643: Change Your Brain, Change Your Life with Dr. Daniel Amen

Summary

Achieve Your Goals with Hal Elrod

Episode 643: Change Your Brain, Change Your Life with Dr. Daniel Amen
Date: July 1, 2026
Guest: Dr. Daniel Amen
Host: Hal Elrod

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Hal Elrod sits down with Dr. Daniel Amen, renowned psychiatrist, brain health expert, and author of Change Your Brain, Change Your Life. Their conversation centers on the vital, often-overlooked role brain health plays in determining every area of our lives—from mood and decision-making to relationships, habits, and longevity. Dr. Amen provides actionable strategies for optimizing brain health, debunks common myths (including about free will and ADD/ADHD), and shares real-life stories illustrating the power of changing your brain to change your life.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Why Brain Health Should Be Your #1 Priority

• Invisibility Breeds Neglect: Dr. Amen explains why most of us don't care about our brains: "Nobody cares about their brain. Why? You can't see it." (01:52)
• Brain SPECT Imaging: Dr. Amen recounts his first experience with brain scans, leading him to develop “brain envy” upon seeing his mother’s healthy scan vs. his own.
  • "[My mother] had a stunningly beautiful brain ... a week later, I scanned myself, and it wasn't healthy." (02:51)
• Brain = Life: "When your brain works right, you work right. When your brain is troubled, you’re much more likely to have trouble in your life." (04:43)

Free Will, Personal Responsibility, and the Brain

• Free Will Spectrum: Brain health shapes our decision-making capacity.
  • "Some people have 80 or 90% free will. Some, it’s more like 30 or 40%." (05:11)
  • Damaged brains limit free will, affecting behavior and accountability.
  • "Is it the sign of an evolved society to kill sick people? It’s not." (05:35)

Real-Life Brain Transformation Stories

• Tarek El Moussa’s Story: The HGTV star had a severely unhealthy brain scan, which dramatically improved after 89 hyperbaric oxygen sessions and other interventions.
  • "When I first saw it, I’m like, your brain sort of looks like the cockroach infested moldy hoarder houses that you flip." (07:29)
• Brain Issues Overlooked: Emotional struggles (post-trauma, chemo, accidents) are often viewed as “psychological” but may be primarily brain-based.

Chemo Brain and Healing After Toxic Treatments

• Chemotherapy Impacts: Chemo can damage healthy brain cells, not just cancer cells. Dr. Amen suggests:
  1. Look at the brain: SPECT imaging can diagnose chemo brain.
  2. Brain Health Basics: Cultivate “brain envy,” avoid things that hurt the brain, and start doing things that help.
  • "You just have to know the list." (11:53)

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What Hurts and Helps Your Brain

The “Bad List”: What to Avoid

• Immediate Do-Not-Dos:

  • Grabbing your phone first thing in the morning or before bed (dopamine disruptor)
  • Lack of sleep, chronic scrolling, alcohol, marijuana, being overweight, eating sugar/ice cream
  • "Ice cream? Yes. Bad for your brain. Sugar is pro-inflammatory." (13:14)
  • "As your weight goes up, the actual physical size and function of your brain goes down." (13:16)

• 11 Major Risk Factors: Being overweight gives you all 11.

  • "It stores toxins, you’re more likely to be depressed ... impairs your sleep." (13:53)

The “Good List”: Actionable Habits for Brain Health

• Dr. Amen’s ‘BRIGHT MINDS’ Acronym:
  • Blood flow: Exercise (walking briskly 45 min, 4×/week equals antidepressants) (18:40)
  • Retirement & aging: Lifelong learning keeps the brain young.
  • Inflammation: Avoid processed foods, gum disease; increase omega-3s; floss daily.
    • "Flossing is a brain exercise." (19:33)
  • Genetics: Know your family history and proactively manage risk.
  • Head trauma: Even one can trigger problems. "A major cause of psychiatric problems." (21:41)
  • Toxins: Alcohol, marijuana, environmental toxins, mold, heavy metals.
  • Mental Health: Counter negativity with a “positivity bias.” Daily gratitude; "Today is going to be a great day. What went well today?" (24:09)
  • Immunity/Infections: Strong vitamin D, manage inflammation from infections (like COVID).
  • Neurohormones: Test and balance hormones, especially as you age.
  • Diabesity: Overweight/high blood sugar impairs brain health.
  • Sleep: Critical for brain function and cleansing.

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Nutrition & Weight

• “Do you love food that loves you back?” (14:43)
• Education is crucial, especially for the young: “If you had a million dollar racehorse, would you ever feed it junk food? … Why would you treat your own brain with less care?”

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ADD & ADHD: It’s Not a One-Size-Fits-All Condition

• Terminology: Dr. Amen explains the evolution of ADD/ADHD labels, highlighting many are “never hyperactive.” (29:08)
• Seven Types: Based on brain imaging; head trauma can cause “Type 8.”
• Superpower, or Problem? Creativity, entrepreneurship, and “brutal honesty” are strengths—but only if supported by systems/people who handle follow-through. Without help, dysfunction prevails.
• Treatment Beyond Medication:
  • Saffron: "Five studies show it's equally effective as Ritalin." (32:08)
  • Omega-3 fatty acids, esp. EPA-rich
  • Magnesium, zinc, healthy ferritin
  • Supplements: “Happy Saffron” formula

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Alcohol: The Unpopular Truth

• No “safe” dose for brain health. Even small daily amounts increase cancer risk and damage microbiome.
  • "Alcohol is a disinfectant ... damages the microbiome ... increases your risk of eight different cancers." (33:54)
  • "Drops blood flow to the brain. Prematurely ages your brain and your skin." (35:21)
• Hal’s personal practice: Now, rarely drinks post-cancer.

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Smartphones: The “Normalized” Enemy

• Dopamine Destruction: Checking phones first thing in the morning depletes dopamine and blunts joy.

  • "Grabbing your phone first thing ... is a dopamine destroyer." (12:47)
  • Damages the pleasure centers, especially in children.
  • “Kids who get smartphones early have a higher incidence of suicide. I mean, it’s so scary.” (38:15)

• Neurobiological Impact:

  • “It’s basically damaging the pleasure centers in the brain. ... Constantly pushing on that area begins to wear it out, and pretty soon, you feel flat.” (38:22)
  • Social media overuse is linked to persistent sadness, suicidal thoughts, and attempts among teens.

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The Brain-Healthy Morning Routine

• Dr. Amen’s Recommendations:
  • Continue Miracle Morning practices but add 10 minutes of sunshine and hydration (16 oz water).
  • Start day with protein (not carbs/sugar): "For me, it’s eggs." (42:19)
  • Mindset: Start with, "Today is going to be a great day," and look for micro-miracles.
  • Avoid the phone at the start of your day (and right before bed).

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Seven-Day Brain Challenge (Action Steps)

Dr. Amen’s Prescription:

• Three Times Daily: Ask, “Is what I’m doing now good for my brain? And does it make the world better?” (43:44)
• Daily Actions:
  • Walk briskly (45 min)
  • Hydrate (16+ oz water)
  • Get sunshine (10+ min)
  • Challenge negative thoughts: When feeling “sad, mad, nervous, or out of control,” write your thoughts and check if they’re true.
  • Day 1: Complete the “One Page Miracle”—write down your goals for relationships, work, money, and health. Check daily if your behavior supports these goals.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “The only organ where size actually does matter is your brain. Because when you have a better brain, you have a better life.” — Dr. Daniel Amen (03:47)
• “Some people have 80 or 90% free will. Some, it’s more like 30 or 40%.” — Dr. Daniel Amen (05:11)
• “Alcohol is a disinfectant ... And drinking consistently damages the microbiome.” — Dr. Daniel Amen (33:54)
• “Kids who get smartphones early have a higher incidence of suicide ... Constantly pushing on that area [the pleasure center] begins to wear it out, and pretty soon, you feel flat.” — Dr. Daniel Amen (38:15/38:22)
• “You want to drip [dopamine], not dump it.” — Dr. Daniel Amen (40:43)
• “I love food that loves me back.” — Dr. Daniel Amen (26:40)
• “It comes down to this one simple question: Is what I’m doing now good for my brain or bad for it?” — Dr. Daniel Amen (12:03)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:52] – Why no one “cares” about their brain and the importance of brain scans
• [05:11] – Brain health, free will, and personal responsibility
• [07:29] – Tarek El Moussa’s brain transformation with hyperbaric oxygen
• [11:34] – The basics of brain health after chemo ("brain envy," avoid bad, do good)
• [13:13] – The “bad list”: sugar, processed foods, weight gain and their impact
• [18:24] – The BRIGHT MINDS framework for brain health
• [29:08] – ADD/ADHD types, diagnosis, and why the terminology matters
• [32:08] – Natural supplements for ADD/ADHD
• [33:54] – The real impact of alcohol on health and the brain
• [38:15] – How smartphones damage the brain, especially in teenagers
• [41:26] – Brain healthy morning routine
• [43:44] – Dr. Amen’s seven-day brain challenge

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Connect with Dr. Daniel Amen

• Supplements: brainmd.com
• Clinics: amenclinics.com
• Social: Instagram, TikTok - @DrDanielAmen

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Summary by Achieve Your Goals Podcast Summarizer – Listen, Learn, Live Better.

Transcript

[A]

Hello and welcome to the Achieve your Goals podcast. The show that empowers you to wake up to your full potential and achieve your biggest goals and dreams. I am your host, Hal Elrod and I invite you to join us each week as we share actionable strategies to take your life to the next level, as well as interview world class experts and entrepreneurs who have achieved extraordinary goals themselves. And we ask them to give you a peek behind the curtain and teach you exactly what you need to do to do the same. Ready? Here we go. Today I'm talking with Dr. Daniel Amen, one of the world's leading voices on brain health and author of the book Change youe Brain, Change youe Life. Dr. Amen has spent decades helping people understand that if you want to improve your thoughts, your emotions, your relationships, your behavior, your habits, your career, almost anything, you have to start with the organ that drives all of it, your brain. In today's conversation, we're talking about what hurts your brain and what helps your brain free will, how it might not be what you think it is, chemo, brain, ADD and adhd, and ultimately practices that will help you to think better, feel better and live better. Doctor Amen, it is so good to be with you.

[B]

Hal, thank you so much for helping me share this message.

[A]

I appreciate you. As someone who has, I've read your book twice now and as someone who's suffered brain damage and really struggled with a lot of brain issues, your work is so important to me. I want to ask you just off the bat, what do people not understand about how important learning about their brain, understanding how it works, caring for it. What do people not realizing that they need to be doing?

[B]

Nobody cares about their brain. Why you can't see it. You can see the wrinkles in your skin or the fat around your belly. And in 1991 when I started looking at the brain, here at amen clinics have 11 clinics around the country, we do a study called Brain SPECT Imaging. SPECT looks at blood flow and activity, looks at how your brain works. And so I went to a lecture in 1991 on brain spect imaging literally has changed everything in my life. And so I'm 37 at the time I order my first scan and I don't care about my own brain. I a double board certified psychiatrist, I was the top neuroscience student in medical school and I didn't care because I'd never seen it. And the week before I scanned my mom, she was 60 at the time. Stunningly beautiful brain.

[A]

Oh wow.

[B]

And it just fit her life and then a week later, I scanned myself, and it wasn't healthy because I played football in high school. I had meningitis twice as a young soldier, and I had bad habits. I was only getting four hours of sleep at night. I was overweight, I was eating bad food, and I just didn't care until I saw her brain. And then I saw my brain, and I was irritated, and I developed a term I call brain envy. I wanted a healthy brain like her.

[A]

And she was your mother. So much older. You would think, like common sense would

[B]

be, you have a better brain. Yeah. And what I've learned is women tend to have healthier brains than men and could be the estrogen, or it could be they don't hit soccer balls with their forehead.

[A]

Men do a lot of stupid things that are hit their heads, and that's

[B]

why men go to jail 14 times more than females. But so brain envy. And I thought to myself, freud was wrong. So penis envy. I've not seen it once in 45 years as a psychiatrist. The only organ where size really does matter is your brain, is your brain. And everything I've done since 1991 is to get a better brain. Because when you have a better brain, you have a better life. Because your brain is involved in everything you do. How you think, how you feel, how you act, how you get along with other people. It's the organ of selling. It's the organ of managing your money. It's the organ of love, of discipline and every decision you make. And my experience, after scanning now, almost 300,000 brains over the last 30 years.

[A]

300,000 brains?

[B]

Yeah, that when your brain works right, you work right. And when your brain is troubled, you're much more likely to have trouble in your life.

[A]

You talk in the book about free will in a way that is you would think everyone has free will. They can do what they want. But you actually talk about, no, your brain health affects your free will. Because if your brain is. If it's hindered, you can't make the same decisions. Talk about that. Just talk about how free will is not as black and white as we would imagine it to be.

[B]

So when I first started scanning people, a lot of attorneys heard about my work, and they're like, do you think you can help me with this case? I ended up testifying in a couple of death penalty cases. And growing up, I just sort of thought free will was black or white. You had it or you didn't. And then with all the scans, it's like, oh, no, free will's very gray. Some people have 80 or 90% free will. Some people, it's more like 30 or 40% free will. And if you give the 80 to 90% free will person a six pack of Michelob, they get drunk, but they don't make really bad decisions. If you give the 30 or 40% person a six pack of Michelob, they can kill other people. They can make really bad decisions. And is it the sign of an evolved society to kill sick people? It's not. And before then I just had no opinion, I hadn't really thought about it. But these murderers that I saw, very damaged brains and I'm like, I wonder if I can make them better. Because that's what brings me the most joy. Sure is taking a bad brain and making it better. And so much of the time you can.

[A]

You just told me before we started recording about, I believe his name was. Is it Tarek?

[B]

Tarek, yeah.

[A]

Tell me. You said he had came to you and you did a spec scan on him. Brain had a lot of issues and then within a year of hyperbaric oxygen and I'm sure some other supplements and stuff. But talk about that. Just as an example of someone who can change their brain, that's very recent.

[B]

So he's a star on hgtv. He has house flipping shows, Flip off is one, or the flipping Elmooses another one. And he takes really awful properties and transforms them into these amazing beautiful homes that he flips. And when I first, first scan it was terrible. I mean it's like really terrible.

[A]

And when you say terrible, what is that? What are you seeing? What does that mean?

[B]

Really low blood flow. So for people who've seen my scans, it looks like one of those moth eaten scans. And when he was born, he was in the neonatal ICU for five weeks, which means he had birth trauma. And then he had problems in school and problems with his temper and problems with substances and I mean there are a lot of reasons his brain looked bad. But when I first saw it, I'm like, your brain sort of looks like the cockroach infested moldy hoarder houses that you flip. And a year later he did 89 hyperbaric oxygen sessions. Dramatic improvement. And he said his life was dramatically better. And nobody thinks about that, that you're suffering because you had a bad childhood or you're suffering because you lost your job, or you're suffering because you lost your marriage. And very few people go, you're suffering because of the car accident or the chemotherapy or you have Post Covid inflammation or you have Lyme disease. And when I started scanning. So I'm a psychiatrist by training. I'm like, oh, I have to learn all about your body, because if your body's not right, your brain's not going to be right.

[A]

Are you like me in that you want to optimize your energy and your focus? Well, if that is you, you like, I do. Then I highly recommend that you check out Cured Nutrition flow Gummies. I'm telling you, I said this last week. I think I'm, like, addicted to these things. I take them every morning. In fact, yesterday I took them twice. Took them in the morning first thing. And then I took them before my workout as well. Four functional ingredients that will help you increase your focus and energy. It's lion's mane that improves mental clarity, focus, and memory. Ginkgo biloba enhances cognitive speed and memory and boosts blood flow to the brain. Green coffee increases alertness, reaction time, and enhanced mood with 48 grams of caffeine. Very minimal caffeine, just enough to give you that edge. And then Huperzia serrata supports neurotransmitter function, memory, and learning. And they're all in these delicious apple gummies. I take two gummies in the morning to get into my flow state, and I highly recommend that you do the same. Head over to curednutrition.com HAL that is curednutrition.com forward/hal and use the code HAL at checkout for 20 off your entire order. And if you do a bundle or you do a subscription, it stacks on top of that, so you get an additional 20 off. Check out the Flow gummies and their other products as well at curednutrition.com forward/hal and enjoy the rest of today's episode. You mentioned, well, my own experience, like, with chemotherapy, I can attest to this because after 700 hours of chemotherapy over the course of three years, I felt like my brain broke. And my life was actually great, circumstantially. But I was depressed. I had extreme anxiety. I stopped sleeping well, chronic sleep deprivation. I became suicidal for the first time. And I had a great family. Our income was great. Like, everything was fine. But my brain, I felt like it was being destroyed by evil forces. Like, that's what it felt like. And I immediately stopped all of the drugs, the intense chemotherapy drugs. And that's when the healing began. So I want to ask you, chemo brain in general, that term almost bothers me because the oncologist was so dismissive. Oh, that's just chemo brain. Don't, Doc. I want to kill myself. That's just chemo brain. For any, like, cancer survivors like myself that are listening, what can they do if they've gone through chemotherapy and they want to heal their brain so they

[B]

can get a look at it to see is it chemo brain? And you have overall low activity because what kills cancer cells can also kill healthy cells.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so you can look at it. And brain health for all of us is ultimately three things. Brain envy, gotta care about it. Avoid things that hurt it. Know the lists and do things that help it. And you just have to know the list.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So much of the miracle morning is on the list.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Of what's good.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

For you.

[A]

All right, so our audience is already ahead of the game.

[B]

So your audience is already ahead of the game. But it all comes down to this one question I'm working on this national brain health revolution and the decade of brain health. And it all centers around this one simple question. Is what I'm doing now talking to you, good for my brain or bad for it? And does it make the world better? If you can answer that one question with whatever you're doing with information and love, love of yourself, love of your family, love of the reason God put you on earth, your brain's gonna be better.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And so grabbing your phone first thing in the morning, bad for your brain. Because it's a dopamine destroyer.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Staying up night, up late, scrolling. It's bad for your brain. Alcohol. It's bad for your brain. Marijuana. It's bad for your brain. Not exercising. Bad for your brain. Ice cream. Alcohol. No, wait.

[A]

Is ice bad for your brain?

[B]

All about love. Ice cream. Yes. Bad for your brain. Sugar is pro inflammatory. And I published three studies on 33,000 people that show as your weight goes up, the actual physical size and function of your brain goes down. She scare the fat off anyone? When I figured that out, lost 20 pounds.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Because. And I sort of always been a bit chubby. I say we have fat people in my family. My dad hates when I say that. I'm like, we have fat people in our family. So I have the genes that I just put on weight really quickly. So I have to be very intentional because of the 11 major risk factors. If you're overweight, you have all 11. Because the fat on your body decreases blood flow, promotes aging, increases inflammation, turns on disease promoting genes, you're more likely to have a head injury. It stores toxins, you're more likely to be depressed. Your immune system is not as healthy, takes healthy testosterone, turns into unhealthy cancer promoting forms of estrogen and impairs your sleep. So it's like, no healthy weights important. And in our sort of cancel culture, people go, oh, you can't talk about it.

[A]

Yeah. Body positivity.

[B]

Know the truth and the truth will set you free. You want to be at a healthy bmi. You don't want to be skinny. Skinny is not good.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But you also don't want to be overweight if you want a healthy brain. And ultimately there's another question, I like questions, is do you love food that loves you back, that you're in a relationship?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

With food. And we have a high school course called brain thrive by 25, where we teach young people to love and care for their brains. Decreases drug, alcohol and tobacco use. Decreases depression. Improve self esteem. And in the course, I always go, if you had a million dollar racehorse, would you ever feed it junk food?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And the smart kids go, no. I'm like, well, why? What? Wouldn't win your investment, it wouldn't pay off. And I was at fancy lunch recently and I got to sit next to Lisa Trout. So Lisa and her husband Kenny own Justify. So Justify is the last Triple Crown winning racehorse. Oh, wow. And so I was like, so excited. And they sold him for $75 million a horse.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

I'm like, would you ever feed him junk food?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And she laughed. She goes, no. I said, would you ever get him drunk? And she laughed and she said, no. I said, would you ever get him stoned? And then she rolled her eyes at me.

[A]

Because you wanted to perform at the best. Right.

[B]

And I'm like, why? He would never live up to his potential. But isn't that what you want for yourself?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Isn't that what you want for your kids? Isn't that what you want for your partner? But yet we just feed them like crap.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And with 70% of the food in America ultra processed, it's a real problem. And we just had the NBA finals. And if you watch them, it's about online gambling, bad food.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And alcohol. And I'm like, well, no wonder our society is in trouble.

[A]

Yeah. Yeah. That's a whole other podcast we could do about our society and what it's doing to our society if you struggle to fall asleep or stay asleep. I have a supplement that I take that I've taken for about three years now, virtually every single night. I highly recommend it. It's called Nightcaps by Cured Nutrition. It is A CBN and CBD oil supplement and CBN supports your body's natural sleep rhythms throughout the night for deep restorative sleep that leaves you feeling refreshed and ready to rise in the morning. Highly recommended. I book in my days with Cured Nutrition. I take their flow gummies in the morning. I take nightcaps at night. And you can get 20% off of both of those products. As a listener of the achieve your goals podcast, head over to curednutrition.com/hal. That's curednutrition.com/forward/hal and use the discount code HAL for 20% off your entire order. And if you do a subscription, which I do a monthly subscription for both of those products, you get an additional 20% off that stacks on top of the 20% as a listener, so you can save a bunch of money and it'll help you fall asleep and stay asleep again. Cured Nutrition nightcaps in the evening. And I start my day with flow gummies every single morning. And I hope these products will help you and enhance your life as they have for mine. Enjoy the rest of the episode. So you shared a list there, a partial list of the bad list, right? Of the things to avoid alcohol, Bad for the brain waking up and scrolling. Bad for the brain phone before bed, bad for the brain being overweight. All of these things. What's on the good list? What are like your top five Ish.

[B]

So I have an acronym called Bright minds. If you want to keep your brain healthy or rescue it, you have to prevent or treat the 11 major risk factors. And I actually went through all 11. I surprised myself.

[A]

Oh, nice.

[B]

But the good thing things so blood flow. Bright minds B is for blood flow.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

It's exercise, which is part of your program. Head to head against antidepressants. They're equally effective walking like you're late for 45 minutes four times a week. Equally effective to Zoloft, which is one of the really good SSRIs.

[A]

So a walking 45 minutes four times a week. Like so. Speed walking. Yes. Okay.

[B]

The R is retirement and aging. When you stop learning, your brain starts dying. Learn something new. So new learning has to be part of your life. And so for you it would be reading the I is inflammation and you have more inflammation in your body. Think of inflammation as a major cause of cancer, of depression, of dementia. And what gives you inflammation? Processed foods.

[A]

Processed foods.

[B]

Gum disease. Low omega 3 fatty acids. So simple things. Take an omega 3 fatty acid or put more of it in your diet. Floss. Flossing is A brain exercise and get rid of the sugar and foods that quickly turn to sugar. There is a study from the Mayo Clinic where they look at people at a fat based diet. So avocados, nuts and seeds, green leafy vegetables, fish. 42% less risk of Alzheimer's disease. And then they looked at people who had the standard American diet. Bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, fruit juice, sugar. 400% increased risk of Alzheimer's disease. It's the sugar and it's the foods that quickly turn to sugar.

[A]

The pasta, the bread, all the car. All the high carb sugars.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Foods. Yeah.

[B]

So G is genetics. And people go, oh, well, I'm overweight because it's in my genes and well, it's in mine, but I'm not. Why? Because I'm on an obesity heart disease prevention program every day of my life. So you need to know your genetic risks and just look at your family and go, so if you're a child of an alcoholic, you should be on an alcohol prevention program.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Every day of your life. We adopted our two nieces because both their parents were drug addicts.

[A]

Oh, wow.

[B]

And I hammered them. It's like you need to be on an addiction prevention program every day of your life. If you never use, you're never going to have a problem. If you use, it might cost you your life.

[A]

For me, it's anti cancer lifestyle. Like after I got cancer, I'm like, oh, I should have been living an anti cancer lifestyle. What are all the things that I have been putting in my body that could cause cancer? And it was all just the artifact.

[B]

So what killed your sister?

[A]

She was born with a very rare heart defect. It was called Ehlers. No, Ehlers down. No, that's a different one. I actually can't remember. But she was born with a rare a form of dwarfism that also caused a heart defect. And she died of heart failure at 18 months old.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So sorry.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But know what your people have? The H is head trauma a major cause of psychiatric problems. So when I'm listening to your story that depression after cancer, well, issues stack. Right. Losing your sister when you're eight, chronic stress. Chronic stress in the family. So clearly traumatic.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then the brutal car accident and then the chemotherapy. So it's not the chemotherapy by itself. There's a term I like called brain reserve. It's the extra tissue you have to deal with whatever stress came your way. So we would agree cancer and the 700 hours of chemotherapy, that's really stressful. But it's the brain you bring into cancer in the chemotherapy that often determines how you do. And your brain reserve had gotten stolen.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Or hurt. Now, with your parents really turning pain into purpose, that probably boosted your brain reserve. And so every day our brain reserve is growing or it's shrinking. Tea is toxins. And, you know, I talked about alcohol and marijuana. Not a fan. But it's also environmental toxins. So it can be mold exposure. It can be heavy metals, like I did. They don't have much hair, but I did a hair sample. My mercury was way too high. And so detoxing was really important to continue to have a healthy brain. M is mental health. And there I really think about negativity bias. Negativity. Low hope, low happiness, bad for your brain. All of them go with low frontal lobe function. And so one of the things I hear from you is you're really teaching people to have hope. And part of that is have a healthy brain. But then it's developing agency. Tomorrow can be better. And I have a role, and there are multiple paths to get what I want. And so I teach a lot of my patients positivity bias training. Today is going to be a great day. What went well today? When I go to bed tonight, I always do this. What went well today? I'll think about you.

[A]

I'll think about you, Daniel.

[B]

Because this was fun and this was important, but it's a daily practice. And even the day my dad died about six years ago, because I'd been doing this practice, I went to bed and I went, what went well today? And it was the worst day of my adult life. But I found three things that were truly gifts that day. The second I is immunity and infections. Covid just did such a number on our society, in part because it causes an inflammatory bomb to go off in the brains of vulnerable people. I want everybody to know their vitamin D level, because vitamin D strengthens your immunity. The N is neurohormones. So do you know why our hormones drop with age? It's the planet's way of getting rid of you. And I'm like, not okay with this. I'm like, no. So I think everyone should have their hormones tested and optimized. And for the women who are listening, progesterone drops 10 years before they go into menopause. And progesterone is sort of like the brain's natural Valium. It sort of calms things down. So in their 40s, they're, like, anxious, they can't sleep. They end up on an SSRI or a benzo or sleeping pill. I'm like, nah, doctor should test your hormones and maybe 100 milligrams of progesterone could save you in supplement form or in medicine form. Okay. It can be both.

[A]

You can get both.

[B]

The D is diabesity if you're overweight, as we talked about, or you have high blood sugar bad for your brain. Which is why I like lower simple carbohydrate diets. And then S. Is sleep. It's so important. When you sleep, your brain cleans and washes itself. But all of it comes back to this one question. Is what I'm doing now good for my brain or bad for it? Now you have the list.

[A]

Yeah, I love that. Well, that's been for many, many years. My simple diet guideline, which is, does this add value to my health and longevity? Right. In other words, what are the consequences of what I'm going to put in my body? Does it contribute to my health and longevity or is it detrimental? And that was really how I went from eating a junk food, fast food lifestyle to going, I'm only gonna put things in my body nine out of ten times, at least. Not perfect, but nine out of ten times that add value to my body. And you're just taking that and applying it to the brain.

[B]

And I would just shift the question just a little bit.

[A]

Please do.

[B]

I love food that loves me back.

[A]

There you go. Okay.

[B]

Because I don't know if you've ever been in a bad relationship. I have and I'm not doing it anymore. You met my wife and she's my best friend. And so I got that part right. I'm for sure not going to be in a bad relationship with food.

[A]

Yeah, that makes sense. All right, let me ask you a question. How many apps are you using for your personal development? Maybe a meditation app like Calmer Headspace, an affirmation app like im, or Think Up, a book summary app like Blinkist, a journaling app like 5 Minute Journal, a visualization app like Envision, an exercise app like 7 Minute Workout, and maybe even a habit tracking app to keep it all together. That is a lot to manage and a lot to pay for. What if you could replace all of them with just one app? Yes. It is called the Miracle morning app and it is essentially seven apps in one. Hundreds of guided meditations and breathwork tracks, a full library of affirmations, plus tools to create your own visualization prompts for 10 key areas of your life. Guided workouts from 2 to 10 minutes long, book and audiobook summaries of top personal and professional development books and a journaling tool with guided prompts. The Wheel of Life or a blank page to write freely. It simplifies your morning, saves you money, and helps you start every day with clarity, purpose, and energy. And it's one of the only apps in this space with a 4.9 out of 5 star rating. Try it free for 7 days. Just search Miracle Morning in your app store or go to miraclemorningapp.com to get started. All right, back to the show. One of the things I want to talk to you about. So ADD and adhd. ADHD seems to be the more popular clinical term nowadays, but I've heard you leaned toward add. And also you talk about there's seven types of it. As someone who. So there's actually two parts of this question, which is the difference between ADD and adhd. And then I want to ask you, is it a problem or is it a superpower?

[B]

So in 1980, when I trained the DSM, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders was ADD with or without hyperactivity. In 1987, when they revised it, they changed the term to ADHD. And I hated that because they actually threw out half the people who had it because half the people who have it are never hyperactive.

[A]

Interesting.

[B]

So to put it in the title, I thought was a huge mistake. The scientific term today, it's not really scientific. I mean, they vote on these things. That's not science is ADHD. But in 1994, they went, oh, we made a mistake. And so they changed the name again to AD hd, highlighting that half the people are never hyperactive. Got it. And when I started doing imaging, I'm like, it's not one thing. It's seven different things. And initially I thought it was six different things. And then, you know, I've added a seventh type. I may add an eighth type, head trauma induced add, because having a head injury like you did can clearly cause it. Now, if you clearly had symptoms beforehand, short attention span, distractibility, disorganization, procrastination, impulse control, then the accident just could sort of accelerate it or make it worse.

[A]

Worse.

[B]

Is it a superpower? Yeah, for some people. I mean, a lot of people who run organizations, especially small businesses, have ADD because they can't work for other people. Right. It's hard for them to show up. It's hard for them to follow through. If they love it, they can do it. Yeah, but working for someone else, you generally don't love it. And they can be hyper successful if they surround Themselves with people who follow through. But if they don't, generally they get in trouble with the IRS because they're not following through on the things they need to do. Many strengths of people who have add, they're often very creative. They often have low frontal lobe. So they say the first thing that comes to their mind. A lot of my patients go, I'm brutally honest. And in my head I'm going, it's usually not helpful.

[A]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

And often when I lecture, I'll go, how many of you are married? And half the group will raise their hand. I said, is it helpful for you to say everything you think in your marriage? And they're like, no, no, it's not helpful. We need to inhibit our.

[A]

We need discernment, right?

[B]

Yeah, discernment and a little bit of a break in our brain. With treatment, people get much closer to their potential. And treatment's not always medicine. But a lot of people feel ashamed if they have to take medicine. And you wear glasses and why? Because it's easier to see. Yeah, right. The world's easier to navigate. And the same thing's true with effectively treating add. The world's just easier.

[A]

Easier. Yeah. What are some treatments for add? What are some natural treatments? And then obviously everybody knows Adderall and Ritalin and all that, but what are some natural and. Or some supplements? I know you have a huge supplement line. I've taken your supplements for many years.

[B]

Well, thank you.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So Saffron has five studies with ADD showing it was equally effective as Ritalin or methylphenidate. I think all of us should be taking omega 3 fatty acids, particularly if you have ADD. And there's two main types of omega 3s, DHA and EPA. EPA is actually more effective for ADD than DHA. So I would take an EPA rich product. Our omega 3 power has 60% EPA in it. Magnesium can be really helpful if you're low in iron. And you should test your ferritin level, which is measure of iron storage. That can be really helpful. A little bit of zinc. So our Happy Saffron has zinc, curcumin and saffron in clinically effective doses. I like. So saffron, omega 3 fatty acids, magnesium, ferritin if you're low.

[A]

Got it. Two on the bad list that I want to hyperfocus on a little bit here. One is alcohol. Because I think most folks, I would imagine, don't think about the effect on their brain.

[B]

Right.

[A]

If they think about the effect at all. Meaning it's like, eh, whatever. I only have one Glass of wine every day. And that's actually specifically I'm curious about, because that's a very popular. Like, it's been promoted as, you should have one glass of wine. It's good for you. So I'm curious if that's true. But most people, I think, think of, if anything, the liver, and those are the things they're thinking about, not on the brain. So I'd love to talk about alcohol and its effect on the brain and whether it's okay to have one glass of wine or one beer a day.

[B]

Well, it just depends on how much you love yourself.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Alcohol is a disinfectant. The American cancer society came out against any alcohol. Why? It increases your. Any alcohol increases your risk of eight different cancers. Anything that increases your risk of cancer, I'm not a fan of. And like I said, it's a disinfectant, and people don't think about. Well, why would it be a problem to drink a disinfectant? My wife is a nurse. When she gives you shots, you put alcohol on your skin because it kills the bugs. Well, how many bugs do you have in your gut that are good for you? A hundred trillion bugs. And it's called the microbiome. And they make neurotransmitters. They digest your food. They detoxify your body. It contains 60% of your immune system. Drinking consistently damages the microbiome. And I'm like, and you make. People make bad decisions when they drink. They make bad decisions with food. They make bad decisions with their mouth. They just, you know, sleep. You know, if you want to see a drama on television, in television, there's so much alcohol. It's. They'll drink, drink. They'll say something dumb or do something dumb. And the drama keeps the series going. Alcohol. As a psychiatrist, I've just seen it devastate people's lives.

[A]

And what's it do to the brain, specifically?

[B]

It drops blood flow to the brain. It prematurely ages your brain and your skin.

[A]

Right?

[B]

I mean, prematurely ages again.

[A]

Yeah. That's one thing that when I Once I. When I got cancer and the doctor said, we don't know what causes your cancer. It's very rare. It's almost like, I think a lot of people go, oh, well, it's not my fault. They don't even know. It's a mystery. For me, it was, what's everything that I've put in my body that is either toxic or not natural? And alcohol was one of those things. I was having one beer a day after work. That was My part of my ritual. And then post cancer, I went to no alcohol for a long time. Now I'll maybe do a beer a week at the most, or half a beer a week. It's very minimal. Just there's a little. Little something. All right. I always have a half a beer. And then I'm like, I didn't even do it. What am I doing? But there's this little, like, rebel part of me that's like, I still need to have a little something that's bad for me. Right.

[B]

Why? It's an interesting question.

[A]

Yeah, it is.

[B]

And it's probably more than anything, a habit.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And what you're trying to do is help people create helpful habits. Right. If you think of the miracle morning and savers, and I love that. But you get triggered, and it's like, oh, I should have a beer. Or I get triggered. And like, oh, I should have. If I go to Italy, oh, I should have a gelato. Yeah, yeah. And I'm like, am I living by my triggers?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Or am I living by my goals? And these are my goals. Yeah. Right. So it's not what I should do. Right. You tell people what they should do. They're like, no, I'm not gonna do that. And I always, like, whenever you think you should to do something, just change it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Do you want to do it, or does it fit your goals to do it? Like, I might not want to work out, but clearly fits my goal, being

[A]

healthy and strong and all that. So are you a zero alcohol ever, or are you zero? Okay.

[B]

I mean, why am I going to drink poison?

[A]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think for me, it ends up being like, well, a tiny bit of poison a couple times a month isn't. But, you know, but I'm with you. The. What was I going to say?

[B]

Will you miss it?

[A]

No, I really wouldn't. And I go through again. It went from once a day to a couple times a month. So I probably have a couple, two beers a month, I would say. So the next question I want to ask you, the next on the naughty list, if you will. Right. Smartphones. I really want to understand what our smartphone is doing to our brain first thing in the morning by starting, what is that doing with the dopamine? And Right. What's it doing right before bed? And then just in general as a whole, I think that is the biggest. It's the most normalized problem in our society. And I think also for me, having teenage kids, that thinking about what's it doing as their brain is still developing, right?

[B]

Yeah. Push it off as long as you can until it hurts.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Kids who get smartphones early have a higher incidence of suicide. I mean, it's like so scary.

[A]

Can you explain why that is?

[B]

Because it's basically damaging the pleasure centers in the brain. So there's an area of your brain that feels joy, that feels pleasure. And the neurotransmitter dopamine works on the nucleus accumbens, part of the basal ganglia. You notice the micro moments of happiness. Constantly pushing on that area begins to wear it out, and pretty soon you feel flat. You don't feel joy because the nucleus accumbens has been thrilled to death.

[A]

So it's just that constant, like it's just stimulating it.

[B]

And then if you add that to social media, to video games, to pornography, to the negative news, it's like, no wonder this generation's in big trouble. Right? The incidents. There's one study that came out of the CDC that said 57% of teenage girls reported being persistently sad. 32% had thought of killing themselves, 24% had planned to kill themselves, and 13% had tried to kill themselves. These are statistics we have never seen in the world, that our society is literally stealing the brain health of our children. And Britain just banned social media for kids under 16. It's so brilliant. Australia had done it. Canada, there's legislation I'm a huge fan of. No, we need to protect them.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Am I making this up or. I feel that I've read somewhere that looking at your cell phone, it activates the same region of the brain as cocaine does.

[B]

Yeah. It's east pleasure center.

[A]

It is. Okay. Yeah.

[B]

So over stimulating now it does it in little bites.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

But a thousand times a day.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And there's some countries where kids are on social media 13 hours.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

A day. And always that little dopamine. Dopamine. Dopamine. And I always say, you want to drip it, don't dump it.

[A]

Yeah. Now, what about for adults in terms of. So the teenage brain is different because it's not fully developed until it's 25. What about for us, for 30?

[B]

Your brain is always being shaped.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And modeled.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Even at 72, my brain is. Every day it's better or it's worse, depending on the habits I engage in. And so I think being cautious and giving yourself a break is very helpful.

[A]

All right, let's make this actionable for anybody listening. Actually, there's two questions. I was going to give one more, but I have another one. If you Were designing a brain healthy morning routine. Right. Because I'm the miracle morning guy. A lot of my audience listens or miracle morning practitioners. What would a brain healthy morning routine look like?

[B]

So I love what the miracle morning is because I think of it as a brain health routine routine. And with that, I would add sunshine to it.

[A]

How much, how long you should be

[B]

outside is if you can do it for 10 minutes.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Like tan and I, we usually go for a half an hour walk.

[A]

Nice.

[B]

Every morning.

[A]

Love it.

[B]

Get the dogs and just go. I think that's so helpful. I think you should drink 16 ounces of water just to start hydrating. If you do intermittent fasting, it's absolutely fine not to eat until 11 o' clock or if you have protein. But I would start the day with protein. Not sugar, not pop tarts, donuts, waffles, sugar cereals.

[A]

So protein. And what's your favorite source of protein for breakfast? Would it be eggs? Would it be steak and eggs? Would it be.

[B]

For me it's eggs.

[A]

Eggs. Okay.

[B]

I pretty much have three eggs.

[A]

We have 50 chickens on our ranch, so we get fresh eggs every day.

[B]

I love that.

[A]

Yeah, it's great. All right, so that's your morning routine. And then the.

[B]

And. Oh yeah, every day. Today is going to be a great day.

[A]

I'm at mindset Push.

[B]

What I'm looking forward to. Today is going to be a great day. And then I start looking for the micro miracles. And it's like eye contact with my wife or just holding hands while we're walking. We live near the beach, so go to see the waves. I mean, I'm just training my brain to look for what I like.

[A]

I love that seven day brain challenge. So for anybody that's watched this or listened to this and they go, okay, the brain is pretty important. I should probably stop ignoring it. And actually it may be the most important thing for me. I mean, you'd argue it's way more important than actually working on your muscles, that's important. But working on your brain, that's arguably takes number one on the list. What would be kind of a seven day, like brain challenge reset? What are just some of the most important things that people can stop doing and start doing or do less of and do more of over the course of the next week to really start to see some positive movement in their cognitive function, their memory, their emotional well being, that kind of thing.

[B]

So if you did a seven day brain challenge, it's that one question three times a day. Okay, what I'm doing Now, good for my brain or bad for it? And does it make the world better? And if you can just say yes to that. And in the process, walk like you're late for 45 minutes, hydrate, get some sunshine. And then whenever you feel sad, mad, nervous or out of control, write down what you're thinking and just ask yourself whether or not it's true. Right. It's learning to manage your mind so your mind doesn't manage you. And probably day one, we would do the one page miracle that I do with all of my patients. Write down what you want, but in a very structured way. What do you want in your relationships, your work, your money, your physical, emotional, spiritual health? Write it down. Day one.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

And then every day you just look at it and go, does it fit? Does my behavior fit the goals I have for my life? So it's not anybody telling you what you should want?

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's what do you want? And is your brain working for you or is it sort of going rogue? Yeah.

[A]

Yeah. Well, the book Change youe Brain, Change youe Life, you're best known for. You've got 40 books, is that right?

[B]

Yeah. Craziness.

[A]

Yeah. What's your most recent book?

[B]

Change youe Brain, Change youe Pain.

[A]

Okay. I saw that on a show I

[B]

wrote about the doom loop, which is how people get into pain, but then accelerate it because they're not managing their brain.

[A]

So that's physical pain. Sometimes physical pain. That's what that's for. Okay. Emotional.

[B]

Know that if you take Tylenol, and I'm not a huge fan of Tylenol, but it actually helps to soothe heartbreak. It actually starts to soothe the pain of a breakup. So it's. We think of it as a physical medicine that actually has positive psychological.

[A]

Well, if you think about emotions, just the. In general, Right. If you're angry, your palms are sweaty, your heart is racing. Right. So there is an inextricable or. What's the word? The link between physical, mental, and emotional. Right. We're all one being that everything affects everything else.

[B]

Well, and they run through the same pathways in the brain. Because one of the reasons I wrote the book is why does Cymbalta. Really good antidepressant? Why is it FDA approved for depression and pain? Because it works on the same pathway. Sami, the supplement, Sami. It's helpful for depression, but it's also helpful for arthritis.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

It's like, well, why is that? Because it's working on the same circuits in the brain. I love that.

[A]

What's the best place for people to find you and get a spec scan, find your supplements, your books, your work.

[B]

So our supplements brainmd.com our clinics. Amen. Like last word in a prayer. Clinics.com they can follow me on Instagram or Tick tock of all places.

[A]

You look like a TikToker. Well, Dr. Aman, it is truly, it's a pleasure and an honor. Somebody who's followed your work for many years. Thanks for sitting down with me today.

[B]

Thank you, Hal. So grateful for you.

[A]

Yeah, you too. Thanks for listening. To learn more about the Achieve your Goals podcast and to get access today's show notes, transcript and exclusive content from hal Elrod, visit Halelrod.com podcast thanks again for joining us. Be sure to tune in next week for another episode of the Achieve your goals podcast.