Let's Talk Brain Health! 🧠

Virtual Brain Health Center
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Health & Fitness

What can you do today to care for your brain? 🎙 "Let's Talk Brain Health!" is where science meets story. We bring together the world's leading experts—neuroscientists, physicians, psychologists, nutritionists—and the 'lived experience' experts navigating brain health journeys firsthand, to answer the biggest questions about memory, cognition, and dementia prevention. We dive into the brain health science, push the limits of knowledge, and deliver takeaways you can use today. For health enthusiasts, caregivers, clinicians—plus FREE accredited CEs on ALL episodes for select medical providers.

  1. 21 Oct

    The Science of Pacing: Managing Your Energy for Everyday Brain Health with Elizabeth Svoboda

    For distance runners, the art of pacing is as essential as breathing. Yet outside the sporting realm, regulating our tempo is far less intuitive — and we rarely connect our pacing mistakes to their ultimate consequences. In this monthly gathering of the Neuro Nook Book Club , Dr. Krystal Culler and co-host Heather Elwell sit down with award-winning science writer Elizabeth Svoboda — author of The Art of Pacing: A Guide to Balancing Short-Term Demands with Long-Term Thriving, a gold medalist in the 2026 Living Now Book Awards. Elizabeth is a contributor to Scientific American, Greater Good, The Boston Globe, and The New York Times, and her work has been anthologized in the Best American Science and Nature Writing series. Drawing on conversations with elite athletes, mental skills coaches, and her own lifelong struggle with the push-and-crash cycle, Elizabeth makes a compelling case that how we manage our energy may be one of the most overlooked contributors to our brain health and long-term well-being. What You’ll Learn in This Episode 🧠 What pacing actually is — being deliberate about how you manage your energy, both day to day and across the bigger picture of your life 🧠 What top athletes know about rest and recovery that most of us never learned — and why they build in far more padding than we would expect 🧠 The pacing spectrum — how to range flexibly between effort and rest without ping-ponging between burnout and withdrawal 🧠 Why pacing begins with meaning and purpose — and the Hero’s Journey Restorying Exercise that helps you align your daily life with the legacy you want to leave 🧠 How to find your pulse points — your natural energy peaks — and ride them instead of “wading through the mud” 🧠 Why flow states are essential to a well-paced life — and how to intentionally cultivate them 🧠 What “brief candles” are — short, powerful moments of connection that can change the trajectory of someone’s life in just a few minutes 🧠 The power of the “What’s the wise choice here?” framework for course-correcting in real time Key Takeaways ✔ Pacing is a process of ongoing noticing and responding — check in, make the next wise choice, check in again ✔ No one teaches us how to pace — most of us learn it the hard way, through burnout and trial and error ✔ Rest should be commensurate with effort — recovery is not laziness, it is strategy ✔ Small, iterative course corrections — not dramatic overhauls — create the biggest long-term wins ✍️ Brain Health Rx from The Art of Pacing (author-approved!):Let one question guide your pace: What’s the wise choice here? When you pause to reflect and tune into the wisdom of your body and brain, you can trust yourself to know what to do to support your natural rhythm in real time. Earn FREE CEs This podcast qualifies for 0.5 hours of FREE continuing education credit for the following healthcare professionals: Physicians (AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™), Nurses (ANCC), Pharmacists (ACPE), Physician Associates (AAPA), Dentists (ADA CERP), Dietitians (CDR), Social Workers (ASWB), Psychologists (APA), Athletic Trainers (BOC), and Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE). Not seeing your profession listed? You will receive a Certificate of Participation to submit to your licensing board for possible credit approval. Join the Learn at Pinnacle app to earn FREE CE credit for listening to this episode — available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Support the Podcast If you enjoyed this episode, please: Follow or subscribe to the Let’s Talk Brain Health! PodcastLeave a rating or reviewThank you for investing your time and energy into your brain care. Thanks a myelin, Elizabeth Svoboda, for reminding us that pacing is a lifelong work of art in progress! Resources Review the Neuro Nook (book club) summary on The Art of Pacing Connect with Elizabeth on ⁠Instagram⁠ Get The Art of Pacing at your favorite bookseller (⁠Bookshop.org⁠) Learn more about Ben Rogers’ ⁠Hero’s Journey Restorying Exercise⁠

    The Science of Pacing: Managing Your Energy for Everyday Brain Health with Elizabeth Svoboda

  2. 7 Oct

    From What Is The Matter With You To What Matters To You: Social Prescribing & Brain Health with Kate (Webb) Berk, BS

    What if the most important question in healthcare is not what is the matter with you — but what matters to you? In this episode of the Let's Talk Brain Health! Podcast, Dr. Krystal Culler sits down with Kate (Webb) Berk — community organizer, arts in health consultant, wellness coach, and founder of the Ohio Social Prescribing Collaborative— to explore one of the most exciting and most underrecognized frontiers in brain health: social prescribing. Social prescribing connects people to what makes them feel alive — community, creativity, movement, music, and the arts. And the science behind it is more compelling than most people realize. Kate's path into this work began in fourth grade when a school outreach program showed her how dance could strengthen the connection between body, mind, and community. She spent a decade as a Principal Dancer with Ohio Contemporary Ballet before dedicating her career to the intersection of arts, health, and community wellbeing. What You'll Learn in This Episode 🧠 What social prescribing is — and what it actually looks and feels like for a patient 🧠 Why flipping the question from "What is the matter with you?" to "What matters to you?" changes everything 🧠 How social prescribing compares abroad versus in the US — and what needs to change here 🧠 What arts prescribing looks like — the activities, conditions, and populations that benefit most 🧠 What the neuroscience tells us about creativity, movement, and community as brain health tools 🧠 How social prescribing addresses loneliness, physical inactivity, and depression — three of the Lancet Commission's 14 modifiable dementia risk factors — simultaneously 🧠 What the Ohio Social Prescribing Collaborative is building — and how to get involved 🧠 What you can do today — even without a formal program — to bring social prescribing into your own brain health routine Key Takeaways ✔ Social prescribing is a healthcare intervention with a growing international evidence base — not a soft concept ✔ Health is the product of our environments — connection, creativity, and belonging can be genuinely curative ✔ The arts are a brain health tool with measurable cognitive, emotional, and social benefits across the lifespan ✔ You can write your own social prescription today — one small, intentional act of community or creativity at a time Also listen: 🎧 The Arts as the Fifth Pillar of Health: Brain Health, Longevity, and Dementia Prevention with Dr. Daisy Fancourt, Ph.D. — a perfect companion episode on the latest research that supports the arts in health Earn FREE CEs This podcast qualifies for continuing education credit for the following healthcare professionals: Physicians (AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™), Nurses (ANCC), Pharmacists (ACPE), Physician Associates (AAPA), Dentists (ADA CERP), Dietitians (CDR), Social Workers (ASWB), Psychologists (APA), Athletic Trainers (BOC), and Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE). Each eligible episode offers 0.5 hours of FREE CE credit. Not seeing your profession listed? You will receive a Certificate of Participation to submit to your licensing board for possible credit approval. Join the Learn at Pinnacle app to earn FREE CE credit for listening to this episode — available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Support the Podcast If you enjoyed this episode, please help us grow the conversation around better brain health: Follow or subscribe to the Let's Talk Brain Health! Podcast Leave a review Share this episode with a friend, colleague, or fellow brain health advocate Thank you for investing your time and energy into your brain health. A special thank you to Kate (Webb) Berk for reminding us that what matters to us is not separate from our health — it is at the very heart of it. 🎨 Resources Learn more about the Ohio Social Prescribing Collaborative Connect with Kate on LinkedIn or email her at kate@ohiosocialprescribingcollaborative.com Explore  more about social prescribing with Social Prescribing USA

    From What Is The Matter With You To What Matters To You: Social Prescribing & Brain Health with Kate (Webb) Berk, BS

  3. 2 Sept

    Play Your Way to a Stronger Brain: Video Games, Wearables & Brain Health with Dr. Julia Scott, Ph.D.

    For a long time, video games and brain health existed in completely separate conversations. Games were entertainment — a guilty pleasure at best, a concern at worst. That is changing. And the science behind that change is more compelling than most people realize. In this episode Dr. Krystal Culler and co-host Dr. Jonathan Artz, MD sit down with Dr. Julia Scott, Ph.D. — neuroscientist, researcher, and co-founder of Gambit Labs — to explore video games and wearable sensors as genuine tools for brain health. Not as a replacement for the fundamentals, but as a powerful and increasingly accessible addition to our brain care toolkit — one that can reveal things about our brains we have never been able to see before. What You'll Learn in This Episode 🧠 What types of video games Dr. Scott's work focuses on — and how they differ from passive gaming experiences 🧠 What is actually happening in the brain when we play the right kind of game — and why games accelerate learning in ways traditional training cannot 🧠 Why every game is quietly generating a portrait of your brain through patterns of behavior 🧠 The difference between games designed for cognitive assessment versus intervention — and why that distinction matters 🧠 What dark mechanics are — and how some games deliberately hijack dopamine systems to override good judgment 🧠 What happens when wearable sensor data is integrated into gameplay in real time — and what that unlocks about self-awareness and self-regulation 🧠 Why agency is the central value driving the work at Gambit Labs 🧠 What Gambit Labs is building for neurodivergent youth — biofeedback-enhanced games focused on executive function and self-regulation 🧠 Where the field is heading Key Takeaways ✔ Not all games are created equal — the games that matter for brain health are built with intention and clinical science ✔ Every game generates a portrait of your brain through patterns of behavior — strategy, reaction time, reward processing, and more ✔ Wearable sensors become 10x more powerful when paired with strategically designed games — giving you the relationship between brain state and behavior in real time ✔ Agency over your brain health begins with knowledge — when you can see what is happening inside, you can do something about it ✔ The FDA has now cleared a second game-based ADHD intervention — the proof of principle that this approach works is no longer in question ✔ Games are not just play — they are play with purpose Earn FREE CEs This podcast qualifies for continuing education credit for the following healthcare professionals: Physicians (AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™), Nurses (ANCC), Pharmacists (ACPE), Physician Associates (AAPA), Dentists (ADA CERP), Dietitians (CDR), Social Workers (ASWB), Psychologists (APA), Athletic Trainers (BOC), and Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE). Each eligible episode offers 0.5 hours of FREE CE credit. Not seeing your profession listed? You will receive a Certificate of Participation to submit to your licensing board for possible credit approval.  Join the Learn at Pinnacle app to earn FREE CE credit for listening to this episode — available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Support the Podcast If you enjoyed this episode, please help us grow the conversation around better brain health: Follow or subscribe to the Let's Talk Brain Health! PodcastLeave a rating or reviewShare this episode with a friend, colleague, or fellow brain health advocateThank you for investing your time and energy into your brain health. A special thank you to Dr. Julia Scott for reminding us that games are not just play — they are play with purpose. 🧠🎮 Resources Connect with Dr. Julia Scott LinkedIn and YouTube Playlist Discover Dr. Julia Scott's work at the Brain and Memory Care Lab at Santa Clara University Learn more about Gambit Labs Read more about XRSI for technology privacy and safety Explore Rachel Kowert's Gaming Guide for Parents online here

    Play Your Way to a Stronger Brain: Video Games, Wearables & Brain Health with Dr. Julia Scott, Ph.D.

  4. 19 Aug

    What Is Brain Fog and What Can You Actually Do About It? with Dr. Reza Hosseini Ghomi, MD, MSc

    You know something is off. The word you were reaching for is gone. The thought dissolves before you finish it. You read the same sentence three times and still cannot hold onto it. That is brain fog. And in this episode of the Let's Talk Brain Health! Podcast, Dr. Krystal Culler sits down with Dr. Reza Hosseini Ghomi — neuropsychiatrist, biomedical engineer, and serial health-tech founder — to finally give it the language, the science, and the path forward it deserves. Brain fog is one of the most common complaints in brain health — and one of the most dismissed. Most people are told they are tired, stressed, or just getting older. Today that changes. Dr. Ghomi sees patients with a focus on neurodegenerative disorders and cognitive health across a wide range of conditions — including the growing wave of post-COVID cognitive complaints. His message is clear: brain fog is real, it is worth investigating, and in most cases it is reversible. What You'll Learn in This Episode 🧠 What brain fog actually is — and why it is a symptom cluster, not a diagnosis 🧠 The full range of symptoms to recognize — from mental fatigue and forgetfulness to word-finding difficulties and slow processing 🧠 How brain fog may present differently in women versus men — including perimenopause, postpartum, thyroid disorders, and hormonal shifts 🧠 How to talk to a healthcare provider about brain fog — and what to bring to that appointment to be taken seriously 🧠 The biggest myths and misconceptions about brain fog — including why "it's all in your head" is both wrong and dismissive 🧠 The three most evidence-informed lifestyle factors contributing to brain fog — sleep, physical activity, and metabolic and nutritional stability 🧠 Why blood sugar swings, vitamin deficiencies, and iron levels matter more than most people realize 🧠 How wearable devices and symptom tracking can help you and your provider identify patterns 🧠 A real patient case study — a woman in her late 40s caring for a parent with Alzheimer's who recovered from significant brain fog in 90 days 🧠 Why brain fog is a signal — not a sentence — and what that means for your brain health journey Key Takeaways ✔ Brain fog is not a diagnosis — it is a cluster of symptoms worth tracking, naming, and taking to a provider ✔ It is almost always reversible — and the sooner you address it, the more preventable the underlying causes become ✔ Sleep is the highest-leverage lifestyle factor — protect it like the non-negotiable it is ✔ Come to your appointment with data — a symptom diary, medications, supplements, and nutritional patterns make a significant difference ✔ Do not accept dismissal — advocate for yourself, and if one provider does not help, find another ✔ Brain fog is your brain communicating — not failing. Listen to what it is asking for Earn FREE CE/CMEs This podcast qualifies for continuing education credit for the following healthcare professionals: Physicians (AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™), Nurses (ANCC), Pharmacists (ACPE), Physician Associates (AAPA), Dentists (ADA CERP), Dietitians (CDR), Social Workers (ASWB), Psychologists (APA), Athletic Trainers (BOC), and Interprofessional Continuing Education (IPCE). Each eligible episode offers 0.5 hours of FREE CE credit. Not seeing your profession listed? You will receive a Certificate of Participation to submit to your licensing board for possible credit approval. Join the Learn at Pinnacle app to earn FREE CE credit for listening to this episode — available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Thank you for investing your time and energy into your brain health. A special thank you to Dr. Reza Hosseini Ghomi, MD for reminding us that brain fog is a signal — not a sentence — and that you are allowed to feel better. Resources Continue to learn more with Dr. Reza Hosseini Ghomi at rezahg.com Stay connected with Dr. Ghomi on social media on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok @drrezaghomi

    What Is Brain Fog and What Can You Actually Do About It? with Dr. Reza Hosseini Ghomi, MD, MSc

  5. 5 Aug

    Your Body Is Talking — Are You Listening? A Brain Care Story of Chronic Pain, Nervous System Health & Recovery with Nora Rodden, MS, MBA

    What if the symptoms your body was sending you were trying to tell you something your mind had not yet figured out how to hear? In this episode of the Let's Talk Brain Health! Podcast, Dr. Krystal Culler makes space for a story. Because at the heart of brain health is not just the science— it is the lived experience. The hard seasons. The wisdom that only comes from having walked through something yourself and come out the other side with something worth sharing. Nora Rodden is the Founder and CEO of Nervana, an AI-powered digital health company helping people with chronic symptoms explore the psychological and emotional factors that may be contributing to how they feel. But before the company and the Harvard MBA, Nora spent years navigating chronic back pain following a car accident, debilitating GI symptoms, and insomnia — searching desperately for answers that conventional medicine could not give her. What she eventually discovered changed everything. And she has dedicated her career to making sure others do not have to search as long as she did. This is her brain care story. What You'll Learn in This Episode 🧠 Nora's journey from a car accident at college to years of chronic pain, GI symptoms, and insomnia, and what it felt like to navigate all three simultaneously in her early 20s 🧠 Why chronic symptoms can be an invisible illness and the emotional and financial toll of searching endlessly for answers 🧠 How the nervous system gets stuck in a chronic fight or flight state and why that can perpetuate physical symptoms long after the original injury has healed 🧠 What the mind-body connection actually means 🧠 The Harvard clinical trial that changed Nora's life and what a structured mind-body program actually looks like in practice 🧠 Why your brain's predictive processes matter for chronic symptoms and how neuroplastic recovery approaches work 🧠 How Nora built Nervana to make structured mind-body programs accessible to anyone with chronic symptoms 🧠 What it means to learn your brain and body's language — and how that changes everything 🧠 The one piece of advice Nora would give her earlier self Key Takeaways ✔ Chronic symptoms are not your fault — and understanding that changes everything ✔ The nervous system can get stuck in fight or flight long after the original trigger is gone — and that perpetuation is real, physical, and treatable ✔ Your brain and your body are not separate — considering both is essential to healing ✔ A structured program removes the cognitive load of behavior change — and that matters more than most people realize ✔ You do not have to figure this out alone. Community, recovery stories, and the right tools at the right time make all the difference ✔ Give yourself some grace. Whatever you are experiencing — listen to your body, listen to your brain, and get a little closer to understanding what might be happening internally. Earn FREE CEs This podcast qualifies for continuing education credit across 10 healthcare professions. Join the Learn at Pinnacle app to learn more and earn FREE CE/CME credit for listening to this episode! Support the Podcast If you enjoyed this episode, please help us grow the conversation around better brain health: Follow or subscribe to the Let's Talk Brain Health! Podcast on your favorite platform Leave a rating or review Share this episode with a friend, colleague, caregiver, or fellow brain health advocate Thank you for investing your time and energy into your brain health. A special thank you to Nora Rodden for trusting me with her story — and for turning her own hard season into a resource for everyone still searching for answers. Resources Learn more about Nora's work and explore the Nervana app at trynervana.com Connect with Nora on LinkedIn Explore free mind-body recovery resources at the Association for Treatment of Neuroplastic Symptoms at symptomatic.me  Read Scarcity Brain by Michael Easter — recommended by Nora and reviewed by the Neuro Nook (book club)

    Your Body Is Talking — Are You Listening? A Brain Care Story of Chronic Pain, Nervous System Health & Recovery with Nora Rodden, MS, MBA

  6. 22 Jul

    More Walking, Less Dementia: What Your Feet Are Telling Your Brain About Health and Longevity with Dr. Courtney Conley, DC & Dr. Milica McDowell, DPT

    This podcast episode is a conversation from the Neuro Nook (book club) where Dr. Krystal Culler and co-host Heather Elwell spoke with the authors of the National Bestseller Walk: Rediscover the Most Natural Way to Boost Your Health and Longevity, One Step at a Time — Dr. Courtney Conley, DC and Dr. Milica McDowell, DPT — for a conversation that may likely shift change the way you think about walking. Today, fewer people realize they need to walk each day. What You'll Learn in This Episode 🧠 Why walking belongs alongside breathing and sleeping as one of the three essential physiological functions we need to survive 🧠 The surprising foot-brain connection 🧠 What to look for when you look down at your feet 🧠 What an efficient walking gait actually looks like — and the simple cue that changes everything: roll the earth away 🧠 What makes a healthy shoe choice — and the three criteria to look for when buying footwear 🧠 Gait speed as the sixth vital sign — and what your walking speed can predict about your cognitive health up to nine years in advance 🧠 The step count research on dementia risk — and why 3,800 to 9,800 steps per day could reduce your risk by 25 to 51 percent 🧠 How walking impacts mental health — and why 5,000 steps per day has been shown to reduce symptoms of depression 🧠 The power of the five-minute micro walk — and why five minutes is enough 🧠 Movement snacks from the book 🧠 How to find time for walking in a busy life Key Takeaways ✔ Walking is a physiological necessity — not optional, not a luxury, and not a low-level activity ✔ Your foot occupies massive real estate in your brain's sensory map — what happens from the ground up matters deeply for your overall health ✔ Gait speed is the sixth vital sign — and it can predict cognitive decline up to nine years before diagnosis ✔ Walking 3,800 steps per day reduces dementia risk by 25% — walking 9,800 reduces it by more than 50% ✔ Five minutes counts — the micro walk is real, accessible, and powerful ✔ Walk more, die less — the research is overwhelming and the prescription is free The Neuro Nook Rx from Walk 📋 Add Vitamin W (Walk) to your daily brain care. Start with 5-minute intervals (≈500 steps) and build up to 30–35+ minutes a day (≈5+ days/week). 📋 Take a brisk walk (≈112 steps/per minute) for 30 minutes per day.Earn FREE CEs This podcast qualifies for the following credit types::  Physicians: AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ (CME) Nurses: ANCC Pharmacists: ACPE Physician Associates: AAPA Dentists: ADA CERP Dietitians: CDR Social Workers: ASWB Psychologists: APA Athletic Trainers: BOC Interprofessional Continuing Education: IPCE Join the Learn at Pinnacle app to earn FREE CE credit for listening to this episode! Support the Podcast If you enjoyed this episode, please help us grow the conversation around better brain health: Follow or subscribe to the Let's Talk Brain Health! Podcast Leave a rating or review Share this episode with a friend, colleague, caregiver, or fellow brain health advocate Thank you for investing your time and energy into your brain health. A special thank you to Dr. Courtney Conley, DC and Dr. Milica McDowell, DPT for calling us into a collective all to action– and promise to keep walking with them? Resources Review the Neuro Nook Book Club Summary of the book– Walk: Rediscover the Most Natural Way to Boost Your Health and Longevity, One Step at a Time– Including the Q&A and Final Takeaways from the authors on Substack  Grab your copy of Walk: Rediscover the Most Natural Way to Boost Your Health and Longevity, One Step at a Time Explore Dr. Courtney Conley's work and education platform at Gait Happens and connect with them on Instagram and YouTube Follow Dr. Courtney Conley, DC on her personal Instagram and Substack Follow Dr. Milica McDowell, DPT on Instagram and Substack Learn more about the Neuro Nook Book Club from the Virtual Brain Health Center

    More Walking, Less Dementia: What Your Feet Are Telling Your Brain About Health and Longevity with Dr. Courtney Conley, DC & Dr. Milica McDowell, DPT

  7. 8 Jul

    Hardwired for the Negative–But Not Stuck There: the Negativity Bias & The Science of Gratitude with Dr. Diego Salinas, MD, NBC-HWC

    Your brain is not working against you. It is working for you — the best way it knows how. But sometimes that wiring gets in the way. In this episode of the Let's Talk Brain Health! Podcast, Dr. Krystal Culler sits down with Dr. Diego Salinas — pediatrician, neuroscientist, and board-certified health and wellness coach — for a rich, practical, and deeply human conversation about two things that are more connected than most people realize: your brain's built-in negativity bias and the science of gratitude. We explore why your brain holds onto the hard stuff, what happens during emotional flooding, and how understanding that wiring gives you the power to work with your brain instead of against it. Because here is what the science is telling us: we are not at the mercy of our brains. We can train them. And the tools to do that are more accessible than most people think. What You'll Learn in This Episode 🧠 What the negativity bias is — and why it is a survival mechanism, not a character flaw 🧠 What is actually happening in the brain during emotional flooding — the amygdala, limbic system, and prefrontal cortex explained 🧠 Why emotional validation measurably lowers amygdala activation — and what it actually means to validate an emotion 🧠 The HALT check-in — a simple tool for identifying what is driving a heightened emotional state 🧠 How the language you use — "I am excited" vs. "I am stressed" — can change your brain's recovery time 🧠 Where gratitude enters the brain and how it helps rebalance the negativity bias 🧠 Why gratitude is not toxic positivity — it is corrective lenses for a brain already biased toward the negative 🧠 Dr. Diego's three-category gratitude method: the big things, the under-the-radar things, and the comically small things 🧠 Why you should practice gratitude before you need it — and how to make it stick in daily life Key Takeaways ✔ The negativity bias is not a character flaw — it is your brain doing its job ✔ Emotional validation means acknowledging that what someone felt was real — and it measurably changes brain state ✔ Gratitude gives your brain corrective lenses to also see what is good — factual, not fantastical ✔ Small, consistent practice rewires the brain over time — neurons that fire together wire together ✔ Practice gratitude before you need it. It is a protective tool, not just a reactive one ✔ We are all sloppy stardust in the messy middle — compassion for yourself is part of the practice Earn FREE CEs This podcast qualifies for the following credit types: AMA PRA Category 1, ANCC, AAPA, APA, ASWB, and IPCE. Join the Learn at Pinnacle app to earn FREE CE credit for listening to this episode! Support the Podcast If you enjoyed this episode, please help us grow the conversation around better brain health: Follow or subscribe to the Let's Talk Brain Health! Podcast on your favorite streaming platform Leave a rating or review Share this episode with a friend, colleague, or fellow brain health advocate Thank you for investing your time and energy into your brain health. A special thank you to Dr. Diego Salinas for reminding us that life is a constant restart — and that is exactly enough. Resources Connect with Dr. Diego Salinas, MD, on LinkedIn or view his coaching profile on Vibly Learn more about Vibly, an all-in-one platform for health coaches Stay connected with Vibly on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn Watch the "It's Not About the Nail" video Explore previous podcast episodes on brain-based behavior change and brain health coaching

    Hardwired for the Negative–But Not Stuck There: the Negativity Bias & The Science of Gratitude with Dr. Diego Salinas, MD, NBC-HWC

  8. 24 Jun

    Sunlight Is the Unspoken Nutrient: Vision, Light & Brain Health with Dr. Marion Van Horn, PhD

    When was the last time you stepped outside and just looked up? Not at your phone. Not at a screen. Just up — at the sky, the light, the world around you. If it has been a while, your brain has noticed. And this week's guest is going to tell you exactly why that matters. In this episode of the Let's Talk Brain Health! Podcast, Dr. Krystal Culler sits down with Dr. Marion Van Horn — neuroscientist, science communicator, and mother of three — for a conversation that will change the way you think about your eyes, your light environment, and your brain health. Vision is not just seeing. It is how your brain regulates your mood, sets your sleep, manages your emotions, and builds its picture of the world — all in milliseconds. And natural light — something most of us walk past every day — is one of the most powerful inputs our brains receive. Dr. Marion calls it the unspoken nutrient. And after this episode, you will never think about sunlight the same way again. This episode also features a special collaboration —'Take a Brain Break'—' coloring page created by Dr. Marion Van Horn, Dr. Maria Zamfir, and Dr. Krystal Culler. Find it free in the show notes. What You'll Learn in This Episode 🧠 How the brain actually learns to see — and why vision is not automatic at birth 🧠 What neuroplasticity means for visual development across the lifespan 🧠 Why natural sunlight is the unspoken nutrient your brain needs every day 🧠 The relationship between light, circadian rhythms, sleep, and mood 🧠 What screens and artificial light are doing to your brain and body 🧠 How visual pathways connect directly to emotional centers — including the amygdala 🧠 Why going outside when you feel overwhelmed works neurologically — not just psychologically 🧠 How the two eyes work together to create three-dimensional vision 🧠 Why vision loss is a modifiable risk factor for dementia — and why your annual eye exam matters 🧠 Practical steps to protect your visual brain health starting today Key Takeaways ✔ Natural light is the unspoken nutrient — get outside within the first hour of waking, even for a few minutes ✔ Vision actively regulates how you feel and how you interact with the world — it is so much more than seeing ✔ Your eyes are part of your brain — protecting your vision is protecting your brain ✔ Going outside changes your gaze, your nervous system, and your emotional state ✔ Uncorrected vision loss increases dementia risk — prioritize your annual eye exam at every age ✔ Small consistent habits — morning light, noticing the sunrise, watching the moon — add up over time Earn FREE CEs This podcast qualifies for the following credit types: AMA PRA Category 1, ANCC, AAPA, APA, ASWB, and IPCE. Join the Learn at Pinnacle app to earn FREE CE credit for listening to this episode! Support the Podcast If you enjoyed this episode, please help us grow the conversation around better brain health: Follow or subscribe to the Let's Talk Brain Health! Podcast Leave a rating or review Share this episode with a friend, colleague, or fellow brain health advocate Thank you for investing your time and energy into your brain health. A special thank you to Dr. Marion Van Horn, PhD for reminding us that one of the most powerful things we can do for our brains costs nothing at all. Go outside. Look up. Resources: Explore Marion’s work and resources on ⁠her website⁠ Connect with Marion on Social media @marion.phd on ⁠Instagram ⁠ Download Our “Let’s Take A Brain Break” coloring page on our website Continue to learn from The Neuron Family on Instagram or their newsletter Check out The Neuron Family’s colouring books on its website or LinkTr.ee Order Volume 1: The Brain Order Volume 2: How We Feel Order Volume 3: How We See

    Sunlight Is the Unspoken Nutrient: Vision, Light & Brain Health with Dr. Marion Van Horn, PhD
See All (83)

About

What can you do today to care for your brain? 🎙 "Let's Talk Brain Health!" is where science meets story. We bring together the world's leading experts—neuroscientists, physicians, psychologists, nutritionists—and the 'lived experience' experts navigating brain health journeys firsthand, to answer the biggest questions about memory, cognition, and dementia prevention. We dive into the brain health science, push the limits of knowledge, and deliver takeaways you can use today. For health enthusiasts, caregivers, clinicians—plus FREE accredited CEs on ALL episodes for select medical providers.

Information

  • Creator
    Virtual Brain Health Center
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    83
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    Š Virtual Brain Health Center
  • Show Website
    Let's Talk Brain Health! 🧠

You Might Also Like