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101 " Healthy levels of estrogen help you feel good. Too much estrogen can make you feel as anxious and irritable as a wet cat. Estrogen withdrawal makes you feel depressed and confused. It’s the rise and drop in estrogen that drastically affects your mood, and the more erratic your particular fluctuation is, the more upset it can make you. These problems become worse during perimenopause and menopause, when estrogen levels wane. There are three different kinds of estrogen: estrone (oestrone), estradiol (oestradiol), and estriol (oestriol). According to my friend and colleague Dr. James LaValle, author of the Metabolic Code, estrone is the estrogen to worry about. Estrone can make you more prone to cancer. Your liver, gut, and adrenal health determine what types of hormones are made. Depending "
― Daniel G. Amen , Unleash the Power of the Female Brain: Supercharging Yours for Better Health, Energy, Mood, Focus, and Sex
102 " Estradiol—Estradiol is the strongest estrogen; it helps you think clearly. It is produced in the ovaries and has many protective effects, including maintaining bone density, improving growth hormone production and cardiovascular function, keeping your blood from getting “sticky,” supporting cognitive function and mood, assisting in growth hormone release, and improving your lipids profile. Too much estradiol can be associated with estrogen-related cancers, but deficiencies can lead to osteoporosis, heart disease, dementia, and other diseases of aging. Estradiol keeps you looking and feeling young and vibrant. It also provides antiaging protection for the skin. And it even helps prevent weight gain. Researchers at Yale University have found that estradiol suppresses appetite using the same pathways in the brain as leptin, which is one of the hormones that regulate appetite. "
103 " Estriol—Estriol is the weakest of the three estrogens and has a protective role in breast tissue. It is believed to protect vaginal tissue too. Estriol helps to reduce hot flashes in women, protects the urinary tract, and plays a role in retention of bone density. It can help increase “good” HDL and decrease “bad” LDL cholesterol. One compelling study showed that taking estriol can reverse brain lesions in women with multiple sclerosis. Estrogen is particularly needed in women to make serotonin function at its best in the brain. Serotonin is one of the brain’s feel-good hormones. With no estrogen, your mood can change to anxious and depressed. Cognitive functions, such as critical thinking and short-term memory, are also eroded with the loss of estrogen production. Below is a list of symptoms related to low and high estrogen levels: "
104 " Many people with ADD suffer from moodiness, excessive worrying, and negativity. This attitude comes from their past. They have many experiences with failure, so they come to expect it. Their “sky is falling” attitude has a tendency to get on the nerves of coworkers and can infect the work environment. "
― Daniel G. Amen , Healing ADD: The Breakthrough Program That Allows You to See and Heal the 6 Types of ADD
105 " it’s been estimated that the brain has the storage capacity of three million hours of TV shows (7). "
― Daniel G. Amen , Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness
106 " In a young, healthy woman, the estrogen ratio generally averages as follows: 60–80 percent estriol, 10–20 percent estradiol, and 10–20 percent estrone. While these levels vary from one individual to another, the goal of bioidentical hormone restoration therapy (BHRT), discussed later, is to re-create a more natural balance in the levels of estrogen and in combination with all the other sex hormones. Estrogens convert into several metabolites. Estrone, for example, may convert into three different forms: • 2-hydroxyestrone, protective against cancer • 4-hydroxyestrone, promotes cancer • 16-alpha-hydroxyestrone, promotes cancer "
107 " The main areas for estrogen breakdown are the liver and gastrointestinal tract. Diets high in refined sugar and low in fiber feed the unfriendly bacteria in the intestines, causing them to disrupt estrogen metabolism. One of the by-products of the unfriendly “bugs” in the intestines is that the estrogen metabolites can’t be excreted and they build up in your tissues over time, causing trouble. "
108 " Prayer, too, offers many of the same health and stress-relief benefits as meditation. Physicians Larry Dossey (Healing Words), Dale Matthews (The Faith Factor), and others have written books outlining the scientific evidence of the medical benefits of prayer and other meditative states. Some of these benefits include reduced feelings of stress, lower cholesterol levels, improved sleep, reduced anxiety and depression, fewer headaches, more relaxed muscles, and longer life spans. People who pray or read the Bible every day are 40 percent less likely to suffer from hypertension than others. "
― Daniel G. Amen , Change Your Brain, Change Your Body: Use Your Brain to Get and Keep the Body You Have Always Wanted
109 " Dietary Changes to Improve the 2:16 Ratio There are great foods that can help improve the conversion of estrogen into good metabolites and away from the bad ones. These foods include insoluble dietary fibers, such as lignin found in green beans, peas, carrots, seeds, and Brazil nuts. The reason that dietary fiber, especially lignin, is so beneficial is that it can bind harmful estrogens in the digestive tract, so they can be excreted in the feces instead of being reabsorbed. Dietary fiber also improves the composition of intestinal bacteria so that harmful estrogen metabolites can be excreted from the body. It also decreases the conversion of testosterone into estrogens, maintaining a healthy testosterone level. Sugar and simple carbohydrates cause unfriendly flora to grow in the gastrointestinal tract and disrupt estrogen metabolism. These foods also raise blood sugar and insulin levels, resulting in adverse influences in sex hormone balance. Too many simple carbohydrates have been associated with postmenopausal breast cancer risk among overweight women and women with a large waist "
110 " Your lifestyle may expose you to environmental estrogens that can disrupt your body’s natural balance or interfere with proper therapy. Here are some tips from Dr. LaValle to reduce your exposure: 1. Limit drinking out of plastic containers, and when you do, drink only from containers that are free of bisphenol A, better known as BPA. 2. Do not microwave food in plastic containers or covered in plastic. 3. Avoid using personal care items such as face creams, cosmetics, shampoos, tampons, and toiletries that contain environmental estrogens and particularly phthalates. Phthalates are synthetic substances found in many plastics. They have estrogenic properties and are banned as a toxic substance in Europe. "
111 " Social: Alizé grew up in an environment that was contributing to lower blood flow in the brain. When she came to live with me and my wife, however, we surrounded her with people who live brain-healthy lives. It has inspired her to start adopting healthier habits that are boosting blood flow to her brain. Spiritual: For many people, like my grandfather, taking care of others takes precedence over taking care of themselves. Making your own health a priority may feel selfish, but making sure you are happy, healthy, and energetic is the key to being there for your family and friends. "
― Daniel G. Amen , The End of Mental Illness: How Neuroscience Is Transforming Psychiatry and Helping Prevent or Reverse Mood and Anxiety Disorders, ADHD, Addictions, PTSD, Psychosis, Personality Disorders, and More
112 " Take the Amen Solution Brain Type Test—Log on to the Amen Solution @ Home (www.amensolution.com) to find out which of your brain systems might need help and what specific supplements might be of benefit to you. "
113 " Unchain Your Brain: 10 Steps to Breaking the Addictions That Steal Your Life, "
― Daniel G. Amen , Use Your Brain to Change Your Age: Secrets to Look, Feel, and Think Younger Every Day
114 " There is a group of core symptoms common to those who have ADD. These include short attention span for routine, everyday tasks, distractibility, organizational problems (for spaces and time), difficulty with follow-through, and poor internal supervision or judgment. These symptoms exist over a prolonged period of time and are present from an early age, although they may not be evident until a child is pushed to concentrate or to organize his or her life. "
115 " This story shows how critical it is to get treated for sleep problems. But most people suffering from lack of sleep neglect to seek help. They don’t view it as a medical problem and choose to simply live with it. That could be a life-threatening mistake. "
116 " Noticing what you like about others more than what you don’t is a recipe for happy relationships and happiness overall. "
― Daniel G. Amen , You, Happier: The 7 Neuroscience Secrets of Feeling Good Based on Your Brain Type
117 " She was so scared that she actually went out and bought a siren to get her up in the morning. Even though that helped her, she had made all of her neighbors mad at her, and now she was threatened with eviction from her condominium. "
118 " Watching too much TV can be harmful for your brain and body. Excessive TV watching has been associated with ADD in children and Alzheimer’s disease in adults. Watching more than two hours of TV a day also significantly increases your risk for obesity. "
119 " All of us have Dragons from the Past influencing our present feelings and actions.”[1] Unless you recognize and tame them, and consciously calm and protect your amygdala from overfiring, these dragons will haunt your unconscious mind and drive emotional pain for the rest of your life. What blows from an ember, or a small action of another, can turn into a destructive fire of anxiety and rage. After learning from Dr. May, I started using this concept with my patients, including Jimmy. Over time I identified 13 Dragons from the Past, including their origins, triggers that make them overpowering, and how they cause us to react. All of us have more than one Dragon from the Past driving our behavior, and they are always interacting with the Dragons from the Past of others, causing both internal and external battles—a modern-day Game of Thrones. All of us have primary and secondary dragons driving our behavior. Primary ones are present most of the time, while secondary ones come out during times of stress, such as the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020. You’ll learn which ones apply to you. (You can also take the Hidden Dragons quiz at KnowYourDragons.com.) "
― Daniel G. Amen , Your Brain Is Always Listening: Tame the Hidden Dragons That Control Your Happiness, Habits, and Hang-Ups
120 " Like a muscle, the more you use your brain, the stronger it becomes and the more it can do. The opposite is also true: The less you work it, the weaker it becomes. Repeatedly engaging in “no brain” activities, such as TV, decreases a person’s ability to focus. In addition, the pacing of TV has changed over the past thirty years. Thirty years ago a thirty-second commercial had ten three-second scenes. The same commercial in 2000 has thirty one-second scenes. We are being programmed to need more stimulation in order to pay attention. "