Optimizing Workspace for Productivity, Focus, & Creativity
I am just sharing my notes from The Huberman Lab Podcast episode #57. I am the biggest fan of Dr. Huberman and his podcast.
I originally posted this on YouTube and many people liked it and asked for more. So I decided to make a post here on Medium.
Three phases of the day:
Phase 1: From waking up to 8hrs later.
- High levels of dopamine and norepinephrine.
- State of high alertness.
- Light the environment as much as we can. Overhead light is great.
- Analytical and focused work.
- Sunlight is the best way to activate the brain and body. Sunlight thru the window is 50times less effective than without the window.
Phase 2: from 8hrs after waking to 16hrs.
- Bring down levels of light. Dim the lamps and screens.
- State: high serotonin.
- Better for abstract and creative thinking.
Phase 3: pre sleep and sleep.
- Limit bright light. Just to the amount that is safe.
Light too bright:
- It depletes melatonin levels.
- Shifts circadian clock: the body suffers jet lag.
Body posture
- When we are standing up, locus coeruleus neurons become more active (they become even more active when moving). This activates alertness.
- Never do: sit down and immediately focus on something (unless you are stressed or highly motivated).
- Expect 6 minutes to “warm up” the alertness and focus.
Visual focus
- Where we look and levels of alertness are highly correlated.
- When we look down the neurons trigger calmness and sleep.
- When we look up the neurons trigger the activation of alertness.
- Screen should be at least to nose level.
- Bringing your visual to a narrow space enhances focus.
- Make sure that whatever you are looking at is straight in front of your eyes.
- If I look into a narrow space, it creates alertness but also require energy, so it’s demanding.
- For every 45 minutes focused on something narrow, get 5 minutes of relaxing eyes (ideally, take a walk).
The Cathedral Effect
- Lower ceiling (detailed and restricted thinking) vs higher ceiling (abstract thinking & ideas).
- When we are in a small space, we are more restricted. If there is a lot of space, we go to more abstract thinking.
- If you need to do analytical work, and the space is too broad or ceiling too high, you can put on a hat. It restricts the visual angle and increases focus.
Noise
- Avoid: White noise. It can cause impairments in development of auditory system in children.
- When there’s ongoing sound, the auditory system is listening even if you are not aware.
- Pink noise vs brown noise vs white noise: different frequencies.
Binaural beats: when there is a difference between the two patterns of beats that are listened by each ear leads.
- Best frequency: 40 hertz. Optimal for learning, memory and recall.
- Increases striatal dopamine release: more focus and motivation.
- Increases spontaneous blink rates.
- We can engage in the binaural beats a little before doing the work, so you start the “warm up”.
Interruptions
Not just bad because you lose x amount of time, but because it takes more time to focus again.
It’s best to limit interruptions. The techniques may vary to whatever works for you (putting a “don’t bother” sign, saying NO to everyone, hiding somewhere, put phone in airplane mode, etc.).
Sit or stand doing work
- A combination of both is best.
- Reduced neck pain, increases in health and vitality, improvement in cognitive performance and productivity.
- Ratio: 50% standing and 50% sitting.
- Starting to work in a standing desk requires some time to adapt.
Movement while working
- It improves cognition.
- No difference between treadmill and cycling.
- Moving improves attention and cognitive control scores. But it worsens verbal memory.
- Active working stations are good for analytical work. But not for verbal work.
- Forward movement generation: there is optic flow, which quiets fear, anxiety and vigilance.
- Ambulation increases epinephrine.
Summary:
- Bright lights during phase 1 of the day.
- Place visual focus direct in front of you. Restricted visual window.
- Put screens at nose level (at least).
- Avoid reclining
- Half stand and half sited work.
- Avoid white noise.
- Pursue 40 hertz binaural beats during work bout or prior to work bout.
- Stationary tread mill increases alertness and focus.
- Cathedral effect: focused and analytical work: low ceiling space. Creative work: high ceiling environment.
- Limit interruptions.
- Changing environments might be beneficial.
I hope you found this useful, but I still highly recommend watching the entire episode.
I’ll keep posting these notes for every episode, and also I will post some of the previous ones.
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“Thank you for your interest in Science”