Intermittent Fasting to Improve Health, Cognition & Longevity | Dr. Satchin Panda

**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. Satchin Panda. Dr. Satchin Panda is a professor and director of the Regulatory Biology Laboratory at the Salk Institute of Biological Studies. His laboratory has made numerous important contributions that impact mental health, physical health, and human performance. For instance, his laboratory discovered the neurons in the eye and neurons within the brain that regulate our so-called circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythms are 24-hour rhythms in everything from gene expression to the overall functioning of tissues, our levels of mood and alertness, our ability to sleep, appetite, and much, much more. In addition, over the last decade, Dr. Panda's laboratory has made critical discoveries in terms of how our patterns of eating over time impact our biology and our health. In particular, his laboratory pioneered discoveries related to so-called intermittent fasting, also sometimes referred to as time-restricted feeding. Today, Dr. Panda and I discuss how our circadian behaviors, everything from when we wake up to when we view light, to when we avoid viewing light, to when we eat and what we eat, and when we socialize and how we socialize impacts our biology and our psychology and how all of that has a strong impact on our health. During today's discussion, you will learn how restricting your feeding to specific periods within each 24-hour cycle, or perhaps even exploring longer patterns of fasting and eating cycles, can impact everything from the health of your liver to your gut to your brain, and how all of that impacts things like mood and your ability to perform cognitive work. Indeed, today's discussion goes deep into all aspects of intermittent fasting, aka time-restricted feeding. We talk about the basic science, as well as the recent clinical trials that have explored time-restricted feeding in a diverse range of people, including men, women, children, people with diabetes, people who are otherwise healthy, and much, much more. I'm quite aware that intermittent fasting is a topic of much debate these days. We go deep into that debate, and by the end of today's discussion, you can be certain that you will have learned all the latest and all the details, all made very clear to you thanks to the incredible expertise, discovery, and clear communication of Dr. Panda. As some of you may already know, Dr. Panda has authored several important books on the topic of intermittent fasting and how it can benefit various aspects of health. Those books include The Circadian Code and a more recent book, The Circadian Diabetes Code, both of which we've provided links to in the show note captions. In addition, if any of you are interested in learning more about Dr. Panda's work, including seeing his publications and reading those publications or supporting his laboratory, you can do that by going to his laboratory website, which we have also linked in the show note captions. Before you 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 HVMN Ketone IQ. HVMN Ketone IQ is a supplement that increases blood ketones. I want to be clear that I am not following a ketogenic diet. Most people fall into this category. They are not following a ketogenic diet. They are omnivores and they do eat carbohydrates. So their standard fuel source for the brain and body is not ketones. However, I found that by taking ketone IQ, which we know increases blood ketones, I can achieve much better focus for longer periods of time for any kind of cognitive work and much greater energy levels for exercise, especially if I'm going into that exercise fasted and find myself a little bit hungry when I start that exercise. And this is no surprise. We know that ketones are the brain's and body's preferred fuel source, even if you're not following a ketogenic diet. So in other words, I and many other people are now starting to leverage endogenous ketones as a fuel source for the brain and body, and yet we are not following a ketogenic diet. And of course, if you are following a ketogenic diet, ketone IQ will further allow you to increase your blood ketones as a source of brain and body fuel. If you'd like to try ketone IQ, you can go to hvmn.com/huberman to save 20% off your order. Again, that's hvmn.com/huberman. Today's episode is also brought to us by 8 Sleep. 8 Sleep makes smart mattress covers with cooling, heating and sleep tracking capacity. As I've talked about before on the Huberman Lab podcast, there is a critical relationship between sleep and body temperature. That is, in order to fall asleep and stay deeply asleep, your body temperature needs to drop by about one to three degrees. And in order to wake up in the morning and feel alert, your body temperature needs to increase by about one to three degrees. The problem with most people's sleeping environment is that even if you make the room cool, the actual environment that you sleep on, that is your mattress and underneath your covers, is hard to regulate in terms of temperature. With eight sleep, regulating the temperature of that sleeping environment becomes incredibly easy. In fact, you can change the temperature of that environment across the night, making it a little bit cool at the beginning of the night, even cooler still a few hours into your sleep, which really helps getting into very deep sleep. And then warming it as you approach morning so that you wake up feeling most alert. I've been sleeping on an eight sleep mattress cover for over a year now, and it has completely transformed my sleep. If you'd like to try eight sleep, you can go to eightsleep.com/huberman to save up to $150 off their pod three cover. Eight Sleep currently ships in the USA, Canada, UK, select countries in the EU and Australia. Again, that's eightsleep.com/huberman. Today's episode is also brought to us by Thesis. Thesis makes custom nootropics. Now I am not a fan of the word nootropics because it translates to smart drugs. And as a neuroscientist, what I can tell you is that you have circuits in your brain that allow you to focus. You have circuits in your brain that allow you to be creative. You have circuits in your brain that allow you to task switch and on and on. In other words, there is no specific brain circuit or even circuits for being quote unquote smart. Thesis understands this and has developed nootropics that are customized to different types of mental operations. What do I mean by that? Well, they have formulas that can put your brain into a state of increased clarity or focus or creativity or that can give you more overall energy for things like physical exercise. I often take the thesis clarity formula prior to long bouts of cognitive work and I'll use their energy formula prior to doing any kind of really intense physical exercise. If you'd like to try your own personalized nootropic starter kit, go online to takethesis.com/huberman. You'll take a brief three minute quiz and thesis will send you four different formulas to try in your first month. Again, that's takethesis.com/huberman. And if you use the code Huberman at checkout, you'll get 10% off your order. The Huberman Lab podcast is now partnered with Momentous Supplements. To find the supplements we discuss on the Huberman Lab podcast, you can go to Live Momentous, spelled O-U-S, livemomentous.com/huberman. And I should just mention that the library of those supplements is constantly expanding. Again, that's livemomentous.com/huberman.