#167 The Truth About Fitness and Keeping Your Brain Healthy with Dr Tommy Wood

Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee

This week's guest is someone who I really respect - Dr. Tommy Wood has a biochemistry degree from the University of Cambridge, a medical degree from the University of Oxford and a PhD in physiology and neuroscience from the University of Oslo. He's currently a research assistant professor at the University of Washington, and he conducts research focusing on ways to increase resilience and treat injury in the developing brain. What I love about Tommy is that not only is his knowledge and education second to none, he's also got an incredible range of experience across a variety of different disciplines, which gives him a really broad perspective and an ability to see the big picture. Alongside his career in medicine and research, Tommy has invested a lot of time in developing easily accessible methods with which to track human health, performance and longevity. He’s published multiple scientific papers and lectured all over the world about the root causes of multiple sclerosis and insulin resistance.

Tommy's goal, much like my own is to cut through the mixed health messages that we’re given in the media, by healthcare professionals, and even from scientific studies. His objective is to shine a light on the best way for people to approach these conflicting issues, and to help find ways to practically implement them in our daily lives. In this conversation, we cover a variety of fascinating different topics.

We start off talking about fitness and endurance sports and how being fit might not be as healthy as you think. Tommy shares his own health journey through low self-esteem and orthorexia and we discuss how the language we use when talking about health is so important.

We also cover the value of failure and how vital it is to keep challenging our brains as adults. Tommy explains the latest thinking on the various factors that can influence our brain health, from sleep and stress to movement and food.

Finally, we touch on the crucial role that emotional health and human connection plays in brain health and the powerful idea that your brain needs a reason to be alive. I think one of the most empowering things to come out of this conversation is that the changes you need to make to improve your health and well-being are much smaller than you'd think. I hope you find this conversation inspiring.

Show notes available at https://drchatterjee.com/167

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