What my brain actually looks like — and what it taught me.
On paper I looked textbook healthy. Then I got a SPECT scan at Amen Clinics. This is the story those images told, translated into plain English, and the protocol I built around it. A personal teaching tool — take what's useful.
Most brain imaging shows structure. SPECT shows function.
An MRI or CT tells you what the brain looks like. A SPECT scan measures blood flow and activity — what the brain is actually doing. It surfaces three things: areas that work well, areas that work too hard, and areas that don't work hard enough.
The Total Brain assessment measures dozens of cognitive and emotional capacities against population norms. Here's where the numbers came back strong — the foundation everything else builds on.
100th
Resilience
97th
Social Connectivity
85th
Planning
76th
Emotional Flexibility
74th
Anxiety Control
Percentiles are relative to population norms on the Total Brain assessment. Resilience at the 100th percentile is the headline — the capacity to absorb stress and recover.
WHAT THE STANDARD SCREENS SHOWED
On paper, textbook healthy.
Every standard mental-health screener came back at or near zero.
PHQ-9 1GAD-7 0PTSD not at riskADHD not at riskSubstance not at riskSleep apnea not at risk
But SPECT told a more nuanced story.
MY BRAIN, UNCOVERED
Three scans. Toggle clean to annotated.
These are my actual SPECT images from Amen Clinics, read by Dr. Creado. All identifying information has been removed. Switch each scan between the raw view and the annotated view to see exactly what the clinician saw — with the technical finding translated into how it can actually feel day to day.
Baseline — brain at rest
What this scan captured: brain activity at rest, in a quiet room, with no task — the resting baseline.
What Dr. Creado saw:
Limbic systemDiamond-Plus pattern of limbic activityCan present as past emotional trauma and heightened emotional processing.
Anterior cingulate gyrusIncreased activityDifficulty shifting attention, a tendency to worry, getting stuck on thoughts.
Inferior orbital prefrontal cortexDecreased bilateral activityA signature seen with the depression + ADD/ADHD combination, or a past head-injury pattern.
Concentration — brain on task
What this scan captured: brain activity during a demanding concentration task (a continuous performance test).
What Dr. Creado saw:
Limbic systemDiamond-Plus, more pronounced with concentrationEmotional processing ramps up precisely when focus is demanded.
Right temporal lobeIncreased activityMood instability, irritability, memory glitches, déjà vu, unexplained headaches.
Basal ganglia + insulaIncreased bilaterally, more intense with concentrationAnxiety when engaged; when balanced, the same node drives high motivation and drive.
Active blood flow — the 3D overlay
What this scan captured: the most active 15% of blood flow (red) mapped over the brain surface (blue) during the concentration task.
What Dr. Creado saw:
Basal ganglia + thalamusDeep central hotspots — overdriveThe brain's alarm-and-motivation circuitry running hot under load.
Anterior cingulateFrontal red clusters during taskThe "worry gearbox" lighting up exactly when shifting attention is required.
Orbital prefrontal cortexReduced frontal-inferior signalThe brakes-and-focus region running quiet — the focus edge, made visible.
THE DATA
The cognitive tests behind the scans.
The scans are the picture. The test scores are the corroboration — the same story told from a different angle. Here are the growth edges, each tied back to the scan finding it lines up with.
Total Brain — growth edges
34PERCENTILE
Focus.Maps to the anterior cingulate + orbital PFC findings — the shift-and-sustain circuitry.
30PERCENTILE
Flexibility.Maps to the anterior cingulate — the "getting stuck" pattern.
41PERCENTILE
Recall Memory.Maps to the right temporal findings.
Conners CPT 3 — corroboration
No ADHD indication overall — only one atypical score. The cognitive test agrees with the scan: this isn't classic ADHD.
T 72VERY ELEVATED
HRT ISI Change. Substantial slowdown in response speed at longer intervals — a vigilance edge that ties to the orbital PFC + cingulate findings.
T 30VERY LIBERAL
Response style. Speed over accuracy — ties to the right-temporal / basal-ganglia impulsivity signature.
Same story, three instruments: the scan, the Total Brain percentiles, and the Conners CPT all point to the same focus-and-vigilance edge — sitting right alongside genuine strengths.
THE FRAMEWORK
The Three Pillars
Every optimization below fits into one of three domains. Master all three.
FOUNDATION
Test. Measure. Baseline. You cannot optimize what you do not track.
DAILY INPUTS
Food, supplements, sleep, movement — the compounding daily deposits.
SUPERCHARGE
Sauna, HBOT, vagal stimulation, toxin defense — the accelerators.
01 · FUEL
Feed the machine that runs everything.
Stick To
Wild-caught fish
Grass-fed meat
Organic greens
Protein: 1.5 g per kg body weight daily
Minimize
Pasta, rice, wheat, white potatoes (fast carbs)
Avoid
Sugar
Processed foods
Seed oils
Cook With
Labeled "glyphosate residue free"
Avocado oil
Butter
Ghee
Beef tallow
MCT oil
Protocol
18:6 intermittent fasting window
The 8 × 8 Rule
Eight 8-ounce glasses daily. About 2 liters. Half a gallon.
Water source: Mineral water or reverse osmosis only. Tap water carries arsenic, fluoride, forever chemicals, microplastics, atrazine, hormones, antibiotics, and lead.
Essential if you have a history of sleep apnea, UPPP surgery, or no follow-up sleep testing in 5+ years.
TAKEAWAYS FOR EVERYONE
The universal checklist.
None of the above is a prescription for you — it's mine. But almost everyone benefits from these fundamentals. Twenty things, grouped by pillar, each with why it matters.
FUEL
Drink half your body weight in ounces of clean, filtered water daily — every cell function depends on it
Eat protein at every meal (target 1g per lb of ideal bodyweight) — muscle mass predicts brain longevity
Cut alcohol to zero or near-zero — SPECT scans show alcohol shrinks brain tissue at moderate use
Add omega-3s (EPA+DHA 2–3g/day) — the single best-studied supplement for brain structure
Eat the rainbow — colored plants provide the polyphenols that protect neurons
STACK
Vitamin D3 + K2 (5,000 IU / 100 mcg) — most adults are deficient; low D correlates with depression + cognitive decline
Magnesium glycinate (400 mg at night) — sleep, muscle recovery, and calm nervous system
