Dr Sarah McKay — Unlocking Peak Brain Performance— EP14

Dr Sarah McKay on optimising brain health & performance: why social connection beats most biohacks, how sleep powers peak performance, what visualisation really changes in the brain, and practical emotional regulation you can train—plus women’s brain health myths, phones vs attention, and when mindfulness programs help (or don’t).

Guest: Dr Sarah McKay — Oxford-trained neuroscientist, author, and science communicator.
Follow Sarah: https://www.instagram.com/drsarahmckay

Chapters
00:00 Intro & who is Dr Sarah McKay
03:08 From bench science to translating neuroscience
08:45 Zooming in/out: neurons → public health
12:20 Social connection vs loneliness & isolation
18:40 Peak performance: social → sleep → everything else
24:10 Sex differences: data vs stereotypes
31:55 Visualisation for skill and emotions
39:30 Emotional regulation tools (awareness, context, language, rehearsal)
47:25 Phones & attention: the hidden cost
53:10 Mindfulness in schools—mixed results
1:00:05 Building resilience without the hype
1:05:15 Daily brain-health rituals (with joy)
1:10:20 Where to find Sarah & her courses

Mentioned

• Emotion Wheel (emotional vocabulary)
• How We Feel app
• Research on attention costs of phones in-room
• Big-data/open-science collabs in neuroscience

Connect
Show — @intodeep_pod
Host — @geoff_elevate

Support
Share with a friend, rate/review, and follow for more.

Keywords: neuroscience, brain health, sleep, social connection, emotional regulation, women’s brain health, visualisation, attention, mindfulness, peak performance