Optimize Your Learning & Creativity With Science-Based Tools

In this episode, I describe how to access focused learning bouts, creative states, and the underlying neural circuitry involved. I frame this in the context of our daily 24-hour cycle in order to make it practical, clear and precise about timing. I review the role of fasting, meal timing and specific types of nutrients for promoting certain states of mind. I also review various other tools and biological factors that directly or indirectly gate brain function and that we can control. I answer commonly asked questions about the science of psychedelics, binaural beats, and visualization. Thank you for your interest in science!

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Timestamps below.
00:00 Introduction
04:53 The Daily (Learning) Routine
07:13 Plasticity Is NOT the Goal
09:26 No Obligation To Change
09:59 Practical Plasticity Language
13:37 Pillars of Neuroplasticity
15:16 My Daily Routine: Chronotype Management
17:20 Plasticity of the Wake-Sleep Circuit: Morning Light
19:09 Delay Caffeine!
21:19 Light, Black Coffee, Hydrate
22:57 High Alertness, Linear Tasks/Learning
25:12 Background Music/Noise: Yay or Nay?
26:52 “GO” versus “NO-GO”: The Basal Ganglia & Dopamine
28:37 Leveraging GO, NO-GO
30:08 Non-Specific Action
32:06 Clear, Calm, Focused: The GO, NO-GO Sweet Spot
33:48 When Very Alert, Work In Silence; When Tired, Include Background Noise
35:28 Temperaments Vary: And So Should This
36:01 The 3 Hour-Long Post Waking Block
36:20 Early Morning Exercise and GO Networks
38:05 Fasting, Ketogenic Diets, & Food Volume
39:41 Sodium/Electrolytes
40:57 Avoiding Hot Lunch, Food Pre-Occupation
42:01 Post Lunch Low/No Cognitive Load
42:56 Hydration, NSDR, Nap
44:54 Creativity Work
46:26 Creativity Is A Two-Part Phenomenon
51:15 Psychedelics
58:20 Afternoon Light As Insurance
1:00:26 Evening Nutrition
1:01:21 Repacking Glycogen: Hormonal Factors
1:04:11 Pre-Sleep Anxiety: Normal and Easy To Solve
1:07:08 The Power of Objective Tools
1:08:14 Visualization
1:11:34 Mini-Synthesis
1:13:31 Resetting Your Clock
1:15:55 Don’t Trust the Mind Now
1:16:59 Two, (Maybe 3) Optimization Bouts Per Day
1:18:33 Organizational Logic
1:20:22 Wim Hof Breathing, Binaural Beats, Ice Baths, Etc.
1:24:42 Variation Among People, and Dogs
1:25:49 Accurate Versus Exhaustive
1:27:57 Familiar and New Ways To Support

Please note that The Huberman Lab Podcast is distinct from Dr. Huberman's teaching and research roles at Stanford University School of Medicine. The information provided in this show is not medical advice, nor should it be taken or applied as a replacement for medical advice. The Huberman Lab Podcast, its employees, guests and affiliates assume no liability for the application of the information discussed.

[afua]

Who else feels like life is better for everyone when a new episode comes up here?? 🧠✨

[Hugh_Seaton]

This stuff is gold. Has changed how I wake up, how I set myself up to think, work, and create.

[OntheMind]

Your passion comes screaming through your face. Its very refreshing.

[eaesteve]

The quality and clarity of this podcast is outstanding.

[caraid]

I used to hate Mondays, now I love having this podcast to look forward to! I feel like my life is improving a little bit every week- I'm flabbergasted at how much my sleep has improved! ❤👾

[max]

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM EPISODE 8:

-Plasticity is not a goal. It is a state that allows the nervous system to change to our goals. Sleep is absolutely vital if we are going to access plasticity and rewire the brain.

-Getting light early in the morning can combat grogginess, and if you start viewing it frequently in the A.M then the melanopsin cells in connection with the circadian clock will start anticipating the light and you will naturally wake up earlier and more alert the next day. This is a form of "short term" plasticity; this means that you will revert back to your old ways if you do not consistently view light early.

-Delay Intake of caffeine by 2 hours. Ingesting caffeine immediately upon waking can cause a mid-morning crash. Again, you'll start waking up more alert in the morning before caffeine as a result of delaying caffeine intake.

-Hydrate well early in the morning before caffeine. Evidence has shown that even slight dehydration can cause headaches and increase in light sensitivity. He drinks salt water because caffeine excretes sodium more, and so does fasted states. Which he does both.

-States of high alertness are great for things we already know how to do. If you are not alert in the A.M, you might want to delay checking emails, social media until you are at an adequate level of alertness to form an appropriate reaction/response.

-Background music can be helpful or distracting. If you're anxious or too alert, no music will be best. Get rid of phone/internet distractions as well when learning. He throws his phone on the roof sometimes.

-Exercise within the first 1-3 hours of waking up to activate the neuromodulators responsible for learning. Exercising at this time can also increase energy throughout the day. But overall, you will be in a state that lends itself to learning more after an exercise. Sometimes you might feel sleepy after a workout and this is because it was likely a high intensity exercise followed by a large meal of carbs which will bring out feelings of calm/relaxation. Any large quantity of food, carbs or not, will create calm/tiredness.

-His first meal is around noon and eats a low carb meal. He avoids hot food anecdotally because it makes him tired, he does not have a scientific reason for this.

-Fasting increases alertness/epinephrine but wont be good for learning if all you're thinking about is food.

-Around 2-3 P.M he will become tired and no longer is capable for learning in any meaningful way. This time period he will reply to E-mails and do some of the more mundane tasks.

-Around 4 P.M he hydrates some more and tries to avoid caffeine. He will partake in an NSDR protocol/hypnosis to get a second wind on the day. He follows these protocols by doing his 2nd bout of learning. This is different than his morning learning as he focuses more on the creative aspect of learning here. Creative work is much more easier in a more relaxed state.

-He disagrees with psychadelics for kids and peoples whos brains are plastic. He believe they are hazardous for people with preexisting mental health issues who aren't actively receiving clinical help. He believes they can be helpful in a legal, clinical setting.

-He ends his day with a carb-rich meal. He believes they facilitate a calm that's conducive towards good sleep. He believes keto states can cause insomnia as keto states lend themselves to more norepinephrine, but is not against the diet. He believes that carbs maintain a healthy thyroid as well.

-He wakes up during his sleep routinely and will typically do a NSDR to get back to sleep. His colleague reported that most people wake up during their sleep periodically, and most don't realize it. It is normal to wake up during your sleep. Some even look around the room.

[dianeapparcel]

Love your sense of humor. 🤣🤣 I enjoy your thoughts, ideas and explanations. Also, everyone's comments are a pleasure. You have a great group of followers.
YOU ROCK! FIVE STARS 🧡💛💚💙💜

[loriparrish]

hands down the most helpful, informative and practical channel available when it comes to health, happiness and well being. Dr Andrew's grounded approach is awe-inspiring. He is genuine and obviously dedicated to helping people. To be a genius is one thing, to be a genius like Dr Huberman along with being a heart centered human being is rare and a gift. Thank you Dr Huberman.

[austinkuipers]

Each and every episode has given me a dramatic life quality upgrade.
I have more quality sleep and a longer interval of clear thinking every day using the sleep tools in the first few episodes.
It feels like I have more "juice" available when studying/training. I suppose that's actually the case! A few days getting 100k lux in the mornings, getting late afternoon sun, timing feeding intervals/exercise with sleep and avoiding all light between 11-4 makes task completion feel much more rewarding.

I wake up virtually instantly now (I haven't been able to do that since I was a kid!) and have made it a game to guess the time before checking. I sleep in a completely windowless light sealed room. My guesses are consistently minutes from actual time! Averaging out the days, my ultradian cycles seem to be 93 minutes with very little variation.

There are a few podcasts which consistently offer very useful nuggets of science/wisdom, Lex Fridman comes to mind. Every other episode you encounter some actionable tool or idea that primes the mind for a creative bout or offers an improvement to some operating principle or practice. This podcast is a constant stream of such useful tools every single time. I find myself listening to each 4-5 times to extract everything useful. I understand that most to all of what you share on this podcast is distributed throughout the literature and various books, but I struggle to read reams of nonfiction in a field foreign to me with the hopes of obtaining some tidbit of personally useful info here or there.

I recall you stated that science outreach was how you were intending to serve the world in 2020. You've truly gone above and beyond. Thanks to you and to all the other brilliant folk at your lab!

[catrinasida]

As a 45 year old artist and just re entering school this semester, this episode has me waking at 5am and tuned in!!

[amorfati]

You should write a book ! Your presentation is a perfect combination of rigidly scientific information, pragmatic advice and rhetoric.

[lazydaisy]

I had a stroke nearly 5 years ago and lost the ability to speak. Brain plasticity is happening to me right now. Everyday I can speak a little better but it takes so much effort and discipline. I am grateful for any knowledge about the subject. Thank you so much.

[karenscookingkorner]

I wake up every single night, I’m so happy to hear it doesn’t mean it’s a un-natural. What a relief

[sleepmagnolia]

"Many people, including everyone..." lol... I love this podcast so much.

[djimiwreybigsby]

Andrew, I am so grateful for your generosity in sharing your work and improving lives for those of us with limited financial resources...
Thank you 😘

[marciabyrd]

What a blessing to have someone dissipate the misconceptions around us. Thank you ever so much for your generous work, Dr. Huberman.

[radwizard]

Older physics student here. Really hoping to enhance my learning. A little scared I'm to old. I'm extremely determined. Hoping there will be excellent info in your channel. You are the expert. Dramatically changing my life style to help my brain get sticky for knowledge. Physic is a heavy lift. Thank you for your channel.

[reytsyel]

My parents and our dog have all been familiar with Dr. Huberman’s voice and face, primarily voice, because I keep watching his podcasts vid on our TV in the living room with solid theater volume when nobody’s using the TV and I have time to re-watch it. I do this daily :) I just always say he’s my professor so they let me watch as much :)

[ayo]

Ever since I started watching Dr Huberman I am slowly learning how to overcome my laziness and be more productive during the day and in my studies. salute!

[Sofia-zcgg]

"many people including, everyone" 😂 don't know if ot was a mistake or just his irony, either way, funny. I love the way he brings humor without changing his facial expressions xd