Change Your Brain Every Day - Why The Brain Hates Change

Episode Date: December 12, 2017

It’s been said that the only constant in life is change, but then why is it so hard for the brain to accept the all those changes? In episode 4 of a series called Success Starts Here, Dr. Daniel Amen and Tana Amen teach you how to train your brain to better handle change, and how to make sure those changes are the right ones to help you live a longer, more fulfilling life.

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. We're talking about success starts here, and this is actually one of my favorite sections. It's something that I've been thinking about a lot recently. You know, why has it been so hard for the medical community to change and come around to the imaging work we do in natural ways to heal the brain? And then I realized people hate change. Right. The brain hates change. That's why people get stuck in ruts and why innovation is so hard.

You don't even like when I change a chair at home. Only like it if you change it to the chair I want. Yeah, but it's hard to even get that far. You like things. So we're going to talk about embracing change and new ways to do things except the chair. And you have to know about two important parts of the brain. One is called the anterior cingulate gyrus. It's the brain's gear shifter that sees errors. So it's involved in shifting attention,

cognitive flexibility, going from idea to idea, seeing options, going with the flow, being cooperative, getting outside of yourself and into the head of your husband it also sees errors when it works normally it sees errors like if you came home and the garage door was open but nobody was home you know you think i'm like paranoid i see error i see errors all the time i see them like even tiny details. But I definitely notice when something's wrong.

So when this part of the brain doesn't work hard enough, so it runs deep right down the middle of your frontal lobes. When it doesn't work hard enough, low motivation, low energy, low movement, and you don't talk. When it works too hard, talks a lot, dislikes change, trouble shifting attention, difficulty seeing options, hold your own opinion, don't listen to others, get locked into a course of action even though it might not be good for you. needs to have things done a certain way can be involved in compulsive behaviors such as washing your hands or checking locks oppositional argumentative says no upset when things don't go as you expect can go with anxiety people who predict the worst um i don't know anybody like this i know a lot of people like this. I mostly just notice things that are wrong. And I tend to say, well, I say no when I don't. The thing is, is I say no where people, most people will be more polite.

I just say it. So I don't know what to say about that. And then there's another part of the brain called the basal ganglia that integrate feeling and movement and tends to be involved with anxiety. And when these parts of the brain work too hard, people tend to be anxious, rigid, inflexible. They get stuck in a rut. Like, have you ever known anybody that loops? I think of it as looping.

Oh, my gosh. They just loop and they won't let it go. Haven't you like, they said the same thing over and over. And they won't let it go though until you like are supposed to agree with them, even if you don't agree with them, but they won't let it go. They're going to beat it to death. Right? I had this one patient once.

I said she had a PhD in grudge holding. She would not only beat things to death, she would beat them into the afterlife. That's really hard on relationships. It's really hard on the people around you. Oh, my God. Right? Yes, I've been in that sort of marriage. Yeah, no.

I know if I die and go to hell, and the first thing I hear is a vacuum sweeper. That I've gone to hell. You know it won't be me. I know it won't be you, and I've gone to hell. You know I have not joined you. There would not be anyone in the vacuum 24-7. provides low levels of serotonin because when serotonin levels go low, the cingulate gyrus gets more active and then you become more rigid or inflexible. There's some psychological resistances to change. Why don't you go through those? So you do not understand the need for

change. So something might be happening and you need to change, but your brain just isn't going to accept the need to change. You're busy doing other things, completely miss that your family, health, business, and finances are headed the wrong way. So you're not picking up the cues that something needs to change. So people didn't explain it to you. Like we were in the store, we've sort of adopted our nieces and I took them grocery shopping. And I, before we went in the store, I said, look, I just have to be like really honest with you. I don't spend my money on bad food.

So I'm never going to do that. So just don't ask. And I taught them how to read food labels. Of course they think we're starving them to death right now, but it's okay. No, they're doing so much better. They're doing better. They're doing better. But it was, it was hard. It, they're doing so much better. They're doing better. They're doing better. But it was hard.

It was hard. For her. We literally filled their house with food and the first thing they said is there's nothing to eat. What's next? Fear of the unknown. So the brain doesn't like to do what it doesn't sort of, when it can't predict what's going to happen.

Right? So many people stay longer in relationships than they should because they were afraid of what would have happened next. I used to love what my mom used to tell me when I was a little kid. When stuff would be, things would not be going a certain way that I wanted them to go. And I didn't understand why. Like, why is this happening? Why is this happening? You know, things were changing and I didn't really like it.

But my mom would tell me this one thing that was so comforting to me and it's something I grab onto. And she'd say, sometimes God has to close all the doors around you before you will take the time to turn around and see the one that's open. And so I try to remember that when I'm starting to like resist what's going on. It's like, wait a minute. Is there a door that's open that I'm supposed to be seeing? Sometimes people don't change because they have low self-confidence, low self-esteem.

Yeah. They're afraid of conflict. Would you say some people are afraid of success? If it's a big change? Yes, but it's less than I think it is. I mean, we used to to i was almost a dsm for diagnosis like self-sabotage self-sabotage interesting um some people are just attached to the old ways of doing right they just are stuck we've always done it this way but don't you know

people who they're living a certain way and you're thinking to yourself god they could they have so much potential they've got the opportunities right in front of them and they're not taking it repeatedly. And it's so weird. Someone we're coaching. I want her to apply for jobs that are really above her level so that she gets the best job she's under qualified for. And she's terrified of being rejected. But we just went, you know, so if 20 people say no and only one person says yes, you can only work at one job at a time. Right. I like what you told her, though. What you actually said was if you're not getting rejected, you are not reaching high enough.

And I'm like, oh, I like that. That's really good. That's how I got you. That was really smooth. That was really smooth. That was smooth. It takes work to break out of your comfort zone. And many people don't have the health, the time, the energy to do it, especially if they're anxious, uncertain, or depressed. So one thing I think you can do to help flip that, because whenever people say to me, I

don't have time to do this, or I don't have time to do that, we are some of the busiest people we know. For me, after being as sick as I've been, is I don't have time to do this or I don't have time to do that. We are some of the busiest people we know. For me, after being as sick as I've been, is I don't have time not to. You need to flip that in your head a little bit. Tweak the saying and say it enough. You don't have time not to if you're a busy person. There are social resistance to change. Groups hate change.

Groups resist. Oh my gosh. Don't we know it? Like repeatedly, over and over we work with these groups they bring us in to do just our family just our own family that you know as we live super healthy lives they make fun of you they belittle you and then when they get sick they need you right but big groups are really hard they're really hard um families co-workers friends resist change you spend time with people who have bad habits

people are contagious so there's three ways people change we're talking about change they get an epiphany so the imaging work we do is an epiphany for a lot of people. They realize they can change their brain and change their life. When I saw my scan for the first time, I'm like, well, that's not as good as I want it to be. How can I make it better? It was an epiphany. When I read this first study from Cyrus, as your weight goes up, the size and function of your brain goes down. That was an epiphany. I lost 25 pounds.

I was like, no, we're not doing, you know, being fat and having a small brain. Um, it's, it's the wrong combination. Um, some people change by changing their friends. The fastest way to get healthy is find the healthiest person you can stand and then spend as much time around people are definitely contagious right um and the other way people change is they make small incremental changes and if you make one small change you're more likely to make two and if you make two small changes you're more likely to make four so like in the 26 week course we taught right the brain warriors way. I mean, people got great results, but you know, it was one week after the other putting small habits into your life. Yeah. And so this idea of people being contagious.

So we have a lot of people who start to get healthy. And the first thing they run into is that resistance with coworkers, the resistance with family, and it trips them up. And they almost, a lot of people do give up or they give up and then they keep trying to start over because it's hard. It's hard when you're first doing it to stand up to people. So I just have one thing to say. That is the one place where being a little oppositional and liking the word no comes in handy. So be that person.

Think of yourself as that person who's the change maker. You are the change maker. It's okay to say no. Well, it's what Gandhi said, right? Be the change you want to see in the world. And be the change maker. You are the change maker. It's okay to say no. Well, it's what Gandhi said, right? Be the change you want to see in the world. And be the change maker. And there's a spiritual resistance to change. You know, you believe your reason for living will be disrupted if you change. So where ruts in your life? Here's some questions. Do you dislike change?

Do you tend to get stuck in loops of thinking? Do you struggle with repetitive negative thoughts? Do you have difficulty seeing options? Do you tend to hold your own opinion and not listen to others? Do you tend to be oppositional or argumentative? The more questions of these you answer yes to, the more likely you're singular. It works too hard based on our research here at Amen Clinics. But what habits do you want to change, you know, from a practical standpoint?

Are there relationships, health, work, money? Do you have habits around these things you want to change? Cell phone, digital habits, email, brushing your teeth, making coffee, breakfast, you know, what are the habits that are messing with your life? And quickly, we'll do more on this coming up on nine ways to embrace change and turn your ruts into the super highways of success. So quickly, you got a boost serotonin how do you boost serotonin well either the right carbohydrates

exercise meditation all those things boost sunlight oh and serotonin serotonin okay I just learned something I had no idea it's intimately connected with vitamin D and mood and serotonin. What do you know? I actually just learned something. And so bright light therapy. So say you live in Seattle and you're coming to wintertime. Is that one of the reasons it works?

I thought it was just vitamin D. I didn't know it was serotonin. Vitamin D helps to optimize serotonin. That's fascinating. I didn't realize that that's what it was connected to. And brand new study just out today on Inuit tribes in Canada. It was actually a fairly large study. They looked at the psychological stress index and the Inuits who had the highest level of psychological stress, more likely to be female. And we know females have 52% less serotonin. They had lower omega-3 fatty acid levels. How is that?

And lower vitamin D levels. Because they're not making fish their primary right to the Western diet. Their diet has changed to the Western diet. Okay, so number one is boost serotonin. Number two is define the behavior we want to change. Three is assess your readiness for change. So do you want to change? Are you thinking about it? Are you all in? I mean, you really have to go. And don't lie to yourself. Where am I? Identify your most vulnerable moments. See, I think this is a really important one. To actually just take a minute to be aware that your vulnerable moments are when you have a meeting and your boss yells at you and it happens every Friday.

Or when you pick your kids up and you take them over to some play date. I mean, whatever it is. You go to your family's house for dinner. Whatever it is, just knowing it. For some people, it's come down to when they eat, they eat in front of the TV in a certain room in the house. Just being aware of that means you can change it. And then know the behaviors you need to do. So if you want to lose weight, you know, it's eating right and exercising it's more than that but it's like whenever you come to a decision about food you ask yourself is this good for my brain or bad for it and if you love

yourself you make more good decisions the one and this was really interesting um you develop if then plans to overcome the vulnerable moments. And this has been shown in research study after research study to be effective. So if my mom offers me the second piece of pie, what am I going to do? So it's really activating your frontal lobes that we talked about last time. It's activating the CEO to plan ahead of time. If this happens, then I will do that.

So it's really a visualization exercise. You're visualizing what you want to have happen. And then reframe your pain. So, oh, and we do this all the time with people. It's, oh, I don't want to deprive myself. Right. But is that depriving you? Because engaging in that behavior is the deprivation.

What are we really going to deprive them of if they get serious? Diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer. Yeah. Brain fog. Exactly. Very important to turn accomplices into friends or get rid of the enemy. You become like the people you hang out with. Or you've got to be really strong and be that change maker because eventually they will,

you will begin to create your own community. Eventually they will begin to turn, but you've got to be strong. Who came up to us at church. Oh, it's hilarious. And she, she came up to us. She lost 26 pounds and she's like, oh, but that's not the thing. That's not the thing. And then she started to talk about her husband.

Who wouldn't do it. Right. He was like irritated with her. Annoyed, irritated, didn't like that she wasn't doing this because it means she's not going to cook the same way. She's not going to eat the same way when they go out. So he was like very resistant. Right. Until he saw her get super cute.

Right. And he still didn get super cute. Right. And he still didn't change though. And remember, she said something to him. Remember what she said? It was really funny. Really happy long after you're dead. I don't think she said it quite like that,

but yes, I love you, but I'm going to be, you know, I'm going to be around and healthy and happy. No, I think she was clear. I'm going to be really happy long after you're dead.

I don't think she meant she was going to be happy. He was going to be dead. No, she's just, but that's how it sounds. Right. You know that if he's not going to take, I'm going to choose happiness and health.

Right. Right. Right. And then you want to create a series of small wins to attain big gains. So those are the tiny habits that we often talk about in BrainFit Life, our online community. So boost serotonin, know what you want, know the behaviors you need to do, and then come up with these if-then statements. So if I'm going to break biting my fingernails, so if I get anxious, then I'm going to go drink a glass of water. I'm going to go for a walk.

I'm going to go listen to Coldplay, whatever it is, come up with another plan. Think about it ahead of time, which actually engages your prefrontal cortex. Stay with us. We're going to talk about mastering your mind. Success starts here. Thank you for listening to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. Go to iTunes and leave a review, and you'll automatically be entered into a drawing to get a free signed copy of the Brain Warriors Way and the Brain Warriors Cookbook, we give away every month.