5 Things Anyone Can Do To Optimize Their Mental Wellness, With Dr. Alan Snow
My advice would be to keep going and show the same energy as to when you were younger. Keep your body moving and keep your brain learning and doing new things. It is never too late and doesn’t be reflective of your age and what other people think. I will be 63 years old in March 2020 and I look 40, as I work out harder than before and 5–6 days per week doing P90X and hard workout routines.
As a part of my series about the “5 Things, Anyone Can Do To Optimize Their Mental Wellness” I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Alan Snow.
Dr. Snow is a world-renowned expert on Alzheimer’s disease, brain aging, and memory loss and has been working in the field for over 30 years. He is a recipient of 18 National Institute of Health Grant Awards, a $3.5M LEAPS award from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Disease Research and is an inventor of 342 issued patents for brain and cognition health. He is a former Research Associate Professor of Pathology at the University of Washington in Seattle, and a former project leader at the UW Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?
I was always interested in science since I was a kid — and became fascinated with the brain and Alzheimer’s disease for over 30 years now.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?
I started my 2nd Company a few years ago after making an amazing discovery of a plant in the Amazon rain forest that hits all 3 targets that cause memory loss and decided to bring it to market.
Can you share a story with us about the most humorous mistake you made when you were first starting?
There is a lot of pressure to start a new company from scratch and make it successful and your whole life is on the line to make it work. Nothing really funny about the constant drive, perseverance, and hard work.
What lesson or takeaway did you learn from that?
When people tell you, you can’t do something — that is when you need to shine and prove them wrong.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I had the privilege to work with Dr. Stanley Prusiner of Univ. of CA -San Francisco and work with him and his group. Dr. Prusiner was a pioneer in prion diseases (like “mad-cow disease) and had a crazy hypothesis at the time about how proteins cans spread in the brain. He turned out to be right and received the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1997. It was cool to work with a genius like that.
What advice would you suggest to your colleagues in your industry to thrive and avoid burnout?
Try to balance your life with other things like a new hobby and have fun in life (as it is really short).
What advice would you give to other leaders about how to create a fantastic work culture?
People who work for you need to be encouraged. When things go wrong they need to be told the truth. When things go right, they need to hear that as well.
Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. Mental health is often looked at in binary terms; those who are healthy and those who have mental illness. The truth, however, is that mental wellness is a huge spectrum. Even those who are “mentally healthy” can still improve their mental wellness. From your experience or research, what are five steps that each of us can take to improve or optimize our mental wellness. Can you please share a story or example for each.
Let’s discuss the SHIELD program developed by my partner, Dr. Rudy Tanzi, Professor of Neurology at Harvard University and Director of Genetics and Aging Research at Massachusetts General Hospital. SHIELD which will help your brain today consists of
S = Sleep; get 8 hours of sleep to help clear your brain of plaques that develop every day;
H= Handle Stress -add meditation to your routine to reduce stress; avoid stressful situations; go on vacation
I = Interact with Others; Loneliness is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s; interact with others and family members; stay social
E= Exercise; 3 times per week for 30–45 minutes each time with help your brain and cognition
L= Learn New Things — learn a new hobby; learn a new language; play a new musical instrument; all with improving brain health by making new brain nerve connections
D= Diet — Mediterranean Diet helps the brain the most; fruits, vegetables, nuts, salmon, and cut back on red meat. Lower diet sodas as well.
Much of my expertise focuses on helping people to plan for after retirement. Retirement is a dramatic ‘life course transition’ that can impact one’s health. In addition to the ideas you mentioned earlier, are there things that one should do to optimize mental wellness after retirement? Please share a story or an example for each.
My advice would be to keep going and show the same energy as to when you were younger. Keep your body moving and keep your brain learning and doing new things. It is never too late and doesn’t be reflective of your age and what other people think. I will be 63 years old in March 2020 and I look 40, as I work out harder than before and 5–6 days per week doing P90X and hard workout routines.
How about teens and pre-teens. Are there any specific new ideas you would suggest for teens and pre-teens to optimize their mental wellness?
All of the above — be optimistic and grow older with a positive attitude.
Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story?
“Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill was first written in 1937. It basically starts to teach you about the “Laws of Attraction”. I do implement and thoroughly believe in the Laws of Attraction — in that “like attracts like” and you can be, do and implement anything you set your mind to do.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)
I discovered and developed and novel dietary supplement for optimizing brain health and memory support. It is called “Percepta” and can be purchased directly on our website at www.perceptabrain.com and on amazon.com. It is the accumulation of over 10 years of scientific studies and over 50 issued patents on two exclusive and patented ingredients, PTI-00703 cat’s claw and a specific oolong tea extract (called MemorTea). It is the first nootropic that targets the real reason we lose memory as we age. Brain plaques, tangles, and neuroinflammation. There is nothing like this in the marketplace and is the best brain health supplement in the marketplace.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?
You can be and be anything you want to be in life. If you believe it.
What is the best way our readers can follow you on social media?
FB — perceptamemory; Instagram — perceptabrain; Twitter -perceptabrain; I am also working on a new Alzheimer’s disease documentary that focuses on my research over the years — and how I have to deal with my aged mother who does recognize her son — because of late-stage Alzheimer’s disease; Lastly I am working on a new show for YouTube, “Dr. Snow’s Brain Health Show” where I will be interviewing all the latest news in Brain Health and interviewing the top neuroscientists in the world;
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!
About the author:
Beau Henderson, editor of Rich Retirement Letter and CEO of RichLife Advisors LLC, is a best-selling author, national tv/radio resource, and retirement coach/advisor, with over 17 years’ experience. Beau is a pioneer in the strategy based new model of holistic retirement planning. He can be followed on Facebook here or on Instagram here
