“When we think about exercise in general as sort of a hermetic stressor, it just makes sense to think about, if you’re going to do it at a higher intensity and have these repeated hormetic stressors, you’re going to get an overall greater response. It’s a lot of the same mechanisms that we see for exercise causing a lot of great brain health and cognitive benefits, but we’re just seeing it to a greater degree.”
- Julie Foucher-Urcuyo, MD

 

In this special edition of Pursuing Health Pearls, I'm joining Dr. Matt Dawson and Dr. Mike Mallin at the Wild Health Brain Optimization Summit for an interview-style discussion focused on how high intensity interval training (HIIT) can optimize brain health.

The Brain Optimization Summit featured doctors, scientists, biohackers, and nootropics professionals discussing lifestyle habits and methods to improve mental performance, memory formation, concentration, and professional creativity.

This was a really fun conference, and they’re planning to hold another similar conference on athletic optimization which I plan to participate in, so stay tuned.  I’m also excited to share more with you about Matt and Mike when I interview them in next week's episode so stay tuned for that as well!

In this episode we discuss:

• The definition of high intensity interval training (HIIT)
• How HIIT relates to brain health and why it's advocated to improve brain health
• How HIIT can reduce risk of stroke and improve stroke recovery rates
• The amount of HIIT required to receive health benefits
• The mechanism behind getting brain health benefits from HIIT
• High intensity exercise versus moderate intensity exercise
• The impact of HIIT on dementia, depression, Parkinson's, and ADHD
• How to minimize the risks of HIIT
• How to safely introduce it to a sedentary individual
• How much HIIT is too much?
• The target heart rate for a sedentary ramp up
• How to cycle HIIT into your weekly routine
• Quick workout recommendations
• Supplements to help with joint health
• Thoughts on fasted HIIT
• A Burpee Challenge!  5 rounds of:1 minute of burpees, 1 minute of rest

You can follow Wild Health on their website, podcast, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.

Links:

• The feasibility of an acute high-intensity exercise bout to promote locomotor learning after stroke
• Multimodal Therapy Involving High-Intensity Interval Training Improves the Physical Fitness, Motor Skills, Social Behavior, and Quality of Life of Boys With ADHD: A Randomized Controlled Study

Related episodes:

Ep 78 - Lifestyle and Brain Health with Dr. David Perlmutter

Ep 159 - Pursuing Health Pearls: Exercise and Why It's So Good For Us

 

If you like this episode, please subscribe to Pursuing Health on iTunes and give it a rating. I’d love to hear your feedback in the comments below and on social media using the hashtag #PursuingHealth. I look forward to bringing you future episodes with inspiring individuals and ideas about health every other Tuesday.

Disclaimer: This podcast is for general information only, and does not provide medical advice. We recommend that you seek assistance from your personal physician for any health conditions or concerns.

This post was originally published on November 23, 2020.