The New Year brings the season of fresh starts, resolutions, the air of possibility and the impulse to make changes. This book came across my radar a few weeks ago when I was channel-surfing and caught the PBS program "Change Your Brain, Change Your Life" presented by Dr. Daniel Amen. After watching a few hours of his lectures, I was hooked...and decided to review what I learned in the presentations by reading his book.

The answer lies in three main brain systems: the limbic, the basal ganglia, and the prefrontal cortex. Each system plays a unique role in our brain function. Have you ever wondered why certain stresses or injuries affect some people and not others? I have wondered why some people get depressed after losing a parent while others, although sad, keep on going; or why some people can roll with being fired or getting divorced and others nearly lose their minds. That means that imagining actions as you read about them can physically alter the connections in your brain. Pretty cool stuff. 6. Listening to music But that’s not all. Including too much of the sweet stuff in your diet has been shown to correlate with increased risk of depression. Sugar activates the mood-enhancing neurotransmitter serotonin in our brain. When continuously overstimulated, our serotonin levels begin to deplete, making it more difficult for us to regulate our mood. 10. Believing you can change your brainThe SPECT approach challenges the perception that individuals with mental illness have a certain degree of control over their condition. As author Diana Spechler once discovered, many people believe those with mental health conditions can simply “snap out of it” or choose to feel better. But depression and other mental health conditions have a biological and medical basis. According to the author, SPECT imaging will eventually enable targeted treatments that could make all the difference. We all need a healthy dose of anxiety now and then to boost motivation and punctuality, but without balance, everything can go haywire. So in the face of panic, just remember to breathe, face the situation upfront, write down stressful thoughts, and use calming supplements or medication if needed. Your basal ganglia will forever be grateful! Dr. Amen's work with SPECT scans is amazing. He has so much data with proof that the brain can be harmed and healed based on our lifestyle choices. He has a good point that psychiatry is the only medical discipline that never looks at the organ they treat. It's crazy. I would highly recommend this book and would assure you that it will be an eye-opening piece for you. If you are not taking good care of your brain, you are at a significantly higher risk of brain fog, memory problems, low energy, distractibility, poor decisions, obesity, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.”

In contrast, people who meditate regularly show weaker connections with the “Me Center” of the brain and stronger connections with the lateral prefrontal cortex, or the "Assessment Center" of the brain. This helps meditators to take problems less personally and approach them more logically. The average American consumes five times the amount of sugar they should be eating on a daily basis, according to Natasa Janicic-Kahric of Georgetown University Hospital. In addition to contributing to obesity and diabetes, sugar consumption also has scary effects on your brain's health. Daniel G. Amen, MD, is a clinical neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and brain imaging expert who heads the world-renowned Amen Clinics. The Washington Post called Dr. Amen the most popular psychiatrist in America, and Sharecare named him the web’s #1 most influential expert and advocate on mental health. He is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a nine-time New York Times bestselling author, including Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, Magnificent Mind at Any Age, and Change Your Brain, Change Your Body. He is also an internationally recognized keynote speaker and the star of several very popular public television specials. Genres The book is also inspiring and empowering, as it shows that we are not doomed by our genes or our past experiences, but rather we have the ability and the responsibility to shape our own brains and our own destinies. The author challenges us to take charge of our brain health and to make positive changes in our habits, behaviors, thoughts, and emotions that can enhance our well-being and happiness. He also encourages us to seek professional help when needed and to use his brain prescriptions as a complement to other forms of treatment.Dr. Amen's research team has published more than 70 scientific articles on a wide variety of topics related to brain health. He is the lead researcher on the largest brain imaging study on active and retired NFL players and was a consultant on the movie Concussion starring Will Smith. In 2016, Discover Magazine named his brain imaging work for psychiatric diagnoses as one of the top 100 stories in all of science.

He does not balance his pro-drug argument with the consequences of misdiagnoses, negative side effects, and so forth. Every time he names the brand of a drug, it feels like a product placement, which distracts and undermines the sincerity of his recommendations. This book is garbage and never should have gotten published, let alone pedaled and pushed by famous people. Your brain is the organ of your personality, character, and intelligence and is heavily involved in making you who you are.” New and improving technologies in neuroscience are giving us deeper insight into the mysterious gray stuff between our ears. It turns out, our brains are surprisingly dynamic; we do things every single day that affect their structure and chemistry. OK, once you exercise and boost blood flow to your brain, you then need mental exercise. In one study of lab rats, exercise was found to generate new cells in the learning and memory centers of the brain. These new cells lasted for about four weeks. If they were not stimulated by new learning they died off. If you stimulate new brain cells by using them, by learning something new, they connect to other cells and become part of the fabric of your brain. This is why people who only work out at the gym are not nearly as smart as people who work out and then go to the library.

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This literally *proves* that the author of this book has woven his own strange worldview into this book and then pretends its "science". Heavy metal is not bad for you. It is not bad for your children. It does not cause mental illness and it is not a sign of mental illness. I think that’s the difference between living as a victim in your world, saying I am this way because of this person or that thing or this experience, they made me think and feel this way. When you switch that around you become a creator of your world and you start saying, my thinking and my feeling is changing an outcome in my life. Now, that’s a whole different game and you start believing more that we’re creators of reality. If you’ve ever struggled with anxiety, depression, or another mental health condition, you know how challenging it can be to find the right treatment. Sometimes medications can help alleviate symptoms, but they’re not a cure-all. Unfortunately, 60 million Americans have trouble sleeping, which affects their moods, memory and ability to concentrate. It is estimated that sleep deprived people cause more accidents than drunk drivers. Eliminate anything that might interfere with sleep, such as caffeine, alcohol or reading Stephen King before bedtime. Also try natural supplements first, such as melatonin, valerian, kava kava or 5-HTP.