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Good Life Project · August 20, 2026 · 1h 3m

How to Avoid Cognitive Decline & Dementia (starting in your 40s) | Dr. Tommy Wood

Neuroscientist Tommy Wood explains that age-related cognitive decline is driven more by lifestyle choices than by age or genetics. He introduces his 3S model — stimulus, supply, and support — as the key framework for maintaining brain health, and warns that retirement is the single biggest danger zone because it removes daily cognitive challenge, putting highly educated people at particular risk. The conversation covers the difference between retrieval and encoding problems, why age-specific dementia rates have actually been falling, and the two numbers to check at your doctor's office in your 40s or 50s.

This summary was generated from show notes and public descriptions, not from a full transcript review. Details may contain inaccuracies.

Novel

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The 3S Model of Brain Health
Tommy Wood presents his 3S model — stimulus, supply, and support — as a unified framework for understanding everything that keeps a brain sharp with age.

Highlights

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Retirement is the single largest risk factor for cognitive decline because it removes the daily cognitive challenges that keep the brain resilient.
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Encoding Failure vs. Retrieval Failure
Forgetting a name is typically a retrieval problem; never having experienced something in the first place is an encoding problem, and only encoding problems predict dementia.
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Despite alarming headlines about a dementia epidemic, age-specific dementia rates have been quietly declining for decades.
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The Two Numbers to Check in Your 40s and 50s
Wood recommends tracking two specific health metrics in midlife that set the stage for brain health over the next fifty years.
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