I Choose...To Have A Beautiful Brain with Dr. Amen
54:55 Share

Hi, this is Jenny Garth from the I Choose Me podcast. If you're managing a challenging mental condition, weekly therapy can sometimes feel like it's not enough. You may be looking for a way to spend more focus time on you. That's where Amend Mental Health Treatment Center comes in. I recently took a tour at Amend in beautiful Malibu, California, and the facility is so gorgeous and serene.

The dedicated team of doctors and therapists with deep clinical expertise were amazing. Designed to give you the time and space you need to have that breakthrough. They have two unique locations in Malibu that surround you in natural beauty and pure calm. Find out more at amendtreatment.com slash start.

This election season, the stakes are higher than ever. I think the choice is clear in this election. Join me, Charlemagne Tha God, for We The People, an audio town hall with Vice President Kamala Harris and you, live from Detroit, Michigan, exclusively on iHeartRadio. They'll tackle the tough questions, depressing issues, and the future of our nation. We may not see eye to eye on every issue, but America, we are not going back.

Don't miss this powerful conversation with Vice President Kamala Harris. Tomorrow at 5 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. Pacific on the free iHeartRadio app's Hip Hop Beat Station. I'm NK, and this is Basket Case. What is wrong with me? A show about the ways that mental illness is shaped by not just biology. Swaps of different meds. But by culture and society. By looking closely at the conditions that cause mental distress, I find out why so many of us are struggling to feel sane.

what we can do about it, and why we should care. Listen to Basket Case every Tuesday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey friends, I'm Jessica Capshaw. And this is Camilla Luddington. And we have a new podcast. Call it what it is.

You may know us from Graceland Memorial, but did you know that we are actually besties in real life? And as all besties do, we navigate the highs and lows of life together. Big or small, we're there. And now here we are opening up the friendship circle to you. Listen to Call It What It Is on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This season on the new podcast, Rip Current.

Hear episodes of Rip Current early and completely ad-free and receive exclusive bonus content by subscribing to iHeart True Crime Plus only on Apple Podcasts. You're listening to I Choose Me with Jenny Garth. Hi, everyone. Welcome to I Choose Me. This podcast is all about the choices we make and where they lead us. I know this episode is going to be incredible because my guest today is on a mission to

to end mental illness. He is creating a revolution, you guys, in brain health. My guest today is a physician, an adult and child psychiatrist. He's the founder of BrainMD, and he hosts a digital series called Scan My Brain that I think I was one of the first guests on.

He's the author of Change Your Brain Every Day and is a 12-time New York Times bestselling author. He has worked with high-profile people like Miley Cyrus, the Kardashians, Justin Bieber, Bella Hadid, and so many more. Please welcome...

My friend, Dr. Amen to the I Choose Me podcast. Dr. Amen, oh my gosh. I've known you for so long. It feels like so long, but it's not really that long, right? No. Well, I think it's four years, maybe four years.

Yeah, right. Let's bring the listeners into our relationship and like how we met. We met a few years ago when I heard from my friend Adele. She had sent me your Instagram profile and I was so enthralled by the content that you were putting out. I felt like you were speaking directly to me and I knew I had to meet with you. Do you remember when I came into your office the first time? I did. So you did my show, Scan My Brain. You were actually the first person-

We have now done like 150 episodes. Oh my gosh, I'm so honored. And you were the first one. We were talking about your memory and your beautiful brain. It just worked way too hard. Yeah, when you told me I had a beautiful brain, I was like, oh, that makes me feel good.

Absolutely. You've seen a few. I remember I was kind of like in a dip, you know, like a little bit of a depression. I was really struggling with my memory and I was getting more and more worried that I was developing like early onset Alzheimer's or something. And I think that that was, wait, was that...

Was that before the shutdown or right after the shutdown? See, see, my memory, still an issue. It was right after. Right after, right after. Well, my memory is a lot better, if you're wondering. And you have taught me and my daughters so much. Like you've taught the world so much about brain health and how to...

perform better and be better and think better so that we're healthier, all the things that you've done. Gosh, you've got to be proud of yourself. I'm just excited every day to work with wonderful people and help awesome people be just a little more awesome. Yes, that's true.

Why don't we start by talking about high performance and the brain? You just got back from Paris, right? You were there working with Olympic athletes who are pushing their bodies to extremes. What kind of things do you work on with someone like that on that level? Well, so I was there on Alicia Newman's team and Alicia is a Canadian Olympic pole vaulter.

And she had a bad concussion in April of 2021 and developed something called Erlen syndrome, which is certain colors of light disrupt the functioning in your brain. And she's depressed and had a lot of

what we call ants, automatic negative thoughts. And she actually told me, she did my show as well. She told me, if I don't get an Olympic gold medal, I will be a failure and my children won't love me. And I'm like, oh, we have to talk about that because if you get an Olympic medal, you've just made your children's lives harder.

because it's hard to live up to someone who is so accomplished. Anyways, I scanned her. I could see the trouble in her brain. We worked on it. She stopped drinking because if you're an Olympic pole vaulter, that's your cerebellum, back bottom part of the brain that's involved in coordination. And alcohol is directly toxic.

to your cerebellum. So she stopped drinking. She stopped believing everything she thought. She got rid of the idea of always being in the future with fear. And we changed it to every day I win or I learn.

And we also got rid of the idea of you have to be the best. That's just such a toxic idea. But you want to be your best. And so every day we win or we learn, we get rid of the idea of perfection, but we go for consistency and being really good. And in 2023, she was the world indoor pole vaulting champion and she got the bronze medal.

This year. In Paris. It's been so emotional. It's so fun for me to be there.

And to just watch her perform at this incredibly high level. And one little secret I told her, because she would get really bothered if she was around the other girls that were negative. And that would like rub off on her. And I'm like, no, that's your competitive advantage. Because when they're negative, well, that turns off the cerebellum. It turns off the coordination part of your brain. When they're negative,

you're going to fly higher than them that day. And there were only five girls left at the end and two of them were negative and they didn't make the next bar. And it was just so fun to sort of take the best of my work and help her be just a little bit better. Oh my gosh. You said you're getting emotional about that. I'm getting emotional about it. I don't even know her.

That's, that's, what a special position you were in to be able to help her and then go there and be on her team in such an intimate way and such a part of her accomplishing that. Wow. That's really cool. That's a good story. I mean, stress and anxiety affects so many of us. I mean, do you think there's really anyone left out there who doesn't have those feelings?

Well, you want to hear something new I learned? Yes, please. It's freaking me out a little bit. Aspartame, the, you know, zero- And the sweeteners? Sweetener, Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi and over 6,000 products. They did a study with mice and they found when they gave them aspartame, they became very anxious. Their babies were anxious.

And their grandbabies were anxious. So it had a generational negative effect. What? I think maybe I was 20 when aspartame came onto the market. And I thought it was free, right? It's free, right? It's no calories. Yeah. But it's not- Sugar-free, yeah. Because it changes some of the structures in your brain to need it

in order for you to feel okay, but then you're more anxious. And in the study, they actually gave the mice Valium to calm them down and that worked. But as you and I both know, Valium is addictive. Once you start it, people don't stop it. It's just a very bad thing. So could our societal anxieties

in part, be to what we're eating or what we're drinking. I mean, yes, there are obvious answers. The pandemic really ramped up everything, the death tolls, the isolation, the fear, and the virus itself, COVID,

activates your suffering pathway in the brain. It was the most interesting thing when I first started doing scans. So I saw you in December of 2020. So right after the pandemic started and I had scans. So I do a study for your listeners. I do a study called spec that looks at blood flow and activity looks at how the brain works. And I,

I had all these scans of people before they got COVID and then after they got COVID. And it was like this inflammatory bomb went off in their brain, making them more vulnerable to things like anxiety and depression. Wow. Okay. First of all, that's a bummer for those mice.

Second of all, it sounds like the aspartame, not just the Valium that they gave them, but the aspartame itself is addictive, right? Right. Okay, wait, rewind. What the heck is a brain scan and why do people want to get one? Well, you know, the brain is like the only organ people don't routinely screen.

right? Your heart, you screen your colon, you screen your cervix, you screen your brow. And the most important organ is your brain, right? Because it's your brain that makes you who you are. And about

33 years ago, I started looking at the brain with a study called Brain SPECT Imaging, S-P-E-C-T stands for Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography that looks at blood flow and activity. It looks at how your brain works. And it basically shows us three things. Good activity, you had a lot.

Too little, that wasn't your problem, or too much. And that's what we saw in your emotional brain, was working too hard. And then I take the scan and I balance it with lifestyle habits, with supplements, sometimes with medicine. And Jenny, imagine with me,

Last year, there were 340 million prescriptions written for antidepressants in the United States. Wait, wait, wait. Go back. How many again? That's a big number. 340 million prescriptions. 25% of women in the United States are taking an antidepressant. That is not an okay number. 25% of women do not have, they're not born with a serotonin deficiency. Okay.

But all of these people who got these medications, no one ever looked at their brain. So they're changing the brain without any guidance on how to do it. And so since I started looking at the brain, I learned like all these important things.

mild traumatic brain injuries, a major cause of psychiatric problems, and nobody knows it. And remember you told me about the accident that you had? Yes, yes. I'll tell our listeners I had an accident when I was in my early 20s

I was run over by a jet ski in the Pacific Ocean. The person that was driving the jet ski was Luke Perry. And so we always got a good giggle out of that. But I did totally pass out, black out, whatever, go unconscious. And I woke up and I was...

being asked all these questions on the beach by the paramedics. So yeah, that was the only time I can really remember a hit to the head, a traumatic brain injury or concussion of any kind. Yeah. Well, that was big, but you know, I didn't really see that in your brain, which meant- Well, you saw a little dent. Yeah, but it was little as opposed to, you know, can this explain the problems with your memory? Yeah.

And so the brain can heal, but so many of my patients, it's the traumatic brain injury that leads to the impulsivity, that leads to the addiction, that leads to the depression. And we can fix it, but you can't fix something you don't know is there.

Bingo. I mean, yeah, you've told me before, like all my years dealing with my dad and his heart disease, they would never have prescribed him medication for his heart if they hadn't gone and done a sonogram and looked at it from every angle to know what the problem was. And then to think all these years.

myself and many, many other people have been getting prescribed medication for their brain and nobody's ever even looked at it until you. Yeah, it's a bit insane. Yeah, it really is.

Hi, this is Jenny Garth from the I Choose Me podcast. If you're managing a challenging mental condition, weekly therapy can sometimes feel like it's not enough. You may be looking for a way to spend more focus time on you. That's where Amend Mental Health Treatment Center comes in. I recently took a tour at Amend in beautiful Malibu, California, and the facility is so gorgeous and serene.

The dedicated team of doctors and therapists with deep clinical expertise were amazing. Designed to give you the time and space you need to have that breakthrough. They have two unique locations in Malibu that surround you in natural beauty and pure calm. Find out more at amendtreatment.com slash start.

This election season, the stakes are higher than ever. I think the choice is clear in this election. Join me, Charlemagne Tha God, for We The People, an audio town hall with Vice President Kamala Harris and you, live from Detroit, Michigan, exclusively on iHeartRadio. They'll tackle the tough questions, depressing issues, and the future of our nation. We may not see eye to eye on every issue, but America, we are not going back.

Don't miss this powerful conversation with Vice President Kamala Harris. Tomorrow at 5 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. Pacific on the free iHeartRadio app's Hip Hop Beat Station. You talked about ants. I think you were the first person that taught me about ants. And you tell them what ants is, what ants are.

So, goodness, it was over 30 years ago. I'm in my office and it was a bad day. Not a bad day. It was a hard day. I saw four suicidal patients, two teenagers who'd run away from home, and two couples who hated each other. And at the end of the day, I go home and I walk into the kitchen and it's

Got an ant infestation in the kitchen. And I'm cleaning up what feels like thousands of ants. And as I'm doing that, and the ants start crawling up my arm, and I'm like, automatic negative thoughts. Ants. My patients are infested with ants. And so I finished cleaning up. And then the next day, I brought a can of ant spray to work.

And I started talking about him like it's like you have this infestation of ants in your mind and I have to teach you to get rid of them. And then I realized ant spray is probably too toxic. And that weekend I went to Pier 39 in San Francisco and they have a puppet store there that's really awesome. And I got an ant puppet and then later an anteater puppet.

And because I also see kids, so I'm always thinking about, you know, analogies that they'll understand. And I actually have a book called Captain Snout and the Superpower Questions, where we teach kids to kill the ants that just pop up in their head. And I was 28 years old in my psychiatric residency there.

When I heard a professor say, you have to teach your patients not to believe every stupid thing they think. And that was such a revelation because I believed every stupid thing I thought. And I'm like, what? You know, thoughts come from all sorts of places. They come from

your genes. Sometimes, you know, trauma is written in your genetic code based on what happened to your mom or dad. Sometimes they come from the voices of your mom or dad. I grew up in a Catholic church, I had lots of guilt voices. Sometimes your siblings, your friends, your foes, you know, those of you who've been blessed and cursed to be in the public eye from

the crazy journalists for clickbait. Thoughts come from all sorts of places. And just because you have a thought has nothing to do with whether or not it's true, whether or not it's helpful, and whether or not you should attach to it. Because it's not the thoughts you have that make you suffer. It's the thoughts you attach to.

that make you suffer. And so the exercise is whenever you feel sad, mad, nervous, or out of control, just write down what you're thinking and then ask yourself whether or not it's true, whether or not it's helpful, whether or not it's going to get you what you want in life, or if it's toxic and it needs to go.

And it's a discipline, right? I believe people have to do the process like a hundred times to just retrain your brain. So Alicia's thought that we started with is I will be a failure if I don't get a gold medal and my children won't love me.

Well, that's clearly distorted, not helpful thinking. We killed at least 100 of her aunts. And so when she's at the most stressful time, she does her personal best because on the runway, on the track, she imagined white lines and they were white hot coals.

And they were to prevent the ants from jumping over into her lane. And it's like, no, I don't have to believe that. Today I win or I learn. I think everybody has ants, right? I love when you taught me that a thought leads to a feeling, leads to an action. And then the outcome. That's so incredible to just break that down.

Because it's so simple to understand. Just because you have a feeling, what you said doesn't make it true. And I literally just had, I was having a little moment with my husband last night. Literally was like, that is a feeling you're having and it's not, doesn't make it true. So I was quoting you in my argument last night. We're good. Don't worry. If you have ants.

and your husband has ants, and the ants mate, and you create super ants. I have three super ants living in my house. And so, you know, with my wife, I'm always really clear with what I want. I want a kind, caring, loving, supportive, passionate relationship. I want that all the time.

But I don't feel like that all the time, right? I have these rude thoughts that just show up. Wait, you mean you're human? Absolutely. And I don't say them.

Because it doesn't get me what I want. And I find I spend a lot of time with my patients going, okay, what do you want? Remember, I think we did the exercise, the one-page miracle. On one piece of paper, write down, what do you want? Relationships, work, money, physical, emotional, spiritual health. What do you want? So you have to actually tell your brain.

what you want. And then the question is, does it fit? If I say this, will it give me a kind, caring, loving, supportive, passionate relationship or not? And I remember once we were fussing over a piece of property or thinking in mind, and I heard the criticism come up in my head. And I'm like, that is not going to get you what you want.

And I collect penguins. When you were in my office, you probably saw I have penguins. And the penguins are about noticing what you like about other people way more than what you don't. Because every day we're training each other by what we notice about each other.

And so I've lived with this concept, notice what you like more than what you don't. And so in the fuss, I'm like, how can you turn this around? And I'm like, you're really good with real estate. So rather than the criticism that had popped up in my head, I flipped it and then just sort of let it go a little bit. And then she went, oh, this is probably not a good decision. So-

You flip the thought. I flip the thought. Right. Rather than criticize her. Notice what I like about her. Because every day you're training. We teach people how to treat us by what we tolerate. But we also teach them how to treat us by what we notice about them.

So I have this great story. So I have this patient I saw and she was 14 when I first saw her. She had tried to kill herself. And this is two years later. She's doing great. And and then she had conflicts with her mother. She came in one day and she's very angry. And she said, I'm going to run away from home and you can't stop me.

And she went on and on. And then she looked around my office and noticed I collect penguins. And she's like, and Dr. Raymond, why does a grown man collect penguins? I laughed. I said, you've been seeing me for two years. You're just noticing them. And then I told her this story when my son was seven. So this is 40 years ago. My son was seven. He was really hard for me. And I was doing my child's psychiatry training.

And I said, I went to my supervisor and I said, he's really hard for me, help me. He said, you need to spend more alone time with him. So I took him, I was doing my training in Hawaii to a place called Sea Life Park on Oahu. And they have sea animal shows. And I went to the whale show and the dolphin show and the sea lion show. And it was all great. And at the end of the day,

He goes, I want to see Fat Freddy. And I'm like, who's that? It's like the penguin dad. Don't you know anything? That was the quality of our relationship. But this little penguin was so cool. He was a humble penguin and he was chubby. Why is called Fat Freddy? And he comes on the stage, climbs a high diving board, goes to the end of the board, bounces, jumps in the water. I'm like, whoa.

Then he bowls with his nose, counts with his flipper, jumps through a fire. And I'm like, this is cool.

And at the end of the show, the trainer asked Freddie to go get something. Freddie went and got it and he brought it right back. And in my mind, I went, damn, I asked this kid to get something for me. And he wants to have a discussion for like 30 minutes and then he doesn't want to do it. And I knew my son was smarter than the penguin. So I went up to the trainer afterwards and I'm like, how did you get Freddie to do all these really cool things?

And she looked at my son and then she looked at me and she said, unlike parents, whenever Freddie does anything like what I want him to do, I notice him. I give him a hug and I give him a fish. And the light went on in my head that when he did what I wanted him to do, I wasn't paying any attention because I was busy.

But when he didn't do it, I wanted him to do. I gave him a lot of attention because I didn't want to raise bad children. So it's inadvertently teaching him to be troubled. And so I'm telling my patient this. And then I get this really crazy idea. And she tended to be oppositional. And so I'm like, you know, I have this really crazy idea. You probably don't want to hear it.

And so if they're a little oppositional, they're like, no, I have to hear it. And I'm like, well, what if we shaped the behavior of your mother? And she goes, I'm listening. I said, what if whenever she's rude to you or inappropriate to you, you don't overreact, you don't yell, scream, stomp out. And her eyes got really big. And I said, but what if,

She is appropriate with her. You put your arms around her and you tell her you love her. Metaphorically, you give her a fish. And she goes, let's try it. And she texted me that night, I'm not going to run away. Don't worry about me. And two weeks later, when I saw her, she said they had the best two weeks and she brought me a penguin from my collection. And so...

With your husband or my wife or the people who work with us, can't we be better at noticing what we like more than what we don't? Yeah, that really works. It's hard to remember to do it in the heat of the moment. But if you keep practicing at it, if you keep reminding yourself about it, then it starts to become easier.

habitual and easier to access in those moments of a fight or an argument or disagreement or whatever it is. Yeah. The more you do it, it's building the pathway in your brain. And so I didn't get a lot of that growing up, which is why I collect penguins because I have to constantly be reminded, notice what you like more than what you don't. And actually at Amen Clinics,

We have the no asshole rule. I don't get to be an asshole and neither do you because kindness goes with elevated service and it goes with better outcomes. Mm-hmm.

Hi, this is Jenny Garth from the I Choose Me podcast. If you're managing a challenging mental condition, weekly therapy can sometimes feel like it's not enough. You may be looking for a way to spend more focus time on you. That's where Amend Mental Health Treatment Center comes in. I recently took a tour at Amend in beautiful Malibu, California, and the facility is so gorgeous and serene.

The dedicated team of doctors and therapists with deep clinical expertise were amazing. Designed to give you the time and space you need to have that breakthrough. They have two unique locations in Malibu that surround you in natural beauty and pure calm. Find out more at amendtreatment.com slash start.

This election season, the stakes are higher than ever. I think the choice is clear in this election. Join me, Charlemagne Tha God, for We The People, an audio town hall with Vice President Kamala Harris and you, live from Detroit, Michigan, exclusively on iHeartRadio. They'll tackle the tough questions, depressing issues, and the future of our nation. We may not see eye to eye on every issue, but America, we are not going back.

Don't miss this powerful conversation with Vice President Kamala Harris. Tomorrow at 5 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. Pacific on the free iHeartRadio app's Hip Hop Beat Station. I don't know this for sure, but brain scans aren't customarily covered by insurance. Is that right? No, because it's not part of, yeah, the standard of care. So most doctors...

will make diagnoses based on symptom clusters with no biological data. And who wins in that scenario? Insurance companies, because they're not paying for any high technology. Pharmaceutical industries, clearly winning. And doctors don't have to do anything different. Mm-hmm.

That's clearly the future. You said yet, right. So is that going to change anytime soon, do you think? I don't know. The Canadian Society for Nuclear Medicine just came out with procedure guidelines for SPAC as if I wrote them.

And I think it is covered in Canada. So it will change. I hope so. I hope so. Are there exercises or specific things that our listeners and myself can do to keep our brains healthy and sharp and ant free-ish? So brain health is three things. Mm-hmm.

Brain envy. You want to care about your brain. So 1991, I scanned my mom. Actually, I just saw her a little while ago. She's 92. At 60, she had a stunningly beautiful brain. And then I scanned myself and it wasn't awesome because I played football in high school.

And didn't sleep and was overweight and just had bad habits. And I was very upset that my 60-year-old mother had a better looking brain than I did at 37.

And so I developed this concept called brain envy. I wanted a healthy brain like hers. And then I went, oh, Freud is wrong. Penis envy is not the cause of anybody's problem. What we need people to do, need to teach people to do is have brain envy.

And so that's number one. You got to love your brain, right? I live in Newport Beach where we have more plastic surgeons than almost anywhere in the world. And I'm like, we care more about our faces, our boobs, our bellies, and our butts than we do our brain. That's insane. So the first step, love yourself.

The three pounds between your ears. And that should be especially true for you because you have a beautiful brain. So you just never want to lose the healthy blood flow to your brain. The second thing is avoid things that hurt your brain.

And so you just have to know the list. And, you know, quite frankly, most seven-year-olds know the list. I went to my daughter's second grade class and I went to the board and I drew 20 things on the board. Playing football, playing soccer, drinking orange juice, going to bed early, taking your vitamins.

staying up late with your iPad. And I said, I want you to just divide these into good for your brain and bad for your brain. And out of the 20 things they got 19, right? The only thing they missed was orange juice, which they put in the good category when it really belongs in the bad category because it's too much concentrated sugar. And, um,

But some things that would surprise people, if you have gum disease, you have brain disease. You got to be a flossing fool. A flossing fool. Flossing fool. You want to take really good care of your teeth. If you have a red bell dysfunction, you probably have brain dysfunction. Because if you have blood flow problems anywhere, likely means they're everywhere. If you retire...

and you're not engaged in new work or a new passion, that's really bad for your brain. So new learning,

is especially helpful. And you doing the podcast, you're always learning something new and you're a very curious person anyways. That's really good for your brain. Processed food, terrible for your brain. Having an unhealthy gut is bad for your brain. Having low levels of omega-3 fatty acids. So

wild salmon, taking fish oil, just essential for brain health. Texting while you drive, you better get off your brain because you're more likely to get a concussion. And alcohol is just not a health food. It's not. The American Cancer Society came out against any alcohol three years ago because any alcohol is associated with an increased risk of seven different cancers.

Marijuana is not innocuous and people are using psilocybin like crazy now. And I'm very concerned. Psilocybin, like micro dosing with mushrooms. Right. I'm very concerned about that because.

Everybody thinks it's safe, even though it's still illegal in 49 states. There's very little research on it. So the total number of research studies involves less than a thousand people. And it's going to go the way I predict that benzos are going to go or opiates or alcohol or marijuana. You know, I feel like I've seen this party before and,

And it's like, oh, it's innocuous. Oh, but it grows in the ground. It can't be bad for you.

That's what people say. But cyanide grows in the ground and it's clearly bad. Good point. And the first story of alcohol in the Bible is Noah gets drunk after the flood and sort of makes an ass out of himself and then it causes this generational family rift with the people who found Noah naked. So, no. No.

But it's like, how can I have any fun? And we play we have a high school course called Brain Thrive by 25. And when we teach kids this topic of what to avoid, invariably a boy, it's never a girl will raise his hand and go, how can you have any fun? And so we play a game with them called who has more fun?

the kid with the good brain or the kid with the bad brain who gets the girl and gets to keep her because he doesn't act like an idiot, who gets to the college they want to get into, who has the best jobs, becomes the best parents, the person with the good brain or the person with the bad brain. And I think that helps people sort of get it. So avoid things that hurt it.

And then do things that help it, like exercise. Low blood flow is the number one brain imaging predictor of Alzheimer's. And so I walk like I'm late for 45 minutes, four or five times a week. I think that's so important.

coordination exercises like tennis, because it works out that cerebellum part of the brain we talked about before. Multiple vitamin fish oil, optimize your vitamin D level, engage in new learning, and know your risk. So I have the risk of heart disease and obesity.

And I don't have heart disease and I'm not overweight. Why? Because every day of my life, I'm on an obesity heart disease prevention program. I adopted my two nieces because their parents were drug addicts and it was terrible for them. And so I've encouraged them to be on an addiction prevention program every day. Their lives changed.

And go to bed half an hour early. You want a better memory tomorrow, go to bed early tonight without your gadgets.

And don't be overweight. I published three studies that show as your weight goes up, the size and function of the brain goes down. And don't be skinny. That's not good for your brain. But with 74% of the population overweight, this is just going to cause huge long-term cost to this country and pain and suffering. I read last night, actually, a horrifying article

article and it said there was an increase in microplastics infiltrating our brains. Have you been seeing this, these signs in your studies? I have, and it's horrifying. And if you get on Coca-Cola's website, because you always want to buy things that do not have bisphenol A in it. Wait, what? Wait, go back. What's that word?

It's bisphenol A or BPAs. It's BPAs. And it's what they put in cans and plastics to make them harder. And they're in every Coca-Cola product. And Coca-Cola is proud of it.

even though it's associated with autism, it's associated with ADHD, it's associated with cancer, is we need to be much more thoughtful. When we know better, we have to do better. Why would Coca-Cola be proud of that?

Because they're like, oh, there's not enough science. And we are, even though there is. So, you know, why they would put that on their website is I think of them as evil. In my book, The End of Mental Illness, I wrote a whole section on if I was an evil ruler and I wanted to create mental illness in our society,

What would I do? And that's an evil ruler strategy. I put a known neurotoxin and then I brag about it because if I brag about it, then it makes, you know, Coca-Cola has some level of authority, even though it sells diabetes water. And it's like, oh, well, I trust it sort of like, well, I trust McDonald's. And I'm like, no, probably a bad idea.

Yeah, one study showed that we could be consuming a credit card size of plastics in a week. Yeah, that's really terrible. And so you have to ask yourself, Jenny, why in 1991 was autism at 1 in 10,000 children? And now, here in California, it's 1 in 22 boys, and it's 1 in 35 kids nationwide.

It's like if I was going to have babies today, I would be afraid. That's very discouraging, Dr. Amen.

Well, the encouraging news is you're not stuck with the brain you have. You can make it better. You just have to be thoughtful. And Tan and I, my wife and I, did almost a thousand Brain Warriors Way podcasts. And the reason we called it the Brain Warriors Way is you're in a war.

for the health of your brain. Everywhere you go, someone's trying to give you bad food that will kill you early. Or every time you turn on the news, it's the same stuff, but it's negative, negative, terror, horror, political divide. It's like, just turn it off. If you have to, limit it to no more than 10 minutes a day and read a neutral site.

And now we have addictive gadgets that are stealing our attention as device use went up, the incidence of ADD went up as well. We just have to be thoughtful, careful on what we do. And I'm always hopeful we'll figure it out. But we need to be serious and we need to... Be warriors.

say the truth. And the truth is we can do way better. I was going to ask you about technology, especially like social media and the world just seems to be getting quicker and quicker and faster and faster. That's got to be affecting our brains and our attention spans.

I mean, it's something we all probably know, but conveniently forget. How important is it to put our phones down before we go to bed? Well, so what does social media do and what are your devices do? They give you just this little bit of dopamine.

over and over and over and over again. And dopamine is the neurotransmitter that helps you feel good. It helps you feel motivated. It helps you focus. It gives you pleasure, brings you joy. And when you dump dopamine,

So, and I think you and I talked about this. I mean, it's really one of the problems with being famous early. It just wears out the dopamine centers in your brain and it leaves a lot of young people vulnerable to addiction because they feel bad, right? All these good things are happening, but internally they feel bad because their brain has been over flooded

with dopamine well devices it's like you're dumping dopamine all day long wait but how am i getting dopamine when i'm seeing something like and and it makes me compare myself or it doesn't feel good it makes me feel i could feel jealous i could feel left out all the the negative feelings how am i getting dopamine then you're getting it from the head

of the notification it's like oh i have to look or scrolling and you go oh that's really funny or that's really cool but then your serotonin levels dropping when you compare yourself to someone else in a negative way so dopamine

Gets released, but then you don't have any store left. Serotonin drops because the respect you have for yourself goes low. Cortisol goes up because of the stress. And my wife said it really, she goes, when I start scrolling, I start thinking about what's wrong with me.

She's like, I think I have to fix something. As opposed to, she wouldn't have that thought at all if she wasn't scrolling. Yeah, I've convinced myself to stop scrolling. You know, I post...

And I take care of my business on Instagram, but I really do try, try, try to have a no scrolling policy. And I tell my friends, look, if you're doing something exciting and you want me to know about it, just text me it because I want to know what's going on for you, but I'm not going to see it on Instagram. Yeah. And I think it's good to have a team that does that. I mean, I think it's important. I have 7 million followers or something. And

And I love educating people, but there's no way I'm going to spend all the time curating the comments because some people love me and I'm grateful for that. And some people hate me and I try to ignore that. Yeah. It's a, it's a slippery slope, a blessing and a curse. Because like you said, you know, we, we can do like what we're trying to do and spread beautiful and important messages, positive, uplifting, positive things. Yeah.

But on the other hand, it can really amplify those negative thoughts. Hi, this is Jenny Garth from the I Choose Me podcast. If you're managing a challenging mental condition, weekly therapy can sometimes feel like it's not enough. You may be looking for a way to spend more focus time on you. That's where Amend Mental Health Treatment Center comes in. I recently took a tour at Amend in beautiful Malibu, California, and the facility is so gorgeous and serene.

The dedicated team of doctors and therapists with deep clinical expertise were amazing. Designed to give you the time and space you need to have that breakthrough. They have two unique locations in Malibu that surround you in natural beauty and pure calm. Find out more at amendtreatment.com slash start.

This election season, the stakes are higher than ever. I think the choice is clear in this election. Join me, Charlemagne Tha God, for We The People, an audio town hall with Vice President Kamala Harris and you, live from Detroit, Michigan, exclusively on iHeartRadio. They'll tackle the tough questions, depressing issues, and the future of our nation. We may not see eye to eye on every issue, but America, we are not going back.

Don't miss this powerful conversation with Vice President Kamala Harris. Tomorrow at 5 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. Pacific on the free iHeartRadio app's Hip Hop Beat Station. So can I tell you about something new I'm working on? Yes. So I'm working on a new book called Change Your Brain, Change Your Pain.

And it's about the intersection of physical and emotional pain. I turned 70 last month and just started noticing it's my knee, it's my hip, it's my shoulder, it's my neck. I'm like, what is going on? And then I remember, you know, in my work, some antidepressants like Cymbalta

or antidepressant supplements like SAMe also work for pain. And so one of the reasons I write is when I really want to get excited about learning something new. It's been so much fun, but the one big aha I got is all pain, physical and emotional, is processed in the brain in these three different pathways.

And one of the things that puts people at great risk for physical pain is repressed emotions.

And so I'm really good at noticing what I like more than what I don't like. And I actually make my grandchildren sit with me and watch Pollyanna, the movie, the Disney movie, Pollyanna, because she plays the glad game. No matter what situation you're in, what is there to be glad about in this situation? But what I've come to realize is that repressed emotions are

If you don't express them, they punish you. They torture you. And I've been having my patients do some rage journaling. And it's sort of like Pollyanna meets the Hulk. And we have to honor all of our feelings rather than, I don't know, in your house. But in my house, my mother would say, if you don't have something good to say, don't say anything at all.

And you just learn to bottle and repress what makes you angry or frustrated without talking about it or without finding ways to express it. And I just think that's so important. I have a rule of 12, which I love. It's like, I took 10 out of Paris and I'm like,

12 things are going to go wrong. Let's just agree we're not going to get angry until the 13th thing goes wrong, and then we can yell, scream, have a complete meltdown. And three things went wrong. And I love that because it goes with emotional flexibility. The more flexible you are, the healthier you are. But rolling with it doesn't mean rolling over.

that when you have strong feelings, it's important to find a proper healthy way to get them out of your body.

And you think journaling is a good way to do that. Rage journaling is a good way to do it. I've done some rage journaling in my days. That's good because then you're just less likely to hurt if you can admit your feelings and find a way to get out. But then, so this is where Pollyanna and the Hulk sort of become best friends is

It's we're going to express it and then we're going to find out what's good about it. What we can learn from. Yeah, that's really good. Okay. There's, you know, me, there's so many things I want to talk to you about. I could talk to you forever, but I'm going to save that question that I wanted to ask you. I'm going to come back to that one when you come back another time on the show. Okay. We talked about the foods we could eat. We talked about all the things, brain fog.

Brain fog. We've talked about this. I talked to Dr. Mary Claire Haver. We were talking about menopause and the brain fog that comes associated with it. Is there a way to help us get rid of the brain fog? Are there supplements we should take? Activities we should do?

Well, so you want to ask yourself, right, do I love my brain? What am I doing that might be hurting it to increase inflammation? And what can I do to calm that down? And if you're in menopause, are you taking bioidentical hormones to really give your brain the nutrients it needs? Too many women are afraid of that.

And so they just sort of grit their teeth and try to get through it. Do you know why your hormones drop with age? Tell me.

It's the planet's way of getting rid of you. Oh, okay. Well, that's great. And I'm not okay with that. So I'm like, I'm not okay with that. I'm the CEO of BrainMD and we have a product called Brain T-Max, which helps boost testosterone. Wow.

Absolutely essential for women. And in our study, the women actually did better than the men. I mean, I take it every day because I know how important testosterone is, not just for libido, but also for memory, for focus, for relaxation.

or vitality for strength and ashwagandha, which is a herbal product that I just love, decreases anxiety, but also increases testosterone.

My wife says when she takes progesterone at night, this is the reason she's not on the six o'clock news. I take bioidentical hormones therapy and my testosterone levels are fine. But do you think taking a supplement like you mentioned is important? Well, I think levels are fine. And there's a difference between normal and optimal.

And so if they're in the upper half of normal, then I think that's fine. If they're in the lower half of normal, then maybe taking a supplement like Brain T-Max could be helpful. Yeah. You got to get your blood checked though, right? Can't change what you don't measure. That's right. That's right. Dr. Amen, before I let you go, what was your last I choose me moment? The moment where you chose yourself?

I was in Paris. I was with my wife and daughter. I loved them so much. I was so excited to help Alicia that I'm like, I'm going to go separate and I'm going to focus. And you guys, I will see you later. And they were totally fine with it. But, you know, the usual me is like, are you okay? Can I take care of you? Can I?

And it was like, now I choose me because I wanted to just do the work I love so much. Wonderful. Thank you. Being on my podcast. I love you so much. I'll be back. Thank you so much for helping me share my work. Always.

Dr. Amen is such a wealth of knowledge. We're going to have to have him back on because there's just so much that I want to cover when it comes to our brains. But that conversation was so jam-packed full of great information. I hope you guys listened. I hope you took notes because the things that he has taught me have changed my life. As we continue to choose ourselves each week, I want you to try something different.

And this is really actually going to help your brain. I want to challenge you to give a random act of kindness. You could offer to pay for the coffee of the person standing behind you in line, or you could send a handwritten letter to someone just to brighten their day, or even more simple, give a stranger a compliment on how great their outfit looks.

We get so caught up every day with jobs and bills and responsibilities that it's really easy to forget to spread kindness. I know what you're thinking. How is a random act of kindness an I choose me moment? Trust me, you are going to feel good after you do it. And that is going to make you want to keep feeling this happiness of spreading joy.

Thanks for listening to I Choose Me. You can check out all our social links in our show notes, rate, review, tell me everything, and use the hashtag I Choose Me. I will be right here next week, and I hope you will choose to be here too.

This election season, the stakes are higher than ever. I think the choice is clear in this election. Join me, Charlemagne Tha God, for We The People, an audio town hall with Vice President Kamala Harris and you, live from Detroit, Michigan, exclusively on iHeartRadio. They'll tackle the tough questions, depressing issues, and the future of our nation. We may not see eye to eye on every issue, but America, we are not going back.

Don't miss this powerful conversation with Vice President Kamala Harris. Tomorrow at 5 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. Pacific on the free iHeartRadio app's Hip Hop Beat Station. I'm NK, and this is Basket Case. What is wrong with me? A show about the ways that mental illness is shaped by not just biology. Swaps of different meds. But by culture and society. By looking closely at the conditions that cause mental distress, I find out why so many of us are struggling to feel sane.

what we can do about it, and why we should care. Listen to Basket Case every Tuesday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In California during the summer of 1975, within the span of 17 days and less than 90 miles, two women did something no other woman had done before, try to assassinate the President of the United States.

One was the protege of Charles Manson. 26-year-old Lynette Fromm, nicknamed Squeaky. The other, a middle-aged housewife working undercover for the FBI. Identified by police as Sarah Jean Moore. The story of one strange and violent summer, this season on the new podcast, Rip Current. Hear episodes of Rip Current early and completely ad-free and receive exclusive bonus content by subscribing to iHeart True Crime Plus, only on Apple Podcasts.

Hey, friends. I'm Jessica Capshaw. And this is Camilla Luddington. And we have a new podcast. Call it what it is.

You may know us from Graceland Memorial, but did you know that we are actually besties in real life? And as all besties do, we navigate the highs and lows of life together. Big or small, we're there. And now here we are opening up the friendship circle to you. Listen to Call It What It Is on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Daphne Caruana Galizia was a Maltese investigative journalist who on October 16th 2017 was assassinated. Crooks Everywhere unearthed the plot to murder a one-woman WikiLeaks. She exposed the culture of crime and corruption that were turning her beloved country into a mafia state. Listen to Crooks Everywhere on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.