How to Protect Your Brain After 40: What Every Woman Should Know | Dr Tommy Wood
Your brain is knackered by 5pm because you’ve been stuck in middle gear all day, and that exhaustion is exactly why the wine starts calling.
In this episode I sit down with Dr Tommy Wood, neuroscientist and author of The Stimulated Mind, to unpack the three cognitive gears (high, middle, low) and why constant task switching leaves midlife women depleted and reaching for a drink. We cover what a real low gear brain break looks like, why so many of us have lost the ability to rest, and the link between perimenopause, brain health and dementia risk in women. We finish on the most hopeful message of all: it’s never too late to protect your brain.
The big ideasKey Takeaways
- 01Middle gear quietly exhausts you, because the brain can’t truly multitask.
- 02The 5pm wine is a fast but costly off switch. A real low gear break looks like green space, breathwork and doing one thing at a time.
- 03Perimenopause affects the brain, from verbal memory to estrogen and vasomotor symptoms, and dementia risk is higher in women.
- 04It’s never too late. People in their late 60s can still improve their brain health.
Jump straight inEpisode Chapters
- The Three Gears Of Your Brain
- What High Gear Focused Work Really Means
- Low Gear And Why Rest Matters
- How Your Phone Kills Rest Time
- The Midlife Woman’s Mental Overload
- Why You Reach For Wine At 5pm
- Quick Brain Breaks That Actually Work
- Music, Breathwork And Calming Your Brain
- How Time Blocking Regains Control
- How Perimenopause Changes Your Brain
- Does MHT Help Your Brain?
- Why Women Get Dementia More Than Men
- Does Stress Raise Your Dementia Risk?
- What Alzheimer’s Actually Does To The Brain
- The Best Exercise For Your Brain
- Start With One Small Change
- Why It Is Never Too Late
Tap a chapter to watch from that moment on YouTube
Meet your guestDr Tommy Wood
Dr Tommy Wood is a neuroscientist and Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Neuroscience at the University of Washington, where his research focuses on brain health across the lifespan. He holds a biochemistry degree from the University of Cambridge, a medical degree from the University of Oxford, and a PhD in Physiology and Neuroscience from the University of Oslo.
He is a performance consultant to elite athletes, including Formula 1 drivers, the author of The Stimulated Mind: Future-Proof Your Brain from Dementia and Stay Sharp at Any Age, and co-hosts the Better Brain Fitness podcast with neurologist Josh Turknett.
- The Stimulated Mind (book)
- Better Brain Fitness podcast
- Website: drtommywood.com
- Instagram: @drtommywood
Sarah Rusbatch is an accredited Health and Wellbeing Coach and one of Australia’s leading experts on grey area drinking. Her podcast, Stronger, Bolder, Wiser, is the go-to space for women who are questioning their relationship with alcohol, navigating life alcohol-free, or simply curious about what life could look like on the other side of the bottle.
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