Become an Alzheimer’s Survivor: Dr. Richard Isaacson’s Breakthrough Approach

The Dr. Hyman Show

Dr. Mark Hyman

Health & Fitness, Nutrition, Medicine

4.6 • 8.7K Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2025

⏱️ 107 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Your brain doesn’t wait until old age to start changing. It’s being shaped right now by the choices you make every single day. On this episode of The Dr. Hyman Show, I’m joined by preventive neurologist Dr. Richard Isaacson—founder of RetainYourBrain, a free assessment platform empowering people to understand and improve their cognitive health. Dr. Isaacson was also recently featured in a CNN documentary highlighting his groundbreaking work on Alzheimer’s prevention. In our conversation, we dig into what the latest science reveals about cognitive longevity—how biomarkers, metabolism, nutrition, and sleep shape the brain’s long-term performance. Watch the full conversation on YouTube, or listen wherever you get your podcasts. We cover: • What early biomarkers can reveal about long-term brain health • How metabolism, blood sugar, and belly fat impact memory and focus • Why a personalized plan beats a one-size-fits-all approach to Alzheimer’s • Lifestyle changes that strengthen cognitive resilience starting now • The role of hormones, exercise, sleep, and supplements in prevention Resource mentioned: CNN Feature I believe we deserve to stay sharp, engaged, and fully ourselves as we age—this conversation shows what’s possible. View Show Notes From This Episode Get Free Weekly Health Tips from Dr. Hyman https://drhyman.com/pages/picks?utm_campaign=shownotes&utm_medium=banner&utm_source=podcast Sign Up for Dr. Hyman’s Weekly Longevity Journal https://drhyman.com/pages/longevity?utm_campaign=shownotes&utm_medium=banner&utm_source=podcast Join the 10-Day Detox to Reset Your Health https://drhyman.com/pages/10-day-detox Join the Hyman Hive for Expert Support and Real Results https://drhyman.com/pages/hyman-hive This episode is brought to you by Seed, Paleovalley, Function Health, BON CHARGE, Sunlighten and PerfectAmino. Visit seed.com/hyman and use code 20HYMAN for 20% off your first month of Seed's DS-01® Daily Synbiotic. Get nutrient-dense, whole foods. Head to paleovalley.com/hyman for 15% off your first purchase. Join today at FunctionHealth.com/Mark and use code HYMAN100 to get $100 toward your membership.Head to boncharge.com and use code DRMARK for 15% off your order. Head over to sunlighten.com and save up to $1400 or more this holiday season with code HYMAN. Go to bodyhealth.com and use code HYMAN20 for 20% off your first order.

Transcript

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0:00.0	47 million Americans are going to get dementia if we don't do something about it.
0:04.6	People think of dementia in neurodegenerative disease as an older person's disease and it's not.
0:09.4	Wow. We can detect changes in the brain decades before a person is going to develop dementia.
0:15.2	We spent $2 trillion over 400 studies and 99% failed. So we're thinking about this wrong.
0:20.4	Dr. Richard Isaacson is a leading preventive neurologist
0:23.3	and he's dedicated to the prevention of Alzheimer's disease.
0:25.8	He was the founder and former director
0:27.4	of the Alzheimer's Prevention Clinic at Wild Cornell Medical School.
0:30.5	He now serves as the director of research
0:32.4	at the Institute for Neurrogentive Diseases.
0:34.8	He heads the NIH-funded retain your brain program about retraining your brain and retaining your brain by doing specific practices that help you preserve your cognitive function. Take this down this sort of, this framework of our current thinking and why it's flawed in the traditional neurological field and how you come to understand when you take a different approach. 45% of cases of dementia may be preventable.
0:54.8	When someone comes into your office, what are you looking at?
0:57.5	What are you testing?
0:58.4	We do this all now digitally.
1:00.1	It's free.
1:00.9	People can go right now and get an assessment and like learn about themselves and get
1:04.6	automated brain health preventative care, prevented neurology care.
1:08.4	How do you approach diet with all this?
1:10.0	Women that have increased
1:11.6	waist circumference, noretta, 39% higher risk of dementia. Two more things I want to occur before we close
1:17.5	out. What about pharmacologic interventions? Because drugs have a role. And also, what about
1:22.5	brain exercises? As you know, I'm always talking about how central the gut is to living a long healthy life.
	...

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