Health Podcast: Cut the Light; Never Skip a Tuesday; The Pixar Cure for Anxiety

In this episode we feature:

An interview with Psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen,

Reduce your stress by getting creative

Eat your way to a healthier brain

Exercise your allergies away

And more ways you can improve your health today!

For more information, and to sign up for our private coaching, visit tesh.com

Our Hosts:
John Tesh: Instagram: @johntesh_ifyl facebook.com/JohnTesh
Gib Gerard: Instagram: @GibGerard facebook.com/GibGerard X: @GibGerard

Transcript

Unknown: 0:08

Gib, hello and welcome to another episode of the podcast. I'm Gib Gerard here with another intelligence for your health, with Connie Celica. Episode of the show. Today, on the show, we have an interview with none other than psychiatrist Dr Daniel Amen, he's the author of the book you happier. He's going to break down the most common brain types and how each one experiences happiness. So we'll have all of that coming up in a second here. So without further ado, here is intelligence for your health. With Connie Celica, don't forget to turn down the lights before bed, Harvard scientists say switching to soft ambient light before bed, like from a table lamp, instead of an overhead light, increases the brain's production of melatonin by as much as 100% that's enough to give you 90 more minutes of sleep. What's the best time to exercise Well, it depends on your goal. Studies show that there are different perks depending on when you choose to work out. For example, morning exercise is correlated with better sleep and better heart health, and people who do morning workouts are the most likely to be consistent because there are fewer things to get in the way of that commitment. Afternoon workouts are good for athletes because that's when your body temperature is highest, so you're more flexible and more powerful. And a higher body temperature is also linked to higher physical performance. Evening workouts are best for anyone with high blood pressure. People had a more significant drop in blood pressure following an evening workout, when their arteries were more flexible, and evening exercise kept their blood pressure low throughout the night and into the Morning Coming up, we'll talk to double board certified psychiatrist and neuroscientist, Dr Daniel Amen. He's examined more than 200,000 brain scans, and we'll find out what he's learned from them about what lights people up and makes them happy. But first, would you describe yourself as a competitive person? If so, you probably find yourself working out more often than your laid back friends. Research by the University of Pennsylvania found people who were really nice and encouraging of others were less likely to work out than people who were more cutthroat and competitive, and that was even when people were doing non competitive activities like yoga and pilates exercisers who focused on being better than their fellow gym goers, or who were trying to beat their personal best went to 90% more classes. So the researchers concluded people with a competitive streak in their personality are more likely to exercise. Research shows up to 80% of adults will suffer from back pain at some point. So what can baseball players teach us about avoiding back pain. It's best to keep your most used items inside your strike zone, which for baseball players, extends from above the knees to below the shoulders, meaning when you reach for daily items like your clothes, keys, dishes and tools, try to avoid extending your arms outside of your personal strike zone area as much as possible. Again, that's above the knees to below the shoulders. That's according to Dr Harris McElwain, author of the pain free back. He says if you're constantly reaching for items above shoulder level, that puts extra strain on your neck and back and anytime you bend to pick up something below your waist or knees, you increase pressure on the lower back, which can cause anything from mild inflammation to muscle spasms or even a herniated disc. That's why Dr McElwain says to think about how often you have to bend and reach throughout the day and to reduce the chances of straining your back, think like a baseball player taking a pitch, and keep your most used items inside your strike zone from above the knees to below the shoulders. Okay, listen to this. Creativity may be the key to feeling less stress. That's according to the Journal of positive psychology. In a study, hundreds of people were asked how creative they were every day for two weeks, and those who spent the most time doing creative things like playing music, writing, crafting or being artistic, felt more relaxed and happy in their day to day lives. They also felt like they were experiencing personal growth, and it's cyclical. Engaging in creative hobbies improves well being and improved well being makes us even more creative. Today, our guest is Dr Daniel Amen. He's a leading psychiatrist and neuroscientist whose latest book is called, you happier the. Seven neuroscience secrets of feeling good based on your brain type. It's based on Dr amens research involving more than 200,000 brain scans from patients around the world, and he's broken it all down into five main brain types and what makes each of them feel happy. See if you can identify your brain type from this, one of the first things I learned is everybody's got a different brain. And when it comes to happiness, I identified five primary types. There's the balance type, they tend to be happy. Most anything will make them happy, the spontaneous type that needs novelty. They hate routine. Routine bores them and makes them unhappy. There's the persistent type where they love routine and hate surprises. There's this sensitive type they need connection. The pandemic was hardest on them, they tend to be the unhappiest group and the cautious type, where can struggle with anxiety. So a warm bath, the scent of lavender, relaxing music makes the cautious type happy, but it'll completely bore the spontaneous type. And so knowing your type is critical to knowing what makes you happy. Today, we're talking to psychiatrist Dr Daniel Amen, author of you happier. And he says happiness is something anyone can experience, and one of the main components that leads to happiness is purpose. You know, I think the most unhappy people I've seen focus a lot on themselves and what they don't have. And when you start focusing on giving, on other people on purpose, on why you're on the planet. You don't feel quite so miserable. You you feel like there's a reason to get up in the morning, that you're not just here by random chance. And none of this means anything. I think having purpose is just absolutely critical to a happy life. And I want to be clear, hedonism is the enemy of happiness, because hedonism dumps dopamine and you end up having to chase more and more in order to feel anything at all but purpose. Knowing I'm connected to my family, to my work, to my health, so I can continue to do what I was put on the earth to do for as long as possible, that is really a foundational element of happiness. If you've been feeling lonely or isolated, take a walk outside. Research in the journal Nature Mental Health found that study subjects who did an hour of moderate activity like a long walk or bike ride reported increased well being and less loneliness if you can't get outside, the next best thing is doing some stretches. The study found that stretching made people feel more relaxed, and they had an increase in mental well being. Today's medical term xerostomia, that refers to something most of us probably woke up with this morning dry mouth, because during sleep, saliva production in our mouth drops to about half its normal level, so we tend to wake up with a dry mouth. Xerostomia is also linked to stress smoking and drinking alcohol, and if you're taking medication, about two thirds of the most commonly prescribed drugs produce dry mouth as a side effect. Health experts say that's a big deal because saliva in your mouth plays an important role in digestion and is one of your top defenses against infections. Saliva also helps keep your teeth clean, which means a chronic dry mouth increases your risk for cavities and gum disease. The good news is that temporary xerostomia is harmless and easy to fix. For example, just drinking water and chewing gum is proven to help stimulate our salivary glands. However, if you ever experience dryness that can't be relieved with water, or dryness that's accompanied by excessive thirst, extreme fatigue or a burning sensation in the mouth. You need to talk to a doctor, because that could be a sign of a health condition, like an autoimmune disease, which causes damage to the salivary glands. And that's today's medical term xerostomia, coming up. We'll hear more from psychiatrist, Dr Daniel Amen, author of the book, you happier. You. Will tell us about the foods that can increase our risk for Alzheimer's disease, but first, if a big meal leaves you feeling gassy and bloated, firmly, massage the arches of both feet for two minutes. Studies show a foot rub after a rich meal reduces gas and belly pain in 74% of people. Dr David edelberg is an integrative medicine professor at the University of Chicago, and he says it works by stimulating the body's enteric nervous system. Those are the nerves that help produce intestinal enzymes, get food moving faster through your digestive tract and calm belly spasms so you'll digest your meal with a lot less gas and bloating after a two minute foot massage. One in five adults only get five hours of sleep a night or fewer. And here are some of the ways being regularly sleep deprived is damaging to your health and to your career. First, you are more stressed. A study from UC Berkeley found our anxiety levels jumped 30% on average after just one night of no sleep. Researchers say it's because when your brain is desperate for rest, it perceives everything demanding your attention as a threat, including traffic, emails, meetings and even your boss, you'll also be more likely to make bad decisions. According to the Academy of Management Journal, poor quality sleep has a significant negative impact on the brain's prefrontal cortex, that's the area involved with planning and decision making. Tired brains also look for distractions to keep them awake. So instead of focusing on the task at hand, you'll likely spend most of your day scrolling through social media just to keep your eyes open. So what can combat all that if you're exhausted? Neuroscientist Dr Gene Duffy says most people can offset the negative effects of an occasional night of poor sleep by taking a 20 minute nap or going for a brisk walk to get more blood pumping to the brain. Okay, listen to this. I know it seems like exercise is the cure for everything, and here's one more condition, it can help allergies. That's because exercise decreases the body's release of histamines the same way medications do. Histamines are the chemicals produced by an allergic reaction that cause swelling, sneezing and itching. So to keep allergies in check, get 30 minutes of exercise most days of the week back with more health intelligence from board certified psychiatrist Dr Daniel Amen, author of you happier, the book outlines seven different secrets or lifestyle habits that are proven to build lasting happiness and to help give us a sense of what's involved, I asked Dr Amen to share one of those secrets. For example, secret number four is only love food that loves you back that your brain is 2% of your body's weight, but uses 20 to 30% of the calories you consume, and so if you're eating low quality pro inflammatory food, you're much more likely to be unhappy, and people go but I love Rocky Road ice cream, or I love alcohol, or I love pizza. Well, it doesn't love you back, and so you're in a relationship. And I just encourage anyone who's listening, have you ever been in a bad relationship? Well, I have, and I'm not doing it anymore, married to my best friend. But people also have a relationship with food, and if you want to be happy, it is critical to get your diet right, which is lots of colorful fruits and vegetables, high quality, clean protein, lots of fiber. And you know, ultimately, most people know this is good for my brain or bad for my brain? That's another one of those questions. Is this good for my brain or bad for it? And if you can just answer that with information and love, love of yourself, love of your family, love of your mission on earth, you just start making better decisions, better brain, more happiness, back with more health intelligence from psychiatrist Dr Daniel Amen, founder of the Amen Clinics with 10 locations across North America. He was just saying that if we want to be happier, it is critical that we get our diet right, meaning eating more fruits and vegetables and fewer Ultra processed foods. And since processed foods tend to be loaded with sugar and sweeteners. I asked Dr Amen how those ingredients specifically contribute to making us unhappy. There's a brand new study out. It's fascinating on sugar and stevia and Splenda or sucralose, and they. Invited a healthy group into three groups and one group for six weeks, I gave them a good dose of sugar, the other a good dose of stevia, the other a good dose of sucralose or Splenda, and at the end of six weeks with stevia, nothing happened with sugar and Splenda, their memory was worse. They had slower brain wave function, which goes to more unhappiness and more spaceiness. And what I thought was really interesting with sugar, it was encoding. Memory was harder, so that means learning, but for Splenda, encoding memory, long term memory and executive function, or judgment and decision making were impaired. So the foods we eat, the sweeteners we ingest, can make us unhappy and Spacey. Now, there are other foods that people just react negatively to. I have a whole group who reacts negatively to MSG or to Red Dye Number 40, and I think it's just important to read food labels, and if you don't know what's in it, you probably shouldn't eat it. The day of the week we're most likely to work out is Tuesday, or at least that's the day we're most likely to fitness brag on social media and getting in a workout on a Tuesday is a good idea. Exercise psychologist Dr Michelle clear says exercising early in the week can inspire you to keep it up, but if you don't get in a workout by Wednesday, it will feel like it's nearly the weekend, and you'll be more likely to blow off anything fitness related until the following week. More intelligence for your health. From leading psychiatrist Dr Daniel Amen, author of the book you happier, he says, up to one in 10 adults in North America likely have low dopamine these days, which increases the risk of conditions like depression and ADHD. So I asked Dr Amon to explain the role dopamine plays in our lives and what's contributing to so many of us having low levels. So Dopamine is a neurotransmitter, or a neurochemical, that helps us feel happy, driven, motivated, and when dopamine storage becomes low, or dopamine availability becomes low, people get sad, they get apathetic, they become unfocused. So marijuana, drugs, other drugs, alcohol, high sugar, high fat foods all release a lot of dopamine. Vaping releases a lot of dopamine. And the problem is if you release too much at a time, it wears out your stores, and pretty soon you start re engaging in the behavior, and you end up chasing dopamine. And what we now know, all the gadgets people or interests you know that have, like their phones that are constantly buzzing, or video games they're wearing out the dopamine centers or the pleasure centers in the brain. So as a society, we've unleashed this technology with very little neuroscience outcome study, and we're seeing a much higher incidence of anxiety, depression, ADHD, than ever before. If you're really thirsty and your only option is to take a sip of someone else's soda can or water bottle will wiping off the rim protect you from their germs. Microbiology professor, Dr Philip Tierno from the NYU School of Medicine, says yes and no. Dr Turner says a wipe down will eliminate a lot of germ tainted saliva, but even the best cleaning job could leave behind the germs that cause strep or the stomach flu, plus the liquid inside the bottle or can will already contain some mouth germs. So unless you're literally dying of thirst. It's best to avoid sharing. Wait until you can get a drink of your own. Here's an email I received at Connie at intelligence for your health.com. It comes from Shelley Decameron, who writes, I love fruit, but I have type two diabetes. Can I still eat it? Shelly, always check with your doctor to go over any dietary changes or questions. But here's what we know. Of course, fruit is healthy and full of vitamins and antioxidants, but it can raise your blood sugar, not as much as candy or soda, but it raises it a little bit. However, the fiber in fruit. Fruit slows down how quickly your body absorbs fructose. But if you're diabetic, here's how you can make eating fruit even better for you. Frances largeman Roth is a registered dietitian and author of eating in color, and she says if you eat whole fruit with fat or protein, you'll reduce that little blood sugar spike even more so have apple slices with nut butter, berries with Greek yogurt, or red grapes with a wedge of cheese. That way you slow the absorption of fructose even more and your snack will give you long, lasting energy, less rebound hunger and fewer cravings. Thank you for your email. Shelley, I hope this helps. Okay, listen to this. If you're a woman and you need a new doctor, a new study recommends that you look for a female doctor. The investigation by UCLA found that patients who were under the care of female doctors had significantly lower death rates and were less likely to be readmitted to the hospital than patients with male doctors, and that was even more true for female patients. The UCLA study authors say male doctors sometimes underestimate the severity of a woman's illness, but female doctors take women's health more seriously than male doctors and are better communicators. The movie Inside Out two is among the top 10 highest grossing movies of all time. In it, 13 year old, Riley deals with new emotions, one of which is anxiety. Clinical Psychologist Lisa demore says the movie is surprisingly accurate in the way it depicts anxiety. In the movie, Riley ends up having a panic attack, and part of what helps her overcome it is touching her hockey stick. If you haven't seen either movie, Riley plays on the hockey team at her school, and Dr demore says doing that touching something imbued with meaning, is what's known as a grounding technique. It's a real tool that therapists recommend to their patients to help them manage their anxiety in intense moments. It allows a person to mentally step away from negative thoughts, and it can decrease the intensity of a person's feelings by using one of their senses to distract them. You can try it with a smooth stone that you put in your pocket, according to research from MIT Harvard and Yale, touching a smooth surface helps people relax, because the soothing texture triggers feelings of calm, more intelligence for your health, from psychiatrist Dr Daniel Amen, if you'd like to Know more about him or his book, you happier. Check out Amen clinics.com. And earlier, he said, things like our electronic gadgets and alcohol trigger too much dopamine, which makes us less happy over time, because with each dopamine blast we get, we become less sensitive to dopamine, mood boosting benefits, and need more of it to get the same result. So one solution Dr Amen recommends is a technique called drip dopamine. And I asked him to share an example of how that works. One of the techniques in the book is look for the micro moments of happiness because they're dripping dopamine. So for me, where I live, it's seeing a butterfly or a hummingbird. It's I make my family brain healthy hot chocolate every night. It's a little ritual I do that shows them love, plus it tastes amazing, and that's way different than taking everybody out for a banana split, or, you know, one of these crazy two pound cheesecakes that people go for that's dumping dopamine. So look for throughout your day the micro moments of happiness. That's it for our show today, our special intelligence for your health with Connie Selig, edition of the podcast, I'm Gib Gerard. Don't forget to rate comment and subscribe on Apple podcast. Spotify, wherever you get your podcast. It helps us out a lot. And also, you can reach out to us on social media. All of our links are listed down in the show notes. We try to respond to every DM, every mention of the show, because ultimately, we do the show for you guys. So thank you so much for listening. You.