The School of Greatness with Lewis Howes

>> Hi.

I'm Lewis Howes, "New York Times" best-selling author and entrepreneur.

And welcome to "The School of Greatness," where we interview the most influential minds and leaders in the world to inspire you to live your best life today.

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Daniel Amen, best-selling author, brain-health expert, and one of America's leading psychiatrists.

Today, he teaches us everything you need to know about optimizing your brain health when it comes to the foods you should eat and avoid, best practices to improve memory, and understanding how important taking care of our brain really is.

I'm so glad you're here today.

Let's dive in, and let the class begin.

What is more powerful?

The brain, the heart, or the mind?

And which one is controlling our body the most?

>> No question it's your brain.

>> Really?

>> Your brain creates your mind.

And when the brain works right, you work right.

But when your brain is troubled for whatever reason -- head injuries from playing football, early Alzheimer's disease, you live in a mold-filled home, or Lyme disease -- it damages your brain, and then you're more vulnerable to anxiety, depression.

And people don't get that.

There's all this talk about, "Get your mind right."

But if -- Think of it like hardware, physical functioning of your brain, software, your mind, network connections, your relationships.

If the hardware is not right, the software won't run, and the network connections will be faulty.

And so, at Amen Clinics -- We have nine clinics around the country where we see thousands of patients every month.

It's like, get your brain right.

And then we want to program it.

Your mind's really important.

And we want to help you work on your relationships.

But if your brain's not right, nothing else is going to be as good as it can be.

And in 1991, when I started ordering scans, I scanned my mom.

She had a beautiful, healthy brain.

I scanned me, and it wasn't healthy, but I played football in high school.

I had meningitis when I was a young soldier.

And I had bad habits.

I wasn't sleeping, I was eating fast-food.

And when I scanned myself, I developed a concept.

I wanted my mother's brain.

And so, I called that brain envy.

You got to learn to love and care for your brain.

And so, the next 30 years I've been figuring out, "How can I have a better brain?

Because when I have a better brain, I have a better life."

And what I realized is depression's not one thing.

That's why Prozac didn't work for everyone.

For some people, they have really low blood flow and activity in the brain, for some people, it's really high.

And for some people, they had head injuries.

In fact, if you go, "Hey, Daniel, single-most important thing you've learned from 183,000 scans" -- that's how many we've done -- is that mild traumatic brain injury is a major cause of psychiatric illness.

>> Oh, man.

>> And nobody knows about it, because psychiatrists, by and large, never look at the brain.

>> What would you say are the three worst things we can do for our brain?

If the brain health is the foundation for our mind-set, our heart health, the way we view the world, what are the three worst things we can do?

>> Well, I mean, the worst thing you can do is not care about it.

My favorite tiny habit is before you go to do something today, ask yourself -- takes three seconds -- is this good for my brain or bad for it?

And if you can answer that question with information and love, love of yourself, love of your mission, you are going to be better, because when your brain is better, you're better.

So that's number one, is you don't care.

Number two is you engage in behaviors that hurt your brain, whether it's head trauma or thinking of marijuana as going green.

It's not.

It damages the brain.

Alcohol is not a health food.

Living in a mold-filled environment.

The third thing would be you just never do anything to help your brain, such as table tennis, which is just a great brain game, because you got to get your eyes, your hands, and feet all to work together while you think about this spin on the ball.

So I think of it like aerobic chess.

Well, in the back bottom part of your brain, there is -- "Cerebellum" actually means "little brain."

It's 10% of the brain's volume, but it has half -- 50% -- of the brain's neurons.

And it's involved in coordination, which is why table tennis is great for your cerebellum, but also thought coordination, how quickly you can integrate new information.

And we know people who have A.D.D.

have sleepy cerebellums, people who have autism awfully have damaged cerebellums.

And so, athletics are so important, right?

>> Yes.

>> These coordination exercises, like martial arts, is amazing, as long as you don't hit your head -- as long as you don't hit your head, because the brain is soft, about the consistency of soft butter, tofu, custard, somewhere between egg whites and jello.

And your skull is really hard and has sharp, bony ridges.

This is why the thousands of blows you took to your head are just bad.

Helmets don't protect brain damage -- protect you from brain damage.

They protect you from skull fractures.

But inside your brain, your brain is doing this repeatedly.

That's not a good thing.

You can't, like, take your laptop and just drop it repeatedly and expect it to do what it needs to do.

>> I just keep thinking of the decades of brain hitting over and over.

>> Every day, your brain -- And there's an area called the hippocampus.

The hippocampus is really important because it's involved with mood and memory.

And it's Greek for "seahorse" because it's shaped like a seahorse.

And every day, the hippocampus makes 700 new baby stem cells, or new baby seahorses, every day.

>> Every day?

In the brain?

>> In the brain.

You're making new cells every day.

So, neuroscientists -- When I was taking neuroscience in medical school, they told us, you know, "If you hurt your brain, sort of you're screwed, and you're not getting it back."

Well, that was a lie, that the brain continues to make new neurons throughout life.

And every day, you're growing those babies, if you put them in a healthy environment, or you're murdering them.

>> Oh, man.

>> And know better, do better.

72% of Americans are overweight.

>> Are overweight.

>> 42% of us are obese.

>> Obese.

>> I published three studies and just published a study on 35,000 people.

It's one of the largest imaging studies ever done.

There is virtually a linear correlation between as your weight goes up, the function of your brain goes down.

>> Really?

>> Oh, morbidly obese was worse than obese, which was worse than overweight, which was worse than healthy weight.

So your waist should be half your height or less.

And you got to measure.

You can't go by your pant size because the clothing industry knows that we're unhappy.

And so, you just got to put a tape measure right around your bellybutton.

And so, if you're six-feet, your waist should be 36 inches or less.

>> That's good.

>> And if it's not, then it's good to work on, right?

And you just see it as a problem to solve, but if you want to keep your brain healthy or rescue it, if it's headed to the dark place, you have to prevent or treat the 11 major risk factors.

I have a mnemonic for that.

I read about it in the books.

It's called Bright Minds.

Well, if you're overweight, that automatically means you have five of the risk factors, because being overweight decreases blood flow.

That's what my study showed.

It increases inflammation.

It stores toxins.

Fat stores toxins.

Like, if you smoke pot, it actually stays in your body for 30 days.

>> Really?

Wow.

>> It changes your hormones.

And this is, like, shocking.

Belly fat especially takes healthy testosterone and turns it into unhealthy cancer-promoting forms of estrogen.

>> Ooh.

>> And so, you know, you have the diobesity risk factor, blood flow, inflammation, toxins, and hormones, and so -- >> That's all from being overweight.

>> That's all from being overweight.

And what I often say is, the real weapons of mass destruction, ISIS has nothing on our food industry.

There are highly-processed pesticides sprayed, high-glycemic, low-fiber food-like substances stored in plastic containers.

This is what's really killing the health of America.

>> What are the other things right that you talk about?

Are there a few main keys?

Is it nutrition?

Is it sleep?

>> Well, if we think about Bright Minds, it's such a good model.

So, blood flow -- "B" is blood flow -- so exercise and foods like beets that increase blood flow or supplements like ginkgo that increase blood flow.

The "R" is retirement and aging.

New learning is absolutely critical.

You know, your work and studying greatness, you're always learning something new, which is great for the brain.

>> So retirement plus aging?

Is that what you said?

>> Retirement and aging.

>> So continuing to learn in those stages?

>> And always putting yourself in an anti-aging environment.

So the food you eat, the exercise, new learning, being passionate, never retiring, right?

I mean, maybe you go and do something else you like better because you have enough money, but never retirement.

Because when you start not doing things, your brain actually starts to disconnect itself.

>> So when we -- Say someone retires at 60, 70, 75, and they say, "You know, I'm going to just sit on the beach for the next however long, enjoy my family time, enjoy the money I've had, and relax."

What happens to those people if they don't have a purposeful mission in their life beyond relaxation?

What happens?

>> Their brain disconnects itself.

They have a higher incidence of dementia.

And my dad worked until he died when he was almost 91.

And he's like, "When my friends retire, they die."

>> Really?

>> Now, if you retire because you really didn't love what you were doing anyways and you go off and do something you love -- maybe not golf because you're around all those toxins on the grain, maybe not golf -- but when -- if you're doing things you love and you're always learning, well, that's awesome.

That's a really good thing.

>> So you can retire from your job, don't retire from your life.

>> Don't retire from your life.

>> Stay connected in some meaningful pursuit.

>> Absolutely critical to keeping young.

And then the "I" is inflammation.

This is the big, bad actor, because inflammation in your body, which comes from eating processed foods -- One of the surprising things comes from gum disease.

If you're not a flosser, you need to floss.

I'm a flossing fool.

>> Me too.

I do it twice a day.

>> And I wasn't that way until I started reading the studies that people who have gum disease have a higher incidence of heart disease but also a higher incidence of brain disease.

They actually found gum bacteria in -- higher in the brains of people with Alzheimer's disease.

And so, omega-3 fatty acids decrease inflammation, fruits and vegetables decrease inflammation, flossing.

And probiotics, getting your gut healthy.

There's this huge connection between the brain and the gut, because inflammation often comes from having an unhealthy gut, either from infections or the lousy food that you're eating.

And the "G" is genetics.

You need to know your vulnerability, but genes aren't a death sentence.

What they should be is a wake-up call to know what you're vulnerable to.

I have heart disease and obesity in my family.

I don't have heart disease, and I'm not obese.

Why?

Because I'm always on a prevention program.

You just want to be serious as soon as you know what your risks are.

>> Right.

Okay.

>> "H" is head trauma, which we talked about.

Brain is soft, skull is hard.

There are 3 million new head injuries every year in the United States.

This is a big deal.

>> Wait, 3 million new head injuries?

>> Every year.

>> Is that from car accidents or sports, falls?

Everything.

>> Everything.

You know, being hit.

>> Domestic violence, whatever it might be, anything, gunshot, whatever.

>> Whatever.

And then "T" is toxins.

And so you go, "What can I do to support my brain?"

Well, one, avoid them.

Alcohol is not a health food.

My biggest blog last year was titled "I Told You So."

And then there's this study from Johns Hopkins that say people who drink every day have smaller brains.

Then last year, the American Cancer Society came out and said any alcohol is associated with an increased risk in cancer -- seven different cancers.

>> Oh!

Any alcohol?

>> Any alcohol.

>> Every wine drinker is saying, "No, you're wrong.

No, I'm not listening to this right now."

What about a glass once or twice a week?

What about the nutrients from the grapes?

>> Well, again, if you're going to do something that's bad for your brain, you should be doing other things that are good for your brain, right?

It doesn't mean you can never have a drink, but just know it's not a healthy, helpful thing to do.

So you want to do the other things.

You want to support the four organs of detoxification.

So your kidneys -- drink more water.

Your gut -- eat more fiber.

In my shake every morning, I put fiber in it.

And for your liver, kill the alcohol, and eat detoxifying vegetables.

They're called brassicas -- Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, kale.

And take infrared saunas.

People who take the most saunas have the lowest incidence of Alzheimer's disease.

>> Really?

>> Because it detoxifies you.

And it's also -- There's actually a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

People with major depression took one infrared sauna, their mood was better.

Well, how cool is that?

I mean, that's, like, simple.

There's no side effects, mostly, to taking a 25-minute sauna.

The "M" in "Bright Minds" is mental health.

This is where you learn to kill the ants and tame the dragon.

So ANT stands for automatic negative thoughts, the thoughts that come into your mind automatically and ruin your day.

And the exercise is super simple.

Whenever you feel sad or mad or nervous or out of control, write down what you're thinking and then just ask yourself if it's true.

You don't have to believe every stupid thing you think.

I didn't learn that till I was 28 years old.

Just because you have a thought has nothing to do with whether or not it's true.

>> Absolutely.

I was working with a therapist recently that said, "Just because someone tells you something about yourself and they're trying to give you this thing doesn't mean you need to receive that gift.

It's not a gift you need to receive.

They're offering you a gift, that's a bad gift, doesn't mean you need to take it.

You can just say, 'Okay, I don't need that gift right now.

I don't need to let that thought sink in and believe this.'"

And I think -- I'll speak for myself.

Growing up, any time I heard someone say, "You suck, you're dumb, you're an idiot, you're not enough, you'll never amount to whatever," I learned to believe those things.

And I think a lot of us probably learn to believe whatever we hear from anyone, whether it was a side comment or a direct comment.

And how have you learned, over the years, to really defend against those ants?

Like, besides -- Someone might say, "Okay, I tried writing it down, that this is not true, and analyzing this, but how can we really show for up ourselves so our thoughts don't consume us in a negative way?"

>> So you know that if you're overweight on Monday and you have a salad, you are not going to be trim on Friday.

>> Right.

Right.

M> You need to develop practices, right, that getting well physically is a discipline that occurs over and over over time, right?

To be mentally well, you need to develop practices that you do, like eating well, over and over and over.

So, for example, I start every day with, "Today is going to be a great day."

As soon as my feet hit the floor in the morning, and today was easier because I spent last night in Santa Monica and walked around the beach this morning and I get to hang out with you, "Today is going to be a great day."

That way, my unconscious mind finds why it's going to be a great day.

And then when I go to bed at night, and this is so powerful, I say a prayer, and then I go, "What went well today?"

And I put myself to sleep by reviewing the positive things that happened that day.

And I find the little micro moments, whether it's that sip of hot chocolate that I made that I'm proud of myself for or some cool text or interaction, and it sets my dreams up to be more positive.

Too many people, their internal life is like a courtroom, and they've got a spectacular prosecutor and a cruel judge and a jury that's awful.

And they have a weak defense attorney.

You know, people do things to feel better fast.

We saw that during the pandemic.

But they're choosing things that actually make them worse... >> That hurt them.

>> ...in the long run.

So you want to do things that help you feel good now and later... >> Yes.

>> ...versus now but not later.

>> And needing it all the time.

Yeah.

>> So diaphragmatic breathing.

I'm just a huge fan.

Or meditation.

I published three studies on a kundalini yoga form of meditation called Kirtan Kriya.

It's all of 12 minutes, but it activates your frontal lobes.

It helps you with forethought and judgment and impulse control.

And it's fun.

It's beautiful.

Sa ta na ma.

Sa ta na ma.

Which is birth, life, death, reborn, birth, life, death, reborn.

It's just beautiful.

And, you know, people can Google, you know?

There are YouTube videos on it.

But it works to balance your brain, and that helps you feel good now and later versus now but not later.

The second "I" in "Bright Minds" is immunity and infections.

There's a study I put in the end of mental illness of a graph -- of a map of the United States of the highest incidence of schizophrenia.

It's the Northwest, the North Midwest, and the West Coast.

And right below it is a graph of the highest incidence of Lyme disease.

They're virtually identical.

>> Wow.

>> Could schizophrenia, in some cases, be an infection that's attacking the brain?

And I think the answer is yes.

Not in all cases, but it's something we should be screening for.

"D" is diobesity.

So we talked about being overweight but also having high blood sugar.

>> Diobesity?

>> Diobesity.

>> What does that mean?

>> It's a combination of you're overweight and you have high blood sugar.

Either one of those is a mental-health, brain-health risk factor.

And 50%, 5-0%, of the population is either diabetic, 14%, or pre-diabetic, 36%.

That's a disaster.

And that comes from the simple carbs.

>> What's the "S" in "Bright Minds"?

>> Sleep.

Absolutely essential.

So we talked about autophagy early.

That's what happens when you sleep.

Your brain cleans, it washes itself.

Actually, the cleaning crew shows up.

We didn't even know that.

It's a system called the glymphatic system that is asleep, basically, when you're awake and turns on when you're asleep.

>> Starts sweeping out thoughts, stress, fat cells.

>> Integrating information, but literally cleaning the synapses in your brain, like the cleaning crew shows up.

And if you're not sleeping 6 1/2, 7, 8 hours a night, trash is building up in your brain, making you more likely to be depressed, have brain fog.

>> Overweight, all these things.

>> Yeah.

And so, being disciplined about a good time for sleep, avoiding things that hurt sleep, doing things that help sleep can be just so helpful.

It integrates what we learn during the day, and it compares it to our experience from the past and then decides what to keep and what to let go.

But if you're not sleeping well or you're drinking to put yourself to sleep, it damages REM sleep, which is the most restorative sleep.

And you're not going to get the benefit from it.

So sleep is absolutely essential.

Sleep apnea, people who snore loudly, who stop breathing at night -- triples their risk of Alzheimer's disease.

>> Really?

>> Yeah.

And I'm always trying to be, how can I be more effective?

And I find the easier I make it, the simpler I make it, like, you know, how do I get my brain healthy?

Bright Minds.

It's, like, super simple.

>> This is a question I ask everyone at the end called the Three Truths question.

So I'd like you to imagine a hypothetical situation.

It's your last day on Earth, many years away.

You've accomplished all of your dreams and goals, and you're happy and healthy, and everything you want to do you've done.

But for whatever reason, you've got to take all of your written work with you, your video work, your content.

It's all got to go with you to the next place, wherever you go.

And no one has access to your information anymore.

But you get to leave behind three things you know to be true, three lessons you would share with the world, and this is all we have to remember you by.

I call it Three Truths.

What would be three things you would share with the world?

>> Brain envy.

Love your brain.

Don't believe every stupid thing you think.

Know what you want.

And ask yourself every day, does my behavior fit what I want?

>> Mm.

Yeah.

>> People don't do that.

It's crazy.

They should be teaching this to 7-year-olds.

"What do you want?

Relationships, schoolwork, money, your health?

What do you want?

Is your behavior getting you what you want?"

Rather than say, "You should do this, or you should do that."

Shoulds don't work.

It's just getting people to now and then act.

And if they have a healthy brain, it's easier.

>> Yeah.

I'm want to acknowledge you for a moment before I ask the final question.

The work you continue to do is so inspiring, and it's helping so many people when they allow themselves to learn, to apply it, and take action.

So I really acknowledge you for being so passionate about this work, for showing up for people's lives, for being someone that cares deeply about human beings, the quality of their life, improving their brain health, which is the quality of their relationships and everything.

I just think we need more people like you.

Final question for you.

What is your definition of greatness?

>> It's pushing to do what you know you can do, despite what other people say.

>> Mm.

Appreciate you very much.

We hope you enjoyed this episode and found it valuable.

Stay tuned for more from the "School of Greatness," coming soon on public television.

Again, I'm Lewis Howes.

And if no one has told you lately, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter.

And now it's time to go out there and do something great.

If you'd like to continue on the journey of greatness with me, please check out my website, lewishowes.com, where you'll find over 1,000 episodes of the "School of Greatness" show, as well as tools and resources to support you in living your best life.

>> The online course, Find Your Greatness, is available for $19.

Drawn from the lessons Lewis Howes shares in the "School of Greatness," this interactive course will guide you through a step-by-step process to discover your strengths, connect to your passion and purpose, and help create your own blueprint for greatness.

To order, go to lewishowes.com/tv.