Change Your Brain Every Day - How to Use The 5 Senses To Flood Your Life with Happiness

Episode Date: October 18, 2018

In his new book, Feel Better Fast and Make It Last, Dr. Daniel Amen talks about the “Ultimate Brain-Based Therapy,” which is a method of flooding all five of your senses with stimuli that can make you feel better fast. In this episode of The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast, Dr. Amen and Tana describe how you can arm yourself with the tools needed to use this therapy method anytime, anywhere.

Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen. And I'm Tana Amen. Here we teach you how to win the fight for your brain to defeat anxiety, depression, memory loss, ADHD, and addictions. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we've transformed lives for three decades using brain spec imaging to better target treatment and natural ways to heal the 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 nutraceutical products to support the health of your brain and body. For more information, visit brainmdhealth.com. Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. Welcome back. So we are talking about your new book, Feel Better Fast and Make It Last. We are, and you can pre-order it at feelbetterfast.com. And when you do, we have gifts for you. You can immediately download the introduction and first chapter. You can get a quick start guide to give you many tiny habits, the little, the smallest thing you can do today that'll make the biggest difference. Some feel

better fast audios that you can download, hypnosis sessions I do for you, and your new cookbook, The 10-Day Brain Boost. People literally can feel better fast or not with the food that you choose. podcast is what I actually think one of my favorite parts of this new book that I've never written about before. It's called The Ultimate Brain-Based Therapy. It's how to feel better fast by flooding all five of your senses with happiness at once. And for example i teach people about vision you know 30 to 50 percent of your brain is dedicated to vision which is why women men no it's both but it's why women spend so much time at sephora Oh. See, I thought that was because men are attracted to the visual. I thought they did it

because of men. No? Well, women are attracted to beautiful things as well. Oh, that's true. That's true. We have that raccoon factor. Yeah, no, we see shiny little objects. So vision is so important. And so what I talk about in the book is get

a album on your phone of pictures that immediately make you happy right and so if i go to my phone and i go to my favorites, you're there. Well, I like your front photo. It's our big white, well, you can't see this, our big white dog. I don't know if you can see that, but I love that. With you. Yeah. So two of my favorite images is my beautiful wife, but also on it, my mom and dad, actually their dog that I got for them, holding the hand with my grandbabies, events that we've been at.

I've got Chloe singing at church. When I've been at the White House. So, so many things that I love. And so if I go through my favorite photos, immediately that just makes me feel better because it gets my, you know, where you bring your attention determines how you feel. Also images of nature and fractals. Fractals are never-ending patterns. So if you think of the inside of a shell, for example, they've been shown to help people feel better fast. What images help you?

Not fractals. So I like my family. I like things that are meaningful to me. Even with hanging art around the house, I prefer family images, memories. I like memories that make me happy. So my daughter singing at church or doing something cool. You, when we go on vacation,

like those types of things are what make me happy. My animals, those are the things that I would prefer. So, or a great vacation. Okay, so vision. Get something visually that makes you happy. Hearing. And this is where music can be just so important. Yes, but it's interesting because it can have the opposite effect too.

So it has to be. Because you and Cat Stevens. Yeah, me and Cat Stevens have a very different relationship than you and Cat Stevens do. So it's funny. I love Cat Stevens because when I was a teenager, his music was really popular. And I used to just blast. No, no. Blast it.

Father and Sons, one of my favorite songs ever. But to be fair, it's not just Cat Stevens. It's most 70s music. Right. So it has to be individualized because in the 70s. Like my heart's starting to beat fast. In the 70s, you had an uncle that was a drug addict. And so when you hear that music, for you, it actually triggers trauma.

It reminds me of pedophiles and drug addicts. That's what it reminds me of. Now, my uncle was not a pedophile, but that's what it reminds me of, is pedophiles and drug addicts. So when I play music, if I'm with you, I need to have something different. Oh, even my hairstylist knows he had cat stevens on one day and i walked in he's like oh sorry and he turned on stevens really fast it's like traumatizing so find when you're struggling find five songs that make you feel happy. So for me, when I'm with you, Good Vibrations, that would work.

We can come to common... I can't put Def Leppard on, which is like that kind of stuff when you're around. So we have to find our common ground. Right. And for me, of course, From the Wizard of Oz, If I Only Had a Brain is the perfect song. But

we love The Prayer by Celine Dion and Andre Bocelli. We love the new soundtrack from A Star is Born. Oh, it's amazing. Oh, my gosh, so good. So you want to get a playlist, five, ten songs that just make you happy. So you're looking at something that triggers happiness. You're hearing something that triggers happiness. You're hearing something that triggers happiness. Smell.

So honeysuckle. Oh, jasmine. Oh, love jasmine. Vanilla. Sage. Sage. Lavender. Lavender.

But like real lavender. Cinnamon. Yeah. All of these things scientifically has been shown to actually improve mood quickly. Yeah, when we live by the beach, when we go for a walk, there's a ton of jasmine and sage. It just puts me in a different mood. It's just so. Well, and actually hearing the sound.

Of the ocean. The ocean. Oh, we stayed last night at the Serpent Sand down in Laguna. And we slept with the doors open. And literally, that hotel, the water goes almost under the hotel and up to the glass. It actually splashes on the glass. And it was amazing. So smelling the freshness in the air along with the sound of the ocean.

And you can totally get that on your phone. It's not the same. Or get a video. Well, but it can help just to trigger the memory of those things. And then touch. Acupuncture, which you've actually found to be really helpful. I have no idea why it helps because in my very cynical, scientifically based mind, it shouldn't work. It just shouldn't work to stick needles in your body,

but it works. I have no idea why it works, but it works. I sleep like a baby for two weeks every time I have it done. And my pain is less. It's just weird. It's weird. You should have it done every week. Yeah, it's kind of like voodoo where they poke you with pins. It's not voodoo. But it works.

It's based on Chinese medicine that's been around thousands of years. I'm joking. But it works. You get so mad when I say that. I just can't figure out why it works. It's awesome. So acupuncture, acupressure. Chiropractic.

Actually, I talk about this technique of taking your thumbs and forefingers and stroking your earlobes. Because those are acupressure points and can help you feel better. Well, and I never understood why when I go to the chiropractor, I literally leave feeling better immediately. Like my energy is better and I feel better. I just, it's like this relief. But I guess studies have shown that when you get adjusted, it's an endorphin release. So besides the fact that you feel adjusted, it's an endorphin release and it increases

energy. Holding hands of someone you love because when you hold hands, that your heart rate begins to synchronize. Your breathing rate begins to synchronize. Even your brain waves begin to synchronize. And in a new study, it was actually found to take away the pain of your partner in pain if you hold their hand. But be very careful whose hand you hold because if they're a little haywire, you are going to get that way too. Well, and to that point, if you really are connected to someone healthy and that you love

and you're grounded with that person, when you hold my hand, I have this thought that goes through my head and this feeling, and I even texted you this the other day. It's like the minute you hold my hand, there's this feeling, everything's just going to be okay. It's going to be great. It's really great. So as soon as you hold my hand, it's like, oh, everything's going to be good. Also taking a sauna can be helpful. There's actually a new research study that was in JAMA psychiatry that one sauna, one session was found to be a treatment for depression. Wow. So put it all together at one time, take a sauna while listening to good vibration, watching images of nature, sipping an almond milk cappuccino, pumpkin spice cappuccino that you have with the scent of cinnamon or lavender.

Right. Use your senses to feel better fast. So in my case, we could just make it a bubble bath with Def Leppard and do the same thing. And it would help you. You can order the book, Feel Better Fast, and make it last at feelbetterfast.com. And when you do, you get the gifts that we've talked about, including Tana's new cookbook, The 10-Day Brain Boost. How is it you put up with me for so long?

Because I love you. Because you stimulate my visual brain because you're beautiful and I love hearing your voice. Is that because you feel like you have to fix me? Love cuddling you. No, it's the whole thing. And I love how you smell. So I'm good.

All five senses. Tana is a total sensory experience. I'll leave it at that. Stay with us. Use the code PODCAST10 to get a 10% discount on a full evaluation at amenclinics.com or on our supplements at brainmdhealth.com. free signed copy of the Brain Warriors Way and the Brain Warriors Way cookbook we give away every month.