Episode 4 - Is AI making us stupid? Here’s how to anti-rot your brilliance
This week on Call Her Brilliant
I get all my science from the radio. Not really. But the dj did get me convinced I need more analog in my life. I immediately went to my computer and googled and I’m sharing the real research with you!
Think you’re a good multitasker? You’re probably wrong. And your smart phone could be to blame. We’re taking on AI in this week’s segment of Neuroscience for 90s kids
Pamela Anderson is ditching makeup and going green and I am here for it. Why we should all be dancing in the rain with giant rhubarb leaves for umbrellas if we want to feel more focused
TRANSCRIPT
This week on Call Her Brilliant, I get all my science from the radio. Okay, not really. But the DJ did get me convinced I need more analog in my life.
I immediately went to my computer and Googled it, and I'm sharing the real research with you. Think you're a good multitasker? You're probably wrong, and your smartphone could be to blame.
We're taking on AI in this week's segment of neuroscience for 90s kids. Pamela Anderson is ditching makeup and going green, and I am here for it.
Why we should all be dancing in the rain with giant rhubarb leaves for umbrellas if we want to feel more focused. Let's do it. Welcome to Call Her Brilliant, the podcast for ambitious women building businesses and lives that refuse to be average.
You got the gold stars and turn that grit into step-by-step success. But you're ready for more, if only your capacity wasn't the bottleneck. You want focus, freedom, and a brain that can actually keep up with your ambition.
That's more than mindset, more than strategy. From athletes to entrepreneurs, we're trading burnout for peak performance science. So you can create a life that's brilliant by design.
All of my news comes from the tiny snippets of the radio that I catch on my 10-minute commute to my office each morning. And I think that's a good thing. My husband is super into watching the evening news.
He watches it every night. But honestly, if I'm sitting there watching with him, it just kind of makes my chest feel tight. The only segment I like is the good news segment, where they share videos from our local zoo most of the time.
Like that time they tried to convince the polar bear to take a bath because he has allergies and he ended up just trying to eat the bathtub. It was adorable. Radio news has a better vibe.
Most of it's kind of funny, right? And it's super short, little bite-sized bits. Totally a better fit for me.
And sometimes I learn cool stuff.
Like this morning, they were talking about a study that found when you type something, you only activate a handful of pathways in the brain, but when you actually write it out by hand, cursive especially, it activates exponentially more of your
brain. So, you know, as soon as I got to my desk, I Googled it to see what was really going on. Here's the study.
Italian researchers compiled the results of 30 different research projects that use neuroimaging to study the differences between brain activation when you're writing by hand and when you're typing.
And they point out some pretty interesting findings.
For one, our brains process writing alphabet-based languages like English and Italian differently than we process hieroglyphic and what's called logographic systems like Chinese and ancient Egyptian.
The neuroimaging research, it shows that Chinese characters activate more in our right hemisphere of our brain, particularly our visual spatial processing areas.
Alpha-numeric systems, in contrast, predominantly engage your left hemisphere of your brain and the phonological processing areas.
So different languages activate different parts of our brain, which makes sense when you think about how those characters are written, right? Here's another interesting finding. Cursive writing and printing are different in your brain, too.
There was one study done where they used high-density EEG recordings where they put that little EEG cap with all the little electrodes on your head, and it monitors your brainwave patterns while you're doing tasks.
They demonstrated that cursive writing recruits a broader neural network compared to writing block letters, like printing. And cursive writing might even improve your memory when you're learning.
The authors of that study argued that because your brain needs to anticipate the next letter in order to connect them properly when we're handwriting or writing a cursive, it might improve our memory performance. So, what about typing?
Well, certainly faster, right? I know when I'm typing my notes for these episodes, I get it done in at least half the time compared to what I would have done if I had been writing it all down. And my hands don't cramp up.
On my clinic days, I have to do a lot of writing by hand for my notes, and my hand is sore by the end of the day. I'm not used to writing. Typing is easier.
But is that a good thing? Being faster might be good for things like brainstorming, but sometimes it's good to give your brain a chance to think.
For instance, when I'm doing more expansive work, like coming up with new ideas for programs, or even starting a project like this, I like to write it all out by hand first, with lots of colors.
I actually have this page in my notebook that I leave open every time I'm recording one of these podcast episodes, because I've created this little fun picture, I guess you would call it, diagram of all the ideas I have for the podcast.
So it looks like something we would have made in like sixth grade, honestly. It says Call Her Brilliant in the middle. I drew a little bubble around it.
Every idea I have for things I want to talk about, cool research I have, is joined by another line all around the page. People I want to have, guests I want to invite on the podcast. When I hear about cool studies, I write them all down.
There's probably 50 topics and guests I want to have on the show written on this page, but I find I make more connections, and I think more creatively when I write things out by hand. And the research backs me up.
For instance, students who hand write their notes in class remember more than those who type their notes with their computer.
So if you bring a notebook to your classroom to write down notes, versus if you bring a laptop, you're going to remember more come exam time.
Results of the various studies in this article suggest that while handwriting primarily activates what's called your motor cortex and your visual spatial integration areas, typing engages different areas, more linguistic processing and working memory
circuits. In the paper, they put the results in picture format, which I love. There's this picture of the brain, and it shows with colors which parts are lighting up in the different studies.
And you can visually see how much more colorful and active the brain is when we handwrite versus when we type. There's substantially more activation at different parts of your brain.
And not just for your motor control areas, so not just because it requires more to hold the pen and move it around than it does to type.
We're talking about more diffuse connectivity and activation, more integrated networks between what's called your frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes.
So writing it out might not only help you remember more, it can help your brain process, which is great for those of us who are working on bigger, better ideas and who want a stronger brain.
7:28
Digital Brain Rewiring
Why am I telling you all of this? You might be wondering, other than it was some pretty cool research. If you're anything like me, you probably spend like 98% of your day staring at a screen, right?
Between work and my phone and TV, we're increasingly surrounded by a digital world. In my house, for example, there are three of us living here, three humans. Me, my husband, my daughter, and our cats.
We have three cell phones. And no, before you send me angry emails, my eight-year-old does not have a real cell phone. She has an old cell phone of mine that the SIM card has been taken out of.
She uses it for filming funny videos of herself talking for her future pretend YouTube channel and for FaceTiming grandma. But we also have two iPads. We have three TVs plus my laptop and my husband's desktop computer.
My husband has an Apple watch. And although I don't have a smart watch, really, I do have a step counter, which absolutely has a little mini screen on it.
It's not like my old watch that I used for so long and loved that just had hands on it, like really an analog watch, no screen at all. We have a lot of screens around us. And that digital world is addicting.
You might be thinking addicting is a strong world, but I don't think so. In medicine, we define addiction when two factors, two conditions are present.
One, you need more and more of that thing, whatever it is, over time, to get the same benefit, to feel the same happy brain tingles. Two, you feel withdrawal when it's taken away. Think about this for a second.
Have you ever forgotten your phone at home or left it in another room, or you're at the store and you're standing in line and everyone else grabs our phones and starts scrolling and you feel that tug, like maybe you should pull out your phone and
start scrolling too? Screens are changing our brains. And your biggest edge this year might come from returning to some analog habits. Let's start with what's going on inside your brain when you're on screens.
Screens are changing our cells, your biology. Your brain loves novelty. It was designed that way, to keep you safe.
So that when our ancestors were out picking berries, they would notice that one berry looks kind of different. It doesn't look like a blueberry. It's kind of red and it's got this weird shape.
Better skip that one in case it's poisonous. And that attribute helps us in our modern world too. Novelty is fun.
We get little happy brain tingles of neurotransmitters when we're doing something new and exciting. I was driving my daughter to school the other day and it was minus 22 Celsius here in Calgary for a reason cold.
We stop at the corner to let a woman pass who is out walking her dog. And the dog has these adorable little booties on and a sweater. And I'm going, oh my gosh, Alison, look at the cute dog.
And the poor lady's laughing because she knows we're obviously pointing at her adorable dog. Happy brain tingles. When I am laughing at the adorable dog, my brain is releasing a neurotransmitter called dopamine.
You've probably heard about this one. It's really popular on social media. It does play a key role in our brain's reward circuitry.
So I'm more likely to go out looking for adorable dogs and booties again. Your brain also releases a hormone called oxytocin, sometimes called the love hormone. It doesn't just create love, it creates social bonds, and it works with humans and pets.
My brain, when I see the adorable dog in the booties, releases something called serotonin, which is the main mood-stabilizing neurotransmitter in your brain. Your brain also releases endorphins, which are natural pain relievers.
So not only does this make me feel good, it actually lowers my body's stress hormone, cortisol. Looking at that adorable dog walking across the street in a sweater and booties makes me feel good. And that is a good thing.
It is good for our brains. It's good for our bodies. Now, what if I can go on Instagram and I can scroll through 30 cute dog videos in 30 seconds?
I'm gonna get a bunch of these happy brain tingles, right? Which isn't a bad thing on its own. We know that seeing a cute dog in real life isn't bad for us.
The problem is repeating this high-octane novelty. I go on my walk and I might see one or two cute dogs. My brain has to work harder to find the cuteness, to get that same stimulation.
But if I can scroll easily, that takes less effort, and we end up with this artificial neurotransmitter dump. There was an article published last year from researchers in the UK talking about what they call dopamine scrolling.
This isn't doom scrolling where you're scrolling endlessly reading really bad news and getting sucked more and more into the negative.
Dopamine scrolling is when we're going online to make ourselves happy, and we're scrolling to get these little bursts of joy.
The authors argue that this is different than other types of digital engagement because we're actively seeking out not just entertaining content, but we're likely rapidly switching back and forth between platforms to get it.
So I'm hopping on Instagram and watching all the cute dog videos, then I'm going back over to TikTok to see some more adorable videos, and then I'm back on Instagram again and back and forth, right?
Researchers estimate that over one billion people on our planet are spending over three hours a day on social media.
Unlike doom scrolling, where the focus is on negative content, dopamine scrolling is where we're scrolling to get that dopamine hit, to activate those reward centers we were talking about. I can see a lot of cute dogs in a few seconds on TikTok.
Since we've moved more and more to short form video content, this pattern has become even more reinforcing for our brains. And I've done it. I'm sure you have too, right?
I'm sitting at home with my family, my daughter's watching something on TV that I don't really want to watch.
So I grab my phone and I scroll randomly, and all of a sudden I'm watching all the 30 second highlights from the Golden Globes with none of the boring talking or commercials required. Remember, your brain wants life to be easy. It wants to feel good.
It's harder for me to sit down and read a novel or honestly even sit through an entire show than it is to scroll on Instagram or TikTok.
And those platforms showing us something new every few seconds is draining your focus and making your brain crave more of it to get that same hit, the same happy brain tingles. It's not just our cells that are changing with screens.
Screens are hijacking our habits too. Procrastination is a fantastic example. I actually had to put my phone in another room while I was researching this episode because I wasn't really in the best mood when I was working on it.
I was kind of tired. I didn't really want to focus or work. So I kept grabbing my phone.
Honestly, try this today. Put your phone in another room for just a couple of hours. You will be shocked how often you reach for it.
Screens are a great way to procrastinate. I can absolutely lose an hour aimlessly staring at my phone or just scrolling social for ideas. But really, I'm watching videos of tiny goats, right?
15:27
Multitasking and AI Impact
The other thing that screens do is they force our brains to multitask, which we are terrible at. And that brings us to our segment, Neuroscience for 90s Kids. Neuroscience for 90s Kids.
Where we unpack the brain science behind the beliefs we grew up with. You know, the ones that told us success meant straight A's, gold stars, and never needing a break.
In this segment, we separate what the 90s taught you about brilliant success and time from what your brain actually needs. I don't know about you, but when I was growing up in the 90s, multitasking was heralded as something we should all master.
If you just get better at multitasking, we're going to be so much more efficient and successful and smarter. And it was something that you put on your resume. Excellent multitasker, right?
Ever followed someone who's walking while talking on a cell phone? You know, we're not even very good at simple multitasking. There was a study done actually in 2010 in Applied Cognitive Psychology, the test of this.
And what they did was they asked people to walk while either talking on the phone, listening to music, or just walking.
Not surprising, they found that people who were on their phones talking while walking were more likely to slow down randomly, to change directions more frequently. They were even less likely to notice when a unicycling clown passed them.
They were talking on their phone, someone wheelies in front of them on a unicycle in a clown costume, and they did not notice. And it's not that we just suck at multitasking, we think we're good at it.
There was a 2013 study that found people who think they're good multitaskers are actually worse at multitasking than people who avoid multitasking in the first place.
Another study done at Stanford showed that people who regularly multitask with media, like responding to several text message conversations at once, make more errors when they're trying to focus, and they're less productive than people who don't
regularly multitask. So we think we're good at multitasking, we're not. Practicing multitasking, trying to get better, actually makes us worse at it. And that's because your brain can't truly multitask.
Yes, you can breathe and walk at the same time, but if you've ever choked on your coffee when you tried to take a sip while you were walking, like I absolutely have, you know that sometimes even that is pretty darn hard.
What our brains do is they shift focus really fast back and forth between the two tasks.
So if I'm trying to reply to an email, well, my daughter's telling me a story about how her school robot is called Beboop, but she hopes that tomorrow she gets the one called Peanut Butter, because his whole name doesn't fit on the screen, so it just
says Peanut Butt, and they're in third grade and everyone thinks this is the greatest joke of all time. My brain is going back and forth between my email and her story, and back to my email and back to her story.
No wonder I missed half of what she's saying, and she gets super irritated at me when she has to repeat herself. Technology forces our brains to be in an almost constant state of multitasking, or at least trying to multitask, right?
I read a study that found people who work with their phones on their desk, even if notifications are turned off, even if it's turned over so you can't see it, they are more distracted than people who work with their phone in another room.
Just having your phone on your desk is hijacking your habits. Forcing your brain to work in a way it wasn't designed to function. Not only is it not all that efficient, it's making you feel more stressed out.
This has been Neuroscience for 90s Kids. Neuroscience for 90s Kids. Screens are rewiring your mind too.
Back when I was doing my residency, one of my hospital rotations was in what's called a behavioral change clinic, where I worked with folks who wanted to change their health behaviors.
Things like be more consistent in tracking their blood sugar to manage their diabetes, or quit smoking, or start exercising regularly.
One of the points that I said regularly that always got me a look of suspicion from my patients was when I'd say there are four good reasons to smoke. Here they are. Reason number one, nicotine is addicting.
We know that. It feels uncomfortable when you try and quit, right? In your mind and your body.
That's withdrawal that we were talking about earlier. So keeping smoking avoids that awful sensation. Reason number two, weight management.
A lot of people gain weight when they quit smoking and that sucks. So it's a good reason to continue smoking. Reason three, to smoke.
Stress management. Smoking can help manage stress. If you smoke or you know someone who smokes, they probably go through way more cigarettes when they're stressed out, right?
Same for vaping. It's the same with a cigarette or a vape. Same process.
Reason number four, it's good to smoke. Smoking can have social benefits. You probably didn't start smoking on your own, right?
No one's like, ooh, this cancer stick that makes me cough sounds like fun.
No, I remember when I tried smoking back in junior high because my friend's older sister who was in high school smoked and we're standing behind the 7-Eleven and she definitely peer pressured us into trying.
And I took one drag and I coughed so hard I thought my lung was gonna fall out and never smoked again. People start smoking because their friends or family do it.
And now maybe they go have a smoke with a friend on a break or when you're out for a drink or on vacation. I'm not saying we should smoke. What I'm saying is there are good reasons why your brain smokes.
There are good reasons for any habit. Even the ones we know are not that great for us. If there wasn't a good reason to do that habit, your brain wouldn't do it.
Our brains are very smart. They figure out really fast what has benefits for us and what doesn't. That doesn't necessarily mean what's good for us, right?
Benefits is different than what's good. So let's think about maybe what are the benefits of technology, the good reasons to be on our screens. Convenience is a huge one.
I've always been a paper scheduler and calendar kind of girl. Back in university, I had this whiteboard in my cubicle in the basement of the Dudgeon of the Arts Building, where they stuck graduate students to work, where we had no natural light.
I kept track of all my deadlines, and yes, it was color coded as well. When I started working in my first hospital job, I brought a whiteboard there too. I also had a paper scheduler where I kept track of all my appointments and my client work.
Then I started my business. And all of a sudden, I had a calendar at the hospital, another one in my private clinic. I had another one at home.
I had sticky notes everywhere. And zero surprise, I started double booking myself. I switched to using a Google calendar for everything, and I will never go back.
Honestly, saved my sanity. I shared last week how I even have this really specific system that I use to color code that calendar, to align my days with my brain's natural focus points and rhythms, so I can get more done.
It is a time and a brain saver. There are other benefits to technology, like being able to work on teams.
Imagine how hard our modern work environment would be if we had to rely on paper systems, especially if your team works remotely or from different cities or across the world.
I did a podcast interview earlier this week for a show based out of Australia. That wouldn't be possible without technology. But here's the question.
Is being wired for efficiency a good thing? Technology makes us efficient, and that's probably not as straightforward as we think it is. Efficiency is good.
It saves me space and capacity when I'm not constantly stressing about my schedule. But we know from the research on typing versus writing that sometimes going analog is a good thing. Writing things down, for example, is good for your brain.
It allows your brain to make connections that you wouldn't make just working on a computer. It boosts memory, and because writing activates so many different brain networks, it's probably making you smarter too.
And there is some research that technology might be making us stupid.
Research done at MIT followed 54 university students from five different universities in that area, and they randomly assigned them to three groups and asked them to write an essay.
Group number one, they were told to use ChatGPT to write their essay. Group number two, they were told to use traditional search engines like Google for support. And group number three relied just on their own knowledge.
While they wrote these essays, they put EEG headsets on them. Again, those little caps with all the sticky electrodes attached to your head that monitor your brainwaves, and they had them write the essay. Here's what they found.
The group that used ChatGPT showed lower cognitive effort and engagement on the essay, and their memory sucked after. When they asked the people who wrote the essay using ChatGPT to remember what they had written, they forgot just minutes later.
People who wrote their essays on their own, they not only had better memory for what they wrote, they had higher perceived ownership of that information.
For instance, people who wrote with ChatGPT would say things like their writing felt robotic, or not theirs. Not surprising for those of us that have used AI, right? We know it sounds not entirely like us.
Here's a really interesting point. The longer that someone used ChatGPT, the more their brainwaves changed.
After four of these writing sessions, participants in the AI group who were using ChatGPT to help them write essays showed less neural connectivity and under engagement of what are called alpha and beta brainwave networks.
Interestingly, what they did was after a few rounds of this, they had the group switch. So people did several rounds using AI to write their essay, then they tried to write on their own.
Interestingly, that group writing on their own after using AI a bunch, didn't give their brain space to fully reboot. They didn't bounce back to the same level of their peers in terms of connectivity and how much their brain was engaged.
But the people who wrote on their own first, they tried on their own a bunch of sessions, then used ChatGPT at the end, they had stronger memory and broader brain activation. Here's where things get really interesting.
The group who wrote their essays with ChatGPT evaluators thought their essays were better. So they had people, independent researchers, evaluate the quality of their essays after.
People who wrote them with ChatGPT, others thought their essays were better quality compared to those who wrote them just on their own. So what does this all mean? Your brain changes when you use technology.
Some of that might be a good thing. Freeing up space by offloading some of the busy work that we don't really need to be wasting brain resources on, like scheduling, right? But when it comes to deep work, there's a trade-off.
Relying too much on technology could have some long-term consequences for your brain and your business. A little side quest here to remind you about tech and the news.
Remember that apps, any apps, social media apps, news apps, even the news you watch on TV is a business. Companies need to make money. I'm not answering money.
I love money. Money is great. But remember, their goal is to keep your eyes glued to the screen.
These apps are designed by some very smart people to keep you scrolling, because that's how they make money, with ads. Same for traditional TV too. They want you to sit through those commercials.
And disaster cells. For example, did you know that you're more likely to die in the United States by getting trampled by a cow than from a shark attack? Probably not, right?
Because the news doesn't share a lot of stories of rampaging cows. Remember, the algorithm filters what your brain takes into. Here's the thing.
Your brain has spent 200,000 years evolving to be analog. Our digital world is very new, only the last few decades, really. Your brain isn't used to it.
Managing technology is a new skill for us as a species. No wonder it's so distracting and exhausting. Your brain evolved to get its best ideas, to do its deepest thinking screen free.
29:19
Natureʼs Brain Boost
At this point, you might be wondering, Yeah, that all sounds cool, Nicole. How do I actually do this? In a world where I realistically need to be on a screen most of my day.
It is my job. I have been staring at my screen for hours now. How do we give our brains more analog time?
This is my new favorite analog biohack. I call it synaptic rewilding. Being in nature might be the best analog habit you can do for yourself this year.
And I know you're probably thinking, yes, Nicole, I'd love to spend more time in nature too, but I live in the city and I need the internet to do my job. Hold on a sec. Because it doesn't have to be a full nature bath to really rewild your brain.
Here's the research. A micro break with some grass might be all you need.
One study of 150 university students, what they did was they had before they took a test, they had these students either look at a green roof with a bunch of plants or a concrete roof.
And they found that the students who looked at the green roof for just 40 seconds had better focused doing tasks afterwards than those who looked at the concrete roof. Even just listening to nature could boost your brain power.
A study done in 2018 found that when people close their eyes and listen to nature sounds like birds or the rainforest for just 7 minutes, they reported feeling energized for hours afterward.
20 minutes outside, 3 times a week seems to be the optimal level to drop that stress hormone cortisol according to researchers at the University of Michigan. With a caveat, you can't take your phone with you.
If you take your phone on your walk through the park in your community and you're listening to my podcast as much as I would love you to listen to my podcast, don't do it during your nature time. It doesn't give you the same benefits.
When you are spending 20 minutes a day outside, 3 times a week, it's associated with feeling sharper, more productive, and more creative. And we can be even lazier about this.
Another study of hundreds of office workers found that having plants in your office boosts the work you complete by about 15 percent. Plus, the workers who had the office plants, they tend to report they like their jobs more.
I don't know about you, but if I could get 15 percent more work done just by putting a little plant on my desk, I am going to do it. And it's not just productivity. This synaptic rewilding is like a magic elixir for your health.
There was a study done in Sweden of 160 hospital patients who were in hospital recovering from surgery, and they randomly divided them into three groups during their recovery. One group recovered in what they called a window view.
They didn't really have windows in the rooms, but they had a big picture like wall-sized picture of trees with lots of natural sunlight. The second group had an abstract painting on the wall, and the third group had a blank wall.
People who were recovering from surgery with the picture of trees in their room showed less anxiety. And here's the coolest part, they needed fewer doses of pain medication. Nature actually helps us heal.
Yes, a little bit helps, but the wilder, the better. Finland has done a bunch of studies on this. They had one where they dropped a group in the city center, another in a city park, and another group out in the country in a park.
The groups that were in the parks reported feeling more tranquil than those dropped in the city, which is probably not surprising. I feel more relaxed in a park too.
But the wilder country had an edge compared to the park in the city, where folks are more relaxed and restored after that break.
In Finland, they found with all their studies, that about four to five hours a month in this really wild nature is a sweet spot for your brain and your body. Do this this week. Go make some space for synaptic rewilding.
Go for a walk in a local park or even better yet, maybe down by the river valley if your city has a river, or take a quick drive out of town for some real trees.
If you can't get out of the city, put some plants in your office or at least a photo of some trees. Bonus benefit. These nature baths can also be a great way to activate your default mode network, that creative epicenter of your brain.
So not only will you come back refreshed, you'll probably get some amazing inspiration and ideas along the way. So yes, you have my permission to bring your phone with you. Only to write down all your ideas that come popping into your head.
No scrolling or sticking your headphones in. Listen to my podcast when you get home or when you're driving later in the day.
34:10
Pamela Anderson: Garden Icon
Which brings us to our segment, Smart Women Doing Smart Things. Today, we're talking about the teenage crush of every boy who grew up in the 90s, Pamela Anderson, who I love even more as a grown woman.
Pamela Anderson, 90s icon, famous for her red bathing suit and slow motion beach runs on Baywatch. She's a cameo in the new, well, newish, Baywatch movie with Zac Efron and Dwayne Johnson, which is so funny, by the way.
Wildly inappropriate, do not watch it with your kids around, but so funny for adults.
Anyway, Pam Anderson is back in the pop culture debate over recent years because she started showing up to events with no makeup, promoting what women actually look like as we age, which I love, especially as a fellow woman with very pale skin and
pale hair who has invisible eyebrows when I don't wear makeup. I love that she's showing up and looking fantastic how she wants.
Something really cool I read about her recently is not only is she crushing gender and aging stereotypes for women, she is super into her garden.
I went down a rabbit hole watching her gardening videos on Instagram earlier today, and they are so much fun.
She's crunching on carrots while she drives this old truck, and then she dances in the rain with what honestly looks like a giant rhubarb leaf over her head as an umbrella, and it's overlaid with her voice talking about all these gardening life
lessons. So good. Gardening is great for our brains. It's an old lady hobby like we talked about in the last episode, which uses both of your hands, which means more connections between your brain hemispheres.
Gardening makes you move, and movement of any kind is always fantastic for your brain and your brilliance, especially when we sit all day. And it gets you out in nature. Background nature, yes, but still good for you, right?
Research shows that activities like gardening can improve memory and attention, can reduce stress and boost your mood, and even help you live longer and reduce your risk of dementia like Alzheimer's disease.
Pamela Anderson, still an icon, a smart icon who knows the value of synaptic rewilding. That's why she's this week's Smart Women Doing Smart Things. Smart Women Doing Smart Things.
36:52
Exercise for Brain Function
Before we end today, let's play a quick round of brain fact or fluff. Brain fact or brain fluff. Where we separate neuroscience from nonsense, whether that viral brain hack is back by the research or just Instagram glitter.
This summer, I jumped on the weighted vest trend. Every video it seemed popping up on my Instagram was a woman in a weighted vest, right? From 20-year-old influencers talking about bone density to 45-year-old women talking about perimenopause.
I've been having a hard time. As well with my weight, around that same time. I've been struggling to get into an exercise routine that I liked.
The stuff that I had been doing for years had gotten boring. I wasn't really motivated to do it, so I wasn't really moving. Not surprising, my weight was going up.
And I'm 41. And a neuropsychologist. So of course, perimenopause has been on my mind.
My mom has osteoporosis, and I don't want my bones to be snapping like raw spaghetti when I slip on the ice. So I got myself a weighted vest.
Actually, when it arrived, I lifted the box and I turned to my husband and I said, I think they sent me the wrong one. It's so heavy. I even got on my scale to check.
Nope, it was right. I was just in terrible shape at the time. So anyway, I'm armed with my $20 step counter and the cheapest weighted vest I could find on Amazon.
I started walking. Let me preface this by saying I was already walking more at this point as my plan to be smarter.
I had started what I call my brilliance walks, which get me away from my desk, get me outside, get some of that inspiration flowing in nature, right? I already added this into my day. What I added on top of that was the weight of the vest.
Let me tell you, it certainly felt harder. I was sweating more and I could feel that extra 10 pounds by the end of my walk. But was it actually doing anything for my body or my brain?
Here's the science. One small study compared people walking with weighted vests and those who walk without them found no significant difference in bone health.
Another small study did find some benefits for people who wore a weighted vest while engaging in resistance workouts. But it wasn't clear from the study whether this was because of the vests or the exercise in terms of healthy bone growth.
Walking and running with or without a weighted vest doesn't stress your muscles and your bones enough to make a difference, according to exercise experts in this area.
The best way to improve strength, bone density, is to exercise a muscle through its full range of motion using significant resistance, like doing bicep curls with hand weights or squats with a barbell.
What really switched my thoughts on this was when I told my mom I was doing this, she's in her 70s, and she says, Oh, I have one of those. I bought it in the 80s when they were popular.
Let's be honest, I am hesitant to trust any fitness trend from the 80s, given that the 80s raised the weight watchers generation, like my mom, who is obsessed with counting calories, and still thinks margarine is healthier than butter.
And if it was popular 40 years ago and fell out of favor, there might be a reason, like maybe it doesn't actually work. So brain factor fluff, here's my take.
If putting on a weighted vest makes you get out walking more, like it does for me, it helps motivate me, it makes me feel like I can do this and it's worth it, great. It is probably not gonna be bad for you to grab that weighted vest.
But if you're really looking for the bang for your buck when it comes to exercise, you probably get more benefit from doing 60 seconds of squats. Here's some more research.
A recent study found that doing just one minute of squats every 20 minutes throughout the day when you're sitting can improve your brain function. What they did was they divided adults into two groups.
One group sat and worked uninterrupted for three hours. Group two was told to stand up every 20 minutes and do 60 seconds of squats. Before and after, they tested their cognitive skills like speed, shifting attention, executive functioning.
The group that did the squats responded faster on these cognitive tasks and made less errors. And, not surprising, when they asked participants how they felt, the group that sat the whole three hours said they felt more fatigued and distracted.
Important point here, the study doesn't specifically address whether it's the squats or the break that was the benefit here because we know that breaks help, right?
If I am sitting for three hours, my thinking is going to be slow at the end of that too.
So not necessarily if it's the squats or the breaks that are helping here, but there certainly is some pretty good research that doing anything that builds lower body strength for women through your legs is really good for health benefits, especially
as we get into our 40s and beyond. This has been Brain Fact or Fluff. Brain Fact or Brain Fluff. Okay, that's all for today.
Thank you so much for tuning in. I'm Dr. Nicole Byers, and this is Call Her Brilliant.