Andrew Huberman, Ph.D.

COMING SOON: I got a chance to meet with my good friend Dr. Andrew Huberman @hubermanlab at the legendary Gold’s Gym in Venice Beach where so many legends trained with high intensity and incredible effort. Andrew and I talked shop and went through an arm workout together where applied science, anatomy, and biomechanics…and some plain old fashioned effort! As you know, I preach smart training at all times and putting the science back in strength so what better workout partner could there be to get our swole on?! Keep an eye out for the full workout and Humberman Lab podcast! #athleanx #hubermanlab #train #workout #getafterit

I believe that it’s a good idea to cycle the intensity of your workouts. What I personally did and what I’d recommend, is to take it ‘easy’ for a week after six weeks of brutal, intense training. So it’d be a deload week where you would either take the week off (especially if you’ve hit a plateau) or drop most of the intensity of your training. It’s extremely, actually pretty impossible, to train with my level of intensity all year round without any sort of rest… it’ll take its toll on your CNS! Rest and recovery is when the growth happens… @hubermanlab @dynutrition #MrOlympia #Bodybuilding #Gym #Training #Motivation

Comment MOTIVATION below and I’ll DM you a link to the episode. WHAT THE 2 MARSHMALLOW TEST ACTUALLY PREDICTS ABOUT LIFE SUCCESS & ABILITY TO DELAY GRATIFICATION• My guest on the Huberman Lab podcast out now is Dr. Kentaro Fujita, PhD,professor of psychology at The Ohio State University and expert in the science of self-control and motivation. We discuss the best science supported tools for developing strong self-control: to do more of what you aspire to do and cease doing things you would like to avoid. We discuss that “willpower” is not one thing! …you need more than one form of willpower to achieve sustained motivation and overcome procrastination. We discussed the different forms you need in your tool kit to help you avoid procrastination and achieve, persistent renewable levels of motivation. Meaning, not the type you burn out from. Alas, “just do it” doesn’t work. Say the data. At least not in the long run. That doesn’t mean excessive introspection… the episode is focused on actionable steps anyone can apply. Dr. Fujita also clarifies the data on the 2-marshmallow test, delayed gratification and intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation. Most people misunderstand these experiments and even the critiques are misunderstood. You can find the [email protected]. It’s time stamped there so you can navigate quickly to the topics most of interest to you. Please put any questions you have in the comments section below this post and thank you for your interest in science! @stanford @stanford.med @theohiostateuniversity #neurocience #science #ciencia #neurociencia #motivated

REWARDS DO NOT UNDERMINE & IN MANY CASES CAN INCREASE INTRINSIC MOTIVATION • - There is a misconception based on classic research that rewards can undermine intrinsic motivation to do an activity. Recently, I hosted a guest who was an expert researcher on this topic and they clarified that actually the classic experiments show that rewards do not undermine intrinsic motivation, unless people are told to do the activity specifically for a reward at a time when they don’t want to do the activity. This is an important distinction and runs countercurrent to everything pretty much that you’ll see online and I many podcasts about intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation. The takeaway: of course, best to be intrinsically motivated for the joy of the activity, although some people enjoy the strain and pain of an activity, or the feeling they have afterwards having completed it. All those are good and not mutually exclusive. Extrinsic rewards in the form of money, praise, opportunities, etc. do not undermine intrinsic motivation. But they should not be the sole driver of your goal is to continue to enjoy and be motivated to do an activity. This is important information for parents, kids, and frankly for all of us. Stay after it! (Rewards or no). Please put in any questions you might have in the comments section below this post and thank you for your interest in science! And thank you @gbrsgroup @dj_shipley85 for the hat and @adidas for the gear! @stanford @stanford.med #neuroscience #science #ciencia #neurociencia #motivation

MUCH OF LEARNING (IN DOGS & HUMANS) IS TOP DOWN INHIBITION • Much of learning involves adjusting the connections between the prefrontal cortex and deeper brain structures that control impulses. Indeed, if you look at motor learning in humans or other mammals, you’ll notice that most of building a skill is about eliminating incorrect aspects of a movement. This is my second bulldog mutt, and as with the last one (Costello) I started the training early at 9 weeks. Strummer is doing a great job learning to suppress his impulse to move aka “sit” and to come when called, to stay calm around food and all the rest. Dogs have a tiny prefrontal cortex relative to humans but they can multipurpose it to learn lots of things and lots of different scenarios. They are oh so smart. But it is kind of fun to think about how they’re training you as well. Indeed training a bulldog breed (because they’re so stubborn) is also about training yourself in patience. Strummer is part mastiff and boxer/pit too but he’s still been giving us a run for our money on the patience side! What he doesn’t know is I’ve done this before. And it’s been pure pleasure. NOTE: I want to be thoughtful in sharing any post about a bulldog and how great they are because they have wonderful personalities, but they are not trivial to raise properly and take care of properly so if you decide to take that on understand it will take many hours per day or more to train them up and to keep them healthy. If they’re just allowed to sleep and you let them just kind of move around like sea turtles they get very unhealthy and unhappy. I suggest getting a mutt because they tend to be a little bit easier, but then they’ll also have more energy. So then you’ve got a stubborn high energy dog! But they have huge hearts, like no other breed (in my opinion). We can learn a lot from dogs. And other animals and our interactions w/them -not just observing them. Future episode with expert dog neuroscientist who also is an expert on human learning coming soon to the Huberman lab podcast. Thank you for your interest in science! @stanford @stanford.med #neuroscience #science #ciencia #neurociencia #plasticity

Comment AGENCY & I’ll DM you a link to the episode My guest on the Huberman Lab podcast out now is Dr. Paul Conti, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist and an expert in how people can improve their mental health and increase their sense of agency and wellbeing. We discuss practical tools you can use to gain insight into your natural strengths and to make better life choices on your own behalf. We explore how these tools can help overcome low motivation, intrusive thoughts and self-destructive bad habits. We also discuss how to balance internal reflection and external action to ensure you move your life forward in the right directions. It is a unique perspective on mental health and well-being that focuses on what’s going right and what works from one of the worlds foremost experts. You can comment AGENCY and then I’ll send you a link to the episode or you can also find the episode at Hubermanlab.com (linked to there to all platforms or podcasts are provided). Please put any questions you might have below and thank you for your interest in science! @stanford @stanford.med #neuroscience #science #health #agency #confidence

Comment PURPOSE and I’ll DM you a link to the full episode. My guest on the Huberman Lab podcast out now is Scott Galloway @profgalloway a professor of marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business, and leading public educator on the topics of male roles, finance, social dynamics, and many other topics. We discuss masculine roles and obligations of past, present and future. We explore which are timeless and which are changing, and positive steps boys and men can take to create meaning and stability in their lives. We cover roles in work, finances, health and relationships to build a grounded, purposeful life. We also discuss the easy-to-fall-into-traps that many young men and many adults to are falling into these days. And how to get out of those traps. Throughout, we emphasize specific daily practices for building mental, physical and economic resilience, compassion for others, and for navigating key life decisions in every realm. This discussion is probably going to land differently than you might expect. Scott and I definitely disagree on certain things and of course agree on others and we explore all those candidly. It is a conversation that men and women will both find very interesting, and indeed important given where our society is right now. Please put any questions or comments you have below and thank you for your interest in science! @stanford @stanford.med #neuroscience #science #ciencia #purpose #roles

LIVE Q & A: ALL TOPICS That was fun! Logged on for a few minutes right around sunset to answer your questions and they were great ones! I may have misspoken slightly on the percentage of descending motor fibers in the vagus. It’s probably closer to 15% but I’m sure someone out there will correct me and if so, I’ll put something here in the captions within an edit. I regret I’ve been somewhat absent from Instagram lately. I’ve been tending to a lot of things, including a lecture last night at Stanford that I hope we can post here shortly. I’ll be back on here in full starting next week. Wishing you all the best and as always, thank you for your interest in science!

COMMENT EQ and I’ll DM you a link to the full episode. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE & REGULATION IS NOT ABOUT CONSTANT MONITORING OR ANALYSIS OF YOUR EMOTIONS • My guest on the Huberman Lab podcast out now is @marc.brackett founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and a professor in the Child Study Center at Yale University. We discuss the science of emotion regulation and practical tools to increase your emotional intelligence. Dr. Brackett clarifies exactly how to do that both in the context of relationships, but also things that you can do on your own to become more emotionally intelligent to later serve you in the context of relationships, work, school, etc. We also discuss how your childhood experiences influence your relationship with emotions, with particular emphasis on how boys and men are socialized around emotional processing and expression. NOTE: you can find the episode by going to Hubermanlab.com or comment EQ below and I’ll DM you a link to the episode. Please put any questions you have about this or any other topics below and thank you for your interest in science!

PLEASE WELCOME… STRUMMER. (Named after the Great @joestrummer of course; the Clash, Mescaleros) Strummer is 10 weeks old today. This is my second Olde English Bulldog. For those of you that have listened to the podcast for a while you may recall early episodes that featured Costello — also an Olde English Bulldog (which is distinct from pure English bulldog; Olde English are mutted with Mastiff and Pit, which yields pups that breathe better and move better). Costello passed (after a long life) in 2021. Strummer’s morning routine: Wake up Sunlight Walk Training (yes we started training him right away. He can already Sit. Stay. Wait. And he knows to make eye contact. He’s learning most things in two trials… he’s very smart). We only use rewards and semi-intermittent reinforcement to train. Then we do a little bit of nose training: then… Free play. Then he eats breakfast. Water. And then he gets a nap in front of a red incandescent light @saunaspace (no affiliation, but theirs are amazing.) We repeat that routine in the evening. Obviously, he does not need @mateina — the Yerba zero sugar, cold brew organic mate I helped develop, but I DO! (And I drink the loose leaf Mateina Yerba too, brewed hot). A few bulldog facts: The Olde English line from the early last century and 1800s used for bullbaiting (thankfully a banned sport now) is different than the line that was revitalized in the 1970s, but the idea is similar: healthier bulldog breed, better breathing. Why? Well, English bulldogs are wonderful animals, but excessive inbreeding has caused a lot of problems for the breed over the last 30 years. People get them and they don’t realize how much work and cost they are and the many medical problems that go with that inbreeding, such as apnea etc. The @bulldogclubofamerica & @americankennelclub breeders are working hard to restore health to the pure English Bulldog breed. And I purposefully kept his tail! Let it wag! PS: As with Costello, my good friend Elvis Cortez— Left Alone, @hellcatrecords & member of @thetransplantsband found Strummer for me. Elvis, thank you!

HORMONE (ENDOCRINE) DISRUPTORS ARE PRESENT IN A LOT OF PERFUMES, SCENTED CANDLES, CREAMS & SOAPS… & “UNSCENTED” IS A SCENT… YES YOU READ RIGHT • My guest on the Huberman Lab podcast out now is Dr. Natalie Crawford, an OBGYN and expert in female hormones and fertility. On the podcast, she informed us about the various hormone biomarkers important for fertility, and ways to improve those markers, as well as ways to reduce bodily inflammation and support general hormone health and fertility. We also got into the topic of hormone disruptors present in consumer products and in our environment. Obviously these are impossible to avoid entirely, but you can certainly make better choices by avoiding many scented products that go on your skin or even scented candles, etc.. The idea is not to be paranoid about such products. But rather, to limit your exposure to them, especially if you’re trying to conceive or if you’re experiencing hormone issues. A surprising fact is that many product labeled as “unscented” actually contain these hormone disrupting chemical scents. That’s right: Unscented is a scent added by manufacturers! So what you really want is “fragrance free”. And again the ideas to limit your overall exposure to endocrine disruptors. They’re simply no way to avoid them entirely if you’re going to live in the industrialized world. So consider the points above when thinking about creams and perfumes you apply to your skin daily. Or air fresheners or candles… To find the episode go to hubermanlab.com. It’s linked there in all formats. Also, Dr. Crawford has a terrific new book out entitled The Fertility Formula. You can find it wherever books are sold. NOTE: It’s not just a book for people thinking about having children. It also gets into important actionable tools for improving hormone health at any age or stage of life. Put any comments or questions you might have below and thank you for your interest in science! @stanford.med @stanford #neuroscience #science #ciencia #neurociencia #hormones

Comment FERTILITY & I’ll DM you a link to the episode. CANNABIS USE IS DETRIMENTAL TO SPERM • Dr. Natalie Crawford, MD, @nataliecrawfordmd is a double board-certified OB-GYN and reproductive endocrinologist. She is my guest on the Huberman Lab podcast out now. We discuss how to improve hormone health at any age and the importance of fertility markers not just for pregnancy, but as a powerful window into overall health, vitality and longevity. We discuss hormone replacement therapy, egg freezing, IVF, and what biomarkers like AMH really indicate. Plus, how anti-inflammatory diets and specific supplements can be beneficial and the impact of microplastics and certain fragrances on hormones. We also discuss lesser-known factors that deplete male and female fertility, vitality and health. The conversation highlights how better understanding of hormones and your reproductive markers can empower better informed choices at every stage of life. I highly recommend it for women of all ages and also for men. There’s important information in there for you too. About women, but# A bit more context for the excerpt: Even if they can fertilize, cannabis can negatively impact sperm by causing DNA damage. Many miscarriages and (in the case of IVF) “day 3 crashes” which is when paternal DNA normally kicks in, are cannabis related. Keep in mind that spermatogenesis takes about 90 days so halting use should allow things to improve. It’s unclear if they are permanent effects from cannabis use. I’m sure many people will say that they conceived healthy children while using. That’s not the point. The point is for people who might be struggling this is an actionable lever. And of course anyone wishing to have the healthiest possible offspring… that’s for your consideration. You can also find the episode by going to hubermanlab.com. Please put any questions or comments below and thank you for your interest in science! @stanford @stanford.med #neuroscience #science #ciencia #neurociencia health