What podcasts say about Dr. Tommy Wood
Every statement, with the speaker, the exact quote and the moment it was said.
What Dr. Tommy Wood has said on podcasts
36 statements · 23 positive · 4 negative · 1 mixed · 8 neutral
Six months of HIIT improved hippocampal function more than Zone 2 and benefits persisted five years.
“that high intensity interval training group, they improved their fitness just as well as the Zone 2 group, interestingly, but they had much better improvements in hippocampal function and maintenance of hippocampal structure on an MRI scan. And they maintained that benefit for five years after the six month intervention.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 0:31
Learning, interaction, and remembering engage neuroplasticity.
“every time you learn something, interact with something, remember something. The principles of neuroplasticity are engaged, right?”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 5:44
Adult brains can continuously change neural connections despite relatively fixed cell numbers.
“just because we have a fixed number, relatively fixed number of cells, doesn't mean that we can't change the connections between those cells. And that's happening all the time.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 8:06
Novel cognitive activities improve function in older adults.
“by engaging older adults in novel cognitive activities, you see improvements in function”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 13:25
Novel cognitive interventions particularly improve executive function.
“you see in randomized controlled trials, improvements, particularly in executive function.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 13:47
Processing-speed training with boosters reduced dementia risk two decades later.
“those who did processing speed training with booster sessions at one and three years had a significantly decreased risk of dementia 20 years later.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 19:21
Crosswords and Sudoku provide less cognitive challenge and more meditative effects.
“crossword and sudoku, they're less of like a true cognitive challenge, right. It almost has more of like a meditation, meditative like effect.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 23:34
Brain adaptations are broader when learning stimuli engage broader capabilities.
“the narrowness of the response or the breadth of the response is proportional to the narrowness or the breadth of the stimulus.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 24:23
Meta-analyses find ballroom and line dancing produce the largest cognitive benefits in older adults.
“meta analyses of these interventions in older adults showing that ballroom and line dancing have the greatest effect on cognitive function.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 28:11
Making mistakes is critical for driving neuroplasticity.
“it's so critical to driving those processes of neuroplasticity that we make those mistakes”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 31:55
Overcoming meaningful challenges builds perceived capability that transfers to other activities.
“you proved to yourself, hey, I'm capable, I'm able to overcome challenges. I'm able to, you know, engage and do difficult things. And I think the psychological benefits of that, you just. That process of engaging with a challenge, overcoming it, working hard to do that, I think that's just almost like a core psychological need that we have. And then that transfers to all these other things.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 35:49
Flow is the maximal expression of a complex learned skill.
“I think of flow as the maximal expression of a complex learned skill.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 38:18
People can perform optimally in effortful clutch states without experiencing flow.
“People can perform at the best of their abilities in clutch states.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 39:52
Improving a skill requires working beyond current capacity, which disrupts flow.
“if you want to get better at that skill, you have to work even further beyond your current capacities, which will move you out of flow because of the friction, the mistakes and the errors that come from that.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 40:44
Practice amount predicted piano-specific performance more strongly than age.
“the most important predictor of how well somebody performed at those piano specific skills was not their age, it was how much they practice.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 50:06
Expert violinists typically practiced two daily sessions lasting 60–90 minutes.
“they tended to practice for about two sessions of 60 to 90 minutes a day.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 53:15
Eliminating distractions is among the best ways to achieve deep focused work.
“one of the best ways to like truly get deep, focused work done is to eliminate distractions.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 55:58
Reducing excessive energy intake can improve cognition.
“The most important thing, and I think this is where some of the benefits of caloric restriction happened in that trial compared to the mind diet, was that people's cognition improved just because they decreased their energy intake to a point that was more, was essentially what their brain needed”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 1:04:47
Over several days, omega-3 supplement forms produce similar brain availability.
“if you supplement over several days, it all kind of comes out in the wash.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 1:11:22
B vitamins do not benefit cognition when elevated homocysteine coexists with poor omega-3 status.
“if you give B vitamins to somebody who has elevated homocysteine, you bring down their homocysteine, but they have poor omega 3 levels. You don't see any benefit.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 1:14:36
A basic multivitamin produced modest cognitive improvements in older adults.
“those who got the multivitamin saw changes in cognitive function that suggested some improvements”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 1:16:03
The strongest evidence supports avoiding nutrient deficiencies rather than pursuing excess.
“The best evidence we have just says is in reality, don't be deficient.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 1:22:52
Most non-GLP peptides lack human evidence for their intended effects.
“Most of those if not all of them except for the GLP ones don't, don't have that evidence. Or for the thing that you're trying to get.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 1:29:51
Safety evidence should be established before trying injectable or orally consumed compounds.
“if you're going to consider injecting or taking something the first thing you should want to know is is this safe?”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 1:30:12
High-dose creatine appears well tolerated in frail older adults.
“At least we know that you can give high doses of creatine to frail older, older individuals with essentially no side effects.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 1:31:37
Caffeine can improve perceived performance while worsening performance on some cognitive tasks.
“giving people caffeine makes them. Them feel like they're performing better, but they're actually performing worse on certain cognitive tasks.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 1:35:38
Cannabis increases perceived creativity without improving objectively measured creativity.
“People taking cannabis felt like they were more creative, but actually they weren't.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 1:36:41
A 20–30 minute jog has the strongest evidence for immediate cognitive benefits.
“the protocol that has like the best evidence for it is like a 20 to 30 minute jog.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 1:41:20
In the cited HIIT study, greater effort and cortisol release predicted greater hippocampal benefits.
“the harder people work worked and the more cortisol they released, the better the benefit.”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 1:45:53
Chronic stress is associated with metabolic disease, inflammation, heart disease, and dementia.
“chronic stress, be they psychological, physical, increased allostatic load code increase, metabolic disease, inflammation, blood sugar dysregulation, insulin resistance, significantly associated with heart disease, dementia”
Open the episode · Accelerate Learning & Increase Cognitive Capacity | Dr. Tommy WoodListen at 1:51:13
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.