Dr. Amen’s 12 Brain Health Rules to Live By

You may already know this, but it’s important to understand that your brain runs your life. From how you think and feel to how you love, lead, and live each day, it’s the command center behind your personality, your dreams, and even your resilience when life gets heavy.

As psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Amen likes to say, “When your brain works right, you work right.”

After studying nearly 300,000 brain SPECT scans over 30-plus years, Dr. Amen has discovered 12 rules for better brain health that can change your life. This includes emotional, physical, and spiritual transformation.

Because the truth is, you’re not stuck with the brain you have. You can make it better. This blog explores Dr. Amen’s 12 brain health rules, so you can start changing your brain and your life today.

1. Your Brain Is Involved in Everything You Do and Everything You Are

Your brain is the essence of you. Every thought, feeling, and interaction begins within your brain activity.

Research shows that nearly all aspects of behavior and personality are influenced by neural circuits that integrate emotional and cognitive processing.

This means nurturing your brain improves both focus and memory as well as shaping your very identity. Understanding this first rule helps lay the groundwork for the rest of the 12 brain health rules and motivates you to protect the organ that defines your potential.

2. When Your Brain Works Right, You Work Right

When the brain is balanced, life flows more easily. Brain-imaging studies have shown that people with healthy prefrontal cortex function demonstrate stronger emotional regulation, higher empathy, and better decision-making.

Conversely, disruptions in brain function, like stress, trauma, or inflammation, can cloud judgment, drain energy, and strain relationships. This is why improving brain health improves every area of your life.

Habits for better brain health include mindfulness, sleep hygiene, and nutrient-rich eating, all of which strengthen your brain’s ability to function at its best.

3. Your Brain Is the Most Complicated Organ in the Universe

Your brain contains an estimated 100 billion neurons, each forming more than 10,000 connections. This creates a network more vast than stars in the Milky Way. Despite making up only about 2 percent of your body weight, your brain consumes roughly 20% percent of your daily energy and oxygen.

Your brain’s complexity is remarkable and small changes in your daily routine like staying hydrated, eating nutritious foods, and consistent exercising can make measurable improvements in the way it functions.

4. Your Brain Is Soft — Protect It

Think of your brain as soft butter housed in a skull with sharp edges. Even minor concussions can cause long-term effects on mood and cognition. Research estimates that upwards of two million Americans experience a traumatic brain injury (TBI) each year, with many cases going undiagnosed.

Studies link untreated TBIs to depression, substance misuse, and anxiety disorders. Dr. Amen’s imaging work at Amen Clinics has shown how brain trauma is a major contributor to mental health issues.

Wearing helmets, avoiding risky behavior, and limiting alcohol or drug use are all habits for better brain health that protect your most important organ.

5. Avoid These Things That Hurt Your Brain

Through decades of imaging, Dr. Amen has identified 11 key risk factors that harm the brain. Summarized by the acronym BRIGHT MINDS, this outlines what to avoid and what to manage to keep your brain healthy:

●         B – Blood Flow

●         R – Retirement/Aging

●         I – Inflammation

●         G – Genetics

●         H – Head Trauma

●         T – Toxins

●         M – Mental Health

●         I – Immunity/Infections

●         N – Neurohormone Issues

●         D – Diabesity (Diabetes + Obesity)

●         S – Sleep

Essentially, each factor impacts your mental, cognitive, and emotional wellness. For example, chronic inflammation has been linked to increased rates of depression and cognitive decline.

6. Engage With Your Brain Daily

The beauty of your brain is its resilience. Neuroplasticity means your brain can heal, rewire, and strengthen itself.

Research shows that regular exercise increases the size of the hippocampus, which is the region linked to memory and learning. You can start to develop habits for better brain health including:

●         Balanced nutrition

●         Meditation

●         Gratitude practices

●         Lifelong learning

7. Your Brain Has Specific Systems That Control Different Functions

Your brain has specialized systems in place, so knowing how they work can help you understand your moods and reactions. Here’s a breakdown:

●         Limbic System – emotional tone and bonding

●         Basal Ganglia – motivation and pleasure

●         Prefrontal Cortex – focus, judgment, decision-making

●         Anterior Cingulate Gyrus – flexibility and error detection

●         Temporal Lobes – memory and emotional stability

Disruptions in these areas are associated with a variety of symptoms. For instance, overactivity in the limbic system has been linked to depression. Low activity in the prefrontal cortex is one of the common signs associated with ADHD. And too much activity in the basal ganglia is often seen in people with anxiety disorders.

Dr. Amen’s brain SPECT imaging insights show that by identifying imbalances in brain systems, targeted therapies can bring relief faster and more effectively than a one-size-fits-all approach.

8. Imaging Changes Everything

Traditional psychiatry often treats symptoms without looking at the organ that causes them. However, brain SPECT imaging changes everything. Dr. Amen’s research demonstrates that visualizing blood flow and activity in the brain helps clinicians personalize the best care for you.

It also helps with early detection of cognitive issues. In a Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease study, SPECT scans detected early brain changes years before symptoms appeared. This gives you time to adopt brain healthy habits to help ward off dementia.

Brain SPECT imaging also reframes mental illness as a brain health issue, offering compassion and clarity instead of stigma.

9. All Psychiatric Illnesses Are Not Single or Simple Disorders

There’s no “one-type” of depression or ADHD. SPECT scans reveal multiple subtypes, and each type requires its own unique interventions. This finding is a key component of Dr. Amen’s brain health rules, emphasizing that treatment must be individualized.

This explains why treatment that works for one person may fail for another. It’s critical to understand how your individual brain works.

10. The Brain Gets Sick or Well in Four Circles

Healing requires a whole-person approach. The Four Circles model shows that brain health depends on multiple dimensions of your life:

➔      Biological: nutrition, hormones, sleep, and exercise

➔      Psychological: thoughts, emotions, and mental habits

➔      Social: community, relationships, and environment

➔      Spiritual: connection, meaning, and purpose

Research shows that social connection reduces the risk of premature death by 50 percent. That’s how deeply these circles intertwine and affect one another.

11. First, Do No Harm

Healing should begin with the least toxic and most effective solutions. Nutritional psychiatry research supports natural interventions such as physical activity, omega-3s, magnesium, and mindfulness before pharmaceutical options.

By emphasizing this principle, you learn to build healthy routines that support mental clarity and emotional balance before resorting to medication. It’s about prevention and empowerment, not dependence on pharmaceuticals from the beginning.

12. You’re Not Stuck with the Brain You Have. You Can Make It Better

This is Dr. Amen’s most hopeful message. Based on his database of nearly 300,000 brain scans, he and his team have proven that with intentional effort, damaged brains can recover and thrive.

Studies on neuroplasticity confirm that consistent brain training, exercise, and emotional regulation practices can improve cognitive function, even after trauma.

Rewrite Your Future With The 12 Rules for Better Brain Health

Supporting your brain health is a lifelong investment in yourself. By practicing Dr. Amen’s 12 principles of brain health, you strengthen your ability to think clearly, love deeply, and recover fully from life’s many trials and hardships.

These principles of brain health form the heart of Amen University’s 6 Weeks to Overcome Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, and Grief course, led by Dr. Daniel Amen and his wife, Tana Amen, BSN, RN. Together, they blend neuroscience, nutrition, and practical psychology into actionable steps that help you calm your mind, lift your mood, and rebuild from the inside out. Register for the course today to start changing your brain and your life.