Change Your Brain Every Day - Brain in the News: Millennials, Happiness and Brain Health

Episode Date: May 12, 2021

Dr Daniel and Tana Amen talk about the latest statistics of brain health concerning millennials and the continued mental effects of Covid-19.

Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen. And I'm Tana Amen. In our podcast, we provide you with the tools you need to become a warrior for the health of your brain and body. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we have been transforming lives for 30 years using tools like brain spec imaging to personalize treatment to your brain. For more information, visit amenclinics.com.

The Brain Warriors Way podcast is also brought to you by BrainMD, where we produce the highest quality nutraceuticals to support the health of your brain and body. To learn more, go to brainmd.com. Welcome back. We're in happiness challenge week, happy brain challenge week, because ultimately we're going to help you get your brain, your mind, your relationships, and your deepest sense of meaning and purpose right. Right for happiness. Happiness is a moral obligation. Seeking happiness is not the same as selfish. No.

In fact, it's often when you give that you receive happiness. Right. In the prayer of St. francis for it is better to give than receive and giving connects us to other people and people who are connected are happier so i have a review family therapist unplugged by Quincy Rose. This podcast has transformed not only me personally, but also my outlook on my mental health and physical disability, which has therefore revolutionized my practice as a family therapist. I realized that I can help my people review their insecurities as a strength if I can actually view my own most crippling insecurity as a strength.

I've had three traumatic brain injuries before the age of 19, which has led to focus impairments as well as challenges walking. The Ammons approach to understanding the function of every change or difference in our brain and body is what started the process of viewing myself and the world differently. Wow. I love that. That's awesome. All right. So today we're doing Brain in the News and there is a new study on obstructive sleep apnea and people who snore loudly, stop breathing at night, are chronically tired during the day, are actually getting an oxygen debt state in their brain and your brain is the most oxygen hungry organ in the body. It's 2% of your body's weight, but uses 20% of the blood flow and 20% of the oxygen. And in this study, it actually did spec scans at the Montreal Neurological Institute.

Do you remember when I gave the Society of Nuclear Medicine lecture in Canada? Yeah. Well, one of the guys, the guy that was actually the most irritating in the office, in the audience. Yeah. You remember I gave the lecture and he just went on and on about how, I don't know, he didn't agree with uh uh well it's actually from him oh that's so funny and they use spec scans to look at people with sleep apnea who were treated versus people with sleep apnea who wouldn't take the treatment and guys out there if you've been diagnosed with sleep apnea or your wife says you need to go, you need to get treated because in the controls, the people who were treated with a CPAP had better blood flow.

Yeah. Especially in the hippocampus. Which is the memory cognitive center. The major memory and mood center. Yeah. In the brain and it's just really critically important which by the way that gets damaged in chronic trauma when you're a child too um there's another study a second study out that said 72 percent of Brits feel more confident as they finally stop worrying about whether what other people think of them in their forties. Yeah. That's when it hit me 40. And do you remember the 1840 60 rule?

Okay. So I teach all of my patients that says when you're 18 you worry about what everyone's thinking of you when you're 40 you don't give a damn what anybody thinks about you and when you're 60 you realize no one has been thinking about you at all people spend their days worrying and thinking about themselves, not you. And I just love that. I think it is just so important. And then there was another new study on people who have COVID-19 have a 20% increased risk, so very significant increased risk of being diagnosed with mental health disorder.

Yeah. I've seen that six months. Yeah. And even young now we're seeing so many young people who are struggling with energy and brain fog. And it's, it's, you know,

I'm really hoping we come up with ways to reverse some of that because it's starting to get a little scary. I mean, I know people say, oh, it's fine. I didn't get that sick. But then they're having these lingering effects. So, you know. Well, and then one more study for Brandon in the News that just horrified me this week. It actually is going to make all of my lectures.

Millennials. I know. of my lectures um millennials i know so i guess early 30s to 40. um 44 of millennials have a chronic health condition so why and that or and my daughters right are both millennials. And one of my daughters has a chronic health condition. But why? Why that age group specifically? It's so interesting. Well, I think as a society, we are becoming more and more unhealthy. Right?

When in 1982, when I graduated from medical school, there were overweight people, but not many of them. But my question is- But it was like 20%. Now it's 72%. Right. But is the younger generation after the millennials, are they becoming more conscious of it? That's my question.

No. Oh. And so of all the groups, because there were massive weight changes during the pandemic, the young group, the younger group, I guess, what, Generation Y, their weight gain was like insane, like 40 pounds. Wow.

It was really crazy because of the insecurity, the anxiety. Well, yeah, the depression. You know, things being cancelled right um and we are not teaching people to manage their minds we're just not and we need to do a better job of teaching you to manage your mind which we're going to do on the 30 day happiness challenge. You can go to 30 day happiness challenge.com sign up, be with us. We're going to be with you every day for a month. Now you're going to be happier in a month if you do what we say, but the idea is it's not just for a month. These are habits we want you to put in your life for the rest of your life.

I actually think happiness, just like forgiveness, just like love, is a habit. I actually think it's a habit as much as it is anything else. Yes, there's the brain component to it. Yes, there's all of those things. But it's something you have to practice. So forgiveness, people are like, well, I don't feel like, I don't feel forgiving. They don't deserve it. Okay, you've got to practice it daily. There are many, I don't feel like I don't feel forgiving. They don't deserve it. Okay.

You've got to practice it daily. There are many people I don't feel like forgiving, but I have to practice it on a daily basis. Right. And sometimes I wake up and I don't feel it, but you do it anyways, because it's good for you. Well, sometimes I wake up and I don't feel like going to the gym or sometimes. But you do it anyways, because you know, it's the right thing to do and it makes you healthier. And then I feel better afterwards. Like you had a bad night of sleep this week. You blamed me,

of course. I blame the sheets. And you're and then you went, because that's your habit. And afterwards you go, oh, I felt so much better. Right. And so when I wake up and I don't feel like forgiving someone, I'm angry at them. I stop myself now. I didn't used to. I stop myself now. And I say, you know what? This isn't good for me. This isn't good for me.

And so I do the practice of forgiveness when I don't feel loving. So what you'd act loving because it's good for your relationship. When you don't feel happy, So what? You act loving because it's good for your relationship. When you don't feel happy, guess what? When you behave that way, it's not good for your physical health. It's a practice as much as it is anything. So love is a practice. Forgiveness is a practice. Happiness is a practice. Happiness is a practice. And you know, I've been thinking about how pleasure is the enemy of happiness. Because if you engage too much in it, you develop this thing.

We'll talk about it. Become envious. Hedonic adaptation. We actually wear out the pleasure centers in your room. And that's one thing we've stopped ourselves and become fairly good at is stepping back and going. You know, we find ourselves, you know, if that happens, we step back and we go, do we really need this? Like, do we really need this? And you have to stop yourself and go, how important is this? How necessary is this? Cause you have to do that. Like, am I, why am I doing this?

When we come back, we're going to answer your questions. So what did you learn about sleep apnea or millennials? Or when you're 40, you don't have to worry about what everybody's thinking of you. Write it down, post it on any of your social media sites, hashtag Brain Warriors Way podcast. Go to brainwarriorswaypodcast.com. Leave us a comment, question, or review, and we'll enter you into a drawing to win one of our books. Stay with us. If you're enjoying the Brain Warriors Way podcast, please don't forget to subscribe so you'll always know when there's a new episode. And while you're at it, feel free to give us a review or five-star rating as that helps others find the podcast.

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