The No.1 Brain Doctor: This Parenting Mistake Ruins Your Kids Brain & Alcohol Will Ruin Yours! (YouTube Video Transcript)

(00:00:00) Your YouTube transcript will appear here (00:00:00) there are in fact many roads to (00:00:02) Alzheimer's disease and it's things like (00:00:04) marijuana alcohol and football and then (00:00:07) a study found that people had had a (00:00:09) simple carbohydrate based diet had a (00:00:12) 400% increased risk of getting (00:00:14) Alzheimer's but one of the major classes (00:00:18) is gosh Dr Daniel aan is the renowned (00:00:21) psychiatrist and brain health expert who (00:00:23) has scanned over 260,000 brains (00:00:25) including Justin Bieber Miley Cyrus and (00:00:27) Kendall Jenner to determine what we need (00:00:29) to do for Optimum brain health in 2024 (00:00:32) the word of the year was brain rot why (00:00:34) because people are worried that their (00:00:36) habits are shrinking their brain like (00:00:39) food gaming social media pornography (00:00:42) what about working with bad for (00:00:44) your brain and then is there anything (00:00:46) nonobvious that we do to our children's (00:00:48) brains yes and this is so important (00:00:51) because this is one thing a lot of (00:00:53) parents do without knowing the (00:00:55) consequences for their children and (00:00:57) we'll talk about that what about (00:00:58) negative thinking well we just this huge (00:01:01) study on this and the science is really (00:01:04) clear it decreases activity in your (00:01:07) preal cortex which impacts your (00:01:09) motivation focus and mood it is (00:01:12) detrimental to your brain so how can you (00:01:15) kill the negative thoughts well there's (00:01:17) a whole bunch of things when is sap on (00:01:19) head-to-head has been shown to be (00:01:21) equally effective as anti-depressants (00:01:23) and then whenever you feel sad or mad or (00:01:26) nervous what I want you to do is it's so (00:01:29) simple (00:01:33) I have been forced into a bet with my (00:01:35) team we're about to hit 10 million (00:01:37) subscribers on YouTube which is our (00:01:38) biggest Milestone ever thanks to all of (00:01:40) you and we want to have a massive party (00:01:42) for the people that have worked on this (00:01:43) show for years behind the scenes so they (00:01:45) said to me Steve for every new (00:01:47) subscriber we get in the next 30 days (00:01:49) can $1 be given to our celebration fund (00:01:53) for the entire team and I've agreed to (00:01:55) the bet so if you want to say thank you (00:01:57) to the team behind the scenes at D of a (00:01:58) CE all you've got to do is hit the (00:02:00) subscribe button so actually this is the (00:02:02) first time I'm going to tell you not to (00:02:03) subscribe because it might end up (00:02:06) costing me an (00:02:09) [Applause] (00:02:14) [Music] (00:02:19) awful Dr Daniel aan if someone's just (00:02:22) clicked on this conversation now and (00:02:23) they have no idea who you are which is (00:02:26) highly highly (00:02:27) unlikely can you tell me why listening (00:02:32) to you and this conversation and the (00:02:34) work that we're about to go through now (00:02:36) is so important for everyone even those (00:02:41) who believe that right now they have no (00:02:43) issues everybody has a brain that's (00:02:46) listening it controls everything they do (00:02:50) how they think how they feel how they (00:02:52) act how they get along with other (00:02:56) people and most people know it but don't (00:03:00) your brain is the organ of (00:03:02) intelligence character and every (00:03:06) decision you make and when it works (00:03:10) right you work right and when it doesn't (00:03:13) you have (00:03:15) trouble and most people have no idea (00:03:19) that their bad decisions their sadness (00:03:24) their anxiety their (00:03:26) insomnia their poor (00:03:29) relationship have has to do with the (00:03:31) physical (00:03:32) functioning of their brain so if they (00:03:36) want to be (00:03:38) happier they need to think about loving (00:03:42) and caring for their brain optimize your (00:03:46) brain you optimize your mind's (00:03:52) ability you mentioned scanning brains (00:03:54) there remind me again how many people's (00:03:55) brains youve scanned now so it's now (00:03:57) about 260,000 (00:04:00) 260,000 people's brains and you've (00:04:02) scanned some famous (00:04:03) brains yes actually people from nine (00:04:06) months old to 105 from (00:04:09) 155 countries and it's public knowledge (00:04:13) I've been in Justin Bieber's docu series (00:04:15) seasons I scanned his brain I've scanned (00:04:18) Miley Cyrus's (00:04:19) brain um Mel Gibson just went on Joe (00:04:22) Rogan and talked about me scanning his (00:04:24) brain um Muhammad Ali Mike Tyson Jake (00:04:29) Paul (00:04:31) you also scanned my brain and you (00:04:33) actually taught me a lot from scanning (00:04:34) my brain which I'm did you think about (00:04:36) your brain after we talked about of (00:04:38) course I think about it all the time now (00:04:41) it's also interesting that in 2024 the (00:04:44) year just gone the word of the year was (00:04:47) the word brain (00:04:49) rot and that's interesting because the (00:04:52) subject of the brain I don't think has (00:04:55) been given the credit and the attention (00:04:58) it deserves really until recently and (00:05:00) much of your work has played into that (00:05:03) why do you think if you had to guess why (00:05:05) do you think Oxford University's word of (00:05:07) the year was brainroot (00:05:09) because people are worried that their (00:05:12) habits are (00:05:14) shrinking their brain (00:05:18) especially social media and digital (00:05:22) addictions I'm so hoping they'll go to (00:05:26) brain health (00:05:28) as be more (00:05:31) aspirational we've talked about a lot of (00:05:33) things on this show um one of the things (00:05:34) that really stuck with me is how the (00:05:37) content we consume can have a profound (00:05:39) impact on our brains we often think of (00:05:41) the chemicals the the drugs the alcohol (00:05:43) and all those things which I want to (00:05:44) talk about but one such piece of content (00:05:47) which I don't think we have talked about (00:05:48) is the impact of pornography on the (00:05:51) brain is there a link between brain (00:05:53) health and pornography (00:05:56) consumption you know it's such an (00:05:58) important question (00:06:00) and the first thing that comes to my (00:06:03) mind (00:06:05) is (00:06:06) exposing developing brains to (00:06:10) pornography is so dangerous and8 nine 10 (00:06:15) yearold boys are being exposed to the (00:06:19) internet where they can see all sorts of (00:06:25) pornography when their brains aren't (00:06:28) anywhere near (00:06:31) the ability to discern what's good (00:06:34) what's not good what's healthy what's (00:06:36) not healthy and it's (00:06:39) deadening and I use that word (00:06:41) purposefully the nucleus accumbens which (00:06:44) is the area of your brain that produces (00:06:48) that responds to dopamine so dopamine (00:06:51) and I know you've done podcasts on (00:06:53) dopamine it's the (00:06:56) neurotransmitter that helps us with (00:06:59) motivation (00:07:00) which helps us with Focus which helps us (00:07:02) with happiness and mood and when the (00:07:07) nucle succumbent gets hit (00:07:11) repeatedly with pornographic images it's (00:07:14) like dopamine dopamine dopamine it (00:07:17) begins to deaden that area and then you (00:07:20) need more and more to begin to feel (00:07:24) anything at all it's why Fame is so hard (00:07:28) on the brain but (00:07:31) pornography especially in the young is (00:07:34) incredibly damaging to the brain so is (00:07:37) that applicable to all things that cause (00:07:39) like a really sharp burst of dopamine (00:07:42) and stimulation so you said there Fame (00:07:45) ponography I mean potentially gaming or (00:07:48) gambling those kinds of things um (00:07:50) alcohol is obviously one of those things (00:07:52) as well cocaine cocaine especially for a (00:07:55) developing brain especially for a (00:07:58) developing brain if there's any message (00:08:01) protect your brain until you're 25 and (00:08:04) then your brain will protect you but (00:08:08) until then your prefrontal cortex at (00:08:12) from third of your brain is not fully (00:08:15) developed which is sort of why God gave (00:08:18) you parents it's like so supervise it's (00:08:21) like oh my teenagers hate it if I (00:08:23) supervise them and yeah they hate it (00:08:25) more if you (00:08:26) don't um but what if you get to 25 (00:08:30) and you're listening to this now and you (00:08:32) go Jesus I does this mean that I can do (00:08:35) nothing about my brain of course not I (00:08:38) mean what I've shown is let's just take (00:08:41) the NFL work H big damage right let's (00:08:46) stop lying about this football is a (00:08:49) brain damaging Sport and soccer as well (00:08:53) is a brain damaging sport so high levels (00:08:58) of damage 80% of my NFL players got (00:09:01) better when we put them on a (00:09:03) rehabilitation (00:09:05) program so if you've been bad to your (00:09:10) brain like non-stop gaming lots of (00:09:14) pornography terrible (00:09:16) food and all of a sudden you go oh I can (00:09:21) have a better (00:09:22) brain your brain can be better in as (00:09:26) little as a couple of months where you (00:09:30) just feel better think better your mood (00:09:32) is (00:09:33) better but it has to start with this (00:09:38) concept I think we've talked about brain (00:09:40) Envy it's you have to want to have a (00:09:44) better (00:09:45) brain when when people come to you what (00:09:49) is it they're (00:09:50) typically motivated by like in ter when (00:09:53) they come to you why do they come to you (00:09:54) is it because they've heard of your work (00:09:55) on the internet and they they want to (00:09:57) just they're curious about getting their (00:09:59) brain scanned or is do they usually come (00:10:01) with a symptom or some other (00:10:04) ailment no usually they come because (00:10:07) they're in pain that they're anxious (00:10:10) they're depressed they're um marriage is (00:10:14) falling apart or um their wife says come (00:10:19) or I'm going to divorce you it's not an (00:10:22) uncommon thing or they're struggling in (00:10:25) school they're not living up to their (00:10:29) potential in one way or another now (00:10:31) about 10% of the people come to us go (00:10:33) I'm fine but I want to see and I want to (00:10:37) be better and I don't want Alzheimer's (00:10:39) so a lot of people come because they (00:10:42) love a parent or grandparent that has (00:10:45) Alzheimer they realize there's a genetic (00:10:48) component to it and they don't want to (00:10:52) have that but that's really someone who (00:10:54) is Forward Thinking I (00:10:58) think more people come because they're (00:11:04) hurting what evidence have we got that (00:11:06) alcohol is bad for the brain and bad for (00:11:10) the rest of our body especially in (00:11:12) moderation well the S US Surgeon General (00:11:14) just came out wanting to put cancer (00:11:18) warning labels on all (00:11:21) alcohol (00:11:23) um that's sort of big evidence I mean (00:11:26) three years ago the American Cancer (00:11:28) Society came out against any alcohol (00:11:33) because drinking any alcohol increases (00:11:37) your risk of seven different (00:11:40) cancers and that's a big deal and then (00:11:44) the evidence I have and my first Clinic (00:11:47) was outside of the Napa Valley in (00:11:50) Northern California so alcohol is a big (00:11:53) thing and as I was looking at scans I'm (00:11:57) like your brain's older than you are (00:11:59) that alcohol is not a health food it is (00:12:03) detrimental to brain function and then (00:12:07) of course you know so I've been a (00:12:09) psychiatrist now I decided to be a (00:12:11) psychiatrist 46 years (00:12:13) ago the number one problem I see is (00:12:17) someone drinks and they make a bad (00:12:19) decision someone drinks and they say (00:12:22) something to their partner that they (00:12:24) just shouldn't have said or they drink (00:12:27) and they go to work or they drink and (00:12:29) they drive or they drink and it just (00:12:33) causes so much trouble and in 1999 I did (00:12:38) a show uh called the truth about (00:12:41) drinking and we took a young adult um (00:12:44) who had trouble with alcohol got him (00:12:46) sober scanned him and then on National (00:12:49) Television we got him drunk just like he (00:12:53) got drunk and it just crashed his (00:12:57) frontal loes and you just it's so clear (00:13:01) that alcohol takes the break off your (00:13:06) brain and so people use it to calm the (00:13:10) brain down but there's certain parts of (00:13:12) your brain you really don't want to go (00:13:15) offline the part that says don't say (00:13:18) that don't do that is that just when (00:13:22) when I've had one drink and then when I (00:13:24) say BR up I'm back to (00:13:25) normal or is this chronic well it (00:13:28) depends (00:13:30) one drink will (00:13:33) decrease um in a mild way your decision (00:13:37) making when it becomes (00:13:40) chronic your life begins to get out of (00:13:44) control because I'm wondering you know (00:13:46) if if people drink in moderation are (00:13:48) they going to see long-term impacts to (00:13:50) their brain what is there such thing (00:13:53) as um drinking just a little bit and (00:13:57) being (00:13:58) fine well you I think there's always (00:14:00) sort of a dose response there was a (00:14:03) study in Spain that looked at people who (00:14:06) had mild moderate and severe drinking (00:14:11) and they compared them to people who (00:14:12) didn't drink at all even the people who (00:14:17) only drank a little had (00:14:20) disruptions in the white matter of their (00:14:24) brain now most people have heard about (00:14:26) gray matter and white matter gray matter (00:14:30) is nerve cell (00:14:32) bodies white matter is nerve cell tracks (00:14:36) so if you think of gray matter is where (00:14:38) the (00:14:39) computation uh is happening in the brain (00:14:42) and white matter are like the (00:14:45) highways and so even a little bit of (00:14:50) alcohol is creating potholes it's (00:14:54) disrupting the (00:14:56) highways in the brain and if if you're (00:14:59) drinking a lot you are prematurely aging (00:15:04) your brain you've scammed a lot of (00:15:06) people who are alcoholics Lots I mean (00:15:09) I've got some scans here and which I'll (00:15:12) put on the screen but can you explain to (00:15:14) me exactly what a brain looks like when (00:15:16) the person has been drinking heavily for (00:15:18) a long period of time so again we do a (00:15:22) study called Spa in Spec looks at blood (00:15:24) flow and activity it looks at how the (00:15:27) brain works and (00:15:30) for people who know the mitochondria (00:15:32) those are the little Powerhouse energy (00:15:35) plants in your cells the spect Tracer (00:15:39) 49% of it is taken up by the (00:15:42) mitochondria in the brain so we're also (00:15:44) looking at energy (00:15:48) metabolism and what we see with (00:15:51) alcoholic brains is something we call (00:15:53) scallopine which is This Global (00:15:57) decrease in Act activ it so a healthy (00:16:01) brain full even symmetrical activity it (00:16:05) sort of look big fat and round with (00:16:09) alcohol or other drugs too you see the (00:16:12) brain begin to shrivel and you see it (00:16:16) gets this wavy (00:16:18) appearance and I'm like the real reason (00:16:23) not to drink is it damages your brain so (00:16:26) if you drink then you have a smaller (00:16:29) brain (00:16:30) than you would have otherwise (00:16:32) correct that's pretty scary what does it (00:16:36) why does brain size matter you know when (00:16:37) people say it's going to shrink your (00:16:38) brain why does that matter so I often (00:16:42) say the only organ where size really (00:16:45) does matter is your brain (00:16:49) um because you don't want to (00:16:54) lose brain tissue right there is a part (00:16:58) of your brain called the Hipp canvas (00:17:00) which is on the inside of your temporal (00:17:04) loes right here and it's really (00:17:09) important and um it makes new stem cells (00:17:14) every day about (00:17:16) 700 and if you're (00:17:21) drinking it's not allowing those new (00:17:24) stem cells to take hold to take root you (00:17:28) want to strengthen them so they will (00:17:32) continue to support mood (00:17:36) memory um spatial orientation spatial (00:17:41) processing so that's the symptoms you (00:17:44) you're naming there inadvertently (00:17:45) symptoms of someone who has damaged (00:17:47) their hippocampus right so poor memory (00:17:49) probably poor spatial awareness brain (00:17:51) fog and moood and me issues and judgment (00:17:56) and impulse control um but it it impacts (00:18:01) the brain globally so the cerebellum so (00:18:05) they're not going to process as quickly (00:18:08) their decisions are not going to be as (00:18:11) good and (00:18:14) um I worked with my friend BJ fog who (00:18:19) wrote a wonderful book called tiny (00:18:20) habits and he's the um director of (00:18:25) Stanford's persuasive technology lab (00:18:28) which is really on how people people (00:18:29) change and he and I work together cuz (00:18:32) I'm always interested in how I can help (00:18:33) my patients better (00:18:36) um and I met him at a conference like 18 (00:18:40) months after we worked together and he (00:18:42) said I just want to thank you I'm like (00:18:45) why he said I wake up 100% every day I'm (00:18:52) like why I stopped (00:18:54) drinking because people with and they're (00:18:56) around me enough they either drink more (00:18:59) I suspect or they stop and isn't that (00:19:04) what you want you wake up (00:19:08) 100% every day why would you ever do (00:19:13) anything that (00:19:16) damages stem cell production in your (00:19:20) brain one might argue that it's serving (00:19:23) me in the short term of course but there (00:19:25) are lots of things that like you see you (00:19:28) know let's say you're married but but (00:19:29) you're at a conference and you see this (00:19:31) really cute person and you're like oh (00:19:34) well in the short run that could be (00:19:37) awesome and in the long run you lose (00:19:40) half your net worth and visit your (00:19:41) children on the weekends it's (00:19:45) like that's not a good thing and you (00:19:49) know in the short run you feel more (00:19:52) relaxed right with alcohol you feel more (00:19:55) relaxed and in the long run it increases (00:19:58) your risk of Al Al's disease I'm like (00:20:02) that's not a good tradeoff on your blog (00:20:04) you published a study from 2019 sorry (00:20:07) from 2009 it was a study on monkeys that (00:20:10) showed a decline in new brain cell (00:20:12) development and in that study there was (00:20:14) a 58% decline in new brain cells and a (00:20:17) 63% reduction in the survival rate of (00:20:19) new cells from alcohol use they had (00:20:21) monkeys drinking alcohol yes they have (00:20:23) monkeys doing all sorts of things they (00:20:25) shouldn't be doing which is effectively (00:20:28) like pre ual brain (00:20:30) aging right and it's (00:20:34) worse if you do it before your brain is (00:20:38) finished developing and so if you think (00:20:42) of fraternities yeah and surori like I'm (00:20:46) not a fan of sending children away to (00:20:49) college and um is because you have all (00:20:53) these (00:20:54) underdeveloped brains or not fully (00:20:57) developed brains and you put them all (00:21:00) together without appropriate adult (00:21:03) supervision and a lot of bad things (00:21:08) happen at fraternity parties and (00:21:11) sorority parties they're drinking less (00:21:13) though now no they're still drinking it (00:21:15) oh really there's one second and now (00:21:17) they're adding mushroom parties to it so (00:21:20) it's alcohol and psilocybin and (00:21:23) marijuana because everybody thinks (00:21:25) marijuana is innocuous which is a lie (00:21:29) and uh is it m marijuana it's a lie yeah (00:21:35) and I was actually really upset (00:21:38) um so President (00:21:42) Biden during the time he was running for (00:21:45) president so this is (00:21:48) 2019 he's on debate stage with a lot of (00:21:51) other people and they asked him if he (00:21:54) would (00:21:56) federally uh legalize marijuana (00:22:00) and he Saidi don't think the science is (00:22:03) decided and no I don't think I would and (00:22:06) Cory Booker the senator from New (00:22:09) Jersey shamed Biden on National (00:22:12) Television he said man are you (00:22:17) high which is just horrifying and I'm (00:22:20) watching this (00:22:23) going the science is actually really (00:22:26) clear marijuana is bad for the brain I (00:22:31) published a study on a thousand (00:22:35) marijuana users every area of their (00:22:37) brain is lower in activity and just (00:22:41) today a study came out in the Journal of (00:22:45) the American Medical Association on a, (00:22:50) 21,27 marijuana users um it decreased (00:22:55) activity in the hippocampus that (00:22:58) affected (00:22:59) their memory (00:23:02) centers if you're a teenager and you use (00:23:06) marijuana in your 20s you have a higher (00:23:09) incidence of anxiety depression and (00:23:13) suicide this is not innocuous and we've (00:23:17) been advertised this load of crap which (00:23:21) is oh it's just good medicine and for (00:23:25) some people it is (00:23:27) helpful but let's not say say it's (00:23:30) innocuous because that's a lie and we (00:23:33) are now so many states have legalized (00:23:36) marijuana for recreational use including (00:23:39) here in (00:23:40) California and the Mental Health (00:23:43) crisis is not better if anything it's (00:23:48) dramatically (00:23:50) worse there's two issues here isn't (00:23:52) there there's the impact cannabis has on (00:23:53) the brain and then there's the whole (00:23:54) issue of (00:23:55) legalization and I was re as you was (00:23:58) speaking I was was just looking at some (00:23:59) of the research and it it says exactly (00:24:01) what you said it says that there was a (00:24:02) study published in Jama Network which (00:24:04) examined over a thousand young adults (00:24:05) brains and almost 70% of heavy users (00:24:08) exhibited reduced brain activity during (00:24:10) working memory tasks the decline was (00:24:13) associated with poor poor performance in (00:24:14) retaining and using information (00:24:16) long-term cannabis use has been linked (00:24:18) to smaller hippocampus volume which (00:24:20) again impacts memory and learning so I (00:24:23) mean the science is clear that of what (00:24:25) it's doing but the the question of (00:24:26) legalization is a whole another issue (00:24:29) well please don't put people who use (00:24:30) marijuana in jail yeah like that's just (00:24:33) a bad use of money yeah that that's not (00:24:37) smart but the the problem becomes we're (00:24:40) not educating kids on the potential (00:24:44) damage to brain development which nobody (00:24:47) really argues (00:24:49) about nobody's really nobody reputable I (00:24:52) know of is going yeah give it to (00:24:54) teenagers and let them smoke all they (00:24:56) want no it's just dumb so I it's a (00:25:01) bigger question and I think the (00:25:05) answer I have a high school course (00:25:08) in um it's called brain Thrive by 25 and (00:25:11) we actually studied it in 16 schools (00:25:14) decreases drug alcohol and tobacco use (00:25:16) decreases depression and improves (00:25:19) self-esteem why we teach kids to love (00:25:22) and care for their brain you got your (00:25:26) brain scan and now you love love your (00:25:29) brain more you you want it to be better (00:25:34) that's the answer it's not scanning (00:25:36) everybody it's educating everybody your (00:25:40) brain controls everything you do and (00:25:42) when it works right you work right and (00:25:44) when it doesn't you (00:25:45) don't so let's love it and let's learn (00:25:50) together how to optimize it but the big (00:25:54) innovation Stephen for 2025 in (00:25:57) psychiatry marijuana psilocybin and (00:26:01) ketamine the street drugs of the 60s are (00:26:05) coming back and I'm (00:26:08) like I feel like I'm living in this (00:26:11) insane world where we're not talking (00:26:14) about you should eat better and exercise (00:26:18) and learn not to believe every stupid (00:26:20) thing you think and meditation could (00:26:24) calm your mind probably more effectively (00:26:28) than alcohol or marijuana it's not hard (00:26:31) to learn what's wrong with cocy in magic (00:26:34) mushrooms yeah everybody's so excited (00:26:37) about micro doing and it's a treatment (00:26:40) for depression and I think I've seen (00:26:42) this story before so in the early (00:26:47) 80s benzos you know like Xanax and (00:26:51) clopen and Adavan they were Mommy's (00:26:53) Little Helper and this will really help (00:26:56) your anxiety the problem is they make (00:26:58) your brain look older than you are and (00:27:00) they're addictive as hell then there was (00:27:02) alcohol is a health food marijuana is (00:27:06) innocuous pain is the fifth Vital sign (00:27:09) which led to the opiate epidemic and now (00:27:12) we're into (00:27:14) mushrooms psilocybin Associated (00:27:18) psychosis has gone up (00:27:20) 300% in the last couple of years that (00:27:23) not for everybody but for some (00:27:26) vulnerable people and we don't know who (00:27:28) they are (00:27:29) it can flip them into a psychotic (00:27:32) episode I'm like we need to be careful (00:27:36) we need to be (00:27:38) thoughtful so psilocybin hasn't yet been (00:27:41) legalized in the US in Oregon oh it has (00:27:45) been in Oregon (00:27:46) um is it being delivered yet in Oregon (00:27:50) in a theraputic just now is it so it (00:27:53) there was a 2-year waiting period yeah (00:27:55) and they were training uh people to do (00:27:58) psilocybin assisted psychotherapy but (00:28:02) there isn't a psilocybin compound that's (00:28:04) been approved yet by the FDA so there's (00:28:07) still I think it's stage three clinical (00:28:09) trials from what I understand I was (00:28:11) quite involved in that world as an (00:28:13) investor once upon a time so I (00:28:16) understand the like rigor to get these (00:28:18) compounds clinically approved and you're (00:28:21) right so in the early like clinical (00:28:23) trials there's I mean groups of like 20 (00:28:25) people in some of the early clinical (00:28:26) trials and as they're progressing now I (00:28:28) I think getting to stage three they need (00:28:30) to have bigger sample sizes and make (00:28:33) sure that these compounds are safe and (00:28:34) from what I've seen a lot of people are (00:28:37) trying to get it approved in a clinical (00:28:38) setting for CA cases of treatment (00:28:41) resistant depression where you do see (00:28:44) even in those the studies that I've read (00:28:46) you see some people have adverse (00:28:49) responses so some people get worse and (00:28:51) there's you know if you take a someone (00:28:52) who's treatment resistant depressed and (00:28:54) potentially suicidal and you give them a (00:28:57) a a strong compound like of sideon some (00:29:00) people can get worse but for the ones (00:29:02) that get better it's pretty remarkable (00:29:06) it's like I've been I remember the first (00:29:07) study that I read I think coming out of (00:29:09) the L uh one of the London universities (00:29:13) that's really leading on this maybe (00:29:14) Imperial College London or something and (00:29:17) it said something like 30% of people (00:29:20) that did one dose of celoc cybin (00:29:22) were went into clinical remission after (00:29:25) 12 weeks after one dose and there's (00:29:27) really like nothing else that I can (00:29:29) think of that can deliver that kind of (00:29:32) response in that period of time K (00:29:35) ketamine ketamine I mean MDMA has I (00:29:37) think been ketamine can do it but then (00:29:41) ketamine can also be addictive and can (00:29:45) be (00:29:46) problematic so I'm like well why (00:29:50) wouldn't we scan them (00:29:52) first and then try to figure out why (00:29:55) you're depressed CU if you think about (00:29:58) it (00:30:01) depression is like chest (00:30:04) pain and nobody gets a diagnosis of (00:30:07) chest pain why it doesn't tell you (00:30:11) what's causing it and it doesn't tell (00:30:13) you what to do for (00:30:15) it all sorts of things can cause chest (00:30:18) pain right from a heart attack a heart (00:30:22) arhythmia a heart (00:30:24) infection gas an ulcer grief all of (00:30:29) those can cause chest pain well there's (00:30:31) a whole bunch of things that can cause (00:30:33) depression like loss negative thinking (00:30:38) low thyroid having a head injury um (00:30:43) being exposed to mold or Mercury (00:30:48) blad it's like if you don't look if you (00:30:52) just give everybody you're depressed (00:30:55) based on these nine symptoms and now we (00:30:59) go give everybody an SSRI which is (00:31:01) ludicrous because that's assuming (00:31:03) everybody with it's sort of like giving (00:31:06) everybody with chest pain (00:31:09) nitroglycerin (00:31:11) which is (00:31:14) stupid right you would never give (00:31:16) everybody who has chest pain one (00:31:19) treatment you'd go I have to Target the (00:31:23) treatment to the cause but if you never (00:31:27) look (00:31:29) you have no idea so for example I was on (00:31:32) the (00:31:33) Kardashians and so it's public that um I (00:31:36) saw Kendall and I saw her for postco (00:31:40) anxiety her brain was on fire from covid (00:31:46) and a lot of people don't understand (00:31:48) that covid and other infections can (00:31:51) cause (00:31:52) inflammation in the brain well that's (00:31:55) not a (00:31:56) psilocybon thing that's an (00:32:00) anti-inflammatory cocktail to help (00:32:04) postco anxiety or postco depression if (00:32:08) you don't look you don't know you end up (00:32:11) Flying (00:32:12) Blind and that's what I'm in fighting (00:32:14) with my colleagues for the last 33 years (00:32:18) it's how do you know unless you look and (00:32:23) what other Medical Specialists never (00:32:26) look at the organ they so we could talk (00:32:29) about oh I've seen these amazing (00:32:32) results and I think we should see well (00:32:35) what's this scan (00:32:38) pattern that you're going to respond to (00:32:41) psilocybin or Lexapro or ketamine or (00:32:45) lctl right I mean it's great we have all (00:32:47) these treatments but let's not fly (00:32:51) [Music] (00:32:52) blind when we don't have to there's this (00:32:55) graph I saw the other day circulating (00:32:57) around the internet which I'm going to (00:32:58) show you and I'll put it on the screen (00:33:00) for anybody that can't see it but it (00:33:02) shows globally which countries (00:33:05) distribute the most anti-depressant (00:33:07) pills (00:33:09) ssris and the United States leads the (00:33:11) way by a long margin I mean I think in (00:33:15) in looking at that graph it's almost 10 (00:33:17) times more anti-depressant pills per (00:33:19) person are handed out in the United (00:33:21) States than other parts of the (00:33:23) world and I wondered why why does the (00:33:27) USA (00:33:29) hand out anti-depressant pills (00:33:32) like like their water or (00:33:36) something it's such an interesting graph (00:33:40) um because here in America we want the (00:33:44) fast answer I don't feel well fix me (00:33:51) and what doctors have do you know 85% of (00:33:55) psychiatric drugs in America are (00:33:58) prescribed by non- psychiatric (00:34:01) physicians in 7-minute office visits (00:34:04) that do standard of care (00:34:07) 12% of the time what does that mean and (00:34:11) that they do what most doctors would (00:34:14) consider good medicine 12% of the time (00:34:18) so you go to your family doctor or your (00:34:20) nurse practitioner and you go I'm sad (00:34:23) I'm anxious I'm not sleeping you might (00:34:26) and we hear this all the time at clinics (00:34:28) I have 11 clinics around the United (00:34:30) States we hear it all the time that I (00:34:33) went to my doctor and he gave me a (00:34:35) prescription for Lexapro Xanax and (00:34:40) ambian and it just blows my mind that (00:34:44) they would put you on something that (00:34:46) changes your brain to need them in order (00:34:51) for you to feel normal see people don't (00:34:53) understand and I am not opposed to (00:34:56) medication I use it when I think I need (00:35:00) to but let's be clear they do not heal (00:35:07) fix anything what they do is they (00:35:09) suppress symptoms but then once they've (00:35:13) suppressed the symptoms they've changed (00:35:15) your brain so you need them in order to (00:35:19) feel (00:35:20) okay I don't like that like what can I (00:35:24) do naturally (00:35:29) head-to-head against anti-depressants (00:35:31) saffron has been shown to be equally (00:35:34) effective the spice (00:35:36) saffron head-to-head against (00:35:38) anti-depressants walking like you're (00:35:40) late 45 minutes four times a week (00:35:43) equally effective head-to-head against (00:35:45) anti-depressants taking omega-3 fatty (00:35:48) acids equally effective in a study from (00:35:54) Australia head-to-head against (00:35:56) anti-depressants learning how to not (00:35:57) believe believe every stupid thing you (00:36:00) think has been shown to be equally (00:36:03) effective so why not if you're depressed (00:36:08) and you can't get (00:36:09) scanned start (00:36:12) walking take omega-3 fatty acids and (00:36:16) saffron and learn how to kill the ants (00:36:20) ants stands for automatic negative (00:36:21) thoughts the thoughts that come into (00:36:22) your mind automatically and ruin your (00:36:25) day and we grow up I don't know if the (00:36:27) same thing is in (00:36:29) England there's no training on how to (00:36:31) manage your (00:36:32) mind right I was 28 years old in my (00:36:35) psychiatric residency when one of my (00:36:38) professors said you have to teach your (00:36:40) patients not to believe every stupid (00:36:42) thing they think and I'm (00:36:44) 28 and I'm in my residency which means I (00:36:48) finished College I finished medical (00:36:49) school and I believe every stupid thing (00:36:52) I think that no one had ever taught me (00:36:54) how to manage my own thoughts I can't (00:36:57) believe that thing you just said about (00:36:58) saffron I was reading about it here it (00:37:00) says Research indicates that saffron may (00:37:02) be as effective as ssris in treating (00:37:05) mild and moderate depression and a (00:37:06) metaanalysis of eight studies found no (00:37:09) difference between saffron and ssris in (00:37:12) reducing depressive symptoms but in fact (00:37:15) the side of effect profile is probably (00:37:16) better for (00:37:17) saffron well so I got interested in (00:37:20) Saffron about 25 years ago because I saw (00:37:23) a study so there are now (00:37:26) 25 randomized controlled trials showing (00:37:30) that saffron is as (00:37:33) effective as ssris and other (00:37:37) anti-depressants but the thing that (00:37:39) caught my interest this may speak more (00:37:42) about me is they didn't decrease sexual (00:37:45) function in fact they enhanced it and so (00:37:49) I've been a psychiatrist a long time and (00:37:53) ssris for the right brain they work but (00:37:57) they make it harder to have an orgasm (00:38:00) they decrease your (00:38:03) libido and I don't like that I don't (00:38:06) want to separate if you're depressed (00:38:09) you're already separated from your (00:38:11) partner yeah if you're depressed and you (00:38:14) can't have an orgasm or you're not (00:38:19) interested that's (00:38:21) damaging not only to you but it damages (00:38:24) your partner and so and I thought (00:38:26) saffron can enhance sexual function and (00:38:29) I'm like okay I'm paying attention and (00:38:32) so I have collected every study ever (00:38:35) published on saffron and brain and (00:38:37) mental health there's actually five (00:38:40) studies showing en hance's memory that (00:38:42) it was as good as AOSP in people AOSP a (00:38:47) medicine we use in Alzheimer's disease (00:38:50) and it's as good as AOSP so it helps (00:38:53) memory it helps mood it helps sexual (00:38:56) function I'm like mood memory and sex (00:38:58) I'm going to take it mood memory and sex (00:39:02) so yeah i' love (00:39:06) saffron so why wouldn't we start with (00:39:09) that and exercise and learn to manage (00:39:13) your mind rather than start with Lexapro (00:39:17) or even soloc cybin or ketamine one of (00:39:21) the things when people are talking about (00:39:22) psychedelics that they're trying to (00:39:24) treat is trauma right Early Childhood (00:39:26) trauma um is that something that you can (00:39:29) see if you looked at my brain could you (00:39:30) see trauma on my brain yes and have you (00:39:33) looked a diamond pattern that I've (00:39:36) written about I published in actually (00:39:39) discover magazine in 2016 listed my (00:39:42) study so I published a study on 21,000 (00:39:46) people showing we could separate (00:39:49) post-traumatic stress disorder from (00:39:52) traumatic brain injury with high levels (00:39:54) of accuracy and then we repeated this (00:39:57) study on soldiers and showed the same (00:40:01) thing and this year I just published the (00:40:04) world's largest study on childhood (00:40:06) trauma so do you know the a score yes (00:40:09) which is a measure of childhood trauma (00:40:11) childhood trauma adverse childhood (00:40:13) experiences so it's on a scale of 0 to (00:40:16) 10 how many bad things happen to you as (00:40:20) a child physical emotional sexual abuse (00:40:25) neglect um being being raised with (00:40:28) parent that has a mental illness that's (00:40:31) incarcerated addiction (00:40:34) watching um your mother be abused so (00:40:38) domestic violence so 0 to 10 I'm a one (00:40:42) my wife's an eight we adopted our two (00:40:45) nieces who are both nines and so I'm (00:40:48) very interested in childhood trauma so (00:40:51) so a nine is good or bad nine is (00:40:53) terrible okay so higher the number so (00:40:55) zero is means you have none of those (00:40:57) okay (00:40:58) a you have a (00:41:01) lot and we if you have four or (00:41:06) more you have an increased risk of seven (00:41:10) of the top 10 leading causes of (00:41:14) death if you have six or more so my (00:41:16) wife's in eight my nieces are nines you (00:41:19) die 20 years earlier than the general (00:41:24) population and in our study what we (00:41:28) showed the more Aces you had the more (00:41:33) activation of your limbic structures (00:41:37) especially a very interesting (00:41:42) area called the anterior singular gyus I (00:41:46) think of this as the brain's gear (00:41:48) shifter lets you go from thought to (00:41:51) thought move from idea to idea be (00:41:53) flexible go with the flow and when this (00:41:56) is overactive (00:41:58) people worry they hold on to things it's (00:42:03) like the trauma is always in front of (00:42:07) them and I often do timeline I ask (00:42:10) people do you see your (00:42:12) life um going from left to (00:42:16) right or from front to (00:42:20) back and I see the past behind me my (00:42:24) wife sees the past in front of her and (00:42:27) that's often what you see with (00:42:30) trauma and their brain becomes (00:42:34) overactive in their emotional brain (00:42:37) which makes them at higher risk for pain (00:42:40) syndromes (00:42:43) um higher risk for anxiety higher risk (00:42:46) for depression higher risk for insomnia (00:42:49) that they're sort of always looking for (00:42:52) bad things to happen is there anything (00:42:54) someone can do at (00:42:56) home because you know not everybody can (00:42:58) afford to go to a therapist it's hard to (00:43:00) get access to these kind of treatments (00:43:03) if if I have some kind of Trapped trauma (00:43:06) or traumatic experienc PTSD that I've (00:43:08) been through and I don't have any money (00:43:09) at all it what would you recommend for (00:43:11) me well I mean the first thing I want (00:43:14) everyone to do is love their brain right (00:43:17) the healthier your (00:43:19) brain and before we we started we talked (00:43:23) about this idea it's the brain you bring (00:43:27) in into trauma that often determines how (00:43:30) you deal with it and to get well you (00:43:34) have to get your brain (00:43:36) healthy so that's the first thing so (00:43:38) that means getting off the alcohol (00:43:40) exercise eat well certain simple (00:43:43) supplements yes what supplements and (00:43:46) then um multiple vitamin for basic (00:43:50) nutrition know your vitamin D level and (00:43:54) optimize it and most people need to (00:43:57) supplement (00:43:58) vitamin D and if you have darker (00:44:01) skin you need five times the level of (00:44:04) Sun as someone from northern Europe to (00:44:07) get a healthy vitamin D level so you (00:44:09) should know your vitamin D level and (00:44:13) optimize it like I always say can't (00:44:16) change what you don't measure and (00:44:18) vitamin D is a very important number to (00:44:23) know so multiple vitamin vitamin D (00:44:28) omega-3 fatty acid I did a (00:44:31) study 50 consecutive patient Stam in (00:44:34) clinics who are not taking vitamin D we (00:44:37) measured their omega-3 index 49 were (00:44:41) suboptimal and so I think most people (00:44:44) would benefit from an omega-3 fatty acid (00:44:49) supplement and then it's sort of depends (00:44:52) if you have issues with your mood (00:44:54) saffron would be great if you tend to be (00:44:57) anxious don't go for the benzo um (00:45:02) theanine ashwagandha magnesium Gaba (00:45:07) diaphragmatic breathing hypnosis so many (00:45:10) things to help anxiety before you ever (00:45:14) go to something that's addictive that (00:45:16) makes your brain look older than you are (00:45:18) that increases your risk of (00:45:20) dementia one of the really really (00:45:22) interesting things that you mentioned (00:45:24) which I had never heard of or thought (00:45:26) thought of before is the impact of (00:45:28) negative thinking on your brain we just (00:45:32) published this huge study on negativity (00:45:36) bias and it's not good for your frontal (00:45:40) loes and so I love doing positivity (00:45:43) biased training like I train all of my (00:45:47) patients start every day today is going (00:45:49) to be a great day I (00:45:52) mean somebody asked me today if I (00:45:54) believe in (00:45:55) manifestation um part of I think you (00:45:58) have to tell your brain what you want (00:46:01) and then your brain will figure out how (00:46:04) to get it and so if you go today is (00:46:07) going to be a great day your brain (00:46:10) starts looking like why is today going (00:46:12) to be a great day and when you go to bed (00:46:14) at night what went well today that's so (00:46:19) helpful to just start programming your (00:46:22) brain to look for what's right not just (00:46:25) for what's wrong virtually every (00:46:28) depressed patient I said have a high (00:46:31) negativity bias and so training them to (00:46:35) be more positive now not (00:46:38) irrationally (00:46:40) positive because you need some anxiety (00:46:43) people have low levels of anxiety die (00:46:46) early from accidents and preventable (00:46:49) illnesses people who have low levels of (00:46:52) anxiety low levels of anxiety so I (00:46:54) always I have an older brother who I (00:46:56) love um (00:46:58) but he's one of the don't worry be happy (00:47:00) people and I sort of always wanted to be (00:47:03) like him because I'm much more serious (00:47:06) much more driven and I'm like no I (00:47:10) wanted to be like him until I read the (00:47:14) research the people who live the longest (00:47:16) so there's a study from Stanford they (00:47:19) started in (00:47:20) 1921 and they looked at (00:47:24) 1548 10-year-old children (00:47:27) and they were looking for what goes with (00:47:30) success Health and (00:47:35) Longevity and what they found was (00:47:38) shocking the don't worry be happy people (00:47:41) died the earliest from accidents and (00:47:45) preventable illnesses the people who (00:47:48) live the (00:47:50) longest the one theme was they were (00:47:54) conscientious if they said they were (00:47:56) going to show up (00:47:58) and they showed up reliably consistently (00:48:02) they live longer than everyone else and (00:48:05) I just shows they had good frontal (00:48:06) function it's like if I say I'm going to (00:48:08) do something and I commit to it I do it (00:48:12) you live longer could that be also (00:48:13) linked to like discipline those people (00:48:15) are more likely to be disciplined with (00:48:17) other areas of their life habits eating (00:48:19) gym yes which means they had better (00:48:22) frontal lob function so why would we (00:48:25) ever take these guys fernal loes offline (00:48:29) no love your fernal loses this is why (00:48:33) when you have children don't let them (00:48:34) hit soccer balls with their forehead (00:48:37) it's just not a smart thing to do I (00:48:40) think that's probably a big thing people (00:48:42) are thinking about this time of the year (00:48:43) so we're recording now in January 2025 (00:48:46) wow um and everybody's thinking about (00:48:49) new year new me they're thinking about (00:48:51) their New Year's resolution becoming a (00:48:52) new person habits motivation discipline (00:48:57) these are like the trifactor of what I I (00:48:59) see people talking about the most at (00:49:01) this time of year when you with (00:49:02) everything you understand about the (00:49:04) brain how do I become a more disciplined (00:49:07) motivated person who has better habits (00:49:10) so one you take care of your brain and (00:49:13) two you know when relapse happens (00:49:17) relapse happens when you don't sleep (00:49:20) okay (00:49:23) when you've gone too long without eating (00:49:27) when blood sugar levels go low relapse (00:49:31) happens you start making bad (00:49:34) decisions when if you're a female when (00:49:38) you're in the last week of your cycle (00:49:41) because blood flow to your frontal lobe (00:49:43) drops for many women so I have five (00:49:46) sisters and five daughters I completely (00:49:48) believe in PMs (00:49:51) and I've scanned people best time of (00:49:54) their cycle worst time it's like they're (00:49:57) two different people sort of like they (00:49:58) have multiple personality disorder (00:50:01) because their brain is just so different (00:50:03) now obviously not with all women but for (00:50:05) certain ones it's a big issue and if the (00:50:12) ants are taken over so if the automatic (00:50:17) negative thoughts which also tend to go (00:50:20) up if you haven't slept if you've gone (00:50:23) too long without eating if you're at (00:50:24) that time of your cycle or you're under (00:50:28) chronic stress or you're drinking or (00:50:31) using other drugs so you might suppress (00:50:35) them but then they come back and they (00:50:36) attack you so then you have to suppress (00:50:38) them again and this is how (00:50:41) addiction starts so is it fair to say (00:50:44) that if you're trying to change who you (00:50:46) are and you're trying to establish a new (00:50:47) habit or crack motivation then the goal (00:50:50) shouldn't be necessarily to get a (00:50:52) six-pack it should probably be something (00:50:53) further Upstream like sleep well or (00:50:58) better frontales and so how do I get (00:51:00) better frontales and it's three (00:51:02) strategies frontal lobe Envy right brain (00:51:05) Envy got to care about it avoid things (00:51:08) that hurt damaging my frontal (00:51:11) loes and do things that strengthen my (00:51:14) frontal loes we talked about two of (00:51:17) these points earlier but you we talked (00:51:18) about alcohol but in the context of (00:51:20) sleep I've heard on you I think it was (00:51:21) in your podcast change your brain after (00:51:24) two drinks your REM sleep drops to (00:51:26) roughly an hour after four drinks your (00:51:28) REM sleep drops to 30 minutes and after (00:51:30) six drinks your REM sleep drops to less (00:51:32) than 2 minutes for many people um (00:51:35) obviously these aren't specific numbers (00:51:37) because everybody's brain is (00:51:39) different but it just goes to show I (00:51:42) guess the relative drop in REM sleep (00:51:44) which is your restorative sleep based on (00:51:46) alcohol consumption and so if I drink (00:51:49) I'm not going to sleep while I'm not (00:51:50) going to get restorative sleep I wake up (00:51:51) the next day I'm going to struggle more (00:51:52) with motivation and keeping any habit (00:51:55) that I have ending anxiety and then (00:51:58) you're going to be more (00:52:00) ants and then you're going to drink more (00:52:02) to shut up the ants and then when they (00:52:04) come back they come back stronger and by (00:52:06) ants you mean the automatic negative (00:52:08) thoughts okay the chatter that hurts you (00:52:13) and we talked about how to kill them so (00:52:18) whenever you feel sad or mad or nervous (00:52:23) or out of control what I want you to do (00:52:26) is just write it down and then ask (00:52:30) yourself a series of (00:52:33) questions um and I have I have this cute (00:52:36) diagram of the different types of ants (00:52:40) and I always ask my patients so which (00:52:42) which are your ants are they like All or (00:52:46) Nothing ants were you thinking words (00:52:48) like always never everyone every time (00:52:51) are they less than ants given to us by (00:52:54) social media uh where we compare (00:52:56) ourselves others in a negative way guilt (00:52:59) beating ants mind reading ants fortune (00:53:03) telling ants blame (00:53:06) ants um so identify the type do you have (00:53:11) a example of a bad thought that just (00:53:14) sort of runs around your head oh (00:53:18) gosh um I think I live in a permanent (00:53:21) state of assuming I'm going to get bad (00:53:23) bad news and it doesn't haunt me I think (00:53:25) I'm generally quite calm person and (00:53:28) quite focused and peaceful in my brain (00:53:31) but I think because I've ran companies (00:53:33) for the last 10 years or longer you're (00:53:36) always just about to get bad news so I (00:53:38) think that can be that can be playing on (00:53:41) the radio in the background somewhere (00:53:44) like I'm GNA open an email and it's (00:53:45) going to be bad news there's so many (00:53:47) opportunities for bad news in my world (00:53:49) so yeah yeah so I think you write it (00:53:52) down this is going to be bad and then my (00:53:55) friend Byron Katie has has this process (00:53:57) that I've refined a bit so that's a (00:54:01) fortune telling amp right and so this is (00:54:04) going to be bad news or I always get bad (00:54:07) news fortune telling and all or (00:54:11) nothing and so the first question is is (00:54:14) it (00:54:17) true right the second question is it (00:54:21) absolutely true with 100% certainty and (00:54:23) if one is no two is automatically no the (00:54:26) third question question is how does that (00:54:27) thought Make Me (00:54:29) Feel on edge on edge how does the (00:54:32) thought make me act so the third (00:54:34) question has three parts how does the (00:54:35) thought make me feel tense on edge how (00:54:38) does it make me (00:54:40) act uh removed uh what's that word is it (00:54:45) apathetic reticent yeah yeah and the (00:54:51) third part of that what's the outcome of (00:54:55) believing it's always is going to be (00:54:59) bad (00:55:01) news I mean there's no good outcome (00:55:03) really suffering yeah suffering yeah the (00:55:06) fourth question is how would you feel if (00:55:09) you didn't have that thought free and (00:55:12) how would you (00:55:14) act uh happier and (00:55:18) uh more present and the outcome of not (00:55:22) having that thought better relationships (00:55:28) because you're more present yeah yeah (00:55:31) and then the fifth question so the first (00:55:34) one is is it true the second one is it (00:55:36) absolutely true the third one how would (00:55:40) I how do I feel act and what's the (00:55:43) outcome of having this thought the (00:55:45) fourth question is how would I feel act (00:55:49) and what's the outcome of not having the (00:55:51) thought the fifth question is my (00:55:54) favorite just take the thought and turn (00:55:57) it to the (00:55:58) opposite and then ask yourself is that (00:56:02) 1 (00:56:04) so it's going to be good (00:56:07) news or it's going to be innocuous (00:56:11) news and then go yeah 99 times out of (00:56:16) 100 that's (00:56:17) true and then I would because I'm also a (00:56:21) CEO I'm like well how many of these (00:56:24) things can't I handle (00:56:28) virtually none of them I can handle all (00:56:29) of them (00:56:32) right so I'll be okay and then I (00:56:37) meditate on the opposite of the thought (00:56:40) that's bothering me and so I take these (00:56:44) thoughts (00:56:47) captive I like that and people who are (00:56:51) depressed are (00:56:54) infested with negativity (00:56:58) but you can train that your brain is (00:57:01) healthy it's easier to do you can train (00:57:05) that but you imagine there's no second (00:57:07) grade class in the (00:57:09) world where teachers teach children not (00:57:13) to believe every stupid thing they think (00:57:17) in fact I was watching one of the (00:57:18) confirmation hearings today and the (00:57:22) senators were filled with ants oh yeah (00:57:25) they were distorted things they were (00:57:28) angry they were making things more (00:57:30) negative than they needed to be we are (00:57:35) model bad (00:57:37) thinking and the News does it (00:57:39) purposefully because they know if they (00:57:42) piss you off if they scare you you're (00:57:45) going to tune in so they can sell you (00:57:47) more copper underwear so we're in a (00:57:50) society that breeds these (00:57:54) ant attacks (00:57:56) so you have to be careful people who (00:57:58) watch the news in the morning are 27% (00:58:01) less happy in the afternoon and so you (00:58:04) have to guard what goes (00:58:08) in so every day your programming (00:58:13) happiness or (00:58:16) sadness and I (00:58:20) believe Dennis Prager has this great (00:58:23) five minute video called why be happy (00:58:26) and I love it so much I wrote a book (00:58:29) called you happier (00:58:30) and I start with his idea that happiness (00:58:34) is a moral obligation and I'm like so I (00:58:38) grew up not too far from here I went to (00:58:40) Catholic School my mom was very serious (00:58:43) about being (00:58:45) Catholic and growing up the idea (00:58:48) happiness is a moral obligation was (00:58:50) nowhere in my childhood and I had a good (00:58:54) childhood why is it a moral obligation (00:58:57) because of how you impact other (00:59:00) people if you were raised by an unhappy (00:59:03) parent or married to an unhappy spouse (00:59:05) or raising an unhappy child and you ask (00:59:09) those people is happiness an ethical (00:59:12) issue they would all say (00:59:17) yes so is it wrong to program your mind (00:59:23) to look for what's right (00:59:26) it's hard for some people it's just a (00:59:29) pattern right it's like getting biceps (00:59:32) are (00:59:33) hard but it's it's not right it's just (00:59:37) repeatedly doing the same thing that (00:59:41) gives you the desire you want have you (00:59:44) seen someone shift from being a (00:59:47) stereotypically negative person down and (00:59:50) out negative depressed to the opposite (00:59:53) yes truly the opposite a lot (00:59:57) but you got to do the (01:00:00) process it's you you got to do the (01:00:04) work when you love yourself you do the (01:00:09) work like I come from a family of fat (01:00:12) people but I'm not why because I know (01:00:16) it's a risk for me and so every day of (01:00:20) my life I'm on an obesity prevention (01:00:25) plan and wish I didn't have to be right (01:00:27) I wish I could just eat anything I want (01:00:30) and it would be okay but it's not the (01:00:33) reality of my life do you own a business (01:00:36) or do you work in marketing if that's (01:00:38) you listen up for a valuable opportunity (01:00:40) from our show sponsor LinkedIn I'm an (01:00:42) invested in about 40 odd companies and (01:00:45) while they operate in different (01:00:46) Industries they all face one challenge (01:00:48) maybe the most important challenge when (01:00:50) it comes to marketing getting their (01:00:51) brand in front of the right audiences we (01:00:53) can 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did you learn from (01:01:39) scanning her (01:01:41) brain so Elizabeth is someone who made (01:01:45) really international news many years ago (01:01:49) she was kidnapped when she was a (01:01:52) teenager and virtually raped every day (01:01:56) for nine months and then she was (01:02:01) found um that she was actually very (01:02:04) smart and she manipulated her kidnappers (01:02:08) to bring her back to Utah Salt Lake city (01:02:11) where the kidnapped her from and she was (01:02:14) found by the police and one would think (01:02:19) she would have severe lasting (01:02:23) post-traumatic stress disorder (01:02:26) and I was very interested to scan her (01:02:32) and be helpful to her she in fact did (01:02:36) not have post-traumatic stress disorder (01:02:39) she had post-traumatic growth she took (01:02:43) her (01:02:44) trauma and made (01:02:48) something special out of it where she (01:02:51) actually runs an organization for women (01:02:54) who have been (01:02:57) abused um and I just remember sitting (01:03:01) there and her brain was actually quite (01:03:04) healthy I think she helped me more than (01:03:06) I helped her just so (01:03:11) fascinated by how she could take (01:03:15) something that's truly (01:03:18) horrifying and come out of (01:03:22) it and be quite okay and she's how old (01:03:26) now she's in she's in her in 30s and (01:03:28) she's in a relationship married she's (01:03:30) married she has children she's running (01:03:33) an organization she speaks around the (01:03:35) country I mean when people hear that (01:03:40) they might begin to (01:03:42) question how they think about trauma (01:03:45) because we think of trauma as a very (01:03:46) deterministic thing I if that happens to (01:03:48) you I can predict that you're going to (01:03:50) be X you're going to be you know maybe (01:03:54) depressed you're not going to be social (01:03:57) functioning you're probably not going to (01:03:58) have functional good relationships (01:04:00) that's the kind of thing we think when (01:04:02) we hear about such a horrific event we (01:04:04) kind of see it as deterministic of who (01:04:06) you then become but she's proving that (01:04:08) that that's not the case now in fact of (01:04:11) people who go through something really (01:04:14) terrible about 10% of people will (01:04:16) develop (01:04:18) PTSD and about 10% of people will (01:04:20) develop post-traumatic growth and most (01:04:23) people sort of land in the middle I (01:04:26) wrote an (01:04:28) article 1982 when I was a resident at (01:04:32) Walter Reed (01:04:34) um called post Vietnam stress disorder a (01:04:38) metaphor for current and past life (01:04:42) events and it was when I was resident I (01:04:47) got the idea it's the brain you bring (01:04:50) into Vietnam that often determines the (01:04:53) brain that comes out of Vietnam that if (01:04:57) you grew up in an alcoholic home or you (01:05:00) grew up with a lot of stress you are (01:05:04) much more likely to become a heroin (01:05:06) addict and much more likely to come home (01:05:09) and (01:05:10) struggle um obviously not (01:05:14) always but we should there's a concept (01:05:18) since I started Imaging that I just (01:05:20) dearly love so much called brain Reserve (01:05:24) so brain Reserve is the extra tissue you (01:05:28) have to deal with whatever stress comes (01:05:32) your (01:05:33) way and brain Reserve actually (01:05:37) starts before you were conceived so you (01:05:42) get your brain wrapped around that a (01:05:44) little bit it's the idea of (01:05:46) epigenetics that if your parents grew up (01:05:50) in trauma and (01:05:53) abuse it changed their genes (01:05:56) to make you more (01:05:58) [Music] (01:06:00) vulnerable (01:06:02) and if so your genetic history (01:06:06) matters the health of your mom while (01:06:11) she's carrying (01:06:13) you your brain starts to develop three (01:06:17) weeks after she gets pregnant three (01:06:20) weeks like about day (01:06:23) 21 and so her stress level her (01:06:29) infectious disease level burden her (01:06:32) nutrition her (01:06:34) sleep all of these things matter one of (01:06:38) my patients wife is pregnant I'm like (01:06:41) you need to be nice to her you need to (01:06:43) like lower her stress because you a (01:06:48) child that this has (01:06:51) generational (01:06:53) consequences and then when you're born (01:06:57) how did the birth go and then as a child (01:07:00) what was your nutrition link what were (01:07:02) your stress levels like did you play (01:07:05) football did you fall off the (01:07:09) swing all of those things are either (01:07:12) building your brain Reserve or (01:07:16) stealing your brain Reserve so when (01:07:20) you get (01:07:22) kidnapped or let's just take two (01:07:25) soldiers and War they're in the same (01:07:29) tank they go over an IED so they're both (01:07:34) the tank is blown (01:07:36) up one walks away (01:07:40) unharmed the other one's permanently (01:07:43) disabled why it's their brain reserve (01:07:48) the brain they brought into the (01:07:51) explosion often (01:07:53) determines how they are so I (01:07:57) argue we should always be (01:08:01) building (01:08:04) reserve and I turned 70 this year and I (01:08:08) know 50% of people 85 and older have (01:08:12) Alzheimer's disease one and two (01:08:15) horrifying statistics and so I know that (01:08:20) so between now and 15 years from now (01:08:23) what are the things I can do (01:08:26) to build my Reserve so the gravity of (01:08:31) age has less impact on me because your (01:08:35) brain is going to shrink with aging (01:08:37) regardless of any it it's going to show (01:08:40) although I have a whole group of super (01:08:45) brains people that are 80 90 1005 like (01:08:51) stunningly beautiful brains but they're (01:08:54) people that had stunningly beautiful (01:08:57) brain Reserve habits okay that they (01:09:00) didn't smoke they weren't drinkers they (01:09:03) ate well they were not overweight so on (01:09:05) this subject of Alzheimer's it's (01:09:08) increasing globally the I reading (01:09:10) something I think from like the (01:09:11) Alzheimer's Association that said (01:09:14) they're predicting by 2050 that there's (01:09:16) going to be 150 or 160 million people (01:09:18) globally that have Alzheimer's disease (01:09:21) there's still a lot of question marks (01:09:22) around what causes it what increases its (01:09:24) probability Etc but what do you think (01:09:27) the cause of Outsiders is I think there (01:09:29) are many causes of it and the going (01:09:35) wisdom until recently was excessive beta (01:09:38) ameloid pla (01:09:39) formation caused Alzheimer's and there's (01:09:42) a lot of questions around that (01:09:46) theory I think uh I have a pneumonic I (01:09:50) like called bright Minds you want to (01:09:52) keep your brain healthy or rescue it you (01:09:54) have to prevent or treat the 11 major (01:09:57) risk factors so I think there are in (01:10:00) fact many roads to Alzheimer's disease (01:10:04) and people go what the difference (01:10:05) between Alzheimer's and Dementia (01:10:08) dementia is the umbrella category you (01:10:12) start losing your faculties Alzheimer's (01:10:15) is one of the types but the more you get (01:10:20) into it you realize it's a pretty mixed (01:10:23) bag and so (01:10:26) um bright (01:10:28) Minds blood flow retirement and aging (01:10:31) inflammation genetics head trauma toxins (01:10:35) mental health you know if a woman is (01:10:39) depressed it doubles her risk of (01:10:41) Alzheimer's disease if a man is (01:10:44) depressed it quadruples his risk of (01:10:48) Alzheimer's and then the sleeper in all (01:10:50) of these is infections immunity and (01:10:54) infections many of of us think it's a (01:10:58) major one of the major causes of (01:11:02) Alzheimer's disease in fact there's a (01:11:03) new study out on covid people who had (01:11:06) covid had an significantly increased (01:11:09) risk of getting Alzheimer's disease and (01:11:13) then neuro hormones and we have this (01:11:16) epidemic of low testosterone in young (01:11:19) males now um (01:11:22) diabesity and sleep diabet is you either (01:11:27) have high blood (01:11:29) sugar and or you're overweight and that (01:11:33) one risk (01:11:35) factor if you have that one risk factor (01:11:38) now all of a sudden you have 10 of the (01:11:40) 11 risk factors because if you have one (01:11:43) if you have diabetes if you're (01:11:46) overweight or you have high blood sugar (01:11:50) it lowers blood flow to your brain it (01:11:52) prematurely ages your brain it increases (01:11:55) is inflammation fat cells produce (01:11:58) something called adapin which is (01:12:01) inflammatory molecules it changes your (01:12:04) genetics fat stores toxins you're more (01:12:07) likely to be depressed you're it damages (01:12:11) your (01:12:12) immunity um takes healthy testosterone (01:12:15) turns it into unhealthy cancer promoting (01:12:18) forms of estrogen and impairs your sleep (01:12:21) om justly and then people go oh but (01:12:23) you're fat shaming and it's like (01:12:26) no I published a study on (01:12:28) 33,000 people as your weight goes up the (01:12:33) size and function of the brain goes down (01:12:37) somebody's got to like say the truth the (01:12:41) truth is being at an unhealthy weight is (01:12:45) unhealthy for your brain and body I was (01:12:48) reading a some studies earlier on when I (01:12:50) spoke to a insulin resistance expert one (01:12:55) of the things said to me was that they (01:12:56) now almost describe Alzheimer's as type (01:13:00) 3 diabetes that's a phrase that's often (01:13:02) used and when they look at brains that (01:13:04) are insulin resistant the person between (01:13:07) 40 or 80% of the time depending on which (01:13:09) studies you look at has insulin (01:13:11) resistance I.E they've had elevated (01:13:14) blood sugar levels which have caused an (01:13:15) insulin resistance or something else it (01:13:17) could be stress that causes insulin (01:13:18) resistance or many other things but it's (01:13:20) interesting to think of to think of as (01:13:24) you said that that one one thing which (01:13:27) is the high blood sugar levels insulin (01:13:29) resistance can have such a profound (01:13:32) impact on the brain and if I've ever (01:13:34) heard a case for being a bit more (01:13:36) careful about (01:13:39) sugar and other things that will Spike (01:13:41) my blood sugar levels and chronically I (01:13:44) think that's probably it you know (01:13:46) because your brain as you said at the (01:13:48) start of this conversation drives (01:13:49) everything in your life and to think (01:13:53) that Sugar an overc consumption of sugar (01:13:55) should I say has such a profound impact (01:13:57) on the brain is is pause for (01:14:00) me because I don't like sugar that (01:14:03) much um you don't like it as much as you (01:14:05) like your brain yeah and my life so (01:14:08) there's a study from the Mayo Clinic (01:14:11) where they looked at people who had (01:14:13) primarily a fat-based diet so (01:14:19) fish healthy (01:14:21) oils avocados nuts and seeds they had (01:14:26) 42% less risk of getting Alzheimer's (01:14:29) disease and then they looked at people (01:14:31) who had primarily a protein based diet (01:14:35) so think of a caveman diet 21% less risk (01:14:39) of getting Alzheimer's disease and then (01:14:42) they looked at people that had a (01:14:44) standard American diet simple (01:14:46) carbohydrate based diet bread pasta (01:14:49) potatoes rice fruit juice sugar a 4 100% (01:14:56) increased risk of getting Alzheimer's (01:15:00) disease it's the sugar and the foods (01:15:03) that quickly turn to sugar which goes (01:15:07) with the (01:15:08) insulin Diabetes Type 3 (01:15:11) hypothesis you have to manage it and the (01:15:14) reason this is so important to me (01:15:19) is having high blood sugar makes your (01:15:24) blood vessel (01:15:27) brittle and more likely to break which (01:15:30) means it takes longer for things to (01:15:35) heal and you're more likely to have a (01:15:38) stroke and having a stroke increases (01:15:41) your risk of Alzheimer's (01:15:44) tfold so you a fan of the keto diet I (01:15:47) sound like for some people I I I find (01:15:50) that it doesn't have enough plants m in (01:15:55) it (01:15:56) which means it's probably not going to (01:15:57) be awesome for your (01:15:59) microbiome so I'm more a fan of a paleo (01:16:05) diet that has healthy fat healthy (01:16:10) protein and lots of plants MH we've (01:16:14) covered so much there's uh the one thing (01:16:16) we talk we started talking about briefly (01:16:17) I think before we started recording was (01:16:19) the subject of Hope and grief I've never (01:16:22) heard someone talk about the impact that (01:16:23) grief has on the brain brain when we (01:16:26) lose someone when we're going through (01:16:28) prolonged pain because of a (01:16:31) loss oh I know more about this than I (01:16:34) want it (01:16:37) activates the limic or emotional (01:16:40) circuits in the brain and so when you (01:16:44) lose someone important to you or even a (01:16:50) pet like I hadry (01:16:55) a white shepher and so beautiful and so (01:17:00) sweet and he got cancer and when he died (01:17:05) he still lives in my (01:17:08) head and I lost someone important to me (01:17:12) about 20 years ago and for like a year I (01:17:16) was just not okay and so I scanned (01:17:20) myself and my emotional brain was so (01:17:24) busy and it's like when you have someone (01:17:28) they actually become (01:17:31) ingrained in every fun place in your (01:17:36) brain so they get stored in multiple (01:17:39) places in your brain and when they're (01:17:42) not there anymore your brain still looks (01:17:46) for (01:17:47) them and figuring out ways to sort of (01:17:51) calm down your emotional brain can be so (01:17:55) help so (01:17:57) helpful what part of the brain is that (01:17:59) is that the amydala no it's more the (01:18:04) insular cortex and the (01:18:07) thalamus and that's what we found with (01:18:10) depression I published a study with (01:18:12) Scientists from USC and Los Angeles (01:18:17) Children's Hospital on depression and (01:18:20) what we found those were the structures (01:18:23) that were dramatically (01:18:25) overactive compared to people who were (01:18:27) not depressed so in grief the prefrontal (01:18:31) cortex assuming because that's the more (01:18:33) rational part of the brain that's (01:18:35) probably going to be quieter right what (01:18:38) do I and so it's the pre fernal cortex (01:18:41) you bring in to the loss that often (01:18:46) determines how you deal with it okay and (01:18:50) so your emotional brain fires up if (01:18:55) you're drinking and taking the (01:18:57) prefrontal cortex offline it can't (01:19:01) manage it so one thing people don't (01:19:03) understand is the fibers from the preal (01:19:08) cortex to the rest of the brain are (01:19:11) inhibitory which means they calm things (01:19:14) down so if this isn't working right the (01:19:19) emotional part can sort of override it (01:19:22) and it becomes problematic IC (01:19:27) um and so protecting this is so (01:19:32) important to managing so much of your (01:19:35) life I mean it's really the human most (01:19:38) human thoughtful part of (01:19:41) us and what we found within Hope was the (01:19:46) insular cortex was low it's (01:19:51) really interesting to us and hope is (01:19:56) tomorrow can be better and I have a part (01:20:00) in it when you're hopeless you don't (01:20:04) believe you have (01:20:07) agency to make tomorrow (01:20:10) better and so often there are hope (01:20:14) training courses that can be good and I (01:20:18) with all of my patients I do this (01:20:20) exercise called the onepage miracle I (01:20:22) referred to earlier it's like write down (01:20:25) what do you want relationships work (01:20:29) money physical emotional spiritual (01:20:32) health all these things write it down (01:20:34) and so talked earlier about we're (01:20:36) recording this in January I have all my (01:20:39) patients do it when I first see them and (01:20:42) then every January for sure and then you (01:20:45) just ask yourself does my behavior get (01:20:48) me what I (01:20:51) want but but it starts with or what do (01:20:55) you want you have to write it down like (01:20:58) with my (01:21:00) wife I'm very (01:21:02) clear I want a kind caring loving (01:21:07) supportive passionate (01:21:10) relationship always want that don't (01:21:13) always feel like that got these rude (01:21:15) thoughts that show up or conflicting (01:21:20) ideas that'll just show up in my head (01:21:23) and I'm like oh no (01:21:25) don't say that no don't do that because (01:21:29) it doesn't (01:21:30) fit and it's been the best relationship (01:21:34) of my life because both of us have the (01:21:36) same goals and we're pretty good at (01:21:41) matching our Behavior to the (01:21:43) goal and as a CEO right what do you do (01:21:47) with companies you have a business (01:21:49) plan and then you have regular meetings (01:21:53) and key perform indicators to like go (01:21:57) how are we doing and if we're not doing (01:21:59) great we change but it always starts (01:22:02) with plan and most individuals never (01:22:06) have a plan so they're kind of just (01:22:09) being dragged around by whatever I mean (01:22:13) and now in social media it's very (01:22:15) dangerous because you might want what (01:22:17) the Kardashians have and it's like wait (01:22:21) a (01:22:23) minute relationships work money physical (01:22:27) emotional spiritual health and then if I (01:22:30) had tattoos I don't (01:22:32) yet my wife got one that freaked me (01:22:35) out it's my daughter's birthday (01:22:38) but the tattoo would be does it (01:22:42) fit know what you want and then ask (01:22:45) yourself every day my behavior get me (01:22:49) what I want and some people go well (01:22:52) isn't that (01:22:53) selfish it's like absolutely not cuz if (01:22:57) I'm (01:22:58) good I'm good for everyone around me (01:23:02) your goal could be to be a great father (01:23:04) it absolutely should be a great father (01:23:07) it's to be a loving husband kind caring (01:23:10) loving supported (01:23:12) passionate it's oh by the way when (01:23:15) people do our program their erections (01:23:17) are better just saying because blood (01:23:19) flow is (01:23:21) better when brain health is better CU (01:23:24) your brain uses 20% of the blood flow in (01:23:27) your body and so if you're working to (01:23:30) have a healthy (01:23:33) brain everything works better J say why (01:23:36) did that come to mind when I asked about (01:23:37) your goals well because I went (01:23:39) passionate and I'm like (01:23:42) okay you have to be clear (01:23:46) um and or even think about work you know (01:23:50) what's the goal with work it's to do (01:23:53) meaningful work it's to to make a (01:23:56) difference I am you're a father I'm not (01:23:59) a father yet but I hope to be um I've (01:24:01) got three little nieces my brothers had (01:24:03) three three two little nieces and one (01:24:05) nephew my brother's a year older than me (01:24:07) and he's had three kids already so I've (01:24:09) got some catching up to do but as I'm (01:24:11) progressing towards this season of life (01:24:12) one of the things I think about having (01:24:14) met you is how to raise healthy brains (01:24:17) like what parenting style is going to (01:24:20) make sure that my kids have very healthy (01:24:22) brains there's so much conversation (01:24:23) about parenting stuff (01:24:25) um some people say just let them do (01:24:27) whatever they want to do some people say (01:24:28) be an authoritarian and put rules in (01:24:31) place I'm wondering from the perspective (01:24:33) of someone who scanned 260,000 brains (01:24:36) how do you raise a perfect brain well (01:24:40) one you get rid of the idea that you're (01:24:41) going to raise a perfect brain okay (01:24:44) because there's a little OCD in there (01:24:51) um the first thing you do is you have (01:24:53) goals for yourself what kind of parent (01:24:57) do you want to be and what kind of child (01:25:00) do you want to (01:25:01) raise and for me I want to be (01:25:06) present kind and (01:25:09) effective and for my kids I want them to (01:25:12) be (01:25:13) mentally strong and resilient and I want (01:25:17) them to feel good about themselves and (01:25:20) then you bond with them you want to be a (01:25:24) good dad (01:25:25) bonding requires two things time actual (01:25:28) physical (01:25:30) time and (01:25:32) listening so time have an exercise I (01:25:35) love so much called special time 20 (01:25:39) minutes a day do something with your (01:25:41) child that your child wants to do and (01:25:44) during that time no commands no (01:25:47) questions no directions just time to (01:25:51) bond the most important thing to (01:25:55) Children is time with their parents and (01:25:58) people are (01:26:00) busy doesn't have to be a lot but if you (01:26:03) do that 20 minutes a (01:26:05) day it's money in the (01:26:08) relational (01:26:11) bank so my first literary (01:26:14) agent I think he was 42 when he had his (01:26:16) first child and he's (01:26:19) like my daughter she's to Laura never (01:26:23) wants to be with me I come home she (01:26:25) completely ignores me she just wants her (01:26:28) mother she wants nothing to do with me (01:26:30) that's because she's a girl right like (01:26:32) absolutely not Carl you're ignoring her (01:26:36) what do you mean I'm ignoring her I said (01:26:37) you're ignoring her do this and I told (01:26:40) him about special time and he's like (01:26:42) that won't work I'm like negativity (01:26:47) bias I'm like oh great you represent an (01:26:50) idiot you represent me and you're (01:26:53) telling me it won't work I said do this (01:26:56) it works and I'm going to call you in (01:26:58) three weeks so I wrote them in my (01:27:00) appointment book we had appointment (01:27:02) books then and three weeks later I (01:27:04) called him Carl it's Daniel Daniel she (01:27:08) won't leave me alone all she wants to do (01:27:10) is be with me as soon as I get home she (01:27:13) grabs my leg and wants her time I'm like (01:27:17) I told you it (01:27:18) works it works time actual physical time (01:27:23) and then (01:27:25) shut up listen this is so important (01:27:31) parents are awful at listening you've (01:27:34) heard of active listening yeah so active (01:27:37) listen it's like so simple child says (01:27:39) something before you give your two (01:27:43) cents just repeat it back and sort of (01:27:47) listen to the feelings behind the (01:27:49) words I want to have blue hair I know (01:27:53) what my dad would have said (01:27:55) want I have blue hair no way in hell as (01:27:58) long as you live in my house you can (01:27:59) have a blue hair but what does that do (01:28:02) it just shuts down the conversation or (01:28:04) starts a fight like oh you want to have (01:28:07) blue hair and then just be (01:28:09) quiet and then the child might say (01:28:12) everyone's doing (01:28:15) that my dad would say I don't care what (01:28:17) anyone else is doing as long as you live (01:28:19) in this house you're not going to have (01:28:20) blue hair if they're going to jump off a (01:28:22) cliff or you're going to go with them (01:28:24) not (01:28:26) helpful sounds like you want to be like (01:28:28) the other (01:28:29) kids and then he might say sometimes I (01:28:31) feel like I don't fit (01:28:34) in which is really the conversation you (01:28:36) want to (01:28:39) have and my mother would have said of (01:28:42) course you fit in you're a good boy (01:28:43) you're a good-look boy said and that's (01:28:45) not helpful either it's just helpful to (01:28:47) listen if you have time and you have (01:28:49) listening you (01:28:52) Bond and then the kids tell to pick your (01:28:55) values because they're (01:28:58) bonded and then when they make a mistake (01:29:01) don't rescue (01:29:03) them today parents do way too much for (01:29:07) their (01:29:08) children and they steal their (01:29:10) self-esteem I often say if you do too (01:29:13) much for your kids you build your (01:29:16) self-esteem by stealing (01:29:21) theirs and you're going to be tempted (01:29:27) because you're going to have such love (01:29:29) for (01:29:31) them you don't want them to (01:29:34) hurt and that's a (01:29:36) mistake because (01:29:39) character is built through (01:29:42) struggle character and self-esteem are (01:29:45) built by feeling (01:29:48) competent you can solve problems so when (01:29:52) a child says um (01:29:57) bored rather than well we could do this (01:30:00) or we could do that or we could do (01:30:03) this (01:30:04) go I wonder what you're going to do (01:30:07) about in terms of their diet and (01:30:11) lifestyle am I right in thinking it's (01:30:14) it's pretty obvious here (01:30:17) sugar chemicals toxins these kinds of (01:30:21) things are really really bad for the (01:30:22) child's bre is there anything (01:30:23) non-obvious (01:30:25) that we do to our children's brains well (01:30:28) I think the most important thing is you (01:30:30) model OKAY the message so what you do (01:30:33) and there's a reason that all of (01:30:37) the (01:30:39) sugar poison cereals are on the bottom (01:30:43) two (01:30:44) aisles or the bottom two rows on because (01:30:48) that's where children can see them and (01:30:50) they're like Mommy I want this and (01:30:55) I always want you to remember this Rule (01:30:57) and I want you to consider sharing it (01:31:00) with your (01:31:01) children if you have a tantrum to get (01:31:03) your way the answer is no it's always (01:31:07) going to be no go for (01:31:11) it I'm dead (01:31:13) serious (01:31:15) we teach (01:31:17) people how to treat us by what we (01:31:20) tolerate we train children to be bad by (01:31:24) what we pay attention (01:31:26) to so I think that's always been a very (01:31:31) effective rule for me if you have a fit (01:31:36) the answer is no it's always going to be (01:31:37) no and I'm not going to be phased if you (01:31:41) do but what if they do it in a (01:31:43) store it's like you want long-term pain (01:31:46) or short-term pain short-term pain is (01:31:48) not given into the (01:31:50) Tantrum and there' probably be a (01:31:52) consequence when you come home for (01:31:54) acting like that um so are you saying to (01:31:57) ignore the (01:31:59) tension it's like I'm not giving in like (01:32:02) have fun with (01:32:04) it I am not giving in we're at a (01:32:08) friend's house and you have a fit well (01:32:12) one there's going to be a (01:32:14) consequence uh when you come home I (01:32:17) don't know what it is but I'm going to (01:32:19) think about it it's such a great line (01:32:22) that in my book raising mentally strong (01:32:24) kids kids we we have lots of great lines (01:32:27) for parents and it's I don't know what (01:32:30) the consequence is but I'm going to (01:32:32) think about it just to increase their (01:32:37) anxiety about it uh because we want them (01:32:42) thinking about their behavior and like (01:32:46) in life their consequences to bad (01:32:50) behavior we want them to think about (01:32:52) what that might be (01:32:54) might that stray into neglect when they (01:32:57) get they express their emotions though (01:32:59) for example if my kid is in a (01:33:00) supermarket and screaming and crying (01:33:02) Daddy give me this and I just always (01:33:05) ignore them are they going to be raised (01:33:07) to be like neglected children or (01:33:09) something well if you do it in the (01:33:11) context of special time an active (01:33:15) listening and I think rules are (01:33:18) important um like tell the truth put (01:33:22) away things that you take out we treat (01:33:25) each other with respect um do what I ask (01:33:28) the first time it's one of my favorite (01:33:30) rules (01:33:31) um it prevents the kids from like going (01:33:35) on and on (01:33:37) about being (01:33:39) oppositional (01:33:41) um there's no way they're going to feel (01:33:44) like you're not listening and you're (01:33:46) ignoring (01:33:48) them but if they're acting (01:33:52) inappropriately you you want (01:33:55) one not give into it and to have a (01:33:58) significant conversation and consequence (01:34:02) for I've invested more than a million (01:34:04) pounds into this company Perfect Ted and (01:34:06) they're also a sponsor of this podcast I (01:34:08) switched over to using matcher as my (01:34:10) dominant energy source and that's where (01:34:12) perfect Ted comes in they have the (01:34:13) matcha powders they have the matcha (01:34:15) drinks they have the pods and all of (01:34:17) this keeps me focused throughout a very (01:34:18) very long recording day no matter what's (01:34:21) going on and their team is obsessed with (01:34:23) quality which is why they Source their (01:34:25) ceremonial grade matcha from Japan so (01:34:27) when people say to me that they don't (01:34:28) like the taste of matcha I'm guessing (01:34:30) that they haven't tried perfect head (01:34:32) unlike lowquality matcher that has a (01:34:33) bitter grassy taste perfect headed is (01:34:36) smooth and naturally sweet and without (01:34:38) knowing it you're probably a perfect (01:34:39) headed customer already if you're (01:34:41) getting your match at places like blank (01:34:42) Street or Joe and the juice but now you (01:34:45) can make it yourself at home so give it (01:34:47) a try and we'll see if you still don't (01:34:49) like matcha so here's what I'm going to (01:34:50) do I'm going to give you 40% off our (01:34:52) matcher if you try it today head to (01:34:54) perfect ted.com and use code steven4 or (01:34:58) if you're in a supermarket you can get (01:34:59) it at tesos or Holland and Barrett or in (01:35:01) the Netherlands at Albert Hein and those (01:35:03) of you in the US you can get it on (01:35:05) Amazon one of the big themes that I (01:35:07) wanted to ask you about it's the last (01:35:09) thing I really wanted to to focus on (01:35:10) today is there's been such a huge rise (01:35:12) in the conversation around neurod (01:35:14) Divergence which we talked about in part (01:35:15) last time you looked at my brain you (01:35:17) looked at my brain and we did some tests (01:35:18) and such and you spoke to some of my (01:35:20) colleagues and people that know me I (01:35:22) think they did some surveys about me as (01:35:23) well and you concluded that I had ADHD (01:35:26) so many people are being diagnosed with (01:35:28) with ADHD it seems when we look at some (01:35:31) of the numbers around the increase in (01:35:33) diagnosis it's quite it's quite alarming (01:35:35) and I wonder why that is are people (01:35:39) being born with more ADHD or is it an (01:35:42) increase in the (01:35:44) diagnosis um is there a pop culture (01:35:46) element to it where it's become quite (01:35:47) popular to say that you have ADHD if you (01:35:50) like forget your keys or something what (01:35:51) is it in your view so ADHD is real (01:35:56) there's a significant genetic component (01:35:59) to it but we're also living in a society (01:36:03) that promotes its expression (01:36:07) so the more sugary cereals with red dye (01:36:11) number (01:36:13) 40 increases (01:36:15) hyperactivity the more gadgets you give (01:36:18) them so they can't pay (01:36:21) attention um the less they're outside in (01:36:25) the sun the more they're playing video (01:36:29) games all of those things increase the (01:36:34) expression of (01:36:36) ADHD (01:36:39) um again something I know more about (01:36:41) than I want to um I I have a book called (01:36:44) healing add and I write about my own (01:36:47) personal experience being married to (01:36:50) someone who has ADHD and having several (01:36:53) of my kids (01:36:54) who have it (01:36:57) um that it's real and left (01:37:00) untreated they're all sorts of (01:37:02) consequences so people always ask if you (01:37:04) think of medicine like Rin or adderal (01:37:08) people go what are the side effects and (01:37:10) it has side effects sometimes it can (01:37:12) increase tick sometimes it'll cause (01:37:15) sleep problems sometimes you'll lose (01:37:17) some weight or decrease your appetite um (01:37:21) but they don't ask me the other question (01:37:23) and I always want to make sure they do (01:37:25) is what are the side (01:37:27) effects of not (01:37:31) treating (01:37:33) ADHD and they are things like School (01:37:37) failure incarceration bankruptcy divorce (01:37:42) it's serious now for someone like you (01:37:47) who's really driven and very (01:37:52) bright for you the (01:37:56) consequences and this is going to sound (01:37:58) crazy but it's under (01:38:01) achievement or it takes (01:38:05) more for you to be at your (01:38:09) best than if you had it (01:38:13) treated (01:38:15) but I have this an example of a (01:38:18) 14-year-old who was literally failing in (01:38:23) school (01:38:25) and conflict driven with everyone around (01:38:29) him so people didn't really want to be (01:38:32) near (01:38:33) him and I diagnosed (01:38:37) him started with natural things and they (01:38:39) help but not enough put him on conserta (01:38:42) a form of methylphenidate or (01:38:46) Rin and he went from (01:38:49) failing (01:38:51) to all A's and B's and he got into the (01:38:54) high school he wanted to get into which (01:38:56) was very (01:38:58) competitive and he's easy to be (01:39:02) around that's a win because it's going (01:39:05) to change the (01:39:07) trajectory of his life and I like that I (01:39:11) remember you talking last time about (01:39:13) your daughter we have the clip don't we (01:39:15) of Dr talking about his daughter we can (01:39:18) just insert it here I have a daughter (01:39:21) and the truth is and this is going to (01:39:23) sound awful I never thought she was very (01:39:26) smart and and I'm ashamed of myself for (01:39:30) thinking that and um she's staying up (01:39:34) every night till 1 or 2 o'clock in the (01:39:36) morning to get her homework done and one (01:39:40) night she came just crying to me and she (01:39:43) said (01:39:44) dad I don't think I can ever be as smart (01:39:47) as my friends and it just broke my heart (01:39:52) and (01:39:54) I scanned her the next day and I'd (01:39:57) actually scanned her originally but I (01:39:59) had no experience in scans this was like (01:40:03) 1991 I'm (01:40:06) like child psychiatrist and an expert in (01:40:09) add and I didn't see it in my own (01:40:12) child (01:40:14) and the next day I put her on Tiny dose (01:40:18) of Ridin scanned her again and her brain (01:40:21) normalized (01:40:24) normalized a week later I had dinner (01:40:26) with her and I'm like do you notice any (01:40:29) difference and she said oh my God she (01:40:32) said a class seemed like it always took (01:40:37) eight hours to just do that one class (01:40:39) and I was always lost and I'm very (01:40:41) religious I was praying to God that the (01:40:44) teacher wouldn't call on me because I (01:40:46) was lost she said now that same class (01:40:49) goes by in about 20 minutes and my hands (01:40:53) up (01:40:54) because I track what's going on and that (01:40:58) child who had always gotten B's and C's (01:41:01) but with great effort her first report (01:41:05) card was straight A's the next 10 years (01:41:10) straight A she actually got into the (01:41:12) University of Ed University of (01:41:14) edinburgh's veterinarian school one of (01:41:17) the best vet schools in the world where (01:41:20) they clone Dolly the sheep and (01:41:24) if I wouldn't have figured that out she (01:41:27) would have been condemned to a lifetime (01:41:31) of (01:41:32) mediocrity hating herself working so (01:41:36) hard to get a mediocre (01:41:41) result optimizing your brain and (01:41:45) medicine's never the first thing I think (01:41:47) about but it's one of the things I think (01:41:50) about because I just want to use all the (01:41:52) tools of my tool tool box to optimize (01:41:54) your brain because if I optimize your (01:41:56) brain I optimize your life it was really (01:41:59) powerful and something that I then spoke (01:42:01) to lots of my friends about and such um (01:42:04) one of the things I've always struggled (01:42:05) with with ADHD in terms of my (01:42:07) understanding is some people that I know (01:42:09) H that have (01:42:11) ADHD they just they're so remarkably (01:42:13) different to me and they're so (01:42:15) remarkably different from each other so (01:42:17) I think about one of my friends that has (01:42:18) it very very different in terms of (01:42:20) productivity symptomology versus someone (01:42:23) like me (01:42:25) who for example in my case I'm very (01:42:28) focused I think I can be very focused (01:42:30) not always but when I'm into something I (01:42:33) can I can focus on it for a long period (01:42:34) of time in fact people don't know this (01:42:36) but it's worth me saying um my last book (01:42:40) I went to Barley for I think it was (01:42:42) either 11 or 14 days and I came out of (01:42:45) the Jungle with the book so I went into (01:42:47) the jungle with um basically 33 (01:42:52) sentences individual sentences I knew (01:42:54) what the chapter titles were they came (01:42:56) out of the Jungle and handed my (01:42:58) publisher penguin the manuscript after (01:42:59) that that period in The Jungle which (01:43:01) basically meant that for those 11 or 14 (01:43:03) days I can't remember the exact number I (01:43:05) sat there for about 10 hours a day and (01:43:07) did I was obviously getting distracted (01:43:09) once in a while but I I wrote the whole (01:43:10) book in uh about 14 about 14 days decent (01:43:14) book I'm so jealous um but I but for me (01:43:18) it's an example of the you when I think (01:43:20) of ADHD I think of like attention (01:43:22) deficit and again I don't know much (01:43:24) about ADHD so I'm very naive I represent (01:43:26) most of the population probably in that (01:43:27) regard but I don't think I have an (01:43:29) attention deficit (01:43:31) necessarily well for things that are new (01:43:37) novel highly interesting stimulating or (01:43:41) frightening yeah people with ADD can pay (01:43:44) attention just fine that's why a lot of (01:43:47) people who have it though I don't have (01:43:48) it like if I love my history teacher I'm (01:43:53) like (01:43:54) focused but then when I go to (01:43:58) Geometry I can't do it at all yeah (01:44:01) that's the story of me in school (01:44:04) it's it should be it's like love is a (01:44:08) drug if you love something well you can (01:44:12) do (01:44:13) it but the problem is most of life you (01:44:17) don't love and so you end up with this (01:44:22) really sort of AR (01:44:24) IC attention (01:44:26) disorder (01:44:28) um and they tend to gravitate (01:44:32) toward things you know I I see hear this (01:44:36) story a lot (01:44:37) unfortunately is they they experiment in (01:44:41) college and they take a little bit of (01:44:43) methamphetamine and it helps them and (01:44:46) they're more focused (01:44:48) and but then they don't know how to (01:44:51) manage it and they end up taking more (01:44:53) and more and they end up getting (01:44:55) addicted and it steals their soul (01:45:00) love can you see love on the (01:45:04) brain Helen fiser who's a neuroscientist (01:45:09) in New Jersey has actually studied (01:45:13) love and new love shows up is increased (01:45:19) activity in the dopamine centers of the (01:45:23) brain and it makes you just a bit (01:45:27) obsessive I think of new love as (01:45:31) dopamine but (01:45:34) lasting love (01:45:37) more like (01:45:40) opiates so new love when you break up is (01:45:44) sort of like getting off (01:45:47) cocaine hard but not that (01:45:50) bad lasting love (01:45:53) if it goes away and we talked about (01:45:55) grief (01:45:56) earlier it's like it's ripping your skin (01:46:00) off it's really hard sort of like (01:46:03) getting off of (01:46:05) heroin do people come to you that are (01:46:08) heartbroken a lot what do they say I (01:46:12) can't stop think that their brain gets (01:46:16) into um anxiety sadness (01:46:22) and that that person just lives in every (01:46:25) fun place in their brain and they can't (01:46:28) get over it and it can be quite messy (01:46:32) for them what is the change that you (01:46:34) would like to see in the (01:46:37) world well I'm actually working on it (01:46:40) um I want (01:46:44) everybody to just ask this one (01:46:51) question and we mentioned my work with (01:46:54) BJ fog on how people change and he um (01:46:59) talks about tiny habits what's the (01:47:01) smallest (01:47:03) thing I can do that will make the (01:47:06) biggest (01:47:10) difference and if (01:47:13) I could impact the world it would be (01:47:16) through one question whatever I'm doing (01:47:19) right now is it good for my brain or bad (01:47:21) for it (01:47:23) I want to teach people to love their (01:47:27) brains and to just make better decisions (01:47:31) for the health of their brain because (01:47:34) then everything follows that so good for (01:47:38) my brain or bad for it I'm 15 I have a (01:47:43) developing brain my brain is milting (01:47:47) itself which means it's wrapping all my (01:47:51) nerves all my brain cells with a white (01:47:54) fatty substance called myin and my (01:47:56) frontal Oaks are not done until I'm (01:48:00) 25 oh I'm going to love my brain so I'm (01:48:03) not pouring crap in my body with what I (01:48:07) eat or what I drink because it's bad for (01:48:11) my brain when I'm (01:48:14) 60 and I'm (01:48:17) stressed because my football team's not (01:48:21) winning I'm not going for Extra beer (01:48:24) because I'd love my brain and I'm going (01:48:27) to get to a healthy weight (01:48:30) because I love my brain that's the (01:48:33) change that's why I think God put me on (01:48:36) the (01:48:36) earth I wanted to do something um was (01:48:41) just thinking about it as you were (01:48:42) speaking then about the one simple thing (01:48:44) that I can do (01:48:45) to help my brain and to love my (01:48:49) brain when you think about behaviors and (01:48:52) habits that are popular and trendy at (01:48:54) the moment are there any that stand out (01:48:56) to you as being particularly good for (01:48:58) the brain or particularly bad for the (01:49:00) brain CU I had a couple come to mind (01:49:03) that I wanted to throw at you I mean one (01:49:04) of them that's exploding in the UK at (01:49:06) the moment is paddle which is kind of I (01:49:10) think you call it pickle ball here good (01:49:13) for my brain bad for my brain good for (01:49:15) your brain really good do you know what (01:49:18) brain you when you scanned my brain you (01:49:19) told me that you said for the next six (01:49:21) months Steve I need you to take some (01:49:22) Omega-3 do this do this do this and I'd (01:49:24) like you to play more racket Sports I (01:49:26) built a paddle Court in my garden so I (01:49:29) have a paddle Court in my garden um in (01:49:31) Cape Town and I love playing it now and (01:49:33) when I play it all the time I said Dr (01:49:35) aan said it's good for my brain um but (01:49:38) it's exploding it's exploding across (01:49:40) Europe really but really across much of (01:49:42) the world now p and here in the US too (01:49:45) oh really and it's so good for your (01:49:48) brain (01:49:50) because it's working your sh Bellum and (01:49:54) I told you that because yours was (01:49:56) sleepy and is you activate this and you (01:49:59) do that with coordination exercises it (01:50:02) then activates your frontal upes does (01:50:05) that mean that people that are (01:50:06) uncoordinated have a cerebellum issue (01:50:08) yes oh (01:50:10) really okay and the more you do it the (01:50:13) better coordination you (01:50:16) develop and that's why coordination (01:50:19) exercises for kids so we talked about (01:50:21) kids is is you want to do that with them (01:50:26) early play sports but not Sports where (01:50:29) they're going to get a head injury right (01:50:31) I mean we have to be smarter than we are (01:50:35) um but when I was young my mother who's (01:50:40) now 93 was the pingpong champion in the (01:50:46) neighborhood and she was really good and (01:50:49) she never let us beat her until we could (01:50:52) and (01:50:53) but she was always (01:50:57) encouraging I've got um I was looking (01:50:59) then as you were speaking about (01:51:01) different trends at the moment that are (01:51:03) either good or bad for the brain and one (01:51:05) big Trend at the moment is (01:51:06) neuroplasticity training lots of people (01:51:08) are doing games and using other things (01:51:11) to like there's apps you can get that (01:51:13) are neuroplasticity training apps does (01:51:15) any of that stuff work some of it some (01:51:18) of it works and if you're so for example (01:51:21) if you're doing memorization games do (01:51:24) them while you're on the (01:51:27) bike now not in the street but if you're (01:51:30) on a stationary (01:51:31) bike and you're doing those games it's (01:51:37) been found that (01:51:39) exercise increases blood flow to the (01:51:44) hippocampus meaning you're more likely (01:51:46) to remember it and you're strengthening (01:51:49) your brain in the process so exercise (01:51:52) with new (01:51:54) learning stunning so if I want to learn (01:51:58) something I should do it while walking (01:52:00) or moving in (01:52:01) motion right so if you're listening to a (01:52:04) language app for example do it while (01:52:07) you're walking mindfulness and (01:52:08) meditation good or bad for the brain (01:52:10) great I published three studies on a (01:52:13) calini yoga form of meditation called (01:52:16) Kon Crea it's a 12 minute meditation I (01:52:20) always say it's the perfect add (01:52:21) meditation because it's only 12 minutes (01:52:24) and for 12 minutes you do this (01:52:31) sa it's two minutes out loud two minutes (01:52:34) Whispering four minutes silently to (01:52:37) yourself two minutes Whispering two (01:52:39) minutes out loud you're done sat ma (01:52:43) birth Life Death reborn birth Life Death (01:52:46) reborn but the one we studied is sat ta (01:52:50) na ma and (01:52:53) so if they look it up kytin (01:52:56) Crea um activates your cerebellum (01:53:00) activates your frontal loes calms down (01:53:04) your emotional brain people who did that (01:53:08) for 12 minutes for eight weeks their (01:53:12) resting frontal lobe function was (01:53:16) Stronger so simple what the hell is (01:53:20) going on (01:53:21) there I think it's the focused attention (01:53:24) plus you're doing a coordination (01:53:31) meditation cold therapy cold exposure (01:53:35) therapy ice bath those kinds of things (01:53:36) good or bad for the (01:53:38) brain um I think you have to be careful (01:53:41) with it because it can trigger atrial (01:53:46) fibrillation um I think taking a cold (01:53:49) shower is probably good for your brain (01:53:51) because it's going to shortterm increase (01:53:54) dopamine and sort of give you a jolt (01:53:56) loving your (01:53:58) job absolutely great for your brain (01:54:02) if you're learning new things people who (01:54:06) are in a job that does not require new (01:54:10) learning have a higher incidence of (01:54:12) Alzheimer's disease so if you're (01:54:14) stagnant in your work you have a higher (01:54:16) risk of alheim and like if I just read (01:54:19) brain scans all day well I know how to (01:54:21) do it I'm not learning anything (01:54:25) new so I do (01:54:27) that but I also am writing about (01:54:31) something I don't know (01:54:33) about um or I'm learning something new (01:54:37) what if you're working with I'm (01:54:39) sorry I love the job but I'm working (01:54:41) with bad for your brain chronic (01:54:45) stress increases cortisol and I think (01:54:48) everybody should sort of know their (01:54:50) Baseline cortisol level (01:54:53) and cortisol shrinks the (01:54:57) hippocampus and puts fat on your belly (01:55:00) so that's two very bad things for your (01:55:02) brain breath work that's a big Trend (01:55:05) excellent excellent you want to break a (01:55:07) panic (01:55:08) attack the 15 second breath 4 seconds in (01:55:13) hold it for a second and a half 8 (01:55:16) seconds out hold it for a second and a (01:55:20) half you just do that four or five times (01:55:24) your whole nervous system will calm down (01:55:27) and the research shows take twice as (01:55:30) long to breathe out as you breathe in (01:55:34) that's why 4 seconds in 8 seconds out (01:55:38) yeah shift your nervous system doesn't (01:55:39) it yes it increases something called (01:55:42) vagal tone okay some bad things then (01:55:44) social media usage chronic social media (01:55:46) usage good for the brain bad for the (01:55:48) brain because you're constantly (01:55:50) comparing yourself to people who aren't (01:55:52) real (01:55:53) what about workaholism and hustle (01:55:56) culture (01:55:58) so I love my (01:56:02) work am I addicted to it I don't know (01:56:06) but I love (01:56:10) it when they say people are Workaholics (01:56:13) and it's bad for the brain it's their (01:56:17) working with (01:56:19) or doing something they don't (01:56:22) want like or doing it for the money but (01:56:26) without other (01:56:28) purpose microplastics that's a big Tri (01:56:31) awful for the brain one of the major (01:56:34) causes of hormone disruption and (01:56:39) cancer and other environment thank you (01:56:41) for not giving me a plastic water bottle (01:56:43) yeah it's okay imagine if imagine if we (01:56:45) did that when we spend long a lot of (01:56:47) time these days talking about the (01:56:48) microplastics and other environmental (01:56:50) toxins that I think people are becoming (01:56:52) more aware of now which is good noise (01:56:55) pollution bad for the brain and if if it (01:56:59) hurts your hearing hearing loss is (01:57:02) actually one of the risk factors for (01:57:05) Alzheimer's why is that I did I did a (01:57:08) hear because you're not getting input (01:57:10) right and if you're not getting (01:57:11) appropriate (01:57:13) input your brain starts to (01:57:17) atropy and if you don't hear what other (01:57:22) people are saying and you have a lot of (01:57:24) ants you have a high negativity bias is (01:57:27) you can actually begin to get a bit (01:57:29) paranoid and fill in the empty spaces (01:57:33) with (01:57:34) negativity I just bought some new Apple (01:57:36) airpods and when I connected them to my (01:57:39) phone it said you want to do a hearing (01:57:40) test so I did the hearing test and then (01:57:43) I asked my girlfriend I said you should (01:57:44) do this hearing test as well because I (01:57:45) needed something to compare it to and I (01:57:47) was a little bit shocked um it said I (01:57:49) hadn't lost any hearing yet but my (01:57:51) hearing was significantly (01:57:53) not as good as hers and I remember (01:57:55) thinking gosh you know this is but I (01:57:58) didn't have any idea that it was linked (01:58:00) to Alzheimers at all so now I've turned (01:58:02) down the volume for the first time in my (01:58:04) life because I think your hearing (01:58:06) declines regardless really of what you (01:58:08) do with age anyway um but as you said (01:58:10) earlier like starting from a better (01:58:12) Baseline when you're talking about the (01:58:13) brain reserves is really the game I (01:58:16) think with aging my last point is a my (01:58:20) last question is a bit of a (01:58:23) seems to be uncorrelated but the world (01:58:25) is heading towards a world that's driven (01:58:27) by artificial intelligence it's like all (01:58:29) the all the rage at the moment if you (01:58:31) log on the internet people talking about (01:58:33) they're going to lose their jobs all of (01:58:35) these new tools that allow us to (01:58:36) optimize our lives in a variety of (01:58:37) different ways when you think about the (01:58:40) world of AI that we're heading into (01:58:42) there's so many ways that I imagine it's (01:58:44) going to make your job easier as someone (01:58:46) who's doing scans of brains and so (01:58:48) on but do you think artificial (01:58:50) intelligence is going to be good or bad (01:58:52) for our brain (01:58:55) I think in the short run it's going to (01:58:57) be bad (01:58:59) because your brain is going to do less (01:59:03) and that's bad for the brain I I think (01:59:07) it's fascinating to watch what's going (01:59:10) to happen and ultimately in the words of (01:59:14) my friend Byron Katie argue with reality (01:59:18) welcome to hell we need to figure out (01:59:21) how to use said to enhance Our Lives (01:59:25) rather than to steal brain (01:59:28) development and so much of Technology (01:59:30) you haven't talked about this has stolen (01:59:33) brain (01:59:34) development um when video games came (01:59:38) into my house was actually 1987 I (01:59:42) remember my son was (01:59:44) 11 he was a straight A (01:59:47) student and then he (01:59:49) wasn't and then we started fighting (01:59:53) about it's like you can play for a half (01:59:55) an hour and then like I took it out of (01:59:59) the house because I saw it as an agent (02:00:03) of thrilling his brain to death (02:00:06) deadening the dopamine (02:00:09) structures um and then I've watched this (02:00:11) whole group of kids grow up with very (02:00:15) cool video (02:00:17) games that are I think damaging their (02:00:20) brain so unleash technology without any (02:00:26) Neuroscience study on the impact of (02:00:30) brain development it's a bad idea our (02:00:33) brains getting bigger or smaller do does (02:00:35) anybody (02:00:37) know I don't know wondering if tech (02:00:39) interesting question yeah because if ask (02:00:42) GPT oh gosh yeah is it funny well it's (02:00:45) it's things for you this is the thing (02:00:46) although one caution with chat GPT it (02:00:50) sucks if you ask it for medical (02:00:53) advice it often will make mistakes and (02:00:56) so there are other sites I like better (02:01:01) that I trust (02:01:03) more social connections obviously (02:01:05) another point on that because there's (02:01:07) now saw articles where men are getting (02:01:10) into relationships with an AI character (02:01:13) of a woman they like and you know social (02:01:16) connection is so good for the brain so I (02:01:18) wonder if artificial social connection (02:01:20) is going to is probably not great for (02:01:22) for the (02:01:23) brain because your brain doesn't have to (02:01:26) work as hard with an artificial (02:01:29) especially one you created yeah right (02:01:32) your brain is when when you're with like (02:01:35) another real person your brain has to do (02:01:39) a lot more calculations to make that (02:01:42) work than with someone you can just (02:01:45) trash anymore well you'd program it for (02:01:47) dopamine wouldn't you if you're making a (02:01:50) friend or partner yourself (02:01:53) what's the most important thing we (02:01:54) haven't talked about that we should have (02:01:55) talked about (02:01:57) Dr I think purpose (02:02:00) and um what is purpose matter connection (02:02:04) to a higher power well I always think (02:02:08) when I assess patients of them in four (02:02:10) big circles it's like what's the biology (02:02:13) we talked a lot about the brain what's (02:02:15) the psychology so we talked about (02:02:19) development a little bit and Trauma and (02:02:21) ants what's the Social Circle like (02:02:26) what's going on in your life now and who (02:02:27) you're connected with and we talked (02:02:28) about (02:02:29) love but we didn't really talk about the (02:02:32) spiritual Circle which is so what's the (02:02:37) point why am I here am I here because of (02:02:42) random chance because of an explosion (02:02:44) that happened billions of years ago or (02:02:48) do I believe in Creative Design (02:02:53) where I'm really created for a purpose (02:02:59) that is to make the world a better place (02:03:02) and I find people who live (02:03:05) without purpose have a higher incidence (02:03:09) of depression have a higher incidence of (02:03:11) loneliness have a higher (02:03:14) incidence of (02:03:17) dementia and (02:03:19) so I encourage all of my P patience to (02:03:24) seek and live with purpose it's one of (02:03:27) the reasons the onepage miracle is so (02:03:29) important to me what do I want (02:03:32) relationships work money physical (02:03:35) emotional spiritual health which is (02:03:38) really the (02:03:40) why question and a lot of my colleagues (02:03:45) go well how can you believe in God if (02:03:48) you're a scientist and I'm like (02:03:53) do you know anything about physics that (02:03:55) the second law of physics is entropy (02:03:59) things go from order to (02:04:02) disorder I'm like I think there's an (02:04:06) order to this and that I'm here talking (02:04:10) to (02:04:12) you and there's a purpose behind it (02:04:15) that's greater than (02:04:18) me studies suggest that religious belief (02:04:20) can be associated with differences in (02:04:22) brain structure and (02:04:23) function while there is no single (02:04:25) religious brain certain patterns have (02:04:27) been observed in Neuroscience research (02:04:30) the prefrontal cortex involved in (02:04:31) decision- making mortality and (02:04:33) self-regulation tends to be more active (02:04:34) in religious (02:04:37) individuals and their right temporal (02:04:39) lobe tends to be (02:04:41) bigger there's another study with that (02:04:44) and if if there is a (02:04:47) God and we communicate with God there's (02:04:50) got to be a neurosci (02:04:53) mechanism for that and Michael perser (02:04:56) is's a researcher out of the University (02:04:59) of Laurentian University in Canada he (02:05:02) would put helmets on people and give (02:05:05) them low volt electrical (02:05:08) activity and whenever he would stimulate (02:05:11) the right temporal loow people would get (02:05:14) a sensed presence they would actually (02:05:16) feel the presence of God in the (02:05:19) room I just think that's so interesting (02:05:24) and does that mean that the brain makes (02:05:27) up God or that the brain has Pathways to (02:05:34) experience (02:05:36) God has you I think it's an interesting (02:05:40) question I actually did a study on (02:05:41) prayer uh we have a foundation called (02:05:44) the change your brain foundation and we (02:05:47) rais money for research Education (02:05:49) Service and um I did a prayer study of (02:05:54) conversational prayer I pray for you and (02:05:57) speaking in tongues which is (02:06:01) channeling the holy spirit in Christian (02:06:05) tradition and it was so interesting and (02:06:08) there's actually been other studies uh (02:06:11) Andrew Newberg uh who studied channelers (02:06:16) in Brazil they would channel the dead (02:06:19) and the idea is if you're going to (02:06:21) channel (02:06:22) an outside Spirit you have to turn down (02:06:26) the noise in your brain so that you can (02:06:29) sort of fear the other frequencies and (02:06:32) that was our hypothesis and 60% of our (02:06:35) subjects (02:06:37) dropped their brain activity when they (02:06:41) were speaking in tongues which sounds so (02:06:43) interesting one completely activated the (02:06:47) dopamine centers so I'm looking at him (02:06:50) like I bet you do this (02:06:52) L (02:06:55) prayer prayer can change the brain I (02:06:57) mean we talked about meditation changing (02:07:00) the brain and Dr Newberg again studied (02:07:04) Tibetan Monks while they meditated and (02:07:07) Franciscan nuns while they prayed and (02:07:10) they found very (02:07:12) similar (02:07:15) changes strengthens the prefrontal (02:07:17) cortex reduces Stress and Anxiety (02:07:18) increases dopamine changes brain (02:07:20) connectivity thickens the cortex (02:07:21) promotes (02:07:23) neuroplasticity if you pray now what if (02:07:25) you're not religious cuz I I don't think (02:07:27) I believe in any particular (02:07:30) God but I would like some of these (02:07:32) benefits so I guess I could achieve them (02:07:34) by (02:07:35) meditation and those kinds of things I (02:07:37) could still pray I've got no issue with (02:07:38) praying I don't know what would be (02:07:40) praying and you could be curious yeah (02:07:42) I've got no issue with praying I just (02:07:43) don't know what i' be praying to praying (02:07:45) to the universe I guess spirituality is (02:07:48) another big Trend I wonder if that's (02:07:49) good for the brain if any I guess (02:07:52) depends yeah on is it a healthy (02:07:55) tradition or is it an (02:07:58) unhealthy tradition and I've I've seen (02:08:03) both I've seen some (02:08:06) religions uh being very rigid and (02:08:11) shaming and I've seen (02:08:15) others you know be more open and seeking (02:08:20) you've scanned 260 (02:08:22) thousand brains roughly how has that if (02:08:25) at all changed (02:08:27) your belief in a (02:08:30) god (02:08:32) um you know I believed in God since I (02:08:35) was since I can (02:08:37) remember and there's not been one thing (02:08:40) in my life that's caused me to not (02:08:44) believe so I I always (02:08:49) thought going back to the second law (02:08:52) physics that if it's random (02:08:56) chance it just doesn't make sense that (02:09:01) randomly we would get a brain cell that (02:09:06) has DNA and a (02:09:07) mitochondria it's like it's it's (02:09:11) statistically (02:09:14) impossible and I'm just like we are so (02:09:17) beautifully (02:09:18) made I just don't get the whole thing (02:09:23) so one thing we haven't talked about is (02:09:26) the LA fires and the impact of (02:09:31) disaster on the brain and I grew up in (02:09:36) Los Angeles (02:09:38) and I'm just (02:09:41) horrified by what (02:09:44) happened (02:09:46) um and we talked that my Foundation is (02:09:50) actually going to give away a hundred (02:09:53) evaluations for (02:09:55) firefighters and I almost feel bad I I (02:09:59) did the big NFL study and it was really (02:10:01) cool and it was a lot of fun for me but (02:10:04) NFL players aren't Heroes they're (02:10:08) entertainers firefighters are heroes (02:10:10) First Responders are heroes and what (02:10:14) I've seen with (02:10:16) firefighters this makes me so (02:10:19) sad because they have damaged (02:10:22) brains often because of the toxins that (02:10:26) they're exposed (02:10:29) to the emotional trauma that goes with (02:10:32) that (02:10:33) job and the head trauma that also goes (02:10:37) with this with things falling on them (02:10:42) and they have a higher suicide rate than (02:10:46) the general population significantly (02:10:49) higher I think it's like 25% higher (02:10:54) and shouldn't we be teaching them about (02:10:57) brain health and go hey look this is a (02:11:02) brain (02:11:03) damaging job but we need you to do it so (02:11:08) all the way (02:11:10) along let's see and repair your brain (02:11:16) let's make sure your reserve is (02:11:19) something special rather than we had a (02:11:22) really bad day at work let's go get (02:11:24) drunk (02:11:27) together let's (02:11:30) Elevate brain health to the (02:11:35) people who say (02:11:42) us why is that emotion so raw for you (02:11:46) but just thinking of what happened one (02:11:50) of my close friends lost his (02:11:53) hope and then he went to work and did a (02:11:56) consult for me I'm just blown away by (02:12:01) him but you know we're so close to the (02:12:05) sadness of what (02:12:08) happened and I have a clinic that we had (02:12:11) to evacuate and I have doctors that they (02:12:13) had to evacuate the (02:12:16) group trauma is (02:12:19) so high (02:12:22) and yet the people who care for (02:12:26) us were not doing a good job of caring (02:12:29) for them and I (02:12:32) think I have parted the (02:12:38) answer and and I just wish I could do (02:12:42) more incredibly kind of you to offer to (02:12:45) scan 105 fighter brains yeah and (02:12:48) hopefully as our foundation you know can (02:12:51) raise money we can do thousands of them (02:12:56) how does one go about supporting your (02:12:57) foundation where where do we go to (02:12:59) support it so changey your brain. org (02:13:03) changey yourb brain. org yeah we have a (02:13:06) closing tradition as you know where the (02:13:08) last guest leaves a question for the (02:13:09) next and the question left for you is (02:13:12) what advice would you give a (02:13:15) couple who want to start a (02:13:19) family I love that question so much (02:13:23) uh is if you want to start a (02:13:27) family you have to get your bodies ready (02:13:33) so she was born with all the eggs she'll (02:13:35) ever (02:13:37) have and you want to give them time like (02:13:42) a year or more of good (02:13:46) nutrition and the child no no the mom (02:13:50) okay so my so my partner I'm someone (02:13:52) that wants to start a family so you want (02:13:55) to (02:13:57) go what I'm (02:13:59) eating what I'm (02:14:01) thinking the stress I'm under is going (02:14:04) to impact the Next (02:14:07) Generation what are the right brain and (02:14:10) body habits that we both can (02:14:15) do to get our bodies in the best shape (02:14:22) is this good for my brain and body or is (02:14:25) it bad for it and really focus on good (02:14:29) you know a lot of people who are (02:14:31) drinking they actually stop drinking (02:14:33) when they find out they're pregnant (02:14:35) remember the brain develops a day 21 you (02:14:39) may not even know you're pregnant at day (02:14:41) 21 just let that roll around your head a (02:14:44) little bit so I love this question is oh (02:14:47) I can start to get my brain and my (02:14:51) ovaries and my sperm (02:14:53) ready to connect to be healthy so I (02:14:58) think that's the (02:15:00) advice I would give (02:15:03) them Dr Daniel lman thank you so much (02:15:05) once again for your time and thank you (02:15:06) for the wisdom and value you've given to (02:15:09) my audience over the years like as I was (02:15:10) saying before we started filming I get (02:15:11) stopped all the time everywhere I go (02:15:14) people telling me about you I told you I (02:15:15) stopped yesterday well I was having a (02:15:17) spa treatment I won't say what it is cuz (02:15:20) people will roast me but I was having a (02:15:22) first first first of of its kind for me (02:15:24) Spar treatment and the lady turned to me (02:15:25) 20 minutes in and was like by the way (02:15:27) thank you so much for having Dan Dr (02:15:29) Daniel Aon on because he helped me (02:15:31) understand my ADHD etc etc so and I see (02:15:34) that absolute love and admiration for (02:15:35) you in the comment section every time (02:15:37) where people recount stories from (02:15:40) decades ago where their kid came to see (02:15:42) you and how you've transformed their (02:15:44) life I actually think the top comment on (02:15:46) our last episode was someone who I think (02:15:48) they they came to see you 15 years ago (02:15:50) and they said that you changed their (02:15:52) son's life and that is just over and (02:15:54) over and over and over again in the (02:15:55) comments so the life you've lived is (02:15:57) such an important one and it's added so (02:15:59) much value and um hope and so many it's (02:16:02) turned on the lights for so many people (02:16:04) in so many ways so on behalf of all (02:16:05) those people and behalf of the tens of (02:16:07) millions of people who've tuned into our (02:16:08) conversations thank you so much I really (02:16:10) appreciate it well Stephen thank you the (02:16:13) last time I was on we got calls from all (02:16:16) over the world I mean obviously you're (02:16:18) doing amazing purposeful (02:16:22) work thank you isn't this cool every (02:16:26) single conversation I have here on the (02:16:27) Dio at the very end of it you'll know I (02:16:30) asked the guest to leave a question in (02:16:33) the Diary of a CEO and what we've done (02:16:36) is we've turned every single question (02:16:38) written in the Diary of a CEO into these (02:16:40) conversation cards that you can play at (02:16:43) home so you've got every guest we've (02:16:45) ever had their question and on the back (02:16:48) of it if you scan that QR code you get (02:16:51) to watch the person who answered that (02:16:55) question we're finally revealing all of (02:16:57) the questions and the people that (02:17:00) answered the question the brand new (02:17:03) version two updated conversation cards (02:17:05) are out right now at the conversation (02:17:08) cards.com they' sold out twice (02:17:10) instantaneously so if you are interested (02:17:12) in getting hold of some limited edition (02:17:14) conversation cards I really really (02:17:15) recommend acting quickly this has always (02:17:18) blown my mind a little bit 53% of you (02:17:21) that listen to the show regularly (02:17:22) haven't yet subscribed to the show so (02:17:24) could I ask you for a favor before we (02:17:26) start if you like the show and you like (02:17:27) what we do here and you want to support (02:17:28) us the free simple way that you can do (02:17:30) just that is by hitting the Subscribe (02:17:32) button and my commitment to you is if (02:17:34) you do that then I'll do everything in (02:17:35) my power me and my team to make sure (02:17:37) that this show is better for you every (02:17:39) single week we'll listen to your (02:17:40) feedback we'll find the guests that you (02:17:42) want me to speak to and we'll continue (02:17:44) to do what we do thank you so much (02:17:47) [Music] (02:17:51) a (02:17:52) [Music]