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6 Age-Reversing Habits: How I Made My Brain 10 Years Younger

Brian Pennie, PhD
The Academic
Published in
12 min readDec 1, 2024
Speaking at an event in 2022

Ever since a traumatic event as a child, I was consumed by anxiety and tormented by my mind. As I got older, my anxiety and panic attacks got worse, and so did my urge to escape it.

I began using drugs when I was 14 years old, and by the time I was 20, I was a heroin addict. I spent the next 15 years destroying my body and mind. But I was lucky. Pummelled into submission by the most painful night of my life, I was forced to look at the world from a completely new perspective.

Life gifted me a second chance, and I devoured every second of it.

That was in October 2013, and since then, I’ve become a doctor of neuroscience and psychology, an author, a founder of my own company called Change is Possible, and a lecturer at the top two universities in Ireland where I teach neuroscience.

My newfound curiosity also introduced me to the world of personal growth, where I designed a programme to help me navigate my new life. The tools and habits from this programme have helped me achieve external success, but my greatest success is internal, where I’ve completely transformed my relationship with anxiety.

As luck had it, I was part of a brain imaging study while I was in detox. Using scans from my addicted…

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The Academic
The Academic

Published in The Academic

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Brian Pennie, PhD
Brian Pennie, PhD

Written by Brian Pennie, PhD

Change is possible. I write to show that | Recovered heroin addict turned doctor. www.brianpennie.com

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