{"podcast":{"title":"Home of Healthspan","slug":"home-of-healthspan-7069559","podcast_index_feed_id":7069559,"rss_url":"https://feeds.zencastr.com/f/4DQ53tnR.rss","website_url":"https://alively.com/","image_url":"https://media.zencastr.com/image-files/65c0df5c2662b52ae2ab1737/92527a6c-2cfc-445d-957e-2b2555da52d7.jpg","author":"a@alively.com","episode_count":109,"summary":"We profile health and wellness role models, sharing the tools, practices, and routines they use to help you live healthier, longer. Since 1950, the average lifespan has extended by 11 years, but our healthspan hasn’t kept up. We've been pursuing living longer without considering how to make those extra years vibrant and fulfilling. After all, 30 plus years of old age is a long time to spend slowly falling apart. And that's where Home of Healthspan comes in. Host Andrew McConnell interviews healthspan role models to help guide listeners through the 5 Pillars of Healthspan: * Fitness * Nutrition, * Sleep and recovery, * Stress management and Mindset, * And Social connection & purpose. All so you can not only extend your years, but make them vibrantly healthy from start to finish. This is your guide to extending your healthspan, Making sure you live Alively day today, every day, for all of your days.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-21T00:17:40.971505+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/home-of-healthspan-7069559"},"episode":{"title":"The Real Reason Your Brain Is Shrinking with Dr. Tommy Wood - E79","slug":"the-real-reason-your-brain-is-shrinking-with-dr-tommy-wood-e79","published_at":"2025-12-29T11:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/home-of-healthspan-7069559/the-real-reason-your-brain-is-shrinking-with-dr-tommy-wood-e79","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/home-of-healthspan-7069559","url":"https://zencastr.com/z/sOtphQV3","audio_url":"https://redirect.zencastr.com/r/episode/69456ff88820c350e60e5ba3/size/72001197/audio-files/65c0df5c2662b52ae2ab1737/919fe780-ac10-4cee-899c-052e9f142a8a.mp3","summary":"Most people never realize their brain is shrinking - until memory slips or mental sluggishness forces them to take notice. The real reason behind this decline isn't just age or bad luck, but an energy crisis inside the brain that starts quietly and builds over time. Even highly motivated, health-focused people can miss the hidden lifestyle mistakes and overlooked daily choices that undermine their cognitive reserve. This episode takes you beneath the surface to uncover why energy status matters most for long-term brain health, what actually speeds up brain shrinkage, and the practical steps to reverse course. You'll get straight answers and usable strategies from a top brain health expert who turns science into powerful habits for everyday life. Dr. Tommy Wood is a neuroscientist and self-confessed professional nerd. As Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Neuroscience at the University of Washington School of Medicine, his laboratory focuses on brain health across the lifespan. He also works as a performance consultant to professional athletes including several Olympians, Formula 1 drivers and world champions, has helped found the British Society for Lifestyle Medicine, and is the author of the forthcoming book, 'The Stimulated Mind: Future-Proof Your Brain from Dementia and Stay Sharp at Any Age'. \"You don't get stronger in the gym, you get stronger when you're recovering afterwards. And the brain is essentially the same and sleep is obviously the time when that happens.\" - Dr. Tommy Wood In this episode you will learn: * Why the biggest driver of lower brain reserve is energy status, and how this links to long term brain health. * How Dr. Wood moved from a focus on physical health to research in brain health for athletes and the public. * The 3S model for brain hea…","meta_description":"Most people never realize their brain is shrinking - until memory slips or mental sluggishness forces them to take notice. The real reason behind this dec…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3000,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/home-of-healthspan-7069559/episodes/the-real-reason-your-brain-is-shrinking-with-dr-tommy-wood-e79/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/home-of-healthspan-7069559/the-real-reason-your-brain-is-shrinking-with-dr-tommy-wood-e79.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}