← The School of Greatness
The School of Greatness
How To Optimize Your Brain Health With Your Morning Routine
01:08:56
This is a deep dive into the fascinating connection between brain health and routine management with an all-star lineup of experts. Dr. Andrew Huberman reveals the science behind morning routines and optimal brain function, while Glucose Goddess Jessie Inchauspé shares groundbreaking insights on how sugar impacts our cognitive performance. Dr. Daniel Amen joins in to discuss how maintaining healthy glucose levels can protect against cognitive decline and dementia. From practical morning routines to revolutionary food hacks, this episode provides a comprehensive roadmap for optimizing your brain health through better glucose management.
Loading summary
Transcript258 lines
- [00:00]
Lewis Howes
I have a brand new book called Make Money Easy and if you are looking to create more financial freedom in your life, you want abundance in your life and you want to stop making money hard in your life. But you want to make it easier, you want to make it flow, you want to feel abundant, Then make sure to go to make moneyeasybook.com right now and get yourself a copy. I really think this is going to help you transform your relationship with money this moment. Moving forward, we have some big guests and content coming up. Make sure you're following and stay tuned to this episode on the School of Greatness. The School of Greatness is proudly sponsored by Amica Insurance. As Amica says, empathy is our best policy. That's why they'll go above and beyond to tailor your insurance coverage to best fit your needs. Whether you're on the road, at home or traveling along life's journey, their friendly and knowledgeable representatives will work with you to ensure you have the right coverage in place. Amica will provide you with peace of mind. Go to amica.com and get a quote today. If you are on the hunt for your next home or you're just in the mood to check out some cool dream spots, which is also a great manifestation technique, then I see you. Make sure to try out the Redfin app. With Redfin, searching for homes or apartments is super easy and actually pretty fun. You can explore everything for sale or rent in your area all in one place. And when you find that perfect spot, just book an in person tour right through the app. It's that simple. So whether you're looking to buy or rent, Redfin's got you covered. Download the Redfin app to get started. The School of Greatness is sponsored by Capital One. In today's world, we subscribe to everything. Music, tv, even dog food. And it rocks. Until you have to manage it all. Which is where Capital One comes in. Capital One credit card holders can easily track, block or cancel reoccurring charges right from the Capital One mobile app at no additional cost. With one sign in, you can manage all your subscriptions all in one place. Learn more at CapitalOne.comscriptions Terms and Conditions apply. I'm curious, where does brain fog come from and how can we make sure that we have great morning routines to support us so that we don't have brain fog at all in the morning or later in the afternoon?
- [02:27]
Andrew Huberman
Great question. Well, there are a lot of sources of brain fog. The most obvious one would be a poor night's sleep. Okay, and sleep of course, being the most fundamental layer of mental and physical health. I mean, you don't sleep well for one night, you're probably okay for two nights, you start to fall apart. Three, four nights, you're really a degraded version of yourself in every aspect. Emotionality is off. Ability to do most anything is off. Hormones start suffering. So sleep is, is fundamental. But assuming that you slept well, there are a number of things. One is your breathing patterns. We often get into discussions of breathing, but this is a slightly different one than we've had in the past. You know, a lot of people have sleep apnea. They are not getting enough oxygen during their sleep, or they are mouth breathing during sleep. These days it's become popular in some circles to take a little bit of medical tape and tape the mouth shut.
- [03:21]
Lewis Howes
Yeah.
- [03:21]
Andrew Huberman
And to learn to be a nasal breather. And there is excellent evidence now that being a nasal breather most of the time, as long as you're not speaking or eating or exercising hard enough that you would need to breathe through your mouth, that it's beneficial to be a nasal breather for a couple of reasons. First of all, if you are deliberately nasal breathing during the day, the tendency is that you will nasal breathe at night, which tends to lead to less sleep apnea, less mouth breathing during the middle of the night, and less brain fog. Why brain fog? Well, during sleep, a number of restorative processes occur, but if you're not getting enough oxygen into the system, the brain is literally becoming hypoxic. And a lot of the cleaning out mechanisms, the glymphatic system, et cetera as they're called, don't get an opportunity to function as well as they ought to. So you wake up in the morning, you slept your normal six to eight hours, but you're feeling kind of groggy and out of it. And of course, there could be other reasons that you're experiencing brain fog. Maybe for people that drink alcohol the night before, maybe they had alcohol. For people that maybe they ate a meal that was too large before sleep, maybe any number of reasons. Right, gotcha. But getting adequate oxygenation of the brain during sleep is key. So learn to be a nasal breather. And for those of you out there that say, well, I have a deviated septum, a lot of people think they have deviated septums. The problem is they're not nasal breathing enough. The sinuses actually can learn to dilate if you nasal breathe. Exercising while nasal breathing will kind of depend on the sport. Like if you box. Oftentimes there's the need to do a shh or kind of like exhale on impact type thing. So I don't think anyone should tamper with their normal breathing patterns as it relates to sport or singing or some activity. But what I'm talking about is when you're just standing around, when you're walking down the street, any low level activity, you're working at your desk, you should be nasal, breathing and breathing regularly. That will reduce brain fog in many cases.
- [05:20]
Lewis Howes
So what's the routine then? The ultimate morning and evening routine to set your brain and your mind up for optimal performance and not getting brain fog.
- [05:30]
Andrew Huberman
Okay, I will describe that by listing out the protocol first and then I'll give some of the scientific mechanism second. Because in the past what I've tended to do is give the mechanism and then give the protocols. I know some people, it's like, you know enough of these academic guys, just give me the, give me, just tell me what to do. But if people want the mechanism, I'll be happy to flesh that out. Yes, I should say that what I will mention is not everything I do. So for instance, I get up and like most humans, I use the restroom and I have a glass of water. I do those things. So I'm not listing every right foot, left footstep through the morning, but the things that are geared towards getting the mind into a proper place for me, I'll describe it as my routine. I generally get up somewhere between 5:30 and 7 in the morning, depending on when I went to sleep. I'm not super regular about when I go to sleep, but generally that's between 10:30 and midnight. I try and avoid that midnight hour, but happens So I get up, obviously I use the restroom, I drink some water. I do think that hydrating is very important, so I'll drink some water and then. The fundamental layer of health is to set your circadian rhythm. The simplest way to do that is to go outside for 10 minutes and get some bright light in your eyes. I'll just list off some of the things that people always ask. What if you wake up before the sun rises? Well, simple rule. If you want to be awake, turn on as many bright lights in your house as possible. But then when the sun goes out, comes out, excuse me, get outside and see some sunlight. You do not have to look directly into the sun, but you do want to get outside out of shade. Cover if you can. Don't wear sunglasses if you can do that safely. Don't try and do this through a window. Don't try and Negotiate with me on this point. What about a window? Well, the filtration of the, of the important wavelengths of light through the window is just too high. And so it would take hours for you to set your circadian clock that way. You want to do this because once every 24 hours you're going to get a peak in cortisol, which is a healthy peak. You want that peak to happen early in the day because it sets up alertness for the remainder of the day. There are really nice studies done by my colleagues in Stanford psychiatry and biology department showing that if that cortisol peak starts to drift too late in the day, you start seeing signs of depression. It's actually a well known marker of depression. So you want that cortisol almost stressed out kind of. The day is beginning, I have a lot to do. Feeling that's a healthy thing. You want that happening early in the day. The sunlight will wake you up. And what's really cool is that over time you'll start to notice the sunlight waking you up. More and more the system becomes tuned up. If you miss a day, it's not the end of the world because it's a, as we call a slow integrating system. But don't miss more than one day. And if you live in an area where it's very cloudy outside, just know that the sunlight, the photons coming through that cloud cover, are brighter than your brightest indoor lights. Now if you live in a very dark region of the world or it's unsafe or purely impractical to get outside in the morning, then it might make sense to get a sunrise simulator or one of these lights. But they tend to be very expensive. What I recommend people use instead is it just a ring light, a ring blue light. This is a case where you can blast your system.
- [08:44]
Lewis Howes
Wow.
- [08:45]
Andrew Huberman
So get that morning light that this is. It sets a number of things in motion, such as your melatonin rhythm to happen 16 hours later to help you fall asleep. I would say this is the fundamental step of any good morning. And if you don't do this enough, you are messing yourself up in a number of ways.
- [09:04]
Lewis Howes
Does this mess with digestion also?
- [09:06]
Andrew Huberman
Yeah. So every cell in your body has a 24 hour clock. All those clocks need to be aligned to the same time. So imagine a clock shop with lots of different clocks and you don't want them alarming off at different times. This sunlight viewing or bright light viewing early in the day, I would say within 30 to 60 minutes of waking up for about 10 minutes or if it's very cloudy, maybe 30 minutes or so. That activates a particular type of neuron in the eye called the intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cell, if people want to look that up, signals to the circadian clock, which is right above the roof of your mouth. But that is the master circadian clock that then releases a bunch of signals into your body. This all happens very fast. And every cell in your body gets tuned to the exact same time reference point so that your system can work as a nice concert of cells as opposed to out of whack. Your gut has a clock, your liver has a clock, your heart cells have a clock, every skin cell has a clock. And for those that are not incentivized enough by the cortisol stuff and all the other things, actually the replenishment of stem cells in the skin, hair and nails is activated by the system. So hair grows more readily, skin turns over, and nails grow more quickly because you have stem cells, literally cells that release more cells that become new hair cells or new skin cells and new cells that make up the nails. So skin, hair and nails also benefit. And it has to be light exposure to the eyes. When we talk about all these things like the gut and the skin, et cetera, it's tempting to say, oh, it's sunlight on the skin. No, it's actually only can be signaled through the eyes because the clock lives deep in the brain, that master clock, and you need the signal to get to that master clock.
- [10:49]
Lewis Howes
So don't wear sunglasses if you can avoid.
- [10:52]
Andrew Huberman
If you can avoid wearing sunglasses safely. Right? There are people, for instance, who have macular degeneration who have to avoid bright lights. And they know this because their ophthalmologist tells them, if you wear corrective lenses, contacts, even if it has UV filtration, that's fine. In fact, if you think about what a. What an eyeglass or a contact lens does is it focuses light onto the eye, actually magnifying red on the back of the eye, whereas looking through a window filters it. It blocks a certain amount of light coming in, even if it's a very clear window. So go outside. If you wear glasses, fine. If you wear contacts, fine. And if you can get out on a porch and be, you know, east facing in the morning when the sun comes up, great. You don't need to see the sun cross the horizon. But ideally, you see the sun when it's at what we call low solar angle. It's not directly overhead. If you wait two or three hours after waking up to get bright Light in your eyes. You are setting yourself up for a complicated sleep wake cycle that leads to a lot of what we call insomnia.
- [11:52]
Lewis Howes
So this is important to do in the first 60 minutes of waking up. Get outside. 10 minutes. You don't have to be in the sun, but you want to be able to look and see the sun. Right. Or is it okay to be in the shade or you want the sunlight hitting your skin?
- [12:04]
Andrew Huberman
It depends on how bright it is. So for instance, this morning I woke up because of where I live. There's a lot of tree cover, but I saw that the sun was, was. There were a lot of shadows, but it was casting a nice patch of light in the street right in front of my house. So I'm the weirdo that walked out there with my coffee. Actually, I delay my coffee. It was with my water. In the morning, I'll talk about why I delay coffee. And I. And I, you know, I'm leaning against a tree. I confess I was text messaging it. Part for part of that, you know, forgive me, I'm human. And catching the sunlight coming in through my eyes for a few minutes, I allow myself to blink. Obviously, I'm not sure you want to.
- [12:39]
Lewis Howes
Look directly at the sun.
- [12:39]
Andrew Huberman
You don't want to look directly. There's a safety, I guess if it's a lower horizon, it's not that intense. Yeah, we have a built in safety mechanism which is if you need to blink and close your eyes. Close your eyes. But yeah, I got sunlight in my eyes. I get the weird looks from my neighbors, but they know me and they do it too. Sometimes they'll join me. Animals will naturally, naturally do this. They'll migrate to the sun. So then I go inside. It's 10 minutes or so. It seems like a long time, but it is so beneficial. And then inside, if I want to be awake, I try and turn on as many bright lights as I can. One of the big mistakes that we've made in the last few years as a culture is assuming that blue light is bad during the day. Lots of blue light is great because that's the best signal for these cells that wake up your system. It activates all sorts of important hormone pathways and wakefulness pathways. Interesting. Can reduce brain fog in some sense.
- [13:32]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
Sure.
- [13:33]
Andrew Huberman
It's in the evening that you want to avoid blue lights and bright lights of any kind. We can talk about that. But. So then I come back inside and then I do not drink caffeine right away. It's important in many ways to delay caffeine enough so that you can clear out some of the chemical signals in the brain and body that lead to a, that lead to a feeling of fatigue. So the longer you're awake, the more a molecule called adenosine builds up in your system. And when you sleep, you push that adenosine level back down. When you wake up in the morning, that adenosine level can be zero. But oftentimes there's still some hanging around. Caffeine is an adenosine antagonist. It blocks adenosine function. It's a little more complicated than that, but that's effectively what it does. So if you wake up and you've got let's say 20%, let's make this is arbitrary, but 20% of your adenosine has still hasn't been cleared out. That's sort of a drowsiness that you woke up with. Then you go and you drink your coffee and you crush that ability of adenosine to have that effect. But it hasn't gone away. So that when your coffee wears off mid morning, now that adenosine is there and you feel like there's a mid morning crash or an afternoon crash. So I delay my caffeine intake for about 90 and ideally 120 minutes after I wake up because in that way you bring your adenosine level down very, very low to zero and then you don't get this rebound crash in the afternoon. For years I would get this post lunch crash and I thought maybe I'm eating too much for lunch, which I probably was. Or maybe I'm eating the wrong foods. Turned out it was all related to my timing of caffeine. And your system learns how to wake up naturally. You get the natural cortisol and adrenaline. Give it the time, give it the time. And people hate this one because it's a little painful for the caffeine addicts. But I'm a pretty serious caffeine addict and I embrace that. And I'll tell you, it also makes the joy of the coffee so much greater.
- [15:22]
Lewis Howes
Like waiting for that. You're savoring it, like, oh, my first.
- [15:25]
Andrew Huberman
Tastes so much better. And that relates to the dopamine system which I know we're going to talk about later. I sometimes will drink yerba mate instead of.
- [15:33]
Lewis Howes
I love mate.
- [15:34]
Andrew Huberman
Mate has a.
- [15:34]
Lewis Howes
You put honey in it or anything. Sweet stevia or something.
- [15:37]
Andrew Huberman
I don't really like sweet stuff too much.
- [15:39]
Lewis Howes
And I wish I had that disease.
- [15:40]
Andrew Huberman
Yeah, it's, you know, I wish I like savory things and salty things. I, I like yerba Mate, for a number of reasons. I don't like the really smoky mates and my dad's Argentine, so I grew up drinking mate.
- [15:53]
Lewis Howes
But you don't speak Spanish though, do you?
- [15:55]
Andrew Huberman
I speak four words of Spanish and. And those I speak poorly.
- [15:59]
Lewis Howes
So your dad's fluent?
- [16:00]
Andrew Huberman
He's fluent. Come on. I know parents who are.
- [16:03]
Lewis Howes
How do you. That's a crime, isn't it?
- [16:05]
Andrew Huberman
It's a crime. Well, it's not a crime I committed. I love.
- [16:08]
Lewis Howes
That's entirely committed.
- [16:09]
Andrew Huberman
Yeah, well, bilingual parents, please encourage your children to learn multiple languages. Musicians, parents, teach your kids the instrument. Have you ever seen the people who play guitar in college? Let's just say their lives are better than everyone else's. Anyone that's thinking about their morning routine and brain fog, you know, there's no reason why in your morning water you might just put a little tiny pinch of salt. And if you're drinking a lot of coffee in any form, or caffeine in any form, I should say, then you want to be sure you're getting enough sodium. And you'll notice that if you drink a lot of caffeine that you'll crave sodium. And this has a whole relationship in the kidney and aldosterone. And we don't have time to go into it, but I always make sure that if I'm drinking water before or with my caffeine that I try and put a little bit of salt in there.
- [16:54]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Got it.
- [16:55]
Lewis Howes
Okay.
- [16:55]
Andrew Huberman
And there are a lot of supplement companies now spinning up. We don't have to throw out brands that are selling salt solution. This is becoming big.
- [17:02]
Lewis Howes
Big.
- [17:03]
Andrew Huberman
Yeah.
- [17:03]
Lewis Howes
Okay, so water, bright light, no caffeine until 9 to 20 minutes. What's next?
- [17:08]
Andrew Huberman
Water with salt. Okay. And then it's a question of whether or not I'm training that day or not. So I do believe getting exercise is important. I think the data, having reviewed the data and talked to a number of experts on this in particular, there's a guy who's really terrific. You may know him, Dr. Andy Galpin, who's down at Cal State Fullerton. Excellent exercise physiologists. But also, if you look across the. The massive studies on exercise and heart health, there are a couple of things that become clear. One is that everybody should be getting 120 to 150 and maybe even 150 to 180 minutes of so called zone two cardio a week. This is the kind of cardiovascular exercise where you're doing work, you could have a conversation, but you're kind of at the threshold where it's not super easy to have a conversation. But we're not talking sprints. There's just a myriad of effects on heart health, you know, vascular health, all over the body, gut microbiome, musculoskeletal stability, mental health, all these kinds of things. So I have a routine where I either weight train for an hour in the morning or I do a portion of that weekly cardio, and I just alternate weight train one day, cardio, the next, weight, drink, and then one day a week, I don't do anything. I don't do any exercise.
- [18:26]
Lewis Howes
Six days a week, you exercise.
- [18:28]
Andrew Huberman
And I miss days, you know, occasionally because of travel or other schedules or appointments, I might take two days off. I never go seven days. I always. I personally do well having a complete day off each week, but the hour of exercise generally is, you know, five, ten minutes of warmup and then. And it's hard work.
- [18:45]
Lewis Howes
Yeah.
- [18:45]
Andrew Huberman
You know, and I don't. This is a new thing that we can get into. When I talk about dopamine, but I do not allow myself to check social media, text message, phone calls, and lately not even music when I train, for reasons that we can get into later, I'm really trying to get focused on what I'm doing, and I'm trying to extract the greatest amount of joy from the process in its purest form.
- [19:10]
Lewis Howes
So no phone, essentially, I try not.
- [19:12]
Andrew Huberman
To have the phone. Occasionally I'll use music or I'll listen to a podcast because it's such a great time to do that, that. So I don't want to say I never do, but most of the time, I'm trying very hard to just do my exercise. Yeah.
- [19:23]
Lewis Howes
Okay.
- [19:24]
Andrew Huberman
And it doesn't matter if you, you know, run, swim, bike, row. You know, people these days can do calisthenics or weight training or something of that sort. The weight training thing is interesting because muscle building aside, it's very clear that five sets a week per muscle group is what's required to maintain muscle. And this is true for men, this is true for women. And obviously in young kids, you don't want them weight training with heavy loads because it can shut down their long bone growth. That's the myth. Or that what they say anyway. But I don't know. Kids are developing anyway, right. So I don't know. I'll leave that to the. To the coaches to decide that and the parents. But I think for people that are in their late teens, early 20s and onward, it's really important. If you look at longevity, a lot of the major injuries and early deaths, and not just due to accident, but, you know, chronic illness comes from people falling and breaking a hip, just not being strong. And so I think being strong regardless of who you are is important. And so that's five sets per week minimum per muscle group and probably more like 10. Routines splay out differently. So I do my thing, people have their thing. So I, I try and exercise or I do a 90 minute workout and if I exercise, we could talk about that. Then I would shower and do my 90 minute workout. But sometimes I do the 90 minute workout first and that's generally what when I'm starting to drink the caffeine. And the 90 minute work bout is a serious, non negotiable time in which I don't allow myself to be on the Internet. I'm not checking email, I'm not texting, my phone is off, off, off, and not on airplane mode. And it's a process of learning to focus and learning to do what we call no go functions in the brain. So we have an area of the brain called the basal ganglia that control go functions, like reaching out for a pen and no go, which is resisting the urge to do something. And these are circuits that are very important for learning how to control attention and for controlling behavior. Young animals, puppies, humans, don't do no go very well. Do you know the two marshmallow?
- [21:31]
Lewis Howes
Yes.
- [21:31]
Andrew Huberman
Okay. The two marshmallow. You offered kids a marshmallow and you say if you don't eat it, you'll get two marshmallows in 10 minutes. Some kids can do it. That's pure. That's a no go task. You're saying, how well can you resist the urge to just go and eat the marshmallow? And there are a number of things that mimic this. Another no go type behavior would be meditation. For instance, where you sit down, it's kind of painful to sit cross legged, your thoughts are drawing you off, you remember something you need to do, and you're resisting the temptation to get up and do something else. And so this 90 minute work bout is a kind of combined meditation, but also functional work for me. So for me, that could be writing, it could be planning a podcast, it could be reading. It's something that's kind of hard. And the thing to Understand about this 90 minute work bout is that you should expect some friction early on. It's not like you just flip a switch and you're in that. It takes some time to get into this focused mode. And throughout that time, your brain will flicker in and out.
- [22:31]
Lewis Howes
Would you believe me if I told you that there are people making the exact same amount of money as you to the dollar who are not stressed about money. Think about that co worker who you know is getting the same paycheck as you, but they're always talking about that latest vacation to some exotic destination or hosting parties in their freshly renovated Pinterest perfect homes. It makes you wonder, how do they do it? Where does all my money go? Well, with ynab, your money goes wherever you tell it to. Ynab spelled Y N A B is a life changing money app that helps you give every dollar a job so that you know your hard earned money is going towards things you actually care about. The average ynab user saves $600 in their first two months and $6,000 in their first year. 92% of users report feeling less money stress since using YNAB. YNAB doesn't just show you where your money went, it it helps you tell it where to go so that you can build the life you want. Life is short. Spend it well with YNAB, the School of Greatness Listeners can claim an exclusive 3 month free trial with no credit card required@ynab.com Lewis what makes someone a leader? It can be a tough question to find just one answer for, but one thing is for sure, true leaders lead by example. And a true leader takes risks too. They plunge into life with determination. For those who lead by example and who approach life with true passion, there's the Range Rover Sport. A new dimension of sporting luxury. Get ready to elevate your desires with the dramatic and uncompromising Range Rover Sport. Experience its world renowned off road capability with adaptive off road cruise control which monitors ground conditions and acclimates to the present terrain. Plus agility, control and composure are achieved with the dynamic air suspension while adaptive dynamics reduce unwanted body movements to deliver smooth and composed handling for focused on road performance. It's time to rise to every occasion in the Ranger Rover Sport where sophisticated refinement meets visceral power. Build your Range Rover Sport@Land RoverUSA.com that's Land Rover USA.com do you want a business that's ready to Thrive? Let Intuit QuickBooks take things like unpaid invoices and tracking expenses off your plate to take things to the next level. Intuit QuickBooks is an all in one business platform that can help with day to day tasks like invoicing and expenses. Manage and grow your business all in one place. Intuit QuickBooks your way to money. Money movement services are provided by Intuit Payments Inc. Licensed as a money transmitter by the New York State Department of Financial Services.
- [25:07]
Andrew Huberman
And there's a tool that you can use to enhance your focus prior to this 90 minute workout. And I actually do this sounds a little crazy, but it actually is grounded in really good neuroscience, which is that you place a crosshatch, just a target at some distance on a piece of paper and you force yourself to stare at it and not blink for about 30 to 60 seconds. And what you're doing is you're ramping up the neural circuits in the brain that drive go, no go and harnessing your visual attention, your focus, you're focusing. Visual focus drives cognitive focus. And for people that aren't sighted, auditory focus drives cognitive focus.
- [25:43]
Lewis Howes
So visual focused drives cognitive focus.
- [25:47]
Andrew Huberman
Yes. These two little bits of that we call eyes are, as people probably heard me say before, are two little bits of brain that are outside the cranial vault. They're the only way that your brain knows what to do in terms of whether or not it's day or night, who's out there, et cetera. But it's also a mechanism by which you draw your attentional systems into from kind of everywhere. You know, imagine spotlights just kind of moving around, bringing those spotlights to a common location and then intensifying that spotlight. And since most work involves what we call exterocepting, looking outside ourself, this is very different than lie, you know, sitting in meditation where you're focusing internally because when you sit down to work, you kind of want to forget about your heartbeat and how your feet feel on the floor and that your back and, you know, might be a little sore or something. You want to be in the work. And so I do, I set a timer and I force 90 minutes of this and it. And it's really tough. Louis. Some days, some days I, it's anything to go get something out of the.
- [26:45]
Lewis Howes
Fridge, any get up and distract myself.
- [26:47]
Andrew Huberman
And occasionally I fail, I will get up and go do something and, or I'll look at my phone. I do falter sometimes. But if you can learn to do this 90 minute bout and I bet.
- [26:57]
Lewis Howes
Consistently you can create some amazing work you can do.
- [27:00]
Andrew Huberman
You will do your best work. And what's really wonderful is it's not just about the work that you perform in that bout. What ends up happening is really special. This sort of combined meditation work bout as I'm calling it, has this effect of you are actually tuning up and making your neural circuits for focus and Attention better so that after that, okay, you flip on the Internet, you check your email, you're doing text messaging, you're probably hungry now. I'm hungry. If I've exercised, I'll eat my meal, my lunch. I tend to fast till about lunch most days. But what happens then is after lunch or something, you decide, oh, you know, I'm going to sit down and read something or I'm going to do some more work. But I've only got 20 minutes. You can drop in like a laser.
- [27:50]
Lewis Howes
Methods, strategies, diets, hacks in the food, nutrition, health and wellness space that I think cause a lot more harm than they do helping people because it is so restrictive. But one of the first pages of your book talks about this is not a restrictive diet.
- [28:08]
Dr. Daniel Amen
First of all, this is not a diet, right? This is. These are basic common sense strategies that probably your grandparents already had implemented into their lives, but now backed up by this modern science that allows us to see why they're so powerful. And to me, the hacks that I share, they're not on the same level as like the Paleo diet, the keto diet. For me, they're on the same level as drink water, brush your teeth, wear sunscreen. We're talking about get eight hours of sleep. Yeah, exactly. We're talking about just basic physiology, basic health stuff that should be taught in schools. It's not a diet, it's not a fad. It's just how your body functions and it's understanding physiologically how and when to eat your carbs with less impact on your health.
- [28:50]
Lewis Howes
But it's not restricting you from eating anything.
- [28:52]
Dr. Daniel Amen
No, you can eat whatever you want. So let me give you an example.
- [28:55]
Lewis Howes
Now, you probably don't want to over consume on sugar all day long, of.
- [28:58]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Course, but so of course sugar is not good for us, right? Sugar causes glucose spikes that leads to inflammation, aging, insulin release. But the solution to this crazy food landscape that we live in, food environment, is not to cut out stuff. I don't believe in that. I think you try that for a week or, you know, you're like, this year I'm never going to eat sugar at all. That doesn't work. It never does. So what I recommend people try is try some of these techniques. For example, if you really want to eat some sugar, let's say a cookie, a donut or whatever, the best time to eat that sugar so that you have maximum dopamine from it, maximum pleasure and less impact on your body is going to be after a meal as dessert. You want to always Avoid eating sugar on an empty stomach and always avoid eating sugar in the morning. Okay.
- [29:46]
Lewis Howes
Really?
- [29:46]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Yes. So breakfast should be savory. Okay. In the morning. Nothing sweet. Really.
- [29:51]
Andrew Huberman
Yeah, man.
- [29:52]
Lewis Howes
Those pastries, though, with the chocolate inside and just. Oh, man, the donut in the morning.
- [29:56]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Keep them for dessert after lunch. Because if you have them in the morning, then what's happening in your body as you digest that sugar and those carbs, they turn into glucose molecules. And these arrive into your bloodstream really quickly and cause what's called a glucose spike. So a blood sugar spike. And then about 90 minutes later, Lewis, your glucose levels are going to drop. You're going to feel a crash. And now it's 10am, 11am and all of a sudden you feel more cravings for sweet food. You're like, I need a cookie, I need some chocolate, I need a snack.
- [30:26]
Lewis Howes
I need that spike again.
- [30:27]
Dr. Daniel Amen
And then you spike again. And then all day you're on a roller coaster where you feel addicted to sugar because your brain, when you're experiencing a glucose crash after a spike, the cravings center in your brain actually activates. And says Louis, find a cookie. Find a cookie. And you want to avoid that because then you cannot. You cannot fight against the craving center in your brain so hard. Yeah, that center is very powerful, and it's linked to evolutionary responses that we have to low blood sugar. So you want to avoid that from happening. The way you do it is have sugar after a meal as dessert, never on an empty stomach. Never as a snack, never for breakfast.
- [31:07]
Lewis Howes
Oh, my gosh. Never as a snack. If you can eat something first before you have the sugar.
- [31:13]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Exactly. Or if you really need the snack, the sugar snack, what you do is another hack that I call put clothing on your carbs. So what does that mean? So first of all, carbs. Carbs are two types of foods. Starches. So that's bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, oats. Or sugars. Anything that tastes sweet, from a banana to chocolate cake. Those are carbs. Okay. When you eat them on their own. For example, a slice of cake on its own or a bowl of pasta on its own. Well, carbs break down to glucose molecules. So those naked carbs very quickly, they end up as lots of glucose in your bloodstream, therefore a glucose spike. What you want to do instead is put some clothing on your carbs, and the clothing are proteins, fats, or fiber before or with them. You can have them before or with them. So, for example, you could have a.
- [32:03]
Lewis Howes
Bite of cake, but then have something else.
- [32:05]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Yes, you could. Fat within that yeah, you could have. Have, like, some Greek yogurt with the chocolate cake or with the bowl of pasta. Add some chicken or some cheese or some spinach. Right. Put clothing on your carbs.
- [32:15]
Lewis Howes
Don't eat it naked.
- [32:16]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Exactly. Never eat your carbs naked so that they don't cause as big of a glucose spike, because when you put clothing on those carbs, digestion happens more slowly. So you're still eating the carb that you love with less impact on your glucose levels. And this is just one of many different hacks that I have that help us eat the stuff we love with fewer consequences on our physical and mental health.
- [32:38]
Lewis Howes
That's powerful. So the more glucose spikes we have on a daily basis and the more we have over time, it causes us to live less.
- [32:48]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Yeah.
- [32:49]
Lewis Howes
It won't allow us to live longer is what I'm gonna hear you say.
- [32:51]
Dr. Daniel Amen
It causes us to age faster, really? Through a process called glycation. Yeah.
- [32:55]
Lewis Howes
What does glycation mean?
- [32:57]
Dr. Daniel Amen
So glycation and glucose kind of sound like the same word. They're similar. Glucose glycation. And this is why, first of all, before we talk about glycation, I have to explain something to you. So, you know when you put a chicken in the oven and it goes from pink to cooked to brown, what actually happened is that in the oven, it glycated. Glycation was. Is the cooking process of the chicken. Now, did you know that as a human being, from the moment you're born, you slowly glycate, you slowly cook.
- [33:29]
Lewis Howes
You start to cook.
- [33:30]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Yes. Like a chicken in the oven. And then when you're fully cooked, you die. I know it sounds crazy, but it is true. And on the inside, you're actually browning. So if you look at the cartilage of a baby, it's white. If you look at the cartilage of somebody who's 100 years old, it's brown. It's been glycated. Glycation is cooking, and it's aging. Now, why am I telling you this? Because every time you have a glucose spike, it accelerates glycation. Glucose causes this. Cooking causes this. Glycation causes this aging. So the more glucose spikes you have, the faster you age. And this shows on your skin as wrinkles. Right. I'm actually 85 years old, but you can't tell, so I don't have glucose spikes. And it also ages your organs within. And that's just one of the few things that happen when you have too many glucose spikes over time.
- [34:22]
Lewis Howes
Wow. How many glucose spikes is ideal to have? On a daily basis? Like, what's the optimal amount of spikes that we should have?
- [34:30]
Dr. Daniel Amen
As little as possible, I would say.
- [34:32]
Lewis Howes
How do you keep. I mean, besides not eating, I guess. How do you not have a glucose spike?
- [34:37]
Dr. Daniel Amen
When you're eating foods, you avoid eating too many carbs on their own, too many carbs for breakfast, too many processed foods. But I don't want people to become too obsessed with keeping their glucose levels perfectly steady, because you can actually do that in some unhealthy ways. What I want people to think about is do they have symptoms of glucose spikes? Do they feel cravings for sugar? Do they feel tired throughout the day? Do they ever experience brain fog, mental slowness? Do they not sleep very well? Do they have inflammation on their skin like ACNE, psoriasis, eczema, etc. Those are all signs of glucose spikes. If you can never leave the house without a snack because you know you're going to be hungry every couple of hours, that's glucose spikes causing that. And so as we implement these hacks, you can actually check in with yourself and see that these symptoms are improving. You don't have to wear a glucose monitor. You don't have to track your glucose levels to see the spikes or the no spikes. You will feel better and pretty quickly, too, because your glucose levels respond in a matter of minutes to what you eat and what you do. So I recommend people learn to check in with themselves and see how they feel.
- [35:46]
Lewis Howes
What is the optimal amount of eating in a day to manage glucose in a good way?
- [35:54]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Are you into intermittent fasting? Yeah, kind of.
- [35:57]
Andrew Huberman
Yeah.
- [35:57]
Lewis Howes
Yeah.
- [35:58]
Dr. Daniel Amen
It's been very trendy recently. But you don't actually need to fast for many hours a day to have healthy glucose levels. No, it's more about what you eat. Right. So.
- [36:09]
Lewis Howes
So you don't need to skip breakfast, you don't need to skip dinner.
- [36:12]
Dr. Daniel Amen
No, you don't.
- [36:12]
Lewis Howes
You don't need to have 500 calories a day and restrict calories.
- [36:16]
Andrew Huberman
No.
- [36:16]
Lewis Howes
To now, are you still going to look healthy and lose weight in this process, or you're going to gain weight if you're just eating whatever in the right order?
- [36:25]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Well, so there's the order thing. But the hacks that I share, they allow you to stop focusing on the calories, stop focusing on the restriction, and just kind of understand what molecules are in your food. And then naturally, as you focus on these glucose hacks, a lot of other things fall into place because you're less hungry. You have fewer cravings for all the processed junk.
- [36:44]
Lewis Howes
So your Hormones are healthier.
- [36:45]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Exactly. Your hunger hormones are more balanced instead of you feeling famished every two hours. So naturally, when you focus on the hacks, a lot of things fall into place into your body. And then on the, on the fasting topic, I just want to remind people that intermittent fasting is not necessary to have a healthy body. You don't need to fast in order to be healthy. It's much more important to eat well in a way that keeps your glucose level steady than to restrict your eating window. For example, especially for females, we have to remember that fasting is actually a stressor on the body. So if you already have a life where stressful job, kids to take care of, you don't sleep a lot, you drink coffee, you do intense cardio exercise, maybe you do cold showers, you add fasting on top of that. That is a lot of stress for your body to handle. And that's why you see some women who are piling on all these things. Their hormones are breaking down, they feel exhausted all the time, Their body is just being like, no, that's too much stress. So I love fasting when I'm on vacation, for example, and it feels like an easy stress to add on. But when I'm working and I'm doing lots of stuff, I prefer to have breakfast, to have a savory breakfast, as I explained, to keep my glucose level steady and to just eat three times a day, you know? Yeah.
- [37:58]
Lewis Howes
Something you mentioned here that I love is around freedom. And I think a lot of people don't feel free today with food, diets, restrictions, needing to biohack their life all the time. It feels like they always have to do something else or restrict something they love in order to be healthy in order to optimize their life. And the more I'm hearing you speak about just understanding, it's almost like intuitive eating as opposed to restricting counting calories, fasting, all these other things that are, that are trendy right now. So because my fear is that a lot of women, specifically, and now men, more. More so with social media, feel like they need to look perfect all the time. They feel like they need to eat a certain way and beyond the recent trends in order for their bodies to morph in a way that makes them feel like they're enough.
- [38:56]
Dr. Daniel Amen
It's so tough, huh?
- [38:58]
Lewis Howes
So how do we apply these hacks without feeling like it's some new trend? But more understanding, it's more intuitive for me to just live a holistic, healthy life.
- [39:09]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Yeah. Well, first of all, if it's not calling you and you, like, don't do it, right? It's totally fine. Whatever works for you. But I found a lot of benefit from people switching from the fads and the restricting and the intense stuff and that relationship with your body that becomes a forceful relationship. It's like you're battling with your body every day, right? You're, like, holding on really strongly and trying to prevent this hunger and these cravings and just trying to be really tired.
- [39:38]
Lewis Howes
Willpower.
- [39:39]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Yeah.
- [39:39]
Lewis Howes
So hard to have willpower.
- [39:40]
Dr. Daniel Amen
So hard forever. So hard. And a lot of these fads, unfortunately, they're just not based on science, right? They are marketing machines. So. And that's also being used by the food industry to sell you more processed foods, et cetera. So I think what people will find in my work is I'm a biochemist, and so I'm coming back to the principles of physiology. How does your body actually work? And how does food impact your hormones, your cells, your energy levels, your mitochondria? I'm not trying to push some crazy new extreme diet. I'm just showing you some simple stuff that actually has been used for centuries. But it's not very groundbreaking when you think about it. Let me tell you and give you an example. So the four hacks in my second book are savory breakfast instead of a sweet one. Vinegar before you eat, carbs, a vegetable starter. So starting your meals with veggies and moving after eating.
- [40:30]
Lewis Howes
What's the science behind all those hacks?
- [40:32]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Okay, so savory breakfast instead of a sweet one. First of all, that's been done since forever. Sweet breakfasts, that's an invention of the food industry. Okay? We didn't used to have dessert for breakfast. It doesn't make any sense. We used to have meat and potatoes. So savory breakfast instead of a sweet one. Because if you have a savory breakfast that's built around protein and not, let's say, orange juice and granola, which is pure glucose, then your glucose levels are going to stay nice and steady. With the savory breakfast instead of having a big spike and then that addiction roller coaster we talked about. So the spike and the cravings and the spike and the cravings and the spike and the cravings, you don't want to be on that roller coaster because then that prevents you from living the day you want to live. It prevents you from being able to use your energy and your passion and your talents to express in the world. You are being controlled by that cravings rollercoaster. If you start the Day with a sweet breakfast. So that's the first one. Savory breakfast built around protein. Nothing sweet, except whole fruit if you want something that tastes a little bit.
- [41:34]
Lewis Howes
Sweet, but after you eat the protein.
- [41:35]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Exactly. So, for example, you know, this morning I have. I had some leftover salmon cakes. I had some green beans.
- [41:42]
Lewis Howes
Sounds good.
- [41:43]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Yeah, green beans. And some rice and some parmesan cheese. And to me, treating my breakfast like I would any other meal has completely changed my life. And it almost feels like I often get people who tell me I was having a sweet breakfast my whole life, and now I'm having a savory breakfast, and it feels like I've. I walked through a mirror. You know, in the movies, like the Alice in Wonderland, like walking through to the alternate universe, parallel universe. That's how it feels. Because all of a sudden, you're in control, you're energized. You feel good. Anyway.
- [42:14]
Andrew Huberman
Interesting.
- [42:15]
Dr. Daniel Amen
So that's breakfast.
- [42:16]
Lewis Howes
Yeah.
- [42:16]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Okay, Second hack that I love talking about is vinegar. Now, everybody has vinegar in their kitchen.
- [42:23]
Lewis Howes
But no one uses it.
- [42:25]
Andrew Huberman
True.
- [42:26]
Lewis Howes
No one likes the taste of it.
- [42:27]
Dr. Daniel Amen
True. But it's an ingredient that's been around for centuries in our culture. And actually, in some countries, it's very well known that it's something that is good for you. It's healthy. Right. In Iran, for example, they have apple cider vinegar every day. It's a health drink. But only recently have we understood why it's good for us. So the reason vinegar is.
- [42:46]
Lewis Howes
So what's the science behind it?
- [42:48]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Vinegar contains a molecule called acetic acid. Okay. And acetic acid, what it does when you have it before a meal is that it slows down the breakdown of carbs into glucose molecules. So it acts on enzymes in your stomach, and it slows down how quickly the food you just ate is going to be turned into individual glucose molecules and then enter your bloodstream. Okay, so the second hack is 1 tablespoon of vinegar in a big glass of water before a meal that contains carbs.
- [43:16]
Lewis Howes
I've done this a bunch in the past. Not a bunch, but a handful of times. And I just feel like I have to close my nose while I'm drinking this tall glass of water because it just burns. It smell. Tastes bad. It smells bad. It's just like, man, this is not enjoyable. So how do you make it enjoyable with vinegar? Is there, like, unflavored vinegar or, like.
- [43:33]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Lemon vinegar, white wine vinegar? You can try making a dressing and putting it on your meal instead of drinking it. And I know it's not great. And so I have some ideas about how you could use other things to have the same effect, but nonetheless, the scientific studies are there showing us it does have an impact and it's very simple and it's cheap. Yeah, but if you don't like it, don't force yourself before every meal. No, I would say once a day before a meal. That's high in carbs, right?
- [43:58]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
That's it.
- [43:59]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Yeah.
- [43:59]
Lewis Howes
And what is the when you track this with a glucose monitor or how you're tracking it, what do you see the spike doing Instead?
- [44:05]
Dr. Daniel Amen
You see 30% reduction in the glucose spike.
- [44:09]
Lewis Howes
I am always on the hunt for alternatives to regular coffee and I found one that I'm really loving right now called Rise Mushroom Coffee. Unlike regular coffee, Rise Mushroom Coffee helps you stay energized and focused while supporting your overall well being so you can more fully embrace the day. Rise Mushroom Coffee is a custom powerhouse blend of six functional mushrooms crafted to fuel your body and mind all day long. It helps with all day energy, sharper focus, healthy digestion and immune support. And with over 150,000 five star reviews, you likely won't be disappointed. Even when I drink a cup of Rise at the beginning of the day, I love that I can feel my energy sustained throughout the whole day. Highly recommend you give it a try. Try Rise mushroom coffee with 15% off your first order at Rise superfoods.com/school of greatness that's R Y Z E superfoods.com school of greatness don't just wake up. Awaken with Rise.
- [45:08]
Andrew Huberman
Welcome to Nadia Yada Island.
- [45:10]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
Next on Nadia Yada Island.
- [45:13]
Andrew Huberman
I knew I deserved so much more so I left.
- [45:16]
Lewis Howes
I finally switched to Metro and got.
- [45:18]
Dr. Daniel Amen
What I was looking for.
- [45:20]
Andrew Huberman
Get one line for only two $25 a month with Autopay.
- [45:24]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Just bring your phone to Metro and.
- [45:25]
Lewis Howes
Experience all the data you want on.
- [45:27]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
The largest 5G network. That's Nadia Yada yada.
- [45:30]
Lewis Howes
Only at Metro by T Mobile.
- [45:32]
Dr. Daniel Amen
First month is $30. Bring your number and ID offer.
- [45:35]
Andrew Huberman
Not available.
- [45:35]
Dr. Daniel Amen
If with T Mobile or with Metro.
- [45:36]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
In the past 180 days.
- [45:39]
Lewis Howes
If you just have a tablespoon tablespoon.
- [45:41]
Dr. Daniel Amen
And a big glass of water diluted before eating carbs.
- [45:44]
Lewis Howes
Like 10 minutes before doesn't matter.
- [45:46]
Dr. Daniel Amen
5 to 10 minutes.
- [45:47]
Lewis Howes
Wow. 30% less of a spike.
- [45:49]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Yep. So you still eat the carbs you love with less impact in your glucose levels.
- [45:53]
Andrew Huberman
Interesting.
- [45:53]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Yeah, but if you hate this hack, it's fine. The other hacks are just as powerful, right? So the savory breakfast one will transform your entire day, the experience of your whole life, essentially. And then the third hack is called the veggie starter hack. So that means that hack means having a plate of vegetables at the beginning of a meal. And you might think, okay, actually this has been done for a long time. In France, we have this concept called cryte, which is raw veggies at the beginning of a meal. In Italy, anti pasty, all the roasted nice vegetables. In the Middle east, they eat herbs by the bunch at the beginning of a meal. You know, that salad with vinaigrette is quite a common way to start a meal, and now we understand why. It's because veggies contain an amazing substance called fiber. Fiber. She's amazing. I love that.
- [46:44]
Lewis Howes
She's on fire.
- [46:44]
Dr. Daniel Amen
She's amazing. And fiber. When you have fiber in vegetables at the beginning of a meal, the fiber has time to go and coat your upper intestine and to create a sort of protective shield, like a superhero deploying herself on the walls of your upper intestine.
- [47:00]
Lewis Howes
Really?
- [47:00]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Yeah. And it's this sort of gooey, viscous mesh that is improving your gut lining. And then any glucose coming down afterwards will not be able to get through your bloodstream as quickly. Wow. So the veggie starter is an incredibly powerful hack. And you can even combine it to the vinegar hack by making a little vinegar dressing and putting it on your veggies.
- [47:23]
Lewis Howes
What does that do? Does it decrease even more?
- [47:25]
Dr. Daniel Amen
It decreases even more the glucose spike of the meal. Yeah. So you still have the pasta and the whatever you like, but if you add this hack. Yeah. So you see what happens when you do these hacks is that you can still eat the carbs you love, but then you're creating less of a spike. Therefore, the carbs are, first of all, not having as big of a negative impact on your health. Less inflammation, less glycation, less insulin release, and you're avoiding the creation of that cravings roller coaster, which is the main issue, because most of us, when we have something sweet, then two hours later, we want more sweets. And then it's 11pm and you've eaten 56 cookies, right? Yes. That's what we want to avoid. We want to have the stuff we love without creating this cycle of becoming a victim to more sugar cravings. The last hack I'll mention, and you'll love this one, it has to do with muscles. You got some good muscles, no?
- [48:15]
Lewis Howes
Yeah.
- [48:15]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Yeah. So you know how to use these?
- [48:16]
Lewis Howes
I want them bigger, though.
- [48:17]
Dr. Daniel Amen
You want bigger muscles?
- [48:18]
Lewis Howes
Stronger.
- [48:18]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Really? Let's go Nice.
- [48:20]
Lewis Howes
Not too big, but, you know, just.
- [48:22]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Yeah, you want more. You know why? It's for your glucose levels.
- [48:25]
Lewis Howes
It is. It helps you process sugar better when you have more muscle.
- [48:28]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Exactly. And the reason is. So glucose is your body's favorite source of energy. Every single cell in your body burns glucose for energy. So right now, your brain cells are burning glucose to understand what I'm saying, you're holding a pen. That means your hand cells are burning glucose to contract and hold that pen up. If you're listening to us, you know every single part of your body is currently burning glucose to perform its function. And your muscles, as I mentioned, also burn glucose to contract. Okay. And we can use this to our advantage. The fourth hack in my method is once a day, after one meal, use your muscles for 10 minutes.
- [49:09]
Lewis Howes
Move, walk, stretch, walk, jump.
- [49:12]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Exactly. You can even 10 minutes clean your apartment, do the dishes, fold your laundry, go grocery shopping. If you're at work and you can't do any movement, you can do some calf raises underneath your desk for 10 minutes. Lots of easy little ways to get that movement in so that your muscles will absorb some of the glucose from the meal.
- [49:32]
Lewis Howes
What happens if it's 10 o'clock at night? You know, Ben and Jerry's is calling my name. Yeah, Baby Freezer or whatever ice cream you like is calling my name. I'm just sitting there watching a movie, eating a whole thing of ice cream, and then I sit there and then I go to bed a couple hours later. What happens to the brain body gut if you do that by itself without applying these hacks?
- [49:57]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Well, you're going to experience a very big glucose spike as you're watching the movie and eating the Ben and Jerry's. That's going to have impact on your brain. It's going to increase inflammation. It's going to mess up your sleep hormones. You're not going to sleep as well. Your sleep is not going to be as deep or as restful. You might even wake up the next day feeling hungover. You know, you never get hungover because you don't drink, but sometimes you can feel hungover from sugar.
- [50:19]
Lewis Howes
Wow.
- [50:19]
Dr. Daniel Amen
If you've had it late at night, you're going to feel a bit groggy. You might feel like your hands have swollen a little bit during the night.
- [50:25]
Lewis Howes
Your face swollen.
- [50:26]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Yeah, exactly. And then with that glucose spike, you're also increasing glycation, aging. You're also increasing insulin release, which over time builds up to a diagnosis of prediabetes, for example, and whatever sort of health background Your body has. If you've ever experienced symptoms from brain fog to psoriasis to fertility problems, that spike is going to make those worse. So let's say you're watching that movie, eating the Ben and Jerry's. You have a few options. You can have a handful of almonds as you're having the ice cream, to put some clothing on the ice cream.
- [51:01]
Lewis Howes
Interesting.
- [51:01]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Yeah. You could do a vinegar drink. You could also grab a book or bottle of water. And after you eat the ice cream, maybe do some bicep curls as you're watching the movie to help your muscles soak up some of that glucose. There's always solutions.
- [51:14]
Lewis Howes
So if I've eaten the cake, the ice cream, the cookies, and I've forgotten to do all these things beforehand, but I can still do it afterwards?
- [51:22]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Yes, a little bit, yes.
- [51:24]
Lewis Howes
Even if the sugar is just in my gut already and just soaking down there, I can still have a couple almonds or have vinegar and it'll still help.
- [51:31]
Dr. Daniel Amen
The best thing to do afterwards is movement.
- [51:33]
Lewis Howes
Move.
- [51:34]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So do them calf raises. You're sitting on the couch, calf raises for 10 minutes during the movie. That's going to help, actually. Okay, yeah. And you can do that up to 90 minutes after eating the movement, the muscles.
- [51:45]
Lewis Howes
Okay, cool. Do some push ups, whatever it might be.
- [51:48]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Totally.
- [51:48]
Lewis Howes
Okay. So these are the four hacks in this book. Do you have other hacks that you recommend as well?
- [51:53]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Yes. So these are the four most powerful important ones to start with. But in my first book I have some other ones that are really lovely as well. So we talked about close on carbs. That's one I really enjoy. And another one is about snacks. So when you want to snack, should we eat snacks? If you want. It's better not to. It's better to wait between your meals. But sometimes you're hungry, sometimes it's 4pm and you're hungry. So what you gonna do? Ideally you would have a savory snack. As I explained. Not sweet, not sweet. Keep the sweets for dessert. Okay. Sweet equal dessert. Have some eggs, have a piece of toast with some avocado on it. Try to think savory. Always as much as you can. That's going to be incredibly helpful to keep your glucose levels nice and balanced. Because when you're hungry, when you want a snack, whenever you feel that hunger, that means your digestive system is quite empty. So if you feed it something sweet, the glucose is going to arrive really quickly into your bloodstream and create a big spike.
- [52:59]
Lewis Howes
Or if you could have a Snack. Should you have vinegar right before.
- [53:01]
Dr. Daniel Amen
If you want. If you can. Yeah. You should use these hacks and compose with them as you wish. And then you know what? If you can't do any of these hacks one day, it's totally fine. I don't want people to stress out. It's not, it's not like something super strict you have to do all the time. There are weeks where I don't do a single hack because of XYZ reason you can't fall off the wagon. There's no. This is not a. This is not a restrictive diet for me. These principles are things you keep with you for your whole life. Like, for example, if one day you don't drink enough water, you're not going to go crazy about it. Be like, oh my God, it's like, fine, just drink more water tomorrow. Or if one day you forget to brush your teeth, it doesn't matter.
- [53:36]
Lewis Howes
Right.
- [53:36]
Dr. Daniel Amen
We're here for the long haul. We're here to build these habits into our lives and to be able to call upon them like little fairy godmothers whenever we want.
- [53:45]
Lewis Howes
Yeah, that's cool. But the more consistent you can be with it, the better off you'll be.
- [53:48]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Absolutely.
- [53:53]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
I start at the beginning of the day and I purposefully look for the smallest things that went well, that I like, that make me happy now, along that you'll find the big things. But, you know, we're both busy and great things happen, but you often don't stop and reflect on those great things that happen. We live in a society of undisciplined minds and there's a science to discipline. Yeah.
- [54:26]
Lewis Howes
So what would you call that? Is it a. The beginning of the day and the end of the day? What is it? What is that strategy called? Is it just mental focus? Is it gratitude?
- [54:35]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
Well, when people come to my clinic, we often do some neuropsych testing and one of the tasks is negativity bias versus positivity bias.
- [54:45]
Lewis Howes
What's the difference between those two?
- [54:46]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
Well, negativity bias is you're focused on what's wrong. Your brain quickly, almost immediately goes to what you're afraid of, what's negative. And the news will tell you all sorts of things to be afraid of positivity bias is you go to what's right. And so those two techniques are part of what I talk about in the new book, positivity bias training. How do you train your brain to look for what's right, not for just what's wrong? Now, it's not over the Top. Because I've been thinking about this Bible verse a lot lately. The beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord. And it used to always sort of bother me. I'm like, why do I have to be afraid? And then I realized people who have low levels of anxiety direly from accidents or preventable illnesses, they're not worried about anything.
- [55:44]
Lewis Howes
They die earlier is what you're saying.
- [55:45]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
Right. And often the people that go to jail, they have low levels of anxiety. They actually have slower heart rates, they have lower sweat gland activity. Right. Like, if I think I'm gonna go rob a store, well, I don't because I don't want to be caught.
- [56:02]
Lewis Howes
Right.
- [56:03]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
And I don't like institutional food and I don't really look good in an orange jumpsuit. Right. And so I'm always thinking, thinking ahead. And one of the lies of happiness, so I open you happier with the lies of happiness, is don't worry, be happy. So Bobby McFerrin's Grammy Award winning song, Don't Worry, Be Happy, is a lie because you need some anxiety. So you do the right thing things and doing the right things consistently help you be happy. Yeah.
- [56:40]
Lewis Howes
So you have a moral code. You're doing the right habits for yourself. You're not just like, I'm not going to care. I'm going to drink all day, I'm going to eat whatever I want. Everything's going to be fine. You want to have some? Well, if I do this action, there might be a negative reaction later as well.
- [56:53]
Andrew Huberman
Right.
- [56:53]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
50% of people 85 and older will be diagnosed with dementia. I'm not okay with that. Those are big bad odds. Right? Because we're living longer. And I don't want a 50% chance of having lost my mind now. But I can't start thinking about that when I'm 83. I need to be thinking about that when I'm 43 or 33. Right. I mean, the earlier you can, the more you can push off those negative effects. So not too much anxiety because the cortisol damages your brain, but enough. It's like a dose response. What's the right dose of anxiety? And as a psychiatrist, I used to think my job was to lower the anxiety in my patients. And that's true for some patients. It's not true for other patients. I need to raise their anxiety.
- [57:49]
Lewis Howes
So what would you say are the three main causes of someone more likely to reach a dementia state over 85 or before that even? What would those things be? The three bad habits or the thing, you know, the Causes of dementia, Would you say so? Increase those.
- [58:07]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
In the book I actually talk about our bright minds approach to preventing dementia. So there's 11, but if I had to pick a couple would be being overweight. Because if you're overweight or have high blood sugar, there's something I call diabesity be it's a combination. You actually have seven of the 11 risk factors because I published three studies, the last one on 33,000 people that said as your weight goes up, the actual size and function of your brain goes down virtually in a linear pattern.
- [58:44]
Lewis Howes
So does it happen if you're 30 years old and you're younger or is.
- [58:47]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
It like only when you happens in children really? Yeah. So we had two data sets, one in children, one in adults drops the.
- [58:56]
Lewis Howes
Function and the size of the brain.
- [58:58]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
Function trans size because it lowers blood flow to the brain. Obesity lowers blood flow to the brain, it ages the brain, it increases inflammation, fat cells store toxins, it changes your hormones, takes healthy testosterone and turns it into unhealthy, healthy cancer promoting forms of estrogen. This is not a good thing. And so if I had to go, don't be overweight now, don't be underweight. Underweight's not good for you, right? Have a reasonable healthy weight. Bmi be a healthy weight. And you don't want anything to damage your blood vessels because they found neurons, brain cells actually don't age. It's your blood vessels that age. And if your blood vessels aren't feeding your brain cells, they begin to die. And so with all of these risk factors, how do I know if I have it? So spec this imaging study I do looks at blood flow. If you're drinking caffeine, if you're using nicotine, if you're sedentary, if you have any form of heart disease, if you have high blood pressure, all of those decrease blood flow really to your brain. So you always want to increase blood flow. And I love this part because when I get someone brain healthy, their sex lives get better. Because if you have blood flow problems anywhere, like you have erectile dysfunction, you have brain dysfunction. And if you have brain dysfunction, odds are you also have sex dysfunction because they're connected. It's about blood flow, right? The healthier your blood flow flow. And so you know, I see a lot of 50, 60 year old guys and they're worried about their mom had Alzheimer's disease, they don't want to get it, but when they get on the program, their sex lives are better. And that makes me so happy.
- [60:59]
Lewis Howes
Now there's something I touched on a little bit ago about the negativity bias and the positivity bias. I like to believe that I think in a positive way. I see the perspective of a situation. I try to look at the good perspective of the situation. I try to appreciate the things that I have as opposed to things that I lack. I try to see have compassion and empathy for certain situations and say, that's really unfortunate. So I should be extremely grateful for where I'm at, you know, in all areas of my life, I try to have that perspective. I feel like it's a positive bias. Right. Because it makes me feel better. There's been a lot of talk lately with different researchers and professors talking about the negative effects of. Call it toxic positivity or too much positivity, I guess. Is there, you know, a negative. Is there really a negative effect to the brain if you're thinking positively all the time? And if so, can you be toxic in the way you think in a positive way?
- [62:03]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
So I'm actually not a fan of positive thinking. I'm a fan of accurate thinking with a positive bias. Because positive thinking is, I can have this third brownie and it won't hurt me. I can drive at 125 miles an hour down the freeway in the rain, and it's not dangerous. I can give my phone number to a woman I met in a bar and not be thinking about the potential downsides of that, especially if I'm married and I want to stay there.
- [62:39]
Andrew Huberman
Yeah, exactly.
- [62:40]
Lewis Howes
Yeah, right.
- [62:41]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
I have this one friend, he came in and he told me about this woman he'd met at a medical conference, and they were on a plane together, and she'd been to his office, and I looked at him and I'm like, do you like attorneys? And he's like, what do you mean? I said, you're married. You have add. You're not going to cover up this affair. Your wife's going to find out, you're going to lose half your net worth, and you're going to be visiting your children on the weekends. And he's like, oh, I hadn't thought about that. Which means his frontal lobes weren't working. Because the front part of your brain not only thinks of the moment, it thinks of all of the moments. Right? If I do this, what happens? And too often, people that have the most sadness, it's because they make bad decisions. And that can be toxic positivity. Like, oh, I'm in the moment where I want people to be in all of the moments, not Just now, the future moment, now and later. Right? I want people to feel better quickly. Yes. With things that help them feel good now and tomorrow.
- [63:54]
Lewis Howes
Right. This episode of the School of Greatness is brought to you in part by Skinny Pop Popcorn. You deserve snacks that are better for you and actually taste good. And when it comes to snack options, sometimes it feels like you can't check both boxes. But I'm here to tell you you can with Skinny Pop popcorn. Skinny Pop uses quality ingredients to bring you the light and tasty flavors you love. Their original ready to eat popcorn is made with just three simple ingredients. Popcorn kernels, sunflower oil and a touch of salt. Trust me, the flavor is unmatched. Personally, I can't get enough of the original popcorn. It's my go to for movie nights or when I need a quick, satisfying snack between interviews. It's the perfect, simple, yet flavorful snack in my opinion. In addition to the original popcorn, Skinny Pop also offers a variety of delicious flavors, from white cheddar to sweet and salty kettle popcorn. It's non GMO gluten free. And there are many vegan options too. So stop everything right now and add Skinny Pop to your grocery list. You will not regret it. Skinny Pop popcorn. Deliciously popped, perfectly salted. Shop skinny pop now. FedEx doesn't know your small business yet. It could be coffee mugs. Coffee mugs that say, but first, coffee. Or coffee mugs that say insert coffee here. Whatever your business, FedEx knows the last thing you want to worry about is complex shipping. That's why there's FedEx One Rate. And did you know that with FedEx One Rate, you can ship your holiday packages cheaper than the post office. Send packages as low as $14.50 for small boxes. It's simple, reliable and predictable. With FedEx One Rate, you'll know your business's shipping costs ahead of time. Guessing and stressing not included. So you can spend less time on shipping and more time on what really matters growing your business. Visit fedex.com onerate for details. Exclusions apply. Valid from October 6, 2024 through January 19, 2025. FedEx one rate. Two day retail shipping one flat rate. Okay, so I like that. Accurate thinking with a positive bias. Yeah, accurate thinking. Okay. Is there such thing as toxic positivity in your mind?
- [65:55]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
It could be. It's like, don't worry, be happy. It's like, you don't matter what I do today, it's not going to impact me tomorrow. I can spend, I can max my credit cards, I can flirt with A girl. Even though I'm in a committed relationship.
- [66:12]
Lewis Howes
I can drink all I want, I can eat all I want.
- [66:14]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
Yeah, yeah. That's toxic positivity. Yeah. It's like, no, you need to be afraid. Right. I mean, you came to my clinic and we looked at your brain, and it's like, no, I want to love my brain. So if I love my brain, I avoid these things and I do those things, and then you have a better life. Right. The school of greatness starts with a healthy brain.
- [66:39]
Lewis Howes
Absolutely. And so how do we figure out what our brain type is, though? There's different brain types. How do we know what ours is?
- [66:45]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
Most books on happiness, and there have been a lot of books on happiness, is they go, okay, here are the things that make you happy, from gratitude and purpose and novelty, working out. And I'm like, well, it depends on what your brain type is. So for some people, helicopter skiing makes them happy, or jumping out of an airplane makes them happy. And for other people, that makes them flat out miserable. It's like, no, I'm not going to do that. I'll be anxious, I'll be afraid. No. And what. What I learned. So at Amen clinics, I have 10 clinics around the country, we do brain imaging. So if you have anxiety, depression, temper problems, relationship problems, memory problems, head trauma, whatever will talk to you, and then we'll scan you. It's been my big love affair in life is looking at people's brains. And early on I realized, because I was looking at, like, what does ADD look like in the brain? Or what does depression look like? Or bipolar disorder or autism? And early on, quickly, I learned they're not one thing, that each of those things have subtypes. And I've written books like Healing, add, the seven types of add. And then when I was thinking about happiness, I'm like, it's clearly not one thing. And I've identified five primary types. Brain types, brain types. Okay, based on imaging. So there's the balance brain type, or quite frankly, most anything will make you happy. You're focused, you're flexible, you're positive and relaxed. And type two is the spontaneous type. Type one, you have a generally healthy brain. Two, you have sleepy frontal lobes, the front part of your brain, low, lower in activity. And you're very creative.
- [68:46]
Lewis Howes
Often.
- [68:46]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
Often. A lot of the young superstars I see are the spontaneous type. They need novelty. They love surprises. They hate routine. Yeah. They want their life to be a bit unpredictable. They also like scary movies. They need a dopamine fix. Now, the persistent type type 3. Their frontal lobes actually work a bit harder than everybody else. And they hate surprises and love routine. They're accomplishment oriented. They finish things on time, they show up on time, and unfortunately, they tend to marry the spontaneous type. Or at least those are the people that come to my office and they come to my office. Office. The fourth type is the sensitive type. And this was the type that was damaged the most in the pandemic because they crave connection, crave relationships. They're deeply empathic. When their relationships are good, they're really happy. And when they're stressed, they're very unhappy. And then type 5 is the cautious type. These are people that are early to appointments. They will never jump out of an airplane unless the airplane's on fire. And to make them happy, they need peace, they need relaxation, they need a massage. And so understanding my type and their combinations.
- [70:32]
Lewis Howes
Yeah, you might have two or three areas, right? Yeah.
- [70:34]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
And so like, I like three or.
- [70:36]
Lewis Howes
Four of these things at times. You know, it's like I like my routine, but I also like to get out once in a while and do.
- [70:41]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
Something spontaneous, you know, so there's 16 types. When you look at the combinations, and in the book there's a link on how to get your free brain type. It's just so helpful because what can.
- [70:55]
Lewis Howes
We do once we know which type we're at? What do we do then with that information?
- [71:00]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
Well, for the balanced people, it's just keep it that way for the spontaneous people. Here are some supplements that might help your type. Here's the right diet for your type. Here are the right exercises for your type. So if the spontaneous person, it is critical for them to know their goals in great detail. And they love the exercise. And then every day they ask themselves the question, does it fit? Does my behavior fit? Because the break in their brain is vulnerable. It's a little weak. And so often they'll go off here, they'll go off there. And a lot of CEOs are the spontaneous type, especially entrepreneurs, not maybe CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, but for their own companies, which can be wildly successful. But they need a persistent person to organize them. Yes. Because they're really good at grow, at starting businesses. They're not good at growing businesses. So just know, oh, is that me? Then make sure you don't hire someone like you with your type to grow your business, because they won't. They'll get you in trouble with the irs.
- [72:12]
Lewis Howes
Exactly. So once we know the what's your brain type?
- [72:16]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
So I'm Balanced. Balanced. But I have features of cautious, insensitive. Because I crave relationships. So when Tan and I get along, and thank goodness we get along almost all the time, I'm so happy. My first marriage didn't get along at all. And I was miserable for two decades.
- [72:38]
Andrew Huberman
Wow.
- [72:38]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
And I. I guess maybe I'm the persistent type too.
- [72:42]
Lewis Howes
You want to try to make it work and try to do everything you can.
- [72:45]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
Feel guilty when it doesn't.
- [72:47]
Lewis Howes
That feeling. What do you say is the biggest lesson you've learned about your own personal life of assessing? I think it's 200,000 brain scans now, over 30 years. How long has it been? 30 years of work of just assessing the world's brains and these different types. What's the biggest lesson you've learned about yourself in personal life? Relationships, all these things.
- [73:12]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
I'd been a psychiatrist nearly a decade. I was the top neuroscience student in medical school. And I didn't care about my own brain.
- [73:21]
Lewis Howes
So what did that mean? You were eating whatever, you were sleeping whenever you.
- [73:25]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
I only slept four hours and I. And I thought I was special because I could do that. Then I realized it wasn't special. You're bragging stupid.
- [73:32]
Lewis Howes
I only need four hours a night of sleep and I can function. Yeah. Yeah.
- [73:35]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
I was eating fast food. I was overweight, chronically stressed. And when I. The week before I scanned myself, I scanned my mother. And she was 60. And at 60, she had a stunningly beautiful brain. And then the next week I scanned myself and it wasn't good. My brain looked older than her 60 year brain, but it reflected her life. Her brain. She could manage my difficult dad. She has seven children. She now has 54 grandchildren, great grandchildren. She's the most consistently loving person. She knows everybody's birthday. She knows what's going on in everybody's life. She's crying. She's just always interested. My brain wasn't healthy. I played football in high school. I had meningitis twice when I was a young soldier. And that's a bad thing for your brain? And I didn't care.
- [74:30]
Andrew Huberman
Right.
- [74:31]
Dr. Caroline Leaf
I never drank or smoke. I just didn't want to do that. I fell in love with my brain. And every day I'm like, is this good for my brain or bad for it?
- [74:48]
Lewis Howes
I have a brand new book called Make Money Easy. And if you are looking to create more financial freedom in your life, you want abundance in your life and you want to stop making money hard in your life, but you want to make it easier, you want to make it flow. You want to feel abundant? Then make sure to go to make moneyeasybook.com right now and get yourself a copy. I really think this is going to help you transform your relationship with money this moment Moving forward. We have some big guests and content coming up. Make sure you're following and stay tuned to the next episode on the School of Greatness. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode with all the important links and if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally as well as ad free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our greatness+channel exclusively on Apple Podcast Podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward. And I want to remind you if no one has told you lately that you are loved, you are worthy and you matter and now it's time to go out there and do something great.
- [76:24]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Walmart plus it's Walmart plus free delivery which saves members time plus money Yep, plus an included Paramount plus subscription to.
- [76:32]
Lewis Howes
Stream movies, shows, sports and that can't.
- [76:34]
Dr. Daniel Amen
Miss documentary Plus Burger King savings that's right, members get 25% off Burger King digital orders every day of the week. Walmart+ it's Walmart+ become a member at walmartplus.com $35 order minimum Paramount+ essential Plano separate registration required.
- [76:48]
Lewis Howes
Valid and participating USVK's in the BK.
- [76:50]
Dr. Daniel Amen
App or bk.com for members only 25% off one time for calendar day terms apply. See Walmart+ terms and conditions.
- [76:56]
Lewis Howes
Is it time to reimagine your future? The right business skills may make a difference in your career.
- [77:02]
Andrew Huberman
At Capella University, we offer a relevant.
- [77:04]
Lewis Howes
Education that's designed to focus on what you need to know in the business world. We'll teach professional skills to help you pursue your goals like business management, strategic planning, and effective communication, and you can apply these skills right away. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at Capella Eduardo.