Mind and Body: How Exercise Affects Our Brain with Louisa Nicola

Louisa Nicola is a neurophysiologist and Human Performance Coach who serves on the board of Momentous, Tonal, and Klora. She is also the founder and head performance advisor of Neuro Athletics - a consulting firm training some of the best athletes in the world. In today's episode, we discuss how exercise impacts brain health and cognitive function. Louisa discusses how aerobic exercise affects growth factors in the brain that improve neuroplasticity. She also reveals emerging research on how resistance training amplifies the effects of brain-derived growth factors and much more.

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Quotable moments:

2:43 “20 minutes a day of aerobic activity over a six-month period can stave off Alzheimer's disease by 20 years.”

7:07 “Our brain is the most vascular-rich organ in the body, meaning that it has millions of capillaries. It's got millions of vessels. “If you were to pull apart all the vessels in the brain, it would span over 400 miles.”

ABOUT THE BLUEPRINT PODCAST:

The BluePrint Podcast is for busy professionals and Household CEOs who care deeply about their families, career, and health. Host Dr. Erik Korem distills cutting edge-science, leadership, and life skills into simple tactics optimized for your busy lifestyle and goals.   Dr. Korem interviews scientists, coaches, elite athletes, entrepreneurs, entertainers, and exceptional people to discuss science and practical skills you can implement to become the most healthy, resilient, and impactful version of yourself.  

On a mission to equip people to pursue audacious goals, thrive in uncertainty, and live a healthy and fulfilled life, Dr. Erik Korem is a High Performance pioneer. He introduced sports science and athlete tracking technologies to collegiate and professional (NFL) football over a decade ago. He has worked with the National Football League, Power-5 NCAA programs, gold-medal Olympians, Nike, and the United States Department of Defense.  

Erik is an expert in sleep and stress resilience. He is the Founder and CEO of AIM7, a health and fitness app that unlocks the power of wearables by providing you with daily personalized recommendations to enhance your mind, body, and recovery.

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QUOTES  

“The key is using stress and adapting to it and improving. That’s what high performance is to me, the ability to adapt rapidly so you can achieve your potential. There are five key pillars to creating the conditions for adaptability: sleep, exercise, mental resilience, nutrition, and community/relationships.” - Dr. Erik Korem  

"Stress is your brain and body preparing you to do something effortful." Dr. Alex Auerbach

“I maybe have a different concept on leadership. To me, leading is a verb. If you’re leading, you’re a leader. If you’re swimming, you’re a swimmer, if you’re driving, you’re a driver. If you’re leading, you’re by definition, a leader. I define leading as being looked to in a particular moment to decide or perform an action based on your unique gifts and abilities. So by that definition, everybody is a leader. All rank and role really describe is how many people are hoping you get it right when it’s your turn to wear the weight.” - Clint Bruce

"Attention is the currency of performance." - Dr. Peter Haberl

“That’s what I’ve discovered in the lives of brilliant, prolific, healthy creatives, is that they have networks of people they leverage in the course of their work. That they learn from, that they were challenged by, that they gave great insight and purview into their own life and work, in such a way that they were able to receive feedback that helped them get better at what they do.” - Todd Henry

"Restful and fulfilling sleep enables you to grow, adapt, and thrive. It creates the conditions for adaptation, so you can pursue audacious goals and thrive in uncertainty." - Dr. Erik Korem

"Most exercise programs fail, not because the reps and sets are poorly designed, but because the program doesn't adjust for how much stress your body can adapt to that day! That's why Dr. Chris Morris' research and practical application of fluid periodization is the key for unlocking your performance potential." - Dr. Erik Korem

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