Erasing Fears & Traumas Based on the Modern Neuroscience of Fear

**Andrew D. 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, we're going to talk about the neuroscience of fear. We are also going to talk about trauma and post-traumatic stress disorders. The neuroscience of fear has a long history in biology and in the field of psychology. However, I think it's fair to say that in the last 10 years, the field of neuroscience has shed light on not just the neural circuits, meaning the areas of the brain that control the fear response and the ways that it does it, but some important ways to extinguish fears using behavioral therapies, drug therapies, and what we call brain machine interfaces. Today, we are going to talk about all of those, and you are going to come away with both an understanding of the biology of fear and trauma as well as many practical tools to confront fear and trauma. In fact, we are going to discuss one very recently published study in which five minutes a day of deliberate exposure to stress was shown to alleviate longstanding depressive and fear related symptoms. We will get into the details of that study and the protocol that emerges from that study a little later in the podcast, but it stands as a really important, somewhat counterintuitive example of how stress itself can be used to combat fear. To give you a sense of where we are going, I'll just lay out the framework for today's podcast. First, I'm going to teach you about the biology of fear and trauma, literally the cells and circuits and connections in the body and chemicals in the body that give rise to the so-called fear response and why sometimes, but not always, fear can turn into trauma. I will also describe the biology of how fear is unlearned or what we call extinguished. And there too, you're going to get some serious surprises. You're going to learn, for instance, that we can't just eliminate fears. We actually have to replace fears with a new positive event. And again, there are tools with which to do that. And I will teach you those tools today. 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. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. 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 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 D3 K2. 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.