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This Week’s Guest:
Dr. Daniel Amen is a neuroscientist, physician, double board certified psychiatrist, and ten-time New York Times bestselling author. He believes that brain health is central to all health and success. You may have heard of his book Change Your Brain, Change Your Life.. He’s got a new book out called The Brain Warrior’s Way. He’s also the founder of Amen Clinics
Episode:
Our brains are more connected to our nutritional intake than we think. Our brains are also delicate organs that we take for granted – but we can damage them physically and emotionally over time. PTSD is a form of emotional damage to our brain, and TBI is a form of physical damage, often seen in athletes who play contact sports. The good news is, a lot of this damage is preventable, and even reversible.
We discuss:
- how nutrition and brain health are connected
- the diseases that are caused by having brain injury
- the process of scanning the brain and looking at problem areas
- how to reverse damage and prevent future damage
Nutrition and the Brain
- Dr. Amen coined the term the “dinosaur syndrome”
- as our bodies get bigger, our brains get smaller-need to watch our weight
- He created the Daniel Plan after attending church and seeing how they had donuts bacon hot dogs, very unhealthy foods
- its a health program that works in any house of worship or business, based on five pillars: faith, food, fitness, focus, friends
Disease and Aging
- 50% of people over 85 have Alzheimer’s
- overweight means you are more likely to get alzheimer’s
- you want to watch the quality and quantity of calories
Studying the Brain
- psychiatrists are the only medical doctors that don’t look at the organ they are treating
- The process when someone visits the Amen clinics include qEEG scans and spec scans.
- Dr. Amen’s goal is to help someone be the very best that they can be
Damage to the Brain
- contact sports are really dangerous – the damage does not show up in an MRI scan, but can show up in a SPECT scan
- Dr. Amen was involved in the move Concussion which showed the negative and often deadly effects that playing football has had on NFL players
- you can reverse the damage through a strategy involving nutrition, exercise, supplements
- Stephan has continued to take fish oil even though he has been vegetarian
- Difference between PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) and TBI (traumatic brain injury)
- PTSD: your emotional circuits become hyperactive and you can’t settle down
- TBI: you can actually see the physical damage in a brain scan
- Neurofeedback is a great way to better your brain – you get hooked up to qEEG and monitor the activity of your brain while you play some games. You see the change over time, like when you work out your body
Links and Resources Mentioned
Change Your Brain, Change Your Life
Get Optimized!
- Food can either be a medicine or a poison – be mindful of what you put into your body and listen to how your body responds
- TThink carefully about participating or allowing your children to participate in contact sports. The long term repercussions on the brain can be severely damaging
- Consider taking fish oil supplements – they are great brain boosters and also protect your brain from the deterioration that happens as we age
Thank you for listening!
As always, thank you for tuning in. Please feel free to contact me or leave a comment. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it!
-Stephan
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