today on larry king now de bob so bright dr gary small on the super brain the brain age is just like the rest of our bodies that's why we have to take good care of them on how to improve your memory i think forty five for the average person you can detect memory loss some to feel mindful about the choices you make and memory will be retrieved plus we're an educated society eighty percent of the above this is because we use optional and margin of that and that's next on larry king now. welcome to larry king now today the super brain joke where the author of more than

sixty five books including numerous new york times bestsellers his latest is a collaboration with dr rudolph tons of the it's called super brain unleashing the slows the power of your mind to maximize health happiness and spiritual wellbeing dr gary small is the director of the u.c.l.a. longevity center and professor at u.c.l.a. is david geffen school of medicine he's been named one of the world's leading innovators in science and technology by scientific america and he's author of the book the all time as prevention program keep your brain healthy for the rest of your life the brain is the most is the most fascinating organ probably right to we control it or disease control us well the thesis of our book attendees and book is that because we know it's know so much about neural plasticity and smuggle agree and this neurons that fire together wired together so actually the way you think their way you feel the way you behave and other things leave nutrition exercise was

influenced the way your neurons. fire so you can actually through creative thinking and imagination free way according to written through motion of being limbic brain that other law the misconceptions are too small about the brain but i think one of the greatest misconceptions is that we don't have control of our brains in fact the scientific evidence shows us the genetics is only part of the picture the mcarthur study of successful asian taught us that for the average person when it comes to cognitive or mental success and physical success as we age genetics what we inherit accounts for only about a third that means two thirds is non-genetic so lifestyle choices we make every day what we decide to eat whether we're going to the brain doing it right well it's a brand tell yeah that's a big issue is motivating people to live healthy behavioral habits so it protects

their brains as they age so they can delay the onset of symptoms like also that same was separate from our brain. and you know who this is the big mystery is the create brain or does the brain create the way we go into that and is that answerable well you know that's a philosophical question and it's clear that there's a connection between the mind and the brain and what we conceive of the mind but i think what's really important is to try to help people to live better long that's what the u.c.l.a. longevity centers about and we try to empower people by teaching them how they can help themselves how they can keep their brains healthy for as long as possible and in adults one of you would agree that even the genes turning on and off depending on our lifestyle and the way we think and behave eat sleep it cetera because even as we're speaking right now influencing each other's neural networks you have to turn on certain genes to do that so even genes are not deterministic except for

a few that we come with as mutations yeah i would agree it's clearly i dine dynamic process and what's extraordinary is how sensitive the brain is we did a study a few years ago where we had older people search on line and we found that it caused tremendous activity in their neural circuits especially the frontal lobe the thinking brain was all lit up just the simple tasks like searching the internet so there are exercises for the brain. so you could train your brain yes absolutely and the fact is the motor active. brain is that's where you'll never get it was i'm talking to you there are only three of them what i was going to be most i forget things thought is everyone young people do that too great because you shouldn't have the idea that just because you do it there are only about four genes in alzheimer's correct me if i'm wrong that a deterministic the rest. for the average person there is a gene called

a poll he and about twenty percent of the population have it and it increases their risk of getting the disease but it's not a. under percent and even people with genetic risks it's been found that if they eat right if they exercise regularly if they manage their stress well and don't get too anxious and upset about things they will protect their brain and that's really a goal of the all simers prevention program is to show people what they can do how simple and easy it is a you can prevent this non curable disease what i'm saying is the scientific evidence shows us that we can stave off symptoms and if you add up the different. implications of each of these lifestyle choices it's possible to delay onset of symptoms maybe two three or four years now for many people that might be never getting the symptoms in their lifetime which is about as close to prevention as we can get though just wanted to do see that recent thirty and sleep does the deficit

as that was so that's the something a lot of people don't know the deep sleep is very essential for a brain to rejuvenate to sleep really good yes sleep deficit actually causes us to progress faster one of the things sleep does is it controls inflammation in the body and our group and many scientists think that a big problem with all simers disease is chronic inflammation so inflammation is good if you sprain your ankle that gets read that's a body's repair and your injury but as we age we tend to get chronic low grade inflammation so getting a good night's sleep exercising a great anti-inflammatory strategy getting some cardiovascular condition eating fish omega three fats in fish those are healthy fats that control inflammation. when you study this as a dog you're not a you're not a neurologist you used to be an internist and then i took my training training in

neuroendocrinology not near a not a neurologist he's a nearest psychiatrist i'm a correct in my training was in brain chemistry you know the hormones that we know cause some of them the mother kids of emotions oxytocin set a tone and dopamine opiates these are influence through emotional status so oxytocin is called the longing for mood moseying we can train your brain . clearly and what a lot of people think that if they do enough sudoku puzzles or enough crossword puzzles that's going to prevent also keep our job is next book super brain will be published in november already published as dr gary smalls the all time is prevention program now let's talk about memory what's the number one cause of memory loss the number one causes aging by age forty five for the average person you can detect memory loss and by age sixty five or older at least sixty percent of

people notice these changes but these are normal aspects of aging it doesn't necessarily mean they're going to get all simers dimentia the next day that usually it's pretty stable where is memory stored well this is the big question cellular memory nobody knows where it's stored we know the biological correlates of it but if i asked you that he would you have for dinner tonight. i'd have to think of. turkey turkey though before i asked a question there was that memory with the old will cavalierly before you start to use it this is a big problem right now i os rudy was my great to hear he had a new science gauntlets and said to him us cause in one hundred fifteen euro scientists read is memory stored at the cellular level you know as much as chemical traces and equally bagus is one thing we don't know we don't know it may be

non-local well we know to some extent where some things are going on for example there's a part of the brain underneath the temple temples called the hippocampus which helps us take short term memories and get them into long term memories and we know from brain injury studies that if certain areas of your brain are injured that will impair your memory ability so people who've had strokes often have memory deficits in certain parts of a bit to other mode two different things we're talking he saw him but the actual a zation of memory you know when you have the memory obviously does the brain. to it but when it is the memory before it's actually lazed it's a growing story in football is a massive going on the three thousand former players in this fifty start getting dementia and there's mostly due to head injuries it's a huge problem there are so many people haven't reported head injuries we're starting to do brain scans of n.f.l. players who have retired to understand what's going on in the bear's doing well

they're not only suing but they're getting depression and they're getting dementia and they're getting a lot of behavioral disorder wheezing a concussion does something. and what happens to the brain as it ages it's not just all simers disease not just these little protein deposits building up over a lifetime but there's head trauma there's small strokes of the brain ages just like the rest of our bodies that's why we have to take good care of it try to protect you know all we have bought. i correct. is our memory of. memory or what have you related to that it is a memory yes you know is talking to somebody at home as well and recently in the his wife one of the doing is that the as i was waiting she had breast cancer but she also had this and he said the most astonishing thing was that when she received chemotherapy she just sailed through it because you know remember basically she never had anything to fix as

a result so you people the advantages of it was people with ms actually totally in the present because the hundred member. who did was we didn't mention all those honors all simers is a build up of tiny abnormal protein deposits in the brain called amyloid plaques and tell tangles and they collect in areas that control memory now when it builds a certain threshold then somebody can develop dementia which means that your memory and other mental abilities are so impaired that you can't take care of yourself no it's extraordinary that there are one in seven of all time as patients they live alone and these are people by definition they can't take care of themselves so we have a tremendous problem dr chopra thought talked about the upside of memory loss but the downside is not only for the patient but for family members who are seeing their patients drift away slower use you talked about avoiding stress one of the

problems is when i forget something i get stressed out i've gotten it into your death or is it forgetting this is that. it wasn't important well the other thing where when you worry about your memory your memory is actually worse because you're thinking about what your free will writing a book voting no. give a dozen as i call it normal isn't it shouldn't be if it is but you know the good thing is that we've studied it others have studied it systematic. simple approaches can improve every day enormously so in grassroot well for food for just being aware of what to doing at the moment you know if i'm consciously putting wiki's away instead of putting the movie in thinking of something else that i forget when i put them but to feel mindful about the choices you make and what you're doing then that memory would be to retrieve some sense of biggest reason people don't remember this is simply not paying attention never actually stored information in

the first place. do you think we'll ever curate any of what they did was and i think eventually it's hard to predict when but i'm optimistic in the next decade we're going to see more effective treatments but while we're waiting for science to catch up people can learn about what they can do to protect their brains and stave off since is it genetic. well for some people it is very genetic less than one percent of cases there are genetic mutations that actually cause the disease and fifty percent of relatives and families get it for the average person the genetics is only part of the story will be right back would do blood job run dr gary small with the effects of drugs and alcohol on the brain next.

last time was a new alert animation scripts scare me a little. there is breaking news tonight and we are continuing to follow the breaking news. alexander's family cry tears are so why at a brave things rather that there had to be adequate red dark and a court of law found alive there's a story made sort of movies playing out in real life.

job for his book super brain dr gary small and gigi borgen of is the co-author of the all time is prevention program but with the author of the memory the memory bible what is the effect of we're in an age where drugs are prevalent everywhere over the counter under the counter alcohol no and i used to visit people in the scene would find that the average nursing home patients was just the kind of person

that was prone to the forms of dementia. i was on a minimum of twelve to fourteen drugs so there were drugs they were taking then do it again drugs to prevent the side effects of these drugs and drugs to prevent the fed effects of those drugs we're an over medicated society eighty percent of the pharmaceuticals views are of optional and marginal benefit and furthermore in nursing home specially patients are also dehydration so if you minimized drug intake pharmaceutical intake do the bare minimum that is required to not prescribe overprescribed and hydrate these patients a lot of them actually recover their memories it's gone well call has a mixed picture from the studies they find that people actually drink in moderation maybe one or two drinks a day have a lower risk of getting all simon's disease and people who are abstinent or people who drink too much and they are not sure why that is they could be there's

something in the alcohol maybe an antioxidant maybe some other chemical that protects the brain or maybe it's that people who drink in moderation are more easygoing and less stressed out you know that it does them very interesting information that coffee might be good for you that when you go out of course there is the evidence although it may go to medium heroin how about well those are not good for the brand not good for the body and the user or drugs that are very big image that they make sure immediately in a good sense right well you know obviously it does do something it wouldn't take it if it brings about it in for it just like smoking guns but those are drugs when they're used chronically they're not good for your brain health and they're not good for your physical health what do do they. what do they do for the why the euphoria well you know it's a good day you know there are areas in the brain there receptor like in the dopamine circuit a very primitive area of the brain that makes you feel good and now you can get that from a drug like from an opiate but you can also get it by running volumes out yeah

exactly you get that same they are not a rush out of high and people intoxicated would love to have lots of this deal to mean even though it was an early walk into walls. are there any pills for memories getting go was it didn't go well but what is over yet is that you know there are a lot of you know supplements that people have tested actually were testing kirkman and could not have an interim tumor there's a lot of evidence that anti-inflammatory and they did that just meant it as those effects so now u.c.l.a. were going to study it systematically one of the problems with some of these supplements is they don't test them against to see before an inactive pill so we don't know for sure if they're working now there are several medicines that have been approved or cleared by the f.d.a. that are helpful for the symptoms of alzheimer's dementia but it's only temporary right now scientists are looking for a much more effective drug that would have

a real impact on the do what is so puzzling about it buzzing about dementia knows just what is. what is what was the point is it mind boggling yet it isn't as duck's melissa saying there are certain people who have very predictable genetic disposition to it and some people with a gene is totally predictive you can do anything about it so one day hopefully they'll be pharmaceuticals to for those particular types of and also by the way there are lots of substances that are being investigated. a cucumber in a sugar and which is in. that are called adaptive it's the counterbalance the effects of stress hormones like cortisol etc and as was said earlier stress causes more inflammation so you can balance the the we haven't seen the patients with alzheimer's who can turn back

a little bug receive some improvement depart was talking about medications sometimes people come in and they may be taking vallium or they take over the counter sleeping medicines that affect certain neurotransmitters we take them off those medicines we put them on medicines that help them with their memory and we get them on and also i'm a prevention program in our clinics in our programs at u.c.l.a. we use a medical approach but we also look at lifestyle and we encourage people to live a healthy duff's well what about things like music and sensory stimulation have to look to that half of what we haven't looked at it systematically but we know from other studies it's very important to keep people engaged and whatever we can do with the families to keep their patients in the game is critically important so focusing is good focus thing exists there is good sleep healthy relationships good at one of the drug we haven't mentioned is marijuana a lot of people think it should be legalized and that is in fact i know in some

cases if people got a coma it's helpful where you think of it well people who. used marijuana obviously get more relaxed and some people get medical benefits from it one of the problems i've seen with marijuana is memory effects and some people when they come in complaining about memory problems if they cut back on the marijuana their memory seems to improve is a healthy sex life good for the brain well you know there is only one thing that beats meditation for of a one doing mind and six are doing six people it's a form of meditation it's good for. health ok we have some twitter and facebook questions gives you should want how if possible can one recall memories from childhood that cannot currently be accessed if it isn't well that's one approach but also sometimes spending time thinking about those memories they begin to come

back in a way our memories live in neighborhoods and you'll try to think of a childhood memory but then something else stirs it up so that i can remember childhood memory sometimes better than i remember where i had dinner what i do it every night before i go to sleep by recapitulate the whole day it takes me only five minutes so i recall everything i did in the morning in the military introduce the idea that i'm going to witness my dreams and that he kept his lead legends and have a cup and if that helps me keep the memories later when we dreaming what is the brain doing all the brand is actually very active during dreaming and there's a time in the recall rapid eye movement that's very important and that's when we're dreaming and it's something that happens with everyone as a normal part of sleep we talk to animals animals habit deepak was talking about medications one issue about medicines like vallium or adventures an x. they suppress that rapid eye movement sleep so anybody who takes those medicines

will find if they stop them they'll have a we call rebound rammer rebound rapidly but does it. tremens is in the us an angry young man lad wants to know how does the brain compute relevant from irrelevant facts to memorize and is it perpetual well that's a challenge for all of us what we try to do in the book is help people identify what's important to them so we teach them how they can remember names and faces or how they can remember aarons when they're running out of the house and even how they can conquer that what's it oh yeah the tip of the tongue you know where something is on the tip of your tongue it just doesn't come to you and those are things that annoy people that very common but they can improve with excellence you get a phone number that it's probably not important and when you're dialing you not paying attention sitting there with books toward the memory anyway and not only that today with all the gadgets you don't have to memorize phone numbers of people are picking and choosing what's important to remember in thomson you met some forty three my

grandmother had dementia is there anything i can do to help my chances of keeping my memory sharp. well one of the most important things is getting resit regular physical exercise brisk walks fifteen minutes a day will lower your risk for all simers cases this actually improves the connections between neurons but because they have to genesis seven brains ass does aging impact creativity it should not if you keep imagination alive you know creativity is the next is that in the magination i'd want for want to know do children do their parents as disservice by doing everything for them in the age the hominy can go the other way around parents can do everything for their kids and i think there's always a tension between the generations and it's quite interesting what happens as our parents age we start treating them like our children we have to watch out for because we want to maintain their independence as long as possible. and i'm told in

china there are no nursing homes well catching up everybody's catching up everywhere in the world including india no problems once you know of all times is caused by an accumulation of heavy metals in the brain that was a very a while back well yeah i think that's never been proved either way there are some studies showing that if there's more heavy metal in the water was a noumenon particularly and certainly we're concerned about heavy metals in fish so for example the american heart association recommends fish just twice a week in part because they don't want people having too much metal in the room what about the supplement for the fish will oh well that can be a concern but usually if you can get it from a reputable manufacturer it's relatively safe. this question from the coal revolvers for dr small why don't we remember all our dreams well you know i think you can train yourself to remember your dreams if you get up an hour any well if you get up in the morning nice and you concentrate and think about your dream every day you know

a little bit like would you do the park where you kind of go through your day it's more likely your relationship is the intent. and that i was a member for the it was so with summing up the weekend as your book subtitle unleash the explosive power of the mind to maximize help happiness and spiritual wellbeing so we can train the brain by what we say in this book is you know not to bring you know the user of your brain dr gary small and deepak chopra thanks to them both and remember you can find me on twitter at kings thing you see it next time on larry king now. well. it's technology innovation all the developments from

around russia. the future are covered. they were ready to do anything for their country to me is to love the country more than yourself if you join the military for any other reason that you're probably not to have a good day they were tools in the hands of the state now they live remembering the past which is impossible to get rid of. the war. but however good people do get hurt. and i've heard good people empty silent. a lot. but would prefer not to be sometimes i feel like. i should have died over there are. those. i saw some people who had died. there is cheaper than tariffs.

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of the new cultural common. it was. all the same i think you. should have you with us here on t.v. today i roll researcher. more news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada. operations rule the day.

martin welcome back to break in the set so a lot has happened in the last two weeks chelsea manning came out as a woman egypt remains in chaos and the u.s. is gearing up to bomb syria a move that could potentially jump start world war three and all the international community is focused on a solution to syria there's another devastating situation unfolding in fukushima japan recently japan's nuclear power agency tepco reported that three hundred tons of radioactive water is being used to cool the reactors has been pouring into the pacific ocean every day since the tsunami but if that isn't bad enough it turns out that the radiation levels reported thus far are grossly underestimated tepco just admitted that radiation levels are actually teen times higher than what was reported previously in fact near the tank the levels.