The weekly thread: red wine and lower risk of cognitive decline, the psychology of a tenacious mind, and you didn’t sign up to be the 80% version of yourself.

A paper published in May 2022, titled, Association Between Wine Consumption and Cognitive Decline in Older People: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Longitudinal Studies, aimed to examine evidence on the association between wine consumption and cognitive decline. 

In this meta-analysis, the authors did a search in MEDLINE (via PubMed, which is also where I found this paper) on longitudinal studies measuring the association between wine consumption and cognitive decline all the way from the inception of these studies thru May 2021.

The search turned up 6,065 articles, with 12 of the studies qualifying for this meta-analysis. 

Quick note…I personally like the findings of a meta-analysis like the one cited above, as a meta-analysis is aimed at drawing conclusions from many studies on a specific subject, rather than providing one specific result from an individual study, which of course, can be biased. I think a meta-analysis tends to remove more of any potential bias. I try to share as many meta-analyses as possible, or when I do share a specific study, it will usually involve a large sample size, and appear to be pretty free of bias. 

The meta-analysis performed in the study mentioned above showed a Relative Risk (RR) of 0.65 with wine consumption compared to those who don’t drink wine.

Whoa, this is a pretty big finding, so let’s break this down a bit. 

The RR is the risk factor of one control compared to the other control group. In this meta-analysis, it was wine consumption and its association to cognitive decline compared to no wine consumption and its relative risk associated with cognitive decline. 

An RR of 0.65, (or anything under 1.00), in this case for those who regularly consume low to moderate amounts of wine (it should be noted that this is red wine) means that the risk of cognitive decline is 35% lower (1.00-0.65) for those who regularly consume low to moderate amounts of wine than those who do not consume wine at all. 

First, this alone is a pretty significant decline in the relative risk of cognitive decline for those who drink low to moderate amounts of wine regularly, however, when you also consider that this reduction in risk is actually in comparison to those who do not drink wine, it is even more remarkable. 

Furthermore, low to moderate wine consumption is defined as one to up to three glasses of wine per day, with a standard glass of wine being around 5 oz. 

I will go ahead and share a bit of an assumption, that this reduction in risk is a testament to the many therapeutic and anti-aging properties specific to red wine, and not a positive correlation between alcohol consumption and a reduction in cognitive decline. 

Although, there is research that also shows a positive correlation between the body’s hermetic response to low amounts of alcohol (meaning over consumption doesn’t have the same effect). More on this in a future segment. 


Not All Red Wine is Created Equal

I think it’s worth noting that there is a lot you can do to ensure you are drinking a higher quality, less toxic glass of wine, if you are drinking to your health. 

Unfortunately, I’m probably going to burst some bubbles here. 

If you are choosing to drink to your health, or just want a glass of wine that has less sugar and is far less likely to give you a headache or hangover, you’re going to want to stay away from California (namely Napa Valley) reds. 

The reality is that in that part of the country, they are using lots of herbicides, pesticides, and adding additional sulfites to their wine. The herbicides and pesticides also create less nutrient dense soil over time, which also means less nutritional value to the grapes that create these tremendous health and therapeutic benefits from red wine. 

I exclusively drink, and for what it’s worth, highly recommend, going with an “Old World” style wine. 

Any wine produced in a region that traditionally makes their wine old world style, simply means, wine is produced using methods hundreds of years old, and you know what they didn’t have hundreds of years ago?

Herbicides, pesticides, preservatives, and even complex irrigation systems that can result in toxic, contaminated soil. 

If you’re interested in learning more about how to select an “Old World Style” wine, click here.

I’m sure on some level, we would all like to be considered more tenacious, to be better at rising to the occasion when challenged, to persist and see through our biggest goals. 

My mental toughness is something I probably work harder on developing than my physical toughness, and is an increasing area of focus for me. 

Although, I will say that training your physical toughness also better trains your mental toughness by default. 

Tenacity is the quality or fact of being very determined, even under immense pressure. 

At the heart of tenacity is an area of the brain much of the scientific community isn’t even yet all that familiar with called the anterior mid cingulate cortex (aMCC). 

The aMCC is uniquely positioned in the brain at the crossroads of multiple neural pathways, creating a seemingly perfect amalgamation for determining your overall tenacity. To read more on the neuroscience of the aMCC, check out a paper titled, “The Tenacious Brain: How the Anterior Mid Cingulate Contributes to Achieving Goals”

Better yet, research has shown that you can train this part of your brain to actually grow almost like a muscle, and thus, improve your overall tenacity. 

There will be almost endless instances throughout your life in which you may want, or need to draw on your tenacity in order to succeed at something, or see a tough time through. 

Just like training your body to be more physically fit, and thus, capable when needed or called upon, the same goes for your tenacity. 

First, let’s get clear on what kind of acts actually build tenacity. 

The Psychology of Tenacity

I’m not going to bog you down with all the neuroscience of tenacity, again, if you’d like to read more on it, I’ve linked to an interesting paper above. My focus will be on the psychology of tenacity, which if you understand properly, empowers you to train and positively affect the actual neurobiology that determines your tenacity. 

Dr. Andrew Huberman, a leading Stanford neuroscientist and host of the wildly popular “Huberman Lab” podcast, describes habit execution as doing the things that  are not tough to do, typically things that are part of our everyday lives like waking up, brushing out teeth, walking the dog, et cetera. 

In most cases, these daily habits do not require willpower to perform. Sure, some days you may be underslept and don’t feel like getting up right away, or the weather might not be optimal for walking the dog, so they may require a bit of willpower to do, but ultimately, I’m guessing you wouldn’t describe the execution of these habits as requiring “tenacity” to complete. 

To build tenacity, one must do things that require willpower. 

Things that require willpower to do, by definition, are the things you don’t want to do. 

Therefore, to build tenacity, you must do things you truly do not want to do. 

For example, the lake I live on is already getting chilly enough for a morning cold plunge, and I know this, because that proverbial “gut check” to jump in the lake in the early AM is already kicking in. As it gets colder and colder, this “gut check” will take more and more willpower to overcome. 

And as it gets colder and colder, there will be mornings where that cold plunge in the lake is the LAST thing I WANT to do. 

However, I now know that it is in these moments that I have an opportunity to build my tenacity. 

Rather than talk myself out of it, I now talk myself into it. In this case, jumping in the lake. 

I know that the more I don’t want to do something, the more I NEED to do something. 

And I do. 

And no surprise, I always feel amazing afterwards, both mentally and physically. 

I’ve written about how cold water immersion can rewire your brain to improve your mental and emotional health, and the anti-inflammatory and anti-aging benefits of cold water exposure are well documented, however, there is another benefit to my cold plunge example, and that is getting past the gut punch that is simply getting in the water, or getting in that cold shower, when it’s the one thing you don’t want to do. 

Getting that mental victory trains your brain to become more tenacious over time. 

Think of this approach to training and building tenacity from a neurobiology perspective, as an insurance policy when life sends adversity your way. 

Adversity is when life throws a wrench at you and hits you right in the face. You can’t control what happens to you, or to someone you love, you can only control how you respond to it, and how you handle it. 

The more you train your tenacity ahead of time by consciously doing things you don’t want to do, the more equipped you will be to handle true adversity when it comes your way. 

Furthermore, the more you train your tenacity by doing more tough things you don’t want to do (but know you should do), the more that compounds over time. Soon, you’re able to do tougher and tougher things both mentally and physically. 

As you continue to increase your ability to do tougher and tougher things, the more your imagination of what you’re capable of grows, and as that grows, the goals, and subsequent achievements get bigger and bigger. 

If you’re reading this and thinking to yourself that you’d like improve your tenacity, here are the two things I’d recommend you start doing:

✔️ Think about the tough things that you are avoiding doing that you know would benefit you; this can be both mentally and physically, and start doing more of them. 

✔️ Work on being more conscious of the moments when you are talking yourself out of doing something tough because it is tough. As you develop this behavioral recognition within yourself, you will begin to develop the mindset that you know the more you DO NOT want to do something, the more you NEED to do it. 

I’ll close this segment with a sentiment I like to remind others of from time to time…

You are POWERFUL. Act accordingly.

I came across this meme this week, and on the topic of, and thinking about tenacity, I found it to be quite thought provoking. 

I feel so blessed to inhabit this physical body of mine, that has been designed to be wildly intelligent, to strengthen through stress, and to have the potential to achieve great things. 

To truly embrace this gift, and to fully give as much of this energy I’ve been blessed with back to the world, 80% of my potential is not enough. 

It’s interesting to ponder on this, ponder on the areas I’m not fully utilizing, and have the potential to do so. 

This is highly individualized, as each and every person is different; with different aspirations, goals, and priorities. 

It’s up to you to determine what the 50%, the 80%, or the 99% version of you is, and at minimum, it’s worth thinking more deeply about.