Change Your Brain Every Day - How Can You Quit E-Cigarettes?
Episode Date: October 1, 2019The recent epidemic of deaths and illnesses from e-cigarettes has made it clear that vaping poses a very real health hazard for teens and adults alike. But how can you quit this unhealthy habit? In th...is episode of The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast, Dr. Daniel Amen and Tana Amen discuss some of the brain-based strategies you can use to get yourself off of e-cigarettes for good.
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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 are talking about vaping this week and how it's become not only an epidemic, but the illness related to it's also becoming an epidemic.
There's over 530 illnesses. We talked about that in the last episode, nine deaths so far.
There's three and a
half million teen users in the US, which is just crazy to me. Before we dive into it, can I read
some reviews? You can. We ask them for reviews all the time. So this is from Maria H. on Yelp.
I am a health coach and specialize in working with kids with ADD, ADHD. My husband
played football in the NFL and went into the Amen Clinics to do a spec scan and go through the study.
I decided to have my son's brain scanned and also went through the program. um son has add um ever since we can remember was fascinating having the ability to see the brain
and why they both do the things and acted in certain ways was such a relief however
it went even further getting to talk with the doctors and get on a protocol to help
both of them improve the quality of life was priceless. It has been about two months out
and they're both doing fantastic. I cannot recommend Amen Clinics enough. I feel like
everyone needs to get scanned. That's awesome. Thank you, Maria. Also, this is from
Kjams3. This podcast is always practical and informative. I love that it's generally under
20 minutes. Yes, the world has a short attention span. As a busy mom, I can feed my brain on the way to and from school, sports, without needing to set aside
an hour. Love it. One more. Have learned so much about the brain and brain health from listening.
I now walk consistently and eat healthy because of you. This is Melster807.
Awesome.
So let's talk about a question.
So if you guys learn anything from this podcast,
please post it.
Or if you have a question,
because we're going to talk about
not only vaping, e-cigarettes,
drooling, what it's doing to you,
but how do you get off of it?
If you've been doing this, how do you stop if you know it's bad for you, but how do you get off of it? If you've been doing this,
how do you stop if you know it's bad for you? Because we've been lied to. We've been told that
it's not bad for you. And so what do you do to get off of this? So if there's anything you learn,
anything you learn, anything you want to know, please post it. Go to brainwarriorswaypodcast.com.
You can go to the review section and you can leave us a question you can leave us you
know whatever it is you want you can also tag us on instagram that would be great we would love that
and share this information so let's talk about this there's three and a half million teen users
just teen users and they all think this is cool they taste good they look pretty they're all you
know kids who are who feel awkward this is something they can pretty, they're all, you know, kids who are, who feel awkward, this is
something they can do when they're at parties, so they don't feel so awkward, and they feel like
they fit in, it's a social thing. And this is a problem, but let's talk about something really
quick. So one of the reasons, one of the marketing strategies is that they say that they're more
environmentally friendly, which is true. They're more environmentally friendly, but they're not
more friendly to you. And did you know they contain heavy metals? So talk a little bit about what heavy metals do to
your body when you're inhaling them. They're terrible. I mean, they actually make your brain
look sick, older than they really are. And so whether it's lead or heavy metals, and coming up, we're going to do a toxin week.
It's just, do you really want to be inhaling that?
I mean, besides the pure heated up nicotine or caffeine or marijuana that can damage your
lung cells, as we talked about, If you love your brain,
what vaping does is prematurely age the brain.
And one study showed that it actually decreases sperm count in men.
So something to pay attention to
if you're trying to have a baby and fertility problems.
And one thing, it might be a little bit of a blessing in disguise.
This is going to sound terrible because I don't mean this.
For the people who have been ill, for the people who have died prematurely, died early. It's a horrific thing.
What I mean by a blessing in disguise is that we have been saying this since it came out. We've
been reading these studies. We've been following it. We've been saying how awful it is since it
first started. But the problem with things that take a long time to affect you, that aren't instantly visible, right? So the problem is, is when it's chronic,
people don't see it. And as long as it's out of sight, it's out of mind. So if it's not affecting
you immediately, people don't pay attention to it. And since this happens to be an acute issue,
suddenly it's become an epidemic to the point where New York is banning them, right?
And I think other
states may be following suit. But when it becomes an acute issue like this, where people are getting
whatever type of lung disease this is, where they're going into the ICU on ventilators,
whether it's some type of aspiration pneumonia or whatever it is, when it's that acute and there
are this many deaths that happen quickly related to it. Now people pay attention and they get scared and they stop.
And what we're hoping is that you get scared enough
before something happens to someone you love or to you.
Well, but a lot of people that use drugs in any form,
they do it because there's an underlying issue.
So I wrote a book with David Smith, who was so much fun because we
actually saw him by random chance in New York last week when we were there. But David Smith is the
founder of the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic, considered the father of addiction medicine
in the United States. And he and I together wrote a book called Unchain Your Brain, breaking the addictions
that steal your life. And so the first thing, it comes with information. Oh, this may not be as
safe as I was led to believe. The second one is kicking in your frontal lobes to protect you
by going, is this good for me now and later versus is this
just good for me now but not later? And then we talk about knowing your brain type. We've done
that a lot, but all addicts are not the same. They're impulsive addicts, and I bet a lot of
impulsive addicts are using vaping, especially caffeine and nicotine,
as a way to feel more focused.
They're self-medicating and underlying ADD or are spontaneous type 2 brain type.
There's a compulsive addict that once they start, they just think about it all the time
over and over on and
on. There's the sad addict that actually using it to treat an underlying sadness or depression.
And there's an anxious addict and they're more likely to vape marijuana, for example. And so
knowing your type and you can learn your type for free.
Go to brainhealthassessment.com.
And then treat the underlying issue.
We often recommend first with supplements and then medication if needed.
But treat the underlying issue, but not with something that could hurt you,
but rather something that could help.
Well, and this information is so valuable and it can help so many people because
what I was trying to say is that fear can be a good motivator. It really can. It could kick
in those frontal lobes, maybe not in the best way.
So some anxiety is good. We always talk about some anxiety. You need some anxiety.
So one of the things I was going to say is that my uncle,
who was a heroin addict, he often still says that the one thing he's most proud of with his addiction
after he kicked it was that he scared me so badly. He gave me shock therapy. And it's true.
It kept me from doing it. My fear of drugs was so overwhelming. Now, I totally had the personality
makeup, the brain makeup to want to self-medicate, but I chose something else. I chose exercise. I didn't always choose
healthy things, right? But they weren't as bad as heroin, for sure. So I overdid other things.
But my point being, if I had had this information, like many people out there listening,
if you have the right information, you can choose things to help self-medicate that are
healthier for you.
If you go take the assessment and you learn some of the things that can be a healthy alternative.
But a little fear isn't always bad.
That's what I was trying to say.
Some anxiety is critical for you to do the right thing.
I mean, in the Brain Warriors way, we talk about the real weapons of mass destruction highly processed pesticide
highly processed food that's pesticide sprayed high glycemic low fiber stored in plastic
containers but vaping is another weapon of mass destruction that we just want to bring to your attention and encourage you, if you are vaping
or you have a teenager that's vaping,
to see it as a problem to solve.
And we promised them we were going to talk about how to stop.
So I think the first step is to do what you said.
Figure out if you're medicating an underlying issue
and take the brain health
assessment. That can really help getting on some of the right supplements. And if you need medication,
get the right medication. But going to see a healthcare professional because they'll help
you with that underlying issue. And they'll help you with the proper steps to wean off of this and
get off of it. Because you know it's not good for you. I mean, people are getting really sick.
Well, let me tell you, because sometimes they'll do that,
and the health care professional will just put them on a medicine.
So for me, what I would want you to do is know your baseline.
How much are you vaping now and then cut it down by 5% a day or 5% every couple of days. And that way you're
not going to go through withdrawal. So I've helped so many people get off cigarettes and caffeine.
And I'm just someone who doesn't believe in suffering.
I like that. And so if you just cut it down by a little bit every day, but have a plan, and then when
the urge comes, you should write down, okay, here are three things to do when the urge
comes.
And one of the things that's just so stinking simple is get a lavender sachet. And when you feel like inhaling the vaporized whatever,
inhale the scent from lavender because it's been shown to decrease both anxiety and depression.
I really like that. That's actually how I coach people to decrease caffeine. So there are people,
I mean, I used to be one of those people who drank two pots of coffee a day working in a trauma unit
working nights. So it was just so hard to stay awake. I would just
all night long be drinking coffee. So when you start trying to cut that back, you get massive
headaches. So I just started mixing. First, I just started mixing a little bit of decaf in the
morning, you know, the morning coffee pot. And then pretty soon it was almost all decaf. So just
slowly decreasing it so I didn't get those massive headaches
and withdrawal symptoms.
Right, because you don't like to suffer
and we don't ever want you to suffer.
So if you learned anything today,
please write it down,
post it on any of your social media
and then go to Apple Podcast
or brainwarriorswaypodcast.com.
Leave us a review.
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We do.
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