subject: Interview With Dr. Paul Nussbaum On Meditation, Breathing, Etc For Lifelong Brain Health - Part 1 [print this page] Below you can find Part 1 of full transcript of our engaging Q&A session yesterday on holistic brain health with clinical neuropsychologist Dr. Paul Nussbaum, author of Save Your Brain. You can learn more about Part 1of full Brain Fitness Q&A Series Here.
AlvaroF: Hello everyone. We are starting the third Brain Fitness Q&A session with authors of books named Best Books on Brain Fitness by AARP. And today we have the pleasure to have Dr. Paul Nussbaum, author of Save Your Brain, with us. You can all start writing your questions.
Nasrin Lakhani: Hello Alvaro and Dr. Nussbaum
Mark Waldman: Good morning Alvaro and Paul
Dr. Nussbaum: Hello everyone and thank you Alvaro
AlvaroF: Thank you very much for being with us. Let me first explain that this is a web chat there is no audio or video. Let's go ahead!
Mark Waldman: What do you feel are the 5 best ways to maintain a healthy brain?
Dr. Nussbaum: Hello Mark. My major focus has been on lifestyle with brain health. My belief and work centers on five major areas to include physical activity, mental stimulation, nutrition, socialization, and spirituality. Research has been conducted on specific behaviors within each of these five major domains to indicate a relationship between the activity and reduction in risk of dementia or what I call brain health.
AlvaroF: Which one of those 5 elements do you believe is underappreciated by the public at large, and the media?
Dr. Nussbaum: My opinion is the area of spirituality although it is gaining momentum as we learn more from the research on neurotheology. The impact of meditation, prayer, relaxation, breathing, etc on stress reduction and enhanced brain function is quite interesting. This will only increase with more advanced and sensitive measures of the brain.
AlvaroF: Stress management sounds different from spirituality. Meditation too. Can you please describe what specific practices/ outcomes fall under spirituality?
Pascale: So it is not clear which specific aspects of spirituality have an impact on brain health? Any specific study showing that prayer itself has any effect?
Dr. Nussbaum: Sure. I refer to spirituality in a broad sense to try and capture the impact of a brain that is at peace or without negative impact of stress, particularly chronic stress. On the behavioral front, I note humans have particular ways to generate reduction in stress. This is important as we know from animal research that too much stimulation can cause the brain to stop developing. As such, behaviors such as meditation, prayer, interaction with nature, breathing, yoga, etc all help the organism and brain to slow and to integrate inside and outside.
Mark Waldman: In the brainscan/meditation research I do with Andy Newberg, we came to the conclusion that optimism was the #1 best way to exercise the brain, based on 2 longitudinal studies from Mayo and Duke U. Adds 2 years to life. We listed meditation as #4.
Dr. Nussbaum: Prayer has been studied by some folks at Duke and there has been some relationship between prayer on a daily basis and enhanced immune function, prayer and sense of happiness, and prayer and stress reduction. I have not seen a specific study on prayer and cognitive function. On the other side, I continue to be amazed with my patients with late stage AD and their maintained ability and respect for religious practice including prayer.
AlvaroF: So perhaps spirituality is a potential avenue towards stress management and optimism. Would other techniques from cognitive therapy to biofeedback be complementary? How do people navigate different options?
Dr. Nussbaum: Thanks Mark and interesting. I believe the whole area of positive thinking with stimulation of the left frontal lobe is exciting and may soon be applied for many people in the near future. I do view prayer as an option similar to others Alvaro. We may find that this whole area has some general ability with humans, and that there may be a customized approach by person. The important message is that environmental input is critical to the brain and will have some impact on the brain. My hope is to identify and then apply those that are found to be brain healthy.
Dr Diamond: In our Indian culture we are taught at early age 4-5yrs to meditate 10 mins to 15 mins early morning and before going to sleep and the only 'media' was saying our religious names, poems etc. so for us meditation was very much connected to spirituality this also gave us 'relaxation' time so as to speak
Nasrin Lakhani: Is there any concrete research on relaxation enhancing brain function? I practice Biofeedback it would be interesting. Mark is your study available?
Dr. Nussbaum: Very good Dr. Diamond. I speak to teachers across the USA and I believe meditation and relaxation procedures can enhance learning and should be considered within the education system. Nasrin. I would encourage you to review the work of Dr. Sapolsky at Stanford. Stress increases the activity of the Amygala which suppresses the hippocampus. As the hippocampus is necessary for learning we can begin to understand the import of a relaxed brain on maximal learning potential. Biofeedback is a method to gain some control over the body and brain.
Pascale: Can you say more about the study of positive thinking with stimulation of the left frontal lobe? Sounds intriguing!
AlvaroF: Nasrin, I also encourage you to look for "heart rate variability" and cognition in PubMed, there's quite a bit.
Dr. Nussbaum: Sure. There is some interesting work from Dr. Hanson who wrote Buddha's Brain on the left frontal lobe and eeg correlates with positive thinking. We also know that the left frontal lobe that incurs stroke or other damage can result in depression, often called post-stroke depression. These areas we are discussing are relatively new and offer tremendous promise not just from a clinical perspective, but from a health promotion perspective.
AlvaroF: That is a critical point would you say we have a more significant opportunity today either in terms of clinical applications or public health promotion (or both)?
Dr. Nussbaum: As the medical field is so prominent in the USA and continues to be disease driven we will likely view the world from such a perspective. My hope is that this changes to a health promotion perspective with well studied proactive approaches to health across the lifespan. This includes the brain. I think this is starting to take some hold.
Guest: Yes we are thinking of adding to our activities in The Inter generational School here in Cleveland.
Mark Waldman: There is new evidence that intense, long term meditation thickens the neocortex and shrinks the amygdala. Less stress, increased cognition. Lot's of studies showing small but significant cognitive improvement for students taking tests. Herb Benson at Harvard has shown that the relaxation response (20 minutes of focusing on a positive meaningful word) turns on genes involved in the reduction of stress.
Dr. Nussbaum: Great. I think as we learn and accept more the idea and power of neural plasticity and that environment matters, we will continue to focus more on how the brain interfaces and responds to particular stimuli and how health is promoted.
AlvaroF: Couldn't agree more that we need a lifespan approach to health, including brain health. Where do you see that starting to happen in the US?
Dr. Nussbaum: Mark. I believe we are learning more about the triggers of the genes. We have identified every gene in the human body. We now need to understand what triggers or silences the manifestation of genes. It is my view that there is an entire world of stimuli such as thought that might be important here.
AlvaroF: Given all we're discussing here, what do you make of last year's NIH statement on the prevention of Alzheimer's/ cognitive decline, which was basically reported as "nothing works".
Dr. Nussbaum: Alvaro. My own experience over the past 15 years when there were not many of us interested in brain health is that it is actually happening in the community rather than the academics or medical field. By this I mean the consumer has become more educated and more interested in health. I do believe business, schools, libraries, media, and the religious sector have been very interested for some time. I do see that traditional medicine and academia are now becoming more interested. In this sense, it has been consumer driven.
