Change Your Brain Every Day - Q&A: How to Put Your Brain in a Healing Environment

Episode Date: September 26, 2019

In this episode of The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast, Dr. Daniel Amen and Tana Amen answer some listener questions. They give info and advice and such topics as putting the brain in a healing environment, brain tips for salesmen and entrepreneurs, and fighting the social media blues. If you would like the Amens to answer your question, visit brainwarriorswaypodcast.com.

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. In this episode, we are going to answer questions. So be sure to leave us more questions. We love to answer your questions. You can leave us a review on iTunes if you would so kindly do that. you can also go to our website and leave a question

there. What you want to do is go to brain warriors, way podcast.com, go to the reviews page. And there are some instructions there. You can leave us a question. You can leave us a review, anything that's on your mind. We actually just want to hear from you. Um, but we really do like answering your questions. So if you will go there, that would be great. And we are giving away my cookbook, the Brain Warriors Way cookbook, and I will sign it for you. And these are our recent winners. So our current winners are Matthew from Salt Lake, Utah, Holly from Noonan, Georgia, Catherine from Rolla, North Dakota, and Kathleen from Boise, Idaho. We have a lot of listeners from North Dakota. I know. Isn't that weird? What's going on in North Dakota? And Kathleen from Boise, Idaho. We have a lot of listeners from North Dakota. Isn't that weird?

What's going on in North Dakota? And Kathleen from Boise, Idaho. Nothing, which is why they're listening to us. So thanks to all of you for leaving questions. That was not nice. That was not nice. I've been to North Dakota. That was so not nice.

We are so grateful. And we are getting reviews. So I want to read some of them. Just wanted to say thank you. So this is from Sabrina from Ontario, Canada. Just wanted to say thank you for sharing your knowledge on brain health. I'm 27 and going through a PhD program as well as fighting with my husband a lot. Since I've discovered your videos, podcast, and book, Feel Better Fast and Make It Last,

I've been using your techniques to improve my mind. Your recommendation to listen to mood-enhancing songs like Claire DeLune, Debussy has saved my husband and I from fighting in front of our baby. Thank you. And God bless you and Tana. That's so cool. One more from Kukru. You two compliment each other so perfectly.

I just found your podcast and have been furiously playing catch up. I can't get enough. Such important work you're doing and I'm so grateful for it as I'm sure anyone who follows you both would agree. Love to you both. That's so awesome.

Thank you so much. All right, we're answering questions. We do have fun. Okay, let's see. I like this question. So my most pressing concern is putting my brain in the best nutritional and healing environment after a life of poor decisions along with 22 automobile accidents and playing football. Yes. This is why I'm reading this. And playing football as a teenager. I've lost 75 pounds going from 275 to 200. Congratulations. Yes. And eat as clean a diet as I can afford. Any suggestions?

Yes. Lots of them. We have lots of suggestions. Keep doing what you're doing. One, I mean, the first, the most important part of getting well is mindset. If you don't have your mindset right, it's never going to work. Right. So we go with this acronym, mastery, and the M in mastery is mindset. And then assessment. You should also possibly assess, get assessed. Assess your number. Go to our website and take the brain health assessment. Brain health assessment. Know your brain type, your brain strengths, your brain's vulnerabilities. Also on Brain Fit Life, we have a section on know your important numbers. You can actually plug in your lab test.

You want to do that. It'll tell you if it's healthy. And if it's not healthy, what are some simple strategies to do? And we go through each of those nutrients to tell you what they help with. So if they're low, you could be in trouble. Simple things like vitamin D and fish oil and stuff like that can be really helpful. S is sustenance, which it looks like you're doing a good job of losing weight. You're now going to be entered into the raffle to get the Brain Warriors Way cookbook, which is full of simple recipes. So hopefully that will help you. So he said, I'm eating as healthy as I can afford.

Right. And so do you have any tips on less expensive ways? I do. And that's one thing I love about the Brain Wears White cookbook. I put a ton of energy into that for to help people with money and time. So there's a ton of tips right in that book on how to save money,

how to do things. So like even the soups, like how do you make use of what's left over in your refrigerator before they go bad? The Dirty Dozen and the Clean 15, it's got the websites. So just so people know about that. Right. The Dirty Dozen are, and it comes from the Environmental Working Group, ewg.org.

It's those foods that just quite frankly, you should not eat if they're not organic. Right. And the Clean 15 is these are foods that buying organic is not as important. So things like maybe an orange or a banana that has a thick peel on it might not be quite as critical. Berries are very critical. So if you go to ewg.org, that will give you the Dirty Dozen and the Clean 15. They update it. They tell you which are the most pesticide-laden.

Seafoodwatch.org is another one that tells you the best seafood. And they have their own app. Right. So there's lots of tips in the cookbook. So you're going to be entered into that drawing. And you can also go to my website. And a lot of that information is on my websites, in my blogs. Those are all on my website, tanaayman.com. So congratulations. You're doing great. There's so many great resources at tanaayman.com. And they're free. From videos to- Meal planning. Your recipes to meal planning. That's really great.

And actually, one of the tips, let me just point this out because for someone on a budget, it is really helpful. There's recipes on there. And along with the recipes are the meal planner, which actually tells you exactly how much of each ingredient you need so you don't over-purchase. So that's really helpful. So I really like this question. And this comes from Mark. Actually, I have two questions. I'm curious about your brain health recommendations specifically for salespeople and entrepreneurs. People in these roles, in many cases, are operating out of high stress on a daily basis due to their responsibility. I'm a CEO. Salespeople are constantly facing rejection and battling mental wars, and this would seem to be very tough on the brain with cortisol levels being so high. Yes, I have lots.

So one, you want to know your brain type. Salespeople are often brain type two. They're outgoing, they're spontaneous, they're gregarious, they might struggle with paperwork. And so optimizing the front part of their brain can be really helpful. And if they have ADD, very common in salespeople, get it treated can be really important. Things like meditation. Exercise for sure, because that will help to relieve stress. But meditation can be, just a five-minute meditation can be really important. Things like meditation. Exercise for sure, because that will help to relieve stress. But meditation can be, just a five-minute meditation can be so helpful. We actually have a supplement that I developed specifically for people who have chronic stress called Everyday Stress Relief that has Rolora, which has been shown to be calming. So the right supplements, know your brain type,

do, as you said, the brain healthy strategies, and you're going to have to stop taking people out for alcohol. I know it's like if I get two or three drinks in them, they're more likely to sign the order for me. But that actually interrupts sleep. And sleep is critical if you're trying to decrease cortisol. And too much alcohol interrupts sleep. So one more question.

Do you want to read this one? Sure. So I like this one. What would you suggest to help with the social media blues? Per se, when viewing family posts that can be hurtful, not mean, just not posting times with you, although posting them with other family members. I do not get on much for the browsing or every time there is a notification. I started using social media for the groups and interests I have. Although there are times when the feed will pull those posts that can be hard to dismiss quickly and emotionally. Is there a natural way to prepare my brain and emotions prior to even getting on social media to check for those interests I have? I know this may be a silly

question, although I thought I would ask as I seem to have come across these occurrences more frequently in the past months. It's not silly at all, Deborah. I actually think it's a great question because depression has gone up so much, depression and anxiety, especially with younger people, because they're constantly comparing their lives to what's going on on social media. And what you're describing here, in a sense, is the same thing. She's describing not being included. So that's- So I just had an epiphany that the holidays are hard. And often it's because you have to spend time with people that stress you out. You talk about this a lot. Right? I mean, the holidays are hard and they're coming up. It's hard to believe because it just seemed like they were here.

But imagine if that's true. And I'm one of seven. And Tana will tell you, I come from a reasonably normal family. No, they're a wonderful family. You come from a wonderful. Let's just compare them to mine. But I'm still hearing stories that happened 60 years ago. Right. And they tell the same stories over. I'm like, can't you come up with a different story

for, you know, when I had a raccoon, when I was a teenager and the raccoon, you know, was terrible. He was a terror. He was, she was awesome. You thought it was a he and he was a terrorist. She would poop sometimes in your shoes. And yes, she ate. She ate your sister's fish. My sister's goldfish. So she tore up your mother's bathroom. Yeah.

But she was awesome. But it's like 55 years later, I'm still hearing the same stupid story. So here's the epiphany. That with social media now, it's like you have the holidays. 24-7, yeah. 24-7. If you felt excluded as a child, I mean, I talk about this. I was the second son in a Lebanese family out of seven children, which meant I was pretty

much invisible. And when you're second, it sucks when you're second, right? I mean, I'm so grateful I was second because I didn't have to go in the grocery business, right? And my brother does that and he loves it and it's all good. But it's like those negative feelings you have in your family that you can never get away from where without social media or before social media, you only had to like steal yourself or gird yourself a couple of times a year. So I actually very much can relate to this. I really, I really appreciate what you're saying. And here's one thing I do. I actually don't go on there for personal reasons at all. I go on to post for business. I go on to answer questions for business. I absolutely do not go on like personal social media, except once in a

while when someone tells me they posted something they want me to see, I'll go look at that one thing. I don't go on there. It's just too much of an energy drain. So I just don't do it. And that's very helpful to me. Because it's often not for your small group. No, it's just a ton of other stuff. It. For your small group and all of their groups, which then might be- And your brain, and here's the thing- The less time, the better. And here's the thing. You're sitting at home, which gives your brain too much time to read stuff into a post that they didn't mean. So they're just posting quickly. They're posting

stuff they might not have even meant to hurt your feelings. It might've just been something that was on their mind. But because you're at home, it's only natural. You're going to look at that and read it and go, why wasn't I part of that? And then your brain begins to spin on that. And that's why depression and anxiety has gone up. So my suggestion is the less, the better. There you have it. And I'm not going to say from the horse's mouth because that will get me into trouble. So thank you. And go on, brainwarriorswaypodcast.com and ask us more questions. We love everybody who asks us a question is going to get a free book signed by Tana. We'd also love you to go to Apple Podcast and leave a review or leave a review on BrainWarriorsWayPodcast.com.

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 if you're considering coming to amen clinics or trying some of the brain healthy supplements from brain md you can use the code podcast 10 to get a 10 discount on a full evaluation at amenclinics.com or a 10 discount on all supplements at brainmdhealth.com. For more information, give us a call at 855-978-1363.