Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy Wood

KEYPOINTS

• 01

  Protecting the aging brain takes three things together

  Based on population studies and trials in older adults, Wood's framework is to exercise, keep doing the things you already know how to do, and keep learning new things you can't yet do. 'Use it or lose it' is true, but novelty and being bad at something are what push the brain to change.

• 02

  Adults lose function partly because they stop doing hard, new things

  In a paper with a colleague, Wood argued that cognitive decline partly comes from no longer giving the brain new, complex inputs, because 'adults hate being bad at things.' The discomfort of mistakes is part of learning. A beginners' class where everyone fails together makes it easier and more fun.

• 03

  Pick skills that combine movement and thinking

  Pick something well outside your current skills that has both motor and cognitive parts, such as dance, sports, music or other arts. Narrow brain-game practice mostly makes you better at that game. Broader, more human skills engage many brain networks and probably carry over further into daily life.

• 04

  Processing-speed training has the best long-term evidence among brain games

  The ACTIVE trial in the 1990s, the largest pure brain-training trial in people in their 60s and 70s, tested memory, reasoning and visual processing-speed training. Speed training flashes items for shorter and shorter times, down to hundreds of milliseconds. A recent secondary analysis found that speed training with booster sessions at one and three years was linked to significantly lower dementia risk 20 years later. The US POINTER trial used BrainHQ, built on Michael Merzenich's work, alongside diet, exercise and cardiovascular-risk management.

• 05

  Deep focused work tops out at about 60–90 minutes per session

  In the classic violinist practice study behind the '10,000 hours' idea, top players typically practiced in two sessions of 60–90 minutes a day. Wood suggests that pattern as a rule of thumb for work that pushes past your current skill. Huberman adds that marathon days of 6–12 hours led to a drop in output afterward.

• 06

  Eat enough, but not too much, and cover key nutrients

  Studies of the Bolivian Tsimane (hunter-gatherers), the Moseten and industrialized populations found a bell-shaped curve between energy availability and brain volume. The nutrients with the best evidence for cognition and dementia risk are vitamin D, iron, omega-3s, and the methylation B vitamins (B12 and folate, possibly B6 and riboflavin). Polyphenols from berries, coffee, tea and chocolate, plus carotenoids such as lutein, zeaxanthin and astaxanthin, have decent support.

• 07

  Nutrients work together, which explains many 'failed' supplement trials

  In the Oxford VITACOG trial, later replicated in B-PROOF, B vitamins lowered homocysteine but brought no benefit when omega-3 levels were poor. In OmegAD, omega-3s didn't help people whose homocysteine was high. Wood's point is that trials that don't first check what participants lack shouldn't be expected to show effects.

• 08

  Stimulants set the stage for learning but don't cause it

  Huberman and Wood agree there's no 'plasticity pill.' Caffeine and other stimulants raise arousal and focus, which learning needs, so any benefit is likely indirect. For peptides and newer compounds, Wood personally wants documented safety first and a specific problem to solve. Often all that exists is an absence of reported harms over short periods of use.

• 09

  Fitness intensity matters for the hippocampus

  In one trial, older adults were randomized to low-intensity exercise, Zone 2 treadmill work three times a week, or the Norwegian 4x4 interval protocol three times a week for six months. The 4x4 means 4 minutes at 85–95% of max heart rate, 3 minutes of rest, repeated four times. Fitness gains were similar in the Zone 2 and interval groups, but the interval group showed better hippocampal function and better-preserved hippocampal structure on MRI. Separately, 6–12 months of basic machine resistance training changed white-matter structure and improved executive function.

• 10

  Training volume can steal mental energy

  A flat-out 2K row, about 6 minutes at maximal effort, leaves the brain useless afterward. Huberman does low-volume, high-intensity lifting: about two sets per exercise and two to three exercises per muscle group. Adding a third set leaves him dragging for the rest of the day. Leaving something in the tank on volume, though not within each set, helps when hard thinking comes next.

• 11

  Most dementia risk factors can be changed

  The Lancet Commission on dementia prevention, led by Gill Livingston, lists 14 modifiable risk factors that together account for about 45% of cases. They include low early-life education, high blood pressure, diabetes, hearing loss, vision loss, brain injury, high LDL cholesterol and physical inactivity. APOE is the most common risk gene, but late-onset Alzheimer's is driven mainly by lifestyle and environment.