274. Dr. Courtney Conley: Dementia, 4,000 Steps, Big Toe & The 6th Vital Sign

“Yeah. Right, more load through my foot, burn a little more calories, get my heart rate up. So I had my backpacking, backpack in my garage. And so I, I threw a, I'm almost embarrassed to say this, a 25-pound kettlebell. And I just threw it in my backpack.”

“don't treat it anywhere near like that. No. We don't treat it by itself. You know, interestingly, I read a book called Born to Run. Yes. Years ago. And it reframed my thought on foot mechanics. It was the first time that...”

“The worst thing we ever did was put women in seven-inch stilettos. And I have these Ferragamo beautiful loafers. They bring a tear to my eye every time I take them out of the closet. It's so beautiful. They hurt my feet. I mean, I cant even walk through the airport with these things.”

“We have a high-heel shoe rehab section in the book where if you wear it, yes, it's very important. If you wear high heels, just do these things. Right. It's just being proactive.”

“I see a lot of metabolic syndrome, and obviously one of the leading causes is insulin resistance and high blood sugar. And looking at some comparative studies between like GLP1s and Metformin and a 15-minute walk immediately after a meal post-prandial. It's so exciting. I mean, that's why. That's unbelievable. Like, that should be the first prescription.”

“This is, do I need surgery? This is, do I need some type of orthopedic shoe to now rocker me through my forefoot because I've lost stability here? Yeah. So we don't want to get to those conversations.”

“and I really hate to quote Peter Atiyah, but he talks about the centenarian decathlon in the book Outlive. And I thought it was really appropriate to start thinking today about- Yes. What you wanna be doing when you're in your 80s.”

“I also remember this book, Born to Run, and it like reframing my... So I started for months, I started wearing the toe shoes. Yes. I got so ridiculed for these things. And they were really a pain to put on because I had to tuck each toe into these foot shoes.”

“Okay. Because then I know I can work on strength. I can utilize toes. Toe spacers, for example, we get them in the right footwear, but depending upon someone's age and how rigid the foot becomes, if that big toe now starts to tuck under the second toe, we've seen feet like this.”

“I think that's also very important. You had asked about, you know, the five things. Yeah. Pay attention to your footwear. I'm gonna have to give up my Travis Scott's, but I'll do it. Not all the time. I'll do it. Not all the time. I'll do it to cut my dementia risk by 50%. You know, I could also just wear them when I go out.”

“Yeah. And I think people would find that it's actually faster than you would think. Really? It's about, so on a treadmill, 3.0, 3.5. Four miles an hour. If you look at the cancer research, it is four miles an hour, 30 minutes.”

“Sure. You obviously probably have some brands that you- What are you wearing right now? These are Vivo barefoots. See, I started with the Vivo toe shoes and gave them up. But I think I could be reconvinced for these. Well, people, this is- Those are a lot more fashionable than the ones- Yes, they're getting there. I don't know if you can see these on the camera, but way more fashionable.”