The Anxiety Scientist: Feeling Overwhelmed? Rewire Your Brain With This Science-Backed Method

Summary

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The Tamsen Show

Episode: The Anxiety Scientist: Feeling Overwhelmed? Rewire Your Brain With This Science-Backed Method
Host: Tamsen Fadal
Guest: Dr. Wendy Suzuki
Date: January 7, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the science of anxiety with Dr. Wendy Suzuki, neuroscientist, NYU dean, and author of Good Anxiety. Together with host Tamsen Fadal, they discuss how anxiety can be reframed as a source of information and even a "superpower" when approached with the right mindset. Dr. Suzuki shares actionable strategies for managing everyday anxiety, sheds light on the brain's response to stress, and explains how simple habits like movement, breathwork, and sleep can dramatically affect brain health, memory, and mood—especially for women navigating the challenges of midlife.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Defining Anxiety and Its Role in Our Lives ([05:31])

• Anxiety as Evolutionary Protection:
  Dr. Suzuki simplifies anxiety as "the feeling of fear or worry typically associated with uncertain situations" ([05:31]).
  • Quote: “Anxiety is a normal human emotion. Everybody has it… If it was truly detrimental, it would have evolved out of us.” – Dr. Suzuki ([06:34])
  • Anxiety has evolved to keep us safe, alerting us to potential threats—be it ancient predators or modern anxieties like social media.
• Spectrum of Anxiety:
  Anxiety exists on a wide continuum from everyday stress to clinical levels requiring professional intervention.
  • Quote: "[Good Anxiety] was really written for what I like to call everyday anxiety… approximately 80% of the population that experiences anxiety but would like to decrease it." – Dr. Suzuki ([05:31])

2. Societal Trends: Social Media, AI, and the Pandemic ([04:16])

• Social Media & AI:
  Modern anxiety is exacerbated by digital life: constant social comparison and reliance on AI for social scripts deepen feelings of worry and inadequacy.
  • Quote: “If that's all you do, then your AI is creating your own life for you, and that is kind of doubling down on the anxiety caused by social media.” – Dr. Suzuki ([04:16])

3. Reframing Anxiety: From Burden to Insight ([07:27])

• Anxiety Points to What We Value:
  Every anxiety signals a deeper value—safety, stability, relationships, or self-worth. Recognizing this flips anxiety from a "weight" to information.

  • Quote: "Every anxiety can be flipped on its other side to reveal what you hold dear. And that's something beautiful to actually appreciate." – Dr. Suzuki ([09:58])

• Personal Reflection & Preparing for Triggers:
  Identify recurring sources of anxiety (family, work, holidays) and anticipate them with self-awareness and support from friends/community.

  • Quote: “If you can identify those… and then do that flip before it happens… can I preview that for myself and remind myself before I get into the situation?” – Dr. Suzuki ([10:27])

4. Personal Story: Grief, Growth, and the Flip Side of Pain ([12:12])

• Dr. Suzuki’s Grief and Revelation:
  During the writing of her book, Dr. Suzuki lost her father and brother in quick succession, leading to deep grief and halting progress.
  • Quote: “What I learned was that on the other side, the flip side of that deep grief was a deep love that I had for my brother and my father… I couldn't feel this great grief without that deep love.” – Dr. Suzuki ([14:00])
• This realization led her to search for the "superpowers" in all difficult emotions, including anxiety.

5. The Brain’s Response to Anxiety—Fight or Flight vs. Rest and Digest ([17:06])

• What Happens in the Brain:
  Key structures like the amygdala and hypothalamus trigger the fight-or-flight response.
  • Elevated heart rate, rapid breathing, and readiness for action are ancient responses now activated by daily stressors.
• Activating the Parasympathetic System:
  The antidote is the "rest and digest" (parasympathetic) system, best triggered through deliberate deep breathing.
  • Quote: “It really is that simple... breath work is the oldest form of meditation.” – Dr. Suzuki ([19:02])

6. Two Fast-Acting Techniques to Calm Anxiety ([19:42])

• Movement:
  A 10-minute walk can measurably reduce anxiety and depression immediately ([19:42], [25:25]).
• Boxed Breathing:
  Inhale 4 seconds, hold 4, exhale 4, hold 4—subtle and effective, even during stressful situations.

7. Physical Activity and Brain Health ([23:54])

• Exercise as a Neurochemical "Bubble Bath":
  Movement releases serotonin, dopamine, endorphins—feel-good chemicals akin to what antidepressants do.
  • Quote: “Every single time you move your body, it's like giving your brain a beautiful bubble bath of neurochemicals.” – Dr. Suzuki ([24:14])
• Any Movement Counts, Cardio Reigns:
  All movement helps, but cardio has the strongest evidence for brain benefit; even strength training counts if it raises your heart rate ([25:05]).
• Immediate & Long-Term Benefits:
  Mood boosts appear within 10 minutes and can last up to several hours ([25:25]). Regular exercise builds new brain cells, especially in the hippocampus.

8. Brain Plasticity: Yes, You Can Change and Grow at Any Age ([26:02], [34:48])

• Exercise and Brain Growth:
  Regular movement doesn’t just help mood—it literally grows new neurons and strengthens synapses, improving memory and focus ([26:02], [30:10]).
• Seeing is Believing:
  Dr. Suzuki physically illustrates brain structure and plasticity using a preserved human brain, driving home the precious, complex, and adaptable nature of our brains ([28:28]).

9. Nutrition, Hydration, and Brain Function ([32:29])

• Mediterranean Diet Reigns:
  The most proven diet for brain health is plant-heavy, colorful, with lean proteins and minimal red meat ([32:29]).
• Supplements:
  Not strictly necessary; focus on real food, protein, fiber, and adequate water ([33:20], [33:40], [33:50]).
• Hydration:
  Even mild dehydration impairs cognition; drink consistently, not just when thirsty ([33:50]).

10. Sleep and Memory: The "Garbage Truck" of the Brain ([40:47])

• Why Sleep Matters:
  Sleep resets and “cleans” the brain, consolidating what you learned for memory while clearing out metabolic waste ([40:47], [41:20]).
  • Quote: “Say, ah, I’m strong, I only need five hours of sleep tonight. Well, you end up with garbage-filled brain.” – Dr. Suzuki ([41:48])
• Sleep Deprivation = Poor Learning:
  Students pulling all-nighters perform drastically worse than those getting full sleep ([40:17]).

11. Memory Techniques and Brain Hacks ([42:29], [43:51])

• Memory Palace Technique:
  Using spatial memory (e.g., visualizing your house) helps retain lists and details ([43:51]).
• Remembering Names:
  Visual associations (e.g., “Jessica Rabbit” for someone named Jessica) and repetition help encode names more deeply ([44:53]).
• Other Strategies:
  • Repetition
  • Association
  • Novelty
  • Emotional resonance ([46:01])

12. The Cost of Loneliness and the Power of Community ([47:32])

• Loneliness as a Brain Stressor:
  Chronic isolation acts as a long-term stressor, detrimental to mental and cognitive health ([47:32]).
• Building Social Connection:
  Start with low-stakes, accessible social events—even short interactions matter. Community and friendship buffer against anxiety and stress ([48:27]).

13. The #1 Daily Practice for Brain Health ([49:39])

• Prioritize Sleep:
  Even small increases (15–20 minutes) can pay major dividends ([49:39], [50:16]).
• Key Mindset for Women in Midlife:
  • Quote: “That it’s broken, you’re too old, it’s not gonna be fixed. I like to focus on the idea that at this stage in life, there are so many things to be grateful for. I have so much more wisdom now than I did.” – Dr. Suzuki ([50:35])
  • The wisdom gained with age is a profound advantage, not a deficit.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Anxiety is a normal human emotion. Everybody has it… If it was truly detrimental, it would have evolved out of us.” – Dr. Wendy Suzuki ([06:34])
• “Every anxiety can be flipped on its other side to reveal what you hold dear.” – Dr. Suzuki ([09:58])
• “What I learned was that on the other side, the flip side of that deep grief was a deep love that I had for my brother and my father.” – Dr. Suzuki ([14:00])
• “It really is that simple... breath work is the oldest form of meditation.” – Dr. Suzuki ([19:02])
• “Every single time you move your body, it’s like giving your brain a beautiful bubble bath of neurochemicals.” – Dr. Suzuki ([24:14])
• “You end up with garbage-filled brain [if you skip sleep]... I’m hoping it’s scaring other people to get that sleep.” – Dr. Suzuki ([41:48])
• “That it’s broken, you’re too old, it’s not gonna be fixed… the wisdom that comes with our age is too often overlooked.” – Dr. Suzuki ([50:35])
• “I know which hand I want to hold and which one I want to shake. And that is a really valuable thing to understand.” – Dr. Suzuki ([51:10])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:34] – Dr. Wendy Suzuki’s origin story in neuroscience
• [04:16] – Social media, AI, and anxiety trends in society
• [05:31] – Simple definition of anxiety and everyday vs. clinical anxiety
• [06:34] – Anxiety’s evolutionary role & reframing as protection
• [12:12] – Dr. Suzuki’s personal grief, growth, and insights on “flipping” difficult emotions
• [17:06] – Brain structures involved in anxiety and fight-or-flight
• [19:00] – How to activate the rest-and-digest system; power of deep breathing
• [19:42] – Two top actionable anxiety tools: movement and boxed breathing
• [23:54] – How movement “bathes” the brain in mood-improving chemicals
• [25:25] – The immediate, measurable mood effect of a 10-minute walk
• [26:02] – Brain plasticity and why the brain is “trainable” at any age
• [28:28] – Visual, hands-on tour of the human brain and its structures
• [32:29] – The Mediterranean diet and the impact of nutrition and hydration
• [40:17] – The link between sleep, memory, garbage removal, and cognition
• [42:29] – How to train and improve memory capacity (memory palace technique)
• [43:51] – Visual techniques to remember names
• [47:32] – The loneliness epidemic and why social connection matters
• [49:39] – Dr. Suzuki’s #1 daily brain health recommendation: sleep
• [50:35] – Dr. Suzuki’s encouragement for women to stop thinking their brains are “broken” by age

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Takeaways for Listeners

• Anxiety is normal and protective; with reflection, it can reveal your values.
• Fast, practical tools for anxiety relief include deep breathing and short walks.
• Movement and sleep have immediate and long-term benefits for brain health.
• Nutrition and hydration directly affect mental clarity and mood.
• The brain can grow and adapt at any age.
• Memory can be trained using ancient (and fun) techniques.
• Community matters—combating loneliness is brain-healthy.
• Women in midlife should celebrate the wisdom and insight their brains now hold.

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This episode is a must-listen for anyone seeking a fresh, science-backed perspective on anxiety, actionable tools for emotional well-being, and inspiration to nurture their brain at every stage of life.

Transcript

[A]

Well, a few years ago I was on the air and I had a moment I will never forget. Mid sentence, my brain literally left me. I couldn't find the word I needed. My thoughts were spinning. It felt like everything was just moving too fast inside my head at once. And let me tell you, if you have ever been there where your chest starts getting tight after that, your mind starts racing and you're thinking, what is happening to me right now? You know how scary it feels. Somewhere along the way. A lot of us learn to treat anxiety like a problem, like something to shut down or just deal with later. But what if that is actually information? What if your brain is trying to tell you something, not break you? That question is why I really wanted this conversation to take place. Dr. Wendy Suzuki is a neuroscientist, professor of neuroscience and psychology and dean of the College of Arts and Science at NYU and the author of the book Good Anxiety. Her work changed how I think about what's happening in my brain when I start to feel overwhelmed or I start to feel that anxious feeling or on edge. She studies how the brain changes and more importantly, how we can work with it instead of fighting it, which I found out I've been doing for a long time. So if you've been feeling more anxious than you used to, feel more distracted, or like your brain is not cooperating lately, this conversation is for you. I think it's going to help you in so many ways. Today's podcast is sponsored by Midi Health. So many women tell me the same thing. They finally speak up about brain fog, exhaustion or anxiety and they're brushed off or told it's just stress or age. That kind of dismissal makes you question your own body. MIDI changes that by offering expert insurance covered virtual care that actually understands midlife and treats women like they matter. Ready to feel your best and write your second act script? Visit joinmitty.comtamsen today to book your personalized insurance covered virtual visit. That's joinmitty.com Tamsen Midi the care Women.

[B]

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[A]

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[A]

Dr. Wendy Suzuki, welcome to the Tamsen Show.

[B]

Thank you so much for having me.

[A]

It's so nice to see you.

[B]

You too.

[A]

It's been a bit since we saw each Other, but I follow you avidly and always looking at what you're doing next. So we're gonna bring out something shortly which you know is gonna surprise everybody. But first, I wanna ask you, what pulled you into this line of work.

[B]

In particular, what pulled me into neuroscience was an amazing mentor. I like to call her the Beyonce of neuroscience, who was a professor that I had, and I took her for my very first class of my freshman year. And she was a neuroscientist, the very first female PhD ever given by UC Berkeley in neuroanatomy. I didn't know. I just chose the class by the title, which was called the Brain and Its Potential. But she was a pioneering neuroscientist and she was an extraordinary instructor. Made us all want to understand every little cell in our brain. That's what she did for me. And ever since that first day, I wanted to become a neuroscientist.

[A]

That's incredible. So fast forward to today where you're going around teaching about it, overseeing thousands of students, making sure people understand. And I think there's so much curiosity these days into what our brains are doing, where they're working for us and where we sometime maybe feel they're working against us. Is there something that you're seeing nowadays or is there some kind of trend? We know social media is a big thing out there. We know AI has a lot going on. Is there some kind of trend you're seeing nowadays in how we are thinking and how anxiety plays a role into all of this in society?

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. So I think one of the most interesting trends, terrible, interesting trend, is we know how much social media is contributing to the high levels of anxiety. And then the pandemic happened, and that made everything worse. We came out of that, but then came AI. And AI is an incredible tool. It can be very, very valuable, but in the way that it's been used by particularly young people for social companionship. For every time anxiety might come up or a worry might come up, what am I going to say? And ask AI and create that script, which could be a little bit of a crutch, but if that's all do, then your AI is, is creating your own life for you, and that is kind of doubling down on the anxiety caused by social media, and it is making anxiety overall worse. That's what we're starting to see.

[A]

And I can imagine that's something that's pretty new on the horizon. We've seen social media for a while, but how quickly AI has become part of our lives. In all of this. So can you define anxiety for sure for us? Because I think that that's. It's a very broad definition. Let's talk about what anxiety is.

[B]

Yeah, I like a simple def. And I use a simple definition of anxiety, which is the feeling of fear or worry typically associated with uncertain situations. That's very, very broad. And anxiety is a normal human emotion. Everybody has it. Don't think that, oh, there's some lucky people that don't have anxiety. We all have it. And the thing about anxiety is that exists on a very, very wide spectrum from kind of normal everyday anxiety. Maybe it went up during the pandemic and then it goes all the way to CL levels of anxiety. You can't go about your normal every day. My book Good Anxiety was really written for what I like to call everyday anxiety. You're not required to go to a medical professional for your level of anxiety, which is approximately 80% of the population that experiences anxiety but would like to decrease it. That's why I wrote Good Anxiety.

[A]

Can you explain what is happening to our brain when we're dealing with anxiety or we're anxious?

[B]

Let me start evolutionarily because anxiety is again, a normal human emotion. Everybody has it. I like to say that over and over and over. And if it was truly detrimental, it would have evolved out of us. So you have to ask yourself, why do I still have that anxiety? Why do we all still have it? Maybe you might think, oh, it's just a mistake. Some, you know, evolution made a mistake. But the reason why it is there and that it has survived all this time is that it is protective. Anxiety is protecting us against something that might happen. You were just talking about, you know, you couldn't think of a word that is worrisome. You know, maybe it's very scary and it is priming you to say, okay, this is something unusual. It hasn't happened before. I need to do something about it.

[A]

So that was good anxiety in some ways, right?

[B]

Yes, it was. It was. And at its core, anxiety is protective. And you can. I think the best way to think about it is if you are a female 2.5 million years ago, when anxiety was first evolving. Anxiety came up when you were searching for food and you heard a crack of a twig and, oh, that could be just nothing, or it could be a lion that's going to eat you. That caused emotion of anxiety and it stimulated your fight or flight system to either get ready to fight or to run. That's great. That is why you and I are Sitting here today talking about anxiety, fast forward 2.5 million years, we still have that same anxiety emotion that stimulates our fight or flight. But there are so many more things that stimulate our anxiety. Just scrolling on the social media, especially these days, you can't open up the newspaper or any news outlet without really being so scared and depressed and just sad about everything going on and everything from that to how am I gonna get a job? Is causing more higher levels of anxiety. So you think, well, your explanation, Wende, doesn't help at all. It does because it's about reframing that feeling of anxiety from oh, it's just a weight around my. It's come to get me to ah, what is it telling me? As you were just saying, what is it telling me about what I should pay attention to? Something that's a little bit unusual going on. Lots of things in the news right now might be going on. It is warning you towards what you might be paying attention to. But the thing that I want everybody to understand is that your anxiety really points you towards those things that you hold dear. Do you hold safety dear? Safety of your family, Safety of your country? Your country, men and women. If you do, then it's normal that you get anxious when there are events that scare us in that realm and everything from that to more mundane things like paycheck, you know, everybody's worried about money. I don't care who you are, how much money you make. You worried about money, of course. And that is because you're worried about your well being and the well being of your family. That's a beautiful side of the worry around money. Everything, every anxiety can be flipped on its other side to reveal what you hold dear. And that's something beautiful to actually appreciate.

[A]

How do you do that to where you're not constantly feeling, you go from anxiety to so anxious that it's like it's debilitating, right?

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[A]

And I think that we see that oftentimes is it you have to close that part out or you have to understand what's going on.

[B]

Again, I use from the book you'll read a lot about my own anxiety. There are usually not new anxieties coming up to find you. These are very old established anxieties and part of it is an exercise of reflecting what causes you anxiety. Sometimes it's those things that are in your life, difficult, coworker at work every single day that cause anxiety. Family members, very, very common relationships, when they go bad, cause of huge anxiety. And if you can identify those and then you know, do that flip before it happens. It's like, ah, that anxiety about my mom. It's been there for years and years and years. It's going to come up, oh, this, the holidays, I'm going to see her. Can I preview that for myself and remind myself before I get into the situation and you know, my mom is always like this. I have this response. Maybe that response is because you want to have a good, better relationship. You don't. What is that story? Can you explore it before you get there? And the other thing that can help is that probably if we got into it, you and I have very, very similar anxieties. Can you find friends and help talk that through? Because sometimes your best friends are the best mirror to show you some of the things and especially the beautiful things that are on the other side of your anxiety.

[A]

I do feel like I've seen community more of a calming response than anything else the older I get. You have your own personal story that you have shared. Can we talk about that?

[B]

Sure.

[A]

Talk about your story and what happened with regard to anxiety and your brain.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. So, you know, I started writing Good Anxiety first because I noticed, this is before the pandemic, how much more anxious the students that I teach were.

[A]

That's interesting.

[B]

And this was, you know, 2015, 2016. But then, if I was really honest, it wasn't just the students, it was me. It was my friends and I, my colleagues. Everybody was getting more anxious. Go back so much beautiful research on social media and there were political. We almost forget what was happening in 2015. So many things that were causing anxiety. So I set about to write this book and I wanted to focus on the protective aspect of anxiety. But something happened in the middle of writing this book that really shifted the way that I looked at it. And it caused the book to be the book that it was. And that was something that was not anxiety. It was true grief. So in the middle of writing the book, my father passed away. He had Alzheimer's. He passed away. Thank you. Of a heart attack. So sudden. He was, you know, he was getting worse and we were caring for him, but it was just sudden and so devastating. But then just three months later, my younger brother had a heart attack and he passed away. And I had to stop writing the book. I couldn't write a book on anxiety. I was grieving so terribly and so naturally, like so many others have grieved. Yes. And so I was coming out of it. I was using all the techniques that I was, you know, halfway writing in the Book, exercise, you know, meditation, trying all this in one morning. I was working out on my video workout, and the instructor said, with regard to exercise, you know, with great pain comes great knowledge. She was talking about your body with great. You really work out. You get better knowledge of yourself. But that somehow was exactly what I needed to hear, because I was going through great pain. And I asked myself, what knowledge is coming of this? What can I learn from this grief? And what I learned was that on the other side, the flip side of that deep grief was a deep love that I had for my brother and my father. And, yes, did I love my father? Of course I would. I would have said, yeah, of course I love them. It came out in such a deep way, of course, when they were gone. And once I made that realization that I couldn't feel this great grief without that deep love that I hadn't even realized existed, it helped me understand it in such. I just exhaled. It's just like, oh, okay. That's a beautiful way to understand the grieving process.

[A]

Profound way to, like, just also remember them and understand how you felt about them on another level.

[B]

Yes. And it helped me go through those feelings because, of course, you want to just. I just want to get over those feelings. No, it almost made me want to. Not that I could help it kind of really feel into that, because that was the depth that was showing the depth of my love for them. And once I went through that grieving process a little bit more, I became obsessed with finding the flip sides of all difficult emotions. Turns out I was in the middle of writing a book about anxiety, a difficult emotion, and so I became obsessed with understanding that flip side. What could it do for us? Because I needed to understand that about grief. And so I pushed all that effort into my desire to understand that about anxiety. And it made me reevaluate my own anxiety in a new way. Like, I needed to find something good, what came out of it. And that evaluation really let me come up with the superpowers of anxiety. What was it giving me? I didn't even realize it. And had that horrible thing not happened, it would have been a very different book.

[A]

First of all, the fact that that one sentence while you were doing that changed everything for you is incredible. But also the fact that you were writing it in the middle in such two tragedies back to back. But what you've been able to do to help so many people heal and see those things and see anxiety and maybe understand it better for themselves, what's happening in the brain when we feel.

[B]

That anxiousness, there are a wide range of brain structures involved in feeling the emotion of anxiety. One famous brain structure called the amygdala is involved, but it's not the only structure. We think that many cortical areas are involved in feeling this emotion of anxiety. And then what happens is that feeling of anxiety will stimulate the hypothesis hypothalamus to stimulate the fight or flight response, which is, I think we all know that too well. That feeling of your heart rate goes up, your breathing gets shallow, you get ready, your body's getting ready to either fight the lion or run away. I love to, at this moment in time, remind everybody that on the flip side of the fight or flight system is the rest and digest system that every single one of us also has. This is the automatic system that comes online when you have a free weekend and you have nothing to do. That glorious weekend where everything is just. You have a free 48 hours and your heart rate goes down. What is literally happening is your blood is being shunted from your muscles because you don't have to run away or fight. And it's being shunted into your digestion and reproductive systems for those fun weekend activities that you use your digestive and reproductive systems for. So that is something that everybody should be well aware of. And the other secret is like, okay, how do you. Everybody should be asking, how do I stimulate that one.

[A]

Because my gonna say I wanna break that way down.

[B]

Yes, yes. So here is the best way to stimulate the rest and digest system, also referred to as the parasympathetic nervous system. And it is, wait for it, deep, deep breathing.

[A]

Is it really that simple?

[B]

It really is that simple. That is why breath work is the oldest form of meditation. Those monks were smart. They knew that just breathing in and out in a patterned slow way, it's like, oh, my heart rate is going down. I suddenly feel more calm.

[A]

So if you feel that fight or flight and you feel that, and I can almost feel it when you say it, your heart's racing, you can't catch your breath, you're trying and now you're jumping on top of your breath and you can't get there. If you try to do breath work in that moment, is that the answer? In that moment to help you for whatever reason you're feeling anxious? Absolutely. Is that the first thing you recommend?

[B]

I have two go tos for kind of dissipating the fight or flight, and it depends on the situation. First one is take a good walk. 10 minutes of walking has been shown to decrease levels of anxiety and depression immediately. You don't even have to change your shoes, go out, walk on the street, go walk around the parking lot for 10 minutes. Sometimes you can't do that. Sometimes you're in the situation. Maybe you're asking me really really hard questions and I'm starting to sweat there without you even knowing. I am doing boxed breathing which is inhaling for four seconds, holding it for four seconds, exhaling it for four seconds, hold it for four seconds. And I love that because you don't even know what I'm doing. I'm calming myself, getting myself ready as I'm listen to your deep diving questions. To me, I'm not sure I know the answer, but those two are my go tos. And in fact the last third of the book Good Anxiety is a toolbox for all the different techniques that you could practice and have in your back pocket to decrease that stress and anxiety feeling.

[A]

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[B]

It's because every time you move your brain, you're releasing a whole bunch of neurochemicals in your brain. You've heard about these neurochemicals. They are serotonin, dopamine, noradrenaline, endorphins. These are what antidepressants do pharmacologically.

[A]

In a pill form.

[B]

In a pill form to increase dopamine, serotonin. They make you feel good. These are the feel good neurotransmitters. So I like to say that every single time you move your body, it's like giving your brain a beautiful bubble bath of neurochemicals that will make your brain feel good. It's a great visual.

[A]

We're talking about movement, weight training, cardio, movement. Are any of them okay, is there one that's better than the other? Are they all good for you?

[B]

Yes. I like to say any way you like to move your body. We know Walking has a significant effect on movement. If you want the best, strongest evidence about what is the best thing to do for your brain, the answer is clear. And that is cardio workout, that is get your heart rate up. And in fact, strength training is not relegated to non cardio workouts.

[A]

No, you can get your heart rate up with that.

[B]

Exactly. A lot.

[A]

So if you have 10 to 15 minutes a day, either one, whatever gets your heart rate up.

[B]

Yes, exactly. Well, I mean, I recommend whatever you think is fun, that will get your heart rate up. Okay, that is what you should do.

[A]

How quickly do you have somebody feel a difference with mood or energy or fogginess? Is that right away immediate?

[B]

Yeah. So it's been shown that 10 minutes of walking has an immediate effect on your anxiety and depression levels measured by quantified measurements. Also, I should say it doesn't last for the rest of your life, that 10 minute walk, but it has an immediate effect and it can last for, you know, depending on the study, between 30 minutes and a couple of hours. So that's pretty good.

[A]

So what did you bring with you, Wendy?

[B]

So I brought. For all the people watching. Yes, I brought a real. Well, let me just show you.

[A]

Yeah, okay.

[B]

So I think the thing to say before I bring this out is that I like to say that exercise, what we're talking about, particularly aerobic exercise, is the most transformative thing that you could do for your brain because of that bubble bath. But in the long term, if you don't just do it a one off thing, but you, you keep your exercise up, what you're doing is you're literally releasing not just the neurochemicals, but growth factors that will increase the strength and increase the size of key parts of the brain. But there's something very powerful called brain plasticity, which is the things that you can do in your life, bring into your life that will strengthen your brain literally by growing new brain cells in the hippocampus critical for memory, or new synapses in the prefrontal cortex critical for focus and attention. But, but you can throw around these words, it's really good to see what it looks like. So what I've brought is a real preserved human brain. This belonged to somebody. It defined how they saw, felt, laughed about, talked about the world. It was their whole being. It defined their personal histories. And so this is a very precious example. It's a preserved in formaldehyde. Her name is Betty and she is the most photographed preserved human brain on the east coast. But to put some locations to the Names?

[A]

Yes, please. Because we talk about all these different areas of the brain. Yes.

[B]

If Betty was in my head, she'd be sitting right here. So this is at the front. Right behind my forehead is right here. This is called the prefrontal cortex, critical for your ability to shift and focus attention. Personality is here. Humor fever is here. Emotional regulation is just down here on the bottom of the prefrontal cortex. And if I flip it over.

[A]

Oh, wow.

[B]

This is the temporal lobe. You have one on the right and the left. And deep down in the temporal lobe, we can't see it from the surface. Is the structure called the hippocampus, critical for our ability to learn and retain new long term memories for facts and events. And that is a structure where new brain cells can grow. If you exercise.

[A]

Reg, for our audience that is listening right now, you are holding a brain, a preserved human brain. It is unbelievable. You can see this on YouTube. You can see it online. We'll make sure. But this is the most photographed brain.

[B]

Too, by the way, on the east coast.

[A]

Yes. Can you explain a little bit of it again, for people who are listening and what they're seeing?

[B]

Okay, here is a little tour of the human brain. Frontal lobe, prefrontal cortex. Right behind the forehead is right here. Okay. The other lobes are the temporal lobe, right here, right behind the ear. That's where this sits. Occipital lobe is at the back of the head. This is your primary visual cortex. So if you lost your eyes, you couldn't see. But if you had damage of these two areas, you would also be blind because you need your brain to process visual information. Parietal lobe is up here. And you could also see some key areas. If I turn it over like this. This is the pons on the other side of the cerebellum, critical for fine motor movements. Walking is actually very, very complicated. Without a functioning cerebellum, you can't walk smoothly simply down the street.

[A]

And is that what you're helping preserve and helping grow and help strengthen when you do things like that?

[B]

Motor cortex is absolutely benefited by regular exercise, but so much more is you get brand new brain cells born in your hippocampus just deep in this region right here that make your hippocampus, as I like to say, big and fat and fluffy.

[A]

How often are they born?

[B]

They're born regularly. You can be a couch potato and you get brand new hippocampal cells. However, with exercise, you are feeding the hippocampus and your brain growth factors. And the growth factors make more of Those hippocampal cells grow. And we know from lots of experime studies that that causes significant improvement in your memory.

[A]

When you show people this brain.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Does it shed a light in a whole different way? Because it feels like something now that I'm looking at, I'm like, I want to protect it and where do I feed it and how do I take care of it versus having not really thought about it ever.

[B]

Yes, absolutely. Not everybody has seen a real brain. We all have one.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Yeah, everybody should see their brain, says the neuroscientist. But it is a structure just like the body. It is benefited by many things that you can do in your life. And I like to remind everybody that the human brain is literally the most complex structure known to humankind. I'm going to say that again. It's the most complex structure known to humankind. We still don't understand after 100 years, over 100 years of studying all the capacity there.

[A]

Why?

[B]

Because it's very, very complicated.

[A]

So why is it all so for people who are listening, this is very like, you know, you've seen pictures of the brain before. It's very. What do you call it? Ribbed or rough? I don't know what you call it.

[B]

It's corrugated. The outer covering is called the cortex. And if you flatten this out, it would be huge. It would be bigger than this table right here.

[A]

Really?

[B]

And why did it do that? It did it because every cell in this cortex is a computational unit for the brain. How do you get more computation in a small space? Well, you fold it in on itself. So little rats love little rats. Flat cortex. But the most intelligent species, like us chimpanzees, whales, have very, very corrugated brains with lots of folds in the cortex.

[A]

I was wondering, I'm just looking at it, I'm like, why wouldn't it be smooth on every side? I don't know if that's the dumbest question ever, but I'm just wondering, how does food impact our brains?

[B]

The brain is part of the body, and what's good for the body is also good for the brain. I would say the most well studied diet that is beneficial for the brain is the Mediterranean diet. And there are now multiple variations of that. But it is basically a colorful diet that has less red meat, lots of lean proteins, and very, very colorful. That's a simplistic way to put it. And it is good for the brain as it is for the body.

[A]

When you look at things like that we talk about all the time now, we're talking about protein all the time. We're talking about fiber, we're talking about creatine. Are any of those very, very important? I mean, I'm assuming protein is very important for the. Of the other things that we've talked about.

[B]

Supplements are not regulated.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

So, you know, take that as you will. I don't take supplements. I follow just the Mediterranean diet, frankly, I get it.

[A]

But that has the protein and fiber in it, right? Absolutely. So if you're doing protein and fiber, you make sure that's all in your diet, and that's important for your brain. Let's talk about water.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I feel like everyone goes, I hate water. But your body is made up of so much water and your brain in particular. Can you talk about water and its impact on your brain?

[B]

Absolutely. I think it's important to talk about this because too many of us are a little bit dehydrated all the time, and water is the best way to get that done. And it's been shown that water does affect cognitive performance. Dehydration is not good for the brain. So I never remember, I'm not an md, so I can't recommend the exact number of cups of water that you need to drink. But if you are thirsty, that is a bad sign because it takes a while for that sensation to come up. And so just keep drinking so that you never feel that sensation of thirst.

[A]

Is coffee water? Well, I have to ask.

[B]

It is, but it's also a diuretic, so it will, you know, dehydrate you a little bit after drinking the coffee. So you shouldn't only drink a diuretic for your liquid.

[A]

What is happening in our brains when we exercise?

[B]

Yeah. So here the brain is experiencing something that has fascinated me my whole career, which is brain plasticity. Brain plasticity is the ability of the brain to change and grow in response to the environment and environmental stimulation, including exercise. And what it does is brain plasticity in the positive, positive direction can improve the brain's anatomy, physiology, and function, including adults. Including adults at whatever age, which is just amazing. So we have that capacity. Exercise is one thing that contributes meditation. Unfortunately, what goes up can come down. Other things like chronic anxiety, chronic stress can shrink, shrink connections, shrink anatomy, and that's called negative brain plasticity. But that understanding that and understanding the science of the positive realm has been one of my most cherished goals in my career.

[A]

Okay, can I tell you something I didn't realize until recently? We spend almost all of our time indoors. And if you're anything like me, you assume your home is a safe zone. But did you know indoor air can be up to 100 times more polluted than outdoor air? I know. That was my wake up call. Breathe Easy with Air Doctor, the award winning air purifier that eliminates 99.99% of dangerous contaminants like allergens, viruses, smoke, gases, mold spores and more. Air Doctor was voted best air purifier by Newsweek. So it's no surprise that 98% of Air Doctor customers agree their home's air feels cleaner, safer and healthier. Unlike other purifiers, Air Doctor captures invisible particles 100 times smaller than standard HEPA filters. For me, the difference was subtle but real. The air just felt lighter. I stopped waking up congested. My home felt calmer, especially at night. It's one of those things you don't think about constantly, you just feel better because of it. Head to airdoctorpro.com and use promo code TAMSEN to get up to $300 off today. Air Doctor comes with a 30 day money back guarantee plus a 3 year warranty. An $84 value free. Get this exclusive podcast only offer [e-mail] a I r D O C T O r p r o.com using promo code T A M S E N Every year I tell myself I'm going to be one of those people who breezes through the holidays totally in control. And then the travel, the gifts, the dinners, the hosting. It seems like it hits all at once. It is so easy to lose track of what you're spending, especially when you're not looking at everything in one place. This season I got serious. I started using Monarch Money on my phone. And if you want to keep your finances under control during the holidays, you really need to use Monarch. It was rated Wall Street Journal's Best Budgeting App of 2025 and I understand why. It puts your entire financial life in one clean dashboard. Dashboard on your laptop or your phone. When I link my accounts, I could actually see how fast holiday spending adds up. It was really a wake up call. Monarch helped me adjust before the credit card bill showed up. Now I check my holiday spending category, look at my year end to do's and I can finally go into the new year without that financial hangover. Because Monarch organizes everything. Retirement accounts, investments, savings. You never have to touch a spreadsheet again. My favorite part is how easy it is for my husband and me to do quick check ins. Reviewing the dashboard together for a couple of minutes a week has made Those money conversations a lot smoother this year. Achieve your financial goals for good. Monarch is the all in one tool that makes proactive money management simple all year long. Use code [e-mail] for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first [e-mail] with code TAMSEN. We have a lot of conversation now about memory and fear of memory and brain fog and people worrying about their memory getting worse. Is that normal as you age that you start to see some of that? And when should you really start paying attention? If you're noticing I'm forgetting things a little bit, I'm walking into a room, I'm not remembering, I'm in the conversation, but I'm not necessarily remembering what the next part of it is or what we were talking about.

[B]

So here's the thing. Aging is very, very variable. You can be great until 99 years old and sharp as a pin, or you can start having some difficulties much earlier on that could be caused by natural things. So when you're in high school, you have many fewer things to remember than if you have a stressful job and you're handling your family and your kids and everything. That is a tax on your memory. So you can't remember things anymore. You can't remember your grocery. Well, I understand why. Because you have so many things. That's called interference. Interference is a normal thing. So when should you be worried? Well, when it starts to affect your normal ability to work? Absolutely. Go see your neurologist. That is the best thing to do.

[A]

Do stress and overstimulation really play a big part of lack of memory or focus?

[B]

Sure, absolutely. Lack of sleep. The experiments that have done on pulling all nighters, it is the difference between the students that had eight hours of sleep learned things to a level of an A. The students that had pulled an all nighter had the equivalent of an F. Wow.

[A]

Why is sleep so important? I mean, we hear about it in a lot of different ways. I talk a lot about women's health, but in particular for the brain. Is it because you're shutting it all down there?

[B]

There are many critical physiological processes going on during sleep that help your brain reset. And what it does is it doesn't go to sleep like your computer. There are cycles that your brain goes through, but going through them Multiple times between 7 and 8 hours is the average. Really does many things for your brain. Number one, it helps strengthen or consolidate those memories. You don't have that. And whatever you learned the previous day is not going to be strengthened as it would be. And your brain isn't prepped to be able to take in new things, so you're doubly screwed on both ends. The other thing that happens during sleep, and this is for everybody, every single night, the brain is the number one user of oxygen in the entire body. So because it does, there are billions of cells in there being active all the time. Just us sitting here talking to each other, looking at each other, listening to each other. So much of our brain is active and that creates metabolites. The brain uses energy and it's the equivalent of garbage. So your brain cells are putting out garbage during sleep is when the proverbial brain garbage truck goes around to all the different cel, picks up all that garbage, cleans it up. You say, ah, I'm strong, I only need five hours of sleep tonight. Well, you end up with garbage filled brain. You do that for too long and you are not working at your optimum capacity. And I like that because it scares me to have a garbage filled brain. I'm hoping it's scaring other people to get that sleep.

[A]

Can you improve your memory?

[B]

Yes, you can. Absolutely. One of my favorite books as a memory nerd. So I started off studying memory, how memory works. I'm an expert on the hippocampus and hippocampal anatomy and physiology. But one of my favorite books is Moonwalking with Einstein, which is a book about a US memory champion and all the techniques that he and all the other memory champions use to do those feats to get them the memory championship. And yes, you can get better at names. Everybody says, oh, I'm terrible at doing names. You can get better at remembering random lists of things. And some of these techniques are ancient and they're based on how the hippocampus works. So the hippocampus is this amazing structure that pulls the who, what, where, when of events like this one together. So my hippocampus is now encoding your face, your beautiful jacket with the sound of your voice, the beautiful set here. And when I think back on it, I'm going to remember all of these things together and where the camera was and all these things. And so that's what it does automatically.

[A]

I didn't even think of all those things. Like all those things you just named the visual, the sound, the everything.

[B]

Yes. And so the technique, which is called the memory palace technique, it's very famous. They talk about it in Moonwalking with Einstein is say you have a list of 10 grocery items. The trick is to picture a spatial Location that's very familiar with you. Usually people use their childhood home. Cause it's so familiar. You walk in and on the front stoop, you put the first item that you need to remember. Grapes. And you picture the grapes on your front mat. And then you open the door. And right to the left of the front door, whatever that is, you put the next item, the milk, and you place the milk down and you, you just picture those items in that spatial location. And because the spatial location is so familiar, it helps you make those associations even with unfamiliar lists of things, Items, items. And you think that sounds weird. It has worked for hundreds and hundreds of years. People have used this, including current memory champions.

[A]

How can we remember names better?

[B]

So I think visualization can be really helpful. So what I like to do is if I'm trying to remember your name, put a visual image of something that reminds me of your name on top of your head. And I try. And also repetition. I try and rehearse it many, many times. But for certain names, it's really helpful. For example, anybody that is named Jessica, I pictured them with rabbit ears. Jessica rabbit. Oh my God, that's brilliant. Yeah. And so you could, you know, sometimes it's harder with foreign names and it's just hard. But you could come up with, you know, fun things like that. And it does help you remember.

[A]

Yeah. I wanted to give people some of those daily tools so things like this don't feel overwhelming. Especially as we were getting busier and busier and adding more stuff to the list. Even if we say we're not, we really are and we're not paying attention to some of these other things. So we hit on names. We talked about memorization of lists. Is there something else you think people are having a hard time focusing on, especially with social media and AI and in their own world? Maybe not going out and talking to people quite as much as we used to. What do you think? Is there anything else?

[B]

Yes, there are key things that make memories stick. One is the obvious one. Repetition. You know, Jessica, Jessica, Jessica with the bunny ears or not. You will remember that better. Next is association. So the hippocampus associates things with each other. The episode that I just talked about, the memory palace. And so, for example, you tend to remember the friends of friends that you met because you can remember the friend and that they were their friend. So that's what the hippocampus does well. So if you find some relationship of something new you want to learn to something you already know, that will help you remember it. So Repetition, association, novelty. Our brains are focused on bringing up novel things because it's danger. It could be danger. So we naturally focus on things that are novel and they're easier to remember.

[A]

Why are they dangerous?

[B]

Because uncertainty, you know, uncertainty.

[A]

Got it, got it. So we want things that we remember and we feel safe with.

[B]

Exactly, exactly. And then the fourth thing that makes things, memories stick is my favorite one, which is emotional resonance. So we remember the happiest and the saddest moments of our life. And that's because of a structure called the amygdala that is there to strengthen all those terrible, sad memories. I wish I didn't have to remember them. But also, you know, the joyous memories are strengthened as well.

[A]

What kind of role does loneliness play right now? And what is it doing to the brain?

[B]

So we are in a loneliness epidemic. It is not good for the brain because I think the simple way to think about it, it is a pervasive stressor. We are social animals. We were meant to be social, to have those social networks, the family networks. And, and if we become more and more independent, as we'd like to be here in America, and then lonely, we've come to be lonely. That turns out to be a long term stressor and it stresses the brain just like all the other stressors. We've talked about anxiety.

[A]

What do you suggest people to do? Because I agree with you, I think that social connection is not so easy these days. I think we know it plays a big role in brain health. Is it finding a core group of people? Is it just making sure that you have interaction every day? Is it making sure that it's not only the computer that you're talking to, like we talked about at the beginning. What do you recommend?

[B]

My recommendation depends on where you are in that loneliness epidemic. If you're really having a hard time coming out and there's so much anxiety just talking to somebody new, I would go and seek out free things that you can do. Low, low stakes kinds of things. Places to go to just have a short conversation. You don't even have to have a real conversation. Just go to a place where it's easy just to greet somebody and kind of build up from there. This is all of my recommendations. People ask me about how do I get to exercise more Again, start small, build big social interaction. Same thing, start small. I know this from being dean of the College of Arts and Science. We have so many different programs. Low stakes, easy. Come and hang out and just make it easy for people to meet. Of course they're at a university, but the city has things like this all over the place as well. And free events too.

[A]

If you could give everybody one daily practice for their brain, that's not overwhelming. Is there one that you would give them?

[B]

I'm going to go for the one that I think is. Is, especially here in New York, sleep. Can you add just a little bit longer good sleep each night? Because you can't go from five to eight. I'm not gonna ask people to do that, but I want to ask people to pay more attention to their sleep. You don't need a fancy thing monitor to know how long you you sleep. Pay attention and try and get up a little bit higher this week. That's what I mean.

[A]

15 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, whatever it is.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

I think when you do things in those small little areas, it feels so much less overwhelming. I hear a lot of women say, oh, gosh, my brain doesn't work like it used to when I was younger. Or I just don't have any focus. And I'm one of the ones guilty of doing that. What's the one thing you want women to stop telling themselves about their brains?

[B]

Yeah, that it's broken, you're too old, it's not gonna be fixed. I like to focus on the idea that at this stage in life, there are so many things to be grateful for. I have so much more wisdom now than I did. And one thing that I am particularly grateful for is I know which hand I want to hold and which one I want to shake. And that is a really valuable thing to understand. And it's not just me, it is you. It is all those women that are thinking about this. That wisdom that comes with our age is too often overlooked.

[A]

Oh, I love that. Which one you want to hold and which one you want to shake. It takes time, right?

[B]

It does.

[A]

It takes time. I hope women hear that because I think that is so absolutely, absolutely important.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Wende, thank you so much. Thanks for your time today. I know you had a long, busy day and then you came all the way across town to come in and see us and have this conversation. But I think it's so important. It was so powerful. So thank you for that.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

If this conversation made you feel a little more seen or a little less broken, Wendy's book, Good Anxiety goes even deeper. The link is in the show notes for you. I cannot wait to hear what you think about the episode. Please take a minute to leave a review. It helps so much and it means more than you know. Thanks for listening to the Tamsen show and I will see you in the next episode. Today's podcast is sponsored by Midi Health Health. So many of you know this, but I was dismissed over and over again when I was struggling with perimenopause symptoms. I didn't even know I was in perimenopause. It is so important you're getting care from someone that specializes in women in midlife and that they're willing to have the hormone therapy conversation with you. I get questions from you every single day about where to go for support and I'm always suggesting Midi Health. It's covered by insurance and you don't even have to leave your house house ready. To feel your best and write your second act script, visit joinmitty.comtamsen today to book your personalized insurance covered virtual visit. That's joinmitty.com Tamsen Midi the Care Women Deserve. DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse is the one stop shop for all your footwear needs with sneakers, boots and everything in between for every style, mood and occasion. You'll definitely find shoes that get you at prices that get your budget. DSW has what you need, but more importantly, they have what you didn't even know you wanted. You never know what you'll find at dsw. Find the shoes that get you at prices that get your budget at DSW stores or dsw.com.