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#1 BRAIN EXPERT: “If I Had ADHD, This is EXACTLY What I’d Do!” #1 Trick to Focus NOW (pt.1) — Transcript

by Jay Shetty Podcast · 6,285 words · 995 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00How do I know the difference between
0:02whether I have ADHD or I'm just
0:04distracted because we're living in an
0:06overwhelming time? Short attention span,
0:09distractibility, disorganization,
0:11impulsivity, and hyperactivity. They
0:14can't sit still.
0:16Psychiatrist and clinical neuroscientist
0:18Dr. Daniel Amen says renowned
0:20psychiatrist says that feeling better
0:22starts with understanding your brain.
0:2490% of mothers work outside the house
0:28when they have untreated
0:31ADD, they often look depressed and they
0:34get on something like Lexapro, which
0:37actually makes them more ADD, happier,
0:41but more distracted, happier, less
0:44focused, happier, more impulsive.
0:47You eliminate gluten, dairy, corn, soy,
0:50artificial dyes, and sweeteners. 70% of
0:54the kids lost their ADD. No way.
0:58Someone sitting here thinking, "Well,
0:59I'm not going to achieve anything with
1:00my life because I've got ADHD." What
1:02would you say to them?
1:06The number one health and wellness
1:07podcast. Jay Shetty. Jay Shetty. The
1:10one, the only, Jay Shetty.
1:14I want to start pretty direct. Why does
1:17it seem like everyone today has ADHD? A
1:20lot of people do, but our society
1:25is dramatically
1:27elevating it. When you think of the
1:31gadgets that steal our attention, the
1:35ultra-processed foods that our brain
1:38really doesn't like, the chronic stress,
1:43it's like, "What's the simple answer?"
1:46And the simple answer is, "Let me
1:48medicate you." And
1:51feel focused
1:52better, but not for long. And so, as our
1:57society has taken more medication, we
2:00have not gotten healthier. So, I think
2:03for people who really have ADD or ADHD,
2:08and I use those terms interchangeably
2:11because the way we diagnose people, it
2:14used to be ADD and by a vote of people
2:17they changed it to ADHD, which I think
2:20was actually a big mistake. It's always
2:23been there, right? You can actually look
2:25in the Old Testament and you go, these
2:26people had ADD. The real ADD is genetic.
2:31You get it from your mom or dad. You can
2:34see it in your people. You can see it in
2:36your ancestors.
2:38And left untreated,
2:41they're very serious problems. So, if I
2:44think somebody really has ADD and that
2:48medicine would help them, they always
2:50go, "What are the side effects?" Always
2:52tell them, "Your appetite will be less.
2:55Take too late in the day, you may have
2:57trouble sleeping.
2:59Um sometimes people get headaches or
3:01tummy aches. Those almost always go
3:02away. If you're prone to tics, you may
3:05have more tics." But,
3:07I want them to ask the other question,
3:09is what are the side effects
3:12of not taking appropriate treatment for
3:15ADD? And it's things like school failure
3:19and drug abuse and incarceration,
3:23divorce, bankruptcy.
3:25I'm so happy we're talking about it
3:26because this is a really serious issue.
3:31Because if you go to places like prison,
3:34there's a high percentage of people who
3:37have untreated
3:39ADD that did not have proper focus or
3:43impulse control. So, would you say that
3:46is ADHD being over diagnosed? I think
3:49it's over diagnosed and under diagnosed.
3:54Over
3:55overall because people see this as the
3:59simple answer. Under-diagnosed
4:02especially in people who are not
4:04hyperactive
4:06or females. Because we still have gender
4:10bias in this country. If you have a
4:13little boy and he's not doing well in
4:15school, you get really worried cuz you
4:17realize he's going to take care of a
4:19family someday. For a girl, if she's not
4:22doing as well, well you think maybe
4:24she's not that smart and you hope she
4:26marries somebody nice. Which is
4:27completely irrational
4:30given that we now have three generations
4:35of women who are in the workforce here
4:37in California. 90% of mothers work
4:40outside the house. And when they have
4:45untreated
4:46ADD,
4:48they often look depressed. And they get
4:51on something like Lexapro on an SSRI,
4:55which actually makes them more ADD, but
4:59now they don't care that they're more
5:02ADD. Because serotonin, we'll talk about
5:05it, they counterbalance each other. So
5:08serotonin is the neurotransmitter
5:11happiness, of flexibility.
5:15Dopamine more than neurotransmitter
5:17focus, motivation.
5:19Let's follow through and get this done.
5:22And when one goes up, so serotonin goes
5:24up, someone puts you on an SSRI,
5:27dopamine goes down. And so happier,
5:32but more distracted. Happier, less
5:35focused. Happier, more impulsive. Yeah,
5:38and I think that's what so many people
5:40are feeling today where they naturally
5:42feel a sense of brain fog. They're
5:44overwhelmed with information. I was
5:47reading somewhere that we now consume 72
5:51GB of information per day, which someone
5:54had translated to reading 100,000 words
5:58every single day, which when you think
6:01about that,
6:02that is so overwhelming. So, how do I
6:06know the difference between whether I
6:08have ADHD or I'm just distracted because
6:12we're living in an overwhelming time?
6:14So, you look for patterns of behavior
6:18over time. So, the hallmark features of
6:23ADD or ADHD, the first one is short
6:26attention span. It's really hard to
6:29focus,
6:30but not for everything. And this is what
6:32fools people. It's short attention span
6:35for regular routine everyday things,
6:39schoolwork, homework, paperwork, chores,
6:43the things that make life work. And if
6:47you have a half an hour of homework,
6:49parents will often say it takes him or
6:52her two hours to do, and I have to
6:55structure their time. That's very
6:58common. But, for things that are new,
7:02novel, highly stimulating,
7:05or frightening, people with
7:08ADD can pay attention just fine because
7:11they have their own intrinsic dopamine.
7:15And what I find is love is a drug. Love
7:19is dopamine. So,
7:21say you're getting all C's and D's
7:23except one A, and the A, whether it's in
7:26history or whatever, it's because you
7:29love the teacher or you love the
7:32subject. But, it's not this one thing we
7:35should be looking at, it's the pattern
7:38of your attention span over time. The
7:41second is they're easily distracted. And
7:44what that means is they see too much.
7:47They hear too much. They taste too much.
7:49They smell too much. So, they're
7:52constantly
7:54distracted by
7:56the world coming at them. The brain is
7:59really good at suppressing unnecessary
8:04noises or unnecessary thoughts. But,
8:07when your prefrontal cortex will talk
8:10about that. The front part of your
8:12brain, the front third of your brain,
8:15largest in humans and any other animal
8:17by far. When it's sleepy, it can't sort
8:21of suppress the noise. I grew up three
8:25houses from the freeway in Southern
8:27California. Had lots of noise, but I
8:30never heard it.
8:32Because my brain went, "Oh, you don't
8:34need to listen to that." So, it would
8:38suppress it.
8:38So, someone who has ADHD can't suppress
8:41it. Interesting. And so, the world comes
8:44at them too much. And you you see it
8:47with the clothes they wear. They hate
8:50seams, and they hate tags, because their
8:53body feels it. So, I've been married
8:56twice. Both of my wives have ADD of one
9:01form or another. And the first time when
9:03I got married, I went It's like right
9:05after I got married, I went to my closet
9:07to get a shirt, and I noticed the tag
9:10tag was cut out of my shirt.
9:13And I'm like, "That's weird." And then I
9:14looked at all of my shirts, and all of
9:16the tags were out. And I felt violated.
9:20And I went into the living room with the
9:22shirt, and I'm like,
9:24"Why's my shirt missing the tag?" She
9:26goes, "Oh, don't you hate tags? Like, I
9:28hate tags. I thought you really liked
9:30that I cut them all out for you." And
9:33I'm like, "I've never felt a tag in my
9:36life. Please don't damage my clothing.
9:40That's Yeah, that's fascinating to me.
9:42So, because I can relate to what you
9:44said, I'm
9:46very unaffected by outside noise. And
9:50definitely my brain creates the same
9:53boundary that you said yours does, where
9:55I could be in a really noisy
9:56environment, but I can go totally
9:57internal if I'm focused on something.
10:00Now,
10:02does that mean that we're born with
10:03ADHD, or can we train attention? Well,
10:07we can train attention, but ADHD I'm
10:10talking about is what you're born with.
10:13What you see it in your mom, you see it
10:16in your dad. I have I told you my first
10:21wife had ADD, which means
10:24three of my children have it. So, I know
10:28more about this than I want to. And if
10:32you think of distractibility,
10:34what does an orgasm require?
10:37Focus. You have to pay attention to the
10:40feeling long enough
10:43in order to have an orgasm. And so, if
10:46that becomes really hard, well, that's a
10:48problem for both the person and their
10:52partner because their partner will like
10:54go,
10:55"She doesn't love me." Or, "I'm not
10:57enough." When it has nothing to do with
11:00that, it's just they're easily
11:02distracted. People with
11:04the real ADD, they need white noise at
11:08night. And I'm like, "It's the middle of
11:10winter. It's Washington, D.C. The fan is
11:13on."
11:16Like, "Why is the fan on?" It's like,
11:18"Oh, I need the noise, or I won't be
11:20able to sleep cuz I hear everything
11:23that's in the house." So, short
11:25attention span not for everything,
11:27easily distracted, disorganized. So,
11:30it's hard for them. It's not natural for
11:33them. If you look at their rooms, their
11:35desks, their book bags, their filing
11:37cabinets,
11:39and time. They're often late. And I like
11:44to be early. I'm like if I have if I
11:48have a flight, I'm there two hours early
11:50because my brain thinks of all the
11:52things that could go wrong on the way to
11:53the airport, and the flight's important
11:56to me. People with ADD it's last minute,
11:59last minute. And I used to fight. I'm
12:02like, "No, we need to go." And and then
12:05I just started lying. It's like
12:09the flight is at noon. Uh when really it
12:12was at 1:00, and because her
12:13organization wasn't such, she didn't
12:16really catch on to the How much of that
12:19is training? Like I feel like I grew up
12:21with a mom who is very meticulous with
12:24time. So, my mom trained me to always
12:27believe that if you're not early, you're
12:29late. And so, I also live in a world
12:31that you do, which is I'm always at the
12:33airport early. I'm always making sure of
12:36anything that could go wrong. Security
12:37could take a bit longer. There's so many
12:39other things.
12:40That to me, I've always felt came
12:43because I had a mom who is super
12:45organized, and I've inherited that by
12:48watching her. Even now, like my mom
12:50trained me how to make sure we locked
12:51all the doors at night, and you know, we
12:53didn't grow up in a really safe area.
12:55So, there was this very hyper attention
12:58to make sure. So, I'm very good at that,
13:00and I could have been because her brain
13:03Yeah. was busy in the front, and she
13:08also gave that to you. Yeah.
13:11Right? So, some of it is training, but
13:12if she had ADD, she wouldn't give
13:15Right.
13:16that to you, and you would often be
13:18chronically stressed because she
13:21wouldn't get you to school on time, or
13:24she wouldn't be there on time to pick
13:26you up. Or it's really important you
13:29have a soccer
13:31practice and you're late. The the level
13:34of stress in ADD ADHD families is very
13:39high because of the distractibility, the
13:43disorganization,
13:45and the fourth one is procrastination.
13:48They don't do things until someone's mad
13:50at them to get it done. They need stress
13:54in order to get stuff done. And that
13:58just makes everybody around them
14:00stressed. And it makes them stressed
14:02because, you know, they're often late
14:04because they actually don't start
14:06getting ready until it's like, "Oh my
14:08god, I'm late." And then they always
14:10show up like either right on time
14:12flustered or 10 minutes late always
14:16apologizing. And that's different from
14:18people who perform well under stress.
14:20This is someone who needs stress in
14:22order to perform.
14:23in order to perform, yeah. Right. If
14:25your child's struggling in school, make
14:28sure they're not taking their iPad to
14:30bed. So often it's because kids are
14:33sleep deprived, they look like they have
14:35ADD because parents are really not
14:37properly supervising
14:40the kids. You eliminate gluten, dairy,
14:43corn, soy, artificial dyes, and
14:46sweeteners.
14:4770% of the kids lost their ADD. No way.
14:51So, the first thing is not
14:55Let me give you this drug.
14:57In my mind, the first thing is do a
14:59digital detox
15:01and do an elimination diet. And do it
15:03for a month. Food is so important. If
15:07they really
15:08have ADD or ADHD, they're going to have
15:12it 3 months from now or 4 months from
15:14now. Let's do this
15:17and see because I think if someone
15:20really has ADD, Withholding medicine is
15:24like withholding glasses from someone
15:28who can't see. And that's neglect. When
15:31I first started imaging, it was on an
15:34ADD woman. So, I went into a lecture on
15:36brain SPECT imaging in my hospital in
15:39April 1991, and I walked out and I had a
15:43new patient. Her name was Sandy and she
15:45was 44 and she was beautiful and
15:48underemployed. She had an IQ of 144 and
15:51she was a lab tech and she was in the
15:53hospital because she had a suicide
15:55attempt the night before in an impulsive
15:59act when she and her husband had a
16:01fight. And I'm like, ADD ADD ADD. She
16:04had an 8-year-old son that had ADD and
16:06I'm like, "I think you have ADD." And
16:08she's like, "Oh, adults can't have it."
16:11Thinking to myself but not saying it cuz
16:13I don't have ADD. It's like, I'm the
16:15doctor.
16:16Adults totally can have ADD.
16:19And I said, "Can I scan you?" Cuz I've
16:22just learned about this new technology
16:24and I scanned her twice, once at rest,
16:27once when she did a concentration task.
16:30And when she tried to concentrate, the
16:32front part of her brain shut down rather
16:36than what it should have done was turn
16:38on. And I put the This is why I love
16:41imaging. I put the scans on her hospital
16:44table.
16:45And I was explaining to them and she
16:48started to cry. And she said, "You mean
16:50it's not my fault?"
16:53And that's the moment I got hooked on
16:55imaging cuz I already knew the
16:57diagnosis. She It immediately evaporated
17:02shame. And then, she's like, "All right,
17:05let's talk about adult ADD." And she had
17:09all of the things including the impulse
17:12control issues. But because she was so
17:15bright, she didn't bring enough
17:18negative attention to herself and never
17:21gotten the help. And after I treated
17:22her, she finished college, she stopped
17:25picking on her husband because another
17:28trait that a lot of people don't
17:30understand is they become negative
17:32seeking,
17:34conflict seeking, and excitement
17:36seeking. And those are all dopamine
17:39driven behaviors. So, if you have a low
17:42level of dopamine, well, if you pick a
17:45fight with someone, now all of a sudden
17:47you there's some excitement going on. If
17:50you jump out of an airplane, that has a
17:52whole bunch of dopamine associated with
17:55it. But and I experienced this, it was
17:58that poking. It's like we're going on
18:00vacation, why are we having a problem?
18:02And
18:03activating their frontal lobes, they're
18:06less negative. And I'm just publishing a
18:09study on negativity bias. I'm very
18:12interested in Are you positive or you
18:16negative? Now, unbridled positive
18:18thinking is a disaster, you die early.
18:21But negative thinking, you actually have
18:24low function in your frontal lobes. And
18:29many of the ADD people I see tend to see
18:33the glass as half empty. And that wears
18:38on them. So, if we highlight the short
18:41attention span, not for everything,
18:43disorganization, procrastination,
18:46impulse control. It's like the break in
18:50their brain is vulnerable.
18:54And they say things often
18:58that you shouldn't say. It's like the
19:00inside voice gets out. They do things
19:05that it's like,
19:06"Wish I hadn't done that." So, they
19:08actually live with a lot of regret. And
19:14your prefrontal cortex is called the
19:16executive part of the brain because it's
19:20like the boss at work. It's involved in
19:23focus, forethought, judgment, impulse
19:26control, organization, planning,
19:29empathy, learning from the mistakes you
19:32make. And when it's sleeping,
19:35you have all those problems which just
19:38describes
19:40ADD. And
19:42um strengthening that
19:45is critical to your humanity.
19:49Did you know that sociopaths have 10%
19:53less volume
19:55in their prefrontal cortex? So, they're
19:59a little less human, if you will.
20:02Even 10% has that impact?
20:0410% It's huge. And this is why you
20:08should never let a child hit a soccer
20:10ball with their forehead. It's just so
20:14stupid. And like I'm not a huge fan of
20:17allowing kids to play tackle football
20:20because it's more likely to damage the
20:23part of them
20:25that
20:27is the boss. And
20:29people who have ADD are often executives
20:33of their own companies because they
20:35don't work well often with other people.
20:39And so, they're entrepreneurial. And
20:42some wildly famous people have said they
20:46had ADD. Like the person who started
20:49JetBlue. He was public with that. It can
20:53look false. It can be masquerade you
20:56have ADD because your parents gave you
20:58an iPhone when you were a year old. And
21:01I think we're wisening up that's not a
21:03good thing to do, but still
21:06children should not have smartphones
21:08until they're 15, 16. Social media,
21:13Australia banned social media under 16.
21:17I think that's so
21:17Brilliant, yeah. great, right? Taking
21:20the neuroscience and making it public
21:22policy. California, you can't start
21:24school in the morning before 8:00.
21:27Taking the what we know with
21:28neuroscience, kids who get just an hour
21:31less sleep have a higher incidence of
21:35depression and suicide. So, all right,
21:38cut out the zero periods. I love that.
21:40Neuroscience and then public policy. Do
21:43we know what causes ADHD? It's genetic.
21:47People are not producing
21:49enough dopamine and the medicines we
21:53use, like Ritalin or Adderall, they
21:56increase the availability
21:59of dopamine. Now, the problem is is if
22:01you don't really have it, what you have
22:03is societally induced ADHD, the medicine
22:06will disrupt you and make you worse. And
22:09early on, I realized when I scan people,
22:13cuz I've scanned
22:1430 or 40,000 people who have ADD of one
22:18type or another, it's not one thing.
22:21Early on, I'm like, "Oh,
22:24it's seven different things." And so, my
22:27book Healing ADD, I talk about seeing
22:30heal the seven types. And so,
22:34can I talk about the type? That was just
22:36about to That was my next question. You
22:37were You were already You were already
22:38one step ahead of me. So, let me ask let
22:40me ask you.
22:40type one is the classic. It's what most
22:42people think of ADHD. Short attention
22:45span, distractibility, disorganization,
22:47impulsivity, and hyperactivity. They
22:50can't sit still. And
22:53one of my kids, when
22:55she was born, we thought she was going
22:58to be a boy because in her mother's
22:59womb, she was so active. And the law is
23:02the more active a baby is inside their
23:04mother, the more likely they are to be a
23:06boy. She wasn't. When I held her older
23:09sister, we could watch movies. She'd sit
23:12on my lap. She was just calm. Her
23:15sister, when you tried to hold her, was
23:17like trying to hold a live salmon. She
23:19was so wiggly. And then I take her to
23:22the mall, she would have been one of
23:24those children on the little yellow
23:25leashes, the Big Bird leashes in the
23:28mall. But I wrote a column in the local
23:30newspaper, so when I went to the mall,
23:32people recognized me. It's like, "Oh,
23:34Dr. Amen, I loved your column. Why is
23:36your child on a leash?" So what I used
23:38to do with Kaelen is put her in her
23:41stroller and tie her shoes together so
23:44she couldn't get out. Cuz she's like,
23:46"Where are you going?" And I remember
23:49just holding her hand. I'd take my
23:50little pinky and wrap it around her
23:53wrist. Because and I had spiritual
23:56problems because of this child. We would
23:58go to church and I don't know why
23:59Catholics take children into church
24:02rather than, you know, send them to
24:04children's church. But anyways, she was
24:07so active and blurting out. And I'm like
24:12the only child psychiatrist in the
24:15county. And if my child is the worst
24:18one, that's bad for business. So I used
24:21to take her out and threaten her life
24:24and now I'm worried about her eternal
24:26soul. And I adore her and she's 37 now.
24:30And Haven
24:32is just like her, which is,
24:34you know, my 6-year-old granddaughter,
24:36is just like her.
24:38It's genetic. And when we first got her
24:42diagnosed, the doctor who was really
24:45great looked at me
24:47and then
24:48looked at her mother and goes, "So who
24:50has this? Cuz it's genetic." And I'm
24:53like, "It's not me. I do everything
24:55early."
24:56Now I've written 42 books. Every one of
24:58them's been handed in early. And her mom
25:00goes, "It's not me." But then I was so
25:02grateful cuz it took her like 12 years
25:05to get through college, and she just she
25:08asked her this one question. This is a
25:10great adult ADD question.
25:12Cuz she was still in college at the
25:14time. She goes, "How do you study?" She
25:16goes, "Oh, I can never study at home. I
25:17get so distracted. I go inside my little
25:21car underneath a street lamp. No kids,
25:23no noise, nothing. There I can study."
25:26And the doctor goes, "You have ADD."
25:29It was very helpful for me and for her.
25:33That's type one. That's type one.
25:35Classic.
25:36Type two
25:38is inattentive ADD.
25:41Short attention span, distractibility,
25:45disorganized, procrastinate, but they're
25:47not impulsive.
25:49And more common in girls. They're not
25:52hyperactive. In fact, they can be a
25:54little bit hypo- active. And those first
25:59two types were described in the DSM when
26:02they first created this diagnostic
26:05category in 1980.
26:07I described the next five types.
26:09The third one is overfocused ADD, where
26:13the problem is not so much you can't
26:15concentrate.
26:17It's you can't shift your attention.
26:19Mhm. That you get stuck. And if you
26:22can't shift your attention, you cannot
26:24pay attention.
26:26But it's a different mechanism. And I
26:28found this to be a particularly true in
26:31children and grandchildren of
26:34alcoholics. And they tend to be
26:36argumentative, oppositional,
26:39worry. If things don't go their way,
26:42they get upset. And on the surface, they
26:45appear selfish. They're really not
26:48selfish. They're just not flexible. And
26:52stimulants
26:54tend to make them more worried and more
26:57upset.
26:58Type four is called limbic ADD. It's
27:01where their emotional brain is too busy.
27:05And it's sort of like ADD plus
27:08mild depression. And the glass is always
27:12half empty for them.
27:14Type five, which I think is such an
27:16interesting one, is temporal lobe ADD.
27:18They have problems in one or both of
27:19their temporal lobes. Often goes with
27:22learning problems, but mood instability,
27:24irritability, temper
27:27problems. One of my first great cases
27:29was Chris. He's his third psychiatric
27:32hospitalization. This time he took a
27:35pencil and put it in the neck of one of
27:37his classmates.
27:39Stimulants made him hallucinate. Uh all
27:42the other medicines, and I'm like, "I'm
27:44scanning you." And he had left temporal
27:47lobe problems. This goes with violence.
27:50I put him on an anti-convulsant,
27:52anti-seizure medicine. Became the
27:54sweetest kid. And then he still had
27:57trouble concentrating. So then, after I
27:59got the temporal lobe right, I gave him
28:00a stimulant. Masterful. I mean, this kid
28:03just did phenomenally
28:06well.
28:07And then the ring of fire, that's one I
28:09may be most known for. The problem is
28:11not low activity, it's too much
28:13activity. Please don't give them a
28:15stimulant because they can become
28:17violent, aggressive.
28:20I actually use a supplement to calm
28:21things down in their brain, very
28:23effective. And then the last one's
28:25anxious ADD, where
28:28they're really anxious. And so they tend
28:30to be early to things, but disorganized,
28:33distracted, so on. So knowing the type,
28:37and that's why Ritalin has a bad
28:40reputation. For the right brain, it's
28:43miraculous.
28:44For the wrong brain, it's a nightmare. A
28:47lot of people who have ADHD say they
28:49feel emotions much more strongly and
28:52deeply.
28:53Can they start to regulate their
28:55emotions? Is there a way to do that? Or
28:57is that medication?
28:58Well, and sometimes with the medicine
29:00they don't like it because it feels like
29:02it suppresses their emotions.
29:04Interesting.
29:05And my daughter Caitlyn, when I put her
29:09on Ritalin cuz she was hyperactive. And
29:13then she was
29:14dramatically less hyperactive. But I
29:17found I had to titrate the dose down
29:20because I could see it putting a lid on
29:23her personality, which is not what you
29:24want to do. And so often you want to
29:28work with someone who's really
29:29knowledgeable to titrate the dose up and
29:33down
29:34effectively.
29:36If you're a baseball player, so just
29:39thinking of athletes,
29:41the medicine gives you a better batting
29:43average.
29:44If you're a linebacker in football, you
29:46might be a little bit less aggressive.
29:48Because you're more thoughtful. Right.
29:51Right. So if you want to play with
29:52abandon, you probably don't want a
29:54stimulant on board. But I find for some
29:59of my professional athletes, they're
30:02just much more focused and less likely
30:04to get technical fouls and
30:09like I see it and you're watching, you
30:11know, someone have a meltdown on the
30:13court, I'm like, I wonder what's going
30:14on in that person's brain. Right? Rather
30:17than just judge them as bad. I haven't
30:19scanned Draymond Green, but I want to. I
30:22saw a study that found that children
30:25with untreated ADHD are nearly twice as
30:29likely to develop an alcohol use
30:31disorder or other substance abuse
30:34problem. Why is that? Because of the
30:36lack of impulse control. And they don't
30:38like how they feel. Right? If you've
30:40been told every day to settle down, or
30:44you brought negative attention to
30:46yourself, over time it activates
30:51your emotional brain. And you want to
30:56settle it down, and you don't have good
30:57forethought or good impulse control, and
31:00you're more likely to drink. And it's
31:04just so prevalent. Plus with society
31:07during the Superbowl, there were 30 beer
31:10commercials. And the rest of them were
31:12Jack in the Box, right? So it's like we
31:15we're just being flooded with these
31:17awful messages that take people have
31:20ADD, make them more ADD, and then they
31:23engage in habits that aren't helpful.
31:25Do you think there should be a ban on
31:27alcohol advertisements as much as there
31:29is obviously on smoking like Yeah, it's
31:32not a health food. I mean, the American
31:34Cancer Society came out 3 years ago
31:38and said, "You shouldn't drink because
31:40it increases your risk of seven
31:42different types of cancer."
31:44The Surgeon General last year said we
31:47should put alcohol cancer warning label
31:50signs on alcohol. I think when you just
31:53look at our society from the digital
31:56addictions and social media and
31:59technology to the bad food, the
32:03ultra-processed food that so many people
32:05that's 80 or 90% of their diet to
32:09marijuana's innocuous, which is a
32:11complete lie. Alcohol's a health food,
32:15no. And now the big new thing is
32:18psilocybin. It's great medicine. It's an
32:21antidepressant. It'll treat your PTSD.
32:24And it's increased
32:28psychosis to emergency rooms 300%.
32:32It is not innocuous. Now, might it
32:35become a a good treatment? I don't know,
32:38but I feel like I've seen this party
32:41before, right? One of the big benefits
32:43of being 70 is you've seen lots of
32:45things. The early '80s, benzos are
32:49innocuous, they're mommy little helper.
32:51We know benzos are highly addictive and
32:53increase the risk of dementia. The early
32:57'90s, alcohol's good for your heart, you
32:59should drink. It's a lie, you shouldn't
33:01drink. It increases your risk of
33:04stupidity and cancer, right? And if
33:07you're ADD and you have sleepy frontal
33:08lobes, now you drink, you have sleepier
33:10frontal lobes. Still not a good thing.
33:14And then pain is the fifth vital sign,
33:17right?
33:18Purdue Pharmaceuticals came out with
33:21let's let's get more people to take
33:23opioids and came out with these
33:25campaigns and spent billions of dollars
33:27on marketing and
33:30was a disaster. And then the whole
33:32marijuana's innocuous during not this
33:35presidential campaign, the last one.
33:38Joe Biden was debating and they asked
33:42him, should the federal government
33:44legalize marijuana? And he said, no, I
33:47don't think there's enough research. And
33:49Cory Booker, the senator from New
33:51Jersey,
33:53shames him on national television and he
33:56said, man, are you high? Like
34:02the science is settled.
34:04Well, as more places legalize it, the
34:07science is getting settled. It's bad for
34:10us, right? If you use as a teenager, it
34:13increases
34:15anxiety, depression, psychosis, and
34:17suicide in your 20s. I published a study
34:21on a thousand marijuana users.
34:24Every area of the brain is lower in
34:26blood flow.
34:28And I got so much grief for it. And two
34:30months ago in JAMA Psychiatry,
34:33on a thousand marijuana users, the
34:36memory and learning centers are lower in
34:38blood flow and activity. This is not
34:41innocuous.
34:43It's all these lies that then increase
34:46the expression
34:48of ADD.
34:49And so, you know, how do you know? You
34:52look at someone's history over time,
34:55right? All of us have ADD moments, but
34:59that's not ADD.
35:01Having ADD is these hallmark symptoms
35:04have followed you most of your life.
35:07So, for parents who are listening right
35:09now and they're starting to see a young
35:12child maybe have one of the types or
35:14some of the symptoms, what would you
35:16encourage them to do?
35:17You know, I have a free online test
35:19called addtypetest.com.
35:22They could take that. For people, if
35:25you've been struggling and it's like you
35:28really believe it's not just
35:30environmental, right? I mean, the first
35:32thing, if your child's struggling in
35:34school, make sure they're not taking
35:37their iPad to bed. So often, it's
35:40because kids are sleep deprived, they
35:42look like they have ADD because parents
35:44are really not properly supervising the
35:48kids. Do a digital detox. And then, I
35:51have to say this cuz there's this great
35:53study published in The Lancet,
35:56replicated, that when you put kids on an
35:59elimination diet. So, what does that
36:02mean? You eliminate gluten, dairy, corn,
36:04soy, artificial dyes, and sweeteners.
36:0870% of the kids lost their ADD.
36:11No way. So, the first thing is not
36:16let me give you this drug. In my mind,
36:18the first thing is do a digital detox
36:21and do an elimination diet. And do it
36:24for a month. And it's like, "Oh, I can't
36:25do that." It's like, "It's not that
36:27hard. My wife, Tana, wrote a cookbook,
36:30Healing ADD at Home Through Food or The
36:33Brain Warrior's Way. That's her big
36:35cookbook. It's been reprinted like 53
36:38times. I'm so proud of her. And find
36:41foods the kids love that love them back.
36:45Food is so important. Do that first. And
36:50I always tell them, like, look, if they
36:51really
36:53have ADD or ADHD, they're going to have
36:56it 3 months from now or 4 months from
36:58now. Let's do this
37:01and see. I have an online course called
37:04Healing ADD at Home in 30 days. And it's
37:06basically, before you give the medicine,
37:10do these things first. And it's so
37:15helpful. Why does changing our diet
37:18affect ADHD? Why does removing gluten,
37:22removing processed foods, etc. Why does
37:25that impact it? Your brain is 2% about
37:29your body's weight. It uses 20 to 30% of
37:33the calories you consume. And so, if you
37:36have a fast-food diet, you're likely to
37:39have a fast-food mind. And both gluten
37:44and dairy,
37:45when they go to your stomach, when it
37:48mixes with stomach acid, it turns into
37:52something called gluteomorphins,
37:55which work on the heroin centers, or the
37:58opiate centers of your brain. And it
38:00just sort of spaces you out. For milk,
38:04it's caseomorphins.
38:06And it's why we love pizza. If you think
38:09of gluten and dairy, right? Pizza.
38:12Um
38:13but it's also why you feel spacey
38:16afterwards. And too often, what do we
38:18feed kids? Like, when I was growing up,
38:21it was Frosted Flakes or Pop-Tarts or a
38:25muffin or donuts. And if you get a sugar
38:30burst, well, a half an hour later your
38:33brain is walking in mud.
38:35And yet that's what we feed children in
38:37the morning.
38:38ADD kids who have protein in the
38:41morning,
38:42their medicine works longer throughout
38:45the day. And so in the '50s, you know,
38:49we grew up with bacon and eggs and much
38:54better than the processed cereals. I
38:58love your thoughts on how to do it
39:00before we get to
39:02medicine. Like before we get to
39:04medication, looking at technology,
39:06looking at our diet,
39:08and and that way you could potentially
39:10save yourself from having to go down the
39:12medicine route. Right. And then parents
39:14who are generally resistant to the idea
39:18of medicine,
39:19and perhaps more so than they should be,
39:24because I think if someone really has
39:26ADD, withholding medicine is like
39:30withholding glasses from someone who
39:34can't see.
39:35And that's neglect. And we're we're in
39:38this society, right? The more educated
39:40you are, it's like, "Oh no, I'd never
39:42give my child medicine." And then all of
39:45a sudden you see they're failing in
39:48school. And if you struggle in school,
39:50you begin to hang out with the other
39:54kids who are struggling, which may not
39:56be ultimately in their best interest. If
40:00you haven't been diagnosed by the time
40:02you're 10,
40:04odds are your self-esteem has been
40:07negatively impacted because people have
40:10said repeatedly to you,
40:14"You're smarter than this. You could do
40:15better than this. Try harder. But what I
40:18showed on the scans when they try to
40:21concentrate, their brain drops in
40:23activity.
40:24In fact, the harder they try,
40:28the worse it gets. Why is that? Because
40:31their brain is turning off when it
40:34should be
40:35The frontal lobe you're saying.
40:36frontal lobe. If you don't have enough
40:39dopamine to keep your frontal lobe
40:42engaged,
40:43it sort of withers
40:46with effort. And what does that teach
40:48you?
40:49To give up. It's this idea of learned
40:51helplessness. There's a psychologist
40:54who's really famous, Marty Seligman. You
40:57probably know of him because he's famous
40:59for positive psychology. He helped start
41:01that movement.
41:03But he was way famous before then
41:05because he coined this term learned
41:07helplessness. And with depression, it's
41:10like you try and it doesn't work. You
41:12try and it doesn't work. You try and it
41:14doesn't work. And then you say to hell
41:16with it and you stop trying.
41:18And that happens with so many
41:20people who have ADD. In fact, when I
41:23diagnose and treat an adult woman,
41:27a common scenario,
41:29she brings her hyperactive son to me.
41:32And I'm like, where did this come from?
41:34And see it comes from the mom.
41:37And then I treat her.
41:39She gets dramatically better.
41:42And then she gets depressed because she
41:44starts thinking about what would my life
41:47have been like
41:49if someone would have noticed this, if I
41:53would have been treated. Now, that's you
41:55don't give her an antidepressant for
41:57that. You like do grief work with her
42:00and like, okay, but now you know, so
42:02your son doesn't have to go through this
42:05and
42:07you don't want to argue with the past.
42:09You want to look forward. Have you seen
42:11people break the cycle as we're talking
42:13about it's genetically passed down? If
42:15you saw it in your parents, have you
42:17seen that be possible? Is it possible to
42:19break the cycle completely so that you
42:21don't pass it on? You know, I I think
42:24so, but we're starting at such a
42:26disadvantage.
42:28And, you know, as I think because, you
42:31know my real passion in life is to
42:33create a brain health revolution.
42:36And where would that start? It has to
42:39start with kids before they have babies.
42:43Because when that mother was born,
42:46she was born with all of the eggs in her
42:50ovaries she will ever have. And so, if
42:54we're going to help her children be
42:57healthier, we have to get to her when
43:00she's a child and help her make really
43:04good decisions
43:06when she's a teenager. And too often
43:10parents go, "Oh, I don't have control."
43:13And they abdecate their parental role
43:16over teenagers on who they hang out with
43:19and what they eat and, you know, we're
43:22not drinking together and we're not
43:24smoking pot together. And, you know,
43:26like all the insanity that's going on in
43:28our society today. I think we have to
43:31get to their ovaries early because if
43:37you're born with all of the eggs you'll
43:38ever have, whatever you do in life turns
43:41on or off certain genes making illness
43:46more or less likely in you, yes, but
43:50also your babies and grand babies. So,
43:53that's how we decrease the incidence is
43:57we get mom and dad, cuz his sperm really
44:01matters, to be as healthy as possible.
44:07If you love this episode, you'll enjoy
44:09my interview with Dr. Daniel Amen on how
44:12to change your life by changing your
44:14brain. If we want a healthy mind, it
44:18actually starts with a healthy brain.
44:21You know, I've had the blessing or the
44:23curse to scan over a thousand convicted
44:27felons and over a hundred murderers, and
44:30their brains are very damaged.

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