Maximizing Productivity, Physical & Mental Health with Daily Tools

**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, we're going to talk about science-based protocols for sleep, mood, learning, nutrition, exercise of various kinds, strength and endurance and hypertrophy. And we're going to talk about some protocols that relate to creativity. We're going to talk about behavioral protocols, supplement-based protocols, all science-backed by quality peer review literature. The reason that we're holding this episode now is that in the recent previous episodes, we've covered some pretty intense and in-depth topics. We've talked about vision and how we see and how to get better at seeing and how to maintain vision. We've talked about hearing and balance. We've talked about chemical sensing, and we had a guest episode that covered a lot of information about new and emerging technologies in neuroscience, as well as mental health. That was the interview episode with Dr. Carl Dysaroff. So given that we've covered so much detailed information in the previous 27 episodes of the Huberman Lab podcast, I decided that we would hold office hours. Office hours in the university setting are when students come to the professor's office or you meet outdoors on campus or in the classroom. To review the material and questions from lecture in more detail. Now, unfortunately, we don't have the opportunity to meet face to face in real life, but nonetheless, you've been sending your questions, putting them in the comment section on YouTube, et cetera. And I prepared a number of answers to the questions that have shown up most frequently. Now in order to provide context and structure to the way that we will address these questions, I've arranged the science and science-based protocols that relate to various aspects of life, such as mood, exercise, sleep, waking, anxiety, creativity, et cetera, into the context of a day. Selecting the unit of a day in order to deliver this science information and protocols is not a haphazard decision on my part. It's actually the case that every cell in our body, every organ in our body and our brain is modulated or changes across the 24-hour day in a very regular and predictable rhythm. And it's no coincidence that the earth spins once on its axis every 24 hours. These two things are coordinated by virtue of genes and different proteins and things that are expressed in every cell of your body. And so selecting the unit of the day is not just a practical one, but it's one that's related to our deeper biology.
You may have heard in my interview episode with Dr. Karl Deisseroth that he himself, in order to juggle a tremendous workload, a full-time clinical practice, a lab of 40-plus people, a family of five children, et cetera, breaks up his life into units of days. And so today we are going to further dissect the day as a unit that one can manage and manage extremely well and in fact can optimize. So we're basically going to talk about how to leverage science-based protocols. And when I say science, I mean quality, peer-reviewed science published in excellent journals. We're going to talk about how to take that science, convert it into specific protocols that break up along the course of a single day and direct certain types of behaviors in order to optimize the various features of life. I will couch this in the context of what I do across a daily 24-hour rhythm. That doesn't mean that you have to follow this schedule at all, or even in part. It's just by way of example, any number of the different things that I described could be applied to any number of different schedules or frameworks. But if there's one truth that applies to all of us is that we all have to exist within the context of this 24-hour rhythm that we all possess. So that's what we'll focus on. 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'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.