~ S P E C I A L ~
F E A T U R E
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An Excerpt
From
Making
a Good Brain Great:
The
Amen Clinic Program for Achieving
and Sustaining Optimal Mental
Performance
by Daniel G. Amen, M.D.
October 2005 -
Harmony
The
great sins of the world take place in the
brain: but it is in the brain that
everything takes place . . . It is in the
brain that the poppy is red, that the
apple is odorous, that the skylark sings,
(and that we love and hate each
other). --Oscar
Wilde
Your brain is involved in everything
you do. This is the first principle of the
Amen Clinics. The sensation of waking up
cuddled next to your husband's or wife's
warm body is felt in the brain. The brain
directs your urge to make love and be
physically close. Getting ready for the
day by planning, grooming, eating, and
communicating with your husband and kids
is directed by the brain. Negotiating
traffic, while talking on your cell phone,
is a result of your brain giving orders.
Managing your business, planning trips,
evaluating employees, running meetings,
attending luncheons, and answering e-mails
are all accomplished by your brain's hard
work. Leaving the office on time, playing
tennis, lifting weights, and joking with
your friends to unwind are activities
spearheaded by the brain. Enjoying the
sunset, helping the kids with homework,
and assisting your wife with dinner are a
result of moment-by-moment brain function.
Your brain is the command and control
center that runs your life.
Our work at the Amen Clinics is based
on nine deceptively simple principles.
Understanding these ideas will lay the
foundation for making a good brain great.
These principles stem directly from the
brain-imaging work that we have been doing
intensely for the past fifteen years. Do
not let the simplicity of these principles
fool you. If you allow them to become part
of your everyday life, they will change
nearly everything you do in the direct
service of brain health.
PRINCIPLE 1:
Your brain is involved in everything
you do.
How you think, how you feel, how you
act, and how well you get along with other
people has to do with the moment-by-moment
functioning of your brain. Most people
know that the brain is the organ of
behavior, but few people understand this
principle at a deep emotional level. We
spend more time and money on beautifying
our hair, our skin, our clothes, and our
homes than we do on caring for our brain.
After looking at over thirty thousand
brain scans, I have come to realize that
how your brain works influences every part
of who you are and what you do: from
athletic skills to parenting, from
management skills to your free time
activities, from social aptitude to
artistic talent, and from driving ability
to the type of music you like. Look at any
aspect of behavior -- relationships,
school, work, religion, sports -- and in
the middle of it all is brain
function.
Let's take four common examples of
behavior and look at them through the lens
of this first principle: motherhood,
business management, dating, and attending
a sporting event.
There are many different types of
mothers. There are mothers, like my own,
who are outgoing, relaxed, fun-loving,
upbeat, and playful. There are mothers who
are more serious, who focus on their
children's faults or tend to be too busy
or preoccupied to play with them. There
are mothers who constantly push their
children to be their best and mothers who
lead quietly by example. There are mothers
who use guilt and nagging as the primary
motivator of behavior, and mothers who
cheer a child's every positive move.
Ultimately, the type of mother a woman may
be is determined by her brain. Mothers who
are more serious tend to have higher
amounts of activity in the prefrontal
cortex (PFC). The prefrontal cortex is
involved with goal-setting, planning,
forethought, and judgment. High PFC levels
are involved with goal-oriented behavior.
Outgoing, playful, less serious mothers
have a little less activity in this part
of the brain. Guilt-driven mothers tend to
have higher activity in the brain's
emotional centers (limbic brain), which in
turn causes them to focus on the negative,
such as all of her child's faults. Few
people know that the type of mother they
have has everything to do with the
moment-by-moment functioning of her
brain.
There are in the world just as many
different types of business managers as
mothers, based in part on brain function.
There are motivational managers and quiet
managers. There are absent managers and
micromanagers. There are managers who
scream and yell to get their way and
managers who encourage. There are managers
who enjoy firing people and managers who
hold on to employees much longer than they
should. Managers who have high PFC
activity tend to be very involved and
directive; taken to an extreme, they are
micromanagers. Managers with low PFC
activity tend to be idea people and
relatively hands-off; taken to an extreme,
they are absent. A part of the brain that
we will discuss in detail later on is the
anterior cingulate gyrus, which runs
lengthwise through the front part of the
brain. It is the brain's gear shifter,
allowing you to be flexible and shift
between tasks. Managers who have good
activity in this part of the brain tend to
be flexible and are able to adapt to
changes in the business climate. Managers
who have excessive activity in this part
of the brain tend to be rigid and
inflexible. These managers tend to hold on
to patterns of behavior long after they
are helpful. Even though brains run
businesses, few people think about the
brain at work.
Our species has many varied ways to, as
my eighteen-year-old daughter would say,
hook up. Dating and mating are brain
functions, even though the urges may feel
like they come from lower in your body.
There are shy people who rely on random
chance to find a mate. There are outgoing
people who will ask a hundred or more
potential partners out on a date in search
of their one true love. There are
thoughtful, planning daters and those who
do courtship on the spur of the moment.
There are commitment-phobic daters who run
at the first signs of attachment and those
who commit too easily. There are people
who are overwhelmed by feelings of
insecurity and jealousy and those who lack
sufficient caring. In the center of the
dating scene is the brain. The brain
allows us to pay attention to potential
mates, to evaluate their suitability for
us, to attach, to care, and to draw people
toward us or push them away. The brain
helps us evaluate honesty, fidelity, and
reliability. Healthy PFC activity helps us
follow through on our commitments, showing
the other person that we are reliable,
predictable, and likely to make a good dad
or mom. Lower levels of activity in the
PFC will make us more spontaneous and fun
(with less forethought) but may also make
us late for appointments, too pushy for
early sex, and more driven by emotion. We
often judge our dates based on looks, but
we rarely consider their brain function. I
believe this will change in the coming
century. In fact, if you date my daughter
for more than four months, you have to get
a brain scan to determine if you can
continue to see her. I'm not
kidding.
There are many different types of
sports fans, depending again, in part, on
brain function. I watch many sports fans
at the Staples Center in Los Angeles and
at Angels Stadium in Anaheim, while
undergoing the trials, tribulations, and
joys of rooting for the Los Angeles Lakers
and the Anaheim Angels. My big brother,
Jim, is an intense fan. He yells at the
referees and umpires when he thinks they
make a mistake, and he often loudly
second-guesses the coaches and managers
when they play the subs. There are quiet
fans who show little emotion and fans who
seem as though they are going to wet their
pants when the home team makes a mistake.
There are forgiving fans and fans who hold
grudges. There are fans who lack PFC
activity and throw objects onto the court
or field and fans with high PFC activity
who worry the whole game through. There
are fans who are rude to people who wear
opposing jerseys and fans who make friends
with the people around them. There are
pseudofans who show up to be seen (Lakers
games are always events), and fans who cry
when the home team loses. There are family
fans who use sporting events as a bonding
mechanism, between father and son (or in
my case, between father and two
daughters). As the brain is involved in
athletic skill, it is also involved in the
type of sports fan you are.
The first principle, like all of the
principles, is very simple. Your brain is
involved in every aspect of your life and
the person you are.
Excerpted from Making a
Good Brain Great by Daniel G. Amen, M.D.
Copyright © 2005 by Daniel G. Amen,
M.D. Excerpted by permission of Harmony, a
division of Random House, Inc. All rights
reserved. No part of this excerpt may be
reproduced or reprinted without permission
in writing from the publisher.
About the Author: Daniel G.
Amen, M.D., is a clinical neuroscientist,
psychiatrist, and brain-imaging expert who
heads up the world-renowned Amen Clinics.
He is a Distinguished Fellow of the
American Psychiatric Association and has
won numerous writing and research awards.
He writes a monthly column in Men's Health
called "Head Check" and has published
nineteen books, numerous professional and
popular articles, and a number of audio
and video programs. His books include
Preventing Alzheimer's, Healing Anxiety
and Depression, Healing the Hardware of
the Soul, Healing ADD, and the New
York Times bestseller Change Your
Brain, Change Your Life. He is an
internationally renowned keynote speaker
and a popular guest expert for the media,
with appearances on CNN, the Today show,
The View, and other venues. For more
information please visit www.amenclinic.com.
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