Louisa Nicola
Person
Louisa Nicola is an Alzheimer's expert and neuroscientist who specializes in brain health and performance. She educates the public on how sleep, exercise, nutrition, and supplements like creatine can protect the brain against decline, concussions, and stress.
What Louisa Nicola has said on podcasts
35 statements
Resistance training provides the greatest brain-health return on investment.
“the biggest amount of return on investment is from resistance training”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 0:14
Resistance training improved cognitive outcomes in people with mild cognitive impairment.
“they not only preserved their cognitive functions, they enhanced their processing speed, they enhanced their fluid intelligence”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 0:34
APOE4 is among the strongest genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease.
“The APOE4 gene is one of the strongest risk factors of getting Alzheimer's disease.”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 1:20
Carrying APOE4 does not make Alzheimer’s disease inevitable.
“But it is not a foregone conclusion that you're going to get it.”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 1:27
One APOE4 copy raises Alzheimer’s risk two to threefold.
“when you have a copy of the APOE4 gene, it raises your risk by two to three times.”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 2:06
Two APOE4 copies raise Alzheimer’s risk tenfold.
“If you have two copies of the gene, it raises your risk by 10 times.”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 2:13
One APOE4 copy raises Alzheimer’s risk about sixfold in females.
“one copy of the gene of APOE4 gene for a female raises your risk by about six fold”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 2:30
A doctor can test for APOE4 using a simple blood test.
“You can get the APOE4 gene checked out with your doctor. It's a simple blood test.”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 2:43
Strong legs are the most important tool for preventing Alzheimer’s disease.
“Having strong legs is by far the most important tool in your toolbox for the prevention of Alzheimer's disease.”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 2:56
Greater leg strength was associated with larger brain and gray-matter volume in identical twins.
“the twin who possessed the greatest strength and the most leg power had a bigger brain, larger gray matter volume”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 3:21
Neural effects of resistance training require lifting around 80% of one-repetition maximum.
“in order to produce the neural effects of resistance training, you need to be lifting at around 80% of your one repetition max”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 3:57
Exercise-released myokines benefit cognitive performance.
“when they're released from the muscle, they go up to the brain and they do beneficial things for our cognitive performance”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 4:52
Structured, consistent exercise can grow new hippocampal neurons.
“you can grow new neurons in the hippocampus from structured exercise and consistent exercise”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 5:24
Exercise changes interleukin-6 into an anti-inflammatory cytokine.
“when we exercise, it depends on where the site is. Interleukin 6, instead of acting as a pro inflammatory cytokine, instead of creating inflammation, it acts as an anti inflammatory cytokine.”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 6:47
Exercise-related interleukin-6 downregulates tumor-cell growth.
“Interleukin 6 is also responsible for the downregulation of tumor cell growth.”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 7:11
Thirty minutes of daily aerobic activity can reduce activity across thirteen cancer types.
“just 30 minutes a day of aerobic physical activity can downregulate 13 types of cancers”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 7:34
Heavier lifting increases neural drive and benefits the brain.
“the heavier you lift, the greater the neural drive. The greater the neural drive, the better it is for your brain.”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 9:08
The deadlift is the single best exercise for protecting the brain.
“Deadlift.”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 9:22
A correctly performed deadlift uses almost every muscle in the body.
“the deadlift can use almost every muscle in your body”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 9:26
Ten air squats each hour can compensate for a sedentary lifestyle.
“if you do 10 air squats every hour, this can compensate for your sedentary lifestyle”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 10:50
Exercise rapidly lowers post-meal glucose spikes.
“the best way to bring that glucose spike back down is by doing any form of exercise you can”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 11:46
Women should prioritize high-intensity exercise before zone-two training.
“I'm trying to push women to first work on Zone five. Zone three, Zone four, Zone five.”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 14:11
Zone-five training is better for the brain than five-kilometer outdoor running.
“what is better for the brain? I would say that the Zone 5 is better for the brain.”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 15:59
A two-year exercise program reversed age-related cardiac effects by twenty years.
“he reversed the age related effects and defects of the heart by 20 years”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 18:19
VO2 max is the strongest predictor of all-cause mortality.
“VO2 max is the strongest predictor of all cause mortality.”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 18:56
The Norwegian 4x4 protocol uses four-minute intervals at 90–95% maximum heart rate.
“you want to get your heart rate elevated to 90 to 95% for four minutes on, four minutes off, repeat four times”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 19:33
Midlife is the key opportunity window for brain health and longevity.
“midlife is the window of opportunity for brain health and for longevity”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 21:30
Systolic blood pressure above 135 begins damaging small brain capillaries.
“if you are hypertensive, this is anywhere over 135. Okay, systolic over 135. That's when things start to break down.”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 24:37
Aggressive pharmacological blood-pressure reduction preserves gray matter and cognitive function.
“when they aggressively manage these patients and they bring their blood pressure down, they did it pharmacologically through something called an ACE inhibitor. It's a medication to drive down blood pressure. When they bring it down pharmacologically, these patients preserved their brain gray matter and their cognitive functions.”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 25:00
Exercise-based strength gains are recommended for managing high blood pressure.
“we want to get stronger and we want to do this via exercise”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 25:38
Alzheimer’s disease currently has no cure or reversal after diagnosis.
“Once you get the diagnosis, there is no cure, there is no going back. There is no reversal.”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 27:07
The progression of mild cognitive impairment can be slowed.
“Mild cognitive impairment, you can slow the progression of that.”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 27:17
A ketogenic diet may be beneficial after an Alzheimer’s diagnosis.
“I would potentially have a ketogenic diet”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 28:38
Alzheimer’s involves a brain metabolic crisis impairing glucose utilization.
“during this metabolic crisis that happens in your brain, okay, where you lose the ability to use glucose as your primary fuel source”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 28:43
She would use exercise, lipid management, and omega-3 intake after diagnosis.
“I would aggressively exercise, I would aggressively manage my my lipids. I'd have a high intake of omega 3 fatty acids”
Open the episode · Most Replayed Moment: Alzheimer's Starts 20 Years Before Symptoms! How To Protect Your Brain NowListen at 29:52
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.
