The Mel Robbins PodcastA Better Brain: 3 Habits for Productivity, Memory, and Longevity | Mel Robbins Podcast [ENCORE]
EVERY SPOKEN WORD
95 min read · 19,332 words- 0:00 – 1:41
Intro
- MRMel Robbins
I was able to get you an appointment with the world's leading expert on brain health. So I am here with you. I got my pen. I am ready to learn, okay, what supplements do I need to take? What do I need to know about how to be a happier me? What do I need to eat? What should I do that I'm not doing? What are the things that will help me, Mel Robbins, a woman without a PhD and not a lot of time, how can I make my brain better? (instrumental music) Hey, it's your friend Mel, and welcome to the Mel Robbins podcast. I am so glad that you're here today because, you know, when I started the Mel Robbins podcast, I always had this vision that it would be like you and I taking a walk twice a week and just doing life together. And then occasionally, when we felt like it, if they were cool enough, we would invite some of the world's leading experts and interesting people to go on that walk with us so that we could learn from them. Well, what if I told you that I was able to get you an appointment with the world's leading expert on brain health? Somebody that has scanned 200,000 brains! Somebody with clinics around the world that see 4,000 people a month! Someone who has written 12 New York Times bestselling books on the brain and brain health. What, what would you say if I said, "Hey, I got us a free appointment with the world's leading expert
- 1:41 – 7:48
Today, you have an appointment with the world’s leading expert on brain health.
- MRMel Robbins
on your brain health?" Well, you know what I would say if you said that to me? I would say, "So? I, I, I don't care. Why, why do I care about my brain health? It's basically like three pounds of macaroni in between my ears, and some days it gives me a headache. So what do I care?" Here's why you should care. The reason why you should care is that there are simple things that you can do to take better care of your brain. And when you take better care of your brain, you will be happier, healthier. You can make a huge difference in symptoms of anxiety and depression and ADHD. It is literally the place that you need to start when it comes to a happier and healthier you. Our expert today that's joining us is Dr. Daniel Amen. Dr. Daniel Amen has been practicing medicine, he has been a psychiatrist for 40 years. He is one of the world's leading experts on brain health. Um, I'm telling you, he's the OG. He was on speed dial with the NFL during all of the concussion hearings because he understands that in order to improve your health, you have to improve the structure and functioning and blood flow in your brain, right? It makes sense, doesn't it? You got to tune up the engine in your car, so of course, you've got to take better care of your brain. And he's not gonna overwhelm you. One of the reasons why I love Dr. Daniel Amen is, first of all, he's fun, he's hilarious, and he talks in takeaways. So I am here with you. I got my pen. I am ready to learn. I am ready to learn, okay, what supplements do I need to take? What do I need to know about how to be a happier me? What are the things I can do, Dr. Amen? What do I need to eat? What should I do that I'm not doing? How much sleep do I need? How much water do I need? What are the things that will help me, Mel Robbins, a woman without a PhD and not a lot of time? How can I make my brain better? And I got to be honest with you, I have referred so many people to him because I believe that his advice works. Whether you're dealing with the impacts of concussions or you're dealing with the impact of anxiety or you're dealing with, uh, a brain that, uh, has been impacted by past addiction, there will be information for you that is not only specific but that's gonna help absolutely everybody. So, you ready? Should we invite Dr. Daniel Amen, the brainiac, the bestselling author, the OG of brain health to the Mel Robbins podcast? (claps) I'd say so. Here we go. Dr. Daniel Amen, my friend. I'm so happy that you are here on the Mel Robbins podcast. And for you watching me clapping here like an idiot, (claps) I'm clapping because I need you to subscribe right here. I'm not even gonna take you to the interview until you subscribe. I'm gonna close my arms like this. If you're not subscribed to this channel, you should feel guilty, maybe even a little ashamed of yourself for freeloading off this content. I'm just kidding. I just need your support because we can bring these videos to you every single day because of the support of the ads that roll on these videos. So please hit subscribe. That way you'll never miss one 'cause we'll show up in your feed, and your friend Mel greatly, greatly, greatly loves you and appreciates you. All right, you ready? You hit subscribe? Fabulous. Let's go learn from Dr. Daniel Amen. Mwah! So Dr. Amen, thank you so much for being with us.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Well, I love being with you, so thank you for having me.
- MRMel Robbins
Oh, you're the best. You know, one of the reasons why I love you is you have been a expert on the brain and a psychiatrist for 40 years, and you do not focus on what's wrong with us. You literally teach us how to bring out, like, more awesomeness through brain health. You call it, um, elite brain training. What is that?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Well, a, a long time ago, I realized I hated the term mental illness. It shames people, it's stigmatizing, and it's wrong. There are brain health issues, and if I can teach you to get your brain healthy, well, your mind is better. People often don't understand that. Your brain, physical functioning of your brain creates your mind-And so, if you want to be elite, you're already elite. But the people I work with, um, they- everybody wants to be better. Nobody wants to be told they're mental. And so, the mission I have on the planet is to end the whole concept of mental illness and create this revolution in brain health, which is why I'm so grateful to hang out with you today.
- MRMel Robbins
(laughs) Oh, w- y- I wasn't planning on asking you this, but I just was struck by the fact that you distinguished between the brain and the mind. What's the difference between your brain and your mind?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Well, your brain, the physical functioning of your brain, creates your mind. And people get this mixed up all the time, but you just have to think of someone who has Alzheimer's disease, and if you saw the scans of people with Alzheimer's disease, you see that they're wildly damaged. And then that person is no longer fully that person because their brain has been damaged. Or just take COVID.
- MRMel Robbins
Mm-hmm.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
People who get COVID, in the next four months, have a 25% chance of having a new onset psychiatric illness because COVID causes inflammation in the brain. And then I was on the Kardashian show recently and Kendall came to see me and she's
- 7:48 – 10:08
The craziest brain scan Dr. Amen has ever seen
- DADr. Daniel Amen
like, "After I got COVID, I'm so anxious." But if you watch, if you look at the physical functioning of her brain, her emotional centers are on fire. And so, people really need to know, if you want a healthy mind, the first thing to have is a healthy brain.
- MRMel Robbins
And when you say a healthy brain, so that makes sense to me, Dr. Amen, first of all, especially the Alzheimer's example, it makes sense to me that when you- the physical structure and functioning of your brain is impacted, of course it has an impact on the state of your mind. And so, are you saying that absolutely anybody can improve the physical health of their brain and that will ha- that will have an impact on your happiness, your performance, and your mental health?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Everything. And it happens quickly. So for example, if you get better sleep tonight-
- MRMel Robbins
Yeah.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
... your mind is gonna be better tomorrow. If you get drunk tonight, your mind's gonna be worse tomorrow (laughs) . And because those both have a direct impact on the physical functioning of your brain.
- MRMel Robbins
Wow. Like, I- you know, it's interesting 'cause you're right. There is so much information and so many conversations out there about mental health, but you have this revolutionary approach of teaching all of us how to take better care of our brain and how to improve our brain itself and how that has a direct impact. So, I wanna start at the very beginning because, you know, you've been doing this for 40 years. You are, in my opinion, the world's leading expert on the brain, and can you give us just a 101 on the brain and what you want anybody and everybody to know about the brain? And I want you to speak directly, Dr. Amen, to somebody who may be listening who's never thought about this topic before.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
So your brain is involved in everything you do. How
- 10:08 – 12:26
Brain health 101: What you need to know about your brain today
- DADr. Daniel Amen
you think, how you feel, how you act, how you get along with other people. It's the organ of intelligence, character, and every single decision you make, and when your brain works right, you work right. And when your brain is troubled, for whatever reason, you're sadder, sicker, poorer because your decisions aren't as good. And the very first step in getting a healthy brain is developing a concept I call brain envy. I always say Freud was wrong. Penis envy's not the cause of anybody's problem. I haven't seen it once in 40 years.
- MRMel Robbins
(laughs)
- DADr. Daniel Amen
It's brain envy is what you want, you want to love the three pounds of fat between your ears. You know, today I'm in Miami, but I usually live in Newport Beach where we have more plastic surgeons than almost anywhere in the world because people care more about their faces, their breasts, their bellies, and their butts than they do their brain, and that's insane because it's your brain that makes you attractive, it's your brain that makes you happy, it's your brain that keeps you purposeful, or it's your brain that is the organ of rage. And so, getting your brain right is critical, and it's these three steps. Brain envy, gotta care. Avoid anything that hurts it. Know the list. And quite frankly, most second-graders would get a 90% if you gave them 100 things that hurt their brain. Um, and then the third thing's regularly do things that help it. And I worked with BJ Fogg for six months, he runs a persuasive tech lab at Stanford on how people change, and we developed tiny habits. You know, what's the smallest thing you can do today that will make the biggest difference? And the mother tiny habit...... is whenever you go to do something
- 12:26 – 17:18
The simplest habit you can incorporate today to protect your brain
- DADr. Daniel Amen
today-
- MRMel Robbins
Mm-hmm.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
... ask yourself, takes three seconds, ask yourself, "Is this good for my brain or bad for it?" And if you can answer that with information and love, love of yourself, love of your family, love of your mission, gonna just start making better decisions because you care about the organ that makes you you.
- MRMel Robbins
Wow. All right, let me unpack this. So number one brain envy is this idea of actually caring about the health of your brain. And so do you recommend that you have somebody in mind that you envy? Like clearly I envy you because you take incredible care of your brain, but is it just this concept that you just actually have to wake up and realize that th- what's in between your ears is the most important aspect of your health and wellness, period? Is that what you're saying?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Yes.
- MRMel Robbins
And number two, you then said that there are these micro-habits that you have developed, one of which is asking yourself literally throughout the day, "Is this good or bad for my brain?" So let's- let me just role play that one real quick because you said that, what, like, 90% of second graders can answer the question correctly almost all of the time, but we adults get it terribly wrong? So let's just say it's breakfast time. So how do you use this to start to make better choices that help your brain? Like, do you literally go, "Okay, am I having a cup of coffee or a glass of water? Am I eating, like, a big piece of toast with tons of butter and all this crap on it? Am I taking my supplements?" Like, how does this play out in somebody's day-to-day life, Dr. Amen?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
So I used to play a game with my daughter when she was little. Um, her name is Chloe. And we called it Chloe's Game. And I would say, "Blueberries." And she would say, "Two thumbs up, God's candy." And then I would say, "Frosted Flakes." She'd go, "Way too much sugar." Or, "Avocados." "Two thumbs up, God's butter." Or hitting a f- soccer ball with your head.
- MRMel Robbins
Right.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
And she would just roll her eyes, like, "Brain is soft, skull is hard. That would be so stupid." (laughs) And, and so if you think of the standard American diet, SAD, almost everything's bad for your brain, from the toast in the morning, to the sugar cereals, to the donuts, to the pastries, to the coffee with sugar and milk in it, it's, no, those things are not great for the health of, of your brain. But if you did intermittent fasting and you sort of skipped breakfast, well, that's good for your brain, because-
- MRMel Robbins
Why is th- why is intermittent fasting good for the brain?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Because it helps your brain clean up the trash that builds up from the day before. There's a term called autophagy, which i- is cells start to eat the extra trash that built up the day before. And so if you don't sleep, um, you don't have enough time for the cleaning crew to come and sort of clean up your brain. Intermittent fasting gives you a little bit more time to do that. So breakfast is marketed, and it's, it's actually not essential. Now, for people who might have hypoglycemia or low blood sugar, then breakfast really is important. And kids who have ADD, for example, if they have protein in the morning, their medication lasts longer throughout the day. And when you and I were growing up, things like sausage and eggs were common for breakfast, where now, because everybody's on the run, it's sugar-laden cereals, juice. That was the only thing the second graders got wrong when I tested them, so I gave them a list of 20 things and I'm like, "Good for your brain or bad for it?" And the only thing they got wrong was orange juice, which they put in the good category, but it's clearly in the bad category, 'cause when is it rational to have the sugar from four oranges? It's not rational.
- MRMel Robbins
That's true. It makes a lot of sense. What are three micro-habits that have the biggest impact on the health of your brain other than asking yourself, "Is this good or bad for my brain?"
- DADr. Daniel Amen
So I start every day with, "Today is going to be a great day."
- 17:18 – 19:29
The first thing you need to say every morning to keep your brain strong
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Because once you get the physical functioning of your brain healthy, you then have to program it. And so I knew I was gonna talk to you. It's the first thing that came up in my mind. So I start every day, and if you have children, it's really good to do this at breakfast, which is, if you have breakfast, is, "So why is today gonna be a great day for you?" Directing your mind, which for many people, because of evolution, um, they wake up in a negative state, it puts your brain in a positive state.
- MRMel Robbins
Mm.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
And then my favorite of all the habits I do is when I go to bed at night, I say a prayer and then I go, "What went well today?" And I go on a treasure hunt, and I actually start from the very moment I woke up looking for what was right about the day. And I've done this now seven or eight years, and even the night my dad died about two and a half...... years ago, and it was an awful, awful day. Um, I did it because it was my habit, right? The brain is lazy. It does what you nudge it to do, and so it really helped me even in a really hard time. But it's almost my favorite time of the day because, like you, I'm busy, and great things will happen, and I'll just not really focus on it.
- MRMel Robbins
Hmm.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
But it's that treasure hunt that is, is just so good. And then I take my supplements every day because we live in a nutrient-deficient society, and I always wanna give my brain the nutrition it needs so it can serve me rather than derail me.
- MRMel Robbins
Is there one supplement that you believe everybody should take for better brain health?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Well,
- 19:29 – 26:57
The 2 most important vitamins to take daily
- DADr. Daniel Amen
a, a couple. Uh, multiple vitamin, a really high-quality multiple vitamin. I make one called NeuroVite Plus. Brand new study showed people with memory problems, um, who are headed to darkness, when they took a high-quality multiple vitamin, within a matter of months, their memory was better. So-
- MRMel Robbins
What?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Yes.
- MRMel Robbins
Wait a minute. Hold on a second. So you're saying that a high-quality multivitamin can not only improve your memory, but if you're sliding on a slippery slope toward memory loss, research shows that it can actually bring memory back?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Yes. Brand new research just came out. They're actually comparing it to placebo and cocoa extract, chocolate, and they were hoping the chocolate would do it. It wasn't the chocolate. It was the multiple vitamin. And why I developed NeuroVite like I did, it has the same dosages of B6, B12, and folate that decrease the conversion of mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease. Now, I never make a disease claim with supplements, but if this level of B6, B12, and folate did that, I'm gonna put those levels in our supplements.
- MRMel Robbins
Wow, I'm gonna start popping it like candy is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna make sure that we link to that study and that we link to the supplements that you make as well just so that people can check it out. That's incredible. So a multivitamin has a huge impact. I hear a lot about fish oil too.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
And that would be number two. I did a study at Amen Clinics, and we found 98% of people had suboptimal levels of omega-3 fatty acids unless they were supplementing because we don't have the same level of fish consumption we had before. Plus, fish is tricky. Brand new study out of Florida International University, so not very far from where I am today, they looked at bone fish off the coast of Florida.
- MRMel Robbins
Mm-hmm.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
On average, they had seven pharmaceutical medications in their tissues. And I'm like, "No way." (laughs) And the most common were antidepressants. So as humans, you know, excrete the medications they take into, you know, waste plants, that gets out into the ocean, and then the fish we eat are impacted by them in a negative way.
- MRMel Robbins
Whoa.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
So one reason I like high-quality fish oil, because it's purified, um, especially ours, but also omega-3 fatty acids have been found to be good for your heart, good for your brain, good for your hair, good for your skin, good for your eyes, good for-
- MRMel Robbins
Why is it good for the brain?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Um, 25% of the nerve cell membranes in your brain are made up of omega-3 fatty acids. So if you're-
- MRMel Robbins
Wow.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
... deficient, your brain is not gonna work as fast and efficiently as it could. And low levels have been associated with all sorts of bad things, from depression to dementia to ADHD.
- MRMel Robbins
I'm gonna sprint out of this interview (laughs) and go get this, these, these supplements. I mean, I've been really... I'm, I'm sort of embarrassed because we've got a brain that I clearly envy here in Dr. Amen, and I feel like I am, um, really dropping the ball here on my own brain. And so I'm gonna report back the next time we have you on about how I feel really religiously taking a multivitamin and my fish oil, I promise, Dr. Amen. I wanna go into some of the other, I guess, chemicals that you hear associated with the brain and have you explain to us what they are and why they're important for happiness, for brain health. Let's talk about serotonin. What is it, and why is it important?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Serotonin's hugely important, uh, for many different functions in the brain, um, but for happiness, for flexibility, and respect. And respect's the ones that fools people, but when your serotonin levels are low, you more easily feel disrespected.And if you have, um, a s- a social fight or you feel diminished in some way, your serotonin levels drop. And when serotonin levels go low, people tend to worry, um, they get stuck on negative thoughts, negative behaviors. They tend to be argumentative and oppositional. And if things don't go their way, they get upset, which on the surface can appear selfish, but it's really not selfish, it's rigid. And-
- MRMel Robbins
Hmm.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
... boosting serotonin is like bright light therapy, which is why it's so important to get sunshine and while, you know, as we go into the holidays, um, time change happens just at the wrong (laughs) time, right? As we get less sunlight and it gets colder outside, we just, you know, then got a bomb dropped on us, like all of a sudden you lose an hour-
- MRMel Robbins
Ugh.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
... day of, uh, light and light is so important.
- MRMel Robbins
(laughs) Let me back us up a second. So does your brain create serotonin? Is that like... What is, like what is the function of serotonin in the brain?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
So your gut makes about 90% of the serotonin in your body.
- MRMel Robbins
Mm.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
But it doesn't go directly into your brain. Your brain creates serotonin from the amino acid precursor called tryptophan. And that's why often eating tryptophan rich foods-
- MRMel Robbins
Like turkey. (laughs)
- DADr. Daniel Amen
... um, can be helpful, but not in a ketogenic way. You have to eat tryptophan rich foods with a carbohydrate 'cause you need an insulin response to drive tryptophan into the brain. So turkey and sweet potatoes together is a great combination to boost your mood.
- MRMel Robbins
So when you have high levels of serotonin, how does that impact you?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Well, you tend to be happy. Um, you're a little bit less motivated. You sort of don't care that much. I remember when Prozac first came onto
- 26:57 – 30:36
What do having a glass of wine and falling in love have in common?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
the market and, you know, I would give it to some of my depressed patients and they would say they would be less depressed, but also less motivated because as tryptophan goes up, dopamine, another chemical we should talk about, goes down. They have this sort of counterbalancing effect, which is why, and this is really interesting for anyone who grew up in an alcoholic home. Um, I studied children and grandchildren of alcoholics, they often have low levels of both serotonin and dopamine. And so if I just raise one, I make them better in some ways, but worse in other ways. So a lot of people who take SSRIs, they go, "Well, I'm happier, but I don't really care that much." I had one guy tell me he wasn't (laughs) doing his taxes and he's like, "No, this is gonna be a problem." So I had to rebalance his medication.
- MRMel Robbins
So is serotonin sort of the happiness one and dopamine is the motivation and drive one? Is that their relationship?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Well, they're both... You think of both of them involved in happiness, and dopamine is the molecule of more. It's when you get dopamine, you go, "Oh, I like that." And the problem is the more you get, the more you want, and then it turns into trouble. We are wearing out our dopamine centers in the brain, in our society with our phones and social media and the non-stop video games and texting. It's, uh, we're being thrilled to death, which ultimately wears out the pleasure centers in the brain. So you have to be very careful. I often talk to people about drip dopamine, don't dump it. Um, so-
- MRMel Robbins
What does that mean, drip dopamine, don't dump it?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
So you want little tiny piece, you know, little tiny, um, bursts of dopamine, not a big splash. So for example, cocaine, big splash of dopamine, and you go, "Whoa." But the problem is you have none left and then you get depressed-
- MRMel Robbins
Hmm.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
... which you then start using. Alcohol's the same way. Alcohol dumps dopamine. Nicotine, vaping dumps dopamine. Scary movies dump dopamine. Falling in love dumps dopamine. You wanna drip it, you know, um, holding down his hand, getting eye contact, looking for what I call the micro moments of happiness.
- MRMel Robbins
Hmm.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Um, so much more important. And new love is totally dumping dopamine. So you're always, when- whenever you just fall in love, you need to like, "Whoa, this is really awesome. Let me ride this out before I make any big decisions."
- MRMel Robbins
So would an example of dripping dopamine include the two micro habits you talked about? One being waking up in the morning and saying, "I'm gonna make it a great day. How am I gonna do that?" And also at the end of the day, going on that treasure hunt for what went right?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Yes.
- MRMel Robbins
Excellent. How can you tell if you have low dopamine?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
... if you're tired, if you find that
- 30:36 – 36:10
3 easy ways to know if you have low dopamine levels
- DADr. Daniel Amen
you're unmotivated, um, if you're sad, and you just don't have the motivation to get done what you wanna get done. And, you know, I'm in Justin Bieber's docuseries, Seasons, and, you know, I've been his doctor for as- a long time, and they just wore that boy's dopamine centers out.
- MRMel Robbins
Mm.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
And then, you know, when you become famous like that, you have access to women, to drugs, to video games, and just completely, you know, almost killed that boy, and they deadened his pleasure centers. But the good news is even if you've been bad to your brain, by doing the right things, your brain, you know, we call it neuroplastic, is- it can be better, even in a matter of months.
- MRMel Robbins
Wow. We've talked about supplements. We've talked about some microHabits. What are three simple ways to increase dopamine?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Cold showers will do it. So I just took a shower before I did it, and I always finish with, like, two minutes, I turn it all the way cold, because, um, cold therapy has been shown to increase both norepinephrine, uh, another neurotransmitter, and dopamine. Eating tyrosine-rich food, so we talked about tryptophan, the amino acid building block for serotonin. Tyrosine is the amino acid building block for dopamine. So things like almonds, and eggs, and beans, and fish, and chicken, uh, dark chocolate. But you don't wanna do that with an insulin response or with a carbohydrate, and so this is where a higher protein, lower carbohydrate diet can be helpful. Um, exercise also does it, and certain supplements, like tyrosine. So tyrosine is a supplement, and it's the amino a- amino acid building block for dopamine.
- MRMel Robbins
So is there any, like, certain times of day where your dopamine is higher or lower just naturally?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
In the morning.
- MRMel Robbins
And is the same true with serotonin?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
In the evening.
- MRMel Robbins
Okay. So, t- explain that to us, and then how we can use something natural to boost it.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
So, e- everybody's circadian rhythm or-
- MRMel Robbins
Mm-hmm.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
... the rhythm of their energy is different. There are morning larks and night owls, and you sorta have to know what you are. A lot of my ADD, uh, patients are night owls, and society is sort of biased against them, um, you know, 'cause school starts early, work starts early for a lot of people. But you just have to know your rhythm, and if your dopamine is high in the morning, that's when you wanna focus and get work done. If it tends to be higher later in the day, know your rhythm. Serotonin often helps people sleep. And in our supplement, Put Me to Sleep, we actually have 5-HTP, which is the amino acid precursor, um, even closer to serotonin than tryptophan. And for a lot of people, it helps decrease worry and promotes sleep.
- MRMel Robbins
Wow. I'm, like, slightly overwhelmed. I don't even know where to start in terms of, like, (laughs) how to, how to boost my serotonin naturally, how to boost my dopamine naturally. So is there a way to simplify this? Like, you know, you just kinda talked about your circadian rhythm and understanding if you're a night owl or you're a morning person. So if you're a morning person and you kinda wake up and you're naturally more motivated, are there certain things you should do first thing in the morning to keep your dopamine levels high, to stay focused, to promote your brain health?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
So one thing I really like, especially as we start into, you know, late- later fall and winter, is morning bright light.
- MRMel Robbins
Okay.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
And, and so people who have seasonal affective disorder, so winter blues, that morning bright light therapy, and you can actually get these therapy lamps, I, I make one called our Bright Minds Therapy Lamp, 10,000 lux. So it's bright.
- MRMel Robbins
Okay.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Put it, don't look at it. Put it, like, an arm's length away from you while you're putting on your makeup or having breakfast, if you have breakfast, for 20 or 30 minutes in the morning. Super simple, can significantly improve dopamine, your energy, mood, um, and cognitive function. Exercise, whether you wanna increase serotonin or dopamine, it does both, walk like you're light for 45 minutes four or five times a week. Super simple, um, bright light, exercise, um,
- 36:10 – 42:27
2 proven ways to calm a very busy brain
- DADr. Daniel Amen
i- just incredibly helpful. And this is very important, I just turned 68 this year, and it's very clear to me that the stronger you are as you age, the less likely you are to get Alzheimer's disease. But it's really, for older people, it's frailty that kills them almost more than anything else. So light-... exercise, simple supplements, and now you can eat in certain ways to boost the neurotransmitters in your brain.
- MRMel Robbins
So when you say frailty and strength, are you also recommending, in addition to the 30 to 40 minutes of walking as if you're late three or four times a week, that you also add in strength training?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
You bet. I think it's absolutely critical for men and for women. Your muscles are your protein reserve. So one of my young doctors went to Hawaii on vacation and got, um, this terrible infection that almost killed him.
- MRMel Robbins
Oh, wow.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
And the reason he didn't die is he was strong when he went into that illness and had the protein reserve, muscle, on his body. And yeah, no, I remember the day when, in the hospital, I expected I was gonna get a call he had died in the middle of the night, um, 'cause he just got this wicked infection from jumping into, uh, a pool, a natural pool in Hawaii. But, but he survived and he's done great because it's, it's the protein reserve or the brain reserve you bring into an illness or an accident that determines how you're gonna do after it. I mean, you've probably, you know, seen, you know, one person gets into a car accident and they come out of it just fine, another one's permanently damaged. Same accident. Why? Because it's the level of brain health-
- MRMel Robbins
Hm.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
... or brain reserve they brought into the accident that often determines the outcome. So every single day of your life, from my perspective, every single day of your life, you should be boosting your brain reserve.
- MRMel Robbins
Well, that's what I find to be so inspiring and empowering about your work, your research, your message, Dr. Amen, and all the content that, you know, goes crazy viral on TikTok and everywhere else, is that your message is one of optimism and self-empowerment because you are very clear that there are simple things that we can do to train our brains, to make our brains healthier, and that has an enormous impact on the quality of our lives. And so it's not too late for anybody listening to improve their brain health doing these simple things. Can we talk quickly about cortisol, like what it is, why it matters to kind of understand what it is when it comes to your brain health?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
So cortisol is critical. It's made by your adrenal glands and it helps us manage stress and deal with inflammation. When it's really low, people have something called Addison's disease and they can get deathly sick. But when it's high, because of chronic stress, um, chronic negativity, that it actually puts fat on your belly and shrinks your hippocampus, the major memory center in your brain, which is why when you go through grief... I went through grief about 17 years ago and I just couldn't remember anybody's name. (laughs) And, and I knew what was happening to me. Um, and so we're under more stress now because of the political divide and the societal unrest, and the news figured out if they make us mad and anxious, they sell more underwear because the brain pays attention to negativity way before it pays attention to positivity. So, you know, papers like The Washington Post, actually in their newsroom, they have, okay, which articles got the most hits? And if they're negative, they get the most hits. So we're being, um, manipulated to be more negative so these news organizations make more money. I mean, it's really horrifying when you think about it. But they're chronically... if people are not aware of this, people are just sort of pissed off, stressed, and anxious, and that's making us fat and-
- MRMel Robbins
Wow.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
... very smart. So-
- MRMel Robbins
Are there, are there things you can do? What are three things you can do to start to bring down those cortisol levels? Obviously, turn off the news and-
- DADr. Daniel Amen
I'd be number one.
- MRMel Robbins
... limit your consumption.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Right.
- MRMel Robbins
But what are other ones?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Um, meditation, incredibly helpful. Prayer, for people who do that. Hypnosis. I'm a huge fan. I've done it with my patients for the last 40 years. Having a regular relaxation process. And then ask yourself, "Is this worth killing, um, brain cells for me?" You know, whenever I listen to people arguing or really focused on, you know, whatever the latest conspiracy theory is, I'm like, "Is that worth losing brain cells over?" (laughs)
- MRMel Robbins
(laughs) No. Um, it's not.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
(laughs)
- MRMel Robbins
I know you have a specific breathing pattern
- 42:27 – 47:58
The breathing technique Dr. Amen recommends for an anxious mind
- MRMel Robbins
that is associated with a calmer mind.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Ah.
- MRMel Robbins
Can you teach it to us?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
I love it so much. Uh, it's the 15-second breath. So if you're having a panic attack-This is gonna fix it in two minutes or less. And what researchers discovered is you take twice as long to breathe out. As you breathe in, it produces an automatic relaxation response in your body. So, the pattern is this. And, um, it's four seconds in.
- MRMel Robbins
Okay.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Hold it for a second and a half. Eight seconds out, hold it for a second and a half.
- MRMel Robbins
Will you walk us through it?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
So, four seconds in. Hold it. Eight seconds out. Hold it out. And then repeat. And I have an app called HapiBrain, H-A-P-I Brain-
- MRMel Robbins
Mm-hmm.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
... and actually has a pacer that does that for you. And all you have to do is when you see the circle get bigger, breathe in, when you see it get smaller, breathe out. And it's so simple. And try to breathe more diaphragmatically or more with your belly, so let the energy of breathing go lower in your body. And if you just practice this on a regular basis, cortisol will go down, and you're just gonna get flooded with a feeling of calmness and relaxation. Now, you gotta practice. You have to create a pathway in your brain of relaxation. And-
- MRMel Robbins
Why does this 15-second breath work?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Because it stimulates, encourages your brain to go into a parasympathetic state. So there's a difference between stress, what scientists call sympathetic state, m- has nothing to do with sympathy, it's a bad word.
- MRMel Robbins
(laughs)
- DADr. Daniel Amen
But a sympathetic state is where... I was on the beach at Corona del Mar, walking my dog, and I saw two pit bulls running toward me.
- MRMel Robbins
Oh my god.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Oh my god, right? So my heart went fast, I mean, it was panic. And, um, ended up turning out okay. But-
- MRMel Robbins
Well, what happened? Now I'm on the edge of my seat. Did you pick up your dog? Did they just jump up and greet you?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Oh, no, he's a big white shepherd.
- MRMel Robbins
Oh.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
And I got bit, he ended up in the ocean, um, yeah, it was sort of a disaster. I still get (laughs) triggered sometimes. Which we should talk about a little bit, because in my elite brain training program-
- MRMel Robbins
Yeah.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
... it is critical to eliminate trauma or at least to learn how to dissipate trauma. 'Cause I, I love walking on that beach so much, so I actually did a session of EMDR. I don't know if you and I talked about EMDR.
- MRMel Robbins
Yep.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
It's s- specific psychological treatment for trauma. It's actually really cool. It is, you know, I have my patients write down 10 of their worst traumas and then, through a specific protocol, I'll have their eyes go back and forth while they bring it up, and it tends to help dissipate it. It's very powerful. Or when I go on that beach now, I'll often find myself doing this instead-
- MRMel Robbins
And what you're doing is rubbing your hands back and forth.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Right. And it's bilateral hemisphere stimulation in my brain, right? I feel it on one side, then the other side, and that just takes the anxiety that I might associate to that beach and washes it away.
- MRMel Robbins
Mm.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Um, which can be so helpful. So many people, they drink to manage their anxiety from past trauma, they're using marijuana, now more magic mushrooms. And I'm like, "No, no, no, there are way better ways to do that, that are not potentially toxic for your brain."
- MRMel Robbins
Wow. Well, we're gonna have to come back and do a whole nother episode on that, for sure. How do you calm a very busy brain?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
So, so the first simple thing to do is the diaphragmatic breathing, the breathing pattern that we just talked about. The, the second thing that we haven't talked about, but so important, is to direct your thoughts. Um, I was 28 years old before I learned I didn't have to believe every stupid
- 47:58 – 54:40
Whenever you get a negative thought, ask yourself this one question
- DADr. Daniel Amen
thing I thought. (laughs) And I'm in class, when I was a psychiatric resident at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and I heard my professor say that, and I'm like, "No way." 'Cause my mind would fairly torture me. You know, I'm one of seven children, I was pretty much irrelevant, I have, you know, five sisters. There's a lot of chaos in my family. And, and my mind would torture me. And if you start writing down your negative thoughts, and just ask yourself whether or not they're true, and there's a whole process I teach my patients.Um, it's just so helpful that I need to be the director of my mind rather than my ancestors direct it or the voices of my parents direct it or the news or, you know, the gossip at work. I need to be the director and, you know, since I want to be happy, connected, purposeful, I often go, "Well, does this thought fit me being happy, connected, and purposeful?" And so, and, you know, Mel, just because you have a thought has nothing to do with whether or not it's true or whether or not it's helpful or, you know, everybody has crazy thoughts. Jerry Seinfeld once said the brain is a sneaky organ. All of us have weird, crazy, stupid, sexual, violent thoughts that nobody should ever hear. And just because you have a thought, it doesn't say one thing about you. It's the sort of, you know, like the weather, it's not the thoughts you have that make you suffer. It's the thoughts you attach to that make you suffer. And when you really understand this, so we talked about the physical functioning of your brain, well, now we're talking about programming. You are-
- MRMel Robbins
Yeah, let's stop real quick because I wanna ask you a question because I wanna, I want you to talk to the person that has never considered that they could direct their thoughts or that the things that they think aren't necessarily true. If there's a person hearing this, just like you were 28 years old sitting in a class when it first entered your mind, other than taking out a notebook and just start to write down the things that are popping in your mind, is there some other way to help someone kick the door open? Because this is a revolutionary and life-changing concept when somebody first entertains the notion, Dr. Amen, that you can direct what you're thinking about and you can dismiss some of the crap that you torture yourself with as untrue. How do you begin this mental training and reprogramming?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
So I don't have any tattoos, but if I got one, one of the first question, one of the first tattoos I would get is, "Is it true?" It's just start carrying that question-
- MRMel Robbins
Is it true?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
... around in your head. And so when you get a thought, "My wife never listens to me," I've had that thought.
- MRMel Robbins
(laughs)
- DADr. Daniel Amen
If you have that question, then you don't automatically have to attach to it. You can talk back to it. I don't know if you were good at talking back to your parents when you were a teenager, but I was excellent and no one had ever taught me to talk back to myself. (laughs)
- MRMel Robbins
Hmm.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
And so it's, we don't have to believe the nonsense that's going on in our head to sort of begin to think about it like the weather and then go, "Does this thought serve me? Does it help me? Is it even true?" And it's so often the lies we tell ourselves that keep us overweight, depressed, and feeble-minded. And it's, it's a revolution and I think all second graders, I actually have a children's book called Captain Snout and the Superpower Questions where I teach kids not to believe every stupid thing they think. I call them ANTs, automatic negative thoughts. So you need a little anteater patrolling the streets of your mind.
- MRMel Robbins
Yeah, I can give everybody a, a, an example, uh, from my own life just last week when I was super sick and by day four of me being super sick, I started to tell myself this story that my husband Chris was mad at me, that he was annoyed that he was taking care of me. I f- I was telling myself this story that people were mad that I had to cancel things. And all of those thoughts made me feel terrible and none of them were true. And so you're right. I didn't interrupt them last week. I just sort of marinated in them. But I'm realizing sitting here listening to you that I allowed those negative thoughts that were not even true to make me feel bad. And so this habit of questioning yourself is, and the thoughts that you're having, is a superpower. And you can begin today thanks to what Dr. Amen is telling you. What advice do you have for people who are chronically tired, Dr. Amen?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Well, the first thing is get your thyroid checked. Be-
- MRMel Robbins
Get your thyroid checked. Okay.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Chronic tiredness can go with low thyroid. It can go with you being anemic. It can go with you having low iron or ferritin levels. So, you know, I always think of people in four big circles, biologicals, psychologicals, social, and spiritual. And so I'm always going to, "So what's the biology of tiredness?" You know?
- MRMel Robbins
Okay.
- 54:40 – 57:34
If you feel tired all the time, it’s time to look inward.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
You got an infection? How's your gut health? What's going on in your hormones?You can also be chronically tired because you're filled with what I call ANTs, automatic negative thoughts. So that negativity can drive higher cortisol production and you just feel wiped out. You also might not be sleeping well and getting checked, male or female, for sleep apnea is critical 'cause that goes with chronic tiredness. So if you snore loudly, if you stop breathing at night, if you're chronically tired during the day, should get sleep apnea checked. If you're in a conflict with a loved one, that so drains your energy, or if you're holding on to hurts. I'm a huge fan of forgiveness.
- MRMel Robbins
Mm-hmm.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
(laughs) You know, not holding on to hurts where you're drinking the poison and hoping someone else is gonna die. Um, and then tiredness and spirituality, I think of purpose. The more purposeful someone is, the more dopamine they have. And so really focusing in on, you know, why you're on the planet, I think, is a critical piece to energy as well.
- MRMel Robbins
Wow. Um, I wanna kinda come back to some tips and some tools that people can use to start boosting brain health. So what are the five best foods that you can eat for brain health?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
So I have them almost every day. Salmon, especially wild salmon for the omega-3 fatty acids. Berries, but they have to be organic. That's very important. Uh, so I'm a huge fan of blueberries. I often call them brain berries. Uh, but it's critical that they're organic. So people take, uh, blueberry extract. Extract has been shown to improve memory.
- MRMel Robbins
Okay.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Nuts and seeds. Uh, people who eat nuts and seeds on a regular basis have a lower incidence of depression and dementia. Um, leafy greens, uh, for the fiber and the magnesium, but my favorite one is raw cacao or, you know, the main ingredient in chocolate.
- MRMel Robbins
Wow.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Uh, I don't say chocolate because chocolate's filled with sugar and dairy and-
- NANarrator
(beeping)
- DADr. Daniel Amen
... a lot of things that are really bad for you, but as a bonus, I want
- 57:34 – 1:05:19
How to improve your memory: it starts in your kitchen
- DADr. Daniel Amen
you to try this. I make brain-healthy hot chocolate virtually every day.
- MRMel Robbins
How do you make it?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
And so I get raw cacao. So for each serving, you know, say the serving's like 12 ounces, uh, heaping teaspoon of raw cacao, unsweetened organic almond milk, um, and you could do with other nut milks, but I like almond milk, and there's a company called SweetLeaf that makes liquid chocolate stevia.
- MRMel Robbins
Mm.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
And so I heat up the milk, I mix in the raw cacao, I put a couple of dropperfuls of, uh, chocolate stevia and put it in a blender. It tastes amazing and it's part of the ritual I have for happiness in my life because, and this is very, a very important point, I only eat things I love that love me back. I mean, I don't know if you've ever been in a bad relationship. I have. I'm not doing it anymore.
- MRMel Robbins
(laughs)
- DADr. Daniel Amen
I'm like married to my best friend and I'm damn sure not doing it with food. I am not gonna be in... 'Cause people go, "I love Rocky Road ice cream." Well, it beats you up. Or, "I love beer." Well, it shrinks your brain. And I'm like, no. Do I love it like I love my brain-healthy hot chocolate and it loves me back? So whatever you eat or whatever you do, I mean, we're in a relationship with what we eat and what we do, and is it a mutually positive relationship or is it destructive?
- MRMel Robbins
See, I love that there was an ambulance driving by in the background as you, as my and our brain doctor were telling us to make hot chocolate. That, that was just a beautiful thing. I think that was the universe telling us all we need to have our brain-healthy cacao with the stevia chocolate sweetener. I'm actually gonna make one when we are done with this. What can I do to, what can we do to improve our memory, Dr. Aven?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Well, improve your brain. Like, the most important thing, uh, you know, it's 50%. I mean, think about this, Mel. 50% of people 85 and older will be diagnosed with dementia. Uh, like those are odds I am not okay with. And if you wanna keep your brain healthy or rescue it, you have to prevent or treat the 11 major risk factors that steal your mind. And I know we don't have time to go in it, but the mnemonic I have is BRIGHT MIND. So for example, maybe the most important thing, B is for blood flow.
- MRMel Robbins
Okay.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Whatever you can do to increase blood flow to your brain, you're gonna be happier, your memory is gonna be better, and you're gonna be more sexual because whatever is good-
- MRMel Robbins
Ooh, Dr. Aven.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
... for your brain is good for your heart, is good for your genitals.
- MRMel Robbins
So is that the brisk walking?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
So, so you wanna avoid things that steal blood flow, caffeine, nicotine, being sedentary, having any form of heart disease. And then you wanna do things that enhance blood flow. So walking, um, raw cacao, beets, the supplement ginkgo. These things all increase blood flow. Cinnamon, oregano.
- MRMel Robbins
Wow. Okay. Um, I wanna hear the R though, bright mind. I know that we- that, that there's 11 but give me two or three of them.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
The R is retirement and aging. When you stop learning, your brain starts dying. So constantly engage in new learning. The I is inflammation. But the one maybe to talk about more is the T, it's toxins. And we live in a toxic society, right? Here I am in Florida, I just talked about all the fish off the coast in Florida, on average they have seven pharmaceuticals in their tissues. But just the products you put on your body, I have all of my patients download the app Think Dirty. It allows you to scan all of your personal products and it'll tell you on a scale of one to ten how quickly they're killing you.
- MRMel Robbins
Oh my God.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
And we saw this year that the FDA took off a number of sunscreens off the market because they were associated with cancer. How horrifying is that, right? You're thinking you're protecting yourself from cancer, the toxic products are giving you cancer. Um, so Think Dirty. But also we have to stop thinking of alcohol as a health food, it's not, it's toxic to your brain, or marijuana is innocuous. It's not, it damages your brain. And, you know, it's these little lies in our society-
- MRMel Robbins
Mm-hmm.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
... that is really promoting the disease we are, um, just flooded with.
- MRMel Robbins
So you've been a psychiatrist for 40 years. What are five things you'd never do because it's bad for your mental health and your brain health?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Well, I'd never believe every stupid thing I think, and I think that's really important to know, you know, I'm gonna get these crazy, stupid, awful thoughts and I know how to manage and dismiss them. I would never say everything I think. Some people commit- come to me and say, "Oh, Dr. Amen, I'm brutally honest." And I'm like, "Well that's usually not helpful." Relationships require that. I would never purposefully stay up late and screw up my sleep. I would never eat everything I want. And I would never take medicine just based on symptom clusters, like, you know, I'm depressed so take an antidepressant. So I think that's all insane. I always want to look at the brain and then target whatever treatment I need to help somebody's brains function.
- MRMel Robbins
Yeah, the one thing I forgot to ask you because, um, you know, right now as you and I are talking we've just turned the clocks back, but this time of year when it gets darker earlier and it's colder, I notice, like, my mood drops and I feel, like, sad. What do you do whether it's because of the time of year or because of chronic stress, you feel this sort of languishing or heaviness set in? What are three things that you would recommend that somebody do to boost their mood?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
So morning bright light. I think that can be really helpful so, you know, bright mi- uh, a bright light therapy lamp for 20 or 30 minutes in the morning, exercise, don't overdo the caffeine. And it's really important, we haven't talked about this yet, turn off blue
- 1:05:19 – 1:10:13
The greatest piece of advice on brain health you need to leave with
- DADr. Daniel Amen
light when the sun goes down. So we're-
- MRMel Robbins
What is blue light?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
... constantly flooded with blue light, and in the morning it's fine, but after dark it's not because it decreases the production of melatonin. So you get it from your laptop, or you get it from your phone, or you get it from whatever gadgets you might be looking at. And so after dark either put blue light blockers on your gadgets or just turn them off and go read a book.
- MRMel Robbins
Okay, great. And, you know, I didn't, I also didn't ask you this, how do you know if your dopamine levels are low?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
If you're tired, if you're unmotivated, if you can't concentrate and you find yourself more impulsive than is good for you.
- MRMel Robbins
Hmm. And finally, let's bottom line because you are the master at Elite Brain Training. If you could leave everyone with just one thing that you would like them to start doing today to create better brain health, what would it be?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
It's that mother, tiny habit. It's whenever you come to a decision point in your day, just ask yourself, "Am what I'm doing good for my brain or bad for it?" And if you can answer that with information-... and love, I mean, I'm serious about this, love of yourself, love of your family-
- MRMel Robbins
Mm-hmm.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
... love of the reason you're on Earth, you're gonna start making good decisions for your brain, and then everything in your life will be better.
- MRMel Robbins
Dr. Amen, you're so awesome. Is there anything else that we didn't get to that you wanna say or talk about before we leave you?
- DADr. Daniel Amen
You know, I have a new book coming in March called Change Your Brain Every Day.
- MRMel Robbins
Mm-hmm.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
It's 366 short essays, and something to do. Um, so it's sort of like a devotional to the brain. (laughs) And, uh, mental health, brain health, just like physical health, it's a daily practice. You have to do this every day. And, you know, people, they wanna, like, "Let me take the medicine and not have to think about it." You are building patterns and habits that serve you, or you're building patterns and habits that hurt you. And I just want people to love themselves by doing the right things to take care of their brain, their mind, their relationships, and their purpose in life.
- MRMel Robbins
Well, thank you for giving us very tactical and doable strategies based on research that help us improve not only the physical and functioning aspect of our brains, but also tools and strategies to help us to start to reprogram the brain and the thinking patterns in it. Dr. Amen, you are a gift. We so appreciate you. I love you. Thank you for spending the time with us, and I cannot wait to have you back when your new, incredible, I'm sure 13th New York Times best-selling book comes out this March. Thanks, Dr. Amen.
- DADr. Daniel Amen
Thank you, my friend. What a joy.
- MRMel Robbins
(laughs) You're awesome. Oh, and one more thing, and no, this is not a blooper. (laughs) This is the legal language, you know, what the lawyers write and what I need to read to you. This podcast is presented solely for educational and entertainment purposes. I'm just your friend. I am not a licensed therapist, and this podcast is not intended as a substitute for the advice of a physician, professional coach, psychotherapist, or other qualified professional. Got it? Good. I'll see you in the next episode. (upbeat music) Hey, it's Mel. Thank you so much for being here. If you enjoyed that video, by God, please subscribe 'cause I don't want you to miss a thing. Thank you so much for being here. We've got so much amazing stuff coming. Thank you so much for sending this stuff to your friends and your family. I love you. We create these videos for you, so make sure you subscribe. Mwah.
Episode duration: 1:10:13
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