Andrew Huberman on daily protocols
Huberman builds his day around a high cortisol peak in the first hour after waking and low cortisol at night, using bright light early (sunlight, or a 10,000 lux lamp if needed), light again late in the day, and darkness after dark. Around that he layers deliberate cold for adrenaline and dopamine, 7,000-8,000 daily steps, focused resistance training, starches and fermented foods, a 10-breath meditation before getting out of bed, and yoga nidra, which he calls the most powerful tool to cultivate. On supplements and peptides he says to start from the effect you want, not the compound.
16 points · 5 appearances · 2022–2026
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2020–2026 · changed view
“how much dopamine is in our system at any one time compared to how much dopamine was in our system a few minutes ago, that dictates your so-called quality of life and your desire to pursue things. This is important. Your experience of life and your level of motivation and drive depends on how much dopamine you have relative to your recent experience. This is why when you repeatedly engage in something that you enjoy, your threshold for enjoyment goes up and up and up.”
2020–2026
“What is cortisol? We I should have mentioned this earlier. What is cortisol? Is it a stress hormone? No. It's a hormone that's released during stress. But cortisol's job is not to deal with stress. Cortisol's job is to mobilize energy in the body. When cortisol goes up, glucose is mobilized and other fuels, too.”
2020–2026 · changed view
“When we decide to focus what the brain really does is it switches on a set of circuits then all the frontal cortex and nucleus basalis and some others and it's trying to understand duration, how long something's gonna last, path, what's gonna happen, and outcome, what ultimately is gonna happen. So duration, path and outcome. You know, the events of early 2020 are a good example of this. One of the reasons why it's so exhausting to be alive in 2020, is because we are now having to pay attention to duration, path and outcome. How long is this thing gonna last? When are, you know, when are they gonna open up all businesses? Did I touch that door handle? Does it matter? You know, who are the experts? Are there any experts? You know, there are a lot of questions whereas normally, we can just move through life without having to do all that analysis.”
2021–2026 · changed view
“Adenosine is a molecule in our nervous system and body that builds up the longer we are awake, so if you've just slept for 8, or 9, or 10 really deep, restful hours, adenosine is gonna be very low in your brain and body. If, however, you've been awake for 10, 15, or more hours, adenosine levels are going to be much higher.”