Change Your Brain Every Day - The Top Strategies for Safe Driving

Episode Date: August 20, 2019

Did you know automobile accidents are the leading cause of death among young people? In this episode of The Brain Warrior’s Way Podcast, the second of a series on the brain and driving, Dr. Daniel Amen and Tana Amen take a closer look at what makes driving a car so potentially dangerous. They then dive into some of the major strategies we can examine in order to make the roads a safer place for everyone.

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're on week two of Your Brain Behind the Wheel, and we are driving with you this week. So in this episode, we are going to talk about strategies to

help you when you get frustrated. Before we do, we want to ask you to think about this episode. Think about anything you learn that, you know, tell us about your challenges when you're driving. Think about questions you have about driving and make sure you leave them. You can go to brainwarriorswaypodcast.com. Leave your question there. There's actually instructions. You can also tag us at Tana Amon or Daniel Amon on Instagram, and we would love to hear

from you. So before we jump in, let me read one of the reviews from San Gauma. I found all the Brain Warrior podcasts today. I scrolled down and started listening. There's so much out there about these topics, but I felt like I was finally listening to the truth. I love your honesty, the way you two complement each other, and real solutions or healthy alternatives that you offer. Thank you. I look forward to listening to more so I'm informed and can help myself, my family, and friends. Tana, you are brave for sharing your story and I'm sure you have and will continue to

give others hope. Thank you. That's very sweet. That's really awesome. Yeah. So the first strategy is don't let kids drive until they're ready to drive. People don't know about the neuroscience that you're really not an adult when you were 18. If I look back to when I was 18, that was not the mindset of a fully formed brain that my impulsivity was high and I wasn't always making the smartest decisions. I mean, it turned out okay for me, mostly after I married you. But the brain does not finish developing until you're 25. And isn't it interesting that the insurance companies knew this before neuroscientists knew this or before society, right? Because they

basically say you're an adult when you're 18, but your frontal lobes, so the front third of your brain, the most human thoughtful part of your brain actually doesn't finish developing until you're about 25. And that's when insurance rates change because that's when car accidents go down. Because the insurance companies don't have a dog in the fight. They're just like, when do I have to pay more money? And they, you know,

or when do I have to pay less money? And they pay less money for drivers after the age of 25. Now we know it's because their brain doesn't work right. But at 15 and a half in most states, we're giving kids permits to drive when their brains aren't done. And my oldest daughter, Brianne, she got her permit at 15 and a half because emotionally, she was 18. Her sister didn't get her permit until she was 17 and a half because emotionally

she wasn't ready when she was 15 and a half. So one of my strategies with our daughter, and we've talked about this, you and I talked about some of this and how we were going to handle it. First of all, she's super anxious and didn't want to drive. So that was actually a sign to me that she was more mature. And do you know why she didn't want to drive? Because she's smart. Because she already had a chauffeur who was nice to her and bought her drinks. So that's part of it. But yeah, that's part of it. But part of it is because she's smart. She realizes the danger. And that's one of the ways that we kind of knew she'd be ready before a lot of teenagers because she's very anxious. She worries. And we actually like that. If you're going to get behind the wheel of a car, you should be a little bit anxious. But one thing that we've

talked about, it's like, and I told her this, I said, look, if you're, I'm sorry to say this, and this isn't about bribery, but if your grades, if you maintain a certain GPA and you're involved in a certain number of activities like volunteering, that's when I will know your, you know, how much you can handle, number one. Number two, whether or not you have to pay for your own insurance. And she's like, what? She's like, I don't understand. And what she doesn't understand, there's a couple things with that. Number one, it tells me how dedicated she is, how focused she is. But number two, I want her spending time doing meaningful things. Like she's on the mayor's youth council, she's volunteering rather than spending time playing video games and on her phone. So, because that actually makes her not as good of a driver. And so we, we talked about that. What can we do to, I'd actually rather pay for part of her insurance knowing that she's doing those things versus her just sitting at home or not doing anything meaningful and doing something that's

going to affect her focus and concentration. So she pays for part of it, only part of it, if she's maintaining a certain GPA and staying so busy with these meaningful activities that she doesn't have time to work a full-time job versus, you know. So let's help people. So when should kids get their permits? So we've already said when they're emotionally close to 18. Because being behind the wheel of a 6,000-pound vehicle, it's clearly a deadly weapon. And we often talk about how suicide is the second leading cause of death

in the young. Well, the number one is motor vehicle accidents. And we have friends, a really close friend, who lost her daughter from a drunk driver. And sometimes it's not them. It's other people. And sometimes you just can't help it, right? I mean, sometimes it's just bad luck or something awful happened. Yeah. I think parents need to be their child's frontal until the child is demonstrating that their frontal lobe is developing. It's a life or death issue.

And it's different than when you were growing up. So when I got my license, I guess it was 1969, yeah, 1969, we didn't have cell phones. Right. Now, we did have 8-track tapes, so that's how old I am. But even when you got your license, which was- There were no cell phones. There were not the level of distractions there are now. Now people put their phones in their

lap and watch Netflix while they're driving or they're texting or they're answering emails. And it's more dangerous now than ever before. No, I totally agree with you. And that was why it wasn't that I was trying to bribe her. It's that I want to see how focused she is. And so just because she's 16, just because a child is 16 doesn't mean that they should be driving. It's not like a God-given right, right? It's just, yes, that's the losses they can, doesn't mean they should be. So for me, it's a matter of how focused are you? How dedicated are you to certain things?

And if it means that she gets good grades and stays focused, okay. It's a bonus. You're directing her. You're being her frontal lobe. Now, let's take a minute and talk about the other end of life because I've had this issue in my family. I'm one of seven children. And sometimes, especially when my dad was sick about five years ago, he had heart failure and a heart arrhythmia and they had mold in their house. I had my siblings come up to me and they go, you have to take dad's driver's license from him. Good luck with that.

And I'm like, well, let me think about this and how I can give a thoughtful response. Cause I'm the physician in the family. I just know your dad. And my first thing was, let's get his brain right, which we did and he's better. And now he drives a lot. But if you have an older person you're worried about, so Tana, I'm giving you clues on how to deal with me 20 years from now. Yeah, I'm thinking that's not going to be the case. If you have an older person you're concerned about, this is actually why the DMV exists.

And so I told my siblings, I said, I'm not going to be able to take his driver's license for me. I could take his keys. I could take his car. And he's got enough money. He'll just buy one tomorrow. And I'm not going to get him declared mentally incompetent. But the DMV actually thinks about this. And the Department of Motor Vehicles is concerned about it. And I told my siblings that if we're really concerned, that I will call them. And one of my sisters got mad at me because we had a fight about something else. She told dad that I was going to do that. And he got mad at me. And I told him in the most

loving way possible, if I think you're dangerous, I'm calling the DMV because I love you. And if you don't like it, it's too bad because that's what I'm doing. And so you always want to be firm and kind at the same time. And he got mad at me and it's all okay. Because if I think he's dangerous, that's not only harmful to him. It's harmful to the other people. What about the lady with the two kids or your mother in the car? And we need to be thoughtful and careful. These are life and death decisions. No, I totally agree.

We have to be thinking about the other people. I have a very dear friend, someone very special to me who's a mentor. And he had a heart arrhythmia. It wasn't even an issue of memory. He had a heart arrhythmia and he doesn't remember blacking out for just a split second. And he ran into a woman with two kids in the car and thank God they were okay, but he was just horrified. So, you know, if you're, it all sounds, you know, fine, like, no, I'm going to fight to keep my license. But when you end up in that situation where you hit someone and you hurt someone, and as a trauma nurse, I saw this happen all the time. When that person on the other end is really hurt or dies,

you're going to feel very different about it. Well, and how you fight to keep your license, how you fight to keep your independence is you become a brain warrior. You fight to keep the health of your brain as vibrant and as sharp for as long as possible. And make no mistake, you're in war for the health of your brain. And we're talking about one of the battlefields, which is the freeways here in Southern California. Or I just talked to our CFO who lives in Boston and they're the worst drivers in the whole country. They are funny though. They're very colorful. I don't know why they're the worst drivers, but they are. New York's not far behind. All right. When we come back, we're going to give you some more tips about how not to be

stressed out when you're driving. Don't forget about the book giveaway. So there are a couple of ways you can win. You can enter in the weekly drawing for our free cookbook. It's the Brain Warriors Way cookbook. You can leave a positive review on iTunes. You can go to our website and ask us your question. There's step-by-step directions there. So go to brainwarriorswaypodcast.com and visit our review page on that website. Thank you. And if you learn something, like how to deal with your teenager or your adult or your older adult parent, write it down and post it on some of your social media sites and hashtag Brain Warriors Way podcast. We'd be so grateful. If you're enjoying the Brain Warriors Way podcast,

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