Boost Attention & Memory with Science-Based Tools | Dr. Wendy Suzuki

**Andrew Huberman** (0:00)
Welcome to the Huberman Lab podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.
I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, my guest is Dr. Wendy Suzuki. Dr. Suzuki is a professor of neuroscience and psychology at New York University, and one of the leading researchers in the area of learning and memory. Her laboratory has contributed fundamental textbook understanding of how brain areas such as the hippocampus, which you will learn about today, how the hippocampus and related brain circuits allow us to take certain experiences and commit them to memory so that we can use that information in the future. Dr. Suzuki is also an expert public educator in the realm of science. A few years back, she had a TED talk that essentially went viral. If you haven't seen it already, you should absolutely check it out, in which she describes her experience using exercise as a way to enhance learning and memory. And on the basis of that personal experience, she reshaped her laboratory to explore how things like meditation, exercise and other things that we can do with our physiology and our psychology can allow us to learn faster, to commit things to memory longer, and indeed to reshape our cognitive performance in a variety of settings. As such, I am delighted to announce that Dr. Suzuki is now not only running a laboratory at New York University, but she is the incoming Dean of Arts and Science at New York University. And of course, she was selected for that role for her many talents. But one of the important aspects of her program, she tells me, is going to be to incorporate the incredible power of exercise, meditation and other behavioral practices for enhancing learning, for improving stress management and other things to optimize student performance. Today, you are going to get access to much of that information so that you can apply those tools in your daily life as well. Dr. Suzuki is also an author of several important books. The most recent one is entitled Good Anxiety, Harnessing the Power of the Most Misunderstood Emotion. And a previous book entitled Healthy Brain, Happy Life, a personal program to activate your brain and do everything better. And while that is admittedly a very pop science type title, I will remind you that she is one of the preeminent memory researchers in the world and has been for quite a while. So the information that you'll glean from those books is both rich in depth and breath and is highly applicable. By the end of today's discussion, you will have learned from Dr. Suzuki a large amount of knowledge about how memories are formed, how they are lost, and you will have a much larger kit of tools to apply for your efforts to learn better, to remember better, and to apply that information in the ways that best serve you. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public. Our first sponsor is Athletic Greens. Athletic Greens is an all-in-one vitamin mineral probiotic drink. I've been taking Athletic Greens since 2012, so I'm delighted that they're sponsoring the podcast. The reason I started taking Athletic Greens and the reason I still take Athletic Greens once or twice a day is that it helps me cover all of my basic nutritional needs. It makes up for any deficiencies that I might have. In addition, it has probiotics, which are vital for microbiome health. I've done a couple of episodes now on the so-called gut microbiome and the ways in which the microbiome interacts with your immune system, with your brain to regulate mood, and essentially with every biological system relevant to health throughout your brain and body. With Athletic Greens, I get the vitamins I need, the minerals I need and the probiotics to support my microbiome. If you'd like to try Athletic Greens, you can go to athleticgreens.com/huberman and claim a special offer. They'll give you five free travel packs plus a year's supply of vitamin D3K2. There are a ton of data now showing that vitamin D3 is essential for various aspects of our brain and body health. Even if we're getting a lot of sunshine, many of us are still deficient in vitamin D3. And K2 is also important because it regulates things like cardiovascular function, calcium in the body and so on. Again, go to athleticgreens.com/huberman to claim the special offer of the five free travel packs and the year supply of vitamin D3K2. Today's episode is also brought to us by Element. Element is an electrolyte drink that has everything you need and nothing you don't. That means the exact ratios of electrolytes are in Element and those are sodium, magnesium and potassium, but it has no sugar. I've talked many times before on this podcast about the key role of hydration and electrolytes for nerve cell function, neuron function, as well as the function of all the cells and all the tissues and organ systems of the body. If we have sodium, magnesium and potassium present in the proper ratios, all of those cells function properly and all our bodily systems can be optimized. If the electrolytes are not present and if hydration is low, we simply can't think as well as we would otherwise. Our mood is off, hormone systems go off, our ability to get into physical action, to engage in endurance and strength and all sorts of other things is diminished. So with element, you can make sure that you're staying on top of your hydration and that you're getting the proper ratios of electrolytes. If you'd like to try element, you can go to drinkelement, that's lmnt.com/huberman, and you'll get a free element sample pack with your purchase. They're all delicious. So again, if you want to try element, you can go to elementlmnt.com/huberman. Today's episode is also brought to us by Thesis. Thesis makes what are called neutropics, which means smart drugs. Now, to be honest, I am not a fan of the term neutropics. I don't believe in smart drugs in the sense that I don't believe that there's any one substance or collection of substances that can make us smarter. I do believe based on science, however, that there are particular neural circuits and brain functions that allow us to be more focused, more alert, access creativity, be more motivated, et cetera. That's just the way that the brain works, different neural circuits for different brain states. Thesis understands this. And as far as I know, they're the first Neutropics company to create targeted Neutropics for specific outcomes. I've been using Thesis for more than six months now. And I can confidently say that their Neutropics have been a total game changer. My go-to formula is the clarity formula, or sometimes I'll use their energy formula before training. To get your own personalized Neutropics starter kit, go online to takethesis.com/huberman, take a three minute quiz, and Thesis will send you four different formulas to try in your first month. That's takethesis.com/huberman, and use the code Huberman at checkout for 10% off your first order. And now for my discussion with Dr. Wendy Suzuki. Wendy, great to see you again and to have you here. It's been a little while.