Daily Habits for Better Brain Health | Jim Kwik & Dr. Daniel Amen

The title of the day is, how can I have any fun? Because people will say that and, you know, oh, if I don't drink, if I don't smoke, I don't use marijuana, if I'm not eating sugar, how can I have any fun? I mean, every day you're making your brain better or you're making it worse by the decisions you make, by the experiences you have. You know, you want to put more in the bank than you're taking away.

Welcome back, Kwik Brains. This is the Kwik Brain Podcast. I am your brain coach and your host of the Kwik Brain Podcast, Jim Kwik. And we have a very exciting episode here today. Your question for today is, how do you change your brain every day? How can you change your brain every day? And we know that based on the title of our guest's, one of his bestselling books, you could change your brain, you change your life, you change your brain, really you change the world. And, we have none other than a very popular guest back on the show, Dr. Daniel Amen. Many of you know him. He has his Amen Clinics, I think somewhere in the neighborhood of 11 or so clinics. I'm a patient of his myself. We recently did a scan my brain episode. Please tune in for that. He's done more than a couple hundred—

Thousands.

1,000 SPECT scans and for patients in over 155 countries. He has got to have at least 12 New York Times bestselling books. He's a host of a podcast. He's spoken at our Brain Performance Annual Conferences for many, many years. And, he's a dear friend. Welcome back on the show, Dr. Daniel Amen.

Thank you, Jim. So great to see you. Thank you for helping me spread the message. With a better brain always comes a better life.

I want to talk about your newest book, and I'm very excited about this. For me, I look at this kind of as your greatest hits, as I've read nearly all your books. We actually got close when you interviewed me for a chapter of Change Your Brain, Change Your Age. So, I see the— but you are really a brain warrior. This is the book here, Change Your Brain, Every day. And this is 366 Days to a Better Brain, Mind, and Life. And who doesn't want all of that? So congratulations on the new book. And now, when I mentioned this is kind of like your greatest hits because there's so many daily tips in here for not only a greater brain, if you will, but it's also for things like mental health, brain health, a greater mind, a better memory, greater mood, focus, mental energy, better relationships because your brain, what does it not control in our life, right?

Well, and the reason I wrote this book is I have come to believe brain and mental health are daily practices just like spiritual health. is a daily practice, or physical health is a daily practice, brain and mental health, daily practices. And so I thought I'd give them to you. And, you know, short essays with action steps, uh, and one for each day of the year. And it's 366 because next year is leap year. So I wanted to make sure everyone was covered. And it helps get your brain right, your mind right, your relationships. Right. And even the spiritual circle, right? Because I always think of people in those 4 big circles, your brain and body, your mind, your relationships, and your soul.

Yeah. I like, I like the word practices because it implies that people have to do some kind of practice, some kind of work, but certainly you can get, uh, become more healthier and happier when you get that agency. I do believe we are the pilot of our brains, not necessarily the passenger, but sometimes we feel like we are at effect, but This book, you know, it's a culmination of your life's experience and seeing patients actively for so long. Where do you start? Meaning that if this works for people regardless of their age, their background, their education level, financial situation, gender, history, IQ?

Well, it starts with love. And there's a term you and I have talked about before called brain envy. You always say Freud was wrong. Penis envy is not the cause of anybody's problem. I've not seen it once clinically in 40 years. It's brain envy. If you learn to love and care and want a better brain, then you are going to begin to do the things that help you get it. And throughout the book, there are dozens of tiny habits. You know, what's the smallest thing I can do today that makes the Biggest difference. I worked with BJ Fogg. You know Dr. Fogg from Stanford. He runs the Persuasive Tech Lab on how people change. And he said, the smaller you can make it, the easier and more likely they are to do it. And so it starts with the mother tiny habit, which takes 3 seconds. Whatever I'm doing right now, is it good for my brain or bad for it? And if you can answer that with information and love, love of yourself, your brain's gonna be better tomorrow. I mean, every day you're making your brain better or you're making it worse by the decisions you make, by the experiences you have. And, you know, you want to put more in the bank than you're taking away. Warren Buffett said there's 2 rules of investing. Rule number 1, never lose money.

Right.

Rule number 2, never forget rule number 1. And then, you know, when I apply this to neuroscience, it's rule number 1 is never lose brain cells. Rule number 2 is never forget that. So alcohol is not a health food. 'Cause it kills brain cells and marijuana's not going green. So I know it's controversial, but it damages brain cells. And so if you can just think every day, your hippocampus makes 700 new baby stem cells every day. You want to protect them. And my daughter Chloe, who you've met, is 19. And when she makes those cells, they tend to stick around. I'm gonna be 69 this year, and they don't tend to stick around. Why? Because she has way better blood flow. So anything you can do to boost blood flow to your brain is you're more likely to have a net gain of brain cells rather than a net loss.

And I like that, having that, that first principle where if you love your brain, you love the, uh, love your brain cells. And so, you have the world's largest database of brain scans related specifically to behavior. And so, these are examples basically, you mentioned the marijuana, you mentioned alcohol. This is what basically informed your book, right, in terms of the daily habits or routines, the behaviors, whether or not something is good for your brain indeed or Or harmful to your brain.

Well, and I've gone through— now that I've been a psychiatrist for 40 years, I've gone through lots of fads, like alcohol is a health food. And my first clinic was right next door to the Napa Valley. And so everybody's cheering Mondavi and red wine. Alcohol is a health food. But on scans, it makes your brain look older than you are. And I'm like, no, no, no, not a health food. And then it was marijuana. Marijuana's, you know, innocuous, but on scans it makes your brain look older than you are. I published a study on 1,000 marijuana users. Every area of the brain is lower. And it's like, no, that's a lie. And as we go through the lies of our society, and in the book I talk about if I was an evil ruler and I wanted to create mental illness, what would I do? Well, I'd create American society with fast food and toxic products and addictive gadgets and the messaging. During the Super Bowl, there were 30 alcohol commercials. I mean, it just— we're being pounded with the wrong messages. But if you start with, oh, I love my brain because it's what I read with, it's what I love with, it's what I learn with, it's what I make money with. If I love my brain, then I'll be able to do everything else I want.

Hmm.

And some people go, oh, but that's— and early in the book, there's a day where the title of the day is, how can I have any fun? Because people will say that and, you know, oh, if I don't drink, if I don't smoke, I don't use marijuana, if I'm not eating sugar, how can I have any fun? And we play this game called who has more fun, the person with the good brain or the person with the bad brain? Who gets the girl and gets to keep her because he doesn't act like an idiot? The person with the good brain. Who gets the job, who saves money, who takes the coolest vacations. Ultimately, it's the person with the good brain. And you have to get over this mindset. You know, I often say I have a 4-year-old granddaughter and I adore her, but she will throw a tantrum to get her way. And I tell her mom, no way, never give in to a tantrum unless you want to create more of them. But so many people act like they're 4-year-olds and they have these internal tantrums. You know, I want this, I want that, I should have this, I should have that. And when I get people to ask themselves, what do you really want? And I know for me, I want energy and I want memory and I want good decision-making.

And you want to feel good.

I want to feel good. And act good, then all of those things, they're the enemy. And when you begin to see it that way, like Drew Carey, the famous comedian who lost a lot of weight, said, eating crappy food isn't a reward, it's a punishment. And when you begin to see life through that lens, it's just so much easier to do the right thing. So when it comes to food in the brain, for example, I love food, but I only wanna love food that loves me back.

Mm-hmm.

Like both you and I, we've been in bad relationships in the past, right? I think most people have been in bad relationships in the past. I'm not doing that anymore. I'm like married to my best friend and I'm damn sure not doing it with food. You know, I love pizza. Well, pizza will beat you up. And so I'm like, nah, I'll let that go.

Do you want to be able to remember confidently the information that you hear on this podcast? Do you want to improve your memory to easily and confidently be able to remember names and faces, client information, give a speech without notes, learn another language, remember what you read, and so much more? There's a solution, and I call it your quick recall. In just 15 minutes a day for 30 days, I've designed the ultimate course, How to Unlock Your Quick Recall. Just go to kwikbrain.com/recall. Enter podcast15 for your immediate discount as a thank you for listening to our show. So we can look at our relationships not only with human beings, but our relationships with television, our relationships with technology, our relationships with the food that we consume as well. If people are watching this on YouTube, which I highly recommend, for our audio listeners, we keep the podcast to 20 minutes, but we put the extended versions on YouTube. So, you can make sure you subscribe. We have over a million subscribers there. You'll notice that I'm always wearing a brain shirt. And, that's part of this philosophy that we subscribe to that you have to love your brain. But, sometimes we don't see the thing. I mean, what I love about your work is You get to actually look at the brain. You like to look at the organ that you're treating. You know, what a concept. But sometimes when we don't see it, we don't take care of it. But some people are used to— they see their skin, they see their car, they see their clothing, the things that are in their constant awareness. It reminds them to take better care of it. But we don't see the thing that takes care of us. So I'm always pointing, you know, pointing to my brain and wearing brain merch. But let's talk about some of the— It's, you know, you start something or you stop something, right? You either do more of something or you do less of something. So let's maybe, let's share, and I recommend everyone get a copy of the, your brand new book. What are some of your favorite daily practices that our listeners could start today? Now, you mentioned a couple of things maybe to, to do less of or to stop. What are, um, out of the 366, maybe we could give a highlight, a few of them.

Well, there's a day on hydration. Your brain, your body's 70% water. But your brain is 80% water. So drinking about half your weight in ounces a day. So if I'm 140 pounds, I should have at least 70 ounces of water. I start every day with, today is going to be a great day. I think everybody should take a multiple vitamin, high-dose, high-quality fish oil, optimize your vitamin D level. People who take vitamin D supplements have 40% less risk of getting Alzheimer's disease. It's a brand new study. People who have low vitamin D levels have more brain atrophy. That's a bad thing. So just know your vitamin D level. And I'm like, I'm not a fan of normal. Neither you or I ever want to be normal. We want to be optimal. And so to me, an optimal range is between 50 and 100. So that's pretty simple.

And it's not expensive either. Vitamin D supplementation is— it's like pennies a day.

It's really not expensive.

For a 40%— I mean, that's a huge lift.

And it's so simple. And everything I ask you to do in this book is simple. For other supplements, I'm a huge fan of saffron. Saffron has been shown in 24 randomized controlled trials to boost your mood, equally effective to antidepressants. It's pro-sexual and it helps your memory. So mood, sex, and memory. It's one of the ones I take every day. Inflammation is a major cause of brain disease and mental health challenges. So making sure you floss every day, because if you have gum disease, you're more likely to have brain disease.

Wow.

So taking care of your mouth. I like probiotics, because if your gut's not healthy, your brain tends not to be healthy. You tend to have more inflammation. It's why getting rid of packaged foods, because they also Increase inflammation. And don't text when you drive because head trauma is a major cause of psychiatric problems. And the gadgets are so addictive. They're purposefully addictive so that you're always like getting a ding or, you know, a note that you have a message. Don't look.

So important.

And when you go to bed at night— and try to go to bed early, because the more you sleep, the more your brain cleans and washes itself— but before I go to bed every night, I go, what went well today?

Hmm.

And I actually review the whole day starting from the beginning, looking for just what went right. Now, my brain will find the things that went wrong, but I'm like, I'll think about that tomorrow. Before I go to bed, I'm training my dreams to be more positive by what I focus on.

I love that because we've all had the experience. I'm sure some of our listeners had to wake up early, earlier maybe to catch a flight or something like that, and they end up setting an alarm and waking up within minutes before that alarm wakes them up. And that's the power of our mind. And what if we use that to do something significant like you're talking about in terms of gratitude or keeping an empowering outlook, which is very important. One of the things that I loved about the new book, Dr. Amen, is throughout the— there were so many examples because you've had countless patients that you've helped and the stories really land for the readers. Did you want to share maybe one story that stood out?

Yeah.

You had so many of them to pull from, but where brain health has improved under your counsel?

One of my favorite stories is of an 83-year-old woman, Nancy, who was from Oxford, England. And when she was 80, she found my book, Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, in a used bookstore at Oxford. For 50 cents. And she said she let the book sort of lie around the house for a year, and she was depressed, overweight, in chronic pain, and thought her life was over. And she's— when she read the book, she said it was riveting. And as an author, I'd love that. And she wrote down all the things to do. And then she said, Okay, there are too many things to do all at once. So she only started with one thing at a time. And she started drinking half of her body weight, and she was 200 pounds. And she said that got her off the couch because she had to pee all the time. And she said, and I started to feel better. I started to feel the brain fog lift just from hydrating. And after a week or so, she's like, well, I'm gonna take a multiple vitamin, fish oil, get my vitamin D level tested. And it was dramatically low. It was like 8, and healthy is between 30 and 100. Optimal is between 50 and 100. So she started taking more vitamin D. And she said her mood was better. Did that for a couple of weeks. And then she goes, all right, I'm gonna start exercising. 'Cause her pain was better. She starts walking. And then playing tennis. And she's feeling better still. And she goes, well, then I'm gonna change my diet. And she said, I didn't deprive myself of anything. I just ate the good things first. So there was no room for the bad things. And she felt better still. And then she engaged in new learning because both you and I know new learning is a central tenet of brain health. And she took language and then learned how to play the guitar. And when I met her, she was taking 3 different languages. And she came to California to get her brain scanned to one of my clinics for her 83rd birthday present to herself. As I was listening to her story, I was in the clinic when she came. I just started to cry because she's the reason Why I write. She's the reason why I do the things I do. And then she told me she lost five stones, and I'm like, "What's a stone?" And she said, "It's fourteen pounds." I lost five of them. She goes, "I used to be like this, and now I'm not." So she blew out her cheeks like used to be seriously overweight. Now I'm not. And when I scanned her. She had the most beautiful brain and she cried because she said a year ago it wouldn't have been like this. I know that. And she said, I never thought at this age I could feel this good and be so happy and look forward to my life.

This answers the question I was going to ask about advice you would offer to somebody who they know they need to change, but they're overwhelmed and deciding where to start. Just start somewhere, anywhere. Whether it happens to be a vitamin D supplement, whether it happens to be hydrating a little bit more each day because consistency compounds, right? That little by little, little becomes a lot, especially over 365, 366 days. Congratulations on the brand new book, Dr. Amen, Change Your Brain Every Day. I recommend all of our listeners get their copy. I actually recommend you get 2 copies, one for yourself and one to be able to gift to somebody else as well. We'll always put the show notes at jimkwik.com/notes. Where can people get their copy of the book?

Anywhere great books are sold. And if they do it before the end of March 2023, they can go to changeyourbraineveryday.com and get 4 free gifts.

Love Your Brain Today, Change Your Brain Every Single Day, and your favorite— I love be able to support local bookstores as well if that's an option for you who are listening right now. And, we'll put again links to Amen Clinics, links to my personal Scan My Brain for his show, Daniel's podcast as well, and his other books and so much more again at jimkwik.com/notes. And, if you really want to help us on this mission to build better brighter brains, no brain left behind, take a screenshot of wherever you're consuming this episode And post it, share it with your fans, your followers, your friends, your family. Tag Dr. Daniel Amen on social media, tag myself so we get to see it. I will actually repost some of my favorites because I want you while you're posting to share one thing you're going to do to change your brain today. And, I will actually gift 2 copies of his brand-new book out to 2 random people just as a thank Thank you for participating and for, for loving your brain. Daniel, thank you so much for being on.

So grateful to you, my friend. Hope to see you soon.