Change Your Brain Every Day - BRIGHT MINDS: Secrets to a Healthier Brain and Body in 2025 – Part 1

Episode Date: January 13, 2025

Discover how to transform your brain and body in 2025! In the first episode of this two-part series, Dr. Amen and Tana dive into the BRIGHT risk factors behind memory loss, mental health struggles, and physical health issues. Through personal stories and science-backed strategies, they’ll show you how to prevent or overcome these risks for a healthier, happier future.   00:00 Intro 00:44 The Foundation of Brain Health 03:13 B is for Blood Flow 09:08 R is for Retirement & Aging 12:20 I is for Inflammation 16:02 Sponsor 17:17 G is for Genetics 21:48 H is for Head Trauma 27:31 T is for Toxins 32:52 BRIGHT Strategies 34:55 Wrap Up

This, I think, is one of the most foundational podcasts that we will do. Early in relaunching the podcast, we want to do a lot of episodes on what's foundational for brain and mental health. What this is, is it's really preventing things. So you're really trying to get ahead of it. You're not putting a Band- bandaid over a bullet hole. And that's really what we want to think about with Bright Minds. Every day, you are making your brain better

or you are making it worse. Stay with us to learn how you can change your brain for the better every day. Welcome back, everyone. So happy to be with you, my love. Always. And this, I think, is one of the most foundational podcasts that we will do. We're going to talk about bright minds. And it has so many different meanings. Like you want to brighten up your brain. But you also want to be smarter as well.

And one of the big lessons I have learned is if you want to keep your brain healthy or rescue it if it's headed for trouble, you have to prevent or treat the 11 major risk factors that steal your mind. Well, and I love this because it's really the foundation. This is how you think of functional medicine. So the difference between functional medicine and sort of traditional medicine, the way we think of, you know, is, is that traditional medicine treats illness and functional medicine prevents illness, right? But there's no profit in prevention. But what this is, is it's really preventing things. So you're really trying to get ahead of it. You're not putting a bandaid over a bullet hole. And that's really what we want to think about with Bright Minds. And early in relaunching the podcast, we want to do a lot of episodes on what's foundational for brain and mental health. And this is the most foundational thing that I have learned. And many years ago, I got together with Mark Filliday, who's our

director of functional medicine at Amen Clinics, and Cabran Chapik, and Ebony Cornish, and a lot of our functional medicine doctors. And I put up on the board, it's like, these are the things that I'm always thinking about. What am I missing? And they, of course, told me. And what acronym can we come up with to just help people remember how to keep their brain healthy. So let's talk about each of the 11 major risk factors that steal your mind. So for those of you watching or listening, I just want you to think bright minds. And the B is for blood flow. Low blood flow is the number one brain imaging predictor of Alzheimer's disease.

And did you know, I showed you the study this morning, that taxi cab drivers and ambulance drivers have the lowest incidence out of like 441 occupations. They studied 9 million people of Alzheimer's disease. That's so interesting. And I think it's because of the complex memorization and direction sense that they have. And perhaps because of smartphones, they're actually going to increase the incidence of Alzheimer's disease because you don't really need to think spatially anymore. It's all provided for you. It's series like, no, turn left. So it makes you wonder, like, that's something we should be working on is things that sort of stretch the part of your brain where you are a little weak, right?

Right. Which will come up in the R in retirement and aging, which is new learning. But when you think of blood flow, what are the things that decrease blood flow to the brain? Well, sitting around too much, not moving, not exercising. For sure. Caffeine. Anything that causes constriction. People don't like that. Nicotine, alcohol, marijuana. We're just coming off the You Lied to Me series,

which got all sorts of interesting engagement. High cholesterol is bad, but low cholesterol is bad too. And most family medicine doctors and cardiologists, they want it as low as possible, not realizing it makes up a significant portion of your brain. Right. So I think anything that decreases oxygen to the brain is also going to be a problem because blood flow and oxygen are.

They go hand in hand. And so with each of these, let's also do the flip side. Right. Want to keep your brain healthy. Rescue. You have to prevent means avoid these things or treat, do these things. And, you know, you always hate when I say this, but if you have erectile dysfunction, you have low blood flow to your brain. Oh, no, I think that's important. So low blood flow anywhere likely means it's everywhere. Right. So even people who have cold hands or cold feet, well, that's low

blood flow to their hands and feet, probably not good for their brain. And I've seen this for decades. People get on a brain health program, their erections are better, stronger, longer, stronger, longer. And so what are things that increase blood flow? Well, the opposite of what we just talked about. So exercise for sure, decreasing caffeine, but green tea seems to be good, correct? Because of theanine. Theanine tends to less caffeine, half the caffeine of coffee, and theanine tends to counteract the negative effects of caffeine. And an anti-inflammatory diet. So things that decrease inflammation and increase blood flow.

So things like beets. But, so, but not too much sugar. So you want to be careful with, um, fruits and vegetables if it has too much sugar. So low glycemic, high fiber. Cacao. Right. So lots of antioxidants. So we have brain healthy hot chocolate every night. You always look at me like, are you doing it? Right. Right. It's that time. And I'm not quite sure how I got relegated to it because it's your recipe because it's your treat for me it's my treat it's just your little act of love um also hyperbaric oxygen yeah which we are both huge fans of and have done a lot of it personally but i have a very fun hyperbaric story. My dad, when he was 90, all of a sudden, and my dad didn't never had a psychiatric problem. He gave them psychiatric problem. But you remember the day he called me

and he said, Danny, I'm seeing little people on the ceiling. Yeah. And your siblings wanted you to take his keys. And it was a big problem. Yeah. I'm like, what do you mean you're seeing little people on the ceiling? He said, they just like walk around up there. And a lot of psychiatrists would have put him on an antipsychotic medication. And I'm like, no, he's not psychotic. Something's going on with his brain. And so we scanned him. He had really low blood flow, not uncommon for people who are 90. But we put him in a hyperbaric chamber. He came every day. And six days later, the little people went away on the ceiling.

And so I've been a huge fan. So hyperbaric oxygen is something that can significantly improve blood flow. Now the R in bright minds is retirement and aging. And I hate this part because I turned 70 this year. You're never going to retire. No, but I want my brain to be as sharp as it was when I was 40. But the older you are, that's the biggest risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. In fact, if you live to 85, you have a one in two chance of having lost your mind. So I would argue that in this category, empty nest syndrome is a little bit part of this because most of the women I know, I mean,

I think retirement and aging, one of the things, one of the reasons this one is so important is because it's not just about the new learning that is huge, but it's also about this lack of purpose and this feeling of loneliness. And as someone who felt this, so many of my friends and the women I know, when they feel this empty nest syndrome come on, they feel isolated, even if they're not. They feel a lack of purpose and it's wicked. And so that feeling, they start to withdraw. And you notice this big change with women and not just women. I mean, it happens to men too, but it's a little bit different for men sometimes because women put

so much of their time, energy, and just everything they have into staying home. A lot of times, um, I think, you know, when the kids left, I'm like, Oh, I have more of your time. Right. So, I mean, I don't, I don't know. You know, I think for women who maybe have a career. Love my kids. It's a little different. Just never want to have to live with them. Right. So, I want to put that in that category.

No, I think that's really great. Also, isolation, hearing loss, which we're going to do a whole podcast coming up on the negative impact on the brain of hearing loss and then high iron in your blood prematurely ages the brain interesting and so if you want to treat this new learning is absolutely essential. You continue to learn new things throughout life. That's how you keep your neurons connected and your brain young. And it's new learning. It's not doing the same task, even if the same task, whether it's cooking a great meal or reading a brain scan, once you know how to do it, your brain actually uses less and less energy over time to do it. So new learning, connection. And then if your iron is high, donate blood. I need to donate blood twice a year because I just tend to accumulate iron. And I think your iron is actually low.

And so that's not the best strategy for you. So for you, red meat, which is high in iron, is good. And I take ferritin. It's not that good. Mm-hmm. So you had mentioned inflammation earlier, which many people think underlies almost a lot of, almost all chronic disease. So there have actually been studies showing that inflammation is actually one of the main causes of almost every chronic disease. So decreasing

inflammation is one of the most important things you will do. So an anti-inflammatory diet, obviously taking certain supplements that help with it, exercise, getting your sleep right, all of those things are critical for decreasing inflammation. But let's talk about what causes it. So probably the most common cause is our diets that filled with fast food, ultra processed foods. High in omega-6 fatty acids and low in omega-3s. Low in omega-3s. Sugar. This thing called leaky gut syndrome, where the tight junctions in your esophagus,

stomach, intestinal tract, colon start to come apart and things get into your body that shouldn't be there, that the protective lining of your gut gets holes in it. And then your body reacts with inflammation to try to protect you, but you end up with an autoimmune disorder. And so many of my patients go, I have an autoimmune disorder and they're taking medicine for their autoimmune disorder, but they have no idea why they have an autoimmune disorder. And leaky gut is one of the most common causes. This is what led me to write the 10 books I've written. It wasn't actually because I wanted to write books. It was healing my own crazy health, my own gut is what started me on this journey. It was having cancer and being sick all the time.

And it just, it's amazing how, when you can get this right, how many other things will fall in line. It's that one thing. It changes so much. And then gum disease. And for a long time, like I have so many cavities because my grandfather was a candy maker and my

mother was sort of a sugar addict. And I never really cared about my gums until I kept reading the research over and over and over again. Paradontal disease is associated with heart disease. It's associated with brain disease, associated with cancer. So become a flossing fool. And low omega-3 fatty acids, you mentioned that, but we actually published a study.

And low omega-3 index, so low omega-3 fatty acids in your blood, is associated with low hippocampus, low function in the major memory structure in your brain. And then we tested the omega-3 index on 50 consecutive patients who came to AMN clinics who were not taking omega-3s. 49 of them had sub optimal levels and so um just like you said omega-3 fatty acids probiotics for your gut supplements like curcumin become a flossing fool um well we're going to do a series, a couple of series, you know, diet. We're going to do a whole series on, on anti-inflammatory, on anti-inflammatory foods, but also on gut.

So that'll be coming up soon. Yes. You actually wrote a brilliant lecture on. Well, I've got my own crazy story just from recently about gut. So that'll be coming up. Every thought, every decision, every success is created by your brain. And the one thing I've learned from looking at over 250,000 brain scans over the last 30 years is that you are not stuck with the brain you have you can make it better and i can prove it this is why i created brain fit life 5.0 to help you assess your brain and then help you optimize it by knowing your brain type and giving you access to the tools you need to have a better brain and a better life. It includes a 30-day happiness challenge, brain and mental health trackers, hypnosis audios, brain enhancing music, and tools to conquer stress and anxiety. You can feel better, think sharper, and live happier.

Go to the App Store and download BrainFit Life 5.0 today. Let's talk about genetics. This is so important because people think that if they have it in their family, they're doomed. Or they use it as an excuse. Like I have obesity and heart disease in my family, but I'm not overweight and I don't have heart disease. I've got cancer, diabetes, heart disease. And I wear this, you know, this continuous glucose monitor because I know it's a risk for me. I know that I will tend to be insulin resistant, but I don't want to do that. I don't want to go there. I just sort of refuse. And so, but it's very easy for me to get to that place. And so it doesn't mean you have to give into it.

Genes should be a wake-up call, not a death sentence. Right. They load the gun. They don't pull the trigger. Your lifestyle and the choices you make are what pull the trigger. And of course, that's not 100% true. There are some genetic disorders that are, the trigger gets pulled. You don't have a choice.

You don't have a choice. You don't have a choice. Right. Like Huntington's disease. But for most chronic illness, that's true. But Parkinson's disease is in part genetic. But if you engage in a lifestyle of drug abuse or exposure to environmental toxins, you're much more likely to express the gene and more likely earlier. And diabetes and many types of cancer, not all, and not type 1 diabetes.

We need to be clear. There are differences. And so often, so the risk is what are my genetic risks? And I said mine mine you said yours those of you listening you should write it down what runs in your family um so for example we um had our nieces come to live with us because both their parents had issues health issues, but also substance abuse issues. And cross our fingers, they're doing really well. But I have hammered them with, you have addiction in your family.

If you never use drugs, you're never going to have a problem. If you use, you might have a big problem. And so the treatment is really know your risk. And there are a couple of genes I think people should just know, like the ApoE gene. If you have one of the E4 genes or two of the E4 genes, you're at a much higher risk of getting alzheimer's disease and you should be on an alzheimer's prevention program your whole life including not playing contact sports because if you play a contact sport we're talking about head trauma in a second you are so much more likely to have problems from it and also the mthfr gene i that. And I have one of them as well. And so I take methylfolate.

So do I. The MTHFR gene is one that tells us how your body processes methylfolate, which is a critical vitamin to help make neurotransmitters. And if you have one or two of the abnormal alleles, so part of the gene, then you won't make enough of it. And then you're just, you're more likely to be depressed. You're more likely to store toxins. Right. So you're not detoxifying appropriately. Or making enough of the neurotransmitters you need to stay focused, happy, healthy. And so supplementing. And one of the ways you'll know in knowing your important health numbers,

we should do a podcast on know your important health numbers, is homocysteine just tends to be high. And mine tends to be high, but when I take methylfolate, it tends to be in a much healthier range. And homocysteine is an inflammatory marker for heart disease. The issue is know your risks and be on a prevention program as soon as possible. The H is for head trauma. If you ask me, say, hey, Daniel, single most important thing you've learned from 250,000 scans, mild traumatic brain injury ruins people's lives and nobody knows it because nobody scans the brain. So from looking at the brain, and I remember when you and I first met nearly 20 years ago, and I was, and still am,

so taken with you, beautiful, smart, sweet, strong, um, you're a badass. And I'm like, I have to look at her brain. And, and I could see on the left side of your brain, left front, left temporal lobe, it was her. So that's one of the things I learned from you is that head trauma for me had a very different definition. And so I learned that head trauma, it's, well, the small traumas, the things that don't necessarily, most of us don't necessarily think of as head trauma because maybe we didn't pass out or we walked away from an accident or we thought, you know, you didn't crack your skull open. You didn't have to go to the hospital. I think the average person doesn't necessarily think of that as head trauma. I was a trauma nurse. And so I thought, you know, I dealt with, I worked in a level A trauma center and it was a combined unit with neurosurgical ICU. And I think that almost made it worse because I

thought, well, unless you've got a brain drain or, you know, you're a skull flap, you know, we'd cut out part of your skull. It's not a real trauma. And so that's one of the things I learned from you is it's actually those smaller traumas, those daily things, because people don't think about them. They don't notice them until they're actually affecting their lives. Right. And when I said you had one, you said, no, I didn't. I thought you were crazy.

I'm like, you're shrinking me again. I was shrinking you. Yeah. And then what I learned is you have to ask people 10 times in all sorts of different ways, whether or not they had a head injury. And, you know, did you fall out of a tree, fall off a fence, dive into a shallow pool, have a concussion, playing sports? Were you in a car accident?

Kind of. And then you go, yes. And you go, but I wasn't knocked out. I didn't. I walked away from it. I was so grateful that I walked away from it because my sister was driving the car at 75 miles an hour and rolled it three times. She fell asleep.

She fell asleep. She fell asleep. And so I was so grateful. So all of a sudden your brain, think about it. Your brain is going 75 miles an hour. That's how fast the car was going, which meant that's how fast your brain was going. And all of a sudden she falls asleep. The car swerves. Spinning right so what is going on inside your skull right your brain is the consistency of soft butter it's housed in a really hitting the center divider hard skull that has sharp bony ridges your brain is now flipping and all of a sudden, stop. And so it slammed up against all the ridges in your brain. And it didn't knock out your brainstem. So you didn't lose consciousness.

But it got rattled. No, but I whacked. Fortunately, I was laying down. But I whacked the console. And so I whacked the console when it flipped. But I still didn't lose consciousness. Right. And that's oneacked the console and it flipped. But I still didn't lose consciousness. Right. And that's one of the big lies.

Yeah. That in order to have a bad brain injury, you have to lose consciousness. Yeah, and that's what I learned. But it's just not true. Yeah. And I didn't understand this. Like, I've always had, like, a really razor sharp memory. And the one thing that I, the only thing I can really pinpoint is from about

that time forward, I have trouble remembering names, people's names. I have to say it like four or five times before I remember people's names. I remember their faces perfectly, but I'm like, could that have been why? Like, I don't know. You know, could that have been the thing? And it's so common among our patients here at Amen Clinics. And so the treatment is where you can repair that. Here at Amen Clinics, we did the first largest study on active and retired NFL players. High levels of damage. So like stop, you know, to the NFL. Stop lying about it.

You have a problem. High levels of damage in people who play football, really at any level. And 80% of our players got better when we put them on a rehabilitation program. And our rehabilitation program, high dose omega-3 fatty acids, a fabulous multiple vitamin with high levels of B6, B12, folate, and vitamin D, and then a brain boost that works in six different ways. And so BrainMD, on the sponsors of the podcast, Brain and Body Power Max is actually my NFL formula that 80% of our NFL players showed improvement in as little as two months. And then if you add something like hyperbaric oxygen, you're not stuck with the brain you have. You can make it better and I can prove it,

which I'm so excited about that. So if we go to the T, so blood flow, retirement and aging, inflammation, genetics, head trauma for this podcast and then for the next one, we'll do minds. So we'll break this into two parts. The tea is toxins. And as a psychiatrist, like right away, I'm thinking drugs, alcohol, because they're toxic to the brain, as we've already talked about. But then I would see scans of people who were not drinkers

or drug users that look like they were. And then I'm like, oh, I have to learn more. And so things like mold or heavy metals. Or if they're working in factories that have chemicals. One of my great cases of this couple who failed marital therapy, and he looked like, his brain looked like he was a drug addict. But he said he never did drugs and didn't drink. But what's the first lesson you learn about drug addicts? They lie. They lie. They lie.

A lot. I grew up with them. And so I asked his wife in front of him, is that true? He doesn't do drugs and never drinks. And go, oh, no, he's just an asshole. Like, so when did he become an asshole? Shortly after he started working in a furniture factory where he was exposed to organic solvents day in and day out. toxins in the water, to toxins in the air, to the products you put on your body that have parabens and phthalates and fragrance that we now know are associated with certain cancers. And so

it's so important. This tea is so important to have a healthy brain is avoid toxins and detoxify. You are really good in the cookbooks with brassicas. Yeah. They're really healthy for you and for detoxification. There are certain supplements that are really fantastic too. Like NAC. Yeah. Saunas can be really helpful.

In fact, people who take the most saunas have the lowest incidence of dementia. Isn't that interesting? Yeah. And then eating a lot of fiber. So how do you recommend people increase the fiber in their diets? So when we do our food podcast, we will get more into detail because there are different types of fiber. Because there's prebiotic fiber, there's probiotic fiber, but there's soluble and insoluble. And you really want to get the right balance of those. So if

you're not getting enough of it in your food, which you always want to get the most that you can, and that's usually with really a balance of fruits and vegetables, but you can add it. So we add it oftentimes to our smoothies and it's a great way to boost your fiber. And you want to be careful because so often a lot of things that they advertise, oh, boost fiber, but they're just loaded with sugar. And you want to watch that because just like, you know, so often when you read things that say health food on them, it's, if you read the label, it's really not health food. And so you want to pay attention

to that. That's why when we put fiber in our smoothie, it's like, it's just straight fiber. And that's why, you know, don't just look at the label and it says, oh, adds, you know, six grams or 12 grams of fiber. Make sure that what you're eating is not just loaded with other garbage. So you want to be just looking at your fiber. Well, I think it's one of the most important things people can do is read the label and really understand what's on the label. And if you don't understand it, don't consume it.

Right. So you want to try to get it with, you know with lots of vegetables, some fruit, lots of vegetables. And if you're not getting enough there, then add a little fiber to say a smoothie or something. So when it comes to blood flow, you know, if you just think of it really simply, it's move more. That will help you retirement and aging learn and connect more inflammation is stop eating sugar and take an omega-3 fatty acid and floss your teeth and genetics it's be serious right and you have diabetes and cancer in your family so all and you know it's like being on an anti-diabetes program is the exact same as being on a cancer

prevention program and they're all anti-inflammatory right it's just it's all the same program right but whatever your risk the program is the same. Head traumas protect your head and toxins. Like so many people are fans. You know, I went on a detox and I'm like, my life is a detox. And people go, how can you have any fun? Right. I told you about us on the podcast with Shailene Johnson and she'd stopped alcohol for like four months and just loving it and feeling

better. And then she looked at me with these very sort of deep penetrating eyes. And she's like you have such a clean lifestyle how can you have any fun don't you want to like let your hair down and i'm like no don't you want to let your hair down and dance on tables and i'm like no and but it bothered me right i went away from the podcast with her and i'm like, no. But it bothered me, right? I went away from the podcast with her and I'm like, am I not having fun? I want to see you dance on tables. No. Yeah. I want to see it. What do I have to do?

Well, we can't talk about that here. But then I thought, I have so much fun. I have so much fun. If people really sort of know my life. But it's really about your definition of fun. It's really, everybody has a different definition of fun. But what do you really want? Like, dancing on tables is not

on my list, right on my bucket list. What I really want is energy. Well, and you want to make a difference in the world. Dancing on tables for you isn't making a difference in the world. No, for some people, like when we went to Moulin Rouge in Paris. Oh, that did make a difference for you, that other people were dancing on tables. I see. Okay. Okay, I get it.

That made a difference for me. But if I saw me dancing on a table, I would just be the poor soul. All right, stay with us. We're going to come back for part two of Bright Minds. We're going to talk about the minds part.