In this week’s episode, Brain & Life Podcast hosts Dr. Daniel Correa and Dr. Katy Peters discuss some of their favorite articles in the most recent edition of Brain & Life Magazine. They discuss the “Blue Zone” lifestyle, links between skin problems and neurologic conditions, coffee’s potential brain health benefits, and how juggling can increase neuroplasticity. If you would like to read these articles and more, be sure to subscribe to Brain & Life Magazine for free!
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Brain & Life Articles Mentioned
- “Blue Zones” Author Dan Buettner Shares the Secrets to a Long and Healthy Life
- Skin Problems May Be Early Signs of a Neurologic Condition
- Drinking Coffee May Reduce the Risk of Neurologic Disease
- How Juggling Can Increase Neuroplasticity
Additional Resources
- Exploring Longevity with Author Dan Buettner
- Editor's Letter: The Keys to Longevity
- Editor's Letter: The Healing Arts
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- Hosts: Dr. Daniel Correa @NeuroDrCorrea; Dr. Katy Peters @KatyPetersMDPhD
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Episode Transcript
Dr. Correa:
From the American Academy of Neurology, I'm Dr. Daniel Correa.
Dr. Peters:
And I am Dr. Katie Peters, and this is the Brain & Life Podcast.
Dr. Correa:
Welcome back to the Brain & Life Podcast. This week we're exploring another exciting edition out from the Brain & Life magazine, and we had so many articles and interesting topics in there that we wanted to spend an episode, just Katie and I discussing, about what is going on in the Brain & life magazine and community.
Dr. Peters:
Hey Daniel, I'm excited to look into the magazine more. It's nice that we get to have a chance to share with our listeners, but make sure to pick up the magazine and check it out and we'll start with highlighting some of the articles.
Dr. Correa:
We had an episode where I interviewed Dan Buettner about Blue Zones and they went into further detail about that. In the last magazine, he was on the cover and there were just more information. I think it's an area everyone wants to learn more about why, and in certain parts of the world there are communities where people tend to live more often. What is it about their lifestyle and their diet? These areas are what we call Blue Zones. As you might hear or recall from our past episode and in the article, the Blue Zones are areas where communities have been noticed to live to greater rates at over a hundred.
Dr. Peters:
Wow.
Dr. Correa:
And in the past they've kind of been referred to or thought of as these areas around the Mediterranean, but what's great and exciting to see is that actually these zones have been found in cultures all around the world.
Dr. Peters:
I just think that's fascinating and what we can learn from them. And there were 10 ways to adopt sort of a Blue Zone lifestyle that you could do, I guess at your own abode. You don't necessarily have to move.
Dr. Correa:
Which is essential. I mean, most people don't have the capability or flexibility just to full on move to Sardinia as beautiful as I'm sure it is. Incorporating some of the activities that people do and just increasing ease of movement and activity throughout your life and incorporating some of those ideas about your diet all may help us live better and happier and longer as many communities in these Blue Zones. So make sure to check out that article on 10 ways to adopt a Blue Zone lifestyle.
Dr. Peters:
So again, one of those 10 ways was just to pay attention to your portions, so stop eating before you feel completely full and prepare smaller balanced meals and avoid eating anything else for the rest of the day.
Dr. Correa:
Yeah, and like I mentioned there was the increasing your activity and your movement every day. If you enjoy it and you already have activities that you like to do at a gym or fitness class, that's great, but it doesn't fit in for everybody. And so many people with different abilities and conditions wonder, okay, how do I increase activity for myself and instead of fighting with yourself to join a gym, if that doesn't fit for you, just start walking and moving or whatever is the movement of your ability a little bit more each day and incorporating it into all your activities, whether it's gardening, getting up and down from postures and gardening or sitting on the floor was something noticed in one of the Japanese Blue Zone communities. And maybe even just looking at volunteering in your local community because that just gets you off the couch and moving around and helping out in whichever way you can are holistic ways to increase your activity level.
Dr. Peters:
I like that it's sort of movement for anybody. So you can be exercising, you can be volunteering, gardening, just start walking. And I guess the flip side of that movement is now we've got to relax, we've got to calm down and we've got to get in a good sleep. And I think that that was another point that was mentioned as sort of one of those top 10 tips. And I think this has become really a mission or really part of the next step in mindfulness in twenty-twenty-four is how do we find the ability to sleep better?
How do we create a better atmosphere to help us relax and have that natural rhythm that yes, we're active, but then we also need to quiet down and go to sleep and even consider maybe even napping during the day. And there's so many health benefits that can trickle down from that. And it can include not only your physical health but also your mental wellbeing. I do think we do have to work at getting good sleep. But because sometimes we do have barriers, whether it's a TV or using our devices or maybe our other habits in regards to our sleep that can prohibit it.
Dr. Correa:
I have found it's helpful to remember and think of sleep and recovery as an active investment. It itself is an activity. I mean sometimes when you're trying to fit in all the different things that you want to do, it feels like, oh, sleep might be taking away or taking away from time with family or taking away from the activities and the things or the work that you feel like you need to get done. But really actually thinking of it as invested time and chosen activity, even things like mindfulness and that they're more purposeful rather than somehow cutting out from those things that you want to get done and thinking of that purpose.
There's this concept Dan Buettner discusses that is common in the Japanese community called Ikigai, and this is just finding what is your why and your reason for waking up and for moving forward with your day and finding purpose and cultivating that purpose and thinking how it fits into your daily activities, your social interactions and activities in your community. So like we said before, how volunteering might get you moving and moving around. It also might help contribute to your connection to your community, to your family, and really getting back to what is your purpose and having a purpose was a key finding in many of these cultures that was important to longevity in life.
Dr. Peters:
I agree with that. And it can be sometimes challenging because it doesn't necessarily have to be within a big group to find a purpose or a mission. I've been lucky to have an opportunity to write down a vision statement or a mission statement that continues throughout I guess my professional career, but can even trickle down into your social life and your interactions with others. So it's definitely something that I think is important. And the next one is to cultivate a positive attitude. Now this harkens back to one of the people that we recently interviewed. It was actor Craig Russell and he talked about when he had to deal with his brain tumor diagnosis about having just a positive attitude that he was a glass half full person. And I think this resonates with so many of our listeners that are maybe dealing with neurologic challenges or neurologic conditions. That realm of positivity can help you day-to-day, moment-to-moment, minute-to-minute.
Dr. Correa:
Yeah. And binding the ways that positivity fits in and works for you. Sometimes it can feel like even like Craig Russell talked about, that his level of positivity for himself can feel toxic to others and that's understandable, but what is your own definition of fostering more positivity in your life and your attitude and many of the ones we talked about and these other items really build into maintaining social life and connections and community that goes sometimes into finding your purpose and sometimes even helps with maintaining your activity levels and your movement, but really on its own, making sure that you're continuing to build and grow and invest in your social circles because those people just as though your presence is important and part of their health. Maintaining a connection with others is important for our own and individual brain health.
Dr. Peters:
And we've talked about isolation is a challenge and a problem so I agree. Having a social sphere around you definitely has benefits for your brain health and for your emotional health. And I like this to downshift stress happens, and we have to know that you're going to have challenges. And you need to establish some type of routine sometime if you do encounter those stressful situations. And for me, one of the things do is I like to get up and walk and get outside. I like to get the fresh air. And I think that was something that really resonated with some of the Blue Zone communities of how they handled stress because taking those little attentional breaks, just getting outside, walking outside or doing something that allows a pause, a reflection, maybe even a prayer or a moment of meditation can be beneficial.
Dr. Correa:
That time outside and that quiet sometimes is a key thing to helping shift away and down from that stress level. And sometimes family can be stressful, but other times that time with family itself can also help with that downshift. But one of the other key items seen in not many of these communities is that they maintained their connections with their relatives and their community often put their family first. And so I think many of our listeners are care partners and support individuals in their family living with neurologic conditions and others. That's a big part of it, but also thinking of just maintaining and fostering that community and that family. It goes along with what we've mentioned about your social life and maintaining connections and purpose, but it itself is an important aspect of our health overall. Now, Katie, what was one of the other articles from this issue that stood out to you?
Dr. Peters:
I found the article very interesting on the skin problems associated with early signs of a neurologic condition. And as neurologists, we do neurologic exams, but it's always critical to look at the whole person including the skin. Neurologists suggest that certain skin conditions like rosacea, which is the redness on the cheeks and the nose may actually occur before the development of Parkinson's disease. I, as a neuro-oncologist often evaluate the skin in our patients because we can see certain underlying brain tumors and genetic conditions such as tuberous sclerosis and neurofibromatosis may have skin manifestations and it doesn't necessarily need to be a skin tumor, Daniel, it can be just a change of the coloring of the skin, something called cafe-au-lait spots. Also, angiofibromas may indicate an underlying neurologic disorder, and remember when you're looking at the skin, it really depends on what the patient's skin color is at their baseline. So make sure to really be mindful to look at all types of skin colors and how these conditions can manifest.
Dr. Correa:
It's often a part of the body and nervous system that's not really thought of as much, but when we talk about neurologic conditions, we're really talking about everything that extends from the brain, the spinal cord out to the nerves in your body, and that includes nerves in your skin. And so things that impact the skin or affect your skin may also be impacting or affecting nerves. I think people who live or have experienced neuropathy are very aware of that, but not everyone else is.
There's also skin abnormalities like something called petechiae or livedo reticularis, which are all signs of things that are impacting your circulatory system or your blood vessel system that may hint towards causes of a stroke. Certain skin conditions such as seborrheic dermatitis and melanoma are associated with Parkinson's disease. In fact, Parkinson's patients are over two times greater risk and likelihood of having melanoma. So it's important any individual who has Parkinson's disease gets regular checkups with a dermatologist screening for melanoma and skin cancers because they're at much higher risks of developing them and having actually significant complications from that.
Dr. Peters:
I think if you visit your dermatologist, it might end up that you end up with a neurologist and I think it's really important that that can occur. And remember there are treatments on the flip side, if your neurologist finds one of these skin conditions, there are treatments also for the dermatologic condition and for the neurologic condition. So you can not only get a diagnosis but also some helpful treatment.
Dr. Correa:
It makes me wonder, I want to follow up and contact Dr. Michael Okun because I know he advocates and talks about this, but I'm wondering if in the right age group someone has a family history of melanoma or has had multiple, if they should actually even be screened for movement conditions or movement disorder because of that higher rate of melanoma and Parkinson's disease. But you never know, as you said, seeing your dermatologist, they might notice something and then send you to that neurologist. But I think this is a very interesting article. Hopefully our readers also find it interesting and if they have questions, send them into the Brain & Life magazine or record them and send them into the podcast and we'll discuss more.
Dr. Peters:
So I know most of us enjoy a cup of Joe, Java, Brew, Black Gold and that's what you could call-
Dr. Correa:
All of the above.
Dr. Peters:
Yes, that's what you call coffee. So Daniel, there was an article about coffee in the Brand & Life magazine. Now, do you like a cup of coffee in the morning just to get things to wake up and start moving?
Dr. Correa:
It's a big part of my day. I'm often having that cup of coffee first as I'm heading out to take my dog on a walk and then will enjoy that in the morning while I'm getting ready and sometimes there's another two or three cups later on during the day. I've learned that I need to switch around the middle of the day to either decaf or some low caffeinated tea because if not, it can impact my sleep.
Dr. Peters:
Well. My husband is a fan of his French press. He grinds his own beans. He sort of has taken over a corner of my kitchen for his coffee. So I'm happy to share this Brain & Life article with him about how drinking coffee may reduce the risk of neurologic disease because I think he wants to find all the good things that coffee can do. And now again, these are sort of relationships that are done in small studies and some of them can have recall bias associated with them. Not necessarily mechanistic studies, but there was one mechanistic study that showed that caffeine, which is a component in coffee, may actually block the action of adenosine, which is a neurotransmitter involved in Parkinson's. So it may lower the risk of Parkinson's in some way, and there's some evidence that moderate coffee consumption may be associated with a less likely chance of developing Parkinson's disease.
Dr. Correa:
That'd be good. A lot of these things may introduce reasons to feel okay about drinking your coffee as long as it's not later in the day and impacting your sleep and rest as much and not causing stress and anxiety. There can always be too much. But these important in associations aren't necessarily always reasons to start drinking or doing something new that you weren't already doing. But there is a relationship that was shown between coffee drinking and a lower rate of Alzheimer's disease or dementia. But overall, this research so far has been somewhat unclear. Some studies have shown that moderate coffee consumption may be associated with reducing your risk of cognitive decline in dementia and others have not necessarily found a clear association. So probably one, not necessarily to point us all to drinking another cup or starting drinking coffee if you aren't already. Just maybe a reassuring one that you're maybe doing a little bit of something healthy with at least that first cup of the day.
Dr. Peters:
And I think for really the next two conditions on stroke and migraines or headaches, there's sort of like what is the perfect balance and where can coffee consumption or caffeine be associated with these? And we do worry that if you have excessive consumption of coffee, it could increase your risk of stroke or also maybe even trigger a headache or migraine. But on the other side, sometimes caffeine can actually help alleviate headaches and migraine and maybe that there could be some moderate coffee consumption could be associated with a lower risk of stroke. I think this is where saying it's not bad, but you need to find what's, especially if you're a migraine sufferer or you do have headaches where caffeine sort of fits into that trigger for you personally. And then I think this also says the coffee's good but not in excess because there can be concerns, particularly if the caffeine is raising someone's blood pressure.
Dr. Correa:
Yeah, that's why it's important to follow some of these things if you are drinking lots of coffee and noticing that you have issues with headaches or you have issues with high blood pressure. These might be places to take a look at and discuss with your doctors about, see what happens when you adjust and decrease your coffee intake. And there's limited research also on the relationship between coffee and multiple sclerosis. And so some studies have suggested that caffeine may have a neuroprotective effect and that it helps protect against some of the degeneration on injury to the brain and may potentially reduce the risk of developing multiple sclerosis or help alleviating some of the symptoms.
But again, these are what we call often retrospective studies where they're looking back at a group of people and then taking a look to see if there is a statistical association or some findings between these two relationships in individuals. They don't tell us about cause and they're all really much more directions to more study. And so I think within the multiple sclerosis community, it's not a clear reason to say let's start drinking or to have more, but it's something maybe to explore for yourself and making sure with some of these other issues that we've talked about, limiting your caffeine intake because there can be other complications.
Dr. Peters:
I think it's important if you're someone who is drinking caffeine and maybe you've had a challenge with it before. For me, I get a little extra hyper when I have coffee, just a little extra, just a little extra. But maybe talk to a healthcare professional, talk to a dietician. You could talk to your neurologist or your PCP because again, you want to do stuff safely. Some people do have caffeine sensitivity. There can be medication interactions and changes in your dietary health and habits. If you're drinking coffee with massive amounts of sugar, you could potentially be negating the good effects of the coffee with the amount of sugar that you're intaking. Definitely enjoy your coffee and be safe.
Dr. Correa:
I agree. It's important to remember these things aren't as simple as just that one thing to add then fixes everything unfortunately. The reality is especially with dietary items, it can get very complex. And Katie, I think one thing that I've seen for myself and with our patients that learning new activities and maintaining curiosity through your life just helps manage and helps with increasing your activity and interest in things. There's an interesting article on this in the magazine, what did you think?
Dr. Peters:
I thought it was sort of funny. At first when I read it, I was like juggling? I was like, I juggle so many things, but I think this actually means balls. Am I correct?
Dr. Correa:
I think so, yes. Juggling items. I'm not sure specifically that it matters whether it's balls or bowling pins, but...
Dr. Peters:
So it really goes back to the idea that if you learn a new activity, whether it's a musical instrument or learning a language or some other type of exercise that you're sort of turning on your brain, but with juggling, it seems that you're activating parts of your brain that are not only involved with activity but also coordination. This is in particularly the cerebellum, which is in the back of our brain and it may actually benefit people that have a condition called cerebellar ataxia because they're essentially engaging the cerebellum to function in a way that maybe is different than normal day-to-day movements.
Dr. Correa:
And there is some research showing that doing activities that engage both sides of your body, coordinating your left and your right, help with lots of different conditions and may help even things with cognitive function and memory. There's a research paper highlighted in this article that suggests that learning to juggle introduces structural changes and improvements in your cognitive function.
Dr. Peters:
That's so cool.
Dr. Correa:
But it may not be just that it's juggling, it's just that it's a fun activity to highlight these kinds of coordination activities. There's been research to show martial arts and dancing, lots of other types of activities can help our cognition and our movements.
Dr. Peters:
I can definitely see how it could help with balance because you have to be centered to sort of handle all of those things flying around your head and hands. So I actually do know how to juggle but just not well. But I don't know that you have to be proficient. I think that this could be a tool you could use in rehab. So I don't think I'm going to be joining the circus anytime soon to juggle, but I think I could at least sit down and try.
Dr. Correa:
I think these were all fun activities for us to consider and participate in or to see and think of how some of these types of movements and activities might fit into the other things that we're interested in and invest our time in it. And if our listeners are interested in hearing more about the biology and how this actually impacts and changes the brain, this would be a fun episode. We'd like to hear from you guys. If you want, we can connect with the neuroscientists and go into more detail about how these types of coordination activities might help neuroplasticity.
I hope all of you enjoy this issue of the Brain & Life Magazine and as we prepare for more Brain & Life podcast episodes, we want to hear about the questions that you have and the topics that you want to hear about or guests that you'd like us to interview. So please reach out or send us questions or record a question for us.
Thank you again for joining us today on the Brain & Life Podcast. Follow and subscribe to this podcast so you don't miss our weekly episodes. You can also sign up to receive the Brain and Life magazine for free at brainandlife.org. Don't forget about Brain & Life en Espanol.
Dr. Peters:
Also, for each episode, you can find out how to connect with our team and our guests along with great resources in our show notes. We love it when we hear your ideas or questions. You can send these in an email to Blpodcast@brainandlife.org and leave us a message at (612)-928-6206.
Dr. Correa:
You can also find that information in our show notes and you can follow Katie and me and the Brain & Life magazine on many of your preferred social media channels. We are your hosts, Dr. Daniel Correa, connecting with you from New York City and online at Neuro Dr Correa.
Dr. Peters:
And Dr. Katie Peters, joining you from Durham North Carolina and online at Katie Peters MD-PhD.
Dr. Correa:
Most importantly, thank you and all of our community members that trust us with their health and everyone living with neurologic conditions.
Dr. Peters:
We hope together we can take steps to better brain health and each thrive with our own abilities every day.
Dr. Correa:
Before you start the next episode, we would appreciate if you could give us five stars and leave a review. This helps others find The Brain & Life Podcast. See you next week.
