Hosting this fascinating inkind right through conversation with doctor they separated and madly about the new book the x brain. In a research on Womens Brain Health. She stated her life work to study the female brain and its new book to provide women with a roadmap to reduce dementia. If you dont have wagner interesting in buying a copy. You can be able to get into and find more information on it and it is fantastic. Let me briefly introduce are really wonderful speakers. Lisa is professor of neuroscience in that and radiology she is the founder and director of the womens brain initiative. The associate director of the alzheimers prevention clinic. Shes in Adjunct Department of psychiatry at the school of medicine and she calls a phd degree in neuroscience Nuclear Medicine. If her research is focused on Early Detection of alzheimers. And at risk individuals now memory loss and also immerse disease can be prevented through the operation medical care and lifestyle modifications through diet and physical and intellectual fitness. Shes also also the other bring food grade in the xx brain. Lisa a cute so much for having me and it is such a pleasure to be here today. Were also delighted to be joined by natalie and she is any of you know is the anchor of nbc today show. Shes the host of dateline and anchor behind closed doors. She previously served as host of the nbcs access and cohost of access live as well as a group today where she cohosted the shows third hour. She is joined today in 2006 is a National Correspondence and reports were all nbc platforms including nightly news, dateline and ns bc. We are really grateful natalie for your excellent reporting. During these times and we are delighted you had time for us this fascinating talk today. I also want to point out that is a special connection to this. She is a book on simple recipes and Healthy Living for my families to yours. She shares her Favorite Recipes and tips for healthy lifestyles. So welcome natalie and were delighted to have you with us today. It i. It is my pleasure thank you so much for the warm introduction and some wonderful opportunity for us to focus on her health especially right now. The doctor this month that you wrote, the xx brain, is fascinating and i think it is so important for women to really understand the significance of the research but also the preventative tips that you put out in this book party so im thrilled to be able to share this time with you and hopefully get the message out there. Lisa thank you. Natalie lets talk first, the book is called the xx brain party december talking about women in the fact of the matter is that we are two thirds more likely to end up developing alzheimers in our lifetime. Womens brains at different than men sprayed an omen are from mars and women are from venus. Lisa we are wired differently. I am a brain scientist or unit Nuclear Medicine brightest of the way i approach this is by objective party to look at the brain in any different ways party deck any challenges and what stands out most clearly is that womens brains agent differently than mens brains. And something that we have learned just recently and part of my research is that the weight that our hormones change is really key to ranging in women. And it is the connection actually unexplored. Much forever. So its a very new topic. It is worth talking about because after the menopause and that really is quite have thing. Natalie it is a thank target and i am getting there. [laughter]. Lisa and at some point we all will target and we need to understand what happens to the brain during this time. And why it is being associated. And the depression and increased other medical conditions that we can talk about. Natalie yes and we will dive deep into all of those topics. Because thats what we are also fascinated about and how can i better perhaps decrease my chances of developing alzheimers. Will get into the bulimic about what you said is the Scientific Community really pulling now is starting to understand that women in her hormones maybe someone link. But yet why has gender been removed from the problem in the equation in the medical community. Lisa that is a very good question and something that i have personally struggled with for a very long time. I have been trying tos and study womens brains for 20 years. It really affects the women in my family. So i started to ask since i was 19 years old. And i had a chance to work with the medicine as a volunteer person. So i kind of went through my family. Its very interesting. The something no one has answered for me. In terms of the women are the men. If it is genetic or lifestyle could be something else. And the answers were just out there. And the problem is that we have this huge gender gap in research target estimated actually to the brain health. If that still today, Womens Brain Health is one of the most overlooked and underdiagnosed and under researched field. Thats really because its increasing hazard. The first one is that women were actively excluded from the research until 1993. Especially strong clinical trials. For other reasons if i dont know if you want to get into it. But there was no research with women invented the second thing been was all of this medical research that excluded women was bias. Against womens brains. But i refer to it. Theyre saying that what makes a woman a woman from a medical perspective it is the reproductive organs. That if you think about womens health, its about birth, her ovaries, her hormones. Well talk about the brain. Especially when we talk about womens brains, i mean, about womens health, we never talk about womens brains. And so his womens urges be excluded from the research. And its underdiagnosed. It. Natalie you are fascinating. You talked about their connection to alzheimers and my motherinlaw was diagnosed in a mid 50s with early onset alzheimers. So its been a passion of mine as well to try to crack the code and try to figure out what we can be doing better in our lives, and our lifestyle. Lets go back to the question of hormones. Specifically estrogen with women. What is estrogen have to do with alzheimers. Lisa is a really good question and something that were actually exploring right now. Its an amazing for conversati conversation. A brain does not work in isolation. Disconnected and prettied connected to the body. Especially for women, they its really key that they connect and the brain and they aging. In the communication between the brain and the reproductive system. And we all know that women are different between the genders. But what people dont realize is that we have the body, is the same body that we have in her brain. They just have a different function in the brain. We think of the woman of being involved in reproduction in children but the brain is completely different function related to energy. So it gives the chance for women to literally push the neurons to burn glucose and sugar to make energy. In a brain energy is high prettied this kind of like superpowers in the brain. The way it keeps your Brain Healthy and young. And the thing is that its very challenging and it came with changes over time. As women, the superpowers of estrogen, during menopause. But then we dont make it. We dont have that protection. That they estrogen provides. Natalie so how does that affect the brain then as you start going through menopause and extort experiencing the loss of estrogen 40 to. Lisa we can see on the brain scans as that they slow down for you they collect energy. And that is associated with aging process. Nothing a lot of women report after menopause, they notice a little bit more fragile. Something happens inside of the brain. Its not a huge problem but the brain, we can see that in the brain scan. The changes are very very mild apartment about some have more. Literally hundreds of womens, we do find some of these things in the Energy Levels in the brain. And i want to try to find with reduced performance. Women performance just as well as the men at the same age. It. Natalie that was my next question. Womens brains are concentrating and were trying to find out how for compensating for you because we do, the brain kind of loses energy in the estrogen targeted so we want to understand what happened so that we can support that mechanism. Natalie there are a couple of chapters in the book but theres a whole section particularly the focus is on hormone replacement therapies and who should think about it who should not read in our recommended he agreed that because theres a lot of different areas we go through and say you should or should not. If obviously you have had cancer Breast Cancer survivors. Because you have to purchase differently. But for those who are approaching menopause are already there, but we need to be asking ourselves when it comes to these things. Lisa we really need it. And what he wanted for you to think theyre Different Things that can be achieved. Maybe week inner strength in a way. Some women are shrinking another woman, the best thing depends on what theyre trying to achieve that. Maybe they want to alleviate certain things. Something im interested in is number one what i would really like to do is prevention. And in some ways, but is not in the best possible way. In the need to start younger, before menopause. That has not been done yet. Thats very important. An unexplored area. There are any classes the need to be entered. The most interesting things that we can do instead of hormonal therapy. There are any natural behavioral strategies that can be used that. Much have the same results. For any women they do not involve medication. Slavery are going to get into that lifestyle prevention exercise sleep and how all of that plays a part. The mask first though, what about genetics. What is the genetic connection and link. As a mentor my motherinlaw was early on alzheimers. And my husband and are very much about health and wellness now because we know perhaps there is a risk for him. Lisa in the testing, and i have a whole chapter in the book about how to approach testing. It really goes into detail. Theres a questionnaire. Yes early onset, can help into other family members. Sometimes multiple family members. It can be genetic. But if you have an isolated case, there are a number of things that we would like to find out and would better guide them. Basically it comes in two major forms. There is an early onset genetically determination that is caused by genetic mutations. So im hoping your husband does not carry that mutation but he most likely, or his mother first did. Ninetyeight or 99 percent of all of this is not carrying this genetic mutation. The majority of those cases, is an interplay of risk factors. Medical history lifestyle and environment. All together, for the risk of alzheimers. Natalie me ask you about that. Because there are some medical risks factors that could also affect your risk of developing alzheimers. Heart disease, thyroid disease, metabolic disorders, tdi, traumatic brain injury. Can you talk a little bit about that. Lisa yes, there are any different medical conditions that can affect the brain that could trigger an initial participation prettied a can promote this disease. And they can include the ones you just mentioned especially for women. Because they do have that component. But i think, its really important is there any different risk factors. And i believe in the book that there are 430 were just learning how these risk factors affect the genders differently. There really was like men and women must have two separate pathways. And in nature. But as for women, its more harmonic. In some risk factors can increase more so in women than men. It is funny in a way that any responses but rape they are in the women more the south and the men treated at the number one in a manner as having married into a home. Natalie what prayed. Lisa [laughter]. Natalie why is that party. Lisa there so any possibilities. But that number one problem for the man is having married to a woman. I thank you so much as being in a supportive healthy nurturing relationship. Basically this information was collected any any years ago when samesex marriage was not allowed in this country. And men were married to a woman in a traditional marriage. But women are really good at taking care of people. Natalie yes. Lisa and when we are in charge of that healthy the entire family. Its usually the wife party date and the medical appointments and making sure husband was taking the medication making sure that everybody was healthy. Natalie that was really cute when i read that. Its a perfect segue to lifestyle tips. Thats what he is asking, when the few most important things that woman can do for her postmenopausal brain party to. Lisa the single most important thing is to really look at your lifestyle. And find one part of your lifestyle where you would look like to be response. Because everybody is different. And have different baseline. But for me, it would be stress reduction because im not good at that. And for all of eliminate his diet. It some marches not eating healthy. I think very healthy female brain after menopause, and they include mental stimulation. An activity. And especially were learning his act entered involved. Learning is for your brain where exercises for your muscle. It really stimulates it connection. And that is that really keeps the Brain Healthy. Keep that young party to your learning. Did you need to challenge yourself. Like if you like to read a book. Suffering a novel. Read something that is challenging. If you like to watch movie watch documentaries as well were you learn something prettied we really feel engaged. Natalie my mom plays games almost four times a week and keeping her brain young party is most of her games. Besides that. I know that diet has to be in those steps. How important is moderating which you eat but also what kinds of foods should we be eating. You also wrote the book the brain a book targeted. Lisa that is right. Diet is really important for two reasons. Number one what we eat has an effect button the bodies but our brains. Brains are made of nutrients. Its a really big part. As we really need to replenish that nutritions on a daily basis. And especially for women i recommend antioxidants. It theres a relationship between the antioxidants in the diet in your brain levels throughout the lifespan. It looks the more of this nutrient you consume on databases, the Higher Energy over time into us aging. In the second reason dennis we eat three times a day. Most people do. Sometimes even more than that. So we have Three Chances every day to make a choice to support the brain health. Not just about the way we look but eating for the brain. So that you bring can support so much better for us. Im a strong proponent of a healthy diet. And really each for my brain as much as i can. My research is really influencing on the way eat as a family. Natalie said thats perfect the mediterranean diet which is hard to write about in the book bringing sort of the diet the most people should follow right lisa i think it is the road good diets. Its a very fresh diet. And he has the nutrients with the brain wants and needs all of the assignment. So the deprivation diet which i thank you so very important. I also enjoy my food. Its a sensible diet and what i like about it is really the result of information for women and doing and making us better. Better than the western diet. It doesnt have to be mediterranean. I think it is the framework of it is plant based. Client centric. Vegetable oils especially unrefined ones. Know a lot of fiber. Fiber is really good for you. Especially for women. We dont talk that much about it and we should. Fish and lagoons of party to there is a huge, hundreds of hundreds of women are showing that the later in life you going to menopause. Think its interesting. The omega three fatty acids. In the carbohydrates and also showed that the more food that you have in your diet, the earlier you go through menopause. So i think that really talks about the diet and affecting like to dysfunction. It is something that we can actively do. We have control over it. It an exercise also is an important factor. In writing the book the slow and steady wins the race. The moderate exercise is the route to go rather than people taking all of these but we were going to the gym, high intensity classes. Never doing the videos at home. My is slow and steady a better pace for exercise and how much of a be getting. Lisa i think slow and steady like translates. There is science really looking to that in women particularly. Only women not any women together. Between intensity and gain. The a very long intensity of novocaine. If the intensity starts going up, youre going to gain read until you reach the tip. Thus the moderate intensity exercise. If you go at it and intense, thats for women 40 years and older. Solis like as long as there you can do whatever you like, any super exercise super hopeful. For any women, out of the huge group of people, what is the average person. The women were older than 30 read it looks like moderate exercise. I believe is most sustainable. You also do it often enough. And then you should see a benefit. And for any people, you go very high intensity and they are tired and you just dont do it consistently enough. If you do it right. I think its very important that if you can, but if you dont like it thats okay. You want to feel bad about it just because it is trendy. Natalie went to sleep. How does poor sleep quality impacts women in their brains as they age. Lisa that is my issue. Not enough sleep. So the National Science foundation shared that women sleep worse than men. Planted in the age we have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep read and the quality of the sleep structure is much more east much more easily distracted as well. And for any women, the reason the hormonal impact on sleep as well because of the changes. There is a very specific part of the brain called the brainstem. And if your estrogen activates it correctly, you loosely purported when the estrogen started to go up and down then its not actually actuating correctly thats what we have a tendency to wake up in the middle of the night. And melatonin is really high for the first half of the night. And decreases in the cortisone generally for that will go up and if you have a lot of stress, goes up too much in the near wake up at 3 00 oclock in the morning. That happens to a lot of women. So its really important to prioritize your sleep. And i know we have a hard time doing that. Natalie i dont sleep well. Obviously during the pandemic it has been worse. But i am very menopausal. It and i do get hot during the middle of the night or i do have to get up and then to go back to sleep is very hard party so ive been taking millenarian and some other things that i wanted to ask you about for supplements that women. What are some fictive recommend and obviously these are things that you should talk to your doctor about and make sure that you get something that it reacts well with your body. Lisa yes. I must strong believer. [inaudible]. Makes a lot of sense and some people but it doesnt really help with mustard efficient parted so what we do, we can measure i believe in the testing. So that we know how much rain above first of all, we go through a very motivate strict diet, and in some cases, healthy diet is not enough. And in that case and thank then medicine can be helpful. And the one that we recommended the most especially for women a omega3. Especially for those who do not eat fish. In a feet fish enough then you shouldnt need them. And flaxseed oil. For women. Especially if you dont eat fish very often are on the days you dont eat fish. Flaxseed oil is the highest omega3 of any oil. In just 1 tablespoon, it is about half of all at the omega3 said you need for the day. I switch so now im using that. Natalie that is fascinating. About vitamin e and vitamin c. Sue and yes the antioxidants is what you need. I would encourage postmenopausal women especially who are taking them. But think for sleep. Especially the combination with vitamin c, really delineates the night sweats and clinical trials. Is been shown to work for any women. Source trying. There are no side effects. Natalie salad over the counter. Lisa yes but its always best to ask your doctor. Its very strong antioxidants as well. David also stimulates blood flow and oxygen levels to the brain. And you can keep your energy high. And the vitamin a. And honestly, antioxidants is really the best if you can obtain it from the food that we eat. So it is possible to consume more orange, yellow vegetables. And very dark green leafy vegetables is probably the best way to supplement. And then of course there is so much information. Natalie i encourage everybody to read your book. This so much information in here, the xx brain. One more question because you talked about testing. Can you talk about what tester scans that you used to study alzheimers and to track the progress of the disease. It is the testing accurate. Before we went live commutes and you yourself are going to have a brain scan which youve not done before. Lisa im a big fan. I firmly believe it is the best tool that we have right now. On an individual basis. It is a very strong diagnostic tool for alzheimers disease. And also a predictor tool. What we do is a lot of brain scans. And other patients really make sure that we address their concerns and make them comfortable. But you dont have to do it if you dont want to. But most of us do want to. And we look at it, and am and we deal other tests. And Nuclear Medicine. I did that for 20 years. It may look at everything we can. We look at the structure of the brain. The oxygen of the brain. We try to see if there is any shrinkage of the brain. Because that is a big red flag for alzheimers. We look for inflammation in the brain. We look for integrity which is how well different parts of your brain communicate with each other. We look at Energy Levels in the brain. Especially during menopause. We look at plaque. We look at any kind of vascular damage. Especially for women in the brain. Its worth doing. Any kind of tumors. Mannequins a lot of things. And the youngest is 40 but we just lowered the age range to 35 years old. And it is really helpful to have a good strong baseline parted is helpful for you for life. Because right now you have no promise. This is your brain. When you have no problems. God forbid in ten years, if you had issues or concerns. And then we do another brain scan. Then we can compare it. Because if you come to me when youre having trouble, theres only so much unless theres a very clear problem that you see immediately, how was your brain before. Natalie is the same baseline to compare with you. Lisa is always better to be able to check for change. No change. Because if there is no change, youre having a hard time. If there is a change, that we need to address it. So is a very helpful tab. It is any times points in the brain as possible. Natalie there is so much information in this book parking is called the xx brain. Doctor, you are brilliant and i read it cover to cover. Within a couple of hours because i wanted to digest every bit of information unit breeds the thank you so much and thank to all who participated here today. Be sure to check out this book. If you would like more information and you will be seeing hopefully if you miss the beginning of this, you will be able to see this webcast, you can see in the future time as well. Well put it up on the Aspen Institute health streaming service as well. In thank you very much and have a good day. Book tv on cspan2 has top nonfiction books and authors every weekend. Sunday, 1 00 p. M. Eastern, the recent Schomburg Center literary festival, coming full circle, from jim crow to journalism which recalls her journalism career and 2 00 p. M. Eastern, black lives matters cofounder with her book and the collier terrace. In her life, activism and the beginnings of the black lives matters movement. Then at 9 00 p. M. Eastern on afterwards, the Washington PostPulitzer Prize book critic offers his thoughts on the volume of books written about donald trump and during his president ial, pamela paul. Watchful to become a this weekend on cspan2. Is a look some books being published this week. 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