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Thanks for joining us, for sustaining us here on KLCS Public Media.

I'm David Nazar.

Getting old is never easy.

No one wants to get old.

That is for sure.

Now, for some, senior living can be a good thing.

Retiring, not having to work anymore, traveling, doing a bucket list things, just taking it easy.

Unfortunately, the sad reality is that for many seniors, getting older means health problems, both physical and mental.

There's the stress, the loss of memory, the loss of brain agility.

Old age can present itself a loneliness isolation, depression, anxiety, financial instability.

The list goes on.

And these days, there is n shortage of anti-aging remedies.

All the medications, the supplements, the cosmetic surgeries, how to make money seminars when you're old, all the exercise programs, you name it.

Later in the broadcast, we talk with leading neuropsychologists who believe they have a new way to stay young.

Utilizing your own personalized brain science.

First, though, we introduce you to a very interesting, a very interesting Southern California woma who is now in her senior years and she insists she has the cure to keeping young.

It really hit me that I was 65 when a friend on Facebook said that we were elderly, and I had never considered myself to be elderly before.

That elderly came with a walker and a nursing assistant.

But sure enough, I looked up the definition.

And 65 is elderly, and it really it really hit me.

This is senior citizen Sandra.

Sandra Roby graduated university over 40 years ago and began working as a restaurant server, eventually becoming a journalist and a documentarian.

Throughout the years, Sandra has traveled all over the US from state to state, from mainstream USA to the white House, sharing her award winning projects as she met with everyone from average everyday Americans to President George W Bush.

A mom of two adult children and married for decades, Sandra has lived a life so far.

However, things changed a bit recently as Sandra began taking stock of her own life, determined to find ways to take better care of her physical and mental health.

Now, in her older years, as she says.

I spen 15 years caregiving for my mom, who died of Alzheimer's at 88 and I saw up close what it took to keep her active and enjoying life as much as she could.

We needed to get out an exercise.

We needed to keep her mentall stimulated as much as possible, even though she couldn't remember 15 minutes ago.

Up until her last few days she was singing and having fun.

And that's ho I want my final days to be to.

I want to be singing and having fun every day that I am on the planet.

That's what I want.

Sandra is definitely accomplishing those goals of having fun these days.

Fun, she says, to slow the aging process to try and combat cognitive brain issues, like her mother tragically suffered from the memory loss, the dementia, the Alzheimer's.

For example, Sandra believes that now in retirement, she must do everything possible to not become isolated, lonely or depressed as she ages, something that many older folks unfortunately deal with after they retire.

Often older folk don't have the human interaction or the purpose in life tha they once had when they worked.

No more focusing on a specific task.

No more work friends, no more meetings, no more traveling, things like that.

All things that keep a brain sharp and active and give people that purpose.

Sandra says she was very concerned about this.

To avoid any cognitive brain issues of my own.

I have been actively doing new things, new things, and challenging things every day.

Sandra has her weekly acoustic guitar jam session with her senior sisters and brothers at Southern California's Irvine Senior Center, which.

Yeah, I know.

Make it happen like the world.

And I love my.

Hollywood number 100 exploded.

The school.

I like.

Thank you.

Heavy metal thunder for you.

But I refuse.

Sandra plays the ukulele anywhere and everywhere.

And to anyone and everyone who agrees to listen or even if they don't.

Mean that much to me.

Too proud to big groups.

And senior citizen Sandra is never camera shy, as she takes every opportunity possible to take the stage at some of the local L and Orange County comedy clubs.

The reason I'm coming up is comes as some of you guys do want to go up after Joe Band.

And now in her nex phase of life, senior citizens.

Sandra has even invented something her tally clip, as she now hopes to share her innovation on the popular program Shark Tank.

I love solving problems, and I realized that the saying is, there's a saying, you know that you're never too late to innovate.

And the idea is a lot of folks stop doing things because they say, well, I'll be too old.

I'll be I'll be 70 years old by the time I get done.

Well you're going to be 70 years old.

70 years old anyway, s might as well just get it done.

Might as well do it.

So I had an idea for a problem that I though needed to be solved years ago.

When people wear their glasses, they bend over and they fall off.

So I created this clip, this Kelly clip that goes on your glasses.

So when you clip it on your shirt and you bend over what look, they don't fall off.

How about that?

Through creating this product, I have applied to shark Tank.

I've met so many people.

We're going to be at the Orange County Fair now with another woman who I met, who was also in her 60s, creating new and fun things.

And it's another adventure that I never would have expected in my life.

And here I am.

Senior citizen Sandra say beginning a business at 65 years old is going to greatl help her with the aging process.

She says just the interaction alone with the many people she constantly meets who are interested in her.

Kell clip keeps her young and active, and Sandra believ she's also dispelling the notion that entrepreneurship i just for the younger generation.

Sandra insists amazing innovation has no age limit.

She says that while many Americans are retirin and preparing for a quiet life, she's just beginning her new phase with high octane energy, proving she can stay vibrant and relevant for another 20 years.

And what's more, she says her new innovation is helpin pay the bills as she relies on Medicare and Social Security to survive something that many older Americans are burdened with fewer finances.

So let me tell you, Social Security is such a small amount, and I am grateful to folks out there who keep that alive, because even though it is a small amount, it is critical for us to continue to pay our bills.

I mean, my husband and I, we live through the financial crash of 2007.

We are still paying our mortgage and every bit counts.

So, at the same time, you know even though it's a small amount, we need to do something to augment our income.

And so Kelly clip, I think is an opportunity for that to happen.

Sandra Roby, entrepreneur, innovator, musician, comedian, living life senior citizen.

Sandra.

Everything is different and I've got to take good care of myself if I want to stay active and enjoying the rest of my years on the planet.

Thank you Sander Roby for your interview.

Sandra is definitely forever young at heart.

And now joining me to further the discussion on sustainable aging are two leading specialists in the geriatric field, doctor Jamie Newman.

Kimmel is a board certifie clinical neuroscience allergist.

Over the last 30 some odd years, Doctor Newman Kimmel has provided neuropsychological assessments, diagnoses, clinical intervention and psychoeducation for thousands of patients, al with a myriad of developmental, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional complexities.

And also joining the panel is the Forever young doctor Alexander Montes, a neuropsychologist, and Gero psychologist.

For the last 30 years, Doctor Montes has dedicated her life to a highly specialized field of practice that really delves into the relationships between the brain and brain disorders, the assessment of cognitive and behavioral functioning, the design of effective treatment plans.

Thank you both so much for being here.

Thank you for having us, David.

And having us.

Thank you.

Now I both got I got both of you here for the record, simply because I was trying to find something new, something different.

Right.

We hear the same stuff all the time about the whole aging process, how to age.

Well, as you guys know, there are so many advertisements, so many commercials on TV.

How to stay young foreve older folks are really targeted.

Sadly, the mass marketing of all different kinds of drugs, medications, herbs, supplements, commercials, or the senior living assisted facilities just an endless soup of the cure all for getting old.

So during my research doctors, I read something about this new brain checking baseline.

I hadn't heard about thi before, so tell us exactly what BCB brain check baseline is how you both got involved.

As we discussed the more macro issue of how to stay healthy as we all get older, Doctor Nyman came up first to you and then to Doctor Monti.

Well, okay, first and foremost, we're all for aging well, so let's put that out there right away.

The other issue for us is tha not everybody age is the same.

So one size doesn't fit all.

And if you've seen 160 year old, you've seen 160 year old is really how we see it.

And all of those things that you just mentioned in terms of the supplement and all of the, recommendations to age.

Well, those are wonderful.

However, they're not specific and individualized.

So what Alexander and I did and we've known each other.

It's been, what, 35 years now?

Alex, we've been doing what we call lifespan assessment.

So we've tested children and adolescents and adults and geriatric assessment.

So a life span assessment And what we've noticed is that, there is a lack of at this point, of, of a more individualized approach.

So great check baseline for us is a way to assess, and to derive a baseline of your cognitive profile.

It is a primary prevention tool so that we can give you a map of how your particular brain is working or the area that you might need to focus on.

So it's this very proactive rather than reactive approach so that folks can be more in control of their lifespan, their brain trajectory, their brain health.

Right.

So a baseline is an assessment when you're healthy.

Right.

And we use that baseline approach because it's a starting point.

It's a way to measur how you are in a healthy state.

And then you know we do that all the time.

We do that with our teeth.

We do that with our hearts.

Mammograms.

These are all baseline measurements.

Colonoscopies are baseline measurements so that you can begin to track the health of those parts of your body to make sure that they're within expectatio or following a typical pattern.

So we thought why not do that with your brain?

What your brain if, if if you are not anything, you are your brain.

So that's why we got together.

We put together this assessment the best comparison of a person's cognitive status is to themselves, right?

In a healthy state, we don't want to rely on the health care providers, so that they can guess where we should be or where we've come from.

So this is th this is the proactive baseline of how you are functioning so that you can maintain knowledge of that and do wha you need to do for your brain.

Does that make sense?

It does.

And Doctor Montes, you then take this even a step further, your overview of bcba, how you got involved.

And then, Doctor Nyman, Colonel and Doctor Montes, is this done through testing, written tests.

You talk to patients, you take X-rays, Cat scans, talk more about that.

Begin with Doctor Montes, an we can go back to your doctor.

Yes, we we do like pape and pencil manipulative tests.

We're not into the the Cat scans and Pet scans.

That's not our.

And basically our purpose is to find out how are you functioning currently.

And we can't compare you to same age mates with the same education, background and experience.

Doctor name and KML take our viewers through this testing process so we get a better understanding about how this all works.

Keep in mind all of the assessments that you're talking about, Cat scans and MRI's, and they have their place.

What we're saying is, is that this is really a measure and it's done face to face.

We have some history of who you are as a person and your health history.

And then we assess specific areas of brain functioning, including memory and attention and problem solving, the things that we want to know about and we want to keep track of.

If you will keep our finger on the pulse of those things, so that if we are aging and there is typical decline, we are all going to decline in a typical way, if I can tell you, oh, that's typical.

I can alleviate a lot of anxiety and stress.

And if I tell you, well, it' not as typical as we would hope, then I can actually put into place a plan that is very specific and detailed to your brain needs, which includes a lot of what goes on in what you noted at the at the outset of the introduction, bu it's really much more tailored.

So there's nothing invasive, there's no blood draws, there's no fluid draws.

It's really about your brai doing the things that your brain needs to do within this more controlled environment.

So let's say, for example, you have a patient, how do you do that Intel gathering.

How do you get all the info from them?

Such a good question because it really depends on the presentation you may have.

Alexander and I saw somebod who has a history of concussion is as a young person who played a lot of sports and had family members who had early onset dementia, and what he wanted is a baseline.

I want to know what my baseline is for me.

So we took information from him.

We also took information from his spouse.

And that was helpful with older folks where there might be some decline or some impact.

We can take information from our spouses, but also children, grown adult children.

They can be very helpful too especially if they're involved in the care of their parents.

Doctor Norman Kim.

And then we'll get to Doctor Montes in just a moment.

I want to get back to something.

Get back to somethin you said, Doctor Nyman.

Kimmel.

You mentioned the x rays.

Or one of the two of you.

The Cat scans of Pet scans.

I don't want to push back on what you're doing, but a legitimate question.

Obviously, there are many in the medical profession who say, listen, science is everything today we can do a Pet scan, we can do an x ray, we can do a Cat scan, we can do an MRI.

They're going to give us the best pictures of your brain, a comprehensive roadmap.

You know, we can see right there.

Do you have dementia.

Do you have Alzheimer's You have this.

Do you have that?

Why is your modality possibly better or worse than this?

I hope I'm not offending you, just trying to understand everything here.

No, no, no, that's an excellent question.

And pictures are wonderful.

And believe me, Alexander and I do not Pooh Pooh the MRIs and the Cat scans because they absolutely are important.

What they don't do i give you functional information.

And what this brain check baseline does is gives yo functional information.

Right.

So it's not a picture.

It's how are you doing?

The thing that we're asking you to do not do.

Are all the parts of your brain in place.

Do we see, even if we see it in some of those scans, that there are aspects of the brain that there's been atrophy, meaning it's it there's been shrinkage.

We still don't know what tha plays out as in the real world.

We still don't know how that manifests.

So this particular baseline check is really a functional, utilitarian manifestation of your particular brain's capabilities.

And abilities.

Doctor Montes there is no question many people are obvious in living well into their 80s, 90s, even 100.

So without said, obviously we're we're all I mean, we're all at greater risk for these neurodegenerative disorders.

I mentioned earlier the memory loss to dementia, to Alzheimer's, etc.

I was reading, correct me if I'm wrong on this, that the number of peopl who could experience cognitive cognitive challenges, brain challenge is expected to triple in 2050.

I mean, that's crazy.

Can you talk about this stat?

It's it's almost unbelievable.

Well, according to the U.S. Centers Census Bureau, one fifth of Americans will be over the age of 65 by 2030.

And the impact of that is that so many adults that are getting older are worrying about their later life, and will it be optimal.

And what we found is a lot of people are concerned about the cost factor.

The government, identifies the projections for the cost.

In 2022, it was $321 billion.

And by 2050, it's supposed to be close to 1,000,000,000,001 third of the out of pocket cost is going to be incurred by family members.

The government will pick up two thirds, but the family will pick up the third.

So people are concerned.

If that's the case, how am I going to take care of myself?

I don't want to be a burden to my family.

And what are some of the things that we can do to prepare ourselves and creat a good brain health, lifespan, and what are the lifestyle issues that we need to be in be concerned about so that we can age successfully?

I'm going to ask a question I should never ask and, probably get fallout from it.

Do I have this right?

You're in your mid 70s, Doctor Montes.

You look like a spring chicken.

You are so youthful.

You're going strong.

I mean, do I have that right?

Or.

Oh, gosh I probably said the wrong thing.

I'm sure.

Well, I'm going to be 76 in about two weeks.

What is your key to staying young and.

If you don't use it, you lose it.

And in order to have good brain health, you have to flex your brain muscle.

And lifelong learnin is one thing, and the other is to keep your brain active, tr new things, develop new hobbies, stay engaged socially.

Use and mind.

The mind die which is the Mediterranean diet and hypertension diet so that you can feel your your brain through your gut.

And so your your brain and your gut are the A-Team.

And so if you're healthy, you eat right, you're going to be able to function more effectively.

So you need to have a holistic approach to aging and, reabsorb your into that, because brain health is a marathon.

And in order to live long, you have to get the shape.

The reason I'm appreciative of this new segment we're producing about this is because the story hasn't been told yet.

I sort of have advance knowledge of this because I read about it.

You are just launching this here, and, it is so new.

The other thing I wanted to talk about and how BCB is going to parlay into this, this is a question for both of you, and I'm sort of giving kind of a commentary.

I may be off on this, but it does seem to me there is such a stigma, whe we talk about cognitive decline.

In other words, I've never met an old person who says, hey you know what?

I'm really old.

Maybe I just give you my driver's license and I shouldn't have my car.

I'm a risk to everybody on the road, you know?

In other words, old folks are so reluctant to talk about their mental decline, right?

They want their independence.

They're really frightene when it's taken away from them.

Often old people don't share with their families what their decline is, their memory, their dementia, what have you.

It seems there's shame involved with all of this.

It isolates older people.

I said all this because, Docto Montes, you made a great point.

We just got to take better care of ourselves, whatever that care is.

So talk.

Doctor Nyman came on to Monty's about how BCB plays into that role.

So we do have fewer problems.

Well, you're right about that.

There's a lot of shame involved in, cognitive loss or loss of ability.

What we're trying to let you know is there is typical loss.

And those are not th those are not the losses to run with scissors about.

Right.

Those are the losses to go okay.

That's to be expected.

Part of our putting together this really accessible assessment of of your cognitive baseline was to really giv everybody a deep breath to go.

It's you're going through what what's typical.

It's to minimize the anxiety and the fear, about what's happening and to really, talk about what's typical and what's to be expected.

Because when because you're right, David, people go to their doctor, they don't spend a lot of time with their doctor, and a lot of doctors don't ask the questions that would indicate if there's a problem or if there's a of this cognitive decline.

Because, again, of shame.

And if you have individuals who are living alone, they might not really have a sense of whether or not they are losing some of their abilities.

So I mean, to circle back, part of the reason for a brain check baseline is to demystify the aging process, to try to minimize the anxiety and the fear about what's typical, and also to let you know that there are myths that we need to debunk.

Right.

You can teach all dogs new tricks, right?

The myth that you can't is false, right?

Exercise is really important.

Telling older folks to, you know, careful.

They're careful there.

These are a lot of myths that people really adhere to.

And as you said at the start, there's a lot going on out there.

We're changing our mindse about aging and about how to age in a healthy way and in a way that works, for longevity.

And that's really why we put this together.

Accessibility and debunking these myths and minimizing the anxiety regarding aging and typical aging.

Speaking about typical aging, Doctor Montes, you said you're 76.

The obvious question.

You're 76, you're in great shape.

Why are there other 76 year old people who horrible rheumatoid arthritis, horrible hot heart problems, terrible memory loss, they are saddled and burdened with such health disorders.

Why do some age so well and others even at 70?

I mean, they can barely walk.

They can barely survived.

There's such a disparity in how we age here in the US and really throughout the world.

Is that not the case?

Well, 15 to 25% of your health care issues will be contribute to, your genes and your family.

But we have control over our lives, an we can make positive decisions and eating healthy, exercising, staying socially engaged.

Engaged and being engaged in lifelong learning.

These are all pieces o the puzzle that we can control.

Oftentimes we can't control other issues that come about from things that we've experienced with our families o our previous health histories, but we can we can focus on the thing that we can control, the things that we can't control.

We have to kind of say, well, that's that.

But oftentimes some of our patients have basically not been given appropriate information about what typical aging is and what you can do about it, rather than only dealing with the physiological health aspects of it.

There are things that you can do to improve the qualit of your life and create a better brain health, lifestyle through lifestyle and activities.

David, before this interview, as you must ask Doctor Monti about how she learned to fly a plane, how she learned to ride, Harley Davidson motorcycle.

This woman is is i very complex, and her abilities.

Okay we're not leaving this interview until we hear tha story.

Doctor Montes, tell us.

Well, my husband is the pilot, and he said, look, in case something happens to me, you need to learn how to fly the plane.

And so he put me in touch with a guy and he said, okay, now you're going to learn how to fly the plane take the controls and let's go.

And that's how it started.

And the Harley Davidson.

Well, I had a boyfriend who had a Norton 750 and he said, I like to ride my bike and don't want anybody on the back.

And so if you want to go with us, then you're going to have to get your own bike and learn how to ride a bike.

And that's what happened.

Thank you both so much, doctor Jamie Nyman Campbell and Doctor Alexandra montes for a great interview.

Thank you for this wealth of knowledge.

Thank you David.

An extra bonus.

Now for mor information about our program, just click on KLCS.org and then click contact Us to send us your questions, your comments, or even your story ideas so we can hear from you.

Or you can contact me directly at DavidNazarNews on actually just go to DavidNazarNews on YouTube direct message me, I'll get back with you.

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Thank you so much for joining us.

I'm David Nazar.