How to improve BRAIN HEALTH | Jim Kwik

I always like point to my brain in photographs. Sometimes I wear brain shirts just to remind people to take care of what takes care of us, right?

Mm-hmm.

You see what you see in your awareness, you take care of. You see your hair, your car, your clothing, your skin, you tend to take care of it because it's there. But we don't see the thing that takes care of us, which is our brain, you know? And we have these 87 billion neurons that are the most incredible supercomputer between our ears that controls everything. You know, it's use it or lose it, and our brain doesn't come with an owner's manual, and it's not always user-friendly. And that's why you know we created our podcast and our books and things like that.

So can you improve the brain? That this this might be a silly question, but can you improve the brain that you're born with if you eat the right foods and look after yourself? Or is what you have you know is what your is it nature versus nurture? Yeah.

So things aren't fixed. We've learned more about the human brain more in the past ten years than the previous thousand years combined, and we found as we're grossly under. our own capabilities, that every— all your listeners right now, regardless of their age, their background, their career, their education level, their financial situation, gender, history, IQ, we all can improve. We can grow older, but in some ways we can grow better. And part of it certainly is the food we eat. That's part of it. But also it's the thoughts that we have. It's the amount of exercise. It's the supplementation. It's our peer group, because who we spend time with is who we become. Some people are energy vampires, which are not necessarily good for our brains. Clean environment is also very good for our brain. Clean water, clean air. Even when you make your bed or you clean your laptop, a clean, you know, your external world reflects your internal world. Things like protecting your brain, wearing a helmet, or avoiding extreme sports for your kids. Sleep, so very important. If you don't get a good night's sleep, how's your focus? How's your memory?

I wanna talk about sleep. What is the optimum amount of sleep and how important is sleep for the brain?

Yeah, so sleep is very important. The numbers vary in terms of what's— it's individual, you know, per person. What's more important than the quantity of sleep is the quality of sleep. The deep sleep is when we're recovering our body. Our REM sleep is when our minds are recovering also as well. I would say when it comes to sleep, it's important for your brain for a number of reasons. It's where you clean out beta amyloid plaque that leads to brain aging challenges. So when you sleep, the sewage system in your brain kicks in and cleans out things that shouldn't be there. It also— it's where you consolidate short to long-term memory. So if someone has long-term memory issues, they might want to check their sleep or do a sleep study.

Okay.

And also it's where you dream. We probably spend 20 years of our life sleeping, maybe 3 to 5 full years dreaming. And, but if you're not getting good sleep, you're not dreaming. And why is it important? First of all, it's good for your recovery, for your brain. But also, did you know some of the most incredible things in culture, the origin was in people's dreams?

Yeah.

You know, like literature and art and music.

And Sufism as well, you know.

Yes. And so things like Paul McCartney created the song Yesterday in his dream. Mary Shelley created Frankenstein in her dream. You know, Eliza Howe created the sewing machine in a dream, but it requires that, you know, we teach people how to remember their dreams, but it requires first that you get restful sleep. So sleep is very important, yet so many people, they don't prioritize their sleep, and there's certain things that people could do to remedy bad sleep.

I've tried to lucid dream. I don't know if I did it right or if there's a right way, but I tried it, and I don't think it was a very comfortable experience.

Yeah. So lucid dream, for your listeners, is when— if you've ever had a dream and you're aware that you're dreaming. And one of the benefits is you could start to direct your dream and maybe, you know, meet that person or have that conversation or create things directed. And, uh, but there is a process for certainly doing that.

What are the top 3 steps or habits right now that anyone can take to improve their brain performance?

Yeah, so I'd say I got this from a peer of mine, Dr. Daniel Amen, who's written a lot of books. He's a, you know, a brain doctor. He says get used to asking the question, is this good for my brain or is this bad for my brain? So just like, is it good for my brain or is this bad for my brain? Just get used— put that on a Post-it note, put it as an alarm on your phone, but just train yourself to start asking that question more. And that alone, you know, will make you appreciate your brain more because it's, it's like if somebody was at driving age and they were given a car absolutely free and clear, but that's the car you had for the rest of your life. How well would you treat that car if you had to use this car for decades?

Yeah.

Well, we're given this vehicle of a body, you know, and the steering thing is our brain. And I believe you have to be the pilot of your brain, not just the passenger, right? And so make those choices of what— who to spend time with and what you're gonna eat and what you're gonna consume and watch. The second thing I would say is get the sleep right. Absolutely. We don't prioritize sleep. You know, sometimes we glorify busy, you know, being busy like it's a badge of honour because if we're busy, we must be important. But I would say, you know, set an alarm not only to wake up but to go to sleep. That's probably more important, the alarm to go to sleep, because your brain loves to stay on a cycle and consistency even, you know, on days that you don't have to work. And still go to bed at the same time. I know, and remember the things I mentioned, like you know when things are more cold or it's darker, you sleep better also as well. So get your sleep right. And then the third thing I would say is exercise. You know, so is this good for my brain or bad for my brain? Optimize your sleep. And and then second thing I was exercise your mind and body every day. There's not a day that goes by. You know, I did that It's a Story with Will Smith, and I was like. You know, we were in his trailer. I was like, what are 2 things you do to just be a good performer? And he was prepping for a movie. And he's like, I do 2 things. I run and I read. You know, and I really think, you know, running, as I mentioned, that good cardio, it's good for your heart, it's gonna be good for your head, blood flow and oxygen. But also, you know, reading is like— reading is to the mind what exercise is to your body.

Yeah.

And I think reading is one of the best things that we could do, that leaders are readers. If you've seen pictures of me on social media with Oprah, with Elon, with these men, we bonded over learnings, we bonded over our favorite books. If somebody has decades of experience and they put it into a book, and you can sit down and read that book in a few days, you could download decades in a day, and that's the biggest advantage. So reading, and again, I put this link in our Instagram for that masterclass on speed reading, 'cause that's like the difference between walking and really doing that zone 2 cardio workout. So, you know, exercise your body and your brain.

What are some tips on how to have more positive thinking to improve your brain?

Yeah, I believe all behavior is belief-driven. You know, as I was talking about, our self-talk is the program our brain will run all the time. Something simple, I just did a podcast on this. I like magic, and for me, if you've ever seen a magician do their act, they never tell you how they do it, right? But I've learned that there's always a method behind what looks like magic. Even with myself, where I read a book a day, or remember people's names, or these mental feats, I like to pull back the curtain to show people how to actually do that for themselves so they can advance their learning and advance their life also as well. I would say in magic, they have this phrase abracadabra. And so if you just look at the acronym ABRA, A-B-R-A, The A, so let's say you have a negative thought, right? The A is automatically you acknowledge it. Like, I don't try to fight it because I fight it, it's like telling you, your brain doesn't process negatives. You can't say don't think of a big purple giraffe. Don't think, whatever you do, do not think of a big purple giraffe, right? We're gonna think about it. And so if you say don't think about this stuff, you're just gonna think about it more. So I would say acknowledge it because what you resist It'll just get deeper. The B— so that's A, acknowledge. The B is breathe. We know the power of breath. You've had conversations on your show about this.

Yeah.

It's a wonderful way to be able to bridge your conscious, your non-conscious, your automatic, your autonomous nervous system. And so I would say, I would breathe into where you think that belief is or that thought is. You know, breathe. You can visualize it. The R Is release. So when I breathe in, I'll breathe into it something, and then I'll release that thought out. And then the A in ABRA, the last A, is align. And what I mean by that is add a new thought, or maybe— and usually it's the opposite of what you were just thinking. You know, maybe you were just thinking like, um, I'm not smart enough. And for me, like, what I would do is add a little word like yet at the end.

Yeah.

You know, I, I, I'm— I, I can't do this Yet. I'm not smart enough yet. You know, even adding a yet, a 3 little, you know, letter word, changes everything. Even things like our self-talk is like, oh, I gotta pick up the kids, I gotta work out today, I got to meditate. Even if you change the word got and then change that O in got to E, get. I get to pick up my kids today, I get to meditate today, I get to exercise and work out, eat the best foods ever.

Mm-hmm.

It changes your feeling and the emotion behind that. This spirit of what we're saying to ourselves.

Marisa Peer says this a lot as well. She says self-talk is so important, even for example, to the degree that women with fertility, when they say, you know, it's, you know, your self-talk affects fertility. If you say, you know, growing up, you say negative things about being pregnant or having a child, she says it affects you later on when you do actually want to fall pregnant and have a child.

Our minds are always eavesdropping on our self-talk. It's always listening. If people truly understood how powerful their minds are, they wouldn't say or think something they didn't want to be true. And that's not to say you have one negative thought and it ruins your life, any more than eating that one doughnut will ruin your life. But it's the consistency of it. If you do that every single day, multiple times a day, it really adds up. And so nobody is positive, like, all the time. And I don't think it's useful to be positive all the time. But I'm saying be conscious that we have these thoughts. And that's why we do things like we meditate, right? You don't meditate to control your thoughts. You meditate so you realize that your thoughts don't control you, right? That there's a space in between, and there's a level of agency. And then sometimes our thoughts are just these clouds in the wind that just kind of pass by. And so we are not our thoughts. I think what the world needs now is real hope and real help. Who's having conversations with people now about encouraging them, about unlocking their true greatness and genius? And I think that's the way. So many people dim their light because it's shining in somebody else's eyes.

Yeah.

But I think we have to right now, if anything, shine brighter and inspire those around us to do the same. I think there's a version of all your listeners, regardless of where they are in their life, there's a version of yourself you haven't met yet. And the goal is we show up every single day until we're introduced. So, yeah. And we donate 100% of the proceeds, all the proceeds to charity. Alzheimer's research for women in memory of my grandmother. We built schools around the world— Ghana, Guatemala, Kenya— fully funded the schools for girls and boys who needed education, provided healthcare, clean water. I believe you learn so you can earn so you can return. You know, and I think that's, that's the hero's journey.