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All right, let's get back to the show.

All right, so I have a second technique to recommend here for the sort of more intense tier of cognitive fitness.

I'm gonna call this a cognitive cardio point system.

All right, so I gotta explain what I mean here.

It's hard to believe, let's back up.

In the world of physical health, it's hard to believe that cardiovascular exercise

was once considered bad.

And I'm talking as late as like the 1950s and 1960s.

Men were advised – this is true – men were advised –

not to do cardiovascular exercise after the age of 40 because they thought this would avoid heart attacks.

And women were told essentially avoid breaking a sweat altogether if possible.

Now, the person perhaps most responsible for changing our understanding of exercise was Dr. Kenneth Cooper, who was a former Air Force doctor who in 1968 published a groundbreaking book called Aerobics,

which made the case that cardiovascular activity is not a heart attack machine, but actually a way to make your heart and body healthier and you'll live longer.

And not only should you do some cardiovascular activity, you should probably do a lot.

I recently read Cooper's memoir.

We talked about it here on the show.

And he talks about how when that book first came out, fellow doctors thought that his advice was deranged and dangerous.