From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
My actual definition to describe mental fitness is your ability to remain in a neutral to positive state for most of your day, regardless of what the day is throwing at you and that is not the state people are in nowadays.
I was born premature, just 1lb 14oz, and my parents were told that survival chances for babies born so premature were low, and that it was likely I would grow up with disabilities if I survived. Praise God I survived, and I'm here today to live out my dreams.
In the future, these blood tests will allow us to offer treatments for Alzheimer's disease 10, 20, or even 30 years before symptoms start to manifest, much like how we currently handle cholesterol. This early detection and intervention will be our strategy for combating Alzheimer's.
Smell is an outlier. The brain essentially sent out a little tentacle into the world, those nerve fibres are the only contact between the central nervous system and the external world. This is the point at which there is no barrier between the brain and the outside world.
The brain's adaptability is astounding. The brain is continuously rewiring; it's different now than it was just 30 seconds ago. That is fascinating and offers great promise.
Unfortunately, it tends to be females who are the most affected by these conditions- influenced by external factors, they will check their weight very regularly, and do everything they can to lose weight- but then will lose the motivation, willpower and focus to control it.
If we treat the mind and body as one unit, then wherever we put the mind, we necessarily put the body—and that opens up enormous possibilities for control.
In December 2020, we published in the journal nature that we could turn on 3 genes in mice, that are normally only switched on in embryos. By doing this, we could reverse the age of complex tissues in adult mice. We used this system to restore eyesight to blind, old, mice!
You need to know the reason you're there at that surgical table with a knife in your hand. You have to be clear that you are using these sophisticated tools (tools which can cause a lot of harm) to fundamentally and primarily help that entity, that child in front of you.
When it comes to claims like 'pets alleviate depression,' there's really no solid evidence. In fact, the findings so far are pretty ambiguous. And—I don't really want to tell you this—but in one study that found no significant overall effect, cat owners were actually more depressed than the control group.
The environment at work directly influences how individuals interact with their families. If someone has endured a challenging day, feeling undervalued, they're likely to carry that negativity home. On the contrary, when treated with respect, they return home with a positive demeanour.
We should learn how to fight not flight. And fight doesn't have to be a physical thing – it can be that you feel something's going to be uncomfortable 'okay well let's avoid it'. No, go through with it but go through with it in a progressive manner, and go through with it in an intelligent manner and measure your results.