Rewire Your Mind: The Power of Neuroplasticity As We Age with Tara Bonner - Episode 274

Important Links:

More about strengthening your brain here:  https://www.arrowsmith.ca/

You MUST sign up for the FREE Reverse Aging Summit starting on May 30 and hear myself & some great speakers on how we can age BETTER:

https://reverseagingsummit.com/optin-sandy_kruse

Join my Substack here:  https://sandykruse.substack.com/

Tara Bonner, Chief Neuroeducation Officer inspires audiences to think differently about the brain and its capacity to change. Tara has spent nearly 20 years bridging the gap between neuroscience and education. An experienced educator, consultant, and speaker, Tara collaborates with educators and advocates worldwide. She can demystify common misconceptions in learning and discuss how neuroplasticity has the potential to reshape education as we know it.

The ability of our brains to change and adapt throughout life offers powerful opportunities for maintaining cognitive health as we age. Neuroeducation expert Tara Bonner discusses how neuroplasticity works, explaining that our brains are constantly changing in response to experiences, habits, and mental challenges.

• As we age, our brains naturally experience decreased processing speed, memory challenges, and reduced cognitive flexibility
• Repeated exposure and focused practice of any activity will change brain connectivity – for better or worse
• Stress, trauma, and addiction can negatively rewire the brain, while novel experiences create positive neural pathways
• Critical thinking abilities may be weakening due to convenience culture and passive information consumption
• Social engagement, especially intergenerational connections, provides essential brain stimulation
• Physical activity, proper nutrition, quality sleep, and stress management all contribute to brain health
• Seeking novelty and embracing challenges keeps the brain actively creating new neural connections
• The brain thrives on "effortful processing" – activities that are slightly challenging rather than automatic
• Cognitive programming can target specific brain functions like critical thinking and processing speed

Learn more about cognitive programming and brain fitness resources at ArrowsmithCA. Join Sandy for her Summer Reboot Series starting June 16th with valuable conversations to help you live your best life.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Sandy K Nutrition
• 7:22 Summer Reboot Series Announcement
• 14:42 Understanding Neuroplasticity with Tara Bonner
• 24:23 How Our Brains Change As We Age
• 32:55 Critical Thinking in the Digital Age
• 43:15 Positive Steps for Better Brain Health
• 52:45 Wrap Up and Resources for Brain Fitness

Transcript

Sandy Kruse: 0:02

Hi everyone, it's Sa ndy Kruse, of Sandy K Nutrition, health and Lifestyle Queen. For years now, I've been bringing to you conversations about wellness from incredible guests from all over the world. Discover a fresh take on healthy living for midlife and beyond, one that embraces balance and reason, without letting only science dictate every aspect of our wellness. Join me and my guests as we explore ways that we can age gracefully, with in-depth conversations about the thyroid, about hormones and other alternative wellness options for you and your family. True Wellness nurtures a healthy body, mind, spirit and soul, and we cover all of these essential aspects to help you live a balanced, joyful life. Be sure to follow my show, rate it, review it and share it. Always remember my friends balanced living works. Friends, balanced living works. Hi everyone, welcome to Sandy Kay Nutrition, health and Lifestyle Queen. Today with me, I have a special guest. Her name is Tara Bonner and we are going to talk all about neuroplasticity, what it is, how important it is as we age and more. It's going to be a great discussion. I'm really excited that I was asked to speak at a free online event. It is called the Reverse Aging Summit, with some amazing speakers coming on May 30th. That's when the online free event starts, I'm going to have a link in this podcast description for you to go and sign up. Be sure you don't miss it. It's free and there are some incredible speakers on this panel, so I would love to see you there. Love to see you there.

Sandy Kruse: 2:28

June 16th, I am kicking off my summer reboot series. I'm going to be bringing to you 12 episodes that I have recorded in the last little while. That are incredible episodes that I feel deserve even more attention than they already receive. These are really popular episodes, and I'm going to start it off with my episode with Jen Couch of Sober Cis, because how many of you people out there drink too much and party too much in the summer? This is why this conversation with Jen Couch of Sober Cis is going to be so valuable to so many people who maybe just want to cut back, or maybe there's some of you out there who really want to learn how to live sober. So that's how I'm going to kick off the summer reboot series. I think it's going to be a great way to do it. So please ensure that you are following my podcast. If you're not sure where to follow it, go to sandykruse. ca S-A-N-D-Y-K-R-U-S-Eca to find out where you can follow my podcast so you don't miss some of these incredible episodes. Now I'm not disappearing for the summer, so make sure you follow me on all my socials.

Sandy Kruse: 3:39

I am the most active on Instagram. It is Sandy K Nutrition. Everywhere Instagram, facebook, TikTok, threads, you name it I'm probably there. I'm also on YouTube. I'm not that regular on YouTube with posting, but I'm there. Then there's also Rumble. There's a bunch of other places. I'm also a writer.

Sandy Kruse: 4:00

Most of you know I did release my essential thyroid guide back in 2024. It is a simplified guide just to help those who want to understand from a non-clinical standpoint how to keep your thyroid gland healthy and thriving. Most of you know I had thyroid cancer in 2011,. Lost my thyroid gland right during perimenopause, and I talk a lot about how to keep the thyroid gland healthy during menopause. Perimenopause. I mean, I don't have a gland, but I still have medication that controls the gland, so this is why it still applies to me. But follow me on Substack. I have my new podcast there called Think About it, and it's a short form podcast where I just come to you, you know, each week with an episode to just help you think about your health as it pertains to you personally.

Sandy Kruse: 5:01

There's so much unauthentic content out there with you know, all these big health influencers, you just don't know who to trust. So I always say trust yourself, and I write a lot about this. Go to sandycruisesubstackcom to join If you want full access to all of my content. I think it's like eight bucks a month to support me as a writer and as a practitioner and as a podcaster. So you know it's, it's. I don't think it's a lot to ask, but I do provide free content as well. So it's S-A-N-D-Y-K-R-U-S-E dot substack. S-u-b-s-t-a-c-k dot com. Follow me there.

Sandy Kruse: 5:49

The very last announcement is I am going to ask you to rate and review and share my content. So if you're on Instagram, if you share my content in your stories, it helps me to gain new followers, new people to my content, which is primarily all free, just to help you think about your wellness in a different way. I also have amazing guests every week on my podcast. So this helps me when you share my content. The second thing that really helps is to rate and review. So I know on Spotify they have that option, and on Apple, for sure, where you can actually review with a few nice words. That goes so far, you guys, just to help keep me going in this space and help help me to keep getting amazing guests each and every week. I think I hit five years of my podcast in February. I'm going to keep going because this is my passion and for me it's always passion over profit.

Sandy Kruse: 7:00

So now let's cut on through to this amazing episode all about neuroplasticity. Hi everyone, welcome to Sandy K Nutrition, health and Lifestyle Queen. Today, my guest is Tara Bonner. She is a chief neuroeducation officer and she inspires audiences to think differently about the brain and its capacity to change. Differently about the brain and its capacity to change.

Sandy Kruse: 7:30

Tara has spent nearly 20 years bridging the gap between neuroscience and education. An experienced educator, leader, consultant and speaker, tara collaborates with educators, leaders and advocates worldwide. She can demystify common misconceptions in learning and discuss how neuroplasticity has the potential to reshape education as we know it. And today, tara and I are going to talk about neuroplasticity, but we're going to actually talk about it as it relates to the aging brain, and I know that most of you who follow me are, you know, probably over 40 or so. A lot of women follow me and a lot of women going through menopause, perimenopause and, hey, there are things that happen even younger to our brains. But for this conversation we're going to talk about how we can support neuroplasticity as we age and as our brains age. And with that, welcome Tara. Thank you so much for coming.

Tara Bonner: 8:34

Lovely to be here, Sandy. I'm excited to dive into this.

Sandy Kruse: 8:38

Me too. So you have to let us know what your background is and why you got into this field.

Tara Bonner: 8:45

Sure Well as you mentioned, I come from a teaching background, a fairly traditional teaching background, where I helped students learn. I worked in different schools. I actually worked in different countries, different types of schools, different types of classrooms, different types of learners, but I was always drawn to the same learner, the same type of learner, and these were learners who were struggling.

Tara Bonner: 9:10

They were underperforming or underachieving or they had even recognized learning difficulties. And I was drawn to them because, despite their outcomes, despite their underperformance, I could see they were working incredibly hard. It wasn't that they weren't. If only they tried, if only they were more motivated. I could see very clearly that they were working incredibly hard and yet still falling short. And I knew I was working hard as a teacher and I wasn't able to reach them. And I knew that they had all the all resources and family support, and yet it was still a struggle.

Tara Bonner: 9:50

And I was always curious about that. What is that relationship between effort and outcome? And it wasn't until almost 20 years ago now that I came across a very different way of understanding learning and understanding the educational system, which is a neuroeducational perspective that the brain is responsible for how we learn and why we struggle to learn, and that our brains can actually be harnessed to improve that learning experience. So that really was a pivotal moment in my career and, frankly, in my personal pedagogy to understand what is the role of the brain in our day-to-day experiences, in our learning, our performance and our health, our mental health, our physical health. So it put me on a very different trajectory of how I can help myself and my students and, these days, others around the world to think about the brain, think about the brain differently and make sure that it's part of any conversation.

Sandy Kruse: 10:57

I think it's really important to start with what happens to the brain as we age, because I think that we go through a lot of changes.

Sandy Kruse: 11:08

obviously, you know I almost look at our lives in the form of decades right, Sure, this is the decade that yeah it's like this is the decade that if you want to have kids, you're probably going to want to do it around this time. This is the decade that you're going to have your perimenopausal years and I'm speaking from a woman's perspective. But what happens to the brain during the times when we start? Let's just even say what happens from perimenopause or menopause onward.

Tara Bonner: 11:41

I can speak to that and though, sandy, I love your concept that our lives are these decades, these chapters, these seasons of our lives, and I will say the brain is a main character throughout all of those different stages. And you hear that, right, you hear that the teenage brain, or the pregnancy brain, or the menopause brain, or the senior brain, it's somewhat you know they're casual comments but what we're talking about here are these different stages of our lives, or these different periods of our lives where it's clear that the brain is or we are not operating optimally. And the reality is, sometimes there are external events that are causing, uh us to not operate optimally. And there's also very specific, inevitable developmental changes, hormonal changes happening throughout our life, uh life, that impact how we navigate our lives. And definitely our brains, again, are center and central to all of that and to your point. Of course, it's naturally, developmentally expected, that throughout our lives, and particularly when we hit probably 40 or 50, our brains start to get weaker and they actually are shrinking in volume. Our brains are starting to shrink in volume. There's a loss of synaptic connections, which essentially just means slower communication between different regions of the brain. There's changes in neurotransmitters, which are the chemicals that help neurons communicate, and there are degenerative diseases that may happen, sometimes quite early in people's lives.

Tara Bonner: 13:42

But even more practically, practically and this is certainly where I want to talk and hopefully this is where our conversation can focus is, practically speaking, that inevitably there is an experience of decrease in function, right? So thinking about, thinking, thinking about, at some point, it takes us more time. We notice it's taking us more time to to think, to make sense of something, to understand something, comprehend something, we have to read something a couple of times before it makes sense to us. We have to ask someone to repeat themselves or speak more slowly. That is our processing speed decreasing. There's a specific cognitive function, cognitive process in our brain that it's like the light bulb that goes off in our heads when we understand something and the functionality of that function, of that process, is decreasing as we age. There's also changes in memory, of course, not remembering new information, or someone's just told us their name and we can't remember it. Or where have we left our keys, or can we keep track of multiple pieces of information. And that starts, sure, as early as our our 40s, and certainly in moving into the senior years it can be much more difficult for us cognitively to hold on to information, to process the information and even just to hold on to it.

Tara Bonner: 15:09

The other piece that tends to happen as we get older is what's called our cognitive flexibility, so the ability, the cognitive ability, the intellectual ability to frankly change our minds, to be able to switch between tasks and thoughts, to adjust to new information or changing environments.

Tara Bonner: 15:28

This is really interesting to me these days politically and we've had this conversation, sandy that the world at times feels very divisive there's a cognitive piece at play here that it is cognitively challenging as we get older to change our minds, to receive new information and to process it. So that certainly is happening in our older generation. My mother, for example, who's 81, she describes that her kids and grandkids have actually can help her process a new idea, a new ideology, a new concept. That is hard for her. It's not that she's an old fuddy-duddy, it's that it's cognitively more challenging for her. Her brain does not have the same cognitive flexibility as it did when she was younger. So that's a big piece I think that we often dismiss as a kind of a personality trait. We often dismiss as a kind of a personality trait, you know, or like he's just a grumpy old man, but there's something at play here in our gorgeous three pound organ in our skulls that is more difficult.

Sandy Kruse: 16:48

So that actually goes to that whole saying you can't teach an old dog new tricks, right, and so what you're saying is we can teach an old dog new tricks and some of the you know. I read some research, and I'm sure you know this, about how when elderly parents, grandparents, hang out with their grandchildren, great-grandchildren, it actually helps their brains. Did you read that?

Tara Bonner: 17:23

It certainly makes sense. It's certainly well understood that social engagement is an incredibly. It's not just positive, it's not just a nice to have, it's a must have. When we talk about brain health, social engagement is a must have, you know, and we can move there, Sandy, because if you know, if your audience is curious about taking care of their brains, we can talk about how to intentionally improve our brains. But even at a baseline, there are some key tenets to making sure our brains are healthy. I know you, Sandy, are an expert in this idea of holistic care, holistic health and wellness, and so I know you, I will defer to you when it comes to things like nutrition, diet.

Sandy Kruse: 18:16

But I also want to go back, so before we get to that.

Sandy Kruse: 18:19

I want to go back to something that you said about flexibility and thinking, because I also read some research about critical thinking skills and how something has happened to many individuals in the world where that has sort of been lost, and I have actually read research to indicate. Listen, I'm not going to insult anybody here who's listening to my podcast, but if you're one of those individuals that has trouble critically analyzing a piece of information and you don't have the flexibility, there are some studies out there that say, you know, maybe work on your neuroplasticity or your brain health. I'm trying to say this in a nice way, but maybe I should just come out and say it. There are some things out there that indicate if you can't think critically, you are lacking the skill set and the intelligence to be able to process the information, and there are ways that you can change that. But the research says that. I don't usually mince my words, so that's what I'm going to say.

Tara Bonner: 19:40

Very diplomatic of you, but I agree you don't have to. I think there's a real stigma. I know, I know they're in the educational field, but even in the professional, corporate field there's a stigma against those who struggle with learning right that when someone is having a hard time making a decision or completing a task on time or completing a task correctly, they are either not intelligent or not trying hard enough, or they're inflexible or they're stubborn. So there are these tendencies. There's a real stigma attached to poor performance or underperformance or lack of critical thinking, and I think that's unfair and I think it's unnecessary and it's inaccurate. It's inaccurate because it's misunderstood. At the very least.

Tara Bonner: 20:34

There are key parts of our brain they're right here I'm pointing I don't know if we're video and audio, but if you're only listening to this, I'm pointing right at my forehead there are two key cognitive functions in our prefrontal lobe, often called executive function areas, or the CEO of our brain, in our left and right hemisphere, and these are the brain areas that that critically think, that are constantly generating ideas and analyzing ideas and making sense of what is worth focusing on and what and what can be dismissed.

Tara Bonner: 21:13

So it inhibits distractions and it stays focused on what's critical, and if those cognitive functions are under-functioning even just a mild degree, then exactly what you're describing critical thinking, processing capacity, judgment, decision-making that's going to be weak, and there doesn't need to be a stigma around someone who might have those difficulties because, as you say, they can be improved, and not only they can be improved, they must be improved, they must be strong, particularly in the world that we live in right now, and I appreciate your audience isn't necessarily a group of educators, but there are many parents or grandparents or just individuals who are observing a very strange and fascinating time in the world right now, where AI and technology in general and convenience culture is actually lessening our need to think.

Tara Bonner: 22:25

Everything is being done for us and so our brains are becoming more passive because of that convenience, because of that on-demand and ease with which our society has very intentionally been created, and that is having a dramatic impact on our brains. We've seen it In our work. We support individuals and schools and organizations to provide cognitive programming, and what we have seen over the decades is, when we measure people's cognitive function, particularly in these areas of critical thinking and processing and cognitive function, it's likely that those areas are getting weaker as the decades go on. Now, speaking of saying something dramatic or fatalistic, I mean it's relatively small sample sizes we're looking at in the hundreds, not in the tens of thousands. And automatic the world, the ex-turtle world, is becoming. It really behooves us to make sure that we don't lose the opportunity of staying cognitively active ourselves, because it will affect our brain function, even structurally.

Sandy Kruse: 23:46

I think you just answered one of the problems of the world right now.

Tara Bonner: 23:52

Sure, why not? No, but think about it On your average Wednesday.

Sandy Kruse: 23:58

If you think about it, what you're saying makes a lot of logical sense. So I'm saying we're seeing a lot less of the ability to really critically think and analyze and I'm speaking about adults, so I'm not talking about children, who are born with some certain developmental issues or anything like that I'm talking about people who are just very, very unable to see things on a broader scope, to analyze the information.

Sandy Kruse: 24:30

So what I am seeing is that it's almost like everything is handed just what you said. It's handed to us on a silver platter without thinking about it. On a silver screen, yeah, on a silver screen. Right, and I'm? I am a 1970 baby. I grew up in the era where if I wanted to do a paper on whatever it is that I'm researching, I'd have to scour through, you know, I don't know how many Encyclopedia Britannicas that were on the shelves, but I had to work so hard for that information.

Sandy Kruse: 25:07

That's making my brain work. I still do that and I will see, tara. People will go on social media and they will look at that 30 second clip from somebody who's labeled an expert and who is just simply reciting one research article and they'll go nope, this is how it is. I saw it from so-and-so. I'm like no, no, you need to look at a number of research articles. You need to look at personal resonance. You need to look at and I'm speaking about health for ourselves we need to look within as well as what we're seeing externally. But people are not used to that anymore. We're used to getting everything handed to us, so that is a big thing for people to take away. Is that work for the information? It's good for your brain right?

Tara Bonner: 26:01

It absolutely is. And, to be clear, personally or professionally, I'm not anti-innovation or anti-technology. I think there's an incredible potential for, for example, ai to really talk about the world's problems. I mean really to solve some incredibly complex issues, you know, by virtue of its ability to take massive data points and synthesize them very quickly. I mean, there's no question.

Tara Bonner: 26:37

However, to your point, sandy, we must make sure that we are navigating this new world, this new landscape, with our brains. It, it is our brains, that will be the humanity and the true intelligence, through this convenience culture and particularly social media. I'm not suggesting and I don't think you are either that social media in and of itself is the danger. It's the human tendency to be passive, cognitively passive, when something is presented to us that is easy or convenient. And we must push past that because it will serve us better if, as long as we keep frankly using our brains. Because the moment we, uh, we are on autopilot in the process of thinking, thinking critically, thinking rationally, thinking with judgment, even thinking, uh, skeptically I don't mean critically, but, you know, with, with curiosity maybe that's the better word to be curious about what we're reading and what we're hearing and what we're learning about. That must be maintained in order for us to stay healthy as individuals and, frankly, as a society.

Sandy Kruse: 28:07

Yeah, and you mentioned AI Interesting sidebar, ai Interesting sidebar. Somebody sent me a DM in my community and said hey, like what do you think of chat GPT and we're speaking directly as it relates to health and wellness and do you use it? And my answer was yes, I do. However, what I have noticed is that if you blindly ask a question that you know nothing about, you may not be getting an answer that would be deemed correct. And I'll give you an example. My husband knows nothing about health, like nothing, complete opposite. So if he was going to type in hey, tell me about testosterone for men over 50, he would get a very different answer than if I was using chat GPT, because I have a lot of knowledge. So it goes to your point of having your own brain and using the technology just to kind of enhance the function of what you need it for, as opposed to relying on it entirely.

Tara Bonner: 29:27

Absolutely and I think I mean honestly I use AI as Google. In other words, you know, we know that Google has become this. I don't mean to promote or denigrate Google, but we use an internet server, as you know, as our microfiche these days right. As our microfiche these days, right. It gives us massive amounts of information and we have to be really smart with what out of those Google results, what we're clicking on, what we read, how accurate it is. We need to cross-reference, we need to do a lot more. We can't just take what we find in Google as face value. Same idea with AI. It's absolutely impressive because it can again, it can. It can take massive amounts information and give you a bit of a summary about that in uh, detail, but it's still prone to errors and it still requires our critical thinking. And if we're not doing that just like if we were to do a Google search and click the first thing that came up and not notice that that first result was sponsored by or you know we have it's no different. I actually don't see it as being any significantly different than, frankly, perhaps even the last few decades since the written word, since the written word, even encyclopedia britannica, even, uh, microfiche, we have to do the work cognitively, intellectually, to to problem solve, to make sense of it, to think independently, to adapt to new learning, to talk about it, to talk about it with people who you know. That's one of the things that there's really interesting research about, how important it is.

Tara Bonner: 31:26

You mentioned social life, but maybe talking to people that don't have the same opinion as you, maybe hearing other people's points of view, so that you can stay cognitively flexible. I'm not saying uh to you know, to get into a necessarily an aggressive debate, but there's nothing actually wrong. There's something very cognitively healthy about disagreeing with someone and ultimately coming to a point, perhaps, whether it's a compromise or just an agreeing to disagree, but that's an intellectual exercise in and of itself. So I think there's so much here, sandy. I mean I feel like we should dedicate another podcast to how to make sure your brain is healthy when navigating social media and AI. But in and of itself, it's neutral, right, there's nothing negative or positive about it. The question is, how are we going to take control of it? How are we going to harness our own capacity to think and problem solve and think critically so that we can stay ahead of it?

Sandy Kruse: 32:40

So let's get into neuroplasticity. What exactly is the definition of neuroplasticity? What does it mean?

Tara Bonner: 32:48

So it, as I said, it is neutral. Actually, the concept of neuroplasticity is very simply a very naturally occurring process in our brains that it is constantly changing. Our brains are constantly changing. They are plastic, they are moldable, they grow new dendrites, new neurons, they grow new connections between and within processes of the brain. So, very simply put, neuroplasticity is our brain's capacity to change, and it does it throughout our lifetime, and it can be for good or for evil. In other words, our brains can neuroplastically respond to chronic stress, to trauma. Anything that we experience repeated exposure and practice to can change our brains. I'll say that again Anything that gets repeated exposure and practice within can change our brains. Okay, what does stress do, tara?

Sandy Kruse: 34:03

Talk to us about stress.

Tara Bonner: 34:05

So stress can absolutely change At a very level. It can change temporarily. So when we are stressed our cognitive function decreases again, even temporarily. And we all know that feeling right, if we're not on time, when we're late for something, we can't find our keys. Why is it only when we are very late for something? Suddenly the well-organized machine that is our front foyer is in disarray. It's because our cognitive capacities to stay focused, to problem solve, to remember, are under functioning. So stress will absolutely, even temporarily, negatively affect our cognition.

Tara Bonner: 34:55

But when we talk about chronic stress, the research does indicate that something even more significant is happening. And when we move from chronic stress, even to trauma, there is research suggesting that it probably is having the same effect. Trauma and chronic trauma, ptsd for example, can have the same effect as brain injury, as brain damage, meaning the brain is structurally changing because of that repeated exposure to stress, to trauma, to negative experiences. And it's the same principle, sandy, as addiction, because when the brain is exposed to a certain behavior or a certain tendency or a certain stimuli over and over and over and over again, the brain will rewire itself to literally require that. So neuroplasticity in and of itself, as I said, is a neutral concept. It can be our brain can be rewired negatively, or it can be rewired positively.

Sandy Kruse: 36:17

Okay, so you mentioned. I just want to tap into what you just said because you mentioned addictions, because I mean, I'm sure you've seen Huberman. He talks a lot about how certain substances can affect the brain starts to shrink. But there are certain things that can happen to the brain with the addictions too, right, like too much alcohol. Well, your brain's already shrinking as we age, and then you throw in a lot of booze.

Sandy Kruse: 37:03

It's going to shrink even more right. Aren't there certain habits smoking, alcohol, drug use, all of that? What does that do to the brain?

Tara Bonner: 37:14

Well, as you say, it's their habits, it's habitual and any habitual activity will rewire our brains, can create new neurons, new connections, new pathways, until that that habit pathways until that habit sorry for that habit to for that activity or behavior to become habitual. So anything we do in a very repetitive and focused way will change our brain's connectivity. Focused way will change our brain's connectivity. So those tendencies of relying on substances or using substances in a repeated, sustained pattern of activity will ultimately change the connections within and between our brains and it will obviously affect ourselves functionally, structurally. It will likely have changes to our brains. Therefore, functionally, in other words how we operate, and then therefore, psychologically.

Tara Bonner: 38:23

Right, there is a distinction between our, our cognition and our psychology, but it it's, it's starting in the same place. In other words, it is our brains, our cognitive functionings that are determining, uh, our psychology, how we, how we respond emotionally, how we regulate ourselves, how we perceive ourselves, how we perceive others, how we even our social interactions. That is all happening in our brains. So the addictions piece and I'll be clear that it's certainly not my area of expertise, but it again stands to reason that anything that we are doing, any behavior that we are doing in a repeated and sustained and even specific way will lead to brain change.

Sandy Kruse: 39:14

I like how you described neuroplasticity, that it's kind of like this scale, like I'm picturing what you're saying. It's like the scale. So one of the things I was actually saying I feel since I started my podcast, I feel like I've gotten smarter, like like I feel I feel like I'm learning all the time. Tara, I'm having incredible engaging conversations like this one today, where I'm always learning and and and grasping new concepts and and so I find it fascinating. And listen, I used to be a smoker. I smoked for 20 years and the hardest part for me was not the nicotine side, it was the whole psychological addiction Having something going somewhere doing something, having that connection with others.

Tara Bonner: 40:18

There was a psychological reliance on that habit. I absolutely understand that.

Tara Bonner: 40:26

And I love, love, sandy, that you're seeing. You know. You say you're getting smarter and you, you are, you're, you are experienced. Every time you identify a new idea, even if that idea is in a conversation, and you think about it, you are stimulating your brain, you are taxing your brain and as soon as you say not interested, no, don't agree, no, I'm not, not for me, then you're shutting down the opportunity, you are lessening the stimulation to your brain. Folks who that social engagement being so important that that cognitive experience, if you are experiencing and making sure you are presenting your brain with new ideas, you are serving your brain. You are giving your brain the best you know antioxidant, the best exercise it could possibly be. The brain loves new ideas. Novelty is a huge, it's a critical element to neuroplasticity, to positive neuroplasticity.

Sandy Kruse: 41:40

You know my parents are elderly. My dad is 88. My mom or he's going to be 88 this month. I'm not going to add on age right. He's going to be 80 this month and my mom is going to be 88 this month. I'm not going to add on age right. He's going to be this month and my mom is going to be 79 this year. And I talked to my parents every day. They live in their own home. Still they do all their own stuff.

Sandy Kruse: 41:59

My mom cooks every day. I'm Eastern, so we're big on cooking. Anyway, I'll call her and she'll be like oh, dad and I are just playing a game, or you know, dad, and I are going for a walk, Dad's gone for a bike ride, you know, and I look at them and I'm like wow, like they are a perfect example of a couple that is doing all they can to really help their brains age well and it doesn't matter what their genetics might be.

Sandy Kruse: 42:36

It doesn't matter that you know somebody may carry the APOE4 gene or whatever. We are not our genetics necessarily, I mean, unless you're talking about genetic mutations that are diseases that you're born with or you know. There are certain things, obviously, that we can't change, but for the most part, epigenetics and diet, lifestyle, what we do, all of that will serve us as we age. I'm a big believer in that.

Tara Bonner: 43:10

Absolutely. I mean we are not. We absolutely can create our destinies. I mean we know that intuitively, of course, I mean there's far too many. I will not be as profound as the many people before me that have described just how important and autonomous we are in our health and our success. Intentionally and cognitively, intellectually and social, emotionally aware-ly, we can really harness our brain's ability to have a very, very positive quality of life. And it sounds like your parents are hitting on some of these key qualities, key principles, and one of them is that what you described in terms of that novelty, the only thing I would add to your mom's cooking is try a new recipe.

Sandy Kruse: 44:18

You know what? It's funny that you say that? Because we will talk about what we're cooking tonight, because her and I love we consider ourselves home chefs. And she'll be like because her and I love we consider ourselves home chefs, and she'll be like what are you making? And then I personally cook all different types of food. And she'll be like oh, I like that, I'm going to try that next time. How do you do it? So she's very open to trying new things, which is great, like I mean, I'm just very impressed with my parents overall.

Tara Bonner: 44:54

I just would love to and it sounds like you're playing a key role there too, because it's very common for that. When I say the aging brain, you know people who are moving into their senior years it's very common and very natural to uh, you know, the concept of retirement is taking it easy. So it's. It makes perfect sense that there's a tendency to kind of sit back and adjust and take it easy, and I'm here for that. Absolutely. There's no reason why, after you know decades of working hard in your professional life, you can't enjoy things, but make sure that enjoyment is still fresh and new and stimulating. So you said you know travel, for example, really stimulating. Why example? Really stimulating? Why? Because you are having to problem solve every second of every moment of your travel time, of making sure you get to the train on time, of looking at a menu of food that you've never seen before, of trying to communicate with someone who speaks a different language, of even just getting out of your comfort zone.

Tara Bonner: 46:08

That is cognitively stimulating. So if we talk about novelty, keeping things fresh and new is a huge benefit to our brain's health and also what we call effortful processing. Make sure it's a little hard. Make sure it because if the task is too easy. If life is too easy, your brain's on autopilot. You're not. Your brain is not being stimulated. So give yourself the credit it deserves. You deserve to work a little bit so to increase the demand of that task, even just a little bit, with a new recipe, with a new puzzle, you know, with a new dance move, you know someone learning how to dance? Introduce a new element and make it a little challenging enough so that your brain is actually benefiting.

Sandy Kruse: 47:01

What are signs? I guess signs that maybe we can you know, we should. Maybe I don't like to use the word should a good friend of mine. She's like you know we should. Maybe I don't like to use the word should A good friend of mine, she's like you know people walk around shooting people a little too much. So let me put it in a different way. What do we need to look for as we're aging? That we could do more to improve on a positive level, the neuroplasticity in our brains.

Tara Bonner: 47:33

Hmm, I think I have two thoughts One, which is again I will defer to you and other experts in the field of a strong body. In other words, all of the tenants that make our body strong are serving our brains. So nutrition, as you mentioned. Diet is huge. Sleep is massive. Sleep is where our brain recovers and repairs. Social engagement is incredibly positive.

Tara Bonner: 48:07

Physical activity, also massively important for our brains. We talk about you know that being. Uh, lately there's a lot of recognition that movement, as long as we are moving, our bodies are thanking us. It's the same for our brains, our, our movement physical activity, particularly really, you know, hit activity. So really intensive and short activities. That's blood flow to the brain, that's stimulating neural growth and connection.

Tara Bonner: 48:40

So all of these again, it feels almost old fashioned, but make sure you're exercising, make sure you're eating well, make sure you're sleeping well, make sure you're staying socially engaged. And something else you've mentioned is stress management. So, for sure, if we can lessen the stressors in our life or make sure we're handling them, make sure we are facing them head on and developing tools to manage our stress, like yoga, meditation, exercise, again, therapy if necessary. So keeping our stress management in check is only good for our brains and of course the other is cognitive intentional, and of course the other is cognitive intentional, purposeful cognitive stimulation. So there are programs and you know my organization is one of them that has cognitive programming, so brain exercises that have been proven to improve critical thinking, processing speed, working, memory, all of these key elements of our intellectual activity. So I don't think I'm sharing anything too inspired. If we're taking care of our brains is very similar to taking care of our overall wellness, very similar to taking care of our overall wellness.

Sandy Kruse: 50:09

Okay. So what are signs that I would need something like this? Like am I going to be more forgetful? I'm only 55. Like what are the signs? When should I be concerned?

Tara Bonner: 50:24

So, sandy, I would argue that we shouldn't wait for that. And I know, know again, almost intuitively, you and your audience are motivated when we talk about health and wellness, this idea of preventative. So I would argue that our brains health, uh, should be part of our daily health and wellness. You wouldn't, uh, avoid taking care of your body or your teeth or your skin, you know, on a day. We have these daily habits that make sure we're making sure we're taking care of ourselves, uh, and we know those days where we don't right, we feel them. We feel those days, uh, where we haven't had enough water, we haven't had enough sleep, we haven't had enough exercise.

Tara Bonner: 51:15

Now, it probably is the case that our brains are so robust we might not notice when there's a day or two that we're not taking care of it.

Tara Bonner: 51:23

However, there's two reasons why that's the case. One, because, in fact, our brains are really always working. Our brains are never you know this idea that only we're only using 10% of our brain. Absolutely Everything we do is requiring a pretty constant brain activity, but, cumulatively, as the days and the weeks and the months and the years go on, if we're not taking care of our brains, there likely is, as you noted, there's going to be a point where we are noticing some decreased function. We don't have to wait for that. In fact, I would always strongly recommend again, we all have a brain and we have it from the moment we're born, so let's take care of it. So certainly the idea of just recognizing that your brain health is as important as any other aspect of your uh, of your health and wellness and, for sure, as we get older, particularly if you do see even tiny tendencies of memory or cognitive flexibility or that processing speed to consider again intentionally working your brain or improving your brain is a good idea.

Sandy Kruse: 52:49

Yeah, yeah. This has been a great conversation. So you guys at Aerosmith, maybe let's wrap it up and you can, you know, give me any final points and let us know where we can find you, because you do programs to help with neuroplasticity. So yeah, let me know.

Tara Bonner: 53:12

Sure. So yes, we have. So you and I are both in the Toronto area. There is a flagship location that offers cognitive programs to children, to teens, adults and seniors. There's online programs and there's in-person programs. We're in Midtown, toronto, and the program also is available in organizations around the world. So there are organizations, be it schools or community centers or private or public organizations, that provide cognitive programs to their communities. The best way I could suggest finding one of those is just popping onto our website. It's Aerosmith not the band, but the bow and arrow. So A-R-R-O-W-S-M-I-T-H. Aerosmithca can give you lots of information.

Tara Bonner: 54:12

I would actually always recommend someone, rather before or as they are exploring brain health, to just learn as much as they can. As you said, just be curious about what does my life look like and what does my world and those who are within my world? How can I understand myself and them differently through what we call a cognitive lens? How can I understand myself and them differently through what we call a cognitive lens? What's happening in our brains when I am frustrated, when I am confused, when I am forgetting something? What's happening in the brains of my spouse or my parent or my child when they seem to react or respond in a certain way.

Tara Bonner: 54:49

What's the underlying cognitive element happening there? So, that's for sure, our website, but even in general, to be kind of curious about how our brain plays a role in our day-to-day activity and our well-being, and if there's an opportunity to strengthen it or a motivation to really improve some parts of your brain. Uh, yeah, there's, there's providers around the world that that offer cognitive programming, uh, to their own communities. So, uh, all around the us and canada, australia, new zealand uh, just thinking about how wide your audience might be in Spain, switzerland, malaysia, and I'll have the link in the show notes.

Sandy Kruse: 55:37

The link will be in the show notes as well, so anybody who's listening will be able to find you through the links. Great yeah, this has been great. Thank you so much, tara. I really appreciate you.

Tara Bonner: 55:55

I really enjoyed our chat. You got me really excited for the rest of my day to think about all the possibilities of health and wellness and where we can go with it.

Sandy Kruse: 55:59

Great. Thank you, tara. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to share it with someone you know might benefit and always remember when you rate, review, subscribe. You help to support my content and help me to keep going and bringing these conversations to you each and every week. Join me next week for a new topic. Each and every week. Join me next week for a new topic. New guest, new exciting conversations to help you live your best life.