Lessons from the Huberman Lab podcast

One right podcast can change your worldview.

Being a Huberman Lab podcast fanboy off late, I stumbled into one of my favorite podcasts where Huberman talks about neuroscience and brain health with Rich Roll at 2AM on a warm night during the first lockdown in 2020. I couldn’t sleep that night. This is the best interview I have ever seen in terms of impact on my worldview. You can see just how intelligent he his by his ability to dumb down such complicated science. He makes it seem like anyone can become a neuroscientist.

Few tips I still remember:

1. Write down the time you wake up — establish your average “temperature minimum” ~2hrs before waking. Try to wake up at the same time regardless of what time you went to sleep.
2. Take a walk (forward ambulation) — visual images pass by our eyes and quiets activity in the amygdala. Natural sunlight stimulates neurons which signals the brain to be alert and bumps cortisol.
3. Drink water — sometimes add a little sea salt. Promotes “ionic flow” in our neurons. Wait for and hour or two before drinking coffee. Caffeine blocks adenosine buildup which could cause you to crash in the afternoon.
4. Fast in the morning — increase adrenaline levels which allows us to focus and learn better
5. Exercise an hour a day — cardio & weight training. Take a recovery day on the weekend.
6. Dopamine fasting: Our bodies’ release of dopamine is not directly tied to pleasure. In Huberman’s words, “It is the currency of pleasure expectation.” When we are waiting for our ice cream sundae to arrive, our dopamine is higher than when we eat it. When rewards are expected and doled out on a set and reliable schedule, we get a little dopamine between expectation and delivery, but not much. When we don’t know if or when rewards are going to arrive, we get significantly more dopamine. And dopamine equals engagement.
7. Control the wake-sleep cycle.

• Get bright light in your eyes as early as possible in the day. Ideally, sunlight, and if that’s not possible, use bright artificial light. This will trigger the release of cortisol and melatonin.
• During the day and in the afternoon, go outside to boost wakefulness.
• Avoid bright, overhead lights in the evening and the night. Instead, use soft lights that are placed low in your visual field.

8. Reverse the effects of stress by breathing: One breathing pattern the Huberman team is studying is called “physiological sighs” — pattern of breathing in which two inhales through the nose are followed by an extended exhale through the mouth. Huberman explained how it works: “You have little sacks of air in the lungs, which increase the volume of air that you can bring in. Those sacks collapse over time, and as a result, oxygen levels start to go down and carbon dioxide levels go up in the bloodstream and body, and that a big part of the signaling of the stress response.”