Change Your Brain Every Day - Faith & Brain Health with Pastor Miles McPherson

Episode Date: May 1, 2026

In this week's mini-episode, Dr. Amen sits down with Pastor Miles McPherson for a live conversation on faith and brain health at the Rock Church in San Diego, CA.

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. So I am one of seven children. I was third, so completely irrelevant growing up. 1972, we were at war and I became an infantry medic where my love of medicine was born. But about a year into it, I realized they didn't like being shot at. So I got retrained as an x-ray technician, developed a passion for imaging, as our professors used to say, how do you know unless you look?

How do you know unless you look? And then I went to medical school, actually at Oro Roberts University. When I was a second-year medical student, someone I loved tried to kill herself, took her to see a wonderful psychiatrist, and came to realize if he helped her, it wouldn't just help her. it would help her children, her grandchildren as they would be shaped by someone who is more stable. And so I fell in love with psychiatry, which is now 46 years ago, the only medical specialty that never looks at the organ it treats. And I knew it was wrong.

And I knew it would change. I just didn't know I'd be part of it. But that's what we're doing. We're creating a revolution in brain health. Okay, so think about this. If you break a bone, they do an x-ray. If you have cancer, they do x-ray. They look at the tumors in your lungs. If you, you can do an MRI. There's always imaging. You can image your whole body. But when you have a brain, a brain problem for whatever it is, nobody looks at your brain. They just give you medicine. That doesn't make any sense. So he looks at people's brains. He looked at my brain. He scanned my brain, which we may look at here in a minute. It's not going to make sense to you, but it's just going to look so beautiful that you'll just think. I must be healthy. Dr. Amen, I've known him since 2009. I've only called him by his first name one time,

because I can't call him by his first name. I have the respect for him. He says, call me Daniel. So I say, okay, d. So I'm going to call you Daniel for the second time. But it's Dr. Amen. The reason we're having this conversation is because there is a lot of division in our country. And the division in our country is spiritual, but it's also manipulated. Social media

has manipulated us. And we are manipulated mentally, physically, emotionally, relationally, a lot of illness in the country, we're being manipulated. And so we want to address the whole person. When you come to church, you read your Bible, and then you go out and live your life, and you don't connect the two. I want to read something to you from 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 4, the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and a stronghold is an incorrect thinking pattern. And every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ and being ready to punish all disobedience when your

obedience is fulfilled. Obeying the Bible relates to every part of your body, every part of your life. And so as we talk about the brain, as we talk about emotions and thoughts, understand that is just as spiritual as anything else in your life. So let's start with the problem. So we're in a crisis. I think everybody would agree. I actually call it a whole four crisis, physical, emotional, relational, and spiritual. So we just start with physically 50% of the population, 5-0, has diabetes or pre-diabetes. Or pre-diage. diabetes. And that is a disaster for brain function. 75% of us are overweight or obese. And I published three studies that showed as your weight goes up, the actual physical size and function of your brain goes down, which should scare the fat off anyone. And I first figured that out. The first paper was from the University of Pittsburgh in 2009. They did MR.

MRI studies and they just showed there was a direct correlation between the size of your brain and your weight. And then so I looked at my studies, look at our NFL guys, healthy weight, overweight, people who are overweight had less function, especially in the front part of the brain. That's the most human thoughtful part of your brain called the prefrontal cortex. And I come from a family of fat people. My dad hates when I say that, but they're fat. And so I have a genetic predisposition, but when I figured that out, I'm like I lost 20 pounds.

There's like no way. I'm going to purposefully, once I know that connection, stay overweight. And so we're in this physical health crisis. But we're also in a mental health crisis. is the number one cause of disability worldwide. It's the most expensive illness worldwide. And 57% now of teenage girls report being persistently sad, 32% of thought of killing themselves. Like, what is that about? 24% of planned and 13% have tried. Suicide in young people has skyrocketed over 700% since the year 2000. And it's like, well, what's?

happened since the year 2000. Cell phones, social media. Cell phones, social media. And COVID, as we'll talk about, COVID can cause inflammation in your brain and make you more vulnerable to anxiety, depression, OCD, and so on. And relationally, we're mass. Even though we're more connected, 58% of people report being persistently lonely, and belief in God and church attendance is down. So biological problems, psychological problems, social, and spiritual. So obviously that was a truckload of information. Here's what's going to happen.

All of you all of you would encourage you to pick out something that applies to you. You may not be overweight, but doesn't apply to you. If you're overweight, your brain. your brain is smaller than it would it be if you're not. It's just a fact. Don't take it personally, but take it personally. Say, I've got to do something about it. If you've got diabetes, do something about it.

And by the way, do something about it as natural as you can because there are medicines out there that are going to addict you to another medicine. So make sure you do it the right way. We're going to talk about parents and cell phones for your kids. Listen very carefully. At the end, we're going to give you four things to do. We're going to land this plane to give you four things to do. Amen?

Amen? Amen. Okay, let's do Romans 12. We'll get, if we can do that as your. Well, this is so important. In fact, the new program I'm working on, which we're hoping the Rock is going to do, 12 weeks, a six-week starter program and then a 12-week mastery program. It's based on Romans 12, too. Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper work. getting healthy in the whole four is worship. And then, you know, if you go to 1 Corinthians 619, your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit that was given to you by God that was bought for you at a price of the blood of Jesus Christ. Your body is sacred.

And so we need to think of it as sacred. And then Romans 12 too, and everybody knows the beginning of it, of it, but it's the end that really is important. Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So this is the part I want you to focus on. Then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is.

God's good, perfect, and pleasing will. So whenever you have a bad thought, we'll talk about ants, automatic negative thoughts, the thoughts that come into your mind automatically, ruin you. whenever you get a thought, just go, does this thought or does this action fit God's good, perfect, and pleasing will for me? Just ask that question. And so many of your thoughts will just go away because they don't belong in your brain. And just because you have a thought has nothing to do

with whether or not it's true, whether or not it's helpful, whether or not it's useful, you don't have to believe every stupid thing you think. How many of y'all, yeah, go ahead, go ahead. How many, your brain is constantly, constantly thinking, constantly putting stuff in your head, and what he said is very important. You don't have to buy into it. You don't have to believe it.

It's talking to you. And so even when you see somebody and a thought comes in your mind, I was on a plane the other day. And whenever I see people out in public, and if I make eye contact with somebody, I try not to look away quick because it may be someone from church, and I don't want to be rude. I don't mind it, but it is a mind game. I'm like, okay, let me make sure.

And I don't want to stay too long because if I don't know them, then they think I'm trying to, you know, get the phone number, something like that. So I'm on the plane the other day sitting in the aisle, and these people walk in mind, I'm looking, you know, making sure if anyone's going to say how. And this woman's walking towards me, and I thought she was looking at me. So I looked, and I'm like, okay, are you going to say hi? You're going to say, well, I didn't know her. And her boyfriend behind her saw me looking at her. And he said something as he went by. Right?

But in my mind, I'm thinking, okay, she's thinking this, but she wasn't thinking that. My point is this. You're going to look at people and look at situations. Your brain's going to say something. Grab it. Make it obedient. Okay, is that true? Because you're going to hear a lot of lies in your head about yourself, about other people.

Amen? Amen. So, hold for health. crisis. So then we have to ask ourselves, so why are we in this crisis? And so if you think of physically, we never look at the brain. Right? I mean, as soon as I looked at my brain, so I was 37, I'm a double board certified psychiatrist already, I was the top student in medical school in neuroscience, and I didn't care about my own brain. And then I saw it, and it wasn't great because I was overweight and I had meningitis when I was a young soldier and I played football

in high school. Bad, bad, bad. You played football in high school? I did. What was wrong with that? You can still see the damage in my brain. Yeah, it's not good for you. We talked about this, right? Let's show Miles. Can you show Miles scan? So at Aeman clinics, we do a study called SPAC and SPACC looks at blood flow and activity, It looks at how your brain works. And it basically shows us three things, good activity, too little or too much. And I did the big NFL study at a time when the NFL wasn't being forthright about traumatic brain injury and football players. And I've scanned and treated 400 NFL players, how Miles and I met.

The image on the left is a healthy scan. Just look at the top left image. We're looking underneath the brain. full even symmetrical activity. Color doesn't matter. It's the shape. And then if we look at Miles' brain, you see these two big holes.

And what that means, he doesn't have holes in his brain, but what it means, significantly lower... Significantly? Blood flow in the front part of his brain. So focus, forethought, when he made the comment about my book,

Healing ADD, that's where it hangs out. When you get hit in the head, or in Miles' case, when you hit other people repeatedly with your head, how many concussions did you have? Hundreds. Hundreds. Oh, by the way, can you tell them that really I did have hundreds? Because people think if you have a concussion, you got to get knocked out. No.

Tell them I really have hundreds. If you see stars, if you get stunned, Joe Lewis, the famous boxer, said, it's not the big hits that caused dementia. It's the thousands of people. little hits. And your brain floats in water in your skull. It's not anchored. So every time they go helmet to helmet or helmet to knee or helmet to ground inside your skull, your brain shakes. And they're sharp, bony ridges. God and I've actually had this discussion. It's like, why didn't you put bumper guards? And he said, who knew they'd play football?

You're killing me, smalls. But the exciting news is 80% of our players got better when we put them on a rehabilitation program. So one of the big lessons from today is even if you've been bad to your brain, you can make it better and I can prove it. You heard about the kid who went to New York recently because he thought he had CTE and he murdered those four people and he's like, it's their fault I have C.E. No. But the messaging is wrong. The messaging around CTE is hopeless when in fact what we've seen is you can take damaged brains and make them better, but what you have to do is put it in a healing environment, which is here's the short healing environment. Love your brain. Avoid things that hurt it. You just have to know the list. alcohol is not a health food and marijuana is not innocuous.

And you heard me say you shouldn't be overweight, right? Avoid things that hurt it and then do things that we'll talk about in this whole four model. Do things that help it. Yeah, so my brain is completely healthy right now. I bet it's better. That's a nice way saying it ain't better. It ain't healthy. Okay, so we're talking about why?

So why? Why? So we're not looking at the brain. Obviously, it's the ultra-process foods that increase inflammation. It's the toxins in our food and in our water. People always go on these detox two weeks. I'm like, your life should be a detox, right? It's like, don't do it for two weeks.

And simple, write this down, just support the organs in your body of detoxification. drink more water, sweat with exercise, or sonnas. People take the most sonnas have the lowest incidence of Alzheimer's disease. Eat more fiber, which means more plants, and kill the alcohol because it damages your liver, which is the major detox organ in your body. So physically, so why are we in this mental mess? Because there's nowhere in school we teach people not to believe every stupid thing we think.

So I call them ants, automatic negative thoughts. Whenever you feel sad or mad or nervous or out of control, write it down. And then just ask yourself, is it true? And then remember the rule of 12. Psychological flexibility is a sign of psychological health. Don't be upset until the 12th thing that day has gone wrong. So many people, something goes wrong and they just, like, lose it. It's like, no, that's not healthy.

So I count. It's like, okay, that's one. Two. You just don't get upset because you realize you're competent, you're capable, and with God's help, you can solve any problem. The rule of 12. Miraculous. Dr. Amen, can you also just give a minute, we didn't talk about this last time, give a minute on the toxins.

Because people don't realize that lotions, shampoo, the type of toothpaste, all these things, everything that has chemicals in it. Sunscreen, you know, smart people read food labels and they don't put toxic chemicals in their body. smarter people also read product labels and things like parabins and phthalates, fragrance, whatever goes on your body goes in your body and affects your body.

There's an app it's called think dirty. It's not what you think it is. Because they're thinking dirty right now. It lets you scan all your personal products and it'll tell you on a scale of 1 to 10, how quickly they're killing you. So like forever, I shaved with Barbisol.

And on a scale of zero, live a long time, 10 is die early. It's a 9. And I'm like, oh, no. I like myself way more than that. So now I shave with something called kiss my face. I get no money from them. There's a thing called kiss my face? It's a 2.

So what am I going to choose? And Kiss My Face is actually cheaper than Barbisol because it lasts forever. I just want you thinking, whatever goes in your body, affects your body, whatever goes on your body, affects your body, whatever you allow in negative news, the news is no longer the news. I mean, let's just be honest with ourselves. If CNN or Fox or MSNBC, they're biased and they want you to take their body. bias and they keep your attention, right? Breaking news, breaking news, breaking news, not breaking news. They keep it because what they're selling, they're not selling to you. They're selling

to their advertisers your attention. And then social media, if a product is free, you're the product. I want you to think about then again. If something is free, they are trying to influence you. And social media companies build their business model on your attention, and they grab your attention if they make you sad, if they make you mad, if they make you nervous. And so the more time on social media, the more depressed people get. Now, for people who are over 25 in 2007, well, their brains were fairly developed. But for young people, cell phones and social media are devastating for them. That's why Australia banned social media for children under the age.

of 16. And I'm a huge fan of that. And please don't give children smartphones. They're not smart. They're dumb phones. Don't give them smartphones early because children who get them early have a higher risk of suicide. So when we look at this whole four crisis, it's the food, it's the lack of discipline, mind, education. It's the cell phones, it's social media. And we can fight back with faith, with neuroscience, and smart public policy. Actually, here in the state of California, you cannot start high school, public high school, before 8.30 in the morning.

Why? Because kids who get less sleep have a higher incidence of anxiety, depression, and suicide. Good neuroscience into public policy. I like that. But really, the public policy needs to happen for our families, and I believe churches need to be places of whole four healing. Yep. Two things I want to emphasize.

One, one of them is the kids with the cell phones. Don't let me forget. But the first thing is that your cell phone knows you, and it programs information to you. you individually to tell you what you want to hear to make you more radicalize, whether you're radical left politically, radical right, it just wants to radicalize you so you can be that much more different and divided with the other side. That's all they care about, and then they can sell you your name and likeness or your

information to make money. So understand that, and so you are being radicalized. That's why people are so fanatic about their political views against the other person. We're being programmed for that. Here's the problem. The only thing we should be that radical about is Jesus. But some of us are more radical about our politics and Jesus. So just know you are being played for our money.

For money. So whatever you hear about anybody online, just don't even believe it. Don't even believe it. It's only part of the story. The other thing is if you collaborate on the kids, five years old who get a cell phone or under 16, the 746% and 50% are rather than hear from you that for me. Oh, it's just so crazy.

And parents think they're doing something good by giving kids these smartphones. If you've got it as early as 5, when you're 20, you have a 50%, so that's 5-0, a 1 and 2 chance of struggling with suicidal behavior. Not, but so clear these are dangerous devices because what they do is they do. dump dopamine. Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that helps you feel happy, focused, motivated. But if you're constantly on one of these devices and they're addictive, make no mistake about it, and they were created to be addicted. We didn't talk about this, but do you know executives in the Silicon Valley, they have nanny contracts where their children cannot get

anywhere near a device because they know how toxic these devices are for them. So raise device-free children as much as you can. And that goes with suicide in young people has gone up 746% since the year 2000. And so you think what's happened since then, social media, cell phones, violent video games, all of these things, our brains were not made for them. Five years old and your child gets a cell phone, by the time that 20, they have a one and two chance to try and want to be suicidal. That's crazy.

That's crazy. So the people, the public matters to, they don't care about your kids. They don't care about us. They just care about money. They just care about money. Solution. We got four or five minutes. Tell us the solution.

So I'm developing this program for churches called the A.M. And I'm so excited about it. Because if it's a whole four problem, then we have to have a whole four solution. We need to get our brains and our bodies healthy. And how do you do it? Well, ultimately, it comes down to asking yourself one question. every day. Is what I'm doing today? Good for my brain or bad for it and does it honor my creator? Just answer that question. And all you have to do is know the list. Good for my brain. Church, good for my brain.

Exercise. Water. Not believe in every stupid thing I think. Good for my. Bad for my brain. we've been lied to. Alcohol is not a health food. It's a neurotoxin. Marijuana is not innocuous. It's a neurotoxic. I published a study on a thousand marijuana users. Every area of the brain is lower an activity.

A lot of what you think of as health food, just read the label because I saw one health food bar recently that had 14 different names for sugar. in it, right? You have to be educated. So is this good for my brain or bad for it and does it honor my creator? From a psychological standpoint,

always remember the rule of 12. But whenever you feel sad, mad, nervous, or out of control, write down what you're thinking. And then just ask yourself whether or not is true. And does this thought fit? God's good, perfect, and pleasing will for me, which is goodness. That is God's good, perfect, and pleasing will. The thief, John 10, 10 comes to steal and kill and destroy,

but Jesus came to give us abundant life. So important. Manage your mind. Don't let your mind manage you. If you watch the news in the morning, you're 27% less happy in the afternoon. Turn it off. And then for the social circle, so important. And we're near SeaWorld, and I love Seaworld.

And how do they train the animals there? They don't complain at them. They don't nag them. They notice what they do right. Over and over and over. You want to have good relationships with the people in your family. focus on what they do right instead of what they do wrong. And then always live with a sense of meaning and purpose.

You were designed by your creator to make a difference in the lives of other people. And so it's good for my brain or bad for it. Is it true? Notice what you like. More than what you don't. Living with a sense of meaning and purpose is, in a community of believers. And that's why church is so important.

Amen, amen, amen.