Andrew Huberman’s Vision Beyond Vision
My podcast passion journey started in early 2023. I used to think that listening to podcasts was boring, but I was mistaken. For those like me who enjoy multitasking and being productive, listening to podcasts is a fun activity to do alongside other tasks such as driving, doing chores, cooking, walking, exercising, etc. Listening to podcasts adds more meaning to my day, especially when I listen to brilliant people like Simon Sinek, Steven Bartlett, Rich Roll, etc. Andrew Huberman is like those whose contributions to the world are truly admirable. David Goggins was the first guest on the Huberman Lab podcast in 2024, and they encouraged us to have a strong beginning for the year ahead. It is impossible not to feel motivated after listening to that episode. His podcast was the third most listened-to podcast globally in 2023.
Now, we will delve into the details and learn more about him.
Andrew David Huberman (born September 26, 1975) is an American neuroscientist and podcaster. He is an associate professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He began hosting the Huberman Lab podcast in 2021 and quickly attracted the listeners’ attention.
From 2011 to 2015, Huberman was an assistant professor of neurobiology and neuroscience at the University of California, — San Diego. In 2016, Huberman took a faculty position at Stanford University.
With David Spiegel, Huberman has carried out research on cortisol and anxiety-based depression. Huberman has led work investigating the regeneration of eye tissue in mice, which may have a future application in studying optical nerve regeneration in humans.
The Finding Mastery podcast did an episode with Dr. Huberman. In that episode, he explained what inspired him to study the brain.
“I had all these questions that eventually I took to my scientific career. Questions about why some kids take a sip of alcohol and become alcoholics? Whereas I did not feel that. And why do some people go down the path of depression and suicide, violence, and others just focus on their sport or their craft? It was clear to me in those years that people were showing up with different genetic makeups, and different propensities for success.”
Dr. Huberman provides valuable advice on how to lead a healthy lifestyle. He stresses the importance of paying attention to certain things like improving sleep performance by seeing direct sunlight, delaying dopamine consumption, recommending tools for good mental health, and many more.
He briefly talks about the matter of sunlight and how it helps to sleep better;
“A lot of people are jet-lagged at home. They are looking at screens at night, not getting enough photons or light in their eyes during the day and their severe mood disruptions. That pattern of behavior actually triggers a pro-depressive circuit. There is good evidence for that now. If the light comes in at the right time of day, you get an elevation in mood. If the light comes at night, in particular between the hours of 11:00 PM and 4:00 AM, you get activation of this pro-depressive circuit that is also signaled to the pancreas. So it throws off blood sugar regulation and metabolism and can start creating some serious problems.”
“If you are not sleeping great, view light early in the day, close to when you wake up, hopefully, that is in the morning. Sunlight could be through a window, but ideally, you would be outside. Get two minutes to ten minutes of sunlight. You do not need to stare directly at the sun. And even if there is cloud cover, many photons are coming through. It does not have to be sunny, Southern California. It can be the depth of Winter in England believe it or not. A lot of light energy is coming through, far more than you are going to get from artificial lights. The other thing is to get some sunlight in your eyes in the evening as the sun is setting because it sets the appropriate timing of secretion of this hormone, cortisol, which will alert you at the right times of the day. And you want cortisol dropping by about 9:00 PM. In the psychiatric community, it is well known that a peak in 9:00 PM cortisol is kind of a signature of anxiety and depression, and it is related to things like insomnia. You want cortisol up early in the day. You do not want it coming up late in the day.”
He also advises on how to use dopamine to help us achieve goals better;
“If you are a hard-driving person, you definitely want to use this dopamine system intelligently. You want to reward your little wins en route to your goals. And that can be through subjective, telling yourself that you made it to a small milestone, toward your team cohesion, whatever wins, you want to register those wins. You do not need to over-celebrate them, but you need to register them. Even if it is just for moments, even if it is just through gratitude, which is actually a powerful practice. And then, when you reach a win, it has to be rewarded in a major way. If you do that, it is more likely you will be able to reengage those same circuits in the future.”
Some valuable tips from him that are worth mentioning;
- If people are having an afternoon crash, one thing they can do to support themselves is to delay their morning caffeine for 90 to 120 minutes after waking. The longer you are awake, the more there is a buildup of a molecule in the brain and body called adenosine.
- I think getting up and doing something without involving rumination, consideration, or thought, just getting into action sets your whole nervous system into a mode of go.
- Forget trying to get people to change, it does not work. It works with children, not with adults unless it is self-directed plasticity.
He has impacted many lives tremendously, and I am grateful for him showing up and sharing valuable knowledge with us.
Wishing you all the best, Take care.
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