Answering Your Burning Questions About The Brain – Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta

This season of the podcast, I set out to explore what I think is the most fascinating, the most enigmatic and mysterious part of our human anatomy. It's that part of our bodies that dictates how we learn and how we feel and how we move. It's basically who we are at our core: the brain. Longtime listeners of the show already know that I've been fascinated by the inner workings of the brain since childhood. It all started when I was pretty young. I was worried about my grandfather's dementia. But ever since then, and throughout my career as a brain surgeon, I've always wondered: how can we build a stronger brain? How do we keep our brains sharp? How do we keep it more resilient, less likely to develop problems as we age? I have dedicated my life to exploring these questions and trying to answer them. I've written books. I've pored over the latest research. So it probably came as no surprise to you when I decided to dive even deeper into the inner workings of the brain. For this season of the podcast, think of it as a professional privilege, an opportunity for me to bring my two worlds together. And collectively we explored many things. For example, what does it mean to have a distracted brain? Can anyone maximize their attentiveness to their attentive brain?

Yes, I absolutely think so.

A caffeinated brain...

Why are we not satisfied with everyday, normal consciousness? And we're not the only animal. I mean, other animals, you know, like to change consciousness too.

'And one of my personal favorites, the frightened brain with the King of Horror, none other than the best-selling author, Stephen King.

There are so many things in life that are really scary.

But I have to say that one of the most gratifying parts of this entire season was the incredible response I got from all of you.

Hey, Sanjay.... Hi, Sanjay, Dr. Gupta... Hi, Dr. Gupta and the CNN team... I thought the podcast today with Dr. Raison was absolutely brilliant....It created a light bulb moment for me. Man KC's statement. that chores are morally neutral just lit a light bulb in my head... So that's really helped me to be more intentional about my attention... I'm calling to answer your question about have I used any of the tips you've given in your show? And I wanted to respond emphatically yes!

It means a lot to me to know that so many of you learned something, tips that you can use to make your life maybe just a little bit better. It's why I do what I do. It's why we do this show in the first place. And I love that so many of you continue to call in with even more questions based on what you learned. Your innate curiosity really shining through. So on today's episode, we're going to do things a little bit differently. I'm going to tackle your questions about the mysteries of the brain directly. We're going to talk about ways to measure your brain health, changes that may happen to your brain during pregnancy, and the science behind meditation. So get ready to hear some of your own questions answered. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's Chief Medical correspondent, and this is Chasing Life. Our first question today comes from a listener named Terry who wants to learn more about the science behind meditation.

Hi, Dr. Gupta and the CNN team. I love Your Chasing Life podcast. I started listening last season and I'm really enjoying the deep dive on the brain this season. My question is about research supporting other ways to calm and heal the brain, beyond sleep and napping. And I did hear Dr. Gupta mentioned meditation in passing at the very end of episode two. So since my second breast cancer diagnosis, I use both regularly mindfulness and meditation. So I realize your podcast isn't about cancer, but my thinking is that these interventions are helping specifically with depression and anxiety, that applies to a pretty large swath of the population. So could you please expand on some of the topics you've already talked about this season by adding in some of the evidence and success stories around using meditation, mindfulness, maybe even religious practices to increase focus, to train the brain, to interrupt the stress response, and really in turn change your threshold for how quickly you move into fight or flight? I think these are really powerful and practical tools that could help a lot of people and need a little bit of demystifying to the general public. I appreciate your time and your consideration. Thank you again.

'First of all, Terry, thank you for sharing that. I am really glad to hear that meditation and mindfulness in general has been of help to you along your journey with cancer. First of all, you're absolutely right. There's a lot of emerging research that backs up the health benefits behind meditation. We've known for some time that it's good for you, but now there's actual data to support that. In fact, there was data from a study in the journal JAMA Psychiatry -- JAMA is Journal of the American Medical Association. They have their own psychiatry journal. And last year, they found meditation could be as effective as medication at reducing anxiety. Let me repeat that: meditation could be as effective as medication at reducing anxiety. Just think about how many people take medications for anxiety, maybe people you know, and how much meditation could potentially help them. In this study of about 270 adults with untreated anxiety disorders, half of them were randomly selected to take the generic form of Lexapro. That's a common medication used to treat anxiety and depression. The other half were given an eight-week course in mindfulness based stress reduction. Now, the results were pretty stunning. Both groups reported a 20% reduction in their anxiety symptoms. And what the research also showed was that mindfulness is actually influencing two stress pathways in the brain and can alter the brain structure that regulates attention and emotion. It can also regulate something known as the autonomic nervous system. Now, remember this: the autonomic nervous system is the part that's responsible for regulating involuntary functions. Think: heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, digestion, all of those things that are involved in our flight or fight response. Now, I want to be clear on something. This doesn't mean anyone should stop taking their medications. You should, of course, talk to your doctor about that. But this is a really promising treatment option for folks out there who are struggling with anxiety, who are struggling with other mental health disorders and want to try meditation. The best part is that meditation is inexpensive. It's accessible. It's something you can do in your own home. There are all these apps for guided meditations. There's books. There's even online videos. And in case you missed it, I wanted to share this with you. Part of my conversation with Dr. Gail Saltz from the New York Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical College. Take a listen to this:

Paced deep breathing is really quite simple. You know, you you would put your hand on your chest, because you would like to inhale and have your chest upper chest expand, and not your belly. So that is to help you have a deep diaphragmatic breath. And you would breathe in through the nose with your hand, your chest rising to a count of five, a slow count of five. And then you would bring breathe out through your mouth to a slow count of seven, a little longer. Exhale, then inhale. And the reason is, we know on that long extra exhale is what slows your heart rate just a little bit, and that helps bring the anxiety down. So doing that slow, deep breathing, close your eyes, be in a very relaxed position, sitting down things should be tensed up. And doing that for about five minutes, ten minutes should leave you afterwards feeling more physiologically relaxed. Kids can do breathin, even little kids. They call it flowers and bubbles. So you smell the flowers and you blow the bubble. So you smell the flower to count of five, you blow the bubble to a count of seven. I have been teaching this to people whose children are going through shooter drills at school and are feel panicked during the drill because those drills are very anxiety producing to children to have something that they can do, place that they can go and calm themselves so that the drills themselves aren't so traumatic.

So here's the bottom line. Next time you are feeling anxious and stressed, and look everyone does sometimes. Consider what we've just talked about. It's something that I have personally made part of my own fitness regimen. And now I consider it just as important as my daily physical exercise. I try and meditate at least 10 to 15 minutes a day. For everybody, it's a little bit of a different experience. I find a quiet place and I actually try and focus on something very specific. Point meditation, analytical meditation, there are different names for it, but that's what works for me. And I can tell you just through the deep breathing and the meditation itself, I can feel my blood pressure dropping. I can feel my heart rate slowing, I can feel the muscles in my face starting to relax. My wife tells me I even look different after I meditate. So I can personally say the mind body benefits of just sitting quietly, focusing on your breath and being very intentional with your thoughts. That's real. And it's something you should try. Next up, a listener named Sherry asks about our brains ability to heal.

'I'm going to answer your question about have I used any of the tips you've given in your show? And I wanted to respond emphatically, yes. I do have one other question, though. Knowing several people, especially in a post-pandemic world, that are trying to recover from alcohol use disorder, I was curious to know, generally speaking, if a person quits chronically drinking or if there's a sort of alcohol misuse, does the brain heal? Can the brain recover from long-time alcohol abuse? I would love to know the answer to that question. Thank you so much.

'Well, Sherry, first of all, I think you're spot on in that many people may be struggling with this right now. We got a lot of questions about this. So let me say this to start. If you know someone who struggles with alcohol or if that person is you, you're not alone and you should seek help for this. It's really important. Here's what we do know. At the end of the day, drinking alcohol is not good for the body or brain. I know there's been all sorts of conflicting recommendations on this, but the way I think about it is that you should not start drinking in the pursuit of health and you should recognize that alcohol can really act as a sledgehammer to the brain. Heavy drinking can lead to all sorts of health problems like heart disease, cirrhosis of the liver, cancer, memory problems, anxiety and depression. More than 200 conditions in all, if you look at the literature. But it's really particularly hard on the brain. Now, whether you drink or not and how much, that's a personal decision. It's going to come down to your comfort level and how much of a risk you're willing to take. Now, to be honest, in terms of treatments for long term alcohol abuse, there's still a lot of research that is ongoing, more that needs to be done. But there is some promising new data here. There was this new study out of Stanford, Sherry, that was published in October, which used MRI's to look at the brains of 68 drinkers who were undergoing treatment for alcohol use disorder. After about eight months, the heavy drinkers who cut back or quit entirely had more volume in certain parts of the brain that were specifically involved in decision making and memory that was compared to those who returned to drinking more heavily. So for those in recovery or even just cutting back, those efforts aren't in vain. And you can even measure the progress. The brain is very resilient. It can repair itself. It can adapt through a process called neuroplasticity, which if you listen to the podcast, you probably know all about. I think that's one of my biggest takeaways after studying this part of the body for so long. Yes, the brain is very fragile. It's very delicate. It can be damaged very easily, but it can also heal and that should be inspiring to everyone. We're going to take a quick break, but first, I wanted to let you know we've already started to work on the next season of the podcast. Yay! We get to do another podcast and we still want to hear from you. What do you want us to talk about? What topics do you want us to cover? Do you have any burning health questions, based on what you're reading or hearing in the news? I love hearing from you. I really do. I think it's so important. So leave us a voicemail at (470) 396-0832. You can record a voice memo on your phone and email it to me at [email protected]. We'll be back in just a moment.

'Hi, Sanjay. My name is Greer. I'm from the Bay Area in California. I have a three-and-a-half-year0old and a one-and-a-half-year-old. So I'm really looking forward to this next season about the brain. And I'd love to know about how pregnancy and motherhood changes your brain chemistry if it does. Thank you so much.

Thanks for your question, Greer And I want you to know that this is something that many other listeners were curious about as well. Look, there's a lot of changes to a woman's body during pregnancy: fluctuating hormones, different dietary needs. And there's also fairly new research that indicates changes to the brain do happen during pregnancy, and those changes can last for at least two years postpartum. That's something that I didn't realize. And the changes don't stop there. Women's brains also go through this incredible period of neuroplasticity, this reorganization of the brain. And this process may help moms cope with many of the big life changes that are coming up for them as well. In fact, the rewiring of women's brains during pregnancy is comparable to what happens during two other important phases of life: puberty and menopause. Earlier this season, I spoke to one of the leading experts in this field of women's brain health, neuroscientist Dr. Lisa Mosconi. We were talking about menopause, but then she mentioned some of the changes that happen in women's brains during pregnancy as well.

All these changes that we see, they're not too different from what happens during puberty. It shapes your brain in such a way that the limbic part of your brain, the primitive part of your brain comes back in the front. Why? Because you have to protect your kids. You have to turn into the mama bear that will spot the little toddler in a sandbox full of toddlers and come do the rescue in a microsecond. You had to be able to to understand nonverbal clues for basically years. You have to be able to raise this human being based almost entirely on instinct. It happens every time you go through puberty. Now, that also means that the same parts of your brain that allow you to basically be a superhero as a new mom are very much turned on, which means mood is changing. Memory is changing. All the things that then we call the "mommy brain." are a side effect, if you will, of this brain transformation that will allow you to really take care of your child and be a successful mother.

'Now, we don't still know exactly what causes memory loss and the other aspects of so-called "mommy brain." It could be actual physical changes to the brain, or it could just be the stress and lack of sleep that often comes with new motherhood. I know this well. Seeing my wife go through this three times, it's pretty stressful. But we do know, though, with time, that memory loss typically does improve. I also want to add something else. My hope is in the future we have even more research into women's brain health. I did not realize before the podcast how historically understudied and underfunded this field was. So I really do commend researchers like Dr. Mosconi for doing such important work. Now let's get to our final caller. Tim in Illinois has a question I love.

As I got in my 50s, I trie to figure out what do I measure myself by? How do I focus on health? And I look at it through what is good for my heart and what is good for my brain. And that's led me to a lot of your podcasts. So thank you for all of your work on the brain and your passion for that for brain health. That being said, my question for next season that you asked for, I'd like to know more. How do 50 year olds or anyone for that matter, measure their brain health? How would we know if we're doing well with our brain health? Are there tests? Are there apps? Are there things that we could do to kind of see how we measure up so we can monitor that over time? I hope there is an answer there somewhere, and I look forward to next season's focus on the brain. Take care.

'Think about this. We know how to measure a healthy heart: blood pressure and heart rate and look at cholesterol and look at plaques. We know how to measure healthy liver and healthy lungs and healthy kidneys. We talk about keeping those parts of our body in shape. But sometimes I think people just forget about the brain, because it's not as visible. It's encased in a thick shell of bone. And what exactly is a healthy brain? If you asked ten different people, you might get 11 different answers. But if you're interested in starting to test your brain health, there are a few options out there. Let me tell you what doctors often think about. They refer to these commonly-used tests that sort of track your cognitive function over time. They include the Mini Cog - COG is cognitive here. There's also the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, or MoCA. And the Sage, the Self-Administered Gerocognitive Exam. These tests measure skills that tend to decline somewhat with age, things like memory and spatial awareness and executive functions. But again, what you're really looking for is the trend, because it may not give you an absolute assessment of your brain health, but it can at least tell you if you're heading in the right or the wrong direction. And the good news is they typically take just a few minutes to administer. Sometimes - check with your doctor about this - sometimes they're even covered by Medicare for people 65 and older. Now, if over time you take these tests and you or your doctor notice a change in your scores, then it may be time to take additional steps brain scans, blood tests. There's also some interesting, quick and easy online options available as well. The Cleveland Clinic, for example, offers an online self-assessment called the Brain Checkup. Just make sure you do visit your doctor if you have any real concerns about your brain health. Now, whether you're interested in brain testing or not, after years of writing about this topic, I wanted to give you some of my takeaways for staying sharp. I call them the five main pillars of brain health: move, discover, relax, nourish and connect. Now, I think they're sort of self-evident, but the way that you move, the way that you nourish yourself, how much sleep you're getting, how you connect with other people, that's obviously really important. And I talk a lot about this in my book, Keep Sharp. One of my favorites is "discover," or basically trying new things. Think of it like this: you want to constantly introduce novelty into your life. It's one of the best ways to challenge yourself, but to also create these new neural pathways in your brain. So think of this as an excuse to try new things. Try a new workout class, try a new restaurant, try a new route on your daily walk. Your brain may thank you later. And I want to thank you now, so much, everyone who's listened and called in this season. I've learned a lot along the way. Even though I've been a brain surgeon for a long time now, there is still so much to learn about the brain, and I'm glad we got to do it together. And I'm glad so many of you have shown such interest in this topic. Don't worry, we're not going anywhere yet. We're going to be back next week with a roundup of some of the best tips and some of the best moments of 2023.

I have changed my whole routine to prepare for menopause. I have changed my diet. I have changed my exercise. I sleep. I prioritize sleep hygiene in a very specific way. I do stress reduction.

We'll be back next Tuesday. Thanks for listening. Chasing Life is a production of CNN Audio. Our podcast is produced by Eryn Matthewson, Madeleine Thompson, David Rind and Grace Walker. Our senior producer and showrunner is Felicia Patinkin. Andrea Kane is our medical writer and Tommy Bazarian is our engineer. Dan Dzula is our technical director and the executive producer of CNN Audio is Steve Lickteig. With support from Haley Thomas, Alex Manesseri, Robert Mathers, Jon Dianora and LeniSteinhart, Jamus Andrest, Nicole Pesaru and Lisa Namerow. Special thanks to Ben Tinker, Amanda Sealy and Nadia Kounang of CNN Health and Katie Hinman.