How to Future-Proof Your Brain from Dementia — Dr. Tommy Wood

Tim Ferriss interviews Dr. Tommy Wood on the science of brain health and dementia prevention. They cover why human babies are born fat (a repository of DHA and ketones for the developing brain), state-of-the-art treatment for newborn brain injury, and what to do nutritionally after an adult concussion. Wood explains that 45-72% of dementia is potentially preventable through lifestyle, and emphasizes that demand-driven brain stimulation, intense exercise that produces lactate, open-skill activities, sleep, oral health, and air quality all play measurable roles. The conversation blends rigorous research with Wood's personal regimen, including creatine, blood-flow-restriction training, and practical sleep habits, framed around his book The Stimulated Mind.

• The often-cited claim that 45-70% of dementia is preventable through lifestyle: 45% comes from the Lancet Commission report on dementia prevention, while a UK Biobank study by Professor Yintai Liu estimated up to 72% preventable.
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• Reduced brain glucose uptake in Alzheimer's (the 'type 3 diabetes' idea) may not mean glucose can't get in, but that the brain isn't asking for it; PET scans show early-Alzheimer's brains take up normal glucose when cognitively stimulated, shifting focus to creating energetic demand.
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• Open-skill or coordinative exercise (dance, ball sports, martial arts) that requires reacting to a changing environment produces greater brain-structure and cognitive benefits than same-intensity closed-skill exercise like jogging; dance shows the highest effect size.
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• An Australian study using the Norwegian 4x4 high-intensity protocol three times a week for several months produced significant hippocampal improvements that were maintained for roughly five years after the trial ended, likely driven by lactate boosting brain BDNF.
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• A study titled 'creative experiences and brain clocks' found that gaining expertise in tango, bilingualism, art, music, or video gaming all similarly improved the discreteness of critical aging-susceptible brain networks measured via EEG.
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• People who grew up bilingual perform better on executive-function tasks like response inhibition because of lifelong language suppression, and have decreased or delayed dementia risk; even using Duolingo improves executive function in older adults.
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• Short-term sleep deprivation harms mood far more than performance: processing speed slows but accuracy holds, and studies show being falsely told you slept badly degrades next-day function, so anxiety about sleep can be self-fulfilling.
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• Air pollution and poor oral health are significant, often-overlooked dementia risk factors; gum-disease bacteria have been found in arterial and amyloid plaques, and high blood sugar and high blood pressure are the two strongest metabolic risk factors.
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• Humans are the only species born fat even compared to other primates, because that fat supplies DHA and ketones the developing brain preferentially uses.
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• Newborns with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy are cooled to 33.5C (92.3F) for 72 hours, which significantly reduces death and disability.
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• Caffeine, given to preterm babies for apnea of prematurity, was found in trials to significantly improve later cognitive function.
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• In a study of football players, taking 1-2 grams of DHA daily reduced season-long accumulation of neurofilament light, a blood marker of brain injury.
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• The VITACOG trial (David Smith, Oxford) found B vitamins only slowed brain atrophy in people with elevated homocysteine AND adequate omega-3 status; both are required for benefit.
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• Wood takes 10 grams of creatine daily in one morning dose; he finds it cognitively stimulating and sleep-disrupting if taken late.
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• Wood's travel 'gym in a bag' is just blood-flow-restriction cuffs (B Strong) and Black Mountain Products bands (~$40, lifetime warranty); he maintained muscle on this alone for months.
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• Xylitol gum or mouthwash can improve oral microbiota and reduce cavity- and periodontitis-causing bacteria like Strep mutans and P. gingivalis.
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• A study found people wearing a regular eye mask had better cognitive function than a control group wearing a Zorro-style mask with the eyes cut out.
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• Greenland shark (Icelandic fermented shark) is made edible by letting its urea break down into ammonia, since the shark has no kidneys; Wood calls Swedish surstromming even worse.
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