After a few years of tending to your sleep and eating well, exercising regularly, minimizing or eliminating alcohol, it becomes second nature. People would have you think that it's going to consume your life, but it opens up time and energy for all sorts of things that bring meaning.

Forget "getting dopamine." You're spending it. Spend wisely.

I really enjoyed having this conversation with Andrew Huberman @hubermanlab.com and I hope y'all find it interesting: youtu.be/tb6ApBIXr1k?...

The things you need to do for your health every day—well, you generally need to be told to do them every day until you're doing them every day. Bright light mornings and dim dark nights set the stage for health. What you do in the first and last hour of the day is so key.

New Huberman Lab Essentials episode out now: 30 minutes, key takeaways only. go.hubermanlab.com/ALPrQVS

Compartmentalization gets a bad rap. But to be productive, to be present to people, to get anything worthwhile done… we have to learn to compartmentalize.

I hosted Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the new director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on the Huberman Lab podcast and we recorded for nearly five hours. No topic was left unturned! You can expect it to be out in about two weeks.

New Huberman Lab Essentials episode out now: 30 minutes, key takeaways only. go.hubermanlab.com/FYmmr1L

New Huberman Lab Essentials episode out now: 30 minutes, key takeaways only. go.hubermanlab.com/PH5df16

If you wake up in the middle of the night and you’re more alert than you want to be because you want to fall back asleep, try some long exhales through your mouth. This slows your heart rate. It’s a hardwired circuit that works the first time and every time.

Hard things made easy by hard work over time are the things to focus on. That process captures the healthy dynamics of dopamine circuits and displaces your time and attention from the no- or low-effort reward traps that exist everywhere. We still need rest, but the formula never fails.

New Huberman Lab Essentials episode out now: 30 minutes, key takeaways only. go.hubermanlab.com/sPY0glv

Focus harder on builds. Pivot faster out of nonsense.

Your perception and reality are not always aligned.

New Huberman Lab Essentials episode out now: 30 minutes, key takeaways only. go.hubermanlab.com/7L1cxrW

The best health protocols allow you to lean into life harder and longer. Yes, there is some discipline involved, but it’s always about having more energy, focus and vitality for the meaningful work and relationships in your life—and deeper, more gratifying bouts of relaxation.

You asked, and we heard: Announcing short-wavelength light-blocking contact lenses from ROKA: roka.com/pages/windd... PMID: 412025

All mental and physical ailments are substantially relieved by a regular circadian rhythm. Bright mornings and days with a lot of movement, focused work and learning, and hydration. Mellow nights and a dark room while sleeping. Repeat. If you’re up late, make it fun.

Many of my academic colleagues (MDs and/or PhDs) have become substantially healthier in recent years through lifestyle changes. Many are beginning to apply metabolic health hypotheses in their work and are discussing diseases differently now. Exciting!

Do things that energize you, and avoid things and people that activate you. You’ll get more done and have more genuine leisure time than you ever imagined.

People used to say "it takes 28 days to form a new habit." The reality is that neural circuits can rewire in one trial (e.g., psychological trauma) or 10,000 trials/reps.

Morning and evening sunlight viewing is the best “improve daytime wakefulness and nighttime sleep” habit for the time spent (about 5–20 minutes, and you can do other things during it). Overcast? Still sunlight. Make it nonnegotiable. (Brought to you by Big Sun.)

The primary mechanism by which morning exercise offsets partial (one to two hours) sleep deprivation is by reducing systemic inflammation—but only if the exercise is “moderate” (alas, that’s subjective). Takeaway: If you get fewer than ideal hours, exercise anyway, but don’t go all out.

The most dangerous thought in life is “if only.” Nothing that follows those words comes true. Embrace reality. Think. Pick a course of action and execute. The amount of time and energy people waste wishing things and others were different instead of leaning into their agency is sad.

New Huberman Lab Essentials episode out now — 30 minutes total, featuring only the key takeaways. go.hubermanlab.com/ZYC4CTc

Tomorrow’s Huberman Lab episode is all about oral health. My guest is Staci Whitman, DMD, a functional dentist who shares how oral care ingredients, diet, and breathing habits impact everything from cavities to cardiovascular and brain health.

The pursuit of flow on short time scales causes people to miss out on the real “flow” state. Start your days with pressure, end them in peace, and repeat. Or opt for peace, pressure, peace—if you’re slow to wake. That’s a flow you can consistently induce, one that leads somewhere meaningful.

If you want to “own a space” in science, business, media, or any field, you must take the risk of entering early—when there is no precedent and others warn you it’s risky. In fact, if people say, “That sounds risky,” you’re likely making the right decision.

Most people are now onboard the “get enough (~1g/lb BW) quality protein” train. Lately, it’s “creatine 5–10g daily,” EPA (around 1g per day), hydration, vitamin D3, and magnesium threonate or bisglycinate pre-sleep.

Has everyone adjusted to daylight savings yet?

Sundays, get outdoors and move as much as possible—run, walk, play a sport, do house maintenance, etc. The benefits go way beyond cardiovascular benefits with movement, sunlight, and fresh air. Make it social if you want. It’s amazing how little we do this nowadays—it improves your whole week.

Remember when people used to say that drinking some wine was good for your health and actually better than not drinking alcohol? Now, everyone pretty much agrees that no alcohol is best. What a ridiculous amount of back-and-forth that took. Do as you wish, but know what you’re doing.

Parents who say DST is better, please know that sleep is when your kids’ brains undergo the dramatic plasticity of the prior day’s learning and when whole-body growth occurs. DST means less sleep—especially REM sleep, which is vital.

A lot of U.S. scientists I know who run labs and are 60 or older are talking about retiring now or soon. The tradition in this country has been for labs to remain running until lab heads were in their 70s or 80s. It will be interesting to see how this impacts the younger generation.

The Isolator (first introduced in the July 1925 edition of the American Physical Society magazine) was designed to help limit distractions by narrowing the field of view and insulating against external sounds. Challenges focusing, anyone?

Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) is not meditation, hypnosis, breathwork, or a nap. It is a distinct brain-body state that offsets sleep loss and restores mental and physical vigor. go.hubermanlab.com/nsdr

I've often emphasized the benefits of getting morning sunlight in your eyes, but it's also beneficial to view (not stare at) the sun in the afternoon. Doing so reduces the sensitivity of your circadian visual system, helping you tolerate more artificial light at night without disrupting your sleep.

If you have a lousy night’s sleep, you’re better off exercising than not—it helps offset some negative effects. However, don’t make a habit of relying on exercise to compensate for poor sleep. Get what you need to feel rested.

You can work from an internal stance of survival mode or creation mode. While the former will activate you faster, your best and truly sustainable work comes from creation mode. It’s endless fuel. It’s not mystical—it’s biology. Have a great week (creating)!

Things seem to be moving quickly, so before we lock the clock to daylight saving time, please consider that all health data suggest we should lock the clock to standard time. It is best for kids, adults and the elderly. I’m happy to go toe-to-toe with anyone on this.

You would think that by now, given our understanding of the power of different wavelengths of light and varying light intensities to influence wakefulness or sleep, someone would have developed a relatively inexpensive source capable of easily controlling both wavelength and intensity.

I had a guest on Huberman Lab the other day—an expert on the neural circuits of human interactions and hormones. One thing became clear: men and women interact differently when women are ovulating, even if men are not consciously aware of it. Episode coming soon.

New Huberman Lab Essentials episode (~30 minutes) focuses on key protocols for mastering stress—acute, medium, and long-term. Watch or listen here: go.hubermanlab.com/D9nUxLz

Brain plasticity exists throughout the lifespan, but as we age, the stimulus required for plasticity becomes increasingly significant. You can change the neurochemical milieu, but technologies that leverage electrical stimulation are the big guns for rapid and massive brain changes.

All the builders out there are clearly on rocket fuel now. Human Imagination + Dopamine (& Sleep) = truly awesome.

When you realize that most research showing the benefits of certain compounds on learning involves increasing (nor)epinephrine immediately after the encoding (information exposure) step, you may rethink when to consume caffeine or stimulants to focus and learn more effectively.

New Huberman Lab Essentials (30-min) episode out now: Learn how to access the instructive (direct) and permissive (indirect) rules of neuroplasticity to enhance learning and creativity. A practical, protocols-focused episode. go.hubermanlab.com/Xa99nnB