Episode 33
Dr. Wendy Suzuki

 

How does exercise affect the brain?

After achieving tenure at NYU and researching how memory works in the brain, neuroscientist Dr. Wendy Suzuki realized that her life was in the lab and her social and physical well being were suffering because of it. She wasn't maximizing the potential of her brain because everything you do or don't do affects the brain. She decided to do something about it - to start exercising and to get strong. She stuck to it and with hard work she started to notice the effects on her brain: her mood, memory and attention improved because of exercise. This fascinated her and has become the focus of her work as a neuroscientist. She's now dedicated to researching the power of exercise to improve people’s learning memory and cognition.

We talk about her new book, Healthy Brain, Happy Life: A Personal Program to Activate Your Brain & Do Everything Better, how exercise affects the brain, brain hacks, brain myths and more.

Highlights:

  • How the incredible Professor Marian Diamond from inspired her to become a neuroscientist

  • Women account for 50% of student body in science grad programs but only 28% of the science faculty

  • Stress can damage the hippocampus - exercise protects it from future stress and can reverse damage caused by long term stress.

  • "These are the questions that I get. What’s the dif between yoga, kickboxing and HIIT? What’s going to give me the biggest bang for the buck in my brain? I don’t know the answer. I would love to know the answer. I’m developing programs to ask these questions."

  • The ultimate myth about the brain is that we only use 10% of our brains. About 70% of our brain is devoted to processing visual information alone. Auditory processing uses another percentage and any movement uses your motor system. We are using a huge proportion of our brain and if you go into a brain scanner and even sit there and think or visualize you are activating so much of your brain.

  • Another myth is that right brain people are more creative and left brain people are more analytical. This isn't true. All the studies coming out show that the most creative responses come from people that use both sides of their brain.