#93 The state of your brain determines the state of your life

Rachel Denning (00:01.326)
Hello ladies and gentlemen, man, I am excited about today's topic. In fact, so much so I actually feel a little bit of pressure to make sure that I can convey this adequately to you because it is so powerful, so profound and it's having such a dramatic effect on me and on our family and on my whole reality with life.

Like I want to make sure that this is awesome for you guys. I've been studying like crazy and excited about it. And actually I got, I got to back up here. Life, life is awesome. Like it's just before bedtime today. And, I've been, I've been working to really optimize my body. Now I've been doing this for literally since I was 16, been learning about health and fitness and just working on my mind, working on my emotions, my relationships.

just this holistic approach to me into life, right? And I keep learning more, I keep kind of optimizing, keep studying, keep experimenting, and I'm just getting it dialed in, because I want to live an absolute optimal performance all the time. Like for me personally, I'm like, there's never a graduation from education, there's no time in my life where I'm just gonna...

binge on something stupid or unhealthy or whatever. Like I want to be fully optimized where I am just feeling alive and my whole being mental, emotional, spiritual, social, physical, all of it is just dialed in where I'm achieving what I can and being who I can and chasing down my dreams and pursuing my potential.

And so I'm getting, I'm getting like really optimized and I feel fantastic. I'm probably close right now, close to the best physical shape I've been in in my life. I'm, I am really strong right now and it feels fantastic. And so I, well, I got to back up a little bit because Rachel and I went to some events and I ended up going to two different events. We paid thousands of dollars, went and got training by some of these, these elite guys and men and women performing in whatever their area or field of life is.

Rachel Denning (02:27.374)
And it was interesting in two different events, unbeknownst to each other and kind of unrelated. These are super, super, super high performers, like just phenomenal health leaders in their industry, both worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Yes. Hundreds of millions of dollars and guys that are, they're living fully optimized lives. And they interestingly said that they both go to bed religiously at nine 30.

And then they both said they wake up without an alarm at 3 .30 a just ready to go. And when I heard that I was like, what? That's crazy. Now for maybe 15 of the last 20 years, I've gotten up around 4 .30, you know, 4 or 4 .30 or just before five, right? I love mornings. I love getting things done. The quiet, the peace, the wonder, thinking.

learning, no interruptions, clear mind and start the day with power. I just love, love, love that. And interestingly, without me really pushing it, a lot of my coaching clients, they ended up coming back to me like, yeah, I gotta get a little earlier. Yeah. A little earlier, a little earlier because they feel the power that comes from a rock solid morning routine and hitting your priorities before most people even get their butts out of bed.

And so I did not set a goal for this kind of, you know, 330 craziness. I definitely was not, I didn't take it as a standard, but the more I've literally optimized my life where I am just eating so clean, crazy clean. I mean, I've been eating clean for, since I was 17, but now I'm crazy clean. And...

exercising so hard, just pushing my limits and like just everything's dialed in. Sure enough, I was out cold last night at nine thirty and popped wide awake at three fifteen. And actually, Rachel and I have not been using alarms for a few weeks now. And even when I had alarms, I would usually my body would wake up just before the alarm. And so I'd wake up.

Rachel Denning (04:48.046)
I lean over and it was just a couple of minutes before my alarm and I turned off before it even went off like my body's been doing that for a long time, but now I don't even do alarms it anyways, so I got up at 330 I was super excited to have all those hours in the morning and I started studying even more because I know I've been wanting to do this podcast this episode for you guys for for a while and Because it's so exciting and so profound we've been studying it and so I got up and did more research because I wanted to record it this morning, but I ended up

finding so much more, which you can thank me later. I ended up finding so much more and now I get it. I get to share it with you today. And it's so exciting. So to start this off, I want you to picture like a power plant. Imagine that there's a power plant that's powering a big city, right? And let's just for.

for the sake of the comparison, let's just imagine there's one power plant that's decent sized, but it's powering a big city, right? And so, comparative -wise, space -wise, the city's much, much larger than the actual power plant. And so all of the power's coming from there, right? And it's dependent on it. Everything that's powering that city, everything that's going on in there. Think about that from...

from the lights to the outlets to powering the internet and city lights. And you've got so much that's being powered and air conditioning and heating and there's just so much to it, right? And the city is dependent upon this power plant. But then I want you to imagine that in this power plant, there's some wires that just aren't working right.

and they're just kind of misfiring and they're kind of short out here and there and then there's there's sections of the power plant that just you know get damaged or rock falls and breaks something and you know it gets it gets impacted and kind of broken there's a little blackout sections and there's there's pieces of it that are just deteriorating.

Rachel Denning (07:11.47)
And so bits and pieces are stopping their proper function inside the power plant, right? Well, what happens? Well, there's all these power lines being sent out to the needs and the demands of the city, but these little misfirings, the little short circuits, the little broken or blocked segments, they start trickling out.

and it starts to have an effect throughout the city. Sometimes the power goes out, sometimes the power to the internet or the heat or the air conditioning or major networks. Think about how disruptive that would be to our lives if there were some circuits that were broken in the power plant that's powering our city. Roll with me here, you catching this?

And Rachel and I have been studying a lot lately intensely the full functioning of the human brain. And the brain is very much like that power plant that it's, you know, it's only 3 % of our body mass, but it is, it is the operating center for the whole body. Like a power plant is for the whole city. And if, if little bits and pieces of the power plant of the brain,

are misfiring, broken, disconnected, unplugged, damaged, dark, just not, you're not getting their power, not generating their power. Can you see how it's easily going to trickle down into our whole bodies? And I really want you to keep the image as we, as we have this conversation today, that one little misfire in our brain can actually cause.

all kinds of problems and wreak all kinds of havoc throughout our bodies. And because they're so intimately connected there, the things that are happening in our body are having a direct effect and connection to our brain. And like, I wanna, I want this to get, to drive home so powerfully to you. I hope.

Rachel Denning (09:39.278)
I hope I can adequately do that my friends. And if I, if I fail to do it adequately, please go out and do, do the research and feel this and, and feel it, you know, in spite of my, my weakness and communicating it, like let this hit home. My friends, if we do not understand how our own brain functions,

and how what we are doing day in and day out is affecting the brain, then we are far from understanding life and potential and the human experience. Like we literally, and I'm going to emphasize this so hard. We literally cannot optimize our lives or even get to extraordinary, this extraordinary family life we're after, or even live a good life.

If we do not learn how our own brain functions and what we're how what we're doing is affecting it. Like this is such a big deal. Such a big deal. And so we're going to talk about the areas of life that that's affecting it from food and fitness and lifestyle and psychology how it's all playing into this and and what's what's changing now in our world.

And we live in, in the most fascinating, exciting time. And what's really revealing so much of what's going on now for the first time ever. And it, what's, what's, what blows your mind is so fascinating and cool is like ancient cultures understood a lot of this. And I don't know how, but now brain scanning technology is confirming it. It's so cool. And so one of the things I'm going to share a few books, we started with the book superhuman, which.

buckle up. If you go after that one, you better buckle up. Because it's, it's going to be super disruptive to your life. And I love it. I love that book. I don't agree with all the methods and things he's saying and some of the some of the conclusions he come to where there's still limited research, but overall fantastic book and he's nailing some serious, some serious stuff that we all need to be aware of. There's another book called Headstrong.

Rachel Denning (12:04.334)
that really focuses in especially on food and how food is affecting our brains. And I think that's worth reading and understanding. And what I want to dive into here mostly is that brain technology now, I think it started in the nineties really, they started scanning and they'll hook up these monitors to your brain and they can literally look at your brain and they can see it operate. They can see how it's functioning and then they can also scan it and see.

like its shape and size and characteristics and what it looks like, what it should look like. And now they're able to compare a healthy brain with all kinds of varieties of different brains and looking at everybody's brain. Now, we might be tempted to say that everybody's brain is unique and different.

And there could be some truth to that, but overall there are healthy brains and then there's quite a variety of unhealthy brains. It's kind of a whole mix there of why they're unhealthy and what's happening. And it's so important, my friends, that we understand the brain and how it functions, but then we also understand our brain. And here's where things get crazy interesting is that

brain function and brain characteristics are playing out in so many literally unbelievable ways, ways that are just, they're beyond sometimes our comprehension, at least our common beliefs and they're, they're counterintuitive. And so, and, and I want to say at the outset here, what I want to share with you today is not my opinion.

This is research. This is like science. They're, they're taking a picture of a brain that's healthy and then taking a picture of a brain that's been damaged or is being affected by some of the things we're going to talk about. And there's just a contrast and then they're measuring it. And this one, this one clinic, and now he has multiple clinics across the country. They have just them, they have over 150 ,000 brain scans.

Rachel Denning (14:27.566)
So this isn't, this isn't some new thing. Like this is, this is a big deal and the science is clear. The science is crystal clear. And as I've studied, been studying this for weeks and now even way more this morning with all the extra hours I had, I got to share this stuff because it is, it's blowing my mind and hopefully will is yours too. And we have to, we have to take this seriously and start looking at it. Here's one of the biggest problems.

is we start, if we're negligent about understanding brain characteristics and brain function, then we can basically be neglecting or misdiagnosing or really operating in the dark, so to speak, about behavior and why people are doing things, why we are feeling certain ways, why our children, our parents, people in...

around us are are suffering from things and we're missing it. In fact this this particular this guy is a psychiatrist and Most of what well I've been doing quite a bit of research, but particularly this morning was from a doctor named Daniel Amon and He's got all kinds of books. I recommend his books. I ordered a bunch of his books and So he he's a psychiatrist, but he says

Unfortunately, most psychiatrists with behavior problems, they're just throwing darts in the, in, in the dark because without brain scanning technology, they don't know one, what the brain is doing, how it's functioning and two, the characteristics of the brain and what's, what's really going on. And so he says they've taken his brain scans and they'll bring, you know, one patient that comes in severely depressed and there's like minimal activity. There's just not enough activity in the brain. They'll bring in another patient that is also severely depressed.

and the brain is just hyperactive. There's just too much activity compared to normal healthy levels, right? And so then, but a psychiatrist would just sit them down and kind of offer the same treatment to those two individuals and yet their brains are doing totally different things. And so the treatment ought to be customized, tailored to the issue. But then there's another piece of where they started doing brain scans.

Rachel Denning (16:53.965)
And they start seeing all these behavioral problems and people are trying to medicate it. They're trying to, you know, have you lay on the couch and talk about your past. And they're making all these guesses about why people are doing things, but they're not looking at the brain. And he tells this unbelievable story about this boy who just bizarre behavior just was out on the baseball field as a child and then started attacking this girl and this other little girl. And then.

just crazy behavior. And they're like, you know, he's got all these emotional issues and psychological issues and all this and they want to medicate him and all these other things. And he said, well, bring him to me and let me do a brain scan. And they take him over, they do a brain scan and lo and behold, there's a little cyst in his brain. And they go in and they remove the cyst and bam, there goes all the behavioral problems. And then he tells a story that was his nephew.

and that he's a young man now and has a great life and no issues, right? And how fascinating, that story particularly blew my mind and was a reality check because how many people are being mistreated, being drugged, being misdiagnosed, being ostracized or pushed out or neglected or labeled or judged or...

imprisoned even because nobody ever scanned their brain.

And then, now here we get into it. Here's where we get into it. So they start scanning all these brains, brains of people who have been on drugs, brains of people who have been injured in high contact sports or just car accidents, injuries. He mentions horseback riding accidents and especially he studied a lot of NFL players and their brains and soccer players with their head butting the ball constantly. And then just accidents, whatever. And he...

Rachel Denning (18:58.477)
He showed images and when I watched this video, I was just astounded at the contrast. He would show it. Here's a healthy brain, what it should look like, the form and shape and characteristics. And then here's a brain on drugs. Here's a brain with injury. Here's a brain with Alzheimer's. Here's a brain with dementia. Here's a brain that was injured and here's a brain with this. And it, you guys, it was unreal.

And when you can literally look at a picture of a healthy brain versus a damaged brain or an unhealthy brain, or just, just a brain where you realize some, something's off, you know, they're not behaving right. They're not feeling right. Something's just not functioning, right? Go back to the power plant. Things are just misfiring. Something's off there. You can literally see pictures and then you can do video of activity like where there's video and then you could see the activity happening and it's either.

way too small or way too large. And then it just makes so much sense. Are you with me? Like, I hope this is hitting home for you like it is for me. It makes so much sense. You just take a picture or a video of the brain and it's so revealing. And so my message to you that I wanted to share because it's having such an impact on me is,

We have to know the condition of our brain and then we have to do everything in our power to make sure that our brains are functioning and healthy and well. And that if they've been damaged, we recover them. That's the greatest news. I'll come back to that. That is literally the greatest news of all this research is that they found that these brains that are neglected or injured or kind of unhealthy, 80 % of them.

respond to rehabilitation and can gain like from dementia to Alzheimer's to NFL players to Whatever they're experiencing depression anxiety all this stuff His recovery stuff the brain has elasticity, right? It can it can go back it can grow it can improve So that's this great news But what I want to emphasize so much today with all the love and energy that I have my friends, please with me

Rachel Denning (21:26.381)
Let's share this. So share this podcast, like take a picture of it, throw it on social media. Let's share this, share this information, get the book, study it, share it with your family and friends. Let's, we have to, this is the future. Like brain scanning is the future. It has to be because if not, all of us are suffering needlessly and we're not near where we could be because we don't know what our control center is, is the condition of our control center. And

If we're not aware of what we're doing to it, then we're just kind of going along through life suffering or, limited, but needlessly. You with me? This is so powerful. This stuff is so exciting. So I want to, I want to offer, an invitation and a challenge before we even get into the details here.

Would you be willing to commit to make changes even before I tell you what they are? If you know, I'm never going to ask you to do anything inappropriate or immoral or whatever. But even before I tell you what things are damaging your brain, just the fact that I'm saying, not my opinion, the research is out there. It is just clear, undeniable research of what is.

damaging our brains and what is good for our brains even before I tell you are you willing to commit to change?

I hope you are.

Rachel Denning (23:00.557)
I really hope you are. Unfortunately, there are people out there and he mentions one of them in this interview he did. This lady said, you know what? No, she literally said to his face, I would rather have Alzheimer's than give that up. It was a food. And he was just flabbergasted.

How could you say that? How would you rather have a favorite food in exchange for Alzheimer's?

like it's unbelievable. So I'm inviting and challenging here just to commit right now that whatever the research says is damaging your brain, done. No longer will it be a part of your life. I want you to have that kind of level of commitment because you're so committed to really living life and operating at your very best. All right, let's dive in. Here we go. Are you ready?

Okay, so it won't be any surprise that alcohol is really harming to the brain. So they did all the brain scanning and consuming alcohol just really damages the brain. Done. That one's you might have, we might have guessed that. And he says he'll go into schools and things and he'll list them on the board. And the kids usually can pick out the ones that are damaging the brain. He did a bunch of research and found that marijuana is damaging to the brain. So that one's out there. And then here we go. Are you ready for this? I know some of this will not.

be very popular, but it is so important. They have found in their research and he mentioned specifically fast food is bad for the brain. Soda here's where it's going to start to pinch on some of you. Soda pop. Okay. The carbonated sugary, even the diet stuff. Soda is just destroying our brains. a lot because well,

Rachel Denning (25:02.381)
The next one here is sugar. Sugar is so, so bad. They are seeing sugar is inflammatory. It's causing all kinds of inflammation in our bodies and our brains. They've noticed through the research and just the science of watching it, sugar causes erratic brain cell firing. So it's like that power plant that's having all those short circuits and just erratic firing and misfiring and...

It's just causing all these problems and it's addictive and so The sugar, you know soda and sugar and the syrups and the or the replacement sugars like all that stuff is literally causing so much Damage it is just not good for our brains and Then he says even simple carbohydrates are very bad for your brain

And he, with this one was kind of interesting. He mentioned orange juice. It's just too sweet. It's too sugary and was also bad for the brain. But the, the big, big takeaway there, my friends, is we have to drastically cut back on simple carbohydrates. I say cut out refined sugars entirely. And we've mostly done that. I, I, I've mostly done it in my life and the family.

I kind of went off of that when I was 17. Not knowing all this research, I did that. I had very little sugar in my life. And I feel fantastic. But more and more, all the research is pointing out that sugar is just so bad for our bodies and soda. So those are the ones I figured might hit for people and might be hard for some of you if you just love your soda and love your sugary things. But let me offer this.

Just try a fast, try a soda fast, try a sugar fast, just this week. Take a week, do seven days, no sugar. First couple days are kind of hard when we're making shifts, but after that you settle in and feel, you actually start feeling fantastic. And try it, try it for a week or try it for the month. Take the whole next month and just do no sugars, no soda. Watch what happens, watch how it changes how you feel. Now all of my coaching clients, I challenge all of them to do that. We get off sugars and we get off soda.

Rachel Denning (27:28.109)
and they do it and they're funny to talk about, you know, the day they went sober from soda and how they've had lifelong habits or addictions to Dr. Pepper or Diet Coke or whatever it is Mountain Dew. But they go off and it's hard for a couple days and then they feel fantastic. And then they get their bodies optimized and many of them are talking about how once they get that dialed in and they're getting rid of sugars in the sodas, their bodies get going and they're losing about

half a pound a day in a healthy energized way. It's incredible. But, but again, that's kind of a different topic. Just, just straight talk about the brain and the research of, of watching the brain scan, see what's what happening, what seeing what is happening, the simple carbohydrates, the sugar, the soda, alcohol, fast food, and marijuana are the ones he listed.

Now there's a few more pieces here that I want to dive into. They have found, multiple people have found and published these papers about this, that being overweight decreases brain size and brain function. Let that one settle in. In fact, he said himself, he's like, I never was really motivated to lose weight, but when I realized that being overweight,

Decreased my brain size and my brain function. He said I lost 30 pounds in quick order. I was that was my motivation Isn't it interesting that 70 % of Americans are overweight and 40 % are obese and He said it is the biggest brain drain in the United States Because being overweight decreases brain size and brain function

Super fascinating. Then he talked about the whole food industry and he literally compared it to like terrorism. He's like, terrorists have nothing on our food industry. And he said, the real weapon of mass destruction is our current food industry. They're pesticide treated, they're highly processed, they're low fiber, high glycemic.

Rachel Denning (29:51.533)
food like substances that are stored in plastic containers. Wow. And he says that right there is the greatest weapon of mass destruction.

Like I want this to hit so hard with us that we all start creating some pretty dramatic shifts and improvements in what we're eating and what we're allowing in our homes and what we're giving to our kids. We are damaging our brains every day if we're not really careful and protective about this. Again, this isn't my opinion, not his opinion. This is just.

They're scanning the brain and giving the research. There's the results. This is what's happening. So a couple other things about food and fitness, good fats. He said we should be having good fats with every meal. And because the brain is actually about 60 % fat and he's saying low fat diets are triggering depression. And so it's interesting. You have all these people out there.

without again, without the brain scanning, without knowing how the brain is functioning and working without that extra stuff, they're promoting these low fat diets and have now for a few decades, but it's just, it just goes against the research and the science of the brain. These low fat diets are not good and they're starving out the brain and they're actually triggering depression. So he literally suggested from all of his research, all the brain scan, all this stuff over years and years and decades,

We ought to be having good fats with every meal. He specifically mentioned avocados are really good. We've done a lot of research on grass fed butter, not just any butter, the quality of what you're getting matters too. it matters so much. So free range organic eggs and grass fed butters and creams and like other there there's bad fats and there's good fats, right?

Rachel Denning (31:59.629)
but you've got, we've got to be having good fats because our brain depends on having good fats. But there's just this misconception out there that fats are bad and the fats make you fat. But the reality is our bodies need those good fats and not the sugar. But what's happened is they've gone low fat and high sugar and just has tanked our brains and our bodies. And then he gave a warning, a serious warning.

about the medications that are often being prescribed for anxiety or depression, how they literally change the brain so that it needs the medication. And so he has some warnings about that because there's so many other things you can do by limiting like food problems. He tells these stories about how whenever anyone comes to his clinic with a severe problem, the first thing he does is look at their food. And...

you know what they're consuming and he takes them off all the junk and then gets them on a really clean diet and then introduces one thing at a time until he finds out what's triggering the problem. And sometimes it like he told this one story that shocked me. This guy had severe, severe depression and he took him off all the foods and then slowly worked him back on his diet was clean. He started feeling fantastic. He reintroduced gluten. He was fine. He reintroduced dairy was fine.

Then when he brought back corn within 20 minutes, this guy was having deep, severe, like suicidal thoughts. He's like, there it is. And so they divorced this guy from any corn product, whatever, and they reported that his depression has not come back. And so for him and his brain, he was reacting to corn.

And I hope I hope that hits home with you like it did for me we've got to understand how our brains are functioning and Where where they're not being optimized and where we're not taking care of them We have to ask ourselves every day is this good for my brain or is this bad for my brain? And we got to get clear about it and he's saying he says the nutritionist in his psychiatric clinics have way more success than his psychiatrist meaning food

Rachel Denning (34:17.357)
is having a far greater effect on our psychology, on our brain function, on our moods, on our feelings than anything else.

like is unreal. And, and so you guys don't, and so you don't lose hope. Look, your food can be delicious and nutritious. Like we don't have to sacrifice that. We don't have to just chew on something disgusting because it's good for our brain. Like we can have really good, healthy food and a wonderful loving relationship with your food. But unfortunately there's a lot of neurosis and insanity around food and people would rather suffer and die early.

than give up on certain foods and sugars. So I hope my friends that you'll be willing to like cut out anything that's damaging for your brain and bring in anything that's good for your brain. Another thing he says, we have to get our guts right. A lot of us have have damaged guts from eating junk for a long time or just not taking good care of our gut because it's responsible.

the gut is actually responsible for so much of what's going on in the brain. I think he called them neurotransmitters. I might, that might be the wrong word, but he said that the gut, the connection between the gut and the brain is just, it's clear and obvious and need to get our gut in the right place. Is this fun and exciting or what? I hope, I know we're kind of geeking out here and I'm just given, this is a different kind of episode where I'm just giving you all kinds of research here, but I,

I feel so passionate about this. I feel like this has to be a part of our message, all of us, that we have to be aware of our control center, of our power plant, right? Of what's going on and why. And that so many of our problems, which we would never have connected to the brain, are actually coming from the brain. And so we might, you know, in your home, you might actually, you know, have a tradition that's been passed down of having...

Rachel Denning (36:20.877)
some kind of food or dessert or something or other. And yet it's also causing all kinds of maybe psychological or emotional or mood or just health issues, behavioral problems. Like when people come to me with behavioral problems or depression, anxiety, those kinds of the first thing I look at and I have for a couple of years now, first thing I look at is food. And, and, but it doesn't make sense. Like, come on. How could.

How could what I'm eating cause depression or anxiety or whatever else? Name the behavior problem. And it seems crazy. It still seems crazy to me that if you're eating fast food somehow that's affecting it. But again, this is way beyond our opinions. The research is there. They have brain scanning and when you eat that stuff, bam, it causes it. This is unreal. It's so crazy.

Okay, let's do a couple of lifestyle pieces now. So that's food and fitness. Lots of research here about how lifestyle, what you're doing day in and day out, your habits, your patterns, what's happening. This one, I feel is so important and we have to do something about this. It was interesting, the interviewer asked him, he said, okay, let me, he says, you talk about creating this happy society and happy life and like living of just a fully engaged life, right?

And he's like, let's just pretend for a minute you're just some evil, evil mastermind and you're just really trying to destroy society. And you knew all this stuff. He's like, what would you do? Well, he lists out all the things that I mentioned before about all the different kinds of foods. A packaged food would be the worst destructor. But then he said this. He said, I would make sure that children had massive amounts of screen time of video games and watching TV.

because it's been proven, it's shown in the brain scans that more screen time decreases blood flow to the brain.

Rachel Denning (38:32.941)
He said it's really hurting our children if they are playing video games and watching TV a lot. Obviously because they're getting less exercise and physical movement, which is great for the brain and the body, they're getting less sun, which is so needed for the body. A lot of us are deficient, but it just, it's decreasing blood flow to the brain and the brain has so many demands. When I,

When I was, I was, I was a pre -med student and then I became an EMT and I was learning about all this in physiology and anatomy. The brain has so many demands, especially with blood and there's two huge arteries, right? Going up in your neck to your brain. And it, the operation, the optimization depends on blood and they've seen it just a direct connection here to decrease blood flow.

when you're just watching TV. Whoa, whoa. Another thing they see the brain just kind of start to fail, shut down is, is people who are retiring and aging and anger. He mentioned those three retirement, aging and anger, meaning you just, you stop doing things. You just kind of disengage and disconnect and stop having meaningful purposeful work. Brain stops working aging.

And aging as in, because we're all going to age in a certain way, but a lot of us are aging so much faster than we need to. And that's where that book, Superhuman, will enlighten you on that. And that's for me. But just aging too quickly through stress. And he mentions anger. And he's like, I would be...

He's like, here's what I do is like, if I wanted to destroy people, I just, and just from what he knows about all his brain scan research, he's like, get them all angry about politics and have them watch the news all the time. He specifically mentioned that I'd have them watch the news all the time because they get, they get frustrated. They get polarized. They get fear is all of those things have a direct, you know, a negative effect on the brain.

Rachel Denning (40:50.861)
holy cow. He talked about all the toxins that are in personal products and of course in household and yard products and how we just just having those things around all kinds of toxins from from lotions and gels and soaps and hair products and just all kinds of personal products are filled with all these toxins that are having a negative effect on our hormones and in our brains. And so you guys, I want to encourage you just go through your whole house.

and get as many natural products as absolutely possible. He talked about, we already mentioned this, how contact sports, anything where you're hitting your head a lot, is causing so much problem. He said, he was just, he boldly just said, football, American football, can damage the brain as much as cocaine does. And he's just seen the pictures and he showed some images of the brain after an NFL player. It was unbelievable.

He did say the positive regular exercise, especially exercises that require coordination, like any, any sports with a racket or like ballroom dancing, right? Any sport that requires coordination is absolutely fantastic for our brains. He said, you should try as best you can to do work that you enjoy. He said, work in a job that you enjoy. That one has a big effect.

He says, you have to learn new things every day. Learn new things every day. And so this guy, he's like, I think in his sixties and he still has a table tennis coach. And he had actually competed at the top levels, but he says, I'm still improving. I'm still getting better. In order to get better, I have to have someone that's better than me. And he's learning languages and he's learning to play the piano. And just, we all have to be learning new things every day, which is so good for our brains.

So, so good for our brains. And then, then as far as psychology goes, just one last piece here and we'll wrap up with this is, is he just said, don't believe every stupid thing you think. Right? He's like, we get all kinds of ideas in our heads. and this is more of the psychology piece of it, right? He says, we get all these ideas in our heads. He says, don't believe everything. He's every stupid thing you think. It's like challenge it.

Rachel Denning (43:14.925)
You gotta learn to challenge and question our negative thinking. Sometimes we so often just think, you know, it'll never work out or I'm not good enough. it's just my luck. And he's like, stop, stop, question that, challenge it and challenge the negative thinking so it doesn't stay. And then he talked about, especially in the psychology piece, I love this. He says we can just flood all of our senses with happiness. We can have, you know.

from vision, images and sounds and smells and tastes and touches, all those things that generate happiness. And we can all be more proactive and intentional about just flooding our senses with happiness, which is ironic, right? Because how often are we flooding our senses with negative things and unhappiness?

All right, that was a lot. That was drinking from the fire hose, wasn't it, my friends? Holy guacamole. If you have stayed with me, you are amazing. you're awesome. And I hope if nothing else, this has really hit home and some of them might not be popular and some of them might be really challenging for you. But I hope that some of it or all of it was pretty revelatory for you.

and kind of revolutionary, this is the future. And we all need to be cognizant of this. We all need to be aware of it. If we're going to be high performers, if we're going to create for ourselves and live an extraordinary family life, then everyone in our family, starting with ourselves has to be absolutely keenly aware of how the brain functions, how our individual brain is functioning and the current condition and state of our brain.

Because in reality, the state of your brain will determine the state of your life. Wow. So let's take care of our brains and commit with me, you guys, be determined to do those things that are good for the brain and avoid those things that are bad for the brain. Love it.

Rachel Denning (45:32.877)
Awesome is always an option and it is with our brains, but the level of the awesomeness with our brains. Reach upward.