How to Protect Your Brain After 40: A Brain Scientist’s Guide for Women | Tommy Wood

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Your brain is knackered by 5pm because you've been stuck in middle gear all day, and that exhaustion is exactly why the wine starts calling.

In this episode I sit down with Dr. Tommy Wood, neuroscientist and author of The Stimulated Mind, to unpack the three cognitive gears (high, middle, low) and why constant task switching leaves midlife women depleted and reaching for a drink. We cover what a real low gear brain break looks like, why so many of us have lost the ability to rest, and the link between perimenopause, brain health and dementia risk in women. We finish on the most hopeful message of all: it's never too late to protect your brain.

Key Topics Covered

- The three brain gears (high, middle, low) and how each feels day to day

- Why middle gear quietly exhausts you, since the brain can't truly multitask

- The 5pm wine trigger, and why alcohol is the fast but costly off switch

- What a real low gear break looks like (green space, breathwork, one thing at a time)

- Time blocking and why feeling out of control drives poor cognitive outcomes

- Perimenopause and the brain: verbal memory, estrogen, and vasomotor symptoms

- Why dementia risk is higher in women, and the factors behind the gap

- Why it's never too late, with evidence people in their late 60s still improve

Dr. Tommy Wood is a neuroscientist and Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Neuroscience at the University of Washington, where his research focuses on brain health across the lifespan. He holds an undergraduate degree in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge, a medical degree from the University of Oxford, and a PhD in Physiology and Neuroscience from the University of Oslo. Alongside his academic work he is a performance consultant to elite athletes, including Formula 1 drivers, through Hintsa Performance. He is the author of The Stimulated Mind: Future-Proof Your Brain from Dementia and Stay Sharp at Any Age, and co-hosts the Better Brain Fitness podcast with neurologist Josh Turknett.

Website: https://www.drtommywood.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtommywood

• The Better Brain Fitness podcast, co-hosted with Dr. Josh Turknett, available at https://www.betterbrain.fitness/ and on regular podcast platforms

• The Stimulated Mind: Future-Proof Your Brain from Dementia and Stay Sharp at Any Age: https://www.amazon.com/Stimulated-Mind-Future-Proof-Brain-Dementia/dp/0593797817

  
  

  Timestamps

The Three Gears Of Your Brain (00:00)

What High Gear Focused Work Really Means (02:24)

Low Gear And Why Rest Matters (04:33)

How Your Phone Kills Rest Time (06:37)

The Midlife Woman's Mental Overload (11:21)

Why You Reach For Wine At 5pm (12:40)

Quick Brain Breaks That Actually Work (15:34)

Music Breathwork And Calming Your Brain (21:49)

How Time Blocking Regains Control (23:11)

How Perimenopause Changes Your Brain (29:48)

Does MHT Help Your Brain (34:21)

Why Women Get Dementia More Than Men (38:40)

Does Stress Raise Your Dementia Risk (45:07)

What Alzheimer's Actually Does To The Brain (52:17)

The Best Exercise For Your Brain (55:17)

Start With One Small Change (58:20)

Why It Is Never Too Late (01:00:21)

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Find out more about my other programs here: https://sarahrusbatch.com/

If you want to join a space where women feel safe to be seen, ask the questions they don’t always say out loud and connect with others going through the same, join my free Facebook group, Women’s Wellbeing Collective here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/342319476897067

And if changing your relationship with alcohol is something you want to explore further, you can find my book Beyond Booze on Audible, Spotify, Kindle and Amazon. Click the link here: https://sarahrusbatch.com/beyond-booze