WHOOP Podcast How To Protect Your Brain Health and Avoid Burnout with Neuroscientist Dr. Tommy Wood
150 snips
Mar 25, 2026 
Dr. Tommy Wood, neuroscientist and author of The Stimulated Mind, researches lifestyle strategies to protect cognition and prevent dementia. He discusses activating your brain through novel learning, the link between work complexity and cognitive risk, signals of mental burnout, movement and exercise doses that boost brain plasticity, and the power of social connection and sleep to sustain brain health.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
We Must Intentionally Recreate Cognitive Inputs
- Society has engineered difficult cognitive tasks out of daily life, so we must intentionally create cognitive inputs like learning and social challenge.
- Tommy Wood compares this need to inventing diets and exercise after movement and food environments changed.
Brisk Walking Boosts Hippocampus And Memory
- Start moving more: add steps, brisk walks, and low-level aerobic activity to boost hippocampal size and memory.
- Tommy Wood cites 40 minutes brisk walking three times weekly increased hippocampal volume and improved memory in older adults.
Lift Weights Once A Week For Executive Function
- Do resistance training at least once weekly to improve white matter structure and executive function.
- The SMART trial showed simple gym resistance programs (three sets of 8–12) produced measurable brain benefits in older adults.
