#26: Sports That Protect Your Brain From Dementia | Dr. Tommy Wood
episodePreviously titled “These Sports Protect Your Brain Against Dementia” — renamed by the publisher on Sep 15, 2026
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to 2%. I'm your host, Michael Easter. Wimbledon, the big tennis tournament, it is going on right now. And it turns out that sports like tennis might hold a secret to lasting long-term brain health so you can avoid dementia, you can avoid Alzheimer's. And to talk about that, we are bringing on the guy for all things brain health. He's a friend of the pod, Dr. Tommy Wood.
What sports can help protect your brain against dementia?
He wrote the book, The Stimulated Mind. After that, we will be doing our first ever AMA with six amazing questions that came from you, the listeners. So we're gonna take a quick break and then we'll bring on Tommy.
On his podcast, Chasing Life, I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta. CNN's chief medical correspondent brings you the secrets of the happiest and healthiest people on the planet so that you can live your best life.
Are some people just born happier than others? And what might they be doing that the rest of us aren't?
Follow Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta on Apple, Spotify, iHeart Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Joy is essential and it's also elusive. But now there's a new and exciting way to start your journey toward a more joyful existence. Joy 101. It's a new podcast hosted by me, Hoda Kotb. If you're craving inspiration to maximize your joy, tune into these candid, uplifting, and moving on-air chats. Listen to Joy 101 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Joy 101 with Hoda Kotb is presented by CVS.
I'm Jake Brennan, and on my podcast, Disgraceland, I tell the stories behind music's biggest names, like how the story of the Foo Fighters isn't just about music. It's about grief, shock, and the moment everything changed. Imagine that. You're in the biggest band on the planet, as Dave Grohl was in 1994 in Nirvana, and the phone rings, and you learn that your singer, your friend, the reluctant voice of a generation, Kurt Cobain, is dead. Listen to Disgraceland on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
American soccer has exploded. The knockout rounds are here.
The U.S. won their group, and now every match is win or go home.
I'm Tab Ramos.
And I'm Tom Bogert. On our podcast, Inside American Soccer, we'll talk about the real storylines.
Discuss the tactics that actually decide matches.
And give you the truth about the U.S. national team from inside the programs.
whether you're a lifelong fan or this is your first World Cup.
We've got you covered. Listen to Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogert and Tab Ramos on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Story time about my very storied high school athletic career. I did one sport in high school. I was on the tennis team and we were the absolute worst tennis team in the state. We did not win one match. I was truly awful, but I will tell you what. I really enjoy playing tennis. It's a great sport. I had good friends on the team. It allowed me to sort of like use my brain as I was moving. And as I got into my career now reading health research, I found that sports where you are doing something that has a mental challenge along with a physical challenge, like in tennis, can actually be extremely beneficial for the brain. But I wanted to dive deeper in this topic with someone who has really, really thought about brain health, specifically as it relates to movement.
So we are going to bring on an old friend of the show, Dr. Tommy Wood. He is a neuroscientist. He is also the author of The Stimulated Mind, which is one of the best books I read this year. I absolutely love the book. We had an older conversation with him. If you just scroll back in your feed or on YouTube, you'll be able to find that. So with all that said... We're going to bring on Tommy to talk about the power of tennis and other sports that require your brain. All right, Tommy, thanks for coming back on, man.
Thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here again.
I wanted to bring you on because I have written about navigation, the brain benefits of navigation, which you touch on on The Stimulated Mind.
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Chapters
3 chaptersSpeakers
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