why though is my anxiety through the
roof today what do you want from me
brain there's a lot of that going on hi
this is dr. Daniel Eamon I'm a double
board certified psychiatrist founder of
Amon clinics and the author of the end
of mental illness this is brain support
[Music]
Rory ban well why does your brain
sometimes completely forget common words
I just couldn't remember drawer like
what interrupt signals that happen in
your brain it can be due to a lack of
sleep not eating negative thoughts low
blood sugar that happens once a week I
wouldn't worry about it but if it's
beginning to happen 2 3 4 times a week
and if it's worse than it was 10 years
ago it actually could be a sign of
impending trouble and that's where you
want to really begin to look at your
brain habits if you have hypertension
high blood pressure its blood pressure
goes up blood flow to the brain goes
down if you have any form of heart
disease or vascular disease like a heart
arrhythmia if you had general anesthesia
at some point in the past that can lower
blood flow if you don't exercise the
simple way for each of these risk
factors it's wokai what is it how do you
know if you have it and what to do about
it and what to do about low blood flow
exercise boosts blood flow to the brain
there
simple things like eating beets cayenne
pepper oregano rosemary all of those
things have been found to increase blood
flow as have simple supplements like
gingko biloba Dillon underscore Saunders
right brain people how do you turn off
your left brains well we really can't
turn off a part of our brain dolphins
can dolphins actually sleep with one
hemisphere asleep at a time but humans
can't do that
you had literal
have to cut this area of the brain
called the corpus callosum it's like so
many wires connecting the left and right
hemispheres of the brain that it's just
not possible to turn it off there are
some people who are born without corpus
callosum so then the sides of the brain
are not talking to each other and they
have some very interesting
neuropsychological findings but
ultimately you want both sides connected
to each other day a a warrior
why does my brain start to go 60 miles
an hour when I'm trying to go to sleep
as your start to sleep your frontal
lobes front part of your brain start to
get quiet which unfortunately takes the
breaks off your emotional brain and so
this is happening you need a routine and
habits you get your emotional brain back
under control if the thoughts are
repetitive they just circle have a
little journal by your bed and write
them down and then ask yourself so what
can I do about it and what can I not do
about it
but the act of writing it down helps to
get it out of your head when I go to bed
I say a prayer very intentionally
specifically I review what went well
today and I'm looking for at least three
things I love it because you know like
you I'm busy I often don't take time
during the day to just go that was
awesome
how many special moments are in your day
even during a pandemic you just don't
think about them and when you do it
right before bed it sets your dreams up
to actually be more positive and REM
sleep dreams sleep is one of the most
important healing parts of sleep at koi
wolfie anybody else having some severe
PTSD attacks during Koren
I feel like my overall mental health has
tanked over the past two months I'm
losing my appetite massive anxiety to
tax and I'm having some intense
intrusive thoughts I feel for you the
term I use is we are now experiencing a
global amygdala hijacking so the
amygdala deep in your brain is this
structure it's in the shape of an island
that responds to fear what's happening
in the world is activating our amygdala
and it's making very many people feeling
anxious and stress I think our baseline
stress levels went up about 30 percent
so if yours were already heightened now
you can be having massive panic attacks
and intrusive thoughts mental hygiene is
just as important is washing your hands
we have to disinfect our thoughts and
kill the ants the automatic negative
thoughts that steal our happiness you
want to become masterful at
diaphragmatic breathing and there's
actually a very specific pattern that
will calm down your amygdala and
activate your frontal lobe so you'll
make better decisions three seconds in
so big breath hold it for a second and
then take six seconds out and hold it
for a second
so it's an 11 second breath but if you
do that 10 times it'll actually trigger
a relaxation response in your brain and
begin to give you some control you know
I think it's something they should
actually teach second graders do this
breathing it's the first step in getting
control of your anxiety
Jeff Galinski as I'm getting older I'm
noticing that if I spend ten plus hours
working on my computer on again
day not typical I often have difficulty
shutting my brain down at night to sleep
when I wake the next day I'm often
plagued by a sort of a hangover from the
day before anyone else this is actually
common the lights from the computer may
be sending interrupt signals to your
brain before they unleash digital
technology onto the world there's
actually no neuroscience study on the
impact of being flooded with blue lights
from screens many of my colleagues and I
recommend blue light blockers especially
if you have any screen on after dark
blue light in the late afternoon in the
evening begins to turn off the
production of melatonin which sort of
naturally helps us go to sleep plus if
you're 10 hours plus on a computer
screen you're not getting the exercise
you know the best natural treatment for
depression and cognitive impairment
actually seems to be exercised at hogg
underscore mile so I got enough sleep
ate breakfast took my meds I'm hydrated
don't have a crazy busy day and stable
in my relationship so why the is my
anxiety through the roof today I can
feel my heartbeat in my eyes what do you
want from me brain anxiety disorders are
still the most common mental health
issue in the world begin to put a daily
stress reduction practice in your life
for me I love table tennis it's exercise
it's distracting it's good for me a lot
of people love meditation there's the
kind of meditation I really like that we
study called loving-kindness a huge fan
of hypnosis self hypnosis certain music
will activate you and make you anxious a
lot of other music will actually calm
and soothe you so I'm a huge fan of
having a daily
relaxation practice to get control and
then would I teach my patients is
whenever you feel sad or mad or nervous
or out of control write down what you're
thinking then ask yourself if it's trip
thoughts are automatic they just happen
and what most people don't know is the
thoughts in your head often lie to you
they often terrorize you I teach my
patients how to kill the ants the
automatic negative thoughts you have to
develop an internal ant eater patrolling
the streets of your mind and just
learning this technique is just so
helpful
Rylee be rights why does my brain
provide only wonderful dialogue when I
shower and why is it always when there's
shampoo in my hair so I can't get out to
write it dad
I like this away when you're in the
shower and you're doing something you
know how to do that basically your
cerebellum is doing it it's sort of an
automatic process the rest of your brain
can relax and you're distracted which is
often when creativity flows it's
happened to me a lot over the years I
just have something did I get out of the
shower quickly write it down and then
get back in and finish it just have some
mechanism to capture it and you'll be
able to remember it as you rinse your
hair and then write down your thought
and if you can't then we have to boost
your brains help
ah yah k h v NX y'all ever forget what
you're talking about while you're
talking it happens to me so often that I
swear I'm getting amnesia
I hear this actually a lot in my
patients who have a DD or ADHD because
they have so many thoughts while they're
talking they actually get lost
do you notice you have a short attention
span you're easily distracted you tend
to be late you're disorganized you
tonight and you might say or do things
impulsively when I first read that
question I go huh I wonder if she has a
BB if it's not that and it's happening
so often I worry that your brain might
not be as healthy as it could be and
that's where I would begin to explore
those 11 major risk factors that steal
people's minds and then mnemonic I call
bright minds the B we talked about is
blood flow R is retirement and aging
when people stop learning their brain
starts dying I is inflammation if you
have low omega-3 fatty acid levels if
you have an unhealthy gut if you have
periodontal disease you're not really
good at taking care of your teeth all of
those things can actually increase
inflammation and negatively impact your
memory and your brain said detai why
doesn't anybody talk about the brain fog
that comes along with anxiety and
depression it makes me feel like I can't
function normally
and I thought I was going crazy until I
looked it up and realized that it
happens to a lot of people can we start
talking about these things more so brain
fog is when you feel like your brain is
in mud that it just takes more effort to
think and respond then you think is
reasonable it is very common anxiety
because your brain is so focused on
negativity or depression where you don't
have enough activity in your brain
there's one type of depression I call it
unfocused but this really low activity
in the brain commonly associated with
brain fog again you want to keep your
brain healthy or rescue it if it's
headed to the dark place you have to
prevent or treat these risk factors I've
been talking about so bright minds B is
for blood flow ours retirement and aging
eyes inflammation G is genetic stuff
like anxiety and depression run in
families but also the negative
thinking the dysfunctional thinking
patterns can also be modeled in families
I often say genes are not a death
sentence what they should be is a
wake-up call Gene's love the gun it's
what happened to us in our behavior that
pulls the trigger so if I know I have
anxiety in my family then I'm gonna work
even harder to prevent it the h and
bright minds is head trauma a major
cause of psychiatric problems nobody
knows about because most psychiatrists
actually never looked at the brain I
actually have a database of a hundred
and sixty thousand scans on patients
from a hundred and fifty five countries
and if you said hey Daniel single most
important thing you learned from the
world's largest brain imaging database
related to psychiatry I would say mild
traumatic brain injury is a major cause
of psychiatric problems if you don't get
the right diagnosis you'll never end up
with the right treatment plan the TN
bright minds is for toxins if you have
brain fog anxiety and depression I want
to make sure you don't have mold in your
house mold is a very common cause of
brain fog anxiety and depression is one
of the toxins along with marijuana is
the toxin alcohol can be toxic of all
the firefighters I've treated over 90%
have toxic looking brains because of the
carbon monoxide they breed or the
cyanide they breathe from burning
furniture burning buildings and from
fires anxiety and depression they're not
single or simple disorders and if you
want to take care of the brain fog you
have to become serious about brain
health the bottom line is this after
looking at all these scans most
psychiatric problems are not mental
health issues rather they are brain
health issues and this one idea changes
everything get your brain right and your
mind will follow and I'm convinced that
the end of mental illness will begin
with a revolution in brain health needy
my mental health really do be like
arrows up arrows down arrows up arrows
down how do you fix a broken brain
please I've been talking about that this
gives me an opportunity to finish our
bright minds mnemonic if you want to
keep your brain healthy or fix a broken
brain you have to prevent or treat
the 11 major risk factors that steal
your mind bright minds is the mnemonic
blood flow retirement and aging
inflammation genetics head trauma toxin
and is something I called Mindstorms
which is abnormal electrical activity
especially in the temporal lobes and it
can come from a head injury you could be
born with it it causes people to be up
and down just like the icons you used
sometimes anti-seizure medications can
actually be really helpful to stabilize
things sometimes a ketogenic diet can
actually help I found that can be really
helpful in balancing the brains their
treatments like neurofeedback to help
reset the brain the second eye and
bright minds is immunity and infections
and I have no idea how prophetic that
would be right before a pandemic and let
me be really clear about this your best
defense against covet 19 is not gonna be
a drug or a vaccine your best defense is
your immune system so keeping it healthy
is critical you do that by what you eat
by keeping your gut healthy by making
sure you have healthy vitamin D levels
vitamin C levels zinc magnesium selenium
all of those are nutrients to support
your immune system but this is why you
need to stay away from sugar and foods
that quickly turn to sugar because all
of those are pro-inflammatory and can
damage your immune system as can gluten
and dairy the N in bright minds is
neurohormone disorders your thyroid is
high or low you're gonna be anxious or
depressed if your testosterone is low
odds are
you're gonna be sad have no motivation
and no libido for a girl or guy the
Dia's diabesity this combination of you
have high blood sugar your pre-diabetic
or diabetic and overweight or obese as
your weight goes up the actual physical
size and function of your brain goes
down which should scare the fat off
anyone and then the S in bright minds is
sleep getting your sleep right is so
important so if you want to fix a broken
brain you can that's the exciting news
that comes out of our imaging work you
are not stuck with the brain you have
you can make it better but you have to
love it you have to treat it right men a
new docu-series with Justin Bieber
I've been Justin's doctor for the last
five years he would come and then he'd
go and then calm and then go and finally
married Halley and he's kept coming
because she made it more than a year ago
he walked into my office and he said my
brain can have problems just like my
heart can have problems if you told me I
had heart problems I'd do everything you
said I'm gonna start doing everything
you say and then he got remarkably
better you can be better this is dr.
Daniel Amen for brains support to learn
more about my work you can get my book
the end of mental illness or go to Amen
Clinics comm and learn about our clinics
around the world yeah big thank you to
Wired and hope all of you stay safe