The "big game" is this weekend. The NFL’s present-day gladiators will lock helmets and the crowds will cheer. However, after the game is over… the players will be the one’s to pay the price. 
 
From 2009-2012, the Amen Clinics performed the world’s largest brain imaging and rehabilitation study on active and retired professional football players because we had a high suspicion that many players suffered with the effects of chronic traumatic brain injury (TBI). The results of our NFL study were very clear:
A very high percentage of our players had evidence of TBI patterns on their SPECT scans and showed symptoms of it – there was a high rate of depression, dementia, obesity, and ADD-like symptoms among them.
- 81% of the players complained of attention problems and showed concentration problems on the psychological testing that we performed.
- The good news came from the second part of this study, where we taught players how to care for their brains and gave them specific nutritional supplements.
- 80% of our players experienced significant benefit, including improvements in mood, attention, motivation, and sleep.
 
This shows that even those who have brain injury can still have hope – as there is a very high potential for recovery on a brain-smart program! 
 
Nobody knows exactly how many blows to the head it takes to cause problems, yet studies have shown that it takes longer for children to recover from a second concussion if it follows soon after a first, and that once someone has a concussion they’re more likely to experience more. Many brain injuries go untreated because the person did not lose consciousness, so keep an eye out for these symptoms and seek medical attention right away if you suspect trauma:
- Feeling drowsy or having a hard time waking up.
- Not thinking clearly, feeling spacey, or acting confused.
- Headache or the feeling of pressure in the head.
- Memory and mood changes.
At the Amen Clinics, we want to help you and your children heal brain injuries before they affect your life. Click on this link to learn more about how we approach traumatic brain injury, call us today at 1-888-564-2700, or tell us more about your situation. 



Concussions & Pro Football: 1 Team Wins, All Players Lose

Attention Deficit Disorder can cause debilitating unhappiness and pain in relationships and families.

Men and women who truly desire a close relationship often find their day-to-day behaviors interfere with the very intimacy they seek.

Hang on, there’s hope!

I want to use my 35 years of clinical and personal experience as a psychiatrist to help you understand ADD by explaining the following in this video:
•	Symptoms of ADD in relationships 
•	ADD-caused barriers to intimacy 
•	Healing relationships distressed by ADD 
•	Sexuality and ADD 
•	Tips on communication
 
Please take a listen.  It has the potential to change millions of lives, save marriages and create happier, healthier lives for couples and families. LISTEN and find out how to keep your family together in a healthy way that focuses on growth while reducing the turmoil.


Keeping It Together When Someone Close to You Has ADD

If you have ever wondered about the following questions, this is a must listen!

1.    Is there really a difference between a man’s and a woman’s brain?
2.    Why don’t men remember dates like Anniversaries and birthdays?
3.    Why don’t men ask for directions when they are lost?


How the Brain Helps or Ruins Your Love Life

Are your kids setting the homework rules in your house?
If the answer is yes, welcome to a very large community of parents wrestling with the same challenge every night.  But don’t panic, it doesn’t have to be so bleak.  There is hope for getting your kids to listen.

Here’s how…

End Homework Battles Forever! Raising Brain Healthy Children | Part 1

Of course not!

Yet most parents continue to feed their kids massive amounts of junk food every day. It’s an epidemic that will have tragic consequences if we don’t do something about it soon.

How did so many parents get into this bad habit?

For many, they believed the lie that having their kids "eat something" was better than if they ate nothing.

WRONG!

In the same way feeding a million-dollar racehorse junk food won’t produce a faster race time, your kids can’t perform at their best unless they eat brain-healthy fuel.

Clearly we have a problem with junk food in our children’s diets. But hang in there, you are not alone and there is hope.

We’re here to help if you are a parent struggling to get your kids to ditch the chicken nuggets and mac n cheese.

According to clinical neuroscientist, board-certified psychiatrist, New York Times bestselling author, brain-imaging expert and Amen Clinics founder Daniel G. Amen, MD: "Raising brain-healthy children starts with having their parents live a brain-healthy life and set a positive example in the home."

In this week’s video, Dr. Amen and his wife Tana Amen offer practical tips on how you can create a brain-healthy eating plan in your home.

Here are just a few of the helpful topics they cover:

    Set clear boundaries

    As a parent, feel empowered to set boundaries about what type of food is in your house and what your kids can eat. You can control what gets eaten in your house!
    Be an active listener

    If you feel like your children never talk to you, it may be because you aren’t listening. Learn to practice active listening to create a safe space for open communication.
    Dig down to the root

    If you feel like you are using effective parenting techniques but still have long battles with your kids, something else may be going on. It may be time to further investigate the root cause of the troubling behaviors.

Kids and adults alike must eat right to think right. Setting an example for your kids by eating brain-healthy foods is the first step. Establishing nutrition boundaries, practicing active listening, and celebrating the wins are all things you can start working on today.

Dr. Amen and Tana want to keep the conversation around raising brain-healthy children going so please leave us a comment. Share what’s working and what’s not working in your family.

Together, we can offer solutions and build a community of brain-healthy parents raising brain-healthy kids.

Amen Clinics has helped thousands of individuals and families live brain-healthy lives over the past 25 years. Through that vast experience, Dr. Amen and his colleagues have examined nearly 100,000 SPECT brain scans from men and women in 111 countries around the world.

If you feel that you or a loved one could benefit from an evaluation, contact the Amen Clinics Care Center today.

Would You Feed A Million-Dollar Racehorse Junk Food?

Growing up, Dr. Amen’s father called him a "Maverick", which to him was not a good thing.

Dr. Daniel G. Amen MD, clinical neuroscientist, board certified psychiatrist, brain imaging expert, nine-time New York Times best-selling author and founder of the Amen Clinics is a pioneer in the field of psychiatry.

In fact, Dr. Amen’s curiosity and non-conformist nature have driven his forward-thinking work in psychiatry and has helped thousands of people.

In this powerful TEDx presentation, Dr. Amen talks about how the groundbreaking work he and his colleagues have done using SPECT imaging (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) in psychiatry has proven to help not only individuals but also shapes future generations.

Listen to discover how Dr. Amen’s journey into psychiatry began and the most important lesson Dr. Amen has learned from building the world’s largest database of brain scans related to behavior—nearly 100,000 scans on patients from 111 countries around the world.

Being a Maverick Is a Good Thing

I want to applaud Chris Borland of the San Francisco 49ers for making the health of this brain a top priority.

Borland told ESPN, "from what I’ve researched and what I’ve experienced, I don’t think [playing football is] worth the risk."

Our research supports his decision.

Starting in 2009, Amen Clinics performed the first and largest brain imaging study on active and retired NFL players–at a time when most people were ignoring this critical issue. Our research demonstrated high levels of damage in players, which was not a big surprise. I think even most thoughtful 9-year-olds would think it is a bad idea to repeatedly hit the organ that runs your life, even with a helmet on.

The effects of the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) may not become apparent until a decade or more after they occurred. But what really excited us was that on a "brain smart" program, 80% of the participating research players showed significant improvement, especially in the areas of blood flow, mood and memory. A new research study comes out virtually every week demonstrating that contact sports are bad for developing brains and even bad for brains that are already fully developed.

Borland is the 4th Brain Warrior NFL player age 30 or younger to announce his retirement in the past week. As a society, we need to come to grips with the idea of not allowing children and teens with developing brains to engage in activities that may ruin the rest of their lives.

Recognizing A Brain Health Warrior Chris Borland

All of us know the feeling when stress is running wild through our body. Everything you think about is influenced by the anxiety and worry. It’s horrible, right?

You can probably relate to this since about 30% of people who visit their primary care physician are actually there as a result of stress-induced symptoms. Things like headaches, muscle tension, stomach and digestive discomfort, anxiety, and depression are tied to stress.

The pain that results from these symptoms can produce a deep sense of futility and hopelessness. In fact, people struggling like this often think the pain is permanent.

But it’s simply NOT true!

According to Dr. Amen, you might not be able to eliminate the stressors in your life entirely, but you can start feeling better—immediately!

Along with his wife, health and wellness expert Tana Amen, Dr. Amen has created a short video to teach you four simple steps to reduce the negative impact of stress in your life.

Just listen to start pushing your stress level down.

Here’s a sneak peek at what you’ll learn about managing your stress in their information-packed video.

    Kill those ANTs! Putting a stop to automatic negative thoughts reduces anxiety and depression symptoms.
    Gratitude = A Better Attitude. Practicing gratitude actually changes your brain chemistry! Bringing your attention to the good things in your life has a powerful effect.
    Sweat, Don’t Fret. Exercise increases both dopamine and serotonin levels in the brain! Exercise daily to experience radical positive effects on your anxiety symptoms.
    Eat Smart Carbs. Many of us seek comfort in carbs when we feel stressed or anxious. Eating the right kind of carbs helps stabilize blood sugar for a more balanced mood.

In addition to this helpful video, we have a special gift for you! Subscribe to our newsletter here and you will receive a free MP3 download to help calm your anxiety.

Amen Clinics has helped thousands of people manage stress, depression, and anxiety. Contact us today to schedule an appointment at any of our six clinics, nationwide.

Call us at 1-844-203-4703.

We want you to become a brain warrior for life.

4 Easy Ways to Reduce Your Stress and Anxiety RIGHT NOW!

It’s possible to think positively if you KILL YOUR ANTS!

We live in a world where we are constantly bombarded with fear and bad news that triggers our automatic negative thinking—ANTS! Need proof? Just turn on the TV or cruise through the net. Doom and gloom stories dominate the headlines—because fear makes us pay attention.

In fact, our brains are wired to focus on the negative in order to avoid things that might hurt us. Fear definitely serves a purpose, but what happens when all we seem to focus on are negative thoughts? Bad things. Take a look at these compelling facts:

    Every thought you have releases chemicals in the brain.
    Hopeful thoughts release chemicals that help you feel happy and calm.
    Negative thoughts release chemicals that make you feel stressed and sad.
    If what you bring your attention to determines how you feel and act, focusing too much on negative thoughts can lead to destructive behaviors—behaviors that can ruin your important relationships and ruin your mind.

    Enough of the bad news. There is good news!

    You can learn how to kill your automatic negative thoughts (ANTs) and focus on the positive.

    Here’s how…

3 Quick Steps to Stop Negative Thinking Now!

I noticed that I sparked a little controversy by speaking out on the recent acts of violence from former NFL players, Aaron Hernandez of the New England Patriots and Lawrence Phillips of the St. Louis Rams, Miami Dolphins and San Francisco 49ers.

Your brain is in control of EVERYTHING you do. Through our work we've come to realize that when trying to understand human behavior, we must take the brain into consideration! Please watch the video below to learn the real dangers of untreated brain damage! ‪#‎HurtBrainsHurtPeople‬

Daniel Amen M.D.

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