Dr. Huberman's 4 actions that change “everything for the better.”
A few tips from an expert & my thoughts
We’ll all have moments of joy and moments of dread. These are guarantees of life - some of the few. What we can do, however, is make good decisions to help increase the quality of our everyday lives and improve the state we find ourselves in throughout it. The information in this post is shared with the hope of helping you build some habits to make you feel better on a day-to-day basis.
Dr. Andrew Huberman, a professor of Neurobiology at the Stanford School of Medicine, and host of the popular Huberman Lab podcast, recently tweeted a list of changes one can take to improve many aspects of life.
Having been an avid listener of his podcasts over the last 6 months or more, I am well-versed in where this data is coming from and know it is truly grounded in actual science and therefore wish to share it with you all.
I’d like to make sure to give this disclaimer — this is NOT medical advice. This is for informational purposes only and one should always seek out their healthcare provider when wanting to make changes that could affect one’s health.
So without further ado, here are Dr. Hubermans 4 actions that change “everything for the better.”
While I am not a scientist, I can provide a little more detail as to how/why these four can & will improve your day-to-day activity based on the information shared from the research. I’ll provide some below and also link to at least one other source for each point for those seeking more than I provide.
Our reception of light is integral in regulating the necessary hormones & other processes throughout the body on a nearly hour-to-hour basis. A well-oiled machine is a better working machine. It is never worth underestimating the impact the body and its efficiency has not only on our physical health but our minds as well. Bright light in the morning can help awaken your system and let it know it’s time for action, it’s time to generate energy, AND it will help you get to sleep earlier that night. Light is a massive tool used for the regulation of the body, utilize it. Find more here.
It can be tough to get into (quite literally), however, cold exposure has been shown to help increase anaerobic performance and endurance. If athletics aren’t your cup of tea, cooling the brain also helps to reduce inflammation, improve cognition, and can help one achieve a good night's sleep — hence why it’s suggested that one cools a room to sleep. This is because your body needs to drop its temperature by 1-3 degrees to fall into & maintain sleep. In addition, cold exposure has been shown to increase fat loss & dopamine (the neurotransmitter that leads you to ACTION). Find more science here.
Delaying your caffeine intake will allow your body’s natural regulation of things like cortisol and adenosine to complete prior to taking an external stimulus (caffeine) to alter it. Ingesting caffeine very quickly in the morning can make you lose your natural surge of hormones that your body is utilizing to make you alert. Huberman, and science, have explained that delaying your caffeine intake can help not only with your body’s efficiency, but also in preventing those crashes early in the day. Find the science breakdown here.
This is one you’ve probably heard a LOT. Staring at your phone’s bright screen at night is not helping you get to sleep any faster, we assure you. But that’s not all it’s messing up, that bright light is making your body confused and messing up your circadian rhythm — this is NOT what you want happening if you want to maintain good health and energy levels. Your body is a miraculous thing when working efficiently, you should be working each day to improve that efficiency and in turn your life. Find a study here.
If you spotted it, there’s a common theme in this post. Efficiency (and sleep). Your body is working to be efficient, but over time we’ve managed to create (or ingest) various things that combat our very own body’s desire to work at its best. Taking the actions laid out in this post should allow you to help your body and therefore your mood and more.
This post was not sponsored in any way. The Huberman Lab podcast is simply a great source of information presented in an easily digestible format and often provides actionable tips that I believe to be worth sharing with my audience. I strongly recommend anyone interested in improving their lives subscribe to the channel.
Thanks for reading.
I’ll have to start doing those four things, especially no screens 10 pm-4am.
Wow, this is amazing thank you!