Video summary
Dr. Rahul Jandial argues against the notion of genetic determinism regarding cognitive decline, asserting that while behavioral genetics is often underappreciated, lifestyle factors play a massive and controllable role in maintaining brain health. He emphasizes that DNA is not destiny for neurological conditions like Alzheimer's or dementia; rather, treatment strategies are primarily rooted in lifestyle modifications because available medicines remain limited to early diagnosis. This perspective aims to empower individuals by shifting the focus from unchangeable genetic predispositions acquired before birth to actionable behaviors they can control within a meritocratic framework of life authorship. To preserve cognitive function and keep brain arteries open for proper neuronal irrigation, Jandial outlines five key habits starting with vascular health through exercise or established cholesterol management. The second pillar involves nutrition, specifically the MIND diet which closely resembles a pescatarian approach centered on plants and fatty fish. He explains that omega-3s found in these foods are essential because they form myelin, the fatty sheath around axons that allows electrical signals to jump across gaps more rapidly than uncoated neurons can transmit them. Furthermore, he highlights intermittent fasting as a critical timing strategy where skipping breakfast or adhering to 16-hour windows forces the liver to produce ketones, allowing the brain—a hybrid vehicle—to thrive on both glucose and alternative fuel sources without weight loss being the primary goal. Beyond diet and fasting, Jandial stresses that movement is vital for cognitive protection through mechanisms like BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor). He clarifies a common misconception regarding exercise physiology: these growth factors are not released from muscles to swim up to the brain but are housed within the brain itself. Physical activity serves as the necessary cue or signal prompting this internal ecosystem to release its own nutrients and neurotransmitters, effectively acting like fertilizer in a garden rather than an external delivery system. While high-intensity workouts are beneficial for some, he notes that simple vertical movement, such as standing up from a chair, also requires postural muscle activity that supports overall cognitive trajectories. The final habit involves actively challenging the brain to prevent stagnation and maintain engagement. Drawing parallels between physical training and mental growth, Jandial suggests that just as Usain Bolt must train his biceps to run faster, the mind must be pushed toward higher levels of complexity through puzzles, complex conversations, reading novels, or creative ideation. He warns against tasks that are either too easy or impossibly hard, advocating instead for activities that require thinking differently and wildly in ways not previously attempted. Ultimately, he concludes that creativity is an intelligence in itself as valuable as raw processing power, urging individuals to engage with fresh content that stimulates the brain's ability to think beyond established patterns.
Read the full video transcript
What role does lifestyle really play
when it comes to cognitive decline?
>> Massive.
>> I'm seeing a lot now. I'm big behavioral
genetics stan as well. I think that
heritability has got a
feted past. Uh but it's real important
and I think that more people should
learn about behavioral genetics than do
I think it's there's a lot being laid at
the feet of of lifestyle because it's
something that we do have control over
in a meritocracy.
uh where people feel like they want to
be able to author their own life. This
idea that you are being puppeted by some
stuff that happened literally before you
were born, like as you were conceived,
um is very disempowering as an idea to a
lot of people. But I also think it's
super informative and if you can kind of
get past the initial discomfort of
there's some stuff that I didn't choose
that I'm at the mercy of. Um but on the
flip side of that, lifestyle as well. So
talk to me about cognitive decline and
its contributing elements, lifestyle,
genetics. How do you come to think about
it?
>> DNA is not destiny. Um
especially when it comes to the brain
and mind like I mean DNA might be
destiny for like heart attacks or stuff
like that or certain there are certain
medical conditions that are very linked
to genetics epigenetics but um whether
you have uh a proclivity
uh or tendency to have Alzheimer's or
dementia or not whether you want to
stave that off because you don't want to
know based on a new Alzheimer's test or
whether you've been given given a
diagnosis and you're trying to work
through it. The treatment is all
lifestyle and behavioral. The medicines
are limited. They're um they exist for
early diagnosis and Alzheimer's, but the
treatment is all lifestyle. The way I
the way I think about it is five five
key things to do or or a handful of key
things to do. Um is one, you got to keep
the arteries open. We've been talking
about the the the beautiful brain. You
have four arteries coming up. They they
get into this beautiful branching
pattern. It's exquisite. Parts of them
loop over each other. Looks like a
chandelier. We call it the candalabra.
And they get narrower and narrower. So
you got to irrigate the flesh. So
whatever is good for keeping heart
arteries open and kidney arteries open
is also good for keeping brain arteries
open. Exercise.
>> Yeah. Or taking the the anti-
cholesterol pills that are long
established and mostly safe. Like pretty
safe, you know. So exercise. Yeah. U but
exercise does a couple of them. So, you
got to keep the plumbing open to
irrigate these neurons. Um, number two
is uh
you have to eat a certain way. And I
know there's a lot of diet stuff out
there and that's a whole theme. But the
thing that over decades has been proven
uh to preserve or even increase
cognitive health, cognitive function is
um is the mind diet and which is the
closest thing to it is pescatarian.
It's mostly plants
fatty fish and the reason fat so I like
to take it one step one step deeper. The
reason it's fatty fish and omega-3s is
you mentioned the word mileelin before
and so the little the the neurons and
the axons. The way they make the
electricity communicate faster is that
the cable is wrapped uh with a fatty
sheath that's called myelin and then the
electricity actually jumps uh across the
little gaps they have and it goes faster
than if it does not milein coated. Uh
and thought can actually deposit myelin
preferring that thought to happen again.
uh that myelin sheath is made from
omega-3s. So you there's a specific fat
that's needed for myelin and that's
omega-3s and fatty fish. You can get in
in flax seed and other things too. So
keeping the plumbing open, giving the
brain the material it needs. Now we're
at the at the scale level, right? Okay.
And then you then you go in a little
deeper.
Um the timing of eating is interesting.
I I do think there's some pretty strong
neuroscience evidence of intermittent
fasting. I know there a lot of diet
things out there, but
>> skipping if who if you have the luxury
of skipping breakfast, skipping going
16-hour windows will uh if you don't
eat, you're not going to just drop dead.
And the brain the brain is a uh uh a
hybrid vehicle. the brain can live off
of neurons can, you know, thrive and and
use glucose or ketones. And so after 16
hours, your liver will will turn out
ketones if you haven't eaten. So that's
how you live past, you know, the 16-
hour window if you don't consume
anything. And that switching back and
forth
um in intermittent fasting, the
cognitive test now, now we're getting
from flesh to mind. Um,
uh, people seem to have more focus.
People seem to have more, it's not about
weight loss, but intermittent fasting,
it's letting the brain have glucose and
ketones couple of times a week.
>> That's interesting. So, your suggestion
here is that all ketones, someone that's
doing a full ketosis or carnivore style
diet or somebody that's doing a classic
sort of omnivore style diet, which when
you're grazing, typically you're not
going to drop into ketosis unless you
forget to eat carbs for a couple of days
or something. Uh you're suggesting that
there is a principal brain benefit and
neurological benefit to the switching
between these two fuel sources.
>> Correct. That's interesting.
>> Weight loss is separate.
>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Autophagy and
>> Yeah. But but also I mean there's a lot
of ways to lose weight. Um but this this
is we're talking about how to stay
sharp.
>> Keeping the flesh healthy, keeping the
plumbing open, those arteries, you know,
vascular health. Um exercise could do
that. what we eat, giving your brain the
right materials and the mostly plants
will clear out the sludge and the
antiox, you know, the plants work
because they got they have antioxidants
and and tannins and these things that
clear the sludge that these little
molecular machines called neurons make,
right? It's that's why plants are good
for your brain. And
>> are there any that you prioritize
>> uh in plants?
>> Yes.
>> I don't I don't think it really matters.
It's hard. Again, I can't find the
experiment where they got a thousand
people eating spinach and they got a
thousand. But I can tell you over 30
years, whether it's Blue Zones or the
Mediterranean diet, now specifically
called the MIND diet, it's Mediterranean
diet. And those people, they get a lot
less Alzheimer's than people who don't.
>> So, I I can't distill it down to that.
But Michael Poland, you know, he's
great. Mostly plants and some fish. and
then the indulgence of the burger or the
caviar or the or the vegan, you know,
burger patty. It's all it's all up to
you. But the staple is pescatarian. Then
we talked about the timing of eating,
what to eat, the timing of eating, and
then um I think the other one that's
>> just on the timing of eating thing, uh
outside of the intermittent fasting
thing, is there anything else to say on
that? It's primarily at some point a
couple of 16 hour ketones. Couple of 16
hour fasts per week is probably a good
idea.
>> Yeah. And and relatively easy to do. You
can have black coffee in the morning.
>> Um I I feel great when I do when I fast.
I I feel really really great.
>> Yeah. And and that's another another
theme I'm trying to tie in like things
that have worked for the ancients, you
know, whether it's again back to
Aristotle or fasting and different
things. Again, for people have the
luxury of this, right? Most there's a
lot of food insecurity. I'm just giving
you the conceptual answer. Um and then
the you know the the fourth thing is is
movement.
So exercise is is is movement. But uh
for my patients what we've seen is that
when you're vertical like people think
like it's got to you know you got to
have you got to have the gear. You're
out there. You're just you look like
you're auditioning for the Equinox
commercial or whatever. Like that's
great. No knocking that. But for most
people, just standing for my patients,
the trajectories of patients who can
stand and get up from a toilet and stand
and get to the couch is so much better.
Being vertical requires postural muscle
activity. So what I would say is walking
and movement
um are also cognitive uh protective. And
you mentioned exercise now. So exercise
and movement does a couple of things.
One, it keeps those arteries open that
we talked about. Uh as far as the food
well number two what to eat pescatarian
third and mind diet people can look all
these terms up. Third when to eat
intermittent and fasting for ketones and
the cognitive benefits thinking benefits
not structural.
>> Fourth is exercises that it that this
ecosystem requires
nutrients not neurotransmitters that are
being sprayed between neurons but but uh
in the millu in the garden if you will.
And there are things like growth
factors. Obviously BDNF is a popular
one. I had a grant from the Department
of Defense studying it. I'm familiar
with it. What I want people to know is
when you exercise, it's not like it's
released from uh you know like your
thigh muscle and swims up to your brain
and says, "Hey, I'm helping you out
now." that these chemicals are housed in
the brain and exercise is the cue is the
signal for your brace brain to release
them on themselves.
>> BDNF is released from the brain for the
brain when you exercise.
>> And I think that's I think that's
powerful outside of the cardiac and
weight loss. I'm just talking about a
little bit of movement couple of times a
week and all of a sudden it starts to
feel like, hey, I can do these things.
Yeah,
>> they're pretty low bars to entry,
>> but but high high impact and proven.
>> And then the last one is you got to
think, man, you got to challenge
yourself. I mean, if you know Usain
Bolt, you you know, you ask him how to
run faster, say train, you train your
biceps. I mean, it's it's a thinking
flesh. If you don't if you don't push it
to the next level of complexity and
thought and challenge, not too hard
where you quit, just like video games.
If it's too hard to get to if to level
up, we tap out. if it's too easy, we're
not engaged. So, finding whatever you're
engaged in from puzzles to complex
conversations that it it it needs to be
challenged um with thought, with ideas,
with creativity, with reading those
novels you're reading at night. So the
fresh content that's engaging and
requires you to think uh think
differently um think wildly think uh in
ways you haven't before. I think that's
an essential part of also that doesn't
mean everybody who who was a professor
lived longer did better than you know
people were just rocking out not not not
approaching it that way but creative
ideiation I think is as valuable
>> as just raw processing power it's not
all about doing math and puzzles uh I
think challenge yourself to be creative
I is uh is an intelligence in itself
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