Welcome back to Late Boomers! We’re your hosts, Cathy Worthington and Merry Elkins, and today’s episode dives into one of our most exciting and empowering topics yet—brain health, neuroplasticity, and the incredible power of reinvention at any age.

In this episode, we welcome Dr. Tere Linzey, a licensed educational psychologist and founder of BrainMatterZ. With over three decades of experience, Dr. Linzey specializes in helping people of all ages strengthen critical brain functions like memory, attention, processing speed, and executive skills. If you’ve ever wondered whether cognitive decline is inevitable as you age, get ready for some surprising—and reassuring—news!

We explore why keeping your brain active is a game-changer, how simple daily habits can help you maintain and even enhance your cognitive abilities, and why “use it or lose it” isn't just a saying—it’s science-backed truth. Dr. Linzey also shares research-backed tips, practical exercises, and fresh perspectives that will inspire you to make your brain’s health a top priority.

Key Takeaways

1. Cognitive Decline Is Not Inevitable: According to Dr. Linzey, it’s a lack of use—not age—that erodes our mental sharpness. Your brain thrives on challenge and engagement.
2. Neuroplasticity Explained: The brain is always learning and adapting. What you practice becomes hardwired—so focus on habits that move you toward your goals.
3. Why Adults Over 50 Have a Unique Advantage: Now is a powerful time to focus on your brain. Reinvention, learning new skills, and even changing careers can stimulate neuroplasticity.
4. The Power of Physical and Mental Exercise: Activities like ping pong, pickleball, and Dr. Linzey’s “brain cards” combine movement with mental focus to boost cognitive fitness.
5. Practical “Brain Optimization” Methods: From pen-and-paper planning to timed brain games, there are fun and accessible ways to stay sharp. Socialization, exercise, and novelty are top performers for brain health.
6. Beware Over-Reliance on Technology: As much as digital tools are helpful, using them as a crutch can dull your critical thinking. Offset screen time with real-world activities.
7. Maintenance is Key: Treat your brain like any other essential system in your life. Maintenance, variety, and challenge keep you vibrant—at any age.

If you enjoyed today’s episode, please follow us on your favorite podcast platform, leave us a review, and share this conversation with someone who needs a reminder that it’s never too late to reinvent, learn, and thrive.

For show links, brain card resources, and more inspiration, visit lateboomers.us. Let’s keep this conversation going—send us your questions or stories of reinvention!

Stay curious, keep growing, and remember: it’s never too late to boom.

Welcome to Late Boomers, our podcast guide to creating your third act with style, power, and impact.

Hi, I'm Kathy Worthington, and I'm Mary Elkins. Join us as we bring you conversations with successful entrepreneurs, entertainers, and people with vision who are making a difference in the world.

Everyone has a story, and we'll take you along for the ride on each interview, recounting the journey our guests have the path they've taken to get where they are, inspiring you to create your own path to success. Let's get started. Hello everyone. Welcome to Late Boomers, the podcast about reinvention, curiosity, and what's possible after age 50. I'm Kathy Worthington.

And I'm Mary Elkins. Today we're talking about something that shapes everything else in our lives. Our brain, how we think, how we adapt, how we learn, and how we continue to grow as we get older.

We spend a lot of time talking about physical health as we age, but brain health, the thing that drives confidence, memory, focus, and decision-making, doesn't always get the same attention.

And yet many people assume decline is inevitable, that at some point in life the brain just starts slowing down and there's not a lot we can do about it.

Our guest today says that's simply not true.

Joining us today is Dr. Terri Lindsey, a licensed educational psychologist and founder of Brain Matter Z. For more than 3 decades, she's worked with people of all ages strengthening memory, attention, processing speed, and executive function, the skills that allow us to function confidently in everyday life.

Her work focuses on neuroplasticity, the brain's ability to change and adapt, and what that means for all of us, especially as we move into new chapters later in life.

Dr. Lindsay, welcome to Late Boomers.

Thanks so much for having me.

It's great to have you.

I'd love to start at the beginning. What first drew you to studying the brain, and when did you begin to see that change was possible at any age?

Well, believe it or not, in a different life, I was a basketball coach and a PE teacher.

Really?

I was. Uh, I'm originally from Oklahoma where women's basketball is only second to football. So, um, when I got out here to California, there was a private school., called Kate School in Santa Barbara that hired me as a, the director of counseling and psychology there. And they wanted to know if I could do what I had done with the basketball teams. Could I do that with the brain? And if I could, if they could see that in me, they would send me to Harvard and Berkeley and Stanford and all these places to gather the new brain research. And bring it back and develop a program. And so in that process, I found out that brains and muscles train the same. And so that's what got me started.

I thought, wow, if I can do that with a basketball team and find the fundamental skills that can create a successful basketball team, then I can find the fundamental skills of learning to create that for kids. And so we started with students and then, um, kind of went into the whole adult thing because now we know that, um, the brain can change at any age. So that's, that's perfect for us, right, ladies?

Fantastic. Absolutely. In fact, I'm really interested to hear more and I'm sure our listeners are. A lot of our listeners are in the middle of reinvention. And, or learning new things or changing direction sometimes by choice and sometimes out of necessity. But is there something about being over 50 that actually makes this a powerful time to focus on our brain health?

Well, you know, I would love to see the mindset change about the brain because it's not— cognitive decline is, is not something that happens as a result of age. It's a result of not using it. So the brain is use-dependent. So use it or lose it kind of thing. And then, so once we get older, then we're not in school. We're not using our processing speed, our working memory, or, you know, all of those things that we did before. And so as a result of that, if we don't target and continue to use it in another way, then we, it starts to erode, but it doesn't have to. And that's, I think that's the best news.

Hmm. That is the best news. Yeah. You know, well, we hear the word neuroplasticity everywhere now, but it sounds pretty technical. So when you could, when you explain it to people in everyday language, what does that really mean?

Oh, it's just the brain's ability to grow and adapt. As a result of its experiences. So basically what you practice is what you hardwire. Okay. And the brain is always practicing. So here's the tricky part. You need to make sure you're practicing the things that are going to move you in the direction of your goals because the brain's always practicing. So if you're practicing things that take you in a negative direction, you're going to get just as good at that.

As you would if you're practicing the goal, the things that are going to move you in a positive direction. Hmm.

I love that. Yeah. Food for thought. And absolutely. Um, and I'd love to hear some case studies later in our talk, but right now I just want to talk about the belief that the brain declines with age, like you brought, like you said it didn't. But from what you've seen and what science shows, how much of that, if at all, is inevitable and how much is shaped by how we live?

You know, there are a lot of factors, right? Especially for women, because we have the hormones come into play later in life and we have the age and then, you know, all of these things are kind of coming into play and your lifestyle and how you live and then heredit— you know, heredity, you know, all of these things come into play, but we now know that again, it's, it, the decline happens as a result of a lack of use. And that is, that's crystal clear and not a lack of age, just like with exercise, right? We can keep our body fit and it doesn't necessarily have to decline. And it's exactly the same with the brain.

But actually, So does neuroplasticity and that stuff also apply to the rest of the body? So like for exercise, when you're doing physical exercise, is that impacting the brain as well?

Oh, absolutely. What, what exercise does for the body is a drop in the bucket compared to what it does for the brain.

Oh yeah.

Yeah. Well, you use the You use a phrase called brain optimization, which I like because it sounds kind of active instead of preventative. But what does that look like in normal daily life?

Well, when we optimize the brain, we're just targeting certain areas of the brain that might be less developed. And when we target them, then we can work in those specific areas. So say visual processing speed or attention, um, or Auditory processing, those kinds of things. So we're targeting those areas of the brain and then optimizing those areas.

Well, how do you know which areas need optimization?

Well, usually you get a baseline, you know, do a baseline test.

That you, you would, not, not us as individuals.

You could. You, a lot of adults come to me for a baseline standardized cognitive test, takes about 45 minutes to an hour for an adult version. When I work with kids, we do the children's version of that. And then with that test, you get processing speed, attention, verbal skills, nonverbal skills, all of those kinds of things. And that's where you get a baseline, and then you can work from that, which is really nice.

Can you explain executive function and processing speed a little bit more? Because it really sounds abstract or very like computerese. And are these really everyday things? Is it like staying organized or making decisions or remembering details? And then again, like I said, how do you recognize that these skills need attention?

Well, executive functioning skills are the frontal lobe, right? That, that matures around age 27, 28. And those are the higher level thinking skills, right? Organizing, planning. Initiating a task, working memory, all of those kinds of things. And, you know, they— I don't know about you all, but I have a few people in my life that are still working on their executive functioning skills. But the nice thing is that you can expedite that. And we have students that will come sometimes just to take an executive functioning class where we're just working on those skills.

Hmm. And just give us a hint on that. What do you do?

We do different activities to that target a certain area of the brain. For example, brain cards are something that we do, card categorization, those kinds of things. A lot of pen-to-paper activities. They have to come in with a day planner, not a phone, but an actual old school 30 Days at a Glance Day Planner and learn. Because what I found is if you can't do it on an old school day planner, you definitely can't do it on your phone. And so once they come in and do that, it's so funny because I'll see them years later and they'll say, Dr. Lindsay, I'm still using this day planner. It's still working.

You know, it's so— that's good to know because I use a Filofax and I take some grief from it, but that's how I keep track of who's coming up on the podcast and what we're booking and which dates are we going to book and all that. I prefer it on the paper. So there's some kind of connection to writing things down, right?

There's absolutely a connection from pen to paper and the brain. Eye, hand, anything like that.

Definite connection. Because we talk to a lot of people on our podcast that tell people to journal. So. Journaling must have, because you're free-flowing ideas onto the paper.

Absolutely.

Pen to paper. Do you work with that too?

Well, most everything that we do in the Brain Lab is eye-hand, pen to paper, timed, those kinds of things. So you actually have to do the thing that you want to get better at. I tell kids all the time, if we could do everything on a computer, Olympic athletes would train on Wii.

That's good. That's good.

Yeah. What about forgetfulness when people are just forgetful and, and people get worried about walking into a room and forgetting why you're there? Is that always a red flag?

Or forgetting their phone?

Sometimes overload.

It's interesting because a lot of times, so in order to remember something and retain it, You have to pay attention to it first. So you have to attend to it. So sometimes the things that look like memory are actually attention. So if I set my keys down and I don't pay attention to where I set them down, then later I don't remember where I sat them down, right? And people will say, oh, my memory's getting bad, but it was actually your attention. You weren't attending to where you set them down.

Yeah, I sometimes feel, sometimes I'm drawn to say it out loud when I'm putting something somewhere. I say it out loud because if I hear myself say it, I don't forget where I put it because I heard myself say that. That's me. Do you tell people to do that? I made that up. So I don't know if that's the thing.

It's a good thing if, especially if someone's an out loud processor, you know, some people process out loud and that's helpful for them. Other people process internally. And, and so if you're an out loud processor, for sure, it's important to say it out loud because you're going to hold on to it easier. So it kind of depends on how your brain processes information.

Yeah, I'm often putting my phone in a spot and then going on to a different, a different function. And then I forget where I put my phone. And I'm sure a lot of people do forget where they put their phones. I've heard that quite a bit.

Oh yeah, you can lose your phone in about 5 seconds. You walk in your house, it's already lost.

Your phone and your keys, right? Your phone and your keys. You spend a lot of time looking for your phone and your keys.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I always put my keys in the same place, so I'm, I don't have a problem with them, but the phone is, you know, it's always with me and then I just put it down to do something else. That's crazy.

But do you, do you tell people? If they're walking in a room and forgetting why they're there, that that's a red flag? Or are we just on overload from what we're absorbing in real life all day long?

Well, I don't tell people that. I would obviously have to look at their cognition and get a little bit, you know, more information about their baselines and things like that. I would say some of the things that maybe would bring, make me a little concerned if I have a friend who's telling the same story over and over and over again, and you want to be gentle and say, yes, I remember you told me that. And if that doesn't trigger something for them that, you know, like, oh yeah, I did tell you that. If that, then those, that would be something that would be concerning to me is if someone is often telling the same story again, and even when you're You know, kindly letting them know, oh yes, I remember that. And they're still not picking that up. Those, those are the things that concern me a little bit.

Me too.

I'd love to talk about technology because we're, we're living right now in a moment where technology does a lot of thinking for us, sometimes all of it. And we rely on the reminders and navigation and spellcheck and now AI. Is there a downside to, downside to, um, outsourcing so much mental effort?

Well, the preliminary research tells us that there might be, right? As wonderful as computers and technology and AI are, if we're using it as a crutch and not just a tool, then chances are we are eroding our own critical thinking, our own skills. So I often say to students, you know, write, write the story yourself or write the paper yourself and then use it to enhance, but don't use it as a crutch. And I'm, you know, when I'm working with private schools, I see a lot of private schools going back to pen and paper instead of taking tests on the computer because they don't want them, um, doing it with AI. They want them actually doing their own thinking, which is what we all need to be doing, right? And as wonderfully convenient as technology is, we still just need to use it to enhance and not, um, to the point where it's eroding our own cognitive skills.

Yeah, it, I find sometimes it makes me lazy, lazy brain. Do you find that? That's a problem that people are having nowadays?

Well, the preliminary research is saying that that can be happening with students right now. I'd like to, like to see some more research as we go along, but I'm not taking any chances with myself. You know, I'm making sure that I'm still using my own brain and doing my card categorization and doing the things that offset technology. And I think that's the key. We have to continue to do things like socialization and exercise and brain training and card categorization and, and jigsaw puzzles and all of those things that offset this screen time and this use of technology.

Would you elaborate on a couple of the things you listed? The card— what's card categories? Yeah, is that card?

Oh, brain cards. So one of the very best things for the brain right now is anything where you're using your eye-hand coordination. So brain cards, card categorization is a really easy way to get that eye-hand and ping pong, tennis, racquetball, pickleball, those are all good to do. But if you can't do that, then card categorization is a super great way to do that. You know how we used to do the get up in the morning, get your coffee and do a crossword puzzle or do Wordle or those things? People think that they're doing something for their brain. Well, they're not hurting their brain, but they're definitely not helping their brain. And so I would love to see, you know, a reality where people are getting up and drinking their coffee and saying, oh yeah, I drank my coffee this morning. I did my brain cards and now I'm off for my day.

You know, like I'm off to take care of my day.

Where do you get brain cards?

Yeah.

What would an example be?

Well, you can get them on our website, for example, at brainmatters.com. But, you know, people have been using them for a long time. Like professional quarterbacks have, have had their own kind of brain cards using card categorization. They've been doing that for, for years. And there's tons of research out there about card categorization.

So Can you give us an example as to what a brain card might be for football or just a writer?

We've both never heard of it.

Yeah. So, um, well, in, in our brain cards, for example, there are 6 numbers, 6 colors, 6 shapes, and 6 letters. And so as, and so they hold the deck of cards in their hand face up and as fast as they can, they categorize the cards into numbers first. Okay. And then you pick those cards up, you shuffle them, and you go right into categorizing them into colors and then into shapes. And so you're not only getting attention, executive functioning, you're getting cognitive flexibility in that. There's, in fact, it's, it's working almost every part of your brain. So it's like this general workout for your brain that you're getting without having to really go anywhere.

So, um, you're just targeting so many areas of the brain. So, um, and they're really fun. And I don't know, it's—

well, I can't wait to try them.

Yeah, I can't either. I'd love to have some of those.

I'm gonna go on your website.

Yeah, you definitely should. We did them this morning at the Pebble Beach Club in the Adult Brain Lab, and they loved them. So it was really fun.

And you're working with what, about 6 at a time, you said?

Um, at the Brain Lab?

No, in the, when you do like cards on your own in the morning.

Right. So we, so we have numbers, 6 numbers, 6 shapes, 6 colors. And then, but the stack of Brain Cards, uh, you know, that's, it's much bigger than a regular deck of cards, you know, so you have to sustain your attention and do it and you're timing yourself and you're trying to beat your own times. You know, and that's, so I get up in the morning and I, um, and I do them in the mornings and I can really feel a difference when I don't do them.

You know, that would be a very interesting thing. I'm a, I'm a writer also, and it would be a very interesting thing to do, to sit down and do that before I even start writing for the day.

For sure. Get your, get that neuroplasticity going right away.

Exactly.

Exactly. And how do we balance using technology as a tool with— without— how do we keep that from making our cognitive muscles weaken? Because everybody, we need the technology in many jobs, in many cases, but how do we keep that from weakening our brain muscles or our cognitive?

Well, you know, it's going to, so you have to offset it. You have to offset it with the things that are strengthening your brain. Right. So, I mean, it's kind of like, you know, we know that every once in a while we're going to eat some junk food, but we also need to eat some vegetables and some things that are good for us too. So, so not, not that I would compare technology to junk food, but what I'm saying is it's, it's not helping our brain. So we want to do the things that are helping our brains to offset that. So, you know, again, exercise, racquet sports, card categorization, jigsaw puzzles, socialization, meditation, gratitude. Those are all really positive things for the brain that give us positive benefits.

And so we want to, we want to make sure that we're doing those on a daily basis along with all this screen time.

So you, when you talk about categorization of the cards, do you categorization, do you mean like putting certain shapes together, or how does that work?

Yes, so all the ones would be in one stack, all the— if I was doing numbers, all the ones would be in one stack, the twos, the threes, the fours, the fives, and the sixes. So they'd— there'd be six different stacks that you're categorizing into as fast as you can. But remember, the cards are coming off randomly as you're pulling them off. So I've got to very quickly switch my attention. Right? And then as soon as I get through numbers, then I'm like, this time I'm going to do colors. So now I've got to be thinking colors in my mind when I just had to be thinking numbers. So now that cognitive flexibility comes into play and all of these things are on the card. So you have this distraction, you have numbers, shapes, colors, all of that is on the card.

So you have to focus on which one you're doing. Which, you know, and then sustain it over, over that length of time that you get through the entire deck of cards.

I'm very excited to start doing that. And these are all simple science-backed ways to strengthen our brains at home, right?

They are. They're research-based. We did clinical trials, but there's a lot of research out there long before I did the clinical trials regarding card categorization.

So when people ask where to start, what matters most? And also too, with technology or whatever we experience learning something new, how does frustration make the brain grow?

So you, your first question was what's the biggest bang when it comes to what matters most? Yeah. What matters most? I think what matters most is socialization is number one. Number two would be some kind of eye-hand where you're pushing the brain into a little bit of that flex zone, you know, because in the comfort zone, which is like, you know, sitting back in our lounge chair, that we're— the brain isn't growing. If you push the brain too hard and you push it into the panic zone, it doesn't grow. You need to keep it in the stretch zone. And that's what timing yourself does. It puts just a tiny bit of pressure on you, which is what makes the brain grow. So any— so ping pong, for example, is super great because, you know, the ball's coming at you.

Tennis is great. You know, so that gives you— puts you in the stretch zone that the same way timing yourself in card categorization, those kinds of things does. And so those two things along with exercise, I think those are the top three things for the brain. You know, other things that we know are like novelty and reducing negative thinking. Those are great things for the brain too. But those top three would be, for me, would be the exercise, the socialization, and then some kind of eye-hand. And then your second question, I'm sorry, could you repeat that second question?

Oh, I think you answered it. It was really about if challenge and frustration and does that help? And you said, don't get into the panic mode, just stretch a bit. Is there more to add to that?

You just need to bring yourself out of the comfort zone into that stretch zone where the, where the brain can actually grow. Um, and, and that was fun this morning with the, again, with the, at the Pebble Beach Club when we ran the adult, uh, classes today, they, they liked that they knew how hard to push themselves. You know, they, they didn't want to get anxious about the time because they're timing, they're, they're being timed on these brain cards. So they didn't want to push themselves to get anxious about it because there are other people in the room. So there can be a little performance anxiety, right? Yeah., but they're going against their own brain. So they, but they were, you know, they liked knowing that to just get themselves into that stretch zone, uh, was what was important. So, um, I love that.

And I was going to ask about, oh, sorry.

No, I said sometimes we just don't think about that, right? We don't think about our, as an adult, we think what level of effort do I need to put into this? And, If you can think of it like that, I think it kind of puts you in that, you know, space.

And you basically answered my next question, but I was going to ask you about movement and activities that require coordination. And I think you've really touched on that. But what's happening in your brain during these activities?

Well, any kind of sports or exercise or anything like that is sending all the positive chemicals without going into all the science about it, sending all the positive chemicals in the brain that you want. So the feel-good chemicals are there. And then you're also, you know, wrapping myelin around the positive brain circuits. So all of those kinds of things are happening when you exercise. That's why it's really important, not only for the body, but very important for the brain to exercise. And it doesn't matter what you're doing, you know, weight training, jogging, walking. Walking is super great.

You know, just so you're moving your body and challenging yourself, I guess, a little bit. But also too, a question: when you're playing tennis or pickleball or ping pong, you're in competition. What about competition? Does that help strengthen the brain?

Well, I don't really have any re— I don't know of any research where it talks about competition, um, being good for the brain, but what competition does, it pushes you into that stretch zone, right? So it stresses you just a little bit. You want to do better. And so I think that it can be a component, but not competition necessarily itself. Yeah.

Well, um, people today, because there's so much going on around all of us, they feel scattered and distracted too, and it's harder to keep your attention. So I'd love to talk about mindfulness and focus and, and you'd mentioned social connection, but how does, how did those keep your brain focused and healthy?

Well, we know socialization is great for the brain. And then we've known for a long time that meditation is, is great for the brain. The thing is, some of the things that are really harmful to the brain is keeping it in constant stress, trauma, those kinds of things. And what happens in the brain is when the brain is, when there's trauma or depression or anxiety or constant stress, the brain goes into survival mode. And so when, what happens is it it shuts down your higher level thinking skills and it just focuses on surviving. So when you do brain training or when you do exercise or you do things that help the brain that are beneficial for the brain, it helps take the brain out of survival mode so that those thinking, that higher level thinking can come back. And if the brain is in survival mode, it takes just a lot more energy to do the simple day-to-day things, right? And so a lot of times people say, gosh, I, you know, just took— I was just, I was exhausted from trying to pay attention, or, you know, whatever. And you can kind of tell their brain's kind of in survival mode when those higher-level thinking skills require so much energy.

What about if somebody is hard of hearing or is handicapped and they have more stress in their lives. They see a lot of people who won't wear hearing aids become less able to focus their brains. Have you done any research about that?

I have not done any. I've read a little bit about, you know, how auditory processing is impacted in the brain. And, you know, we know directly that auditory processing directly impacts verbal skills for kids. We've known that a long time, right? And so, you know, just overall, too much stress on the brain is just not a good thing. No matter what you're doing, no matter where the stress comes from, it's just not great. So you've got to do those things that are self-care that will offset that.

Let's do a real practical thing for our listeners. If someone listening wanted to start tomorrow on this, what would a realistic brain-healthy day actually look like?

A realistic brain—

brain healthy day?

Yeah. Well, I— brain healthy day might— since we know that, uh, you know, coffee is, is pretty good for the brain. So that, so, um, we might get up and have a cup of coffee and do your brain cards, uh, before you, you know, get up and start your day. And, um, I guess now we know for women that we do need to eat something in the morning. We do need to eat some kind of breakfast, right? You're really, Kathy, you're really challenging me on this. Okay. And then, and then challenging your brain. I'm trying to think about, I'm trying to think about my brain healthy days.

And so, you know, going out for, for me, it would be going and lifting, lifting weights and then doing a walk by the ocean. Those are things that are brain healthy for me. After I do my brain cards and I go out and I'll do a speed walk by the ocean and I'll get, if, you know, depending on the day, I'll get weight training in because, you know, we know that quad strength is really important just for us as women now, whether it impacts the brain or not. And then, you know, eating healthy, right? And then you're going to be on, you're going to be on screen. So if you can try to, you know, balance that scale a little bit, if I'm, if I know I've got to be on 4 or 5 Zooms, in the day, then I may take a couple of walks and I may do my brain cards more than once that day, or I'm, you know, I'm going to try to offset that screen time a little bit. And I just kind of have it in my mind like, oh, I've got, you know, 4 hours of Zoom today. So when am I going to sneak in my get up and walk around or get up and go down by the ocean? You know, so I think you can do it. You just have to really be cognizant of offsetting all the time.

But come on, guys, isn't life just about maintenance? Really? Aren't we maintaining? We're maintaining our bodies. We're maintaining our bank accounts. We're maintaining our cars. We're maintaining our homes. I mean, life is kind of about maintenance, right? So you've got to put that brain in there with regards to maintenance, I think.

I know, I know so many people that don't, don't put the maintenance high on the list. Well, they don't think about their brains. Yeah, they don't get exercise. They don't get exercise or whatever. Right.

And it's the control center. The brain is the control center for everything else. So it's so important.

Yeah. So, so what's the most encouraging thing? That people should understand about how adaptable the brain really is?

Well, again, like I said in the beginning, I would love for everyone to develop the mindset that the brain can, you know, just stay as fit as our bodies, you know, depending on how we work out and train and target that, that it's about— it's not about age. Cognitive decline is not about age. It's about a lack of use. It's about a lack of maintaining it. And once we get that mindset, I think we're going to be— we're going to have, you know, like at the Pebble Beach Club now, we have— you can go in, you can do your aerobics, you can do your weight training, and then you can go upstairs and take a 50-minute neurobics class. And that's what I want to see on people doing their aerobics and their neurobics. I think that is key to a mindset of maintaining your entire body and all kinds of self-care.

Are more places offering that now?

Well, that's what I'm trying to do.

I love that.

I love it too. I'd take it in a second.

It's really fun. It's, it is, it's really, really fun. Uh, I love working with kids, but there's something different about working with adults because with kids we're trying to, you know, raise their SAT scores or get them into the colleges they want and those kinds of things. And so there's a lot of intensity in that. With, with, um, adults, we're maintaining what we have. We're working really hard to just maintain what we have and you know, this morning one of the ladies said, you know, when I went through menopause, my IQ dropped 40 points. And so it's, you know, you can, you can laugh about it and the activities are really fun. And that's when the amygdala is wide open is when you're having fun.

And so I think it's, it's great to work with adults like this.

So I have a question that came up that I want to add before we wind this up. Can you address the impact of trauma on the brain so that when, as we age in life, we lose people around us, we lose our spouse, or we lose— sometimes we lose our children, God forbid, or we lose our parent, or whatever it is— how much of that trauma negatively impacts our brain?

Exactly like I said before, trauma, depression, anxiety, stress, all those things send the brain into survival mode. So it's so much more important. Self-care becomes so important when you are going through those kinds of things that you double up on your self-care to try to get the brain to get out of survival mode. So that it can function optimally.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. What about sleep? How important is that?

So important. So very important. I'm so glad you brought that up. It's, it's really, sleep is really important, but I think we've known that for, for a long time, uh, that, that it's really important.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, Dr. Lindsay, this has been incredibly reassuring actually. The idea that the brain responds to engagement at any age feels kind of empowering.

Yeah, and it shifts the conversation from decline to real possibility and that growth is still available to us if we stay curious and engaged and do your brain cards.

Absolutely. Absolutely. And if you enjoyed this episode with Dr. Lindsay, please follow Late Boomers, leave us a review, subscribe, and share it with someone who might need a reminder that it's never too late to learn something new.

Yeah, never too late. And we bring you conversations every week with people who prove there's no expiration date on reinvention.

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