How to Rewire Your Brain & Learn Faster | Dr. Michael Kilgard

**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. My guest today is Dr. Michael Kilgard. Dr. Michael Kilgard is a professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, and he is one of the world's leading experts in neuroplasticity, which is the brain's ability to change in response to experience. Since the beginning of the field of neuroscience, meaning for well over 100 years, it was understood that the young brain can change. Kids can learn things, they can learn languages, new skills, and young adults can learn, but that the adult brain was less capable of learning. Then in the late 90s, it was Dr. Kilgard, in collaboration with his colleagues, that discovered that indeed the adult brain can change massively if the right conditions are set. His work showed that if specific neuromodulators, meaning acetylcholine, norepinephrine, serotonin, or dopamine, are triggered to be released in the adult brain, you can achieve massive rewiring of brain circuits and learning, even as an adult. This opened up an entire new field within neuroscience and of course has profound implications for health and disease. It's also completely changed the way that we think about learning, longevity, and brain health. More recently, Dr. Kilgard's research has focused on vagus nerve stimulation to precisely control the timing of neuromodulator release. As you may know, the vagus nerve connects the body with the brain and the brain with the body. And by stimulating a particular branch of the vagus nerve pathway, his laboratory has shown that people can overcome debilitating conditions such as tinnitus, stroke, and even restore mobility to people who have suffered spinal cord injuries. During today's episode, we discussed the specific actionable strategies that you or anyone can use to rewire your brain at any stage of life. So as you'll soon see, Dr. Kilgard has an exceptionally clear and practical understanding of how to apply what we know about neuroplasticity so that you can learn better and improve your brain health. 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, today's episode does include sponsors. I have a brief announcement to make about my upcoming book, Protocols, an operating manual for the human body. I've completed the book now several times, and yet it's not quite ready for release. And I'll tell you why. Some years ago, somebody I highly respect in the research science field that I was working with on a project said to us as a group, if you have the opportunity to make something better, you do it. Now I realize that runs counter to what we also often hear, which is never let perfect get in the way of completed. But I must say, when it comes to providing the public health protocols, I absolutely insist that you have the most up to date science and information in the Protocols Book. And so that's the reason why I've decided to go through and basically revise each and every chapter adding some things based on new research and improving the protocols overall. I strongly feel that's my obligation to the data and to all of you. I confess part of the delay is also because I've decided to do all the illustrations for the book myself. As a consequence, my book is now going to be released in September, 2026 If you'd like to preorder the book, it's available in English and other languages. And yes, it will be available in audio form. If you'd like to preorder, go to protocolsbook.com. Thank you for your patience. I'm excited to share the book with you next year. And now for my discussion with Dr. Michael Kilgard. Dr. Michael Kilgard, welcome.

**Michael Kilgard** (3:26)
Nice to be here.

**Andrew Huberman** (3:27)
You and I both share a fascination with neuroplasticity, the ability for our nervous system to change itself, for better or worse. So to start off, let's just talk about plasticity, what it is, how plasticity in childhood differs from plasticity in adulthood. I know how I think about these topics. I'd love to know how you think about neuroplasticity and why you've essentially devoted your professional life to studying it.

**Michael Kilgard** (3:52)
Yeah. I mean, I don't love the word. Plastic makes it seem like something artificial and uninteresting. But the idea that the brain can change is a new idea. We used to think everything was hardwired and you are the way they are and nothing can change. Now we know that you're making new connections every day, every time you learn something new. And that change in our way of thinking about things has implications up and down the aisle on how we interact and everything we do. The science of it is so exciting, the types of experiments that have been done, the ways that you can literally see these new connections. Our forefathers, 100 years ago, could only look at dead tissue and imagine all the changes and excitement that was going on in Ramonica Hall and others. But now we can, real time, watch these new connections and imagine that there's not hundreds of them, there's not thousands of them, there's not millions of them, there's not billions. But there's trillions of new connections every second of your day are trying to decide, should I strengthen this one? Should I weaken this one? Or should I leave them the same? And that idea that your brain is as active as you feel is so different than what we were told. We were told, you've got this brain, it's very dangerous, you should wear a helmet, you should not mess with it. And the fact that it's alive and moving to me is just much more consistent with my experience with my own inner life and interact with other people. So the fact that the science matches the everyday experience, I think is one of the most enlightening parts of those experiments.