Has Stress Taken Over Your Life? Try This Exercise
Change Your Brain Every Day
Dr Daniel Amen
4.6 • 1.8K Ratings
🗓️ 6 January 2026
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
You do not have to be a victim! Everyone struggles with stressful situations at some point in their life. And most of us know that too much stress isn't good for us. But in today's world, we're faced with all kinds of stress on a daily basis—there's no escaping it! Did you know that, according to the National Safety Council, stress contributes to as much as 80% of all disease and illness? Understanding that having to deal with stress is inevitable and that too much stress is really bad for your brain and health, it is critical to know how to deal with stress.
In this week's short video, Dr. Daniel Amen and his wife Tana Amen talk about stressors that they have faced and share the strategies that they personally use to overcome their anxieties. You will discover: How to use a fork in the road to change your life forever. That understanding the difference between blame and responsibility can empower you. The importance of where you focus your thoughts. You have a choice how you respond to the stress in your life!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Every day you are making your brain better or you are making it worse. |
| 0:07.0 | Stay with us to learn how you can change your brain for the better every day. |
| 0:15.0 | Welcome back. We want to talk to today about some of our own stressful experiences. So you know that we know this, not only |
| 0:25.1 | from a professional standpoint, but from a personal standpoint. |
| 0:28.6 | Well, we know you're watching this for a reason. And so we've both struggled. Everybody |
| 0:33.1 | struggles with stress at some point. And these are some of the strategies we've used to overcome. |
| 0:38.3 | And we like to teach these strategies. |
| 0:40.3 | So when we first met, we were on a drive up north, and we went through Huntington Beach |
| 0:46.3 | because there was too much traffic on the freeway, and all of a sudden, my heart stopped |
| 0:53.3 | because we passed- Yeah, and you got teary. I because we passed the cemetery where my grandfather was. |
| 0:58.1 | And I didn't know what it was at first, and I looked at you and you were very emotional. |
| 1:02.1 | Well, the saddest day of my life was when my grandfather died. |
| 1:06.8 | So I was named after him. |
| 1:09.6 | He was my best friend growing up. And I was named after him. He was my best friend growing up. |
| 1:12.6 | And I was in medical school when he died. |
| 1:16.6 | And he'd had a heart attack, and then he had another one. |
| 1:21.6 | And then he got depressed. |
| 1:23.6 | And he was a candy maker and everybody's friend and all of a sudden this man I looked up to |
| 1:35.3 | was sad and would cry and couldn't sleep and looking back on it what I learned later is 60% of people who have a heart attack |
| 1:47.4 | will develop a major depression within the next 18 months. |
| 1:53.4 | And people really weren't paying attention to that. |
| 1:57.9 | And for many years, as soon as I would think about his death I would just start weeping. |
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