Cognitive Edge

In this episode of Cognitive Edge, Dr Miah Hammond-Errey is joined by Jessica Spendlove, one of Australia's leading performance dietitians turned executive wellbeing coach. She has more than 25 seasons experience across professional sport, major corporates and the ADF School of Special Operations. Drawing on her clinical background and her own experiences with burnout and parenthood, Spendlove explains why what we eat, when we eat, and how we structure our days are among the most direct levers available to anyone seeking to sustain high cognitive output.

The conversation cuts through the noise of fasting protocols and supplement trends to focus on what Spendlove calls the five rhythms, nutrition, sleep, exercise, stress and recovery, and connection. This podcast explores how these five pillars interact to shape not just physical performance but also focus, decision-making and resilience. She makes a practical case for being proactive rather than reactive with daily inputs, explains the bi-directional relationship between nutrition and sleep, and offers a clear-eyed view of where supplements like creatine and omega-3s fit. For anyone operating under sustained cognitive load, this episode is a grounding and actionable listen.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Jessica Spendlove and her expertise

01:34 Common myths about nutrition and cognitive performance

02:34 Difference between general wellbeing and peak performance

04:45 Foundations of good cognitive health: nutrition, rhythm, hydration

07:22 The importance of sleep and managing transitions

10:13 Brain breaks and micro moments for cognitive reset

13:41 Balancing exercise, motherhood, and building new rhythms

15:25 Where to start for improving cognitive function

19:01 Fuelling for training and performance optimisation

23:25 Protein pulsing and its effect on brain function

26:26 Hydration's role in cognitive performance

32:56 The science of creatine and brain energy

39:45 Gut health and the gut-brain connection

44:45 Supplements: creatine, omega-3s, and intentional use

52:25 Sleep, recovery, and managing burnout

56:38 Top tips for cognition and nutrition 

 

🧠 Foundations first. Social media inverts the pyramid. The biggest cognitive gains come from standardising the rhythm of your day, when and how much you eat, sleep, and move, before layering in advanced protocols.

🍽️ Protein pulsing. Distributing protein across three meals and snacks stabilises blood sugar, appetite and energy, with direct flow-on effects for afternoon focus and decision-making.

💧 Hydration hits cognition first. The brain is approximately 73% water. A drop in hydration of as little as 1% can impair focus, skill execution and decision-making — more so than physical performance. Monitoring urine colour throughout the day is the most immediate feedback tool available.

☕ Brain breaks aren't optional. Intentional, stimulant-free micro-pauses of one to ten minutes help down-regulate the stress response and align with the body's ultradian rhythms. Scrolling and grabbing a coffee doesn't count.

🔬 Creatine for the brain. Evidence is building that saturating creatine stores can mitigate some cognitive symptoms of sleep deprivation and high mental load. Women have naturally lower creatine stores due to lower dietary intake and 20% lower endogenous synthesis.

🌿 Gut integrity matters. Intestinal permeability, the strength of the gut wall, is shaped by both diet (fibre, fermented foods, minimising ultra-processed products) and stress levels. Many high performers are tolerating gut symptoms that are reliable indicators of how their system is operating.

📊 Build for your worst day, not your best. High performers tend to benchmark against peak metrics and seasons, that don’t always reflect their current life. Sustainable systems are designed around what's achievable on the hardest day, with stretch goals as the ceiling, not the floor.

🔄 Reactive vs proactive. Waiting until hungry, waiting for a gap in the diary, waiting until exhausted. Across all five pillars, the shift from reactive to proactive is where energy gets created, optimised and sustained rather than just managed.

Pre-Order: For the Long run, Build Your Daily Operating System for Energy, Recovery and Wellbeing, July 2026, https://amzn.to/4t33BPh
Jessica Spendlove Website – www.jessicaspendlove.com
Stay at the Top Podcast: https://jessicaspendlove.com/podcast-2/
Jessica Spendlove LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/jessicaspendlove