Your Brain On

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1. Your Brain On... Testosterone

   15 juli 2026 · 45 min

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   Testosterone for women: what the evidence actually shows vs. what social media is selling you. Lees meer

   Testosterone has become the hormone every midlife woman is told she is missing: the third hormone lost at menopause, the fix for brain fog, low energy, stubborn weight, and thinning muscle.

   The science tells a different and more reassuring story.

   In this episode, Dr. Ayesha Sherzai sits down with Professor Susan Davis, MBBS, FRACP, PhD, the clinician-researcher and academic endocrinologist who gathered much of the data and helped write the global guidelines, to separate what the research supports from what is simply being sold.

   Your Brain On... Testosterone [Season 7, Episode 7]

   Get our FREE NEURO Plan Brain Health Playbook: https://thebraindocs.com/playbook

   In this episode:

   Why testosterone does not crash at menopause the way estrogen does, and what actually changes across a woman's life

   What the research shows about testosterone and memory, brain fog, and dementia risk

   The real story on testosterone for muscle, bone, and anti-aging claims

   Why women tend to gain a little weight on testosterone rather than lose it

   The one use with genuine evidence behind it: low sexual desire after menopause that causes real distress

   Why more is not better, and what high-dose testosterone actually does

   What is really inside compounded creams, injections, and testosterone pellets sold at med spas

   Why routine testosterone blood testing generates bills and anxiety rather than answers

   Why there is no such thing as testosterone deficiency in women

   How to tell an evidence-based clinician from a sales pitch

   What genuinely protects a woman's aging brain, and why connection matters more than any hormone

   Professor Susan Davis is a consulting endocrinologist at Monash University in Melbourne, where she directs a leading women's health research program. She has studied testosterone in women since the 1990s and is the lead author of the Global Consensus Position Statement on the Use …

2. Your Brain On... Memory Testing

   2 juli 2026 · 54 min

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   The neurologist who built the test that was used on the President of the United States explains what memory tests actually tell you, and why even a perfect score isn't the whole picture. Lees meer

   We sit down with Dr. Ziad Nasreddine, the neurologist who created the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), to look at how memory is actually measured, why a score can be shaped by your education and how comfortable you are with tests, and what separates a quick screen from a full neuropsychological evaluation.

   The conversation opens with a patient who passed a short memory screen but whose family knew something was wrong, and what a deeper test revealed. From there it moves to how the MoCA works, how it became famous after a presidential exam (and the memorization problem that followed), why your education and nerves can shift a score, and why the real progress against dementia is happening in detection and prevention, not treatment.

   A memory test is not a verdict. Its value is early, honest information, and what you can do once you have it.

   In this episode:

   What the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) measures, and why it was designed to catch the earliest changes rather than advanced dementia

   How a quick memory screen differs from a full neuropsychological evaluation, and what a score actually represents

   Why education, language, and familiarity with testing can change your score even when your cognition is fine

   The story behind the MoCA becoming famous after a US presidential exam, and the memorization problem that followed

   XpressO, a free at-home cognitive pre-screener, and what a green result does and does not mean

   Why detection and prevention, not treatment, are where the real progress against dementia is happening right now

   The difference between slowing decline and reversing it, and why a diagnosis of dementia cannot be undone

   What the 2024 Lancet Commission's modifiable risk factors mean for your everyday choices

   How movement and social connection show up in …

3. Your Brain On... Friendship

   25 juni 2026 · 55 min

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   We're more connected than ever, yet, we've never been lonelier. Lees meer

   We sit down with neuroscientist Dr. Ben Rein, author of Why Brains Need Friends, to look at what isolation does to the brain and body, why we badly underestimate our own social skills, and how to build real connection back into ordinary life.

   The conversation opens 45,000 years ago, with a healed bone that points to one of the earliest signs of human caregiving. From there it moves to the present: why "rejection hurts because it used to kill," how chronic loneliness raises cortisol and inflammation, and why regular social connection lowers the risk of dementia, heart disease, diabetes, anxiety, and depression.

   In this episode:

   The 45,000-year-old skeleton (Shanidar 1) that points to the origins of human caregiving and friendship

   Why "rejection hurts because it used to kill," and how that ancient circuitry still runs in the modern brain

   What chronic loneliness does to cortisol, inflammation, and long-term disease risk

   The research on solitary confinement and why isolation tracks with higher mortality

   How regular social connection lowers the risk of dementia, heart disease, diabetes, anxiety, and depression

   The commuter-train experiment that shows strangers want to connect far more than we expect

   Introverts vs extroverts: the "plant watering" model for finding your own social dose

   The social diet: why a healthy social life, like a healthy plate, needs variety

   Why digital interaction flattens the social cues your brain evolved to read

   The Dunbar number, the loss of "third places," and the young men's loneliness epidemic

   One small, science-backed thing to try this week

   Dr. Ben Rein is a neuroscientist, science communicator, and author of Why Brains Need Friends: The Neuroscience of Social Connection (Penguin Random House). He is chief science officer of the Mind Science Foundation, an adjunct lecturer at Stanford University, and a clinical assistant professor at SUNY Buffalo. His research fo…

4. Your Brain On... the MIND Diet

   18 juni 2026 · 1 uur 7 min

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   Researchers found people who ate these 9 foods consistently had brains that aged 7.5 years slower. Lees meer

   Not a supplement stack, not a protocol, not a hack. A pattern of real food that keeps showing up across decades and across the world.

   It's called the MIND diet, and it's what we're breaking down in this episode.

   We explore the scoring system behind the MIND diet with a registered dietician who came to brain health through her own mother's Alzheimer's diagnosis, and who has spent 20 years helping real women in real kitchens make these changes stick.

   In this episode, you'll learn:

   What the MIND diet actually is: a hybrid of the Mediterranean and DASH diets built at Rush University to target brain health specifically, and why the acronym uses the word "delay," not "reversal"

   The 10 brain-healthy foods and 5 foods to limit, and why the scoring system rewards you for progress, not perfection: full adherence lowered Alzheimer's risk by 53%, and even moderate adherence cut it by 35%

   Why leafy greens are the single most consistent finding in the field and the one change worth making first

   How berries, beans, nuts, olive oil, and omega-3s each contribute to the pattern, and why frozen and canned versions count just as much as fresh

   The problem with the term "ultra-processed food": why yogurt, tofu, and soy milk get mislabeled, and how a dietician actually talks to clients about it

   Why the protein conversation has gotten louder than the evidence: what 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram actually looks like, and why 150 grams a day is not a universal target

   Why wine was quietly dropped from the MIND diet recommendations and what the current evidence says about alcohol and brain health

   Midlife as a metabolic inflection point: why perimenopause and menopause change the equation for cardiovascular and brain health, and why it is not too late to start

   The 2024 Lancet Commission report adding LDL cholesterol as a modifiable risk factor for dementia, and when diet alone is not …

5. Your Brain On... Insomnia

   3 juni 2026 · 1 uur 38 min

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   It's 3 AM and your brain won't shut off. About 1 in 10 adults meets the clinical definition of chronic insomnia, and most never get treated. Instead, they scroll through an endless aisle of magnesium gummies, melatonin, and $300 trackers that don't address the real problem. Lees meer

   We brought in a neurologist and a psychologist who never spoke to each other and landed on almost the exact same conclusions.

   In this episode, you'll learn:

   How the brain's glymphatic cleaning system works during sleep and why chronic insomnia is a brain health problem

   Why melatonin is a darkness signal, not a sleeping pill, and how nocturnal animals prove the point

   A sleep neurologist's honest 1-to-10 ratings of every sleep aid you've heard of: magnesium (2/10), CBT-I (10/10), alcohol (-10/10), and 12 more

   What orthosomnia is and why your sleep tracker might be making your insomnia worse

   Why perimenopause and menopause create what one expert calls "a perfect storm" for sleep disruption, and why doctors keep missing sleep apnea in women

   How CBT-I works: sleep restriction, stimulus control, and why your therapist will tell you to spend less time in bed, not more

   The data showing CBT-I may outperform hormone therapy for menopausal insomnia

   ACT therapy for insomnia: a different approach for people who get more anxious from CBT-I

   Blue light, naps, the 8-hour rule, catching up on weekends: what holds up and what doesn't

   Five steps to start tonight, and why you should pick just two

   Dr. Sujay Kansagra is a pediatric neurologist and sleep medicine specialist at Duke University, director of Duke's Pediatric Neurology Sleep Medicine Program, and author of "My Child Won't Sleep."
   Follow Dr. Kansagra: @thatsleepdoc

   Dr. Shelby Harris is a clinical psychologist and behavioral sleep medicine specialist. She treats insomnia in women during perimenopause and menopause and is the author of "The Women's Guide to Overcoming Insomnia."
   Website: drshelbyharris.com
   Follow Dr. Harris: @SleepDocShelby

   Hos…

6. Your Brain On... Microplastics

   27 mei 2026 · 31 min

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   Headlines warned us about microplastics in our brains. A chemist says the study may have been measuring brain fat instead. Lees meer

   In 2025, a study claiming microplastics accumulate in human brain tissue dominated our feeds. We covered it. Then Dr. Michelle Wong, a chemical scientist and science communicator, flagged a problem with the methodology.

   So we went to the primary literature, read the critique, and brought in one of the first scientists to publicly challenge the findings: Dr. Oliver Jones, Professor of Analytical Chemistry at RMIT University in Melbourne.

   In this episode, we unpack what went wrong with the measurement method, what it means for the broader microplastics conversation, and why being willing to say "I was wrong" is so vital for good science.

   In this episode:

   How pyrolysis GC-MS works and why it can confuse plastic breakdown products with brain fat

   Why potassium hydroxide digestion creates soap, which also mimics plastic signatures

   The contamination problem: body bags, centrifuge tubes, plastic storage containers, and lab air

   Why 7 grams of microplastic per brain is more than what researchers find in raw sewage

   The Marfella study in The New England Journal of Medicine: microplastics in arterial plaques and why it also lacked blank controls

   How microplastics could enter the body: skin absorption, ingestion, and inhalation

   Why PM2.5 monitoring already captures the most relevant airborne microplastic exposure

   What the WHO, FDA, and European Food Safety Authority have concluded about microplastic harm

   What better microplastics research would actually look like

   Why the real lesson is about how we evaluate headlines, not just microplastics

   Dr. Oliver Jones is Professor of Analytical Chemistry and Associate Dean of Biosciences and Food Technology at RMIT University in Melbourne. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) and the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (FRACI), he holds degrees from Imperial College London and Cambridge. He …

7. Your Brain On... Menopause Hormone Therapy

   13 mei 2026 · 1 uur 29 min

   Afspelen
   Menopause hormone therapy and your brain: what the evidence says vs. what the algorithm is selling you. Lees meer

   Two-thirds of Alzheimer's patients are women. That statistic has fueled a social media narrative that hormone therapy can prevent dementia, but the current evidence doesn't support that claim. In this episode, Drs. Ayesha and Dean Sherzai sit down with OBGYN Dr. Jen Gunter and neuroscientist Dr. Sarah McKay to separate the science from the soundbites.

   Your Brain On... Menopause Hormone Therapy [Season 7, Episode 1]

   Get our FREE NEURO Plan Brain Health Playbook: https://thebraindocs.com/playbook

   In this episode:

   Why menopause hormone therapy is the gold standard for hot flashes and night sweats but not a proven tool for dementia prevention

   The Women's Health Initiative: what it actually found, how the press conference distorted the findings, and what we've learned since

   Why "bioidentical hormones" is a marketing term, not a medical one, and what that means for the products being sold to you

   How the hypothalamus drives vasomotor symptoms and why sleep disruption may explain much of the cognitive fog women experience at midlife

   The high placebo response rate with hormone therapy and why dose escalation can mask a missed diagnosis

   Why the simplistic narrative of "women get more Alzheimer's, so it must be menopause, so give hormones" falls apart under scrutiny

   How over-testing, unregulated lab panels, and wearable hormone data can create more anxiety than answers

   The case for perimenopause as a life stage, not a disease, and why medicalizing normal midlife stress upholds harmful structures

   What the aging brain actually gains: vocabulary, emotional processing, wisdom, complex problem-solving, and the capacity to hold nuance

   7 evidence-based actions you can take this week for your brain health, no prescription required

   Why the FDA's removal of the black box warning on hormone therapy was released without context and what happened next on social media

   The…

8. Your Brain On... Vascular Dementia

   4 februari 2026 · 1 uur 22 min

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   Most people think dementia starts with memory loss. But for millions, it actually begins decades earlier: in the blood vessels. Lees meer

   Long before someone forgets a name or misses an appointment, the brain is being quietly damaged by high blood pressure, cholesterol imbalance, poor sleep, inflammation, and chronic stress, day after day, year after year.

   This kind of damage doesn't look dramatic. There's no big stroke, no clear warning sign. It happens slowly and silently, which is why it's so often missed until it's too late.

   But here's the good news: vascular dementia is one of the most preventable and manageable forms of cognitive decline. When caught early, lifestyle changes and medical interventions can help slow the onset and manage the effects.

   In this episode, we explore:

   What vascular dementia and vascular cognitive impairment are, and how they differ from Alzheimer's disease

   Why most dementia cases involve both vascular damage and neurodegenerative pathology (mixed dementia)

   How blood vessel damage begins in childhood and accumulates silently for decades

   The role of high blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes, sleep disorders, and chronic stress in damaging brain vasculature

   Why slowed thinking, movement, and processing speed are hallmark signs of vascular cognitive decline

   The critical importance of the endothelium: the thin lining of blood vessels that controls brain health

   How lifestyle factors like nutrition, exercise, sleep, and stress management protect and repair vascular health

   Why managing blood pressure early is one of the most powerful interventions for long-term brain health (and why everyone should have a blood pressure monitor at home!)

   How vascular damage can be slowed, even in midlife

   Practical steps for prevention across the lifespan, from childhood through older adulthood

   Our guest for this episode is DR. COLUMBUS BATISTE, a board-certified interventional cardiologist, an incredible science communicator, and author of 'Selfish: A C…

9. Your Brain On... Cold Plunges

   21 januari 2026 · 47 min

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   Cold plunges are everywhere, and the way people talk about them, you'd think they're a miracle cure for your brain, body, and soul. Lees meer

   But in an age of algorithm-fueled evangelism, when a ritual becomes this ubiquitous and loud, we have to ask: how much of the buzz is backed by science… and how much is just marketing?

   In this episode, we explore the neuroscience of cold exposure: what's real, what's overstated, and why this "discomfort" has become a billion-dollar industry.

   We discuss:

   Why cold plunges went viral, and how wellness movements often devolve into identity-driven cultures

   The difference between cold exposure itself and the monetized "cold plunge movement"

   What constitutes a "cult" (and how pseudoscience forms around partial truths)

   The real physiological cold shock response

   Why the mental "high" after a plunge doesn't automatically equal long-term brain benefit

   The cardiovascular risks that rarely get discussed, especially for people with underlying heart disease

   What the research suggests about soreness, pain reduction, and muscle growth (including why cold immersion can blunt hypertrophy)

   The real story behind brown fat

   Who should avoid cold plunges altogether (asthma, arrhythmias, coronary disease, vascular conditions)

   Joining us for this conversation is investigative journalist and bestselling author Scott Carney (What Doesn't Kill Us, The Wedge), who has spent years inside the cold exposure world, first as a skeptic, then as a believer, and eventually as a critic of the culture that formed around it. His work reveals what happens when discomfort becomes identity, and when unfounded "social media science" outruns real science.

   Your Brain On... is hosted by neurologists, scientists, and public health advocates Drs. Ayesha and Dean Sherzai.

   SUPPORTED BY: the 2026 NEURO World Retreat. A 5-day journey through science, nature, and community, on the California coastline: neuroworldretreat.com

   Your Brain On... Cold Plunges • SEASON 6 • EPISODE…

10. Your Brain On... Cheese

    14 januari 2026 · 43 min

    Afspelen
    Around the start of 2026, a study sparked viral headlines claiming that cheese could reduce dementia risk. Lees meer

    But... nutrition science almost never works like this. One study can't "prove" a food is protective or harmful, and viral health claims often miss the most important details of research: how the data was gathered, what was actually measured, what variables were controlled for, and what it means in real life.

    In this episode, we unpack what the 'viral cheese study' (PMID: 41406402) actually found, what it DOESN'T mean, and why critical thinking around nutrition headlines matters more than ever.

    We discuss:

    • Why viral food headlines are so persuasive (and so often misleading)

    • What the cheese study REALLY reported

    • The difference between correlation and causation in nutrition research

    • Why long-term dietary recall data can be unreliable

    • How bias (including our personal food preferences) shapes interpretation of research

    • What "show me the data" really means in a world of clickbait science

    • How to interpret food and brain health studies without falling into extremes

    We also speak to Emily Sonestedt, research group leader and associate professor at Lund University, and one of the authors of the viral study.

    "Your Brain On..." is hosted by neurologists, scientists, and public health advocates Drs. Ayesha and Dean Sherzai.

    SUPPORTED BY: the 2026 NEURO World Retreat. A 5-day journey through science, nature, and community, on the California coastline: https://www.neuroworldretreat.com/

    'Your Brain On... Cheese' • SEASON 6 • EPISODE 6

    ———

    LINKS

    The study, 'High- and Low-Fat Dairy Consumption and Long-Term Risk of Dementia: Evidence From a 25-Year Prospective Cohort Study': https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41406402/

    ———

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