Change Your Brain Every Day - Welcome to the Change Your Brain Every Day Podcast

Episode Date: October 14, 2024

We are so excited to bring you the next chapter in our journey of creating a revolution in psychiatry by changing the discussion around mental health to what it really is, brain health. We would like to introduce you to Change Your Brain Every Day, a new podcast featuring focused discussions surrounding the health of your brain. Every day you are making your brain better, or you are making it worse. Our goal is to give you the information you need to change your brain for the better, every day. A lot has happened in our lives since we released our last episode of The Brain Warrior's Way Podcast, and in this episode we fill you in on some of these triumphs and heartbreaks. We then discuss some of the most basic brain health habits you can introduce into your routine to change your life immediately. 00:00 Intro 01:26 Introducing Change Your Brain Every Day 05:15 Catching Up 13:58 Sponsor 15:14 Basic Brain Health Habits 15:58 Brain Health is 3 Things 23:45 Create a Vision 31:33 Claire Woods 34:48 Wrap Up   #brainhealth #changeyourbrain #changeyourlife

I'm so excited to be back. Feels like it's been forever. Many people don't know, but we did almost a thousand Brain Warriors Way podcasts. We thought we would take a break. Just sort of regroup to come back with new information, important information. A lot has happened during that time, so we just want to sort of catch up with people. 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. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen, physician, psychiatrist, founder of Amen Clinics, husband of Tana Amen amen and this is change your brain every day

and i'm tana amen nurse and health coach doctors tell you what to do nurses show you how to do it and hold your hand in the process we're here to give you the practical tools you need to change your brain and your life every single day. It's not just about surviving. It's about thriving. And we're going to show you how. So stay with us. Together, we'll guide you to a better brain, a better body, better relationships, and a better life.

Yes, you can change your brain every day starting right now. I'm so excited to be back. I know. Especially with you. Me too. Thank you so much. It feels like it's been forever. It has.

And I think many people don't know, but we did almost a thousand Brain Warriors Way podcasts. And then we thought we would take a break and just sort of regroup to come back with new information, important information. Yeah. A lot happened during that time. I mean, it started with COVID and a lot has happened during that time. So we just want to sort of catch up with people. And we'll talk about it for sure, because the globe is still experiencing what I would call global amygdala hijacking, right? The fear from COVID has really been made part of the foundation of people's lives. But we changed the name of the podcast because we wanted it to have sort of a bigger promise, right? We love the Brain Warriors Way and your cookbook still sells. Yeah, like crazy.

Tens of thousands of copies every year. I'm so proud of it. Brain Warriors Way cookbook. And you'll hear from us. We still believe you're in a war for the health of your brain. But another really important message is every day you are making your brain better or you are making it worse by the decisions you make. And we want to help you make better decisions. Right. And just because we changed the, I love the name of the podcast. And I think it's so

practical. I love the idea of giving people tips to change their brain every day. Just the smallest things, if you make a 1% change, you know, regularly every day by the end of the year, think about how far you go. But we still love the idea of being a warrior, right? You are in a war and we love the idea of, you know, that mentality because you need to be all in. So we love this, but we also just want this to be

super easy for everyone. And we want you to take away both of those ideas. So this podcast is about you. It's designed to help listeners develop daily habits for better brain health and how this podcast is going to work, we're going to have a weekly episode, a longer episode, offering practical tips and tools. And every fourth episode, we're going to do something called Scan My Brain, where we take influential people, I see them, I evaluate them, and then we release about a half an hour of that content to you. And we already have some really great episodes. Jonathan Cain from Journey, very excited.

And the difference it's already made in his life spectacular uh we're gonna see elizabeth smart you know the woman uh from utah who was kidnapped uh we just have great episodes so you to see our work in action. And then Tan and I are going to give you some great tips and tools. So let's catch you up on our lives. A whole bunch has happened, right? Since we've talked to you last, the pandemic, the end sort of of the pandemic, and you've had some really big things. It's been pretty wild. Yeah. It was such a crazy time anyways for everybody. And then I had empty nest syndrome for a short time, but it was really hard. I really understand empty nest syndrome now. And I think it's so unfair that God creates this, this time in your life where you have empty nest syndrome at the same time you're experiencing and learning about menopause or men on pause and hot moms, however you want to look at it. Um, so that was very interesting to go through all of that at

the same time. Um, and then I, I learned firsthand the relationship with grief and I think that was the hardest part. Yeah, so it was February. We were in Egypt on this fascinating trip through the pyramids and we were just February 13th. Uh, we were just about ready to go into King Tut's tomb in the Valley of the Queens in Egypt. And I'll never forget, um, the look on your face when you got the call from your uncle that your mom had been diagnosed with cancer. Yeah. She had, um, it was

weird cause she was such a young 77 and then she had stage four lung cancer. It was wild. Um, so we moved her in with us. Um, so grateful that I had the opportunity to make it home. I got COVID on the plane home. I was so in a panic. Um, couldn't see her for the next week. And, but I was grateful that I had the opportunity to move her in with us and have those last weeks. I mean, I know it's so hard for people who don't get that chance to say goodbye. Um, but I had that chance to actually care for her. And it was, it was, I felt like I was in a war from the day that I heard the news, um, until, you know, until it ended, it was a war. And, um, but there was a

lot of gratitude in there as well. A lot of, a lot of things to be grateful for. And I think, you know, I think one of the big things I learned is that for me, grief turned out to be a relationship. I didn't understand that. It's not, it's not an event. It's, it's not even a process. I mean, it is a process, but it's a relationship and you're either going to have a good relationship or you're going to have a bad relationship with it, but you're going to have a relationship with it. And we're going to talk about that in our next podcast. It's going to be on the neuroscience of grief and you've had other things happen yeah um lots of things we've got we moved we have a new dog we have we've had all kinds of things happen so you've seen

chloe's gonna finish college this year she's working three jobs our nieces who um we adopted one's at ucla is a pre-med student the other one got into the law magnet program in high school she's they're both thriving yeah and we have five grandchildren now 15 to age six yeah which is so much fun. And one of the takeaway for listeners is brain health can take you through major life transitions, menopause, grief, family changes in such a better way than if you're not focused on your brain. And I have big updates. I turned 70 this year. It's completely weird. Wow.

Right? I mean, you're, you know, what I tell all my patients is if you're going to live to 100, and there's not a good reason why I won't my grandmother who smoked for 50 years lived until she was 98. So, um, that means I'm not even in the fourth quarter. Now you come from good genes too. And this is, I always tell people, you know, my patients who are freaked out about aging, it's like in a basketball game, like we had season tickets to the Lakers for 20 years. It really doesn't get that interesting until the fourth quarter. So one of the coolest things that happened this year for me. So I've been a bit at war with the American Psychiatric Association. And because, you know, if what we do is right, and it is,

it means what 40,000 psychiatrists do is not the best, right? Making diagnoses based on symptom clusters with no biological data. Well, that's sort of insane all on its own. And so the API and I have been at war. Which is really interesting since they made you a distinguished fellow. In 2005. Yeah, the highest award they give members. But in January, they called me and they said,

we want to make you an American Psychiatric Association thought leader. And we want to create a video on you. And some of you listening or watching to this won't remember Candid Camera, but I grew up with Candid Camera. And when this lady is calling me, I'm like looking around my office and it's like, are you on Candid?

Am I on candid camera? So they will remember, the ones who don't remember candid camera will remember punked. Okay, so you thought you were being punked. I thought I was being punked. And it turned out they made this beautiful, we'll put a link to it, seven minute video about the work we do here at Amen Clinics. And so that was huge for me. And then the success of my book, Change Your Brain Every Day, we'll put another link for that. I think of it as my greatest hits. It's 366 short essays on the most important things I've ever said. We also released

this year, in large part, thanks to you, Raising Mentally Strong Kids that I wrote with Charles Fay, who's the president of the Love and Logic Institute. Tana introduced me to these people initially, and I love them. And I'm working on a new book, Surprise, Surprise, Change Your Brain, Change Your Pain, about the intersection between physical and emotional pain. Since we last talked to you, we've celebrated the opening of three new clinics, Dallas, South Florida, and Phoenix. We have 11 clinics across the country overall. And you'll see this podcast is sponsored by Amen Clinics, also Amen University.

We have a brand new course for professionals, our brain health license coaching courses. I'm so excited about that. We have new research on, we'll talk about it, hope, adverse childhood experiences. Love that. And negativity bias. If your brain tends to go to what's wrong rather than what's right, it's not good for your brain. But we're not gonna- We're gonna have to talk about that. We're're not going to have to talk about that.

We're going to, we will talk about that. You can put into your own life is it's so important how brain healthy habits help you navigate your own growth, success, and family. So at 70, I feel just as sharp as when I was 35, but with less pain because I don't ever have aspartame. We're going to talk about that in the weeks coming up. I have less pain, more wisdom. And so I want you to commit to your brain health. And one way you commit to it is come back every week. Hi, I'm Dr. Daniel Lehman. I've experienced firsthand the powerful impact that proper supplementation can have on your brain, your body, and your mind. That's why I founded BrainMD. Our formulas are scientifically created from decades of clinical research designed to help you think clearer, feel better, and improve every aspect of your health. Whether it's Brain and Body Power

Max, the same formula I used in the world's largest study of NFL players to optimize brain performance, to happy saffron, to boost mood and memory, and Pro Brain Biotics Max to improve the gut-brain connection. BrainMD delivers the highest quality science-backed solutions to help you think and feel better. Tana and I take many of our products every day. And as a special offer, just for our listeners, you can save 20% on your next order. Visit brainmd.com and use the code podcast20. With a better brain always comes a better life. So let's talk. Change your brain every day. What does that mean? And I think one thing I think is it's important to, because that can sound overwhelming, like, oh my goodness, I'm on this like lifelong journey.

But you know, it's a step-by-step thing. I think it's actually easier if you just break it down and go, no, it's actually so easy because I don't have to think of this as a six-month program or a two-week program or a whatever. It's a daily thing. It's just a tiny thing you do every day, which makes it so simple. So let's start by giving them some basic brain health habits. And the first one, I always say brain health is three things. In fact, I horrified myself when I realized it's three words, care.

So the first step is something we call brain envy. Freud was wrong. Penis envy is not the cause of anybody's problem. I've not seen it once in 40 years. It's brain envy. You got to care about the physical functioning of your brain. And nobody cares about their brain. Why? You can't see it. You can see the wrinkles in your skin or the fat around your belly, and you can do something when you're unhappy about it, but nobody ever looks at their brain.

And you actually worked for a plastic surgeon for a while. Many of them, yeah. So I worked in an ICU unit, and we used to get recruited all the time. So, yeah. And so people are always, they look in the mirror, and they don't like what they see, and they're in the plastic. And guess what? They usually don't like what they see afterwards and they're in the plastic. And guess what? They usually don't like what they see afterwards either.

So that's the really scary part. So it starts by caring. Your brain controls everything you do, how you think, how you feel, how you act, how you get along with other people. Your brain is the organ of intelligence, character, and every decision you make. So in a couple of weeks, we're actually going to give people 10 ways to ruin your relationship. And just to preview it a touch, if your brain's not right, your relationship is not going to be right my friend earl hensland who actually saw yesterday said no forethought equals no foreplay yeah because love that and

one of the things we're going to do is teach you to live with high intention especially when it comes to the health of your brain. So that's care. You got to care about it. Right. And did you ever really think about caring for your brain before? Nobody ever mentioned it to me. I never, no, I never thought about, well, what's really weird. My idea of caring for your brain was different. I was a neurosurgical ICU nurse. So even the idea of a brain injury, to me, that meant your skull was cracked wide open. We had a drain in your brain. You were in a coma. I mean, that's what I thought of when it comes to brain health and brain injuries. I didn't think of the small daily things you do to prevent, you know, or to just keep your brain really healthy.

To me, it was like big accidents. So it was, that was just a whole new concept. Well, and if you ask me, you say, Hey, Daniel, what's the single most important thing you've learned from over 250,000 scans is mild traumatic brain injury ruins people's lives. And nobody knows about it because they never look at the brain. And we met just about 19 years ago. And when we met, I'm like, holy smokes, this is one beautiful, wonderful woman my heart just like went fast and but the first naked part of you i wanted to see was your brain yeah it was one of the best lines i give you credit for that and yeah and so a couple weeks later you came to the clinic and you got scanned and your brain was beautiful like you are but i could actually see that you had a concussion yeah and i was like you're crazy i've never had a brain injury you're out of your mind and we went through this whole thing because i'm thinking

brain drain broken skull gunshot wound to the head like and i found you got to ask people 10 times whether or not they've had a brain injury, right? Do you ever fall out of a tree, off a fence, dive into a shallow pool? Has he ever had concussions playing sports? And so I'm going through the list with you and you're like, no, no, no, no, no. Were you ever in a car accident? Yes. My sister rolled the car two and a half times going 75 miles an hour when she fell asleep.

And the top of the car caved in. Thank God my seat was back. But I slammed my head into the center console. But I'm like, but I didn't lose consciousness. So I was fine. Well, and that's the big lie that you have to lose consciousness in order to have a bad brain injury. Your brain is soft about the consistency of soft butter, tofu, custard, somewhere between egg whites and jello, right? And as an ICUu nurse you'd actually see people who had their skull flaps popped off and you could see the very clean brain tissue before yeah i'm sorry i've had to clean

brain tissue before and it's really soft right it's not what people think of a brain that has been fixed in formaldehyde which is sort of firm fixed and rubbery it's really soft and it's housed in a really hard skull that has sharp bony ridges yeah and so it it's true it hurt that part of your brain yeah it was very it was very interesting to learn because i had never never heard that never experienced. It was very, it was very interesting to learn because I had never, never heard that, never experienced it, never understood it. So it was wild. It opened my eyes a lot. And then you became friends with the hyperbaric oxygen chamber because we found it's one of the helpful things. Yeah. But when, yeah, during COVID that was like my best friend. Yeah.

So brain envy. And then we also saw the diamond pattern in your brain. Trauma. Learned about trauma. So brain envy. And when we see this diamond pattern, we should share a link to it. I'm like, well, have you ever had trauma in the past? And our first date, I learned about a lot of trauma, right? In fact, you told me about when you were four years old, you started going to the doctors. You were a frequent flyer. Yeah. It's the first time I'd heard that term.

Lots of antibiotics, lots of doctor's appointments, upper and lower GIs at four years old. And I'm like, so what happened at four? And you're like, don't shrink me. What happened at four? My uncle was murdered in a drug deal gone wrong. And I remember the day that the police were in my house, my mom and my grandmother were screaming. I got shoved aside. I mean, they're good intentions. They were like, they didn't want me to see what was happening, but instead I took it as, you know, I was terrified. I didn't know what was happening. Um, it was all this screaming and chaos and I was, you know, just sort of shoved aside and no one was explaining to me what was going on.

And so I remember trying to sort of hide in the corner and yeah, it was two weeks later. And then I just just reflected do you think that had anything to do with it no no and one of my first gifts to you was 10 sessions of emdr something we'll talk about a lot on this podcast uh eye movement desensitization and reprocessing right no it was magical okay so the first tip is brain envy gotta care avoid things that hurt your brain you just have to know the less traumatic brain injuries obviously being one and then do things that help your brain And we're going to talk about that. And one of your tips is create a vision that helps your brain. You have to tell your brain what you want so your brain can work on it. Right. So I think vision, like creating a vision is so powerful. I think high intentionality

as we've learned the word, I love that high intentionality phrase, but I've always believed in intention. Um, I've always lived my life since I learned this in my early twenties, intention changes, everything intention, whether it's in your relationships, whether it is, you know, with your, the relationship with your children, your husband, um, your re whatever relationship it is, your partner, it makes a huge difference. Intention in your business, it matters. So I've always done this. And when I learned it, I spent so much time journaling everything I want for my life down, I mean, in detail, like vivid, intricate, granular detail with relationship, where I wanted to live. This is at a time that I was like, I just had cancer. I had filed for bankruptcy. I had to drop out of school, quit my job. I was very depressed. It was a terrible time in my life. I wrote about it, all of it in my book.

And so I started doing this back then. And I wrote in great detail what, not what I wanted for my life, what my life was going to be. And then I changed it to what it is, what I am. And with great detail, I wrote where I was going to live, what car I was going to drive, what neighborhood down to the neighborhood I was going to live in, um, what my partner was going to be like everything, my finances. And I didn't really think too much about it after that. I mean, for a while I read it over and over and over and then I remember life gets busy right and so you fast forward fast forward like 25 years and I'd moved multiple times and somehow I'm cleaning out my garage and I find that journal in with like a box of tax papers or something and I was like what the heck and I

remember Chloe seeing it and she was just mind blown. So Chloe's our daughter. And she was just mind blown because she was like, there's no way you wrote that that long ago. We lived in the neighborhood. I drove the car, except there was a couple of exceptions on this list. The car was not the convertible because I had a kid. So I didn't get the convertible, but it wasn't intentional. I didn't remember it. Do you know what I'm saying? But it was there somewhere in the back of my mind. The man I married was very much like the, the list that I described, like kind, loving, caring, just, you know, everything that I had said, all the qualities I had stated the values. And then what was crazy is I actually said, and I wasn't a writer at the

time, I said I was going to be a New York Times bestselling author. The one difference is I thought it would be fiction instead of nonfiction. But how crazy is that? Your book, The Rauntless Courage of a Scared Child, does read a little bit like Stephen King. There's a little horror in that book, a little book of horrors. That's funny. So your tip for the day is high intention. Well, create a vision. So you need to create a vision and you not only need to create it and be clear on it, write it out, write it out and own it. So when you own it, like I didn't just say, this is what I want, or I, even from, I will be, I changed it to, I am. I actually went back and wrote, crossed out, I will be. So you saw it in the first. I saw it and I kept every day, I would go over it until it was, it's like a scratch on a record. Just kept replaying it over and over and over.

So sort of a little bit like an affirmation. No, and I created affirmations. Yeah. I was the queen of affirmations. In a couple of weeks, we're going to have Alicia Newman on, an Olympic pole vaulter who starts her affirmation with, I am a world-class pole vaulter who will compete for a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. And that story is to come. That is a great story. I do an exercise with all of my patients called the one page miracle. And if I had to sort of look back on my life and go, how did I build the success that I have? It's because when I created that exercise in 1986, I've lived it, you know, but it's very important when you create intention for you to do it in a balanced way.

Because too often, I spoke at Tom Ferry's group yesterday. He's a very high-end real estate professional trainer. And I got to speak to their highest performers. And I'm like, your intentions with work and money are probably very clear. But if you stick with that, you end up divorced and miserable. So what do you want in your relationships? We are a human species, which means we are connected species. And I think that helps with you and I so much, right? We frequently talk about what we want and we,

it's like something we do actually do on a regular basis. We talk about what we want. We talk about what our goals are going forward. Um, and, and parenting with love and logic. You talked about that earlier really helped me with parenting when I, you know, parents still want to get stuck on, you know, how they parent or whatever. And I always would, after that, I learned how to step back and go, what is my bigger goal? What is the bigger picture here? Like, what am I really trying to accomplish? I'm trying to turn out a responsible human being. You know, I don't need to be your friend. I don't need to be like, it would take me out of whatever it was I was in. It's like, no, my bigger picture goal here is to create a loving, responsible, amazing human. Stop getting caught up in the,

don't get stuck in the weeds. So what do you want in your relationships um for you i always want the same thing right kind caring loving supportive passionate relationship but i get rude thoughts sometimes once in a while they sneak out but not that often don't say it don't say it because it doesn't fit with what I want. And I find almost all of my patients never develop a vision for their relationships. It's always about money or work or their body. And so what do you want in your relationships, your work, your money, your physical, emotional, spiritual health? So important.

And if you want a better brain, that's why you're listening to this, then you always ask yourself this question. Is this good for my brain or bad for us? And if you stay with us over the next couple of months, you will know in great detail, it's good for my brain or bad for it. So I want to tell one more story. We had our 35th anniversary here last week. It was amazing. And it was so much fun to just sort of think about 35 years of changing people's brains and changing their lives and all of the cool things that have

happened. I mean, really the blessing it has been for me to be able to be here to lead this team to see the tens of thousands of people that we have seen it has been an incredible honor and then afterwards you know i had a whole line of people that want to take pictures with me and wanted me to sign their books. And then I saw a teenager who I could tell had had a stroke because of how she was postured. And when she saw me, I winked at her and she started giggling and crying at the same time. And her name is Clara Woods, and she's actually going to be on the podcast in a couple of weeks. I'm very excited about it. And when she got to me, she started crying. Her mom and dad and brother were there. And her mom told me when Clara was in her womb, so while mom was pregnant with her, that Clara had a stroke.

Oh, wow. And the doctor said she would never do this or that. And, and it was hard. She was born in Italy. The family actually came over to the United States. They came to our clinic, saw Dr. Daniel Lamina, one of our awesome child psychiatrists. And she's doing so much better. And now Clara has almost a million followers on social media. She's a painter and she doesn't speak words, but can communicate and understands five languages. That's crazy. She is just amazing. And so just to think about how our work, even if your brain's been hurt, even if your brain has been damaged, you can make it better and I can prove it. And with a better brain always comes a better life. And she was so cute because she signed to her mother, tell him, I'm really trying to give up sugar. That's cute. And and I are so grateful to be back. Do you have

any other tips you want to leave with them before we sign off episode one? Actually, what I want is for people to write to us. I want to hear from them. I want to get questions and I want to know where they're at in their journey so that, um, we can best serve them. I want to get questions and I want to know where they're at in their journey so that we can best serve them. I think we're going to provide so much information and so many tips and I want to just stay connected to people on this journey. So we would love it if you subscribed and reviewed the podcast because that just helps other people find it. And then send it to your family and friends because one of the things that we've learned is people get better together. So if you can share this with people in your community, they're going to want a better brain and that will help you you can also learn more about our work at amenclinics.com so amen like the last word in a prayer clinics.com you can follow

me on social media at doc underscore amen at instagram or Doc Eamon on TikTok. You can also follow Tana, Tana Eamon. Remember, every day, you're either building a better brain or letting it slip away. The small choices you make today can lead to a lifetime of brain health, energy, and joy. We're here to walk this journey with you because you're never stuck with the brain you have. You can improve it every single day. So take what you've learned today,

brain envy, avoid bad things, do good things, apply it, and let's continue this journey together. Join us next week for more tools, tips, and strategies to help you change your brain and change your life. Until then, get up and move. Get some energy. Do something right now to make your brain better. Take action and make every day count.