YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → The ADHD Doctor: “I’ve Scanned 250,000 Brains” You (Steven Bartlett) Have ADHD!!! Dr Daniel Amen

The ADHD Doctor: “I’ve Scanned 250,000 Brains” You (Steven Bartlett) Have ADHD!!! Dr Daniel Amen — Transcript

by The Diary Of A CEO · 16,439 words · 2,798 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00Justin Bieber, Muhammad Ali, Miley
0:02Cyrus. And then there's murderers,
0:04rapists, arsonists. I probably have seen
0:07more brains than anybody in the world.
0:10And now, your brain. So, this is going
0:12to be really hard for you. You have
0:15ADHD. Really? Dr. Daniel Amen, the
0:18world's leading expert
0:20on the brain.
0:20Dr. Amen's mission is to end mental
0:23illness
0:23by creating a revolution in brain
0:25health. Buckle up, Dr. Amen. Let me know
0:28what you see. Your brain is involved in
0:30everything you do. And after today, you
0:32will always care about your brain. What
0:34things make the brain worse? Drugs,
0:36alcohol, not getting good sleep, sugar,
0:39fruit juice, hitting a soccer ball with
0:41your head, caffeine. Caffeine? It
0:43shrinks it. What's bad about sugar?
0:45You're more likely to get an obesity.
0:46And as your weight goes up, the actual
0:49physical size and function of your brain
0:52goes down. That should scare the fat off
0:54anyone. And then there's social media.
0:56If you're on 3 and 1/2 hours a day, you
0:59begin to wear out those pleasure centers
1:02that bring you happiness and they bring
1:04you pleasure and they bring you drive.
1:06You thrill them to death. But, you're
1:09not stuck with the brain you have. You
1:11can make it better. I can prove it. So,
1:14it starts with
1:16Let's look at my brain. Let's do this.
1:18We have evidence of And that's normal in
1:21our society. The problem is two or three
1:24of those can impact the rest of your
1:26life and nobody knows about it.
1:30Quick one. This is really, really
1:32fascinating to me. On the back end of
1:34our YouTube channel, it says that 69.9%
1:37of you that watch this channel
1:38frequently over the lifetime of this
1:40channel haven't yet hit the subscribe
1:42button. I just wanted to ask you a
1:43favor. It helps this channel so much if
1:46you choose to just subscribe. Helps us
1:48scale the guests, helps us scale the
1:49production, and it makes the show
1:50bigger. So, if I could ask you for one
1:52favor, if you've watched this show
1:53before and you've enjoyed it and you
1:55like this episode that you're currently
1:56watching, could you please hit the
1:57subscribe button? Thank you so much and
1:59I will repay that gesture by making sure
2:02that everything we do here gets better
2:03and better and better and better. That
2:05is a promise I'm willing to make you. Do
2:06we have a deal?
2:14Dr. Amen,
2:16if someone's just clicked on this
2:18podcast
2:21and they're considering sticking around
2:23or maybe doing something else with their
2:26time.
2:27Can you explain to me
2:29based on what you know that we're going
2:30to be discussing and the subject matter
2:32we're going to be discussing and how
2:33important it is,
2:36the benefit to their life if they stick
2:38around?
2:4110 extra years of cognitive performance
2:44in their life,
2:46better love, better money,
2:48better health, because your brain, we're
2:51going to talk about, is involved in
2:53everything you do. How you think, how
2:55you feel, how you act, how you get along
2:56with other people. And my goal is to
3:01end, this is going to sound huge and it
3:04is,
3:05and it's going to sound impossible, but
3:07it's not. My goal is to end mental
3:10illness
3:11by
3:12creating
3:14a revolution in brain health. I hate the
3:18term mental illness. It shames people.
3:21It's stigmatizing and it's wrong. These
3:24things aren't mental disorders, they're
3:27brain disorders. If you get your brain
3:31healthy, well, your mind tends to
3:33follow. So, you're depressed, an
3:36antidepressant is not doing one thing
3:38for getting your brain healthy. Nobody's
3:41talking to you about your diet, your
3:44level of exercise, your sleep, not
3:47living in a mold-filled home, not really
3:49allowing your kids hit soccer balls with
3:51their head, right? Cuz that's not brain
3:54healthy.
3:56And if we can create this revolution in
4:00brain health,
4:02the incidence of mental health disorders
4:05will go down
4:07by half.
4:09And I guess that's part of the reveal
4:10here is you've actually scanned
4:13my brain. And you're going to tell me
4:15today the results that
4:17you have on your laptop over there in
4:18the corner of the room. So, I came to
4:20your clinic in Los Angeles, and they
4:24made me do a test on a computer. Like it
4:27was almost like a speed test of sorts.
4:29And then they made me lie down in a big
4:31machine
4:33for about How long was that? About 30
4:34minutes? 15 minutes.
4:3515 minutes?
4:37While this big machine rotated around my
4:38head and looked at my brain. That was my
4:40experience of what happened. And then I
4:42filled out some questionnaires about
4:44myself and my brain and my life
4:46generally.
4:47And from that,
4:49all that data feeds into the thing
4:50you're about to show me now.
4:52Yes. So, I never will make a diagnosis
4:56from a scan. Okay. I make a diagnosis
4:59from all the information, which is why
5:02we had you fill out all that information
5:05and I gave you a test called the Conners
5:08Continuous Performance Test, which is a
5:1115-minute test of attention. And every
5:15time you see a a letter, you hit the
5:17spacebar,
5:18except when you see the the letter X.
5:20When you see the letter X, you don't do
5:22anything. So, it measures impulse
5:24control and inhibition, response time.
5:29And you actually did fine
5:31on the test.
5:33And but there's other
5:37evidence that you might in fact have ADD
5:39or ADHD from
5:43getting bored easily to poor
5:44handwriting, being disorganized,
5:47and so on. Uh Uh and obviously you're
5:51very bright but
5:53struggled a bit in school. So,
5:56with all that information,
5:59um first thing to do is look at a
6:01healthy scan so we know what a healthy
6:04scan
6:05looks like.
6:07And we're going to show it in two
6:09different ways. We're going to look at
6:11the outside surface
6:13of your brain. So, a healthy one is the
6:15image
6:16on the left and all we should see is
6:21full, even, symmetrical activity. So,
6:25the image on the top left is looking
6:27underneath the brain. So, the top is the
6:29front part of the brain, the bottom is
6:33the back, the top is an area called the
6:35prefrontal cortex, hugely important in
6:39humans, largest in humans than any other
6:41animal by far. It's 30% of the human
6:45brain, 11% of the chimpanzee brain. And
6:48then the back is the cerebellum, back
6:51bottom part of the brain.
6:53Um again, very important, involved in
6:56processing speed.
6:59The bottom right of the images on the
7:03left is looking down from the top. Uh
7:06the other two looking at the brain from
7:08the side. Color doesn't matter, it's the
7:10shape. It should be
7:12full, even, and symmetrical.
7:15The images on the right, the color
7:17matters. So, it's what we call our
7:19active images. Blue is average activity,
7:23red is the top 15%,
7:26white is the top 8%. And you see all the
7:30white. So, the white is where things are
7:32really happening. It's really hot. Okay.
7:35And that's healthy. That's normal. And
7:38that's going to become very important
7:40for you. So, if we look at your brain,
7:43it's a little bumpy, and so I'll ask you
7:46about toxins. Are there anything toxic
7:49in your life? What What are all toxins?
7:52So, think alcohol, marijuana,
7:55mold, uh
7:58heavy metals in your body, infections,
8:01and so if it's not
8:04alcohol or drugs, then I begin to go,
8:08"Have you ever lived in a mold-filled
8:11environment? Maybe we should test you
8:13for that. Do you have more mercury in
8:15your body or lead in your body than you
8:18should?" So, for example, I had very
8:20high mercury levels. My brain sort of
8:23looked like that when I first scanned
8:24it. It was toxic. And I had very high
8:27mercury levels. Like, I never drank.
8:30I just don't like it. Never smoked.
8:32Never did drugs. But, my brain looked
8:36toxic. And so, you then have to go hunt
8:38down, "Well, why?"
8:41And for me, it was mercury.
8:43Um decreased activity in your left
8:47prefrontal cortex. So, when I think of
8:52maybe ADD-like symptoms in your life,
8:55probably coming from there.
8:57And decreased activity in your left
9:01temporal lobe.
9:02And you right-handed? Yeah. Yeah. So,
9:06that can go with the irritability. What
9:09I've seen is that can go with sort of
9:12short fuse. Mhm. And your prefrontal
9:15cortex is sort of the brain's
9:17supervisor. It watches you.
9:21And your prefrontal cortex is flat. Mhm.
9:26And I don't like that. And then when I
9:28heard you played soccer or when I read
9:30you played soccer, it's very common in
9:32my soccer players. Now, how long did you
9:35play soccer for? Uh, pretty much all of
9:37my childhood.
9:39And any concussions playing soccer? I
9:42think I had a couple of big head bangs
9:44that
9:45were significant, but not many. Not
9:49nothing that took me to hospital, but I
9:50had a couple of moments where I was
9:51pulled off the pitch because like there
9:53was a clash of heads.
9:55So.
9:57Your brain is soft, about the
9:59consistency of soft butter.
10:02Your skull is really hard and has sharp
10:04bony ridges.
10:06Um.
10:08Two or three of those can impact the
10:10rest of your life and nobody knows about
10:13it.
10:13Because nobody looks. Right? If you went
10:17in saw a thousand psychiatrists, say, "I
10:21want to focus better and
10:24have better temper."
10:25You saw a thousand psychiatrists, two of
10:28them would look at your brain, which I
10:30think is
10:31insane.
10:33So, the colors here that I'm looking at,
10:34the What does the the red and the green
10:37So, the color really Doesn't matter
10:39here. doesn't matter. It's the shape.
10:42So, when I see this hole, you don't have
10:45holes in your brain. What the hole means
10:47is less blood flow than is optimal. In
10:52fact, I'm going to show you
10:54if you do what I ask you to do
10:57and we scan you
11:006 months from now, that'll be better. I
11:03have a program that tells me
11:05if you do what I ask you to do, this is
11:08what's generally going to happen. And if
11:10you don't do what I ask you to do, well,
11:12this is what it's going to look like 5
11:14years from now, 10 years from now. And
11:16you're young. If you
11:19get serious about loving and repairing
11:23your brain,
11:25your 60s, 70s, 80s are going to be
11:28amazing because you're going to have a
11:30healthy brain. If you go, "Oh, Amen's a
11:33quack and I don't believe any of this
11:35crap."
11:36it's going to be really hard for you
11:39because you're not going to have full
11:40access to your brain.
11:44And that's scary. So, I know that's sort
11:47of a big deal, but I think this is
11:50from
11:52traumatic brain injury at some point
11:56and a bit of a toxin, which may be mold.
12:00Mhm.
12:01And then when I say mold, our house was
12:03very, very dirty growing up.
12:05So,
12:06that's what I assume you're speaking to
12:09that. And we did have like mold around
12:10the window sill sometimes and we had
12:13mice and
12:14rats at some point and
12:17it was like living in a house that a
12:19hoarder
12:20had uh
12:21lived in because some of the rooms were
12:23just stacked to the ceiling with crap.
12:25So,
12:27I think maybe if you're talking about
12:28mold or a toxic brain, I I I'm guessing
12:30that's where it's come from.
12:32If that makes
12:32it gets in your body, unless you do
12:35something active to get it out, it
12:38stays. I really and can continue to
12:40cause problems. And then if we go to the
12:44active scan,
12:46it's very different than I want it to
12:49be.
12:50And I know I can make it better. But if
12:53we go back to
12:55what's healthy,
12:57lots of activity in the cerebellum,
13:01your cerebellum
13:03is sleepy
13:05despite you probably being very
13:07coordinated. I need to activate that
13:10thing. It's really important to get
13:14better activity
13:16there. And you have this diamond
13:18pattern. So, you have ADD and we'll talk
13:22more about it. It's a subtype I call
13:24overfocused ADD where you can be
13:28obsessive when you're really interested
13:31in something, but if it doesn't interest
13:34you,
13:35it's hard for you to focus.
13:37So,
13:38if you look at this, it looks like a
13:40diamond. And when I see that diamond,
13:45I think of past emotional trauma.
13:48And uh I published a big study
13:53looking at this 20,000 people, can I
13:56separate emotional trauma from physical
14:00trauma? And I can with actually high
14:02levels of accuracy, and it looks to me
14:05like there's sort of bit of both
14:07for you. Do you play racket sports?
14:11No, I don't.
14:12So, that'll be one of my prescriptions
14:15for you. And actually, study from
14:16England, people play racket sports live
14:18longer than everybody else by far.
14:22Soccer was on the bottom, like soccer
14:25and football were on the bottom, but
14:27tennis, table tennis, racket ball, now
14:31pickle ball,
14:32uh badminton are on the top.
14:34But let's talk about this diamond for a
14:37bit. When I say emotional trauma, Mhm.
14:41what comes up for you? So, a few things.
14:43The first thing is my parents were
14:44always at war. Growing up as a kid in a
14:47household where there was so much
14:49screaming and negative energy, but then
14:53growing up with shame because we was I
14:55was so different from everyone else
14:58around me.
14:59Never inviting friends back to my house
15:01in those 16 years that I lived there
15:03before I left, so nobody really knew
15:04where I lived either. I think of all
15:06that stuff when I think about like
15:07emotional trauma.
15:10Well, that's a lot. Okay. Yeah.
15:13I mean, if you grow up in a stressful
15:16environment, boo,
15:18and um a hostile environment where your
15:22parents are at war,
15:24it trains your brain,
15:26your emotional brain to become
15:28hyperactive, Mhm. because you always
15:31have to watch
15:33for danger.
15:35And
15:36that gets programmed early.
15:39And even later,
15:41when there's not the danger, your body
15:45still can look for Mhm. You're waiting
15:47for that
15:48next bad thing
15:50to happen.
15:51And Do you think I have ADHD? I do.
15:56Now, the question would be,
16:00who has it in your family? Cuz it
16:02doesn't just show up. But often,
16:06children who have ADHD have one or both
16:10parents who have it. And you can see
16:12those similar traits.
16:16And
16:18it sounds like one or both of your
16:22parents could have been a little bit
16:23conflict seeking.
16:26My My mother.
16:29And if I was to hazard a guess at which
16:31one of my parents had ADHD, and this is
16:33just me guessing, not trying to diagnose
16:34my parents, I would say it's would have
16:36been my mother.
16:38Why?
16:39She's the She's the most irritable.
16:41Handwriting isn't great. She
16:45is
16:47a little bit more sort of like
16:49scat scattered, I should say.
16:52She's a lot more messy. My dad's like
16:54very organized with everything. My mom's
16:56very very very messy. Like me. Um
16:59The The other thing I would ask is,
17:04what did teachers say about you?
17:07I went back to speak at my school
17:10to the GCSE and A-level students. I've
17:12done it twice. And I remember one of the
17:14teachers came up to me. Bearing in mind
17:16at this age, I'm 24, 25 years old. And
17:18she said, "You are a useless student,
17:20but you are nice. You're a nice person."
17:22I was never swearing or throwing chairs,
17:24but I was useless. And I spent most of
17:26the time in the exclusion unit, which is
17:28where you go if you don't do your
17:29homework or you don't attend. I just
17:31couldn't sit in classrooms. I couldn't
17:33sit in classrooms and stay focused on
17:36what they were telling me, es-
17:38especially when I wasn't interested.
17:40That's been like a defining quality of
17:42my life. I'm exceptionally good
17:44at not doing things I'm not interested
17:46in. And I'm ex- And I'm good at when I'm
17:48interested, but when I'm not interested,
17:51I could see my peers almost like will
17:53themselves to engage in things they're
17:55not interested in.
17:56I'm I will I could never do that. And
17:58I've always said I'm a remarkable
18:00quitter. So, you think about stop going
18:02to school, then went to university for 1
18:03day and was like, "Nope."
18:05Never went back after that first day.
18:07So,
18:10So, it's it's a very important piece of
18:12advice for people who have ADD.
18:17Is pick something you love, not a job
18:22that you think you'll just make more
18:23money in. And that's another sort of
18:26piece of the puzzle that completely fits
18:29with having
18:30ADD. And as as we know,
18:34there are problems with it,
18:38but there are also huge benefits of it.
18:41Your prefrontal cortex,
18:43when it works too hard, so I imagine if
18:48I scanned your dad, that it would be
18:50busy, cuz he's very organized and like
18:54collecting.
18:56Um
18:58but there's less creativity
19:00that goes with the busy frontal lobes.
19:05When there's a little bit sleepy,
19:08you entertain all sorts of thoughts, and
19:11you're a little less rule bound than
19:15people whose prefrontal cortex more
19:17active. They like rules, and they like
19:20sameness, and they like predictability.
19:24And
19:26probably like some of that because I
19:28think you inherited some of your dad.
19:30That's the top of the diamond.
19:32But
19:34you're obviously very creative.
19:37Mhm.
19:40I do um I do think of myself as being um
19:42a a
19:43creative entrepreneur. I I know other
19:44entrepreneurs that are like really good
19:46at finance and operations and processes,
19:49whereas my skill in entrepreneurship has
19:51always been
19:53the creativity. That's why I'm a
19:54marketeer. That's where I built my my
19:56fortunes, per se, was in marketing and
19:58creativity. So
20:00and I've always found other people to do
20:01the
20:02finance or the process or operation
20:04stuff for me because that's not where I
20:06I'm engaged or or where I think I'm
20:09particularly good.
20:10So
20:11Well, and since a lot of CEOs listen to
20:13this podcast, a lot of CEOs have ADD of
20:17one form or another.
20:19And they thrive
20:21when they hire people
20:24who are organized.
20:27So it's very important cuz we tend to
20:30like to hire people like ourselves.
20:34And it's very important to hire people
20:38who help us where we're more vulnerable.
20:42It's almost like hiring people with
20:43different brains. Yes. Literally.
20:46Yes.
20:48We we we talked about something a second
20:50ago. You said, "When you saw your brain
20:52for the first time, it changed your
20:53life." I do feel like that now. I do
20:56feel like when
20:58I almost didn't realize my brain was
20:59there. And I think a lot of people we go
21:01through our lives just kind of cuz we
21:03never see the thing.
21:04We don't appreciate the thing. So step
21:06one is that awareness and then step two
21:09is the realization that we can do
21:11something about it. Because I grew up
21:13thinking that your brain and your body
21:15generally is just it just is what it is.
21:17Like I can't do anything about, you
21:19know, I tend to think I can't do
21:20anything about, I don't know, my
21:22fingernail. I probably I mean you can,
21:24but you just see these things as static
21:26objects that are what they are.
21:28This idea that I can do something about
21:30it is the most important idea. It's the
21:32it's the empowering idea.
21:35And that is what you're telling me
21:38is possible. I can change my brain.
21:42It's the most exciting lesson that I've
21:44learned. You're not stuck.
21:47I'm not stuck
21:49with the brain I had. You're not stuck
21:52with the brain you have. You can make it
21:54better. I can prove it. In fact, every
21:58day, what I've come to believe, you're
22:00making your brain better
22:03or you're making it worse. Let's start
22:05there.
22:06you're doing. What things make the brain
22:09worse? What are the common things that
22:10most of us do without thinking that make
22:12the brain worse?
22:16When my daughter, Chloe, was in second
22:18grade, I went to her classroom and I
22:20wrote 20 things on the board.
22:23And I went separate them for me. Good
22:25for your brain, bad for your brain.
22:277-year-olds.
22:29They got 19 out of 20 right. So, most
22:31people know.
22:34The only thing they got wrong was orange
22:37juice.
22:38They put it in the healthy category.
22:41When, in fact, when is it rational to
22:45unwrap fruit sugar from its fiber
22:47source? Because it turns toxic in your
22:49body. So, I'm not a fan of fruit juice.
22:52I'm a fan of fruit, not fruit juice. But
22:56so, the bad category. Hitting a soccer
23:00ball with your head. No, don't do that.
23:03Um
23:04What's bad about sugar
23:06for the brain?
23:09Which What does that mean?
23:09It makes you diabetic. But I mean as it
23:12relates to the brain, why is like orange
23:14juice or the ice cream bad for my brain?
23:17Because it's ultimately going to give
23:20you high blood sugar levels, Mhm. which
23:22erode your blood vessels,
23:25and you're going to have lower blood
23:27flow to your brain.
23:29That's bad. It's a bad thing. I mean,
23:31there's so many things about it. So,
23:33it's addictive, it's pro-inflammatory,
23:38it makes it more likely you're going to
23:39have diabetes and obesity. So, 72% of
23:42Americans are overweight, 42% are obese.
23:47I've published three studies on 35,000
23:50people.
23:52As your weight goes up, the actual
23:55physical size and function of your brain
23:57goes down.
23:59That should scare the fat off anyone. I
24:02used to be chubby, but when I figured
24:04out that connection, I'm like, "Oh, no.
24:07I am
24:08It was that that gave me the motivation
24:11to drop about 25 lb. And
24:14so, sugar
24:17is the gateway drug to diabetes and
24:20obesity.
24:21And so,
24:23not to mention
24:25inflammation,
24:27which is the cause of depression and
24:30dementia. So, I've got sugar, I've got a
24:33head injury.
24:35I'm going to avoid both of these things.
24:37What else should I avoid? And then you
24:39have low blood flow in those two very
24:41important areas.
24:42And so,
24:45how can we increase blood flow? So, you
24:48want to avoid things that cause low
24:49blood flow, caffeine, nicotine.
24:52Caffeine? Caffeine constricts blood flow
24:55to the brain. What does that do to my
24:57brain?
24:58It Well, constricts blood flow. So,
24:59you're going to get less blood flow. And
25:01remember, I showed you that progression
25:03with age?
25:05No, you don't want that. You want to do
25:08things that increase blood flow to your
25:10brain. So, exercise. Um
25:14ginkgo is just one of the supplements
25:16I'm going to give you. Eat foods like um
25:20beets, oregano,
25:23rosemary, cinnamon, they increase blood
25:27flow.
25:28And do you think there's a correlation
25:30or link between
25:32caffeine
25:34consumption and a shrinking brain?
25:38Yes.
25:40And a shrinking brain, is that
25:41associated with things like dementia?
25:43Aging brain.
25:45I You know, I don't think there's a
25:47connection. I haven't read any research
25:50that says there's a connection between
25:52caffeine
25:54and dementia.
25:56There's a connection with sleep
25:58problems, and there's connection with
26:00sleep problems and dementia. Mhm. I
26:03think if you have like 100 mg a day of
26:05caffeine, it's probably fine.
26:07But, one venti
26:10Starbucks coffee has got 330 mg of
26:14caffeine.
26:14Jesus.
26:15And people just aren't thinking about
26:18the level of caffeine they're having in
26:21our society. What are the other very
26:23obvious things that are not good for my
26:25brain? Cuz I really want to make sure
26:26that I avoid those things. So, I've got
26:27sugar,
26:28So, and erectile dysfunction. I mean,
26:30while we're at So, B is for blood flow,
26:32right? While we're on blood flow,
26:3540% of 40-year-olds
26:37have erectile dysfunction.
26:4070% of 70-year-olds have erectile
26:44dysfunction. What that means, if you
26:46have blood flow problems anywhere, it
26:49means they're everywhere.
26:53And so
26:55like no.
26:57And
26:58it means either you're too sedentary,
27:01you're overweight, you're
27:04smoking,
27:05or having too much caffeine,
27:08or using marijuana cuz marijuana lowers
27:11blood flow to the brain.
27:13And so just in that one of the 11,
27:17it's exercise,
27:20ginkgo.
27:22For you, not for everybody, but for you
27:24hyperbaric oxygen, those three things
27:27will make a big difference in blood
27:29flow. Ginkgo? Ginkgo. What is that? It's
27:32a supplement. What does it do? Uh
27:34increases blood flow. To the brain? The
27:36prettiest brains I've ever seen take
27:40ginkgo. There's actually SPECT study.
27:43Uh they gave
27:44people 100
27:4620 mg of ginkgo twice a day, significant
27:49improvement in blood flow to the brain.
27:52And so in one of the supplements I'm
27:54going to give you,
27:55we have ginkgo.
27:56I I've taken it every day for the last
27:5920 years,
28:00at least. And then this is where the US
28:03government got an F for the pandemic,
28:06loneliness accelerates dementia
28:10and brain problems.
28:12And so when they isolated us, the whole
28:16significant increase in brain problems.
28:19So get connected to other people.
28:22The I in bright minds is inflammation.
28:25So what increases inflammation? Low
28:28omega-3 fatty acid levels. And we are
28:31deficient.
28:3293% of the population is deficient in
28:35omega-3 fatty acids. 93%.
28:39So all of us should be either eating
28:41more fish or
28:44taking an omega-3 supplement like fish
28:47oil.
28:48Gum disease. Like who knew?
28:51Like I wasn't really that good at taking
28:54care of my gums until I started reading
28:57the studies. You have gum disease, you
29:00have inflammation, you're more likely
29:02get depressed and have dementia. I'm
29:04like, "Oh my goodness." So, I'm a
29:05flossing
29:07fool.
29:08Um
29:08ages, head trauma, we talked about that.
29:11I did the big NFL study when the NFL was
29:14struggling with the truth on traumatic
29:16brain injury in football.
29:1880% of our players got better.
29:21T is toxins.
29:23Um
29:24drugs, alcohol.
29:26Um but other things like
29:29mercury and
29:30What are the unobvious toxins? Because
29:32Anesthesia. Anesthesia. I I was looking
29:35at my bathroom
29:38items. And I have like mouthwash and
29:41toothpaste and deodorants and
29:44aftershaves. And I was wondering to
29:45myself whether those were toxic to some
29:48degree.
29:49So, there's an app. There's a couple of
29:51them, but the one I like is called Think
29:53Dirty. Mhm. Where you can scan those
29:56products and it'll tell you on a scale
29:59of 0 to 10
30:02how bad they are for you. So, 0 is you
30:04live a long time and 10 is you die
30:07early.
30:08And so, when I figured this out, I was
30:11scanning everything.
30:13Um I mean, it cost me hundreds of
30:15dollars to replace things.
30:17And my wife
30:19more than that with all the makeup and
30:22stuff. But I shaved for 50 years with
30:25Barbasol.
30:27And it's a nine.
30:29Which is die early.
30:31And now I shave with something called
30:33Kiss My Face. And it's a two.
30:37It's like, you know, we teach people
30:38read the labels on food stuff, should
30:41read the labels on anything that goes on
30:44your body or on your child's body. And
30:48we have this epidemic, and we'll get to
30:50it, of low testosterone in males because
30:54of the toxins we put on their bodies
30:56when they're young.
30:57What is the M in bright?
30:59So, the M is mental health. It's
31:04the quality of your thoughts,
31:07the level of your stress,
31:10and
31:15the level of trauma you carry
31:18in your body.
31:20And whether or not you have any of the
31:24psychiatric
31:25stuff. Like depression, for example,
31:28doubles the risk of Alzheimer's disease
31:31in women and quadruples it in men.
31:34And so, the M is what's going on
31:40in your mind.
31:42And so, I teach people to kill the ants,
31:44the automatic negative thoughts that
31:46steal their happiness.
31:48Um
31:51understand
31:53and process their traumas,
31:57and treat
31:59whatever
32:01psychiatric issues may be present. Like
32:04in your case,
32:06the ADD.
32:08And I think cuz start with the
32:10supplement, um
32:12or even consider medication.
32:17Talk about the natural ways to do it,
32:19the medicine ways to do it. And for me,
32:22I'm not opposed to medicine. I'm
32:24actually really good at it.
32:27But it's never the first and the only
32:29thing I think about. I've really never
32:31taken medication in my life. Even like
32:33if I get a headache, I don't take
32:34medication. I'm not the type of person.
32:37I probably haven't taken a pill in like
32:39really in years. The only time I've
32:41taken medication is if I have a severe
32:44infection of sorts. So like there was
32:46this one time where like my foot was
32:47going green and I'd stood on some glass,
32:49whatever, and it was really getting out
32:51of control. I'm talking like a 2-in
32:54purple thing growing on my foot. I
32:55thought, "Okay, instead of getting my
32:56leg cut off, I'll take this medication
32:58the doctor's given me. Otherwise, I just
33:00do not take it."
33:01So I would rather go through severe pain
33:03than take medication because I believe
33:05that my body can fix things. Um
33:09So when I think about taking ADD
33:11medication or ADHD medication, I don't
33:13really know the difference,
33:14I go, "Well,
33:17if my
33:19if I'm messy or if I'm my handwriting's
33:21bad or whatever it might be,
33:23then that's just who I am.
33:27And that's okay. I can get better at it.
33:29I can be less I can be more organized.
33:32But why why do I want to take
33:34medication?
33:37Well, I'm not going to I'm not going to
33:38be the one to sell you on medication,
33:40but what I would say
33:43is
33:47So a lot of times people ask me the side
33:49effects of medication. Mhm.
33:51And for stimulants for ADD, it could be
33:54it decreases your appetite or can
33:56negatively affect your sleep.
33:59But you always have to ask the second
34:01question.
34:02Which is what are the side effects of
34:04not taking
34:06the medicine?
34:07What's the impact
34:09on your life, on your business, on your
34:12money, on your relationships, on your
34:14health? Because living with untreated
34:17ADD for many people, and maybe not you,
34:20but for many people goes with chronic
34:22stress
34:23because of
34:26the
34:27negative things that tend to go along
34:30with it. Dysfunction.
34:32And for you, you're
34:34clearly not broken.
34:38But are you optimized?
34:40Do you have full access
34:44to your own brain?
34:47And I would argue no.
34:50And we can do and we can do better.
34:53But we can do it in steps.
34:58And ultimately, I see my job
35:00is giving people options.
35:03And then telling them the pros and cons
35:05of each option, and then letting them
35:07choose. Right? I mean, that's what good
35:09doctors should do. It's called informed
35:11consent.
35:12Um
35:14and you know, I can just tell you
35:17my experience. I told you the story with
35:19my daughter.
35:20And
35:22I've seen that play out thousands of
35:25times.
35:27That
35:28people
35:31just become more optimized. In what way?
35:34not necessarily the medicine. But that
35:36medicine, when it's for the right brain,
35:39right? The wrong brain, it makes people
35:41worse. And if you read my book, Healing
35:44ADD, I talk about the Ring of Fire ADD.
35:48So, ADD and ADHD
35:51are different terms for the same thing.
35:551980, the American Psychiatric
35:57Association's DSM
35:59Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
36:02Mental Disorders, I hate that, but
36:05it's what we have, was Attention Deficit
36:07Disorder, ADD, with or without
36:10hyperactivity.
36:121987, God knows for what reason, they
36:15changed the name to ADHD. Attention
36:17Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder,
36:19basically throwing out half the people
36:21who had it. Cuz half the people who have
36:24ADD or ADHD are never hyperactive. And
36:29they don't get diagnosed because they
36:31don't bring enough negative attention to
36:35themselves for parents to go,
36:39"You have a problem.
36:40And you're giving me a problem."
36:43Um
36:43so, anyways, different
36:45names for the same thing.
36:48And if you can
36:50manage it
36:53by having extra help for the things
36:55you're not good at,
36:56with exercise,
36:59with all of the good habits you have,
37:03well,
37:04that's awesome.
37:06If you want to be be 10%
37:10more focused, like I treat this writer,
37:14um
37:15and she only takes medicine when she has
37:18to get stuff done. But she never takes
37:20it when she writes because she has 16
37:23plot lines going on at once in her
37:25books. And she goes, "No, I think it
37:29decreases my creativity a little bit."
37:33Interesting.
37:35Because the
37:38the fact that we're medicating
37:41the a brain like mine,
37:44I
37:45I go, "Is that for professional
37:46optimization?" Cuz if you just go back
37:48like, I don't know, a couple hundred
37:50years. You go back even further to a a
37:51time when we couldn't like read or
37:53write, there wasn't computers, and all
37:55of these things, you would have had no
37:57idea that You know, if you go if you go
37:58back far, you wouldn't have been able to
38:00tell a
38:01really a an ADHD Well, what I'm trying
38:04to say
38:04But you'd be able to tell their life. I
38:06mean, I have a patient from Ethiopia.
38:08And
38:09I'm like, "So, tell me the impact in
38:12your culture."
38:13And he said, "The people with severe
38:16ADHD get excluded because they can't be
38:19relied on.
38:20And the isolation causes great shame and
38:27pain.
38:28Um and
38:30they have no idea it's a brain thing.
38:32Where does it come from ADHD?
38:35Or ADD?
38:37Well, it's genetic. Okay.
38:39It's clearly genetic. I mean, I if I
38:42don't see it in someone's family, I
38:44think head trauma.
38:46And with you, I think that's possible
38:48because of soccer. Um except you see it
38:50in your family.
38:52Um
38:53Is it a defect or is it a difference?
38:56It's a difference.
38:58If I if I chose to take a drug, was it
39:02like equal to Ritalin that you called it
39:04one of the So, Ritalin would be one of
39:05the options. Whatever drug it was, what
39:08exactly would it do under brain scanning
39:10to my brain? So, if I scan my brain and
39:12took the drug, what would you see in my
39:15brain?
39:15Well, I can tell you. It would activate
39:18your cerebellum. Okay, the bit that was
39:20a bit sleepy. It was a bit sleepy and it
39:22would activate your prefrontal cortex.
39:25And
39:26um
39:27it would give your brain better energy.
39:30So, my first SPECT scan, 1991, a woman
39:35she tried to kill herself the night
39:36before. I went to the lecture on brain
39:39SPECT imaging and then I walked out of
39:41the lecture and she was my new patient.
39:43Her name was Sandy. She tried to kill
39:45herself the night before and as I'm
39:47getting to know her, I'm thinking she
39:49has ADD. She has an 8-year-old son who
39:52has ADD, talked about the genetic
39:54connection. She had an IQ of 144
39:57but never finished college. And I'm
40:00like, "How did you study?" She said,
40:02"Well, I never really did except maybe
40:04the night before a test, I'd put on a
40:06pot of coffee,
40:08stay up all night cramming and then I'd
40:10take the test. That's classic ADD way of
40:13doing things.
40:14And I'm like, "You know, I think maybe
40:16you have adult ADD. And she goes, "Oh,
40:18adults don't have ADD."
40:20And I'm thinking, I'm the doctor,
40:23I'm like, "How about if we look at your
40:25brain?"
40:26And And I knew from other work I'd done
40:29that I should do it twice, at rest and
40:31concentration.
40:34And
40:35when she tried to concentrate, her brain
40:36completely deactivated.
40:39Turned off. Like, for you, we only did
40:41it once, but if I had done it twice,
40:43probably your brain would be busier at
40:45rest, and then when you try to do it, it
40:47would drop.
40:49And I put the pictures on
40:52a couple of days later, I put the
40:53picture on the table in front of her.
40:56And as I explained it to her,
40:59she started to cry.
41:01And she said, "You mean it's not my
41:03fault."
41:05And I said, "Having ADD is sort of like
41:07people who need glasses." And I wore
41:10glasses to drive, and took my glasses
41:11out, put them on.
41:13And I said, "People who wear glasses
41:15aren't dumb, crazy, or stupid. Their
41:16eyeballs are shaped funny, and we wear
41:18glasses to focus."
41:21I said, "People with ADD aren't dumb,
41:23crazy, or stupid. Some are among the
41:24brightest people I know,
41:26but their frontal lobes deactivate.
41:28Taking the medicine is like glasses for
41:31your frontal lobes, help you focus."
41:34And she did it. She was conflict-driven.
41:39She was always poking her husband. They
41:40got into a huge fight, which is why she
41:42tried to kill herself. She stopped that.
41:45She's a better mom. She went back and
41:46finished college. I mean, her life's
41:49It's like your brain with glasses. Wow.
41:52My friends that take medication for ADD
41:55say that to me. They say it's like their
41:57life is before and after that moment.
41:59So, I've, you know, I've
42:01I completely believe what you're saying.
42:02Um
42:04A second ago, you said this phrase when
42:05we were talking about the M, which is
42:07your mental health, and the impact that
42:08has on the
42:09development of a brain that's either
42:11healthy or unhealthy. And you said this
42:13thing about you got to make sure you
42:14kill the ants,
42:16which is killing those negative
42:17thoughts. Um that's much easier said
42:19than done.
42:21How does How does someone go about
42:23killing their negative thoughts? Is
42:25there a process they can go through to
42:26do that? Yeah, it's a habit.
42:29Right? And it's not hard.
42:31But like any habit, you have to do it
42:33repeatedly, like over and over and over
42:35and over and over and over. Um
42:40Whenever you have a thought,
42:41your brain releases chemicals.
42:45Whenever you have a bad thought, a sad
42:47thought, a mad thought, your brain
42:49releases a certain set of chemicals that
42:51make you feel bad.
42:53Immediately.
42:55Your hands get cold. They start to
42:57sweat. Your muscles get tense. You start
43:00to breathe erratically.
43:02And it all happens
43:04instantaneously.
43:06Whenever you have a positive thought, a
43:07happy thought, a hopeful thought,
43:10a loving thought, like I'm back cuz I
43:12loved the first time I was on the
43:13podcast with you.
43:15Um
43:17a completely different set of chemicals
43:19come out. And your hands get warmer,
43:23drier. Your breathing slows down. Your
43:25heart beats in a healthier It happens
43:28like immediately.
43:31People have ADD, since we're talking
43:33about that, they tend to go more toward
43:35negative thoughts cuz negative thoughts
43:37are more stimulating.
43:40And
43:41uh
43:43here's the exercise.
43:45Whenever you feel sad, or mad, or
43:48nervous, or out of control, write down
43:51what you're thinking.
43:53And then ask yourself, is it true?
43:58Is it absolutely true? This is a process
44:00I learned from my friend Byron Katie.
44:03How do I feel when I have this thought?
44:06How do I act when I have this thought?
44:09And what's the outcome
44:11of the thought? So, is it true?
44:15Is it absolutely true?
44:18How do I feel, act, and the outcome of
44:20the thought?
44:22How would I feel
44:24if I didn't have the thought?
44:26How would I act if I didn't have the
44:28thought? What's the outcome of not
44:29having that thought? Then my favorite
44:32part of it is take the original thought,
44:35"Tana never listens to me." Tana is my
44:36wife. I've had that thought.
44:39Um
44:42and then turn it to the opposite. Tana
44:44does listen to me.
44:46And then just ask yourself whether or
44:48not that's true.
44:50And by directing my thoughts, by
44:52managing, so rather than being a victim,
44:56so many of my patients are victims of
44:58their thoughts until they do the work,
45:01right? This is one of the things where
45:02do what the F I say.
45:04Write down 100 of your worst thoughts.
45:07Take them through that process.
45:10And by the time you get to 30, they'll
45:12stop bothering you.
45:15So, if I'm a repetitive negative thinker
45:17or a repetitive positive thinker, does
45:20that alone change the shape of my brain?
45:23Yes.
45:24And in
45:26my new book, Change Your Brain Every
45:27Day, there's actually pictures of Noelle
45:30Nelson. She was writing a book called
45:32The Power of Appreciation.
45:35And I had her
45:38she wanted me to scan her while she was
45:41appreciating her brain, and it looked
45:43beautiful.
45:45And I'm like, as I'm showing it to her,
45:47I'm like, "You need to come back
45:48tomorrow, and I want you to hate
45:50yourself."
45:51And she goes, "Oh, I don't want to do
45:52that." I'm like, "Come on, you have to
45:54suffer for science." I said, "We want to
45:56We have positive scan, and then we have
45:58negative scan."
46:00And the negativity
46:02dropped
46:04her left temporal lobe, her left frontal
46:07lobe, and her cerebellum.
46:09So interesting. I mean, similar to what
46:11your scan looks like, but hers was way
46:14worse. I mean, this is healthy brain and
46:17then a deactivated brain. And that
46:20explained to me
46:22athletic slumps.
46:24It's like, why do people get in athletic
46:25slumps? Cuz negativity turns off their
46:28cerebellum. And they become just a
46:31little less coordinated.
46:34Interesting.
46:36And I'm not a fan of positive thinking.
46:40I'm a fan of accurate
46:43thinking with a positive spin. So,
46:46positive thinking is I can have this
46:49third piece of cheesecake and it's not
46:52going to negatively impact my body or my
46:55brain.
46:56Like, no.
46:57The don't worry, be happy people die the
47:01earliest
47:03of accidents and preventable illnesses.
47:06So,
47:07a lot of people come to me for anxiety.
47:09And I'm like, so, on a scale of 0 to
47:11100, how much is it?
47:13And they're like, 50.
47:15I said, okay, our goal is not zero.
47:18Our goal is 15.
47:20I want you to have enough anxiety you do
47:23the right things.
47:26Somewhat linked to that is a word you
47:27used as well, which is stress.
47:30When we're talking about the M in bright
47:31minds, how to have healthy brains,
47:34what role does stress play on our
47:37brains?
47:38Stress,
47:39um, especially chronic unremitting
47:43stress. So, if we think of the stress
47:45you had growing up,
47:46um, where there was a lot of fighting,
47:49it raises a hormone called cortisol.
47:53Cortisol begins to shrink
47:57activity in the hippocampus, one of the
47:59major memory and learning centers in the
48:02brain. So, one
48:05could at least argue or postulate your
48:08struggle in school
48:10was because your emotional brain was
48:12busy cuz you were worried about things
48:14at home.
48:15Um it makes it more likely you get
48:17infections. It makes it
48:22more likely um
48:25that you have learning problems.
48:27And trauma. Trauma was the other word
48:29you used which I I thought it was worth
48:30diving into. Um the impact that trauma
48:32has on our brains.
48:34Um and does trauma show up when you scan
48:36someone's brain? Can you see it?
48:38Yeah, so trauma shows up as that diamond
48:40pattern, uh which is why I asked asked
48:42you about it. It's your emotional brain
48:45anterior cingulate at the top. It's the
48:47brain's gearshift, thalamus often
48:50involved in mood, basal ganglia,
48:52amygdala involved in anxiety. So, we
48:55often see worry, anxiety, and sadness.
48:59And it shows up as that diamond pattern.
49:02But after people do EMDR, a specific
49:06psychological treatment for trauma,
49:07calms it down. And I say psychological
49:10treatment, I'm like, "Yeah, but it has
49:11biological effects." Uh
49:14it's a very
49:16interesting treatment. So, I get you to
49:20like first thing,
49:21write down 10 big traumas
49:23in your life. And we'll go after the
49:25worst one first.
49:28Um and have you bring it up. And there's
49:30a whole process to it. But have your
49:32eyes go back and forth while you bring
49:35it up. And it's so interesting the
49:38connections your brain will make to it.
49:41But as you process it, you find you're
49:44actually less bothered
49:47by it. And it's masterful for single
49:50incident traumas like being robbed or
49:53being in a car accident. For chronic
49:55trauma, it takes longer.
49:58Um
49:59but it's so helpful. Um when I met my
50:02wife
50:0318 years ago, um
50:07her ACE score, adverse childhood
50:09experiences, on a scale of 0 to 10, how
50:11many bad things happened to you, was an
50:13eight.
50:14And
50:16I was so taken with this woman. And one
50:20of my first gifts to her was 10 sessions
50:22of EMDR. One, I wanted to see if she
50:25would like wrestle with her traumas. But
50:29she went for 2 years. And I'm absolutely
50:31convinced that's one of the reasons she
50:33and I rarely fuss
50:36with each other.
50:38Because we don't trigger each other.
50:41And when you talk about trauma, it's not
50:44these big T traumas that some people
50:46sometimes talk of, which is
50:48you know, when I was young, I was
50:49fondled by my uncle, for example. It can
50:51also be an isolated incident that
50:54happened when you were an adult.
50:56Absolutely.
50:57It can be anything that attacks
51:01your sense of safety, either physical
51:05or emotional.
51:08Getting fired is traumatic for a lot of
51:11people. Um not performing in a high
51:15in an important situation can be
51:17traumatic.
51:18And that changes the activity within
51:19your brain.
51:21On Well, it depends on how strong it is.
51:24If it was really strong. If it was
51:25really strong. Then the activity centers
51:28of your brain would
51:28Well, and there's one thing we haven't
51:30talked about yet called brain reserve,
51:32which is how healthy was the brain that
51:36you brought into trauma.
51:38Because you can take
51:40two soldiers,
51:42put them in the same tank, and expose
51:45them to the same blast, the same angles,
51:48everything is the same. One walks away
51:51unharmed. The other one's permanently
51:55disabled. Why?
51:58It's the brain they brought into
52:01the trauma.
52:03And so,
52:05if your mother used drugs while she was
52:07pregnant with you, she decreased your
52:09reserve. If your mom and dad fought a
52:12lot or they separated when she was
52:14pregnant with you, that decreased your
52:16reserve. If she gave you bad food, if
52:20she neglected you, if there was chronic
52:22stress, that's decreasing
52:24your reserve. So, all of us have a
52:27certain level of reserve when we go into
52:30that trauma. And some people get
52:33post-traumatic growth that they're
52:36actually better after the trauma. You
52:38know, they
52:39make the trauma and makes something
52:42meaningful out of it. And other people
52:44have post-traumatic stress where it
52:47really
52:49um causes them to suffer.
52:52I love the idea of brain reserve cuz I'm
52:54like always thinking of boosting mine.
52:57Yeah, because then also when something
52:58traumatic happens, I'm in a better
52:59place, right? Right. Like if you kill
53:01the ants, like if your ant population is
53:04low, my automatic negative thoughts.
53:07Right. Yeah. So, if you're masterful, if
53:10you have an anteater running around in
53:12your head cleaning up the negative
53:14thoughts that all of us have,
53:16when you go into that trauma,
53:18well, you're just better able to deal
53:20with it than
53:23if you have an undisciplined
53:26mind that's infested.
53:29And there's nowhere in school
53:32that people teach you to kill the ants.
53:34We have a foundation called the Change
53:36Your Brain Foundation.
53:38And I love it so much.
53:40Uh we're dedicated to research,
53:42education, service.
53:45But last year we produced this new
53:48course called Brain Thrive by Five. So
53:51it's for preschoolers, kindergarten,
53:53grade one,
53:55where we teach kids to love and care for
53:57their brain. It's like 30 modules,
53:59they're 6 to 7 minutes long, and six of
54:03them are on learning to kill the ants.
54:06Uh, little kids just love that. You
54:08don't have to believe every stupid thing
54:10you think. And I don't know if you know,
54:13but Jerry Seinfeld once said, "The brain
54:15is a sneaky organ." We all have weird,
54:19crazy, stupid, sexual, violent thoughts
54:23that nobody should ever hear. And just
54:26because you have bad thought doesn't
54:27even mean you believe the thought,
54:30right? It's not the thoughts you have
54:31that make you suffer, it's the thoughts
54:33you attach to
54:36that make you suffer. I get all sorts of
54:38crazy thoughts and I'm like,
54:41"My brain is so creative." But I don't
54:44believe most of them.
54:46Quick one. Just want to talk to you
54:47about our sponsor super quick called
54:48LinkedIn Jobs. Hiring is one of the most
54:50important steps in your business, and
54:52without good people, there is literally
54:53no company. Trust me, I found out along
54:55the way that your business is nothing
54:57without good people. You want to be 100%
55:00certain that you have access to the best
55:02candidates available, and that's why I
55:04need you to check out LinkedIn Jobs.
55:06LinkedIn Jobs helps you to find the
55:08right people for your team faster and
55:10for free. So when I'm expanding any of
55:12my teams in any of my companies, I go
55:14straight to LinkedIn, and I'd highly
55:16recommend you do the same. There are
55:18simple tools like screening questions,
55:20which make it easy to focus on
55:21candidates with the right skills and
55:23experience, so you can quickly
55:25prioritize who you'd like to interview
55:26and hire. It's why small businesses rate
55:28LinkedIn Jobs number one in delivering
55:30quality hires versus leading
55:32competitors. LinkedIn Jobs helps you
55:34find the qualified candidates you want
55:35to talk to faster. Post your job for
55:38free at linkedin.com/doac.
55:43That's linkedin.com/doac
55:45to post your job for free. Terms and
55:48conditions apply.
55:49As you'll know, this podcast is
55:50sponsored by Huel. One of my favorite
55:53products that they've ever created is
55:54their Huel Daily Greens. It actually
55:56performed so well when we released it
55:59that it sold out completely and the next
56:01thing I'm back to here to say to you
56:02guys is that it's now back in stock.
56:04It tastes amazing and it's actually got
56:0691 vitamins and minerals and whole food
56:10ingredients in one scoop. It's nice not
56:12to have to think about taking lots of
56:14different pills and vitamins in the
56:15morning. I can just take this and I know
56:18that I'm giving my body a good dose of
56:19all the vitamins and minerals that it
56:21needs every morning. It's a lot better
56:22tasting than having to force down some
56:24of the other green powders I've tried
56:26and it's really reassuring to know that
56:28I'm looking after my body properly.
56:30Unfortunately and currently, this
56:32product is only available in the US. So,
56:35anyone in the USA head to huel.com to
56:37get it before it runs out again. But,
56:38anyone that's not in the US and wants it
56:40to come to their country, please send me
56:42a DM, a direct message and I'll speak to
56:43the team at Huel in our board meetings
56:46and I'll let them know that you want it
56:47in your country.
56:48Tell me about the most unhealthy brain
56:50you've ever seen.
56:53For a 15-year-old was Kip Kinkel.
56:56He's a 15-year-old boy in Springfield,
56:59Oregon who brought weapons to school,
57:03got arrested, his parents picked him up
57:06from jail,
57:08and sometime between 6:00 that night and
57:118:00 the next morning, he murdered his
57:13mom and dad.
57:15And then he went to Springfield Thurston
57:18High School in Springfield, Oregon and
57:20shot 25 people.
57:23Based on my work, they scanned him for
57:26his trial.
57:27His brain was so awful. Like, I'd never
57:30seen a 15-year-old
57:32that had a brain so damaged.
57:36And his life reflected it.
57:39What did you see in his brain? It was
57:41shriveled.
57:43At 15? At 15.
57:45And it's like, okay, why? Well, he
57:47murdered his mom and dad, so I couldn't
57:48get a good history. But he either had
57:51anoxia
57:53at birth, lack of oxygen, a severe
57:56infection, or something was poisoning
57:59his brain. It could have been lead. It
58:02um
58:04could have been an infection. I mean
58:06we're talking about M, the I is immunity
58:09and infections. It's a major cause of
58:12psychiatric problems. Nobody knows about
58:15it.
58:16Have you scanned the brains of lots of
58:18psychopaths? I have.
58:20And what do you see when you look at a
58:21psychopath's
58:22So I published a study on murderers, and
58:25young murderers have really low frontal
58:28lobe function. Older murderers, it's
58:31global low activity. Now, not all
58:35murderers are the same. I have one
58:38murderer's brain Her brain actually
58:39looked pretty good. But she was in the
58:41middle of being abused by her husband,
58:43and she
58:44murdered him. And
58:46it wasn't that irrational, you know,
58:49when you really know her story.
58:51Um but most brains are
58:54troubled.
58:56Do you think you could look at a brain
58:57and predict Now you should ask me,
59:00should you scan presidential candidates?
59:02Interesting.
59:04Especially now. Uh
59:07What do you think Donald Trump's brain
59:08looks like?
59:10Well, I think if we scanned
59:12President Biden or former President
59:15Trump, neither one of them would be
59:16healthy.
59:17I mean, one, we talked about the older
59:20you got,
59:21the less healthy they are, and
59:25um
59:28if someone is going to have nuclear
59:30codes,
59:32shouldn't we know what their brain looks
59:35like?
59:36And I wrote an op-ed piece in 2008 when
59:40Barack Obama was running against John
59:42McCain arguing for don't you think we
59:45should scan presidential candidates?
59:48And
59:49yeah, I don't think either one of their
59:51brains would be healthy and that
59:54concerns me.
59:55Because I mean, what do we need for our
59:59top politicians?
1:00:01Judgment,
1:00:03forethought,
1:00:04impulse control. Okay, so playing
1:00:06devil's advocate to that. If we started
1:00:08to do that at the very highest office in
1:00:11the land, then that philosophy might
1:00:14creep down to lower offices in the land
1:00:17and when you go and try and get a job at
1:00:19I don't know, a restaurant or a
1:00:20marketing agency, it might become the
1:00:23norm that there's a almost brain
1:00:25discrimination or brain prejudice in
1:00:27play where someone like me, they have
1:00:29their brain scanned, they go, "Listen,
1:00:30this guy's
1:00:31he's not going to be very good at I
1:00:32don't know, focusing on things like
1:00:33that."
1:00:33interesting question.
1:00:35I have to tell you if you date one of my
1:00:37children
1:00:39for more than 4 months,
1:00:41I'm going to get you scanned. Really?
1:00:43I'm going to figure out how to do that.
1:00:46It's the rule in my family.
1:00:48Um and if you have a bad brain, it
1:00:50doesn't mean you can't come back.
1:00:53But are you smart enough to fix it?
1:00:56That would be the question. Have you
1:00:58done that?
1:01:00Well, my son-in-law,
1:01:02Jesse, who I love, his mother has
1:01:05paranoid schizophrenia.
1:01:06And I'm like,
1:01:08"I want to scan your brain." And I have.
1:01:12He actually wrote a book called Change
1:01:14Your Brain Before 25 and
1:01:18he opens the book with the story of his
1:01:22scan and him sitting with me. He's 6'4,
1:01:26I'm 5'6, and he said he'd never felt so
1:01:30small.
1:01:31And
1:01:33Yeah, no, that's the rule in my family.
1:01:37I like I said when I met my wife, I
1:01:39really liked her. And the first naked
1:01:42part of her I wanted to see was her
1:01:44brain.
1:01:45And so 3 weeks into our relationship,
1:01:48I'm like, "Hey, you haven't seen the
1:01:49clinic. Don't you want to see the
1:01:51clinic?" She came, I scanned her, and
1:01:55it passed.
1:01:58Do you use her brain
1:02:00against her?
1:02:02I bet you do.
1:02:03I bet you do. No.
1:02:06We spoke to Tana, she said you do.
1:02:10You're telling me there's not been one
1:02:11time where you've brought up her brain
1:02:13in a moment of conflict or arguments.
1:02:16Not once, cuz I will call Tana.
1:02:18I I don't. Yeah. No, okay.
1:02:20Because you know what I do? And this is
1:02:23this is on par with killing the ants.
1:02:25I do an exercise with my patients called
1:02:28the one-page miracle.
1:02:29On one piece of paper, write down what
1:02:32you want.
1:02:33Relate and in a very specific way.
1:02:36What do you want in your relationships?
1:02:38Your work, your money, your physical,
1:02:42emotional, and spiritual health. What do
1:02:45you want?
1:02:47And with her, cuz she's on the top of my
1:02:51list, I want a kind, caring, loving,
1:02:54supportive, passionate relationship. I
1:02:58always want that.
1:03:00I don't always feel like that. Rude
1:03:02thoughts come into my head.
1:03:05And if I've slept and I've eaten,
1:03:07I never say them.
1:03:09Why? Cuz it doesn't get me what I want.
1:03:12Mhm. Right? And that's not selfish.
1:03:14People go, "Oh, but you know,
1:03:17what you want What what I want is not
1:03:19selfish.
1:03:20It's good.
1:03:22Cuz hedonism is the enemy of happiness.
1:03:26But happiness is a moral obligation
1:03:29because of how you impact other people.
1:03:31Your brain's so smart, but you have to
1:03:34tell it what you
1:03:36want. And every major business,
1:03:38including mine, we have a one-page
1:03:40strategic plan. We know what we want,
1:03:43and we know what we're going to do this
1:03:46quarter and this year.
1:03:49But people don't do that in their lives.
1:03:51And you think they should have like a
1:03:53life plan? Every
1:03:55person should. What do you want?
1:03:57Is your behavior getting you
1:04:00what you want? Do you think the brain
1:04:02almost conspires to make
1:04:04to fit what you want? I either brain,
1:04:07once you're clear on what you want, I
1:04:08guess your actions will change a little
1:04:10bit, and then your brain will change
1:04:11shape to fit what you've said you
1:04:13wanted. Yes. And the brain is lazy.
1:04:18The brain
1:04:20does what you allow it to do.
1:04:23And it's habitual. I was talking to one
1:04:26of my patients about this yesterday.
1:04:28Um
1:04:30cuz we were working on his one-page
1:04:31miracle.
1:04:33And he's like, "You know, I could be
1:04:34more positive."
1:04:38And I go, "It's a habit
1:04:40to be negative or to be positive. Which
1:04:42highways are you building in your brain?
1:04:46Positive highways or negative highways?
1:04:49Accurate highways or distorted highways?
1:04:52You build that."
1:04:54And if you watch the news, they'll
1:04:55become more distorted.
1:04:58Cuz it's Yeah. In my book, The End of
1:05:00Mental Illness, I I did something It was
1:05:02very fun for me to do. I imagined if I
1:05:05was an evil ruler
1:05:06and I wanted to create mental illness,
1:05:09what would I do?
1:05:11And watching the news, I think it was
1:05:13there's 62 evil ruler strategies and I
1:05:16think that's like 12. Um, because
1:05:21the news is no longer the news.
1:05:24The news is about eyeballs and selling
1:05:27things.
1:05:28And
1:05:30negativity sells. If I can scare you,
1:05:32that will sell.
1:05:34And so, um
1:05:37you have to be very careful with what
1:05:39you allow in your brain. And yes, you
1:05:42should be informed.
1:05:43But not over and over and over and over
1:05:45again. People who start the day with the
1:05:47news
1:05:49are 27%
1:05:50less happy in the afternoon.
1:05:54Well, I listen to lots of true crime and
1:05:56serial killer things.
1:05:58Like every day.
1:06:00Are you telling me
1:06:01funny. I have this show on Instagram
1:06:04called Scan My Brain. I take influential
1:06:07people and scan them and I did Meghan
1:06:10Trainor, uh, the
1:06:12uh, musician. I love her music. And she
1:06:16goes, "I can't sleep." And every night
1:06:18before bed, she's listening to true
1:06:20crime. And I'm like, "Stop that." Do you
1:06:23think it matters? Cuz I listen to true
1:06:25crime before bed.
1:06:26I have this exercise that I recommend
1:06:29all my patients. I've done it for
1:06:3310 years.
1:06:34What went well when I go to bed.
1:06:37I start at the beginning of the day
1:06:39and
1:06:42just go hour by hour looking for what
1:06:44went right about my day. I think that's
1:06:47set your dreams up to be more positive.
1:06:50I think it's
1:06:51I do both and then I just see which one
1:06:54works better for you. Every day win or
1:06:58learn.
1:06:59What is the I in Bright Minds? Immunity
1:07:02and infections. So, do you know your
1:07:05vitamin D level? No, but I do take the
1:07:08only supplement that I
1:07:10take frequently, I'd say there's two, is
1:07:12vitamin D and omega-3.
1:07:16But I've because I'm black as well, I
1:07:18was You need more vitamin D. Yeah.
1:07:20So,
1:07:21uh people have darker skin need and
1:07:26going from Africa, where there's a lot
1:07:28of sun, to the UK, where there's no sun,
1:07:32dramatically increase the risk of mental
1:07:35health problems. Yeah.
1:07:36Because of vitamin D deficiencies. Do
1:07:39you know what? I think there's a certain
1:07:40member of my family, who I won't name,
1:07:42who went from Africa, they're
1:07:45they've got two Nigerian parents, went
1:07:47from Africa to the UK,
1:07:49and I saw their mental health
1:07:51deteriorate quite significantly to the
1:07:52point that we believe this person might
1:07:54have bipolar now.
1:07:56And I I I
1:07:57part of me suspects, once I learned
1:07:59about vitamin D deficiency in people
1:08:02that have darker skin,
1:08:03this person has very, very, very, very
1:08:05black skin, um that it might be
1:08:07associated with that change.
1:08:09Being in a new country that has no
1:08:10sunlight for 30 years when you're,
1:08:13you know, black black. You bet. Yeah.
1:08:15And it's part of So, if you see
1:08:20mental health is brain health, then that
1:08:23becomes a critical intervention. If
1:08:25you're not paying attention to brain
1:08:27health, then you're like, well, what
1:08:30antipsychotic or what mood stabilizer
1:08:33can
1:08:34I give them. And I'm fair well, may use
1:08:36an antipsychotic or a mood stabilizer,
1:08:39but if I get your brain healthy,
1:08:41you might not need it, or you'll need
1:08:44half the dose.
1:08:46So, and and then infections, I mean,
1:08:49we're just coming out of a pandemic,
1:08:51and COVID changes your brain in a bad
1:08:54way. It causes, um
1:08:57like a a
1:08:59inflammatory bomb to go off in your
1:09:02brain.
1:09:03I was on the Kardashian show last year
1:09:05because I scanned Kendall. Kendall came
1:09:07to see me.
1:09:09And obviously I was on the show, so it
1:09:11was public knowledge. And it was
1:09:13post-COVID, and her emotional brain just
1:09:17was on fire.
1:09:19Uh, and that's what we saw with COVID.
1:09:22And long COVID, emotional brain is hot,
1:09:26but then the cortex begins to
1:09:29um
1:09:31get low in activity. It's it's a bad
1:09:33combination. Well, I mean, what does
1:09:34that mean? It's like chronic damage. And
1:09:37what does that mean if the in terms of
1:09:39behavior?
1:09:41What's the implications for behavior?
1:09:42So, the hot
1:09:44limbic brain tense anxiety
1:09:48that she hadn't had. Um, if you start
1:09:51damaging your cortex, then all of a
1:09:53sudden you're sad, you're impulsive,
1:09:56you're irritable, you
1:09:58uh,
1:09:58can get dark thoughts, sometimes even
1:10:01suicidal thoughts.
1:10:03And people got COVID, significantly
1:10:05increased in dementia.
1:10:11Someone who's listening to this right
1:10:12now that is depressed,
1:10:15clinically depressed, um
1:10:17or just feels, you know, depressive
1:10:19symptoms, where do you start? Let's go
1:10:21to the extreme end. Someone that can't
1:10:23get themselves out of bed. I sat here
1:10:24with Jada Pinkett, and she told me that
1:10:27she was clinically depressed, and she if
1:10:31she just got to 4:00 p.m. every day, to
1:10:33her that was a victory. There are lots
1:10:35of people out there that are in that
1:10:36situation right now.
1:10:39Where do you start with those people?
1:10:40What advice do you give them? Cuz I'm
1:10:42sure you see a lot of them in your
1:10:43practice.
1:10:45It starts
1:10:47with awareness. Yeah. That maybe this is
1:10:49not me, maybe it's my brain. Mhm. And
1:10:52then it starts with loving your brain,
1:10:54and then investigating Mhm. your brain.
1:10:57Cuz depression is like chest pain. So,
1:11:00if you
1:11:01if somebody's like had chest pain,
1:11:04you're like, "Well, where would you
1:11:05start?" Well, you start with an
1:11:07evaluation. You wouldn't start with
1:11:09drugs.
1:11:11I mean, that would be like ludicrous.
1:11:13You would like go, "Well, why do you
1:11:14have chest pain? Why are you depressed?
1:11:17You know, how's your thyroid? Right? The
1:11:19person that can't get off the couch,
1:11:22they
1:11:23they could be hypothyroid.
1:11:26Or one of my friends got depressed,
1:11:29she had anemia. She had pernicious
1:11:31anemia because it was a B12 deficiency.
1:11:34I I wouldn't assume, "Oh, you're
1:11:36depressed, take this medicine."
1:11:40Depression is what it is, it's not why
1:11:42it is.
1:11:44And if you don't know why it is, how do
1:11:46you effectively treat something? Like so
1:11:48many people come to me and they go, "I
1:11:49have an autoimmune disorder."
1:11:51It's like, "Well, why do you have an
1:11:52autoimmune disorder? Why is your body so
1:11:54mad at you it's attacking itself?"
1:11:57And so, Because my body's broken.
1:12:00But why is your body broken?
1:12:03Right? And I and I I hate the term
1:12:04broken, right? The the series like the
1:12:07broken brain. And it's like,
1:12:09no.
1:12:11It's not optimized. Let's optimize it. I
1:12:14I never want my patients to think of
1:12:16them as mental.
1:12:18And I never want them to think of
1:12:19themselves as broken. You're awesome.
1:12:23So, how can I help you be maybe 10%
1:12:26more awesome? People feel like their
1:12:28brain is against them.
1:12:31Is working against them when they're
1:12:32feeling depression or those chronic
1:12:34cycles of negative thinking. Why is my
1:12:36brain attacking me? Why is it against
1:12:38me?
1:12:39So, part of it is it's not healthy and
1:12:41part of it's undisciplined.
1:12:44And I got to do a lecture last year for
1:12:48the coaching staff of the Miami Heat.
1:12:50It was so much fun for me. And I'm
1:12:53really thinking a lot about elite
1:12:57performance.
1:12:59And I think it's just such a better
1:13:01model. It's like let me help you be your
1:13:04best rather than let me fix you.
1:13:08And and I think someone like you, I
1:13:11mean, it's like you're already awesome.
1:13:13How can I make you more awesome? How can
1:13:15I give you more access
1:13:19to your
1:13:21brain.
1:13:22And it's just it's easier to sell that
1:13:25than
1:13:27you know, let me give you a diagnosis of
1:13:29a mental illness and
1:13:33then let me give you a medicine you have
1:13:34to take for the rest of your life. This
1:13:36is the wrong model that psychiatry is
1:13:40currently operating with. Really good
1:13:42for the pharmaceutical industry. Really
1:13:45bad for our society. 25% of the American
1:13:49population is on psychiatric drugs.
1:13:52That's just horrifying.
1:13:54Is Ritalin a psychiatric drug? It is.
1:13:57And I'm not opposed to psychiatric
1:13:59drugs. Let's be really clear. I'm
1:14:01actually really good with them.
1:14:03It's never the first and only thing
1:14:06I think about.
1:14:08What is the N in Bright Minds?
1:14:10Neurohormone.
1:14:14If your hormones that affect your brain,
1:14:17which are all of them,
1:14:20are not optimal, you're not optimal.
1:14:23And the D and S?
1:14:24Like if you're
1:14:26um
1:14:27cold when other people are not, we
1:14:29should look at your thyroid. The D is
1:14:31diabesity,
1:14:33where you're overweight and/or have high
1:14:35blood sugar. It's the most common of the
1:14:3911. 72% of people are overweight. And as
1:14:43your weight goes up,
1:14:46you have seven of the 11 risk factors.
1:14:49It lowers blood flow to the brain and
1:14:50prematurely ages the brain, increases
1:14:52inflammation, it stores toxins.
1:14:55It's a bad thing. And then the S is
1:14:57sleep.
1:14:59I've got obsessed with my sleep
1:15:00recently. I have my Whoop on pretty much
1:15:02all the time and they're sponsor of this
1:15:04podcast, I probably should say, but I'm
1:15:05also like a equity shareholder in the
1:15:07company. But it's become one of my
1:15:08biggest obsessions in my life is waking
1:15:10up in the morning and looking at how I
1:15:11slept, how much deep sleep, restorative
1:15:13sleep I've had, my heart rate
1:15:14variability, all that stuff. I'm
1:15:16obsessed with it. What does sleep do to
1:15:18my brain? I guess you said earlier that
1:15:20it kind of cleans it, cleans it and
1:15:22refreshes it.
1:15:23Well, we didn't even know that until
1:15:25it's just 10 or 12 years ago where
1:15:27researchers
1:15:29saw that
1:15:32the fluid system in your brain, it's
1:15:34called the glymphatic system, doesn't
1:15:37open up when you're awake, but when
1:15:40you're asleep, it opens up and then sort
1:15:42of cleans things, washes things. And so
1:15:46for those people like me, who I thought
1:15:48I was special because I could get by on
1:15:504 hours of sleep at night, I'm sort of
1:15:52running around with a toxic brain or
1:15:54dirty brain. And so What are these toxic
1:15:58toxins? So what is it cleaning? Have you
1:16:00heard of beta amyloid, which is
1:16:04cluster of proteins that increases your
1:16:06risk of Alzheimer's disease? So they
1:16:09build up during the day,
1:16:11system cleans it. But if you're not
1:16:13getting good sleep, you have more of a
1:16:15toxic buildup of those kinds of clumping
1:16:19proteins
1:16:21that are problematic for you.
1:16:23Interesting.
1:16:25Interesting.
1:16:26Is there anything else people need to
1:16:28know about sleep in the brain? Because I
1:16:29think everybody knows sleep is
1:16:31important. A lot of people struggle with
1:16:33sleep. Sleep apnea triples the risk of
1:16:36Alzheimer's disease. One of the big
1:16:39lessons Imaging has taught me that I can
1:16:42actually see the pattern for sleep apnea
1:16:45on a scan and it looks like early
1:16:47Alzheimer's disease.
1:16:50Bilateral parietal top back part of your
1:16:53brain decreases. What is sleep apnea?
1:16:56Snore loudly, stop breathing at night,
1:16:59chronically tired the next day. So, when
1:17:04you sleep, your breathing um you have
1:17:07many apneic episodes where you stop
1:17:10breathing.
1:17:12And so and if you're sleeping alone, you
1:17:15actually might not know it because no
1:17:18one's being woken up by your snoring.
1:17:20Um
1:17:23and even people who've been diagnosed
1:17:27with it
1:17:28don't treat it because they don't want
1:17:30to wear the mask at night. And I'm like,
1:17:34no, you have to treat it. Otherwise
1:17:37the worst thing you can do for your
1:17:38brain is starve it of oxygen. That's the
1:17:42worst thing you can do for your brain.
1:17:44So, breath work then must be quite good
1:17:46for the brain.
1:17:47Breath work is good for the brain.
1:17:50Um one of my tiny habits, I have many of
1:17:53them for brain health is the 15-second
1:17:56breath.
1:17:57Uh 8 seconds in, hold it for a second
1:17:59and a half, 4 seconds out, hold it for a
1:18:02second and a half.
1:18:03Do that four times eight times, it'll
1:18:06break a panic attack.
1:18:08Do it on a routine basis, it'll increase
1:18:11your heart rate variability.
1:18:13Breath work will? Breath work.
1:18:15Heart rate variability is this metric
1:18:17that I think society, much of society,
1:18:19has suddenly become quite obsessed with
1:18:20it, including me. Me and my friends
1:18:22literally have a heart rate variability
1:18:23contest every morning where we like
1:18:25screenshot our heart rate variability
1:18:26and drop it into the chat and some of my
1:18:28friends are trying to increase theirs.
1:18:29One of my friends called my friend
1:18:31called Ash, I mentioned him earlier on.
1:18:33His has been quite low, so he's kind of
1:18:34been trying to get it up.
1:18:36Um I guess we're going to have to ask
1:18:38two questions here, which is what is
1:18:39heart variability? And the second
1:18:40question is, how do I improve it in your
1:18:42view? So again, you can't change what
1:18:45you don't measure. And now people who
1:18:47wear Apple watches or aura rings or
1:18:50devices that measure it,
1:18:53heart rate variability is the
1:18:55beat-to-beat variability of your heart
1:18:58rate. And people go, "Oh, well, my heart
1:19:00rate should beat the same." Well, no.
1:19:04Actually, the more variable it is, bum
1:19:07bum bum bum bum bum bum
1:19:10rather than bum bum bum bum bum bum.
1:19:14Um, I
1:19:15first heard about heart rate variability
1:19:18with babies. That when a baby is being
1:19:20born, they actually put a scalp monitor
1:19:23on it and they look at the heart rate
1:19:25variability
1:19:27of the baby. And if it's very variable,
1:19:31it's bouncing all over the place, well,
1:19:32it's a sign of heart health. When it
1:19:35flattens and becomes even, like it's
1:19:38just 70,
1:19:41they go get the baby because that means
1:19:43the baby is in trouble. Doesn't make any
1:19:45sense, does it? It's like
1:19:46counterintuitive.
1:19:47It's a little bit counterintuitive,
1:19:50but if your heart rate variability is
1:19:53low,
1:19:54you have a higher risk of anxiety,
1:19:57depression, and heart disease.
1:20:00Dying early. I mean, there's this huge
1:20:02connection between your brain health and
1:20:05your heart health.
1:20:07And so, meditation increases heart rate
1:20:11variability, breathwork increases heart
1:20:15rate variability, exercise can increase
1:20:18heart rate variability, good sleep and
1:20:20good sleep hygiene can increase it. Ants
1:20:25decrease heart rate variability.
1:20:29I stopped drinking alcohol for this very
1:20:31reason. People don't know this, but I I
1:20:32mean I've probably mentioned it twice
1:20:33now on on air, but I quit drinking
1:20:36alcohol about a month and a half ago, I
1:20:38think.
1:20:39And part of the reason is when I wore my
1:20:41Whoop, and then I had, I don't know, one
1:20:44glass of wine or two glasses or three
1:20:45glasses of wine the the day before, when
1:20:47I woke up the next day, my heart rate
1:20:49variability was like flashing red. It
1:20:51was 30, 40. Typically, on a great day,
1:20:54my heart rate variability is 150, 140,
1:20:58which is strong.
1:20:59Really? I know this cuz I compete with
1:21:01my friends. But on a day where I had a
1:21:03glass of alcohol, it'd be flashing red,
1:21:05and it'd be 40. Also, if I was sick, it
1:21:08would be 40. Also, if I had a really
1:21:11stressful, unslept day the day before,
1:21:13it would also be 40. And the fact that
1:21:15alcohol was causing my heart to respond
1:21:17the same as a awfully stressful, unslept
1:21:20day, or COVID, I thought,
1:21:24[ __ ] [ __ ] that.
1:21:26And I've So, that's part of the reason I
1:21:27quit drinking alcohol.
1:21:29And now that
1:21:30you have brain envy?
1:21:32Yeah. You're going to have a healthier
1:21:33brain if you keep it away cuz alcohol
1:21:37lies to us. Alcohol lies to us? Alcohol
1:21:41causes damage in the brain. Really? Even
1:21:44a little bit of alcohol causes damage in
1:21:47the brain. It disrupts something called
1:21:49white matter.
1:21:50So, gray matter nerve cell bodies, white
1:21:53matter nerve cell tracks. So, white
1:21:55matter's the highways in your brain that
1:21:58transmit information and impulses. And
1:22:01even a little bit of alcohol
1:22:04has been shown to disrupt the white
1:22:06matter in your brain.
1:22:08I don't want anything messing with the
1:22:09highways in my brain.
1:22:11But I love that you measured it, you
1:22:15made the connection, and then you
1:22:16stopped it. It's a sign of intelligent
1:22:19life because you love yourself. Mhm.
1:22:23Alcohol
1:22:25because there's a lot of people that are
1:22:26sat on the fence right now with alcohol.
1:22:27They probably don't have a really bad
1:22:30relationship with it. They're probably
1:22:31not alcoholics, but they kind of just
1:22:34they have it because society is
1:22:35constructed in such a way that on a
1:22:36Friday evening when the waiter comes
1:22:37over and puts down the wine list, you
1:22:39just go oh I'm going to go whatever.
1:22:40That's who I was. I was just on the
1:22:42fence. My friend, one of my best
1:22:44friends, was an alcoholic. So I
1:22:46understand why he quit because he had
1:22:48this really dysfunctional relationship
1:22:49with it that would ruin his life. I'm
1:22:52the type of person that would have one
1:22:54drink, two drinks, and then I'd maybe
1:22:55stop. I didn't feel the need to have
1:22:57three, four, seven, 19. He was
1:22:59different. And also because of that
1:23:01there was no adverse consequences in my
1:23:03life. So when I went away with him
1:23:05recently, he's writing a book on um
1:23:07alcohol and alcoholism.
1:23:10He was telling me about the book and I
1:23:11was going I personally wouldn't read
1:23:13that book because I don't feel like I
1:23:15have a problem with alcohol. This was
1:23:17before I quit. So I was like what I
1:23:19would love from a book, this is just me
1:23:21personally, is a book that made the case
1:23:23to people who are kind of sat on the
1:23:25fence that drink or a beer or a glass of
1:23:27wine just cuz I don't know society is
1:23:30constructed in such a way where it's
1:23:31hard to avoid. Um but they could go for
1:23:34a mocktail if someone gave them some
1:23:36performance-based evidence that alcohol,
1:23:40just even a little bit, that the casual
1:23:42drinking actually matters.
1:23:45So this is where you come in.
1:23:47Doctor.
1:23:48One of my biggest
1:23:51uh Instagram posts was I told you so.
1:23:55Um the American Cancer Society came out
1:23:58and said any alcohol increases your risk
1:24:01of seven different types of cancer.
1:24:04And I've been talking about this for 30
1:24:06years cuz I have scans and people who
1:24:09drank any alcohol have lower activity
1:24:13than people who don't drink at all.
1:24:16And obviously alcoholics, they have
1:24:18terrible looking brains.
1:24:20Um
1:24:21don't do that.
1:24:23But, you got to ask yourself why.
1:24:27And remember we talked about the
1:24:28one-page miracle. What do you want?
1:24:30Relationships, work, money, physical,
1:24:33emotional, spiritual health. So, where
1:24:35does alcohol
1:24:37come in
1:24:38to that? Oh, well, it helps me relax.
1:24:41Well, the 15-second breath will help you
1:24:43relax, but there are no side effects to
1:24:45it. That will increase your heart rate
1:24:47variability. Alcohol will decrease heart
1:24:50rate variability and
1:24:52brain function. And if it decreases
1:24:54brain function, it decreases
1:24:56decision-making.
1:24:57As a psychiatrist,
1:25:0030%, 40% of the people I see, they
1:25:03initially come to my office because it's
1:25:06somehow alcohol-related.
1:25:08Fight with their spouse, problems with
1:25:10their kids, whatever.
1:25:12I'm so impressed you noticed the
1:25:14difference with heart rate variability
1:25:16and then you stopped. Mhm. Yeah, cuz I
1:25:19I'm I'm a I'm a fences with alcohol. And
1:25:21it's crazy. I And I now understand how
1:25:23difficult it is to stop in our society.
1:25:24I was telling my team I quit and I went
1:25:27for dinner with a guy called Skrillex.
1:25:28Like everyone knows Skrillex, he's a DJ,
1:25:29Sonny. And this was a week after I'd
1:25:32quit. Sat in the restaurant, the waiter
1:25:34comes over,
1:25:36bless him, and he goes, "Here's the wine
1:25:37list." I go, "I I don't drink alcohol."
1:25:39He goes He goes and gets a bottle of
1:25:41wine
1:25:42and he puts it next to me and goes,
1:25:43"This is not alcohol, this is art. I'm
1:25:46going to leave it next to you just in
1:25:47case you get tempted." And Sonny's
1:25:49Sonny, to his credit, is telling this
1:25:51waiter that he doesn't drink. This
1:25:52waiter is having none of it. And in that
1:25:54moment,
1:25:56I understood
1:25:57how difficult it is to quit in the
1:25:59society that we've built, where every
1:26:02social interaction apparently needs to
1:26:04be fueled by alcohol. And if you say no,
1:26:07you're either weird or someone will try
1:26:09and change your mind
1:26:11or persuade you otherwise. It's just
1:26:12this culture we have. It's the evil
1:26:13ruler society. I think that's an evil
1:26:15ruler strategy. The food pushers, the
1:26:18drug pushers, the alcohol pushers. Um
1:26:22For me, I just I look at people like
1:26:24that and it's like, "So, why do you want
1:26:26me to drink when I don't want to?"
1:26:28What's it a What's going on with you?
1:26:31Yeah. And I usually shut them down. Um
1:26:35But,
1:26:36why? An interesting question. When you
1:26:39go to a restaurant, the first thing they
1:26:41do is put bread on the table
1:26:45and ask if you want alcohol because both
1:26:48of them drop your frontal lobes.
1:26:51Both of them make it more likely you're
1:26:54going to order more
1:26:56and spend more money at the restaurant.
1:26:59So, the bread is an investment on their
1:27:02part because bread gives you a sugar
1:27:05spike, a blood sugar spike, which then
1:27:08pushes serotonin in your brain
1:27:11and makes you happy.
1:27:13But, serotonin drops frontal lobe
1:27:15function.
1:27:16One thing they never tell you when they
1:27:18give you an SSRI for depression is, "Oh,
1:27:21you're going to become a little bit more
1:27:22impulsive because it's going to drop
1:27:24your frontal lobes."
1:27:26And then alcohol, which also drops your
1:27:29frontal lobes. So, you'll drop more cash
1:27:32in the restaurant.
1:27:34Question then, on this point of alcohol,
1:27:37if I took two people
1:27:39off the street, let's say they do
1:27:40everything in their lives the same other
1:27:42than what I'm about to say. I gave one
1:27:44of them
1:27:46a casual drink for the next decade. Just
1:27:49maybe two drinks a week, three drinks a
1:27:51week for the next decade. And the other
1:27:53person was completely sober for the next
1:27:55decade. When you looked at their brain
1:27:57in 10 years time, if they were doing
1:27:59everything the same, would you see a
1:28:00difference?
1:28:01Yes.
1:28:02The person who is drinking two or three
1:28:04times a week will have less blood flow
1:28:06in their brain.
1:28:07And will that have changed the shape of
1:28:09their brain?
1:28:10Yes, it'll be a little bit more
1:28:12shriveled.
1:28:13And then that means their behavior's
1:28:14going to change as well.
1:28:16They'll have a little bit less impulse
1:28:18control. And when you look at the brain
1:28:20of an A little bit less impulse control
1:28:22when you're doing hard things like
1:28:24marriage.
1:28:26Not a good thing. Or raising children,
1:28:29or managing a business. It's like
1:28:33you don't want a little bit worse
1:28:36decisions.
1:28:37Sex.
1:28:38Sex and libido. A lot of people are
1:28:40struggling with their sex lives, getting
1:28:42an erection, getting aroused, men and
1:28:44women.
1:28:45The brain and sex.
1:28:48I imagine you have people come to you
1:28:50and go, "Listen, me and my wife, me and
1:28:52my partner, me and my husband, we've
1:28:53stopped having sex. I've lost my
1:28:55libido." When you hear that
1:28:58and you offer people advice on libido
1:28:59and sex, what is what You fix your
1:29:01brain, right? Your sex life gets better.
1:29:04In large part, it's about blood flow.
1:29:06And if you're having erectile
1:29:10dysfunction or low libido, um you got to
1:29:14go, "Well, why?" Is what are the risk
1:29:17factors with that? And many of them
1:29:20relate to what's going on in your brain.
1:29:23And I I
1:29:25So often people go, "I did everything
1:29:27you said and my wife's so much happier
1:29:29with our sex life." Um
1:29:35You have to check your hormones. I think
1:29:37that's very important. You have to deal
1:29:40with whatever sexual trauma might be
1:29:42there.
1:29:43Um the biggest sex organ in the body is
1:29:47your brain.
1:29:48If there's no forethought, there's no
1:29:51foreplay.
1:29:52And so
1:29:54it's about the decisions that you make.
1:29:57What else do we need to know about sex?
1:29:59If I'm trying to get my partner in the
1:30:00mood and I'm trying to make them
1:30:02aroused.
1:30:02It depends on their brain. Okay, right.
1:30:05So, if your partner has a very busy
1:30:10frontal lobe, that part called the
1:30:12anterior cingulate gyrus,
1:30:15you can't go,
1:30:17"Come on, let's have sex." Because
1:30:19you've met people with the automatic no,
1:30:23that no matter what you say, they're
1:30:24going to say the opposite of it, or
1:30:26they're going to
1:30:27fuss with it. I mean, it's like, "It's a
1:30:28nice day today." "Oh, no, it was nicer
1:30:30yesterday." I mean, even simple things.
1:30:32"So, you going to want to have sex?"
1:30:33"No."
1:30:34Um
1:30:36I was at this lecture once, and
1:30:39somebody came up to me at a break and
1:30:41said, "You've helped me so much.
1:30:44Um I thought my wife just didn't love
1:30:46me. And what I realized is that part of
1:30:48her brain was just working too hard. So,
1:30:50now I ask everything in the opposite."
1:30:55It's like, "Oh,
1:30:57like if I wanted to go to the store,
1:30:58she'd never want to go with me. And I'd
1:31:00go, so now what I do is I go,
1:31:03'I'm going to go to the store, you
1:31:04probably don't want to come.' 'What do
1:31:06you mean I don't want to come? Of course
1:31:07I want to come.'
1:31:09He said, "But it doesn't sound right to
1:31:11say, 'Well, you probably don't want to
1:31:12have sex.'"
1:31:14Oh, I go, "Okay, I know her brain do
1:31:17this." And I gave him natural things to
1:31:20boost serotonin.
1:31:22So, I said,
1:31:23"Take her out for a pasta dinner." So,
1:31:25I'm not a fan of pasta generally, except
1:31:27for these people.
1:31:29Take her out for a pasta dinner, because
1:31:30pasta increases serotonin. Then take her
1:31:33for a walk around the lake, cuz exercise
1:31:38increases serotonin. Then give her a
1:31:41piece of dark chocolate. Not too many,
1:31:44cuz if you get her too many, she'll have
1:31:46no need for you. But
1:31:49dark chocolate has PEA in it,
1:31:51phenylethylamines, that'll alert your
1:31:53brain that something fun is about to
1:31:56happen.
1:31:57And then,
1:31:59put on a little baby powder, because
1:32:01baby powder, it's been shown
1:32:04scientifically is a natural aphrodisiac
1:32:06for women cuz what do women
1:32:08unconsciously associate to baby powder?
1:32:12Babies. And unconsciously they want one.
1:32:16And then
1:32:18rub her back and don't ask for anything
1:32:20directly.
1:32:22And from about day 4 to about day 18 of
1:32:25her menstrual cycle, you're likely to
1:32:27get lucky.
1:32:28Why from day 4 to day
1:32:31Because she's The last week of a woman's
1:32:34menstrual cycle, especially people who
1:32:36have this brain type tend to be
1:32:38more irritable. Is that before their
1:32:40period?
1:32:42Yes, it's before the period. Okay, so
1:32:43the week before their period is when
1:32:46she's going to be
1:32:46weeks before their period is generally
1:32:48the best time. Do men and women have
1:32:50different brains?
1:32:52Significantly?
1:32:52Wildly so. Wildly different?
1:32:54whole thing about you can't put your
1:32:57gender on your medical forms is just
1:33:01insanely stupid. Uh
1:33:04because gender matters. Like estrogen
1:33:07and testosterone, they matter when it
1:33:09comes to brain function. I published a
1:33:12study on 46,000
1:33:15scans looking at the differences between
1:33:18male and female brains and they're wild.
1:33:21Uh women have much better frontal lobes
1:33:25function, that much better blood flow to
1:33:27the front part of their brain. Which
1:33:29makes them Which makes them good leaders
1:33:33if you think of impulse control and
1:33:36collaboration and communication.
1:33:40And the one statistic that just hammers
1:33:42this home is who goes to jail.
1:33:45Men.
1:33:4614 times more than women.
1:33:50But women get depressed twice as much as
1:33:53men because their limbic or emotional
1:33:56brain is much busier than the male
1:34:00brain. And that's why in every um human
1:34:03society, women are primary caretakers
1:34:06for children. Um women have a bigger
1:34:08nesting instinct. So I told you we moved
1:34:11recently. And moving is much harder on
1:34:15women in general than it is in men
1:34:18because they feel like they lose their
1:34:20nest and they have to redo their nest
1:34:22and I was an army psychiatrist for 7
1:34:25years and I used to always tell the
1:34:27guys, I'm like, when you move, you stay
1:34:29home and help her put the house together
1:34:31cuz she's going to be way happier
1:34:33uh
1:34:34for you.
1:34:35On that impulse control bit, I remember
1:34:36reading the statistics that men
1:34:39suffer with gambling addictions and
1:34:41betting addictions significantly more
1:34:43than women.
1:34:43Drug addictions, alcohol, ADD five times
1:34:47more than
1:34:48women. Um
1:34:51But women get help
1:34:54because
1:34:55they're not afraid to ask for help.
1:34:57Where for men, it's often a macho thing.
1:35:00It's like there's nothing the matter
1:35:01with me, which is why women attempt
1:35:06suicide three to four times more than
1:35:10males, but males kill themselves three
1:35:14to five four times more than women do
1:35:16because men use more violent means. And
1:35:19men aren't communicating
1:35:22I'm in trouble.
1:35:25Saunas. Saunas and exercise on the
1:35:27brain.
1:35:30Good good for the brain?
1:35:32So I'm a huge fan of saunas
1:35:35uh
1:35:35because
1:35:37of the studies mostly from
1:35:40Northern Europe, people take the most
1:35:42saunas have the lowest incidence of
1:35:44Alzheimer's disease. And I told you
1:35:47about my mercury detoxing is really
1:35:50important. And you can detox in a lot of
1:35:52different ways, but sauna is one of the
1:35:54most effective ways.
1:35:57Um
1:35:57exercise is you want to stay young, walk
1:36:01like you're late.
1:36:02If you're 80 and you can walk 3 miles an
1:36:05hour, you have a 90% chance of living
1:36:07till you're 90. If you can only walk a
1:36:09mile an hour, you have a 90% chance
1:36:11you're not going to live until you're
1:36:1590. So, exercise boosts blood flow, it
1:36:18increases
1:36:20uh brain-derived neurotrophic factor. It
1:36:23increases serotonin, increases dopamine.
1:36:26Um
1:36:27another interesting thing is should you
1:36:29do cold plunges? Because cold plunges
1:36:32have been found to fairly dramatically
1:36:35increase dopamine.
1:36:37So, you should do cold plunges?
1:36:39Not if you have heart problems. So, if
1:36:41you have heart problems, I wouldn't do
1:36:43that. But, if you have inflammation, if
1:36:45you have pain, if you tend to be
1:36:48depressed, there's evidence cold plunges
1:36:51can be helpful.
1:36:53What about weight in the brain?
1:36:56When you look at someone who is
1:36:58clinically obese and you look at their
1:36:59brain, what do you see? And if I'm
1:37:01trying to lose weight,
1:37:03what do I need to know about the brain?
1:37:07You know, I've thought a lot about this
1:37:09because I have obesity in my family. Um
1:37:14as your weight goes up,
1:37:16the size and function of your brain goes
1:37:18down.
1:37:20And that's horrifying.
1:37:23People who are in our society is against
1:37:26us. I mean, you just I wrote a book
1:37:28called The Brain Warrior's Way, and I
1:37:30argue you're in a war for the health of
1:37:33your brain. Everywhere you go, someone's
1:37:35trying to shove bad food down your
1:37:37throat that will kill you. I can see the
1:37:40emotion in your face when you say this.
1:37:41Yeah.
1:37:42Uh
1:37:43it's just horrifying, you know, to think
1:37:45of Carl's Jr. that will take these
1:37:48you know, Charlotte McKinney or
1:37:50Katherine Webb, these beautiful women
1:37:52and have them eat cheeseburgers and it's
1:37:56unconsciously people are like, if you
1:37:59eat those burgers these women will want
1:38:01you. Well, these women have spit buckets
1:38:03on those sets where every time they take
1:38:06a bite they spit it out because they'd
1:38:07never have those bodies if they ate
1:38:10that food. We are being manipulated
1:38:14and it is causing what I think is one of
1:38:18the greatest epidemics ever
1:38:21of obesity and if you're overweight
1:38:25lower blood flow, aging, inflammation,
1:38:28stores toxins, makes you feel awful
1:38:31about yourself.
1:38:34Takes healthy testosterone. We talked
1:38:36about, you know, why the low. Takes
1:38:38healthy testosterone and turns it into
1:38:41unhealthy cancer-promoting forms of
1:38:45estrogen. It's just a disaster what's
1:38:48happening.
1:38:50I think
1:38:51you have to start counting your
1:38:53calories.
1:38:54And, you know, I run up against all
1:38:56sorts of scientists go calories don't
1:38:58count. It's complete crap.
1:39:01Now, the quality of your calories is
1:39:04just as important but don't eat more
1:39:07than you need. And we live in a society
1:39:10where we're eating way too much and
1:39:13people don't know. If you think of the
1:39:15Cheesecake Factory and these monster
1:39:18portions, it's like, that's insane.
1:39:22And it's a big thing that changed.
1:39:25But the obesity epidemic really started
1:39:28as the US government, among others,
1:39:32demonized
1:39:34fat.
1:39:36Everything became low fat in the '80s.
1:39:39Low fat, low cholesterol.
1:39:42And
1:39:44they put sugar in things to replace it.
1:39:46And in fact, it just came out recently,
1:39:48it was in the '60s that some of the
1:39:51sugar companies paid scientists to say
1:39:54it's fat, not sugar. And it damaged
1:39:58millions of people.
1:40:01Last thing I wanted to ask you about is
1:40:03Well, there's really two outstanding
1:40:05questions that I have for you, doctor.
1:40:06The first one is about screen time.
1:40:09People want to know,
1:40:11does screen time, this generation that
1:40:13have grown up 11 hours a day on a screen
1:40:15or social media, up to 11 hours a day,
1:40:18according to some studies,
1:40:20does that have an impact on our brain?
1:40:21It does. It shrinks it. It's sad. I
1:40:24mean, what it does is it wears out your
1:40:26pleasure centers.
1:40:28So, you have these two
1:40:30areas in your brain called the nucleus
1:40:33accumbens, and they respond to dopamine.
1:40:38And they bring you happiness, and they
1:40:39bring you pleasure, and they bring you
1:40:41motivation, and they bring you drive.
1:40:44And
1:40:46when you're hitting them
1:40:49like every buzz on your phone, every
1:40:53notification,
1:40:54every time you scroll and you like
1:40:57something, you just got a little hit of
1:40:59dopamine.
1:41:00Well, the more you do it, pretty soon
1:41:04you thrill them to death. You begin to
1:41:07wear out those pleasure centers. And you
1:41:10Let's just take fame, for example. I've
1:41:12been blessed to see Justin Bieber and
1:41:16Miley Cyrus and a whole bunch of really
1:41:18fascinating, cool people
1:41:20who've been really depressed. It's like,
1:41:22how can you be depressed? You're Justin
1:41:24Bieber. Or how can you believe you're
1:41:26not enough?
1:41:28Right? Cuz their pleasure centers get
1:41:30worn out by being noticed over and over
1:41:33and over again. Well, when you allow
1:41:36that in your brain, the screen time, 3
1:41:39and 1/2 hours. If you're on for 3 and
1:41:411/2 hours
1:41:43a day, you have an increased risk of
1:41:45anxiety, depression, addiction, obesity,
1:41:49ADHD.
1:41:50And our society is on way more than
1:41:52that. And you go, "So, why are we having
1:41:54this epidemic
1:41:56of uh
1:41:58teenage suicide and mental health
1:42:00problems, especially in teenage girls?"
1:42:02Social media.
1:42:04It's one of the big issues of the day.
1:42:06And not only are you wearing out your
1:42:08pleasure centers, you hate yourself
1:42:11because you think everybody's better
1:42:12than you are. It's the comparison dragon
1:42:16that
1:42:16is damaging you.
1:42:19My last question is about happiness,
1:42:21which we're talking about there.
1:42:25I spoke to I think it was Tali Sharot
1:42:27that told me happiness takes on this
1:42:29kind of interesting arc through our
1:42:31lives where
1:42:34at the start of our lives we're a little
1:42:35bit happier, then in the middle of our
1:42:36lives we're a little bit sadder, and
1:42:38then as we age, we go back into being
1:42:41happy.
1:42:42Now, I was contrasting that information
1:42:44to what you said about how the brain
1:42:45withers with age. If the brain is
1:42:48withering with age, then how come a lot
1:42:50of neuroscientists think that happiness
1:42:52resembles this kind of U-shape in our
1:42:54lives, where in the middle of our lives
1:42:56we're less happy, and the start and the
1:42:58end we're more happy?
1:43:03That's a great question.
1:43:07We're less striving as we age, right?
1:43:11So, after 65, 70, we've sort of
1:43:16done
1:43:17much of the hard things that we need to
1:43:19do.
1:43:20And so, depression also goes up with
1:43:24age, too.
1:43:25And obviously, dementia goes up with
1:43:28age. So,
1:43:30I think it's because I don't have to
1:43:33accomplish things, which makes the
1:43:35middle part so
1:43:37hard.
1:43:38So, we're more satisfied with the nature
1:43:40of our lives because we're not trying to
1:43:42Well, if if we are, right? If If we're
1:43:45not, then that becomes a problem and
1:43:48increases the risk of depression.
1:43:51It's complicated though, isn't it?
1:43:52Because, you know, you get older, you
1:43:53probably have less connections as well,
1:43:55so that's a confounding factor and Yeah,
1:43:57so I wouldn't I mean, I I ended I have
1:44:00seen that research and I wrote a book on
1:44:03happiness
1:44:05because, you know, when I write a book,
1:44:06it'll take me 6 to 9 months to write it
1:44:09and I'm like, "So, what do I really want
1:44:10to think about for this next 6 to 9
1:44:12months?"
1:44:14And I
1:44:15loved it because
1:44:17like
1:44:20negative thinking is a bad habit,
1:44:23is happiness is also a habit.
1:44:26And when I go to bed and I go, "What
1:44:28went well today?"
1:44:29I'm feeding happiness. Or throughout the
1:44:32day, if I look for the micro moments of
1:44:35happiness, you know, "What's the
1:44:36smallest thing that's going to happen
1:44:38today that's going to make me happy?"
1:44:41Then I'm just happier.
1:44:43I I hear all of this and I read read all
1:44:46of this in your books and one of the
1:44:47things I've really taken away personally
1:44:49is because I have so much information,
1:44:51what I need to do is select a couple of
1:44:53these habits and basically put them into
1:44:55my calendar.
1:44:57Like you talked about the breath work
1:44:58and you talked about the gratitude
1:45:00exercise at night and those kinds of
1:45:01things. What I need to do is get a
1:45:03couple of them and just insert them into
1:45:05my calendar. Because, you know, if
1:45:07they're not scheduled, they probably
1:45:08won't happen in a life as busy as mine.
1:45:11So, as well as making small sort of
1:45:12changes to the, you know, maybe dietary
1:45:14things or water or whatever it might be,
1:45:16drinking a little bit less caffeine.
1:45:17I've already quit alcohol. Make sure I
1:45:19focus on my sleep. Some of these I want
1:45:21to make routines in my life, so that's
1:45:23what I'm going to do. That's what I'm
1:45:24going to take away from this. We have a
1:45:26closing tradition on this podcast where
1:45:28the last guest leaves a question for the
1:45:29next guest not knowing who they're going
1:45:30to be leaving it for.
1:45:32And the question that's been left for
1:45:33you is quite perfect. I think.
1:45:36What have you changed your mind about in
1:45:39the last decade?
1:45:42Well, the first thing that comes to my
1:45:44mind is this idea
1:45:49that I got from Dennis Prager.
1:45:52Which is happiness is a moral
1:45:54obligation.
1:45:56I never thought of it that way.
1:45:59I grew up Roman Catholic.
1:46:01That idea was nowhere
1:46:04in my family. It was nowhere in the
1:46:08Catholic school I went to. And and I'm
1:46:10grateful for my education.
1:46:12Uh and I'm grateful for my faith.
1:46:16But it was about should
1:46:21and shaming
1:46:23rather than
1:46:26elevation.
1:46:28And the fact that happiness is a moral
1:46:30obligation.
1:46:32There's this video that Dennis Prager
1:46:35produced that I just love called Why Be
1:46:37Happy.
1:46:38And
1:46:40and I never thought
1:46:43that
1:46:47how I feel
1:46:50influences everybody around me.
1:46:54That if I'm unhappy
1:46:57that's not just about me. That's about
1:47:01everybody I come in contact with. So
1:47:03working on myself
1:47:08is the most loving thing I can do
1:47:11for other people.
1:47:14Daniel G. Amen.
1:47:17Thank you so much. Thank you for an
1:47:19amazing conversation. And also thank you
1:47:20for taking the time to look at my brain.
1:47:22And you're totally right. Now that I
1:47:24have the awareness that that brain even
1:47:25exists, having seen it, it's almost like
1:47:28I feel like it's like a Pablo, my dog. I
1:47:30now feel a responsibility to take care
1:47:32of it. And I think that that coupled
1:47:35with everything that you've imparted on
1:47:37me about the fact that I can do
1:47:39something about it for me is
1:47:41life-changing.
1:47:42And you know, I could have sat here all
1:47:44day and read tens of thousands of
1:47:45comments that I saw online
1:47:47about the work that you're doing to help
1:47:49people live happier, healthier lives.
1:47:51And the
1:47:53consequence that has for generations, I
1:47:55think, is maybe the most special thing
1:47:56of all. Because if you can tilt
1:47:58someone's brain in a better direction,
1:48:00you're not just tilting their brain in a
1:48:01better better direction, you're tilting
1:48:04generations to come
1:48:06of brains in a better direction. And
1:48:07that alone will tilt society in a better
1:48:09direction. And that's exactly the work
1:48:11that you're doing. So, I know we talked
1:48:13about your father last time round.
1:48:17You know, often times we don't get the
1:48:19praise from the our parents that I guess
1:48:22we
1:48:24we always longed for.
1:48:26But I really hope you understand
1:48:28how proud everyone is of you.
1:48:32All the patience that you've
1:48:34invested time and love and energy and
1:48:36all the people that listen to this show
1:48:38that were tilted in a better direction
1:48:40because of you. And
1:48:42me as well.
1:48:43My life's been tilted in a better
1:48:44direction because of you. So, thank you.
1:48:47Thank you so much. What a joy.

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of The ADHD Doctor: “I’ve Scanned 250,000 Brains” You (Steven Bartlett) Have ADHD!!! Dr Daniel Amen by The Diary Of A CEO, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 16,439 words across 2,798 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.