In this interview, Jim Kwik talks with psychiatrist and brain‑scan expert Dr. Daniel Amen about the lingering effects of COVID‑19 on the brain, often called “COVID brain” or long‑COVID neurological issues. They outline common symptoms such as brain fog, memory and concentration problems, sleep disturbances, loss of taste or smell, anxiety, depression, irritability, muscle spasms, seizures, and even psychosis. Dr. Amen shares observations from his extensive brain‑scan database, noting inflammation in limbic structures (thalamus, basal ganglia, amygdala, hippocampus) and overall brain damage in long‑COVID patients. He recommends a multi‑pronged recovery plan: high‑dose omega‑3 fatty acids, vitamin C and vitamin D (targeting levels of 80‑100 ng/mL), anti‑inflammatory supplements like quercetin and curcumin, a nutrient‑dense diet with green plants and “Bright Minds” powders, ample rest, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy to boost cerebral blood flow. The conversation also covers serotonin‑boosting strategies, cautious use of SSRIs (e.g., Luvox) for mood regulation, and natural methods such as exercise and 5‑HTP. Dr. Amen promotes his new book, You Happier, which outlines seven neuroscience‑based secrets for happiness, and mentions a related book club and bonus cookbook. Throughout, both hosts stress the importance of consulting health professionals, personal responsibility, and the hopeful, actionable nature of the advice. The video ends with typical Kwik calls to subscribe, share, and contact him directly.
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How do you recover from COVID brain? And this is a topic that has been posted numerous times frequently the past couple of years in our private Facebook group, which has over 100,000 members. I know many of you are part of it. Also in our Kwik Brain app, and you could get that in our Kwik Brain Universe app, which is found in your app store. And so I want to talk about this in depth with a guest of ours. And the guest is Dr. Daniel Amen. He is author of 12 New York Times bestselling books. He's a psychiatrist, a board-certified physician, and he's done over 200,000 brain scans, including yours truly. And we're having a conversation about the effects of long-term COVID, specifically towards the brain. You know, we're all familiar with some of the symptoms that maybe you or loved ones have experienced, whether it's fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, joint pains, chest pains. But what I want to talk about is a little bit of how it's affecting the brain. Since this is a brain-dominant show, memory, concentration, sleep issues, loss of smell or loss of taste. Let's talk about mental health. You see the shirt I'm wearing, if you're watching this on our YouTube channel, which I encourage everyone to subscribe to, that's where we put the extended version of these conversations. It says, it talks about mental health and wellness. But depression, anxiety, loneliness, people feel more sadness than ever the past couple of years. And so what is this? What's going on? And specifically, what are some things, actionable things you could do in your day-to-day lifestyle to help mitigate those kinds of challenges. Now, I encourage you, when it comes to this topic, to seek a professional health practitioner. This is not meant to diagnose or to treat anything. You take personal responsibility by listening to this. I want to welcome Dr. Daniel Amen. He's author of a brand new book also. And this is something that people want more of, right? They want to feel— again, it's called You Happier, if you're not seeing me on screen. Welcome, Dr. Daniel Amen.
Jim. Jim, so great to see you. Such an important topic, you know, coming out hopefully of the pandemic. There's a lot of people that have been impacted by COVID and sort of the long-term effects of what we call at Amen Clinics COVID brain.
And so I encourage everybody to contact, you know, like stay in touch with your health practitioner. This is neither diagnosing or treating anything in this conversation. You, the listener, you take responsibility. But Dr. Amen, I want to talk about your Your patients, what are you seeing right now and the aftereffects, you know, during, after, and what kind of recommendations are you giving people right now in terms of what are you seeing that's working for people, especially some— maybe you could talk about some of the effects that it's having specifically. What our listeners are concerned about is their brain health.
So it's very common. In fact, people who get COVID, 20%, according to a study from Sweden, will have a new mental health challenge, new mental health diagnosis after they got it. And so right away you go, COVID affects the brain because as you and I both know, I actually hate the term mental illness because it's not mental, it's brain. You know, these are brain health issues that steal people's And almost as soon as the pandemic started, we knew it affected the brain because people lost their sense of taste and smell. And then we saw the increased incidence of anxiety and depression separate from the pandemic isolation and fear. And then we saw some people had seizures. A lot of people had brain fog. They started not liking food, so their appetites went away because of the change in their sense of taste and smell. They became more irritable, more anxious. They started having muscle spasms and just this sort of chronic unhappiness. And as I started scanning people, because my wife's assistant got COVID and she changed, I mean, she's more irritable and more anxious, and some people even become psychotic. They become paranoid. So I scanned her. Right afterwards, like a bomb went off in her emotional brain. You just saw the inflammation of her thalamus, her basal ganglia, the amygdala, the hippocampus. It's like boom. We saw what we often see with things like Lyme is initially you see inflammation of the brain structures, the limbic or emotional brain structures. And then I saw it consistently. I had an NHL player who just wasn't getting better. Then I had, you know, some of my long-term patients where I already had their scans, and then I got it after COVID. And then for the people who have long COVID, sort of like with long Lyme, they had these overall decreases. I mean, you could really see the damage. To their brain. So what do you do? Well, the first thing you do is, you know, you have inflammation. So I got COVID on New Year's Eve, and now imagine I've seen hundreds of COVID brains, and so now I'm worried about mine. And so what did I do, and what do I recommend my patients to do? So I'm not your doctor, but if— I was your doctor. Omega-3 fatty acids, high dose of vitamin C, high dose of vitamin D. I want you to get your level to like 80, 90, 100. So normal is between 30 and 100. Optimal for a pandemic is more like 80, 90, 100. You want it high normal. Multiple studies now on vitamin D, Decreasing the risk of side effects from COVID Quercetin, because it decreases inflammation. Curcumin, because it decreases inflammation. So every morning I make myself this great shake: protein powder, Bright Minds powder— it's multiple vitamin and brain boost— smart mushrooms boost your immunity, vitamin C, Neuro Greens. So as many green Plants you can get into your diet, the better. And then I'm just really serious about what I eat and resting. I think resting is really important. You know, I'm sort of like the Energizer Bunny. I inherited that from my mom. When I got COVID, I started taking naps and I'm like, oh, this is what, you know, this is how it's gonna affect me. But I think doing all the right things, and for some of our people, we put 'em in a hyperbaric chamber, helps them so much. Because hyperbaric oxygen can increase blood flow to the brain, but also decrease inflammation.
And really what I want— and again, everyone should talk to their health practitioner. Everyone's bio-individual. Again, not intended to diagnose or treat. But, you know, what this episode is, this conversation is really— it's about hope and it's about help. That it's— there are things that we could do when it comes to our lifestyle. In terms of how we move, how we breathe, how we eat, how we engage our brain to be able to mitigate the damage and also give us an opportunity to be able to reclaim the level of brain health that we desire and really, really deserve.
Well, and so many people are going to go see their doctor and say they're anxious and depressed. I want you to be thoughtful. About that, because just going on a benzo may make things better in the short run, but worse in the long run. Now, one of the most interesting findings in the pandemic was Luvox, an SSRI, FDA approved for OCD, was shown to significantly cut deaths and hospitalizations from COVID And you're like, go, huh? Why would that be? And what I've seen consistently over time with the SSRIs is they calm down activity in the brain. So if you have ADD, for example, they wouldn't be good because they'll make you more ADD and you won't care that you are. So that's where the scans come in. But I found it particularly interesting that if you're struggling with worry, With your mood, finding natural ways to boost serotonin. That's what Luvox does. It's a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor. 5-HTP, exercise. There are certain ways to eat. I talk about it in my new book, You Happier, that can boost serotonin. That, that is really a good strategy. And then for some people, You know, an SSRI may actually be helpful for them. Of course, you should talk to your doctor about that.
In your book, you talk about dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins. I wanna encourage everybody, as you mentioned, mental health, which is really brain health. People feel loneliness, they feel sad, they feel depressed. And, you know, this is part of what people have been dealing with, or a lot of people in their reality the past couple years. You Happier, I wanna encourage everybody to get their copy of this book to talk about the 7 neuroscience secrets of just feeling good. There was no class back in school on happiness. There was no Happiness 101, right? There was just like, there was no class on memory or the things that we teach.
Or learning.
Or learning. That would have been very useful.
Isn't that insane? That's insane.
Yeah, and so school will teach you, you know, maybe what to learn or what to think, but not necessarily how to learn and how to think. And also just where we get a level of satisfaction. a level of fulfillment, a level of joy. And so I wanna thank you for writing this book. People could go to youhappier.com to get their copy of Dr. Daniel Amen's brand new book. Highly encourage it. It also comes with some amazing bonuses, including a cookbook by Tana and also saffron and just great, wonderful happiness package. You kind of get it. It's like your birthday, you open it up. And also we're really happy we included You Happier into our brand new book club. People have been asking us a long time to create a book club club where once a month we could read a book together and I could show them how to focus and remember what they read. And also, we're going to have the author each month, like yourself, to come in and answer burning questions. So, it's a real, real, real, real treat. And so, Dr. Amen, thank you so much for sharing again, for being on our show so many numerous times. You first came and spoke at our event over 10 years ago at Rancho Bernardo, one of our annual brain power gatherings, you know, and so I really appreciate all the amazing hope and help you give to myself and so many people.
Yeah, I always love hanging out with you.
Yeah, amazing memories. And that's really what it's all about. It's not just remembering facts, figures, foreign languages. It's about remembering the things that matter, remembering your loved ones, remembering your life, that if your life is worth living, it's worth remembering, you know, and that really starts with good brain health. So everybody go get your copy of You Happier. And until then, change, change your brain. As you said, change your life, change your brain, we could change the world.
Hi, Kwik Brain, it's your brain coach. I want to thank you so much for watching this video. 3 things to do. Number 1, make sure you share this because when you teach something, you get to learn it twice. Update your learning so you can update other people's learning as well. Number 2, make sure you subscribe to this channel so you don't miss a thing. Because if you miss a video, you miss a lot. And finally, make sure you hit that bell so you're notified and you find out when we put out the latest and the greatest. One extra thing, if you want really close attention, then text me. Here is my phone number: 310-299-9362. Did you remember that number? 310- 299-9362. Shoot me a text and we'll stay in touch. Ask me your burning question. And I wish your days be full of lots of life, lots of love, lots of laughter, and always lots of learning. I'll see you in our next video.
