Neuroscientist: “The Silent Symptoms of Dementia - Watch Out for These Warning Signs” | Tommy Wood

1. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee0:00

   It's no wonder when we currently study populations, like, there's a linear decline in, in our brain function.

2. TWDr. Tommy Wood0:05

   Yeah.

3. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee0:06

   So with all the good news, let's go more.

4. TWDr. Tommy Wood0:08

   [laughs]

5. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee0:08

   Let's go to number three.

6. TWDr. Tommy Wood0:09

   It's lack of, it's lack of stimulus, right? So we've already talked about that-

7. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee0:12

   We've talked

8. TWDr. Tommy Wood0:12

   ... in m- in multiple ways. But if you, um ... The way that we would do that in animal models, um, is we either socially isolate an animal, which is incredibly stressful, and you have to get, um ... What, what's interesting, and it's im- it's import- I mean, it's incredibly important for doing high quality animal work that's ethical and that actually helps us move human health forward, which is ultimately the goal. If it's not doing that, I don't think it's worth doing. Um, that, you know, in order to do ethical animal work, you have to, you know, look after those animals as best as you possibly can. And one of the ways that that's ensured is, you know, there are committees at every university that make sure that every experiment that's proposed is, is sort of as, as, um, ethically sound as possible. But unless you have a really good reason to, there are two things you're not allowed to do. You're not allowed to socially isolate the animal, and you're not allowed to remove any stimulus from the environment, what we call environmental enrichment, and that can be in terms of, uh, like a running wheel for mice, or it could just be, like, toys or something in the cages. Um, and if you think about humans, socially isolated, lack of cognitive stimulus, like, we're doing this to vast proportions of our population, particularly as they get older and we've taken away social connection, we've taken away stimulus. Um, you're not allowed to do that to a rat in a lab unless you have a very good reason for doing it. But you can do it to a human no problem.

9. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee1:34

   That is ... Just to look at it through that lens is completely nuts, isn't it?

10. TWDr. Tommy Wood1:38

    Yeah.

11. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee1:39

    Wow.

12. TWDr. Tommy Wood1:40

    So that's, that's the third part. And then the fourth part, uh, we kind of talked about a little bit as well, which is that, right, you need the stimulus, you need the things that require nutrients to respond to the stimulus, you need the absence of toxins, and then you need some kind of period of rest and recovery. So that's why sleep is critical. But then also, um, absence of chronic stress is probably something you could put into that bucket as well. And, um, you can do this, uh, with social stresses, say, um, in, in ... if you're gonna do this in, in an animal model. Um, so we, we talked about social isolation. That's, that's, that's a chronic stressor. But you can also do it with, um, aggressors. So you might have a- an aggressive, um, mouse that you introduce into the cage, and then that continuous aggression, which, uh, could be, uh, discrimination based on your physical ability, based on your race, based on your socioeconomic status. You know, these things that people are exposed to again and again and again, and we might model it in that way. And then that's ... You know, there's a whole host of, um, physiological, immunological, you know, things that we can measure that result from that. But, you know, cognitive decline and chronic health conditions can be one of the things that come from that.

13. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee2:49

    Yeah. I'm thinking of that aggressive boss, that aggressive family member.

14. TWDr. Tommy Wood2:54

    Yeah.

15. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee2:54

    The, the sort of thing we can all think about in our own lives, whether currently or previously, and what an impact that can have. And it also speaks to what you said early on in the conversation, and it's something we have to be super conscious of when we're talking about making changes to improve the quality of our lives. You know, I'm all like you for empowering people with helpful information, but I think we do need to acknowledge maybe in this wellness community more than often does get acknowledged, that there are huge psychosocial stresses-

16. TWDr. Tommy Wood3:24

    Yeah

17. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee3:24

    ... cultural stresses for different communities, financial stresses, racial stresses. These things hugely impacts our biology and our physiology.

18. TWDr. Tommy Wood3:33

    Yeah.

19. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee3:33

    And for some of us, it's easier to make those changes than for others, isn't it?

20. TWDr. Tommy Wood3:39

    Yeah. And I, I think it's a ... It's been something that's sort of aimed at, uh, whether you call, you know, the lifestyle medicine or, uh, functional medicine or integrative medicine, uh, ancestral health communities, you know, those people who focus on these lifestyle factors that we've talked about. And it's a worthy critism- criticism to say not everybody can do that, right?

21. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee4:00

    Mm.

22. TWDr. Tommy Wood4:00

    Not everybody has the financial ability to remove themselves from the environment that they're in, if it's, you know, um, they have to live close to a road or they have to live close to a refinery, right? So in, in, in the, in the United States, um, you know, near, you know, large petrochemical plants, that's where you've had redlined housing areas where people from low socioeconomic status, usually more likely to be Black, have been put around-

23. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee4:22

    Mm

24. TWDr. Tommy Wood4:22

    ... these areas. And then it's, you know, it's baked into the environment and you can't afford to move out. Um, and or it may be, you know, we talked about food, but, you know, what food to- do you have access to? Um, do you even have a kitchen? You know, do you have-

25. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee4:36

    Yeah

26. TWDr. Tommy Wood4:36

    ... are you working two jobs and do you, do you have time to cook? Um, you know, we need to be very mindful that the social determinants of health play a big role here.

27. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee4:44

    Yeah. I, I mean, I totally agree with that. I, I think it's ... I think there's a lot of nuance to that because sometimes that criticism gets leveled and say we shouldn't be giving any information out because it's not relevant to that community.

28. TWDr. Tommy Wood4:56

    Yeah.

29. RCDr. Rangan Chatterjee4:57

    I don't agree with that.

30. TWDr. Tommy Wood4:57

    No.

Episode duration: 26:12