoinette, I think it is so important, and especially as a veteran community here where we're all used to knowing what the mission is, or to having a target or a goal or a purpose, if we don't have that, and and by the way, most of us or many of us lose that when we when we take off the uniform, as I'm sure we we have all experienced and your communities experienced. And if we don't find a new direction and a new purpose, it it can become very difficult to really thrive or succeed in life. And so I want everyone to spend time on that first, which is why it's again that's the chapter one, because without that, we just you know we we're reacting to everything and we end up kind of like you know, a ship off course just blowing around in the sea or in the wind. And I mean, you know, life life's hard, right? We have we have injuries and we have unexpected events that happen, and and we we you know we lose people we love, and they're just they're they're terrible circumstances we have to deal with. And if we don't have that that end goal in mind, it's it's very tough to get there.

Purpose, Neuroplasticity, And Recovery

SPEAKER_01 8:03

That's why I promote the adventure sports lifestyle, because on the times when I'm having flare-ups and I could hardly walk and hardly make sentences, and I can't even pull my 75-pound, I can't draw my 75-pound bow to do some archery, which helps to retrain my brain for things that require focus and attention. That's how I recovered my ability to speak and to remember the rules of the road and the four languages that I've learned is through archery. And when I can't do those things because I'm having a flare flare-up of health challenges, my brain is not in a depressed mood because I'm thinking about what little bit of exercise I can do today that propels me forward to be able to get back to doing the things that I love, being outdoors, being active. And so I highly encourage you to think about your passion and purpose in life because that will keep you from falling into those dark holes that's very difficult to climb out of later.

Mechanisms And Interventions Framework

SPEAKER_00 9:15

That's exactly right. And and again, for anyone listening, I mean, Antoinette, your your ability to find purpose, meaning, and and also to engage in not just physical activity like archery or movement, but but also in learning a new language or learning multiple new languages in your case, these these are all activities that stimulate neuroplasticity, which is the amazing property that we can take advantage of to help retrain our brain in the setting of an injury or in the setting of maybe a mood disorder. Somebody's feeling depressed, you know, we can undergo certain types of therapies or activities to help rewire our brain. And even with specific activities, which we'll, I guess we'll talk about in a minute, like meditation or mindfulness, you can actually increase the connectivity and strengthen the connections in your what's called your prefrontal cortex, so the front part of the brain here that allows us to have our highest and best function. And not only are you helping yourself feel better in the moment or learn a language or whatever, whatever the given activity is, but you're increasing the propensity to be able to function at a higher level in the future because you're training your brain to anticipate more of that same activity, not just today, but tomorrow and next month and next year. So, so by exercising your brain in that way, especially if you've had a traumatic brain injury of any kind, uh that this makes a massive difference in the long term, even though it can feel very difficult to get started at first. But once you overcome that inertia and start to build more of those connections, I mean, it is, it makes a massive difference on where we end up, hence having that goal or that purpose in mind to march towards, regardless of the journey and how we get there. So I said chapter one's fine, you know, find your wife. So it's all about purpose. And then really the the book is broken up in into two parts. So what I call the the mechanisms and the interventions and the the mechanisms are the first half of the book deals with uh how is your brain structured, how does it work, you know, what what can what can go wrong essentially. I mean, so what are the what are the pitfalls that that are so common? And you know, I I didn't realize this while I was active duty. It wasn't until I left the military in 2022 where I went back to the to civilian medicine where I was seeing really older patients. But, you know, uh by definition, our service members pre-injury of any kind are healthy people, right? We we have to be because we're screened to be healthy, to do that job. And I didn't realize how much I actually enjoyed helping people elevate their performance or help helping healthy people elevate their performance or stay on the battlefield in the case of Marines and sailors. But when we fast forward to the you know later half of life, and you know, if people have been dealing with chronic disease for 10, 20, 30 years or more, you know, this is when we see problems like heart attacks, strokes, dementia, all these terrible things that show up, or traumatic brain injuries. It doesn't take that long necessarily, but and and you know, these are these are very debilitating, as you know. And so it just seeing largely preventable conditions made me very sad after doing this for a period of a few years. And I said there's there's gotta be a better way to help more people. And and surely, of course, there is, and we what we know about the medical literature and all these interventions that we've discussed and many of the lifestyle factors that you've put in place, i.e. the movement, the light, the sleep, you know, nutrition. So anyway, I I walk people through all of this in the first half of the book to talk about what could go wrong. Uh, you know, how do these things happen in our body? And then the the last half of the book on the intervention piece is just how do we avoid it? And and you know, how can we all ensure that we live a long, healthy, and impactful life, and just walking people through step by step sort of what to do. So that's that's sort of a nutshell.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

I love that you do that, Dr. Williamson, because what I find is that people get great information from podcasts like this and others, and then they're get a little stuck with how do I put this into practice in my life? So I love a step-by-step plan. I'm all about it. I'm really glad to hear that.

The BRAIN Protocol Explained

Habit Stacking And Fast Wins

SPEAKER_00 13:13

And and to take that a step further, and so that, you know, I I started writing the book over a year ago. So this was September of 2024 that I really sat down to put this together. And as I said, we launched it last month. And again, been very overjoyed with the positive feedback. However, I've realized that I probably could have made it even more simple uh in terms of what to do. And it took me a while to kind of come up with this idea or at least distill it down to something that I think is even easier for people. So I'm not discouraging, of course, if people want to get the book, that's great. I think it will be helpful. But since then, I've even created a free resource for people on Facebook. So you and we can provide links for this, of course. But we we have a Facebook group that's 100% free to join. And I've created what I call the BRAIN protocol. And BRAIN is an acronym that I have modeled after a military SOP. Surprise, because you know, we all know how many acronyms we have in the military, how much we love those. But when we go through B B-R-A-I-N, so it's all these pillars that I talk about that are evidence-based that we know actually helps with long-term brain and body health. And we don't need to run through all of them, but just at a high level, you know, B stands for breath work, so it's all these, you know, all the things meditation, mindfulness related, breathing exercises, uh, R is for rest, so all things sleep related, letting your body heal and recover. A is for activity, so all things movement related, exercise related. I is for intake, so all things nutrition, supplementation, uh, staying away from, you know, the again, being mindful of caloric balance, staying away from ultra-processed foods, things like that. And then N is for nurturing. And so this is all about that community, that tribe, that support. And I've just got a free there, I think it's eight videos that are like five to seven minutes each. They're they're quick, they're easy. I just walk people through each letter, what to do, and then they get a free companion guide along with that to be able to write down their you know, their favorite letter, where do we start? And and again, this is especially if somebody's faced an injury of any kind or a brain injury, as you know, it can be really hard to start somewhere and like I said, overcome that inertia to get going. And so my approach, which again is evidence-based, you know, don't we we don't want people to try the whole thing or or to start with, or even even the hard letter. You actually start with what's easy or what you're already good at. You you you optimize that thing because that creates a little momentum and a little win. You know, so you already sleep really well, and or maybe you sleep okay, but you can do a little better. So you put in, you know, some some sleep hygiene and the right sleep protocol, and within a week or two, you you wake up, you're feeling better, you're sharper, you know, you're more ready to take on your day. And then maybe the next one is, well, I've done a little activity, but but I I could move more. And so you you focus on letter A and you, you know, you you maybe walk 20 minutes or you know, start going to the gym or whatever the thing is very quickly. But you know, within, I mean, in my experience, within a period of 60 to 90 days, I mean, this is transformative for people. And, you know, maybe longer if you've got a serious brain injury, but but still, people make meaningful progress in a short order, and they can actually stack these habits, and then it becomes just part of your daily routine. And I mean, your performance is elevated, your focus is improved, you feel better, uh, your mood tends to be better, people lose weight, uh, not dimension that's gonna help you live longer. I mean, it's just a it's a positive feedforward cycle, and it's it's just amazing to watch people go through this transformation. So anyway, I just I wanted to share that as a resource in addition to the book that that may even be a you know a faster track to people feeling better.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

Thank you so much for making this available for people. I will definitely link to the Facebook group and also promote your protocol on my X Space and other social media. Wow, that's really a really incredible resource that I wish I had when I was recovering, but I'm going to use it for maintenance to keep my brain as healthy as it feels today.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Yes, yes. And a a quick, maybe I don't like the term hack because I don't believe in in like biohacks or short-term, you know, quick fixes. I believe in long-term solutions and maintenance, as you said, Antoinette. I think it's a great way to put it. But if there is one intervention that I think could be super high yield for for your audience and especially for somebody that that's had a traumatic brain injury, that would be to consider creatine monohydrate as a supplement. Do you have any experience with that, Antoinette?

SPEAKER_01 17:40

I I do. I'm a former competitive bodybuilder and powerlifter in the army, so yes.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Have you have you seen any of the literature or even used it since you've had your brain injury, just out of curiosity?

SPEAKER_01 17:51

I have not, so I'm definitely taking note on this.

Creatine Monohydrate For Brain Health

SPEAKER_00 17:54

Yes. So the so again, creatine in my opinion, and creatine monohydrate specifically, because they're there are multiple forms. So monohydrate in particular, I think has the highest quality data. I, like you, Antoinette, if took it years ago for for sports. I was never a bodybuilder or that competitive, but uh I was a rower in high school and played a little rugby in college. But but I, you know, for for muscle building, for strength gains, absolutely uh data are very clear for you know for years, decades even. That that's that's the the majority of literature that we've been familiar with. In the last 10 to 15 years, there there's been new emerging data on on not just muscle health, but on, you know, maybe liver health, kidney health, bone health, heart health, but in particular brain health. And when we take a dose high enough, so typically that I think the recommended sort of weightlifting dose has been on the order of maybe five grams of creatine monohydrate per day, just kind of a scoop of this stuff, you know, that you dull out and drink in your water and go work out somewhere between five and 10 grams. And I think 10 grams, this is this is really weight-based. So it depends on your body mass index, or you male, female, how much muscle do you have, that kind of thing. But as we get closer to that 10 gram threshold, there's a transporter called the CRT or the creatine transporter that actually helps shuttle creatine across your blood-brain barrier, which is a semi-permeable protective covering around the brain that lets certain things through and keeps other things out. And we can actually shuttle creatine into the brain. And just like it works in the muscles to help with an increasing energy production, so helping manufacture more ATP, which for anybody that has a background in physiology, like Antoinette here, uh, you know that that actually is the energy currency in the body. But it turns out our neurons use this too, which is really interesting. And so we can actually provide more, more, some more energy substrate for the brain. And in particular, in the setting of a traumatic brain injury and lowering neuroinflammation and helping turn on some of these signaling molecules that help the brain heal, this is this is a game changer for people. And even people that don't have a traumatic brain injury notice cognitive benefits. You know, there's even some data, early data in Alzheimer's, that patients that have early dementia actually function better with creatine on board. And there have even been doses above and beyond 20 grams a day for in the setting of an acute traumatic brain injury. So if somebody's brain's really inflamed or they've got a really massive injury that we can infuse creatine or feed it to people and they actually tend to recover faster. So anyway, like I said, don't like the word hack, but if if there is such a thing, uh I really I think considering creatine monohydrate as part of a supplement stack can be can be highly beneficial for people.

SPEAKER_01 20:34

Is there a certain time of day that it's more effective? Should people use it in the morning, evening?

SPEAKER_00 20:40

That's a great question. So most of the literature I'm familiar with would suggest a dose once once a day and in the morning. I I personally break it up twice a day. You know, once those receptors are saturated, in in theory, you can excrete some in the kidneys or in the urine if it's not being absorbed or you know, you're you're it's not going to the muscles or enough getting across the blood-brain barrier. I'm not, again, I would have to review the literature to know if that's scientifically sound or not. It's just my kind of my my hunch. I don't know. And perhaps there is data to support that. But I personally take five grams in the morning, five grams at night, and I do notice a cognitive benefit throughout the day. Not to mention, like I went for a little five-mile run this morning up here in the mountains. So that that seems to help with my workout performance. And then as some of your audience members might know, when we sleep, this is part of why quality sleep is so important. That's actually the only time that our brains and our bodies heal and recover either from injury or from exercise, where you get to break down and rebuild the muscles. So if we've got some on board in the evening time, you know, I again, in theory, that that would help with that process. Again, is that scientific or is that just me? You know, I don't know, being being idealistic, I'm not sure.

Micro Adventure Story: Whitewater Kayaking

SPEAKER_01 21:50

Well, in my research on methylene blue, which I use and I credit to my ability to have multiple meetings in a single day, I could not. I've done this before. And if you listen to some of my earlier episodes of the podcast, and from time to time you can hear little brain glitches where I'm in the middle of a sentence and my brain just kind of reboots itself, or I don't know what to call it. That's what it feels like. And I have a lot fewer of those incidents. So I think your theory on creatine is sound for what it's worth.

SPEAKER_00 22:30

So maybe I can circle back when uh when I get some more information on the studies.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

You're in bat, you're invited back here anytime, Dr. Williamson.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

I appreciate that.

Listener Q&A: Developing Brains In Combat

SPEAKER_01 22:40

Quick heads up, wellness warriors. I don't let just anyone into this mic time. The only sponsors I ever bring on are products that I plan to use, personally use, swear by, and that have legitimately moved the needle on my health and my families. No fluff, no fillers, no junk. So if you're serious about leveling up your energy, sleep, recovery skin, whatever your goal is, do not bounce early. Stay to the very end of this episode. I'm dropping some of my absolute ride or die brands and exactly how they've helped me feel unstoppable. These aren't random ads, they're tools I stake my name on. You'll thank me later. Keep it locked. We're going all the way to the finish line together. Before we cover the next topic of this episode, I want to introduce you to the adventure sports lifestyle with what I call a micro story about an adventure that I've had. The adventure sports lifestyle and my deep connection to nature is essential to my good health, so here's the story. On a daily basis, it is sometimes difficult for me to process information quickly. So if someone is talking too fast, I sometimes have to ask them to slow down. But what I've learned is that as a whitewater kayaker, especially if you're in fast-moving water, like at 10,000 feet in the mountains of Colorado, and there are boulders coming at you quickly. There are other boats, especially other rafts that you want to avoid. So I'm in a small kayak, and there are lots of rafts on the river, and you want to make sure that you don't come up on a raft and go under it and wind up upside down under a raft, having to swim away out of your boat and out from under the raft, because that's a very dangerous situation. However, a lot of things are happening very quickly when you're whitewater kayaking. The beautiful thing that came out of this experience is that when I'm kayaking, I am in the zone. All that I'm thinking about is reading and running the river, deciding where I'm going to take my path downriver. It requires processing a lot of information very quickly and making good decisions about paddle strokes to make, catching an eddy and getting back out into the current. I did that. I hope this inspires you to challenge your brain processing capabilities through adventure sports like whitewater kayaking. It's definitely a sport you have to enter into slowly, but once you get there, you can level up your cognition, your memory, your ability to retain and process information and make decisions quickly by whitewater kayaking. I hope this inspires you to get outside and adventure alone with friends, family, or the people you love most. Now, back to the show where we're talking to Dr. Ryan Williamson. So, how about a few questions from our listeners? Of course. All right, I'm just so excited, and I'm just going to read them as they wrote them. I love this first question because I can tell this person listens to me a lot because they're using a phrase that I coined fight, flight, freeze, fawn, or photo or photograph. So the question is the male human brain continues developing well into adulthood generally until around age 25 to 27. What does being in a combat zone do to a still developing brain, specifically when it comes to constantly activating the general adaptation syndrome, fight, flight, freeze, fault, photograph, or fawn?

SPEAKER_00 26:26

That's an excellent question. I I don't know that there are any studies that have looked directly at that. And you know, this is a certainly a relevant topic, you know, being that obviously active duty recruits can be, you know, eight, eighteen to uh well really in any any adult age, but from 18 on, and most of our active duty population, of course, is you know, eighteen to mid-20s. So at that time when our brains are still forming, at least the the frontal lobes, uh, which is correct. We you know, we develop into our mid to late 20s, and and perhaps some males never fully develop. So it's a joke. But we all know people that you know it's questionable, right? Absolutely. Again, I I don't know that I can speak in an informed manner on this without having clear evidence, because that that is always the paradigm that I do my best to approach topics like this from. However, you know, we we know from let's say early childhood studies that that early adverse child events can have a massively negative impact on healthy brain development, and and that that has potential limiting effects, to put it euphemistically, later in life. So, meaning, you know, we we can see all kinds of mood disorders or nervous psychiatric disorders develop as a result of early adverse childhood events. And, you know, in my opinion, I mean, there's there's no more stressful job on the planet than being deployed to an active duty combat zone when you're in fear for your life, not to mention the the predictable PTSD, depression, anxiety, all of these things that can result as a you know from from being exposed to active duty or to combat duty to comment to combat, excuse me. So surely that this this is this is something that should be investigated and I would think would be would would have a negative lasting impact. Now, is that permanent uh or not? Again, remains to be seen. I am of the the cautiously optimistic mindset that, again, the right types of therapy, the right types of activity that engage that neuroplasticity mechanism that we talked about to help restructure, rewire the brain to overcome PTSD or anxiety or chronically negative thoughts, or even in the setting of a lost motor function and setting of a brain injury, or people can actually recover from how to walk, talk, or or maybe even in some cases see. The brain's pretty amazing and it's pretty resilient. So now I'm giving a long winding answer here, and the the short story is that you know, I don't know that we have the data to support that. So I'm sort of thinking out loud, but again, my hunch would be likely has a negative impact, but also likely very recoverable with the right interventions.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

Our next question from a listener is one that hits home because the love of my life is a double IED survivor, explosion survivor uh with a traumatic brain injury. So the question is, are you able to explain why it appears that kind of slows down after being involved in an explosion explosion such as an IED?

SPEAKER_00 29:34

So d during the event or like reliving it in the setting of PTSD?

Listener Q&A: Time Perception After TBI

SPEAKER_01 29:39

No, I I think what they're asking is after the explosion happened, keeping track of time and feeling like time slows down for them. And so maybe the rest of the world is at this speed and they're at this speed, you know, and it's kind of hard to keep up. I think it's that feeling of time being slower.

SPEAKER_00 30:04

I see. There's well, the the reason I ask specifically is that when when people are in the middle of an acutely stressful event, there's a phenomenon where time does appear to slow down for people as they're reacting to something. And, you know, time's interesting. It's a it's a relative measurement, right? Even Einstein proved this is sort of a relative concept, and it's relative to how fast we're going and where we are and what we're dealing with. And in the middle of a stressful event, again, people tend to react and process more quickly. I mean, that your brain's burning through more resources, you know, at a faster rate to do this. So in the middle of, again, combat or, you know, or uh some sort of something that triggers that fight or flight mechanism, we we can feel like time is slowing down when in fact people around us or in another situation who are in fact, you know, in a situation for the same number of seconds, minutes, or however long you know you want to mark that time, experience it as happening much more quickly. But after an injury or after a blast, you know, exposure or something like this, we we we now know that that that exposure to to concussive forces that that aren't that don't cause direct contact. So meaning, you know, if you think of a a piece of shrapnel or you know, a fist or a bullet or some you know some horrible thing that could that could indirectly injure our brain, we now know that that it being adjacent to a blast wave or a shockwave can actually penetrate the skull and the brain and cause an injury this way. So I, you know, i.e. if if somebody's exposed to an IED or or they're on an EOD team or something like that, and a bomb goes off nearby, this this can injure the brain. As a result of that, my again, I'm I'm uh hypothesizing here, but as a result of that, if somebody had a brain injury and they are not processing information as quickly or efficiently as they did pre-injury, that might make it feel like, wow, like this this person's talking at a million miles an hour, and I'm I'm not able to fully absorb the conversation or the information like I was, and that might make it feel like they are slowed down relative to somebody else who's keeping up at a higher rate, a higher pace. So that's how I'm interpreting that question, uh Antoinette. So I hope that's correct for your listener. But but again, very common phenomenon after an injury like this, whether it again is a blast exposure, direct trauma, et cetera, uh, and again, in many cases, recoverable with the right interventions in place.

SPEAKER_01 32:30

That's good to know. And I do experience that too. Sometimes it feels like the pace of life is much faster than I'm capable of processing. And surprisingly, a lot of people are not understanding or compassionate when I say something very simple. I'm sorry, I've had a traumatic brain injury. Would you mind talking just a little bit slower because I'm not able to follow the conversation? I've even had doctors become angry with me and won't even tell me I talk how I talk. And a lot of people don't understand that I look like I can keep talking with you, but I cannot if you're talking too fast. And they don't have empathy for the fact that a senior citizen or a person with a hidden disability might be struggling.

Living With Invisible Injuries

SPEAKER_00 33:20

I'm so glad you said that, Antoinette. And I just want to validate every one of your listeners and in your audience who is dealing with a silent wound where you you don't appear to look abnormal to people. I actually just put a post on LinkedIn yesterday about this because you you mentioned us connecting on LinkedIn. But, you know, even I didn't realize what I was dealing with and carrying as a result of my time as an active duty service member. And I'm a brain doctor for crying out loud. I mean, I, you know, so there we we all deal with things that to to the untrained eye or to someone who doesn't know you, they think you just look like a normal person. When in fact, internally you could be at war with yourself or or you know, barely string a sentence together. It takes all the effort in the world to just, you know, get get a thought out. So I just I just want everyone to know that that, you know, to to normalize that and and to know that it's okay, that there is hope, and to just try to brush that off as best you can. And I'm just I'm sorry that you and other people have dealt with that, especially for medical providers, because we we really do know better.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

Absolutely. Thank you for that. I really appreciate it. I have one final question. Dr. Sonia Lubomirsky. She has this theory, which I subscribe to. I created my whole new normal big life process before learning the theory. After learning the theory, I I saw, wow, I already did that in my life, so it's great. But her hypothesis is 50% of what makes you who you are comes from your genes that are turned off or on. And then 10% is environment, things that happen to you, like a brain injury, for example. But 40% of what makes you who you are is within your control because it's lifestyle changes. So if you can uh leave us with your top three, four, or five, however many you think is important, lifestyle changes that we all can do, whether you have a healthy brain, an injured brain, or an aging brain, to have good cognitive ability throughout our lifetime so that we have not just a longer life, but a more active, happier, healthier life.

How Much Is Lifestyle Versus Genes

SPEAKER_00 35:36

Absolutely. Well, I would I would challenge the assertion that only 40% of our health outcomes are lifestyle-based. And this this may be splitting hairs here, because we know that that any lifestyle intervention interacts with and changes genetic expression in the body. So, you know, there's uh again, there's some overlap here. But the data that I'm familiar with, and this is something I do try to keep up with, uh, so that that number is more like 70 to 90 percent of our health outcomes. And I've even read some recent studies that may be a little ambitious, and again, depends on how you interpret all these things, that that it's like 95%, meaning that that let's just say that the majority or the vast majority of your health outcomes are within your control, period. So incredible. It really is. And and I think that again, the the narrative around, oh, I I'll never do that because it's just my genes, or I'll never overcome this injury or this thing, or my parents had this, therefore I will that that's we we we know that's not true in 99% of cases. I mean, yes, there are some rare heritable genetic conditions for sure. And and again, this is a complex landscape, but 70 to 90 percent, perhaps more of all health outcomes are lifestyle based. So, with that in mind, that that is that is why I have spent so much time trying to simplify this, as I said. And when we look at the brain protocol again that I went over a minute ago, so the breath work rest, activity, intake nurturing, those are the pillars. And that those are the pillars that are evidence-based, that are lifestyle-based, that actually do meaningfully move the needle on our health. So again, we can run through those again if you'd like. And if I it's really hard for me to pick even two or three of those because they're all so impactful. I may maybe if I had to pick one, you know, if there's if there's one intervention that that turns on the most genes, mechanisms, et cetera, probably regular movement or exercise or different types of exercise are perhaps the most impactful, but that that can't be at the expense of not sleeping, uh, that can't be at the expense of not taking in the proper nutrition or having healthy relationships or lowering our stress or whatever else. So that's it all matters. I mean, it really does. But but maybe exercise first and then the rest kind of on down from there.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

Well, Dr. Williams said it has been an absolute pleasure and an honor to get to know you more. And thank you so much for God's work that you're doing. I truly mean that from the bottom of my heart. Where can folks get your book, find you, and connect with you through social media?

SPEAKER_00 38:16

Absolutely. Well, Antoinette, first off, thank you for having me and thank you for using your story, your voice, and your platform to help empower others to live a healthy, impactful life because it it is just so important, I think, for people to know what's possible and you're you're providing that. So, so thank you for what you're doing. Um, for the book, if it's on Amazon, it's probably the easiest place to go. So if you just open up Amazon and type in the incredible brain, that should get you there. We've got all forms from ebook to audiobook. If you want to listen to me talk for 10 hours, because my wife says there's no way she'd do that. But if you'd like the paperback or the hard copy, that's there too. Um I mentioned the Facebook link, which again we can provide and um or on all all things social media, but but if people go to our our main website, uh that that's Transcend Health Group. So Transcend Healthgroup.com, um that that'll link to everything, to the book, to you know, our Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, all that good stuff.

Closing, Resources, And Where To Find More

SPEAKER_01 39:15

Perfect. There will be links in the show description. You can also download the transcripts. Thank you so much for joining me today from your cabin in the woods to my cabin in the woods.

SPEAKER_00 39:26

Yes, Antoinette. Thank you.

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SPEAKER_01 39:28

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SPEAKER_00 42:48

The information in this podcast is not medical advice and should not be treated as such. Always consult your physician or healthcare professional before pursuing any health related procedure or activity.