The Science of Brain Ageing + How to Increase Your Cognitive Power | Dr Norman Swan
Most senior leaders have a year in mind when they will finally stop. House paid off, kids launched, a few rounds of golf a week.
Dr Norman Swan thinks that date deserves a much harder look. The research he’s been reading points to retirement as a likely cause of cognitive decline, with the same drop showing up across country after country. And the plan most of us have for filling the time, more family, a caravan trip, a few series to binge, doesn’t give the brain the load it needs.
Swan, the ABC’s best-known health broadcaster, joined Andrew live in Sydney for Florence Guild to talk about his book The Brain Cliff and the super-agers who stay sharp into their nineties and beyond. What they share is surprising, and it starts with how they handle stress.
Contact Dr Norman Swan: https://www.abc.net.au/news/norman-swan/2849474
Order The Brain Cliff: https://www.hachette.com.au/dr-norman-swan/the-brain-cliff
00:00 The retirement date leaders should be suspicious of
03:05 Three super agers who never hit the cliff
06:54 Why the brain cliff is not inevitable
09:04 What super agers share, and the blue zone problem
11:13 Stress doesn't age your brain. Rumination does
12:16 Scaffolding: how the ageing brain rewires itself
14:22 Why your brain lights up when it's meant to rest
17:22 Train your brain like a muscle
19:52 Fluid vs crystallised intelligence in midlife
23:44 The dementia story the headlines miss
26:25 Norman turns 70. His kids think he's 50
29:13 A week in Norman's life: training, food, sleep, zero supplements
33:07 The 200 hours behind a close friendship
38:04 Inside a biohacking conference: drips, peptides, red light helmets
46:40 Why retirement pushes you off the cliff
50:34 Q&A: Can you come back from the cliff?
53:59 Meditation and breaking the rumination loop
57:44 Don't load all your dice on one thing
59:54 Boredom, screens and digital dementia
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Contact Dr Norman Swan: https://www.abc.net.au/news/norman-swan/2849474
Order The Brain Cliff: https://www.hachette.com.au/dr-norman-swan/the-brain-cliff
00:00 The retirement date leaders should be suspicious of
03:05 Three super agers who never hit the cliff
06:54 Why the brain cliff is not inevitable
09:04 What super agers share, and the blue zone problem
11:13 Stress doesn't age your brain. Rumination does
12:16 Scaffolding: how the ageing brain rewires itself
14:22 Why your brain lights up when it's meant to rest
17:22 Train your brain like a muscle
19:52 Fluid vs crystallised intelligence in midlife
23:44 The dementia story the headlines miss
26:25 Norman turns 70. His kids think he's 50
29:13 A week in Norman's life: training, food, sleep, zero supplements
33:07 The 200 hours behind a close friendship
38:04 Inside a biohacking conference: drips, peptides, red light helmets
46:40 Why retirement pushes you off the cliff
50:34 Q&A: Can you come back from the cliff?
53:59 Meditation and breaking the rumination loop
57:44 Don't load all your dice on one thing
59:54 Boredom, screens and digital dementia
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