Dr. Tommy Wood: Brain Health and Longevity, Pt. 1

Tommy Wood, BM BCh, PhD, is a neuroscientist, elite-level professional nerd, and performance consultant to world-class athletes in a dozen sports. He received 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. 

Tommy is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Neuroscience at the University of Washington and a Visiting Scientist at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. His research focuses on brain health and brain injury treatment across the lifespan, as well as developing easily accessible methods with which to track health, performance, and longevity in both professional athletes and the general population. Tommy serves as deputy editor of the Wiley Journal Lifestyle Medicine, is a Director of the British Society for Lifestyle Medicine, and consults for a number of digital health companies and charities that focus on how lifestyle and the environment can affect long-term health and chronic disease.

You can learn more about Dr. Wood at his website, www.drtommywood.com/

His substack, betterbrain.fitness is an excellent resource, and if you subscribe, you’ll get some useful resources like a list of blood tests to monitor for brain health, a list of nutrients that support brain health and how to integrate them into your diet, and some in-depth information on how those nutrients and tests work. 

Timestamps:

00:00:22 Intro to Dr. Tommy Wood

00:01:46 Dr. Wood’s Ancestral Viking Heritage 

00:03:28 What is The British Society of Lifestyle Medicine?

00:04:37 Traction of the BSLM in the United States

00:06:53 Seventh-Day Adventist’s Dietary Guidelines

00:08:40 Most Noticeable Changes Between Lifestyle Medicines

00:11:41 Building an Active Relationship With Your Doctor Before You Get Sick

00:13:08 Role of Social Environment On Lifestyle-Type Diseases

00:19:03 Lifestyle Interventions for Long-Term Brain Health

00:22:55 Main Drivers of Preserving or Losing Cognitive Function

00:24:57 How Useful Are Brain Games Like Luminosity?

00:28:30 How Different Diseases Affect Cognitive Supply 

00:33:18 Benefits of Omega-3’s for the Brain and Heart

00:35:35 Dietary Sources of Omega-3’s

00:37:52 Smaller Fish Have Less Heavy Metal Accumulation

00:39:06 Does Dr. Wood Eat Fish That is Higher In Mercury?

00:39:34 TBI or Concussions and Loss of Cognitive Function 

00:40:47 Glymphatic System Explained

00:42:20 When is the Glymphatic System the Most Active?

00:43:29 Beta-Amyloids and Cognitive Function

00:46:56 Outro