Understanding Your Brain | Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman, PhD | The Proof Podcast EP 205

In Episode 205, I sit down with Dr Andrew Huberman to discuss the nervous system and how lifestyle choices impact your brain.
As Dr Huberman says in this episode, “it is special… our brain is different than other organs”. In a field where we’ve learnt so much yet still have so many exciting, unanswered questions, Episode 205 offers engaging and useful insights.
Dr Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist and tenured professor at Stanford University. He has made numerous significant contributions to the field of brain development, brain function, and neural plasticity (the ability of our nervous system to learn new behaviours, skills, and cognitive functioning). Today, he draws on that depth of knowledge to explain ways you can work with your nervous system, explaining the science behind it.
In Episode 205 we begin with the basics before moving on to the impact of specific lifestyle decisions and behaviours. We break down what neuroscience is and why it’s important, covering some significant discoveries in the past century. You’ll also learn how caffeine impacts the nervous system, how to improve learning, and the benefits of non-sleep deep rest (NSDR). We cover tools you can use to wind down from intense alertness, supplements and brain health, and much more.
Specifically, we discuss:
0:00 Intro
4:07 What is Neuroscience
10:04 Milestones in Neuroscience
18:48 Neurons and Performance Enhancement
29:08 What Caffeine does to the Body
32:40 The Ideal Exercise
43:46 Adrenal Burnout and Pineal Calcification
52:38 Caffeine Withdrawal
1:02:10 Using Breath to Calm the Nervous System
1:06:38 Yoga Nidra for Deep Rest
1:15:00 Balance of Rest and Work
1:32:28 Tips for Better Sleep
1:50:32 Brain Fog & Focus
1:54:53 Motivation & Top Down Control
2:07:30 Dopamine & Social media
2:14:22 Cold & Heat Exposure
2:29:30 Outro
I hope you walk away from this episode equipped with more tools to optimise your brain function. Understanding how the body’s systems work is key to improving your health and lifestyle, and Dr Huberman breaks down both the theory and practical applications beautifully in this episode.
You can learn more about Dr Huberman on his Stanford University page: profiles.stanford.edu/andrew-...
and visit his website Huberman Lab: hubermanlab.com/
To secure tickets for the upcoming Huberman Lab tour taking place on May 17 and 18, follow hubermanlab.com/tour/
He is also active on social media, and you can connect with him on KZbin: / andrewhubermanlab
Instagram: / hubermanlab
and Twitter: / hubermanlab
Listen to his episode on the Rich Roll Podcast here: • Change Your Brain: Neu...
Thank you to The Proof partner Eimele Essential 8 for sponsoring today’s episode. It’s important to make sure you’re covering all the essential nutrients, and sometimes plant-predominant eaters fall a little short. Eimele Essential 8 offers a convenient solution, providing the nutrients you need in the right amounts. For 5% off your first order, head to theproof.com/friends/
Enjoy, friends.
Simon
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[@myselflove-bf3uv]

I love how the host person is really giving all the spot light to the guest speaker. He is as calm as a ninja in a very great and professinal way. I love it.

[@bot123harsh]

another underrated podcast !

[@weston.weston]

Two of my faves together... Huberman is like a kid in a candy store during this discussion; he seems to ❤ any discussion about neuroscience and I am here for it!

[@lindaelarde2692]

I'd really love to hear you interview Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett. Her rigorous adherence to the science and conscientious vigilance against biased interpretation of the data aligns with your devotion to science based evidence. That would be a fascinating conversation that would add new dimension to the discussion of health.

[@natashaadrasteadjuric4768]

Being a Yoga Nidra facilitator myself and a student of Kamini Desai, I am thrilled to hear respectful A.Huberman talking about Yoga Nidra immense benefits. Wonderful episode! Thank you Simon for bringing Andrew on the podcast. Greetings from Croatia.

[@carolesteinberg7463]

Enjoyed this a lot. I can’t ever sleep. I’ve tried so many things over the last 3 decades. At least I have time to listen😊

[@Learna_Hydralis]

I like you started differently from other interviews, you let him speak about his field & mention details he never spoke about before.

[@MosesRabuka]

I’ve learnt a lot from Andrew Huberman in the last 2 and half years just by listening to him. I have a notebook full of of his TOOLS, thank you for another great interview

[@MosesRabuka]

@@TheProofWithSimonHill Thanks for asking Simon, well i have plenty some of them are “The eyes are two pieces of the brain/nervous system outside the cranial vault” This blew my mind first time I heard it and “Both exercise and daylight are wonderful cues for circadian rhythm alignment and circadian rhythm reset each day”

[@MosesRabuka]

@@TheProofWithSimonHill Welcome, thank you too

[@Learna_Hydralis]

Dude I'm pretty sure you have love of learning as a character strength, you comments are present each time I watched something educational &/or inspirational.

[@MosesRabuka]

@@Learna_Hydralis Thank you, yes I do. It’s the pleasure of finding things out that fascinates me

[@Q_QQ_Q]

Great work mate . Kindly share your notes if you don't mind .

[@thomashanson4576]

Another brilliant episode ! Lots of great points to take away from this one. It was only a matter of time until you had Dr Huberman on ! Also loving the range of topics you’re now delving in to, can’t wait for the next episode !

[@tanyashafi961]

Dr. Huberman is a star! Thank you for this🙌

[@austincrain4919]

Excited for this podcast! Two of my favs. Legends 🔥

[@leannepollock4654]

Such a great conversation, Simon. I listen to Andrew Huberman’s podcast as well and he is one of my favs but listening to the two of you in conversation was awesome! Thank you.

[@Lieutenant-Dan]

I haven't watched this yet but saw the thumbnail and got excited, god damn I love that Simon has a KZbin channel.

[@Kathymuir]

Well, what was going to be a 2.5 hour learning session starting at 8am has continued until 1pm as a result of stopping the video to absorb side learnings. It felt like a masterclass on so many levels. There's so much to take away from this conversation: breathing, exercise, nsdr, light, reward anticipation, caffeine and more. As a songwriter/musician, one part resonated a lot with me: Andrew talked about how we can be so much more dynamically effective if we know how to control our nervous system. Athletes and Musicians get that: if they're playing a piece of music they know how to reserve energy so they can kick at the end. I get that when recording a vocal: you know where the breathing or expression challenges are. From a tech perspective, KZbin is a fantastic addition for long form conversations like these thanks to chapters to allow us to go back anytime and on mobiles to see the transcript. Thank you, I'm excited and energised!

[@willow05]

Agreed! I will be watching this more than once.. so much information to absorb!!

[@Chris90.]

Masterclass is SUCH a good way to put it!!

[@paullemay3218]

Thank you for sharing. Very interesting. I would be interested in both of your thoughts around cerebral palsy. I have a 37 year old daughter that was born with it. She has spastic triplega. Both feet and one hand. To see her you would not know other than she is in a wheelchair. She was told she would likely not walk or write. She has accomplished both. ❤️🙏🇨🇦

[@bethearly4593]

There are no words that can express the amount of useful information for ALL areas of our lives here. I am an Early intervention therapist, speech pathologist, I have adult onset hydrocephalus and am a lifelong student of the brain. My current addiction is this topic and your podcast guest. Thank you for the in depth interview of Andrew Huberman. I have learned so much.

[@cinmac3]

Do you have a channel of your own ? Or Is being a speech Pathologist just a career I too like and very interested in the brain have had a bran injury D challenges with speech.

[@bethearly4593]

I do not have a KZbin channel. Thanks for asking. I am too technologically challenged and busy otherwise to try and do that too. Keep "working" at it. I read a book once named "Soft-Wired". The brain is changeable until we die. And, I believe that applies to those of us with "injured" brains too. Slow process and changes are subtle.

[@realmofgreatness8997]

Very useful conversation, you have extracted very well from him . thank you ❤

[@CarlaFlaim]

Awesome episode. Love the format

[@topofthemornintoya]

So good! Thanks to both of you

[@megaj9175]

Love both of these channels, disappointed nutrition wasn't really brought up. Would have been interesting to get a breakdown of Andrew's opinion on the plant based lifestyle

[@cassandrabennett9446]

Great episode Simon. I love your reach into the US scientist pool. I would love to see you interview Dr Alan Goldhamer from the true north health centre about his water only fasting for disease treatment and also for maintaining optimal health in well individuals. You are a legend 🔥

[@chriswalker7972]

Another great 👍 one. Thankyou

[@Andreduqum]

🔥🔥🔥

[@Kerry6691]

Absolutely amazing science 👏👌

[@imalamboman12]

This was a great interview

[@StephenMarkTurner]

The earliest reference I can recall regarding sunlight as a 'nutrient' was a book in the late 80s called 'Beyond Pritikin' by Gittleman (who went on to be a director at Pritikin Institute I believe).

[@samantha-kemp-therapy]

Awesome

[@giovannaquintoatriz]

Great episode, guys ! I learned a lot. Can't thank you enough for all of this precious knowledge. Question: can women take the APIGENIN? I saw "prostate health" in the bottle and wondered if it is safe for women who have horrible sleep disturbances. Thanks so much for clarifying!!

[@bethra.flowers]

❤❤❤

[@romanengland9544]

They are doing cone snail research here in Utah, pretty cool stuff. Termed the "cigarette snail"... because if it stings you, that's all you have time to do is smoke a cigarette before you're dead! Yikes! But great stuff in the toxins!

[@dvdmon]

Lots of interesting stuff. I tend to get excellent sleep scores, so may not be the prime audience here, but I worry about taking lots of supplements. I just wonder how "natural" it is. Yeah, I know, not the best excuse, not science-based. But there's something about loading up on 5 or 6 different chemicals that aren't available to us in food but we have to rely on from the (unregulated) supplement industry just to get a good sleep. To me it seems like a shortcut/hack when we can be doing other things that don't involve these, such as controlling light exposure, feeding windows, screen time, caffeine, diet, destressing via meditation, etc., I realize he points many of these out and also that they are challenging for many people, but I think these are preferrable to taking purified chemicals which we don't really know the long-term consequences are. Many people resort to things like alcohol to get themselves to sleep because it's "easy" and it appears to work, yet it actually makes for poorer sleep. I know he says that sleep scores improve with many of these, I'm just afraid that even so there may be other health issues we don't realize that are being masked, and it also gives us the excuse to put off working on those other health pillars because we have something that gets us by without having to do that heavy lifting so to speaking.

[@pulkitjain9604]

1:57:00 : Top Down Circuit

[@Chris90.]

Bring on Ted Naiman!!

[@AusTriiaNx]

Wait a moment.. if you have to get the sunlight within the first 60 mins of the day and you should drink your caffeine not before 90-120 mins of the day, how can you take your coffee to the sunlight viewing in the morning? :D

[@TheBestClipsEver131]

20:05

[@ShaneHarveyMusic]

Im pausing at an hour in but still haven’t heard more on the rhonda rousey thing. Why did he ask Huberman about her?

[@ANOOPBAL]

Lot of physiology/mechanistic evidence thrown around, a lot less RCT/data for most of his claims. Would love to see RCT evidence for Yoga Nidra and the supplements he takes for sleep.

[@kathyannk]

Why should they spend valuable time giving information on RCT’s when it’s easy to find them online? I could see your point if there was no www.

[@whyargon]

upgrade your grey matter cuz one day it may matter

[@Tomorrowandtomorrowandtomorrow]

too bad andrew won't study prayer. it changes the brain.