>> hello, this is bill cosby. your brain... your brain is that part of the body, that maybe we kind of ignore it. we kind od of think, that it will do things on its own. well, it needs your help. it needs your thinking. it needs your care. doctor daniel amen... i believe in him, and he knows what he's doing. it's your brain; nobody elses. and he knows what he's doing. it's your brain; nobody elses. take care of it. [instrumental music] >> announcer: dr. daniel amen is an award-winning psychiatrist, brain imaging expert, researcher, and best-selling author. he's here today to help you change your brain he's here today to help you change your brain and change your life.

[applause] >> thank you. i'm dr. daniel amen. i'm so excited to be with you. through our brain imaging work at the amen clinics, with tens of thousands of patients from 62 countries over the last two decades, i've come to see with my own eyes that you can literally change your brain and change your life. this is one of the most exciting breakthroughs in medicine, because with a better brain always comes a better life. if you pay attention to me, if you use the front part of your brain, so that you can focus, and if i can touch your emotional brain, so you remember what i say, and if your brain is flexible enough to learn new things, then you're in for a treat. when you make your brain better by doing the right things, you improve your life. when you do the wrong things and hurt your brain,

you make your life harder. day in and day out, every day, you're either helping or hurting your brain. did you know that blueberries are one of the best brain foods on the planet? along with avocados, walnuts, salmon, and green tea, but not getting enough sleep decreases blood flow to your brain and impairs your memory and your ability to concentrate. did you know that increasing blood flow to your brain is literally the fountain of youth? but doing things that decrease blood flow, like nicotine, too much caffeine, alcohol, inhaling toxic fumes, prematurely ages the brain. this program will be divided into three parts. in part one, i'll give you seven simple principles

to change your brain and change your life. i will also give you one question you should ask yourself every day, if you really want to be successful in your life. in part two, i will show you how to be happier, more focused, less anxious, and less depressed by balancing three important and very interesting brain systems. i'll also teach you a sneaky brain-based strategy to help you deal with the difficult people in your life. and in part three, i'm gonna show you how to make your brain great. you are not stuck with the brain you have. you can make it better, and i will show you how, including how to prevent alzheimer's disease, and i'm not kidding. this program will also give you a completely new paradigm about why people struggle, along with new insight into healing the brain. for example, i want to tell you about a couple

who failed marital therapy. that's right, their therapist gave them an "f". now, how do you get an "f" in marital therapy? well, after spending three years and $25,000, the therapist told them to get divorced. well, this made the couple very upset, because they wanted to be married. on the television, you see two brain spec scans. these are the scans that we do in our clinics. they're called functional scans, because they show how the brain works, how the brain functions. what they measure is blood flow and activity patterns in the brain. now, the scan on the left is a healthy scan, and what you see is full, even, symmetrical activity. now, the image on the right is the husband's scan, and that swiss cheese appearance indicates overall severely low activity in his brain.

now, this is the pattern that we often see with drug and alcohol abusers, but the scan didn't fit his history, because he said he never used drugs and he didn't drink. now, i've been a psychiatrist for a long time, and i know that drug addicts and alcohol, they lie, and they lie a lot. right? am i wrong about this? they lie a lot... so in front of his wife, one of my first questions to him was, "are you sure? you don't drink much, and you've never used drugs?" he said, "dr. amen, i have many problems, but that's not it." so then, i turned to his wife and asked her if that was true, and she said, "oh, yes, dr. amen, he doesn't drink. he doesn't use drugs. dr. amen, he doesn't drink. he doesn't use drugs. he's just a jerk." [laughter] >> i chuckled at the comment, but then, you know, in my mind i wondered, "then, why does his brain look so bad?" and so i went through the potential causes in my head.

a brain infection, a near drowning can make your brain look like this, low thyroid, being anemic, being exposed to some sort of environmental toxin. so my next question to him was, "where do you work?" he said, "i work in a furniture factory." i said, "what do you do?" he said, "i finish furniture all day long." he was doing drugs. in fact, he was doing the worst drug for your brain, which is inhaling organic solvents. so my next question to the wife was, "so when did he become a jerk?" and she said, "what do you mean?" i said, "did you marry him that way? do you have father issues that way? do you have father issues that you're trying to work out?" [laughter] >> and she said, "no. when we first got married, he was great. it wasn't until about five years ago that he started having trouble." and then, she put her hand over her mouth, and she said, "oh, my god. that's about the time he started to work

in the furniture factory. do you think his personality change can have something to do with his job?" so as you can imagine, the first thing that i should do is get him out of that toxic environment, so i had him transferred in his company. and then, i put him on a brain healthy program. on the right treatment, his behavior got better, as did his marriage. i wonder how many marriages are suffering, because one partner has a brain problem that no one is aware of. how do you do marital therapy with this brain? it will never work until you change his brain. now, looking at the brain has been one of the most exciting adventures of my life. in the past few years, i've come to distill our work into seven very simple principles, and if you follow me, one, you'll realize how simple these are. but they will change your life,

as they have changed mine. the first principle is your brain's involved in everything you do. your brain's involved in how you think, in how you feel, in how you act, and how you get along with other people. after looking at 40,000 scans, i've come to believe that your brain heavily influences the type of person you are. your brain is the organ of personality, of your character, your intelligence, and your soul. i've actually called the brain the hardware of the soul. now, that leads us into principle number two, and that is: when your brain works right, you work right. and when your brain has trouble, you have trouble in your life. so here are two more spec scans. the scan on the left is of a healthy person. the scan on the right is

a heroin addict's brain. drugs damage your brain. do you think the heroin addict has any possibility of living up to his potential? i don't think so. the hardware of his brain is definitely not working right. when your brain is healthy, you tend to be focused, happy, relaxed, loving, effective. when your brain is unhealthy, for whatever reason, you tend to get distracted easily, you're sad, anxious, angry, not as effective. that brings us to the next principle, fascinating principle, and did you know your brain is the most complicated organ in the universe? there is nothing as complex as the human brain, nothing. it's estimated that we have 100 billion nerve cells and more connections in our brain than there are stars in the universe.

information in your brain travels at about 268 miles per hour, unless, travels at about 268 miles per hour, unless, of course, you're drunk. [laughter] >> and then, things really slow down. if you don't take care of your brain, on average, you lose 85,000 brain cells a day. that's about a brain cell a second. that is what causes aging. now, with appropriate forethought, you can reverse that trend and dramatically slow the aging process. now, that's a big promise, but if you pay attention to me, we're gonna talk exactly how to do that. now, the next principle, principle number four is absolutely critical, but virtually no one knows it. or at least for sure, we don't act in our society as if we know it, and that is your brain is very soft, and it's housed

in a really hard skull. your brain is the consistency of soft butter, tofu, custard, somewhere between egg whites and jello, and it's housed in a really hard skull that has many sharp, bony ridges. brain injuries matter. they damage the brain, and they can ruin your life. we need to do a much better job at taking care of our brains. the next principle is many things can hurt your brain, and many things can help your brain. so let's talk about that, cause you want to know what it is. so what are the things that can hurt your brain? well, we've already talked about a couple of them. drugs, very bad for brain function. toxic fumes, head injuries, alcohol is not a health food. now, i know many of you are out there, and you're like goin', "gotta have my glass of red wine a day. doctor says i have to do it.

this is good for me." doctor says i have to do it. this is good for me." no, no, no, no, no. [laughter] >> the research really says one or two glasses a week can be helpful for you, because a little, tiny bit of alcohol tends to balance cholesterol levels. people who drink every day have a smaller brain, and i would just suggest to you that when it comes to the brain, and i would just suggest to you that when it comes to the brain, size matters. [laughter] >> you don't want a smaller brain, and alcohol is directly toxic to brain function. lack of exercise. if you don't exercise on a regular basis, that's decreasing blood flow. it's very bad. you'll notice, we're going to talk a lot about exercise. not getting good sleep. people who get less than six hours of sleep at night have a lower overall blood flow to their brain, and with that comes all sorts of problems. chronic stress. i mean, we're living in this fast-paced society,

often under a lot of stress, and if you don't have a stress management technique, this is prematurely aging your brain. smoking. smoking is a disaster for brain function. now, can you tell the skin of a smoker? how? >> female: dry. >> dry, wrinkled, doesn't look healthy. why? because smoking constricts blood flow to your skin. it does exactly the same thing to your brain and prematurely ages it. and did you know, too much caffeine can do the same things? now, i already know some of you are going, "okay, doc, now, i already know some of you are going, "okay, doc, how much can i have?" [laughter] >> and i have to tell you, one or two cups a day, it's not that bad for your brain. more than that is a nightmare for brain function, because it constricts blood flow. it also dehydrates you, and it fools you into thinking you don't need to sleep. that's why as soon as you wake up, "gotta have my cup of coffee in the morning." right? it's not good for you.

you can do without it. negative thinking is terrible for brain function. isn't that interesting? that if you focus on what you hate about in your life, your emotional brain fires up, but your thoughtful brain gets colder. so you become unhappy, and you make bad decisions. so how you think moment by moment determines in part how your brain works. okay, now these are things that hurt your brain. let's talk about some things that help your brain. new learning, like tonight, whenever you learn something new, your brain makes a new connection. when you stop learning, your brain actually starts to disconnect itself. you always want to have a new project, where you're learning something new. a healthy diet. you are what you eat. we're gonna spend a lot of time in the last segment talking about brain healthy foods. daily vitamins and fish oil, we'll talk about that,

as we will exercise. exercise is literally the fountain of youth, and i'll tell you why. getting great sleep is important. social connections, being with other people, especially if they're good for you... but, going to church, being part of a family, being part of a hobby club, all of those things are important, because when you're with other people, your brain has to work. right? you have to remember their name, and do they have kids, and what does that look mean, and all of that is working your brain. positive thinking, especially gratitude. when you focus on what you love about your life, your brain works better. the emotional brain sort of settles down. the thoughtful brain goes up. you're actually more coordinated when you focus on what you love about your life. so a very simple exercise that you can take home, and they've actually found this to decrease depression in people who have

clinical depression. it's just write out every day five things i'm grateful for today. five things i'm grateful for today. it can be your health, your family, your job, whatever it is, it can be your dog, whatever it is, focus on it, because when you bring your attention to gratitude, you feel so much better. interestingly, meditation is also amazing for brain function, and meditation fooled us. those of us that are brain imaging doctors thought what meditation would do would be calm down the brain. it absolutely doesn't do that. what meditation does is it activates the most thoughtful part of your brain, so that you make better decisions, so that you feel happier, so that you're actually more intelligent. and did you know that making love is good for your brain? regular sexual activity has been shown to be associated with decreased depression, so it helps your mood. it helps your memory.

it helps in pain relief, so when she says, "honey, it helps in pain relief, so when she says, "honey, not tonight, i have a headache." [laughter] >> you can say, "well, did you know there are two studies with migraine did you know there are two studies with migraine headache sufferers..." [laughter] >> "...that say having an orgasm decreases pain frequency by 50 percent. an orgasm decreases pain frequency by 50 percent. i'm just here to help." [laughter] >> and there's a study from england that says three times a week. three times a week is associated with decreased risk of heart attack and stroke by 50 percent. we have no medicine by 50 percent. we have no medicine that can do that. [laughter] >> right? so many things can hurt your brain. many things can help your brain. this next principle's really important, and that is one size does not fit everyone. most psychiatric problems, like a-d-d, anxiety, or depression, they're not single or simple disorders. giving someone the diagnosis of depression is exactly

like giving them the diagnosis of chest pain. now, why don't doctors give people the diagnosis of chest pain? because it's a symptom. there are too many causes. the same thing is true for depression. it's a symptom with many different causes: chronic stress, relationship problems, financial losses, head injuries, drug abuse, low thyroid, chemical imbalances, even grief. our research at the amen clinics has shown that it is at least seven different things, and giving everyone the same treatment for this symptom invites disaster. in the next segment, i'm gonna tell you about a revolutionary brain-based approach that helps us heal problems like depression or a-d-d. we do it more quickly and often with natural treatments, because we understand what part of the brain that we're dealing with.

now, the last principle, the most exciting thing that i'm gonna tell you is that you can change your brain and change your life. your brain can change. on the television, you see two spec scans. this is a patient that came to see me, because he had temper problems. the image on the left shows low overall activity. the image on the right, just after a couple of months of treatment, looks so much better, and as his brain got better, so did everything in his life. how exciting is that? you literally can make your brain better. you're not stuck with the brain you have, even if it's troubled. now, here's an image of a healthy brain. so this is from our very rare group of healthy people. you know, it took us almost 3,000 people screening to find about 90 healthy brains, so if your brain is struggling, well, welcome to normal. okay, normal is not healthy.

okay, this is one, this is an 82 year old brain, drop-dead gorgeous, and it fit her life. still very active, in church, with her family, married, in a good marriage, for 57 years, this is what a healthy brain looks like. compare it to someone who had a stroke. strokes are a disaster for brain function. this is why you shouldn't smoke. did you know that smoking is the number one cause of strokes? this is what alzheimer's disease looks like. alzheimer's disease ravages brain function. now, our brain scans can tell five to ten years before you have symptoms whether or not you're likely to get it, but you want to be working early to prevent alzheimer's disease, because it's a nightmare for brain function. the real reason not to use drugs? they damage your brain, and if they damage your brain, they damage your life. so here's, from my own patients, this is a cocaine brain, a methamphetamine brain,

an alcoholic brain, and a heroin brain. the one question you'll always want to ask yourself if you want to be successful is which brain do you want? is your behavior day in and day out, every day, helping or hurting your brain? you want to ask yourself that question every day. now, when we come back, i'm going to show you how to be happier, more focused, less anxious, and less depressed by balancing these very interesting three systems in your brain. i'm also going to show you this very sneaky way to deal with difficult people in your life. to deal with difficult people in your life. stay tuned. [applause] [applause] >> such uplifting and powerful information from one of the leading experts in brain technology here in the studios. and we're so glad you're watching as well. hi everyone, i'm alicia steele.

doctor daniel amen's here with us with this great program, change your brain, change your life. and we're here to ask you to change and improve the life of your public television station by making a supporting call so we can continue to bring you the best experts in the field with the most vital and updated information to make your life the best as well. doctor amen, such powerful messages you're bringing us today in this program. your work as a clinical psychiatrist, your work in brain imaging; one of the leading experts in that field. so much new information and you're bringing it to us in a very uplifting and important way because there's something we can actually do about it now. >> well, that's the exciting news is you literally can change your brain and change your life. and knowing that gives you power. there are things that you can do. and that's what we're gonna talk about in the rest of the show.

>> and your life as a neuroscientist bringing some technology that's almost up to today, has not been available before. and you're looking at the brain in a completely new and great way because unlike what so many of us have heard before, well you're kind of stuck with the brain you were born with. that is not true at all. and some easy techniques to make a powerful difference. >> no question. when i first started looking at the brain 17 years ago and then i looked at mine and i went oh no. i have to make this better. you know? start exercising, stop the diet drinks, take fish oil; all the things that i talk about in the program have made a big difference in my life and i want to share that with as many people as i can. >> and there's so much information still to come in this program. but we have a lot of information to share with you as well throughout this program too with doctor amen in the studio. but he's brought some terrific thank you gifts. and that's what we hope you do right now. get to the phone

with your pledge of support, any level is welcome. but for those of you who are able to pledge at the $50 membership level, we have a terrific cd called "feel better fast". you're gonna learn more about the ants. but doctor amen is gonna tell you how to kill those ants, those automatic negative thoughts, and turn them into powerful positive thoughts as well. at the $90 membership level we have doctor amen's groundbreaking, revolutionary book, "change your brain change your life." and it is jam-packed with vital information that will make a positive difference in your life. at the $120 level we have the dvd; not only of this program, there is additional information plus a terrific important question and answer session that doctor amen led after the lecture. that is included in the home version. but here's something for those of you able to pledge at the dollar a day level in support of this information and so much more that you see

on your public television station. at the dollar a day we bring you a life-long learning program. the master package from doctor amen, "change your brain, change your life," includes not only the cd, "feel better fast", the ground-breaking book of doctor amen's, "change your brain, change your life," we'll also include the dvd of the program with the bonus material on there. but in addition, these great groundbreaking cd's as well. a full six hour lecture series from doctor amen with a very special accompanying workbook that goes along with that that we'll talk about in detail a little bit later. we also have another cd for you. this is something that doctor amen has made especially for you as a public television supporter; relaxation, focus, and memory training cd. but here's something, and doctor amen we'll talk about this in greater detail

a little later, perhaps one of the most vital parts of this program, determining how you know what's going on in your brain. and as a special extra bonus, when you use your credit card, a greener way to support your public television station, we will send you a monthly email newsletter directly from doctor amen when, again, you use your credit card to make that pledge at the dollar a day or $365 level. and doctor amen, there's so much more that you have coming up in a very special, heart-touching and fun way, but about some very serious topics. but the best thing is that you teach us how, unlike what so many of us have thought before, there are some great new technology and ways to change our brain for the better. >> and your brain continues to make new neurons throughout life. i'm gonna teach people how to encourage that as well how to prevent alzheimer's. >> and that's a very important topic to so many of us baby boomers. and as we age we are living longer,

but we want to live better. and those are the techniques, life-long techniques that you teach us in the show. >> which is why i love public television because it's about life-long learning. >> and you'll hear more of that and more of doctor amen here in the studios as well. we want to hear your phone calls of support and we know we'll do that. when you see more of "change your brain, change your life." of "change your brain, change your life." thanks. [phone ringing] [applause] >> thank you. welcome back. i love this segment, because i'm gonna teach you what i call practical brain science, to make your life better. as you will see, brain science is imminently practical, because your brain's involved in everything you do. in the next few minutes, i'm going to introduce you to three parts of your brain that drive a great deal of your behavior. we're gonna talk about

an area of your brain called the pre-frontal cortex. it works as like the boss in your head. and we're gonna talk about your cingulate, that's the brain's gear shifter. and then, we're gonna talk about your limbic, or your emotional brain. as you will see, knowing how to optimize these systems will improve everything in your life, these systems will improve everything in your life, even the other people. [laughter] >> whenever we discuss humans, the first area of the brain that we have to talk about is the pre-frontal cortex. it's largest in human beings than in any other animal by far. this is the part of your brain that actually makes you human. it's thirty percent of the human brain, eleven percent of the chimpanzee brain, seven percent of your dog's brain. seven percent of your dog's brain. this is my dog, frasier. [laughter]

>> isn't he cute? i love frasier. and how many of you have cats? love your cat? well, this is my cat, annabell. and cats have virtually well, this is my cat, annabell. and cats have virtually no pre-frontal cortex. [laughter] >> cats have no forethought, very little impulse control. annabell lives totally in the moment. she doesn't think about the past. she doesn't worry about the future. it's just now. about the future. it's just now. now is all that matters. [laughter] >> so the pre-frontal cortex is the executive part of the brain. it works in your head like the boss at work, things like focus and forethought, judgement, impulse control, empathy, learning from the mistakes that you make. this is the part of your brain that's involved in maturity. when there are problems in this part of the brain, when there are problems in this part of the brain, you act like a cat. [laughter]

>> i mean, how many times have i told her, "don't do this." have i told her, "don't do this." doesn't matter. [laughter] >> okay. when there are problems in this part of the brain, what we see is short attention span, impulse control problems. they procrastinate. they put things off. they have bad judgment. they don't have much empathy, and they don't learn from the mistakes that they make. haven't you ever wondered about yourself or someone else? it's like, "why aren't they learning? why aren't they getting it?" and it's because this part of the brain may not be getting good function. so when we see low activity in this part of the brain, it's associated with people that have bad habits. you know that person who always shows up to work ten minutes late with a big cup of coffee? odds are, low activity in this part of the brain, or people who smoke, or internet gambling. low activity, they're looking to stimulate it. people have attention deficit disorder.

you've heard about a-d-d, very commonly diagnosed in children, but did you know it's also very common in adults. most of the kids who have it grow up and have it as well, and our research studies and other people's research as well has shown low activity in this part of the brain. people who have a weak conscience, who make decisions, and it's like, "why did you do that?" low persistence. they can't stick with things. some forms of depression, especially low energy forms of depression, and people who are excitement or conflict-seeking. do you know anybody like this? these are people who play this game i call "let's have a problem." it's like they need to be upset in order to concentrate. it's like being upset actually stimulates their brain and helps them feel more normal. so as kids, they pick on their brothers. as spouses, they may pick on their spouse, right? or they may be stirring it up at work. so what do you do? how do you treat this? if you have problems

in this part of the brain, which are very common, well, one of the things that we've found to be so helpful is getting them to write out their goals. it's an exercise we call the one-page miracle. on one piece of paper, write out what you want in your relationships, what do you want at work. what's your goal? what do you want for your money? and what do you want for your physical and emotional and spiritual health? what do you want? write it out. and then, you look at it every day, and you go, "is my behavior getting me what i want?" the second thing is exercise. exercise actually boosts blood flow to this part of the brain. now, i have a specialty in people that have attention deficit disorder, and many people ask me, "okay, i don't really want to take medicine. what is the best natural treatment for a-d-d?" and what it is, it's intense aerobic exercise, along with a high protein, low carbohydrate diet. now, this diet is not good

for everybody, but for people who have a-d-d or people who have low activity in the front part of their brain, and they have trouble with concentration, and they're disorganized, and they procrastinate, this is a great diet for them, because it helps their energy and it helps them concentrate. fish oil. fish oil is so helpful. now, we'll talk about it later, but for now, just know it helps increase your energy and your concentration. and if needed, there are certain natural supplements and certain medications that can be so helpful, and in my book, "change your brain, change your life," i talk about what those are. the next part of the brain that i want to teach you about or talk to you about is called the cingulate gyrus. so here, we're looking at the brain from the left side, so this is the back, to the right. here's the front, and this area right here in the front is called the cingulate gyrus, and it's so interesting. now, the cingulate, that's like a big word, but what it basically means is this is the brain's

gear shifter. it allows you to shift your attention. right? to go from idea to idea, or go from task to task. it also helps you be flexible, to go with the flow, so you don't have to have things your way. it's heavily involved in seeing options. you know, people that are rigid, it has to be their way. there's no option. when it works right, you can see many different options, which means it helps you cooperate. it helps you get outside of your head and into the head of other people. it's hugely, also, involved in error detection. so if you walk into a room, and you see something that's out of place, it's the cingulate gyrus that's telling you this is out of place. and when it works too hard, if you want to mae those people crazy, just like move something. you know, like, turn the picture a little bit

or mess with something, and they just, "i know it's wrong. something's wrong. "i know it's wrong. something's wrong. something's wrong." [laughter] >> now, when there are problems in this part of the brain, when it works too hard, which is usually due to a deficit in the neurotransmitter serotonin, and when serotonin levels are low, the cingulate gets hot and people get stuck. they might get stuck on a worry. what's a worry? it's an anxious thought that they can't let go of, right? or they might have an obsession. you know, they just, they're driven to do this thing that they can't let go of. they get stuck on hurts and hold grudges. they get stuck on certain behaviors and may have compulsions or addictions. they get stuck in their own position. it's so irritating, because they end up to be oppositional and argumentative. people who have this problem, it's like no matter

what it is you say to them, they argue with you. have you ever been around people like this? have you ever been around people like this? am i the only person? [laughter] >> i mean, if you say it's a nice day today. i mean, something as innocuous, it's a nice... they'll immediately go, "oh, it's not that nice." they'll immediately go, "oh, it's not that nice." it was nicer yesterday. [laughter] >> they see too many errors, so they're always fault-finding. they're always noticing what's not right. they tend to be micro-managers, at home and at work, and they tend to be rigid and inflexible. and if things don't go their way, they get upset. and on the surface, they appear selfish, because it has to be their way. but when you understand it from a neuroscience standpoint, they're really not selfish. what they are is inflexible. there are many ways to help this system,

and this is such an interesting system. so the first thing, if you have this problem and you notice you get a thought in your head more than three times, i want you to physically get up and go do something else. the act of distracting yourself helps to get these thoughts out of your head. people who have a high cingulate do better with options. so if you're married to a person like this, never go, "okay, we're going to dinner here," even if "here" is their very favorite restaurant. don't do that. it's always better to go, "you know, we could go here, or we could go here. what would you like?" and if you give them options, they do so much better. reverse psychology. now, reverse psychology does not work for everybody, but it really works with these people. so if you're living with a difficult cingulate person, a sneaky strategy that works is to ask them to do the opposite of what you

want them to do. it's sort of like living with a two year old, and if you wanted a kiss from a two year old, you would never say, "give me a kiss." 'cause as soon as you said, "give me a kiss," "i don't want to." if you really want a kiss, what you say is, "i don't want a kiss. today, we're not kissing. no, no way, we're not kissing." and within 30 seconds, they have to give you a kiss, or they're gonna die. living with a cingulate person is sort of the same thing. and exercise, exercise is amazing for this part of the brain, because what exercise does is it boosts serotonin levels to the brain, and it makes people more flexible. so if you're in a fight with a cingulate person, the best thing you can do is take them for a long walk. now, for the first 15 minutes, don't talk about anything that's sensitive. after about 15 minutes, what you'll notice is they're just so much easier to get along with, and they're more likely to see your point.

now, if you give these people a high protein, low carbohydrate diet, they will concentrate better on the things that bother them. they get more irritable. the best diet for cingulate people is a higher carbohydrate, lower protein diet, because things like bread and pasta are mood foods for them. now, if needed, there are also certain natural supplements, like 5-htp, or medications that help balance this part of the brain. i talk about them in the book. but what i want to do is i want to tell you about a story of a man who came up to see me at one of my lectures, and he said, "dr. amen," he said, "i'm so grateful for all the things that you taught me. it's really changed the way i live my life, especially my marriage." he said, "i'm married to a woman who has he said, "i'm married to a woman who has the cingulate from hell." [laughter] >> "no matter what i say, she says the opposite. it's so frustrating. for years, i just thought she didn't love me.

and now i know it has to do with how her brain works. so if i used to ask her to go to the store, she would always get mad at me. it's like, 'i can't do that. can't you see how busy i am?' and so i stopped asking her to do anything with me. but now, after i've listened to you, what i realize is i have to ask things in the opposite. so if i wanted her to go to the store with me, i say, 'sweetheart, i'm gonna go to the store. you probably don't want to go with me.'" what do you mean i don't want to go with you? of course, i want to go with you. we hardly spend any time... with you. we hardly spend any time... what is the matter with you?'" [laughter] >> he said, "you know, i'm just so grateful, but i'm still having one problem that i hope you can help me with." i said, "what's that?" he said, "it's the sex thing." i said, "what do you mean?" he said, "well, it doesn't sound right to say, 'i'm gonna go have sex. you probably don't want 'i'm gonna go have sex. you probably don't want to come with me.'"

[laughter] [applause] >> he said, "do you have any ideas for me?" and i have to tell you, i love that question, because it tells us, it shows us how practical brain science can be. and so i said, "okay, do this. take her out for a pasta dinner." right? simple carbohydrates boost serotonin levels to the brain. next, take her for a long walk around the lake where they live." exercise, boosts serotonin levels to the brain. "and then, when you bring her home, give her a small piece of dark chocolate." dark chocolate raises a chemical in our brain called phenylethylamines that increase the alerting response in the brain that something fun the alerting response in the brain that something fun is about to happen. [laughter] >> "then, go in the bathroom,

and put just a little bit of baby powder behind your ears." why? baby powder is the most potent aphrodisiac on the planet for women. what do women think about, unconsciously, when they smell baby powder? babies. freshly diapered, cute little babies, and then, freshly diapered, cute little babies, and then, they want one. [laughter] >> "and then, when you come out of the bathroom, rub her shoulders, and never ask for anything directly." about three weeks later, in my e-mail box, i got one e-mail with a thousand thank you phrases. knowing about your brain helps you bring more love into your life. this is practical. now, one more system that we're gonna talk about. deep in your brain is a very interesting part of the brain called the limbic system.

it's your emotional brain, and it's critical to human survival, because it is our emotions that drive us to love and to work. so our limbic brain's involved in our mood, how happy or sad we are. it sets our emotional tone, how positive or negative we are. it's involved with bonding, our ability to connect to other people. it's also involved in processing pain. it processes your sense of smell and your interest in sex, or your libido. isn't that interesting that smells and sex go hand-in-hand? the whole perfume industry is based on that fact. now, i already talked about baby powder, as a powerful aphrodisiac for women, but did you know that cinnamon is a powerful aphrodisiac for men? and when i told my mother this, she hit her forehead, and she said, "that's why she hit her forehead, and she said, "that's why i have seven children." [laughter]

>> he would never leave me alone. being lebanese, she cooks with a lot being lebanese, she cooks with a lot of cinnamon. [laughter] >> now, when there are problems in this part of the brain, usually when it works too hard, people become sad and depressed, negative. they often feel hopeless or helpless. they are racked with guilt. they have, what i call, a high ant population. now, what is that? ant stands for automatic negative thoughts, the thoughts that come into your mind automatically and ruin your day. and what a lot of people don't know is thoughts lie, a lot, and one of the ways, if you really want to be well, is you have to learn how to just challenge or correct the negative thoughts that go through your head. you don't have to believe every thought you have. people who have problems in this part of the brain tend to isolate themselves.

it's not good. they're less interested in things that are usually fun, including sex. and they have a lot of pain, and it's so interesting that people with pain syndromes often have depression, and treating their depression often helps their pain. one of the great supplements that i often recommend, it's called, sam-e, works not only for depression but also for pain. isn't that interesting? so how do you help this part of the brain? alright, i know i'm stuck on this, but exercise, and exercise is truly amazing. there was a head-to-head study recently, comparing zoloft, one of our great anti-depressants. it's a really good anti-depressant, with exercise. at the end of 12 weeks, they were equally effective. that's pretty cool. at the end of ten months, exercise blew the socks off of zoloft. now, think with me for a minute, at the end of 12 weeks

of taking an anti-depressant, okay, if it works, you're less depressed. but also, 60 to 80 percent of people now have sexual side effects, right? i mean, these medicines have side effects. at the end of 12 weeks, you're less depressed, and you have a better body. so you're actually feeling and you have a better body. so you're actually feeling a little more sexual. [laughter] >> exercise is critical, at least four times a week if you're depressed. and you're like, "oh, i can't do that." but the more you do it, the more you can do it. fish oil, it's amazing for this group. why? because fish oil has in it something called omega-3 fatty acids, found to be low in depression and low in people who try to kill themselves. taking fish oil, in a number of studies, has been found to help balance out your mood, and people who l in the countries that eat the most fish have the lowest incidence of depression. isn't that interesting? and you want to get rid of the automatic negative thoughts.

you don't have to believe every thought that you have. and so, in my office, i actually collect anteaters, right, just to remind myself. you know, if i'm feeling sad, if i'm feeling mad, if i'm feeling nervous, i write it out, and then, i talk back to it. right, you don't have to believe every thought you have. how many of you were good at talking back to your parents when you were teenagers? to your parents when you were teenagers? i was excellent. [laughter] >> but you need to be good at talking back to those crazy, silly, distorted thoughts that are going through your head, and one that's just so simple, you get a thought in your head, you just ask yourself, "is it true? can i absolutely know that this is true?" and so often, when you're feeling bad, your thoughts are lying to you a lot. now, if needed, there are natural supplements or medications that can be helpful, which i talk about in the book. now, in this segment,

you can see my approach is really different. knowing the part of your brain that needs help is a shortcut to getting well in the fastest, most efficient way possible. when i come back, i'm gonna show you how to make your brain great. you are not stuck with the brain you have. you can make it better, and i'm gonna show you how, including how to prevent alzheimer's disease, and i'm not kidding. alzheimer's disease, and i'm not kidding. see you in a minute. [applause] [applause] >> so much information, and fun. doctor daniel amen makes learning about our brain and being able to realize that we can improve it and so easily as well. hi everyone. i'm alicia steele. so glad to have your company. and with us in the studio, doctor daniel amen. your work is absolutely astounding from your articles, from your brain imaging,

one of the country's leading experts on this, and in your office as well, you've really captured what's happening in our brain in a way no one else has. and then to hear your interesting stories about that in such a delightful way makes us all feel like there's something we can do; and there is isn't there? >> oh, no question. there is a lot of hope and when you know about your brain, when you know about the different parts of your brain, you can change them. and what's also interesting is you start to figure out the people in your life that you love and the ones that sort of make you nuts, and there are things that you can do to make it better. >> and you have taught us some great information, so much more on the way, that really hits home to a lot of people because you really give specific anecdotes if you will, and better yet, ways to make a difference; easy ways to change those. and we are here to ask you

to make a difference as well by supporting your public television stations right now. the number's on your television screen. we have some terrific information still to come to share with you that you will be amazed about as well. and doctor amen has brought some great thank you gifts to encourage you to get to the telephone with your gift of support. any level is welcome, but for those of you able to pledge your support at the $50 membership level we have a terrific "feel better fast" cd helping you to kill those ants, those automatic negative thoughts. we have a positive way to take care of that and doctor amen talks about that in this cd. at the $90 level we have a copy of the groundbreaking book that doctor amen has available for you. so much more information. you think you're getting a lot from doctor amen in this program, which you absolutely are, but the message and the stories and the detail of information

in this book is something you must have in your library. at the $120 membership level we have a copy of the program that you're enjoying. so much more to come, and so much more in the home version as well. not only additional stories and fun information and vital information that you're seeing in the program, more of that on the home version, but also an absolutely vital question and answer session after the lecture that doctor amen has included in the home version. but here's something that we hope you consider contributing to your public television station at just what works out to be a dollar a day. when you think about how just even this show alone is going to bring you information, life long learning, that will change your life, you can make that difference right now with your pledge at the $365 level. not only will you get the "feel better fast" cd, a copy of doctor amen's life changing book, "change your brain, change your life,"

a copy of the program, the dvd with the bonus material in there, but doctor amen has also created some additional bonus thank you gifts; a six hour, six cd, six hour lecture series. time and time again you will see this and hear this as an invaluable reference. there's also an accompanying guide that comes along with this set as well. and we'll talk more in detail about that a little later on. he's also created another cd for you as well; techniques, proven positive techniques of relaxation helping you focus and a memory training cd in there as well. that again, you'll use as a reference time and time again. but additionally, and perhaps most importantly, here is an amazing workbook that tests, if you will, not just one, not two, but three unique tests that doctor amen has created to show you what's going on in your brain. and doctor amen, let's talk about this a little bit because this is

a really vital key to this special thank you gift, isn't it? >> right. not everybody can get a scan and i've known that for a long time. so based on 41,000 scans that we've done at the amen clinics, i developed a series, a checklist to help you determine, well what would your scan look like? what's the health of your brain? so it's check the health of your brain, plus know what your specific risk for alzheimer's disease is. don't just put your head in the sand. alzheimer's disease is expected to triple in the next 25 years. and check your memory now. so those three questionnaires, those three tests are included in the packet. >> and we'll talk about those more as well. but right now we want you to be talking with our phone friends. the number again, right there on your screen. your pledge at that dollar a day level is so appreciated. your pledge at any level is welcomed as well. and as we've mentioned, the technology and the information and the new information

about the brain is changing almost daily. we have a very special thank you gift when you pledge using your credit card. doctor amen will create a special exclusive public television member newsletter that you'll receive, email newsletter, every month with your credit card pledge. doctor amen, you'll continue to be with us. so much more on the way. we will talk about what's coming up. but right now we're gonna send it over to mike halpen. >> thank you so much alicia. i am over here in the phone bank with our wonderful group of volunteers here to be of service to you. when you go to the phone right now, dial the number that's right there on the bottom of the screen, and take us up on our invitation to you and your family to not just be viewer users of the programming that you have rightly come to expect on this public television station. what it takes is for you to take that step, that very important step to being a viewer user member

supporter because it is you and i that make this public television station able to serve you, your family, your community 365 days a year. it happens with your commitment. just a little bit of a commitment of some of your treasure, at whatever level is right for you, and become a viewer member. we have volunteers here right now that are ready to take your call. the number's right there on the bottom of the screen. make that call now. become a member of the family of this public television station and become a member. let's go back to alicia. >> and thank you so much for so many of the calls coming in helping your public television station; helping us be able to continue our commitment to bring the most intelligent, the most well-respected experts giving you information that, for the most part, you cannot find any place else. and doctor amen, though you've been on talk shows all over the country and your articles are in newspapers and magazines,

you are bringing us a really concentrated look at your expertise and the ever-changing information. the good news is we can change it. it used to be, well, your brain is your brain and you can't do much about it. absolutely not. >> absolutely false. and, see, public television is so important to me because it's where you learn new things. and when you learn something new your brain makes a new connection. so new learning is essential which is why i'm so thrilled to partner with public television for this show. >> and we're glad you're partnering right now with your pledge of support. doctor amen, you mentioned briefly a moment ago alzheimer's and how more of us baby boomers are really thinking about that. and so many of us have parents luckily still alive that are experiencing that as well. you talk about this in the next segment coming up, don't you? >> right. i talk about how to recognize it. but more importantly, how to prevent it. what are the things you can do? so many people go, i don't even want to think about it. i hope i don't get it.

and you want to think about it because optimizing your brain decreases the chances that you'll get it. >> and this is the information that you're getting right now. and thank you for providing us the funds so we can bring it to all. we're going back now, because of member support, to this terrific program, "change your brain, change your life." thanks for watching. [applause] >> welcome back. so has anyone developed brain envy yet? >> welcome back. so has anyone developed [laughter] >> anybody want to have a better brain? >> audience: yes. >> in this last segment, i'm going to give you five prescriptions to make your brain great. we are gonna talk about protecting your brain, feeding your brain, working your brain, exercising your brain, and preventing alzheimer's disease. so let's start. protecting your brain. head injuries matter.

they can ruin your whole life, so wear your seatbelt. drive in safe vehicles. wear helmets that fit. golf is good. tennis, terrific. table tennis is the world's best sport, which we'll see. head injuries matter. protect your head. avoid toxic substances. alcohol, drugs, nicotine, too much caffeine, toxic fumes, and many medications, especially pain medicines and anti-anxiety medicines are not very good for your brain. and make sure that you get enough sleep. remember, less than six hours a night is associated with decreased blood flow to your brain, and anything that decreases blood flow to your brain prematurely ages your brain. you want to feed your brain right. i call this eat right to think right.

you are what you eat. literally. your brain makes itself new every couple of months. a healthy diet is essential to healthy brain function. now, the best brain diet is made up of lean protein. good carbohydrates, i call these complex carbohydrates that are also low glycemic. you've probably heard the term low glycemic. that means carbohydrates that do not raise your blood sugar. so think green, leafy vegetables, or vegetables in general, and decrease bad fat, like trans-fats, but not all fat. did you know that 60 percent of the solid weight of your brain is fat? so then, if somebody calls you of your brain is fat? so then, if somebody calls you a fathead... [laughter] >> say "thank you." [laughter] >> so you need healthy fat in your diet, especially omega-3 fatty acids, because of the 100 billion brain cells