Podcast Summary
BETTER! Muscle, Mobility, Metabolism & (Peri)Menopause with Dr. Stephanie
Episode: The 10-Minute Habit That Reverses Brain Aging & Helps You Sleep Like a Teen
Date: November 10, 2025
Host: Dr. Stephanie Estima
Guest: Ariel Garten, neuroscientist, psychotherapist, co-founder of Muse (brain-sensing meditation headband)
Episode Overview
This episode takes a deep dive into meditation as both a practical and neurological tool to address women’s health in midlife, particularly in the context of perimenopause and menopause. Dr. Stephanie and neuroscientist Ariel Garten explore how a simple 10-minute habit—meditation—can reverse aspects of brain aging, improve emotional regulation, combat stress and anxiety, and dramatically enhance sleep quality. With actionable science and lived experience, they alchemize complex neuroscience into clear, doable steps for busy women.
Ariel brings her expertise as the co-founder of Muse, a wearable neurofeedback device, and unpacks the “why” and “how” behind meditation’s cognitive and physiological benefits—especially for women navigating midlife pressures and hormonal changes.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Why Do High-Achieving Women Skip Meditation?
[07:01]
- Dr. Stephanie discusses the common perception that meditation is “selfish” or non-productive compared to other health habits like exercise or nutrition.
- Ariel reframes meditation:
“When you do meditate, you're doing a lot. There's a lot going on under the hood during that meditation session. And, and it benefits not just you, but your family and your community and everybody around you.” — Ariel Garten [07:01]
2. What Meditation Does to Your Brain
[08:31]
- Simple breath-focused meditation teaches you agency over your thoughts, pulling you out of stress and rumination.
- Regular meditation enhances cognitive control, improves emotional regulation, and reduces bodily stress responses.
- Studies show meditation strengthens the insula (body awareness), decreases Default Mode Network (DMN) activity (the source of ruminative self-talk), and builds prefrontal cortex "muscle."
- The practice helps you prioritize presence and intentional focus, benefiting relationships and daily functioning.
“You actually learn how to take control of your own mind... You can have choice and agency over where your mind goes and what it pays attention to.” — Ariel Garten [08:31]
3. Meditation and Physical Movement Synergy
[13:00]
- Dr. Stephanie notes she finds post-exercise meditations most effective, as moving the body primes the brain for deeper meditative states.
- Exercise floods the brain with BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), boosts oxygen, and enhances focus during meditation.
- Ariel: You don’t have to pair them, but if it works for you, it's real—just five minutes of meditation at any time is beneficial.
4. Meditation as a Mini-"Brain Car Wash"
[14:10 – 17:15]
- Introducing the glymphatic system: Like lymph for the rest of your body, glymph in the brain clears toxins (incl. amyloid beta, linked to Alzheimer's).
- Meditation has been shown—via novel MRI techniques—to move glymph similarly to deep sleep, potentially flushing out toxins.
“During meditation, you are actually moving glymph through your brain in a way that is similar to sleep.” — Ariel Garten [14:48]
5. Taming the "Monkey Mind": DMN & Self-Talk
[17:25 – 20:41]
- The incessant inner chatter (DMN) can be observed, not obeyed, through meditation.
- Meditation quiets this network—mirroring the ego dissolution seen (temporarily) with psychedelics, but in a safe, non-pharmacological way.
- Non-dual meditations can evoke profound moments where the ego dissolves, making you feel interconnected with others and your environment.
“When you do a meditation practice... you start to see a decrease in the activation of the default mode network... so you are really training that ruminative internal dialogue part of your mind to not blab at you so much.” — Ariel Garten [18:47]
6. The Muse Headband & Real-Time Neurofeedback
[26:25, 32:08]
- Muse gives real-time feedback via sound (e.g., storms for busy mind, birds for focus), helping you understand and improve your meditation experience.
- Unique features include “heart meditation,” where your heartbeat becomes a drum, making physiological processes tangible.
- Neurofeedback with Muse leads to improvement not just while meditating but throughout the day.
“So it's kind of like trying to exercise on your own just randomly, versus going to the gym and having a trainer.” — Ariel Garten [33:42]
7. It’s Okay to Suck at Meditation—It’s a Practice
[35:59 – 39:06]
- Let go of being “good at it”; the win is in practicing noticing, redirecting thoughts, and building cognitive muscle.
- Regular practice strengthens the prefrontal cortex’s ability to calm the amygdala (stress center).
“I want to even throw out the idea of being good at it... we are practicing.” — Ariel Garten [36:54]
8. Meditation & Sleep: Falling, Staying, and Returning
[41:46 – 48:05]
- Meditation, especially with real-time feedback, can help calm the “wired but tired” mind at bedtime.
- The Muse S Athena uses biofeedback and brainwave tracking to actively guide the brain into sleep and even brings back calming meditations if you wake up during the night.
- Pairing meditation with acceptance (equanimity) transforms night waking—even perimenopausal night sweats—into non-events that don’t keep you awake.
9. Brainwave States Explained & Neurofeedback’s Role
[50:39 – 54:33]
- Beta waves: Active thinking/anxiety. Alpha: Calm, meditative. Theta: Dreamy, creative. Delta: Deep sleep.
- Meditation increases alpha (relaxed focus); deep sleep increases delta (memory consolidation, brain “cleaning”).
- Muse’s upcoming features will enhance and reinforce deep sleep brainwave states, personalizing audio cues for your rhythms.
10. Optimizing Sleep & Naps: Myths, Science, and Tech
[56:24 – 68:29]
- Your sleep cycles shift from deep sleep early in the night to REM later; both types are important.
- Sleep is regulated by melatonin (set by light) and adenosine (sleep pressure, blocked by caffeine).
- Napping: 15–25 min max, before 2pm, or it’ll steal nighttime sleep drive. Muse will soon offer a “smart nap” feature to ensure optimal nap length based on your brain activity.
11. Science-Backed Minimal Effective Dose
[71:13]
- Mayo Clinic and healthcare professional studies show even 3–5 minutes a day with Muse produced significant improvements in stress, fatigue, burnout, cognition, and quality of life—even under extreme circumstances.
- Consistency trumps duration; 3, 5, or 10 minutes daily is enough to start potent change.
“The best length of time to meditate is the length of time you're gonna do it for” — Ariel Garten [70:12]
12. Brain Aging, Cognitive Decline, and Meditation’s Protective Power
[77:58 – 78:40]
- Meditation maintains prefrontal cortex thickness and volume (key for executive function, decreases with age).
- Long-term meditators’ brains look, on average, 7.5 years younger than non-meditators.
- Meditation/from scientific studies, may help flush amyloid beta, decrease inflammation, and possibly protect against Alzheimer's and age-related cognitive decline.
- There are ongoing studies with Muse in Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, fibromyalgia, and long-COVID.
Notable Quotes & Moments
- On Meditation Feeling “Selfish:”
“Do I really have time to just sit quietly for 10 minutes? …But it turns out that when you do meditate, you're doing a lot.” — Ariel Garten [07:01]
- On Glymphatic Cleansing:
“If 10 minutes you can get a little, like a little mini cleanse, a little, you know, car wash. Right. For the brain.” — Dr. Stephanie [17:15]
- On the Beginner’s Mind:
“It's okay to suck at meditation...everybody starts somewhere.” — Dr. Stephanie [36:04]
- On Sleep Anxiety:
“When you, instead of lying there, anxious, choose to meditate. With or without a device. It doesn't matter... even if you don't sleep for like five hours. Great. You got five hours of meditation. That's fucking phenomenal. Pardon my language.” — Ariel Garten [45:18]
- On Consistency & Permission:
“There was actually a study...they told them to use it for three minutes a day...after three months, [they] significantly improved their stress, their fatigue, and their quality of life.” — Ariel Garten [71:13]
Practical Takeaways & Action Steps
- Start small, but start. Even 3–5 minutes a day makes a difference.
- Be consistent. Regularity trumps duration; it’s a practice, not a performance.
- Don't worry about “succeeding” at meditation. Observing your mind and returning to your breath is the win.
- Use tools that give feedback. Real-time neurofeedback helps anchor and accelerate the learning curve.
- Pair meditation with movement if you like, but don’t let logistics block you. Both have independent neurocognitive benefits.
- If you wake up at night, practice equanimity. Meditation (guided or not) can be as restful as sleep.
- Prioritize early, regular sleep routines. Respect both melatonin cycles and adenosine (sleep pressure); avoid caffeine after noon and keep naps short and early.
Timestamps for Major Segments
- 07:01 – Why we skip meditation and what we miss
- 08:31 – Under-the-hood brain/physiology changes with meditation
- 13:00 – Synergy of movement and meditation
- 14:10 – Glymphatic brain “cleaning” during meditation and sleep
- 17:25 – Gaining agency over the inner voice; DMN & self-talk
- 20:41 – Non-dual meditation, ego, and connectedness
- 26:23 / 32:08 – Muse meditation: real-time brain & body feedback
- 35:59 – It's okay to be a beginner at meditation
- 41:46 – Meditation for sleep initiation and maintenance
- 50:39 – Brainwaves explained; what happens in sleep and meditation
- 56:24 – Sleep cycles, myths, and optimization
- 66:31 – Naps: timing, length, and upcoming tech
- 70:12 – 3-minute habit backed by research; minimal effective dose
- 77:58 – How meditation may delay/prevent brain aging and decline
Final Thought
Meditation is not about striving for perfection or enlightenment. Even as little as five minutes a day can reshape your brain, your emotional regulation, and your sleep. It’s a practice worth making time for—especially as a busy woman in midlife, facing unique mental, emotional, and physiological transitions.
“...Minimum of five years of meditation, you can get a brain that looks on average 7.5 years younger.”
— Ariel Garten [78:40]
Find Ariel & Muse:
- Social: @choosemuse
- Web: choosemuse.com
Discount/Offer: BETTER for 15% off (see show notes for link)