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Optimize & Control Your Brain Chemistry to Improve Health & Performance @ 00:02:38

across the year, and indeed across your entire lifespan. So what we're really going for today are principles, deeper understanding of why any given protocol works, and we are also going to discuss specific protocols. Some of those protocols I've discussed on previous episodes of the Huberman Lab Podcast, but I must say many of the protocols and tools that I will discuss are brand new and based on research that I have not discussed at all, simply because the research papers came out only recently,

Maximizing Productivity, Physical & Mental Health with Daily Tools @ 00:00:28

And we're going to talk about some protocols that relate to creativity. We're going to talk about behavioral protocols, supplement-based protocols, all science backed by quality peer review literature. The reason that we're holding this episode now is that in the recent previous episodes, we've covered some pretty intense and in-depth topics.

How to Lose Fat with Science-Based Tools @ 01:16:16

So it's very hard to target an ideal protocol. And then if you look really deep in the literature, you start to find meta-analyses where people have actually aggregated all the findings and some modern studies where it points to some very specific and useful protocols. And so here's the rule that, or the protocol that I extracted from that literature.

Optimize & Control Your Brain Chemistry to Improve Health & Performance @ 00:00:49

However, far more important than knowing a protocol is understanding why a given protocol works. That's why I'm always hammering on mechanism and explaining the cells and circuits and chemicals, at least to some detail, so that people can understand not just what to do, but why it works and therefore how to change a protocol as their life circumstances change or as goals change.

The Science of Setting & Achieving Goals @ 00:30:05

And as we do this, I'd like you to keep in mind what are some things that you've either accomplished or that you'd like to accomplish going forward? Because as we do this, we can build toward a set of protocols that at the end, you'll be able to very quickly plug in your particular goals and a route to those particular goals that's grounded in the science, and I think are going to be very effective in allowing you to reach those goals more quickly, and with indeed less effort.

Understand & Improve Memory Using Science-Based Tools @ 01:37:28

Okay, so we've talked about two major categories of protocols to improve memory that are grounded in quality peer reviewed science. And there is yet another third protocol that we'll talk about in a few minutes. But before we do that, I want to briefly touch on an aspect of memory. In fact, two aspects of memory that I get a lot of questions about.

Using Deliberate Cold Exposure for Health and Performance @ 00:02:12

Now, everyone shows up to the table, meaning to protocols, with a different background of health status, and there's simply no way that I can know what your health status is. So anytime you are going to take on a new protocol, that means a behavioral protocol or a nutritional protocol or a supplementation protocol, you should absolutely consult a board certified physician before initiating that protocol.

The Science of Gratitude & How to Build a Gratitude Practice @ 01:24:10

The sort of protocol that we arrived at today based on the scientific literature is distinctly different from that. And as a consequence, I've started to script out a protocol identical to the one I just described and I intend to use that going forward. If you're learning from and or enjoying this podcast, please subscribe to our YouTube channel.

How to Lose Fat with Science-Based Tools @ 00:57:05

for various people. And so we needed a place where we could house these protocols in a permanent way and not just for this episode. So what they've agreed to do is to post the protocols there, they should be very easy to find on their website. This particular protocol we're referring to as the Fat Loss Optimization Protocol for lack of a better name.

Science of Muscle Growth, Increasing Strength & Muscular Recovery @ 00:11:59

They've made that protocol for you, and they've made it available free of charge for you. So there's no obligation there of any kind financially. You can go to thecoldplunge.com. There's a little tab that says protocols, and you can download that protocol. Someone there, I don't know who exactly illustrated it, and you can come away with a PDF of what I described in the previous episode.

Supercharge Exercise Performance & Recovery with Cooling @ 00:12:52

For those of you that are too impatient for that, there are millions, if not billions of other resources out there that will take you into the cul-de-sac of one protocol that will work and then stop working or might work for you indefinitely. That's not how we work here. This is about really understanding the mechanism so that you can tweak things and modify things, adjust the timing and the dosage of things and really get the most out of these tools and protocols.

Using Deliberate Cold Exposure for Health and Performance @ 00:48:16

There's nowhere else to go. There's no way to get improvements out of the protocol, at least not in terms of mental resilience. Of course, there's still the positive effects on inflammation and metabolism, et cetera, that we'll talk about in a little bit. But the key thing here is to design protocols that are going to work for you over time.

Focus Toolkit: Tools to Improve Your Focus & Concentration @ 01:48:06

Again, I don't recommend doing all of these protocols all at once. What I recommend is picking a handful of them, maybe one or two, maybe three or four, and trying them in different combinations at different times of day and for different purposes, for mental work, for physical work, et cetera, find what is best for you.

The Science of Setting & Achieving Goals @ 00:04:09

And the reason I like this paper is it really points specifically to some protocols that we can implement because people always say, okay, you want to set a high goal. You want to try and achieve something that's really lofty, but you don't want to make the goal so lofty that you don't make any progress at all.

Improve Flexibility with Research-Supported Stretching Protocols @ 02:00:37

Up until now, we've described a number of different ways to do that. And we've arrived at some general themes and protocols. Again, those themes and protocols will be distilled into some specific and precise list in our neural network newsletter, but we can revisit a couple of them now just in summary and synthesis.

The Science of Vision, Eye Health & Seeing Better @ 00:28:14

And there are ways in which you can use the same protocols that I will describe in order to preserve and even enhance your vision, your ability to see things and consciously perceive them. So the protocols we will describe have a lot of carry over to both conscious eyesight and to these subconscious aspects of vision.

The Science of Setting & Achieving Goals @ 00:51:28

And so next we're going to talk about what the literature says about things like visualization, immediate and intermediate goals, long-term goals, and how to best achieve those. And then we're going to move specifically into the protocols that you can use. It's a protocol that I've specifically developed for you, the listeners, in order to incorporate all the signs into a best practice that you can do anytime, any place, to really identify what it is specifically that you want to pursue, and the best route to pursue and achieve that goal.

Optimize & Control Your Brain Chemistry to Improve Health & Performance @ 00:01:11

Now, today we are going to go even a layer deeper. We're going to explore the foundations of your biology in your brain and body that allow any protocol to work, because as it turns out, all of the protocols out there, whether or not it's a breathing protocol or a supplement or a prescription drug or an exercise routine, they all tap into and leverage a core set of just a few biological mechanisms.

Understand & Improve Memory Using Science-Based Tools @ 00:02:35

There are protocols to do this, grounded in excellent peer-reviewed research. So while you may not have a true photographic memory, by the end of the episode, you will have tools in hand, or I should say tools in mind, or in eyes and mind, to be able to encode and remember specific events better than you would otherwise.

Using Your Nervous System to Enhance Your Immune System @ 01:55:48

And with that understanding, what's going to be really terrific is as new protocols start to emerge. So in understanding mechanisms and pathways and in being able to understand the base set of practices like breathing, like electroacupuncture and so forth, we can now start to daydream in a very realistic way about the development of new protocols, more effective protocols, protocols that perhaps one can do at home without needles, perhaps protocols such as the breathing that you can do anywhere, anytime,

Supercharge Exercise Performance & Recovery with Cooling @ 01:18:15

So it doesn't give you a lot of opportunity to play scientist, which is what I like to do, because what I've always trying to do is trying to dial in the best protocols possible based on the mechanisms and data. And if you can do that moment to moment, that places you in a position of power. Once again, we've covered a lot of material.

How Smell, Taste & Pheromone-Like Chemicals Control You @ 00:09:10

Before we dive into chemical sensing, I want to just briefly touch on a few things from the vision episode. One is a summary of a protocol. So I covered 13 protocols last episode. If you haven't seen that episode, check it out. Those protocols will allow you to be more alert and to see better over time if you follow them.

Supercharge Exercise Performance & Recovery with Cooling @ 00:12:32

and most flexible ways for your needs. This is why at the Huberman Lab Podcast, I never ever do a just list of the things that you should do. I don't believe in the just tell me what to do. First, I tell you why you should do something. What's the logical framework that it's grounded in. And then we distill that down to specific protocols.

The Science of Making & Breaking Habits @ 01:29:34

It doesn't point to any one specific protocol. In order to identify a specific protocol that one could apply in order to break habits, we have to look at the mirror image of the sort of neuroplasticity that we talked about at the beginning of the episode. At the beginning of the episode, we talked about a form of neuroplasticity called long-term potentiation involving the NMDA receptor.

Improve Flexibility with Research-Supported Stretching Protocols @ 01:47:01

So this is a major division supported by tax dollars that support systematic mechanistic exploration of things like respiration, meditation, yoga, acupuncture. So this is serious science applied to protocols and approaches that have been used for some period of time, but really aimed at trying to understand what would the best protocols be to evolve new protocols.

Maximizing Productivity, Physical & Mental Health with Daily Tools @ 00:03:06

and so today we are going to further dissect the day as a unit that one can manage and manage extremely well, and in fact can optimize. So we're basically going to talk about how to leverage science-based protocols, and when I say science, I mean quality, peer-reviewed science published in excellent journals.

How to Lose Fat with Science-Based Tools @ 00:56:15

So if you'd like to see this protocol spelled out, you can access it zero cost at a website, which is thecoldplunge.com. The Cold Plunge is a company, they make cold plunges and they were kind enough to gift one to the Huberman Lab podcast. But I want to emphasize that these protocols are free of cost.

How Smell, Taste & Pheromone-Like Chemicals Control You @ 00:09:29

All of them are zero cost. You can find any and all of them at hubermanlab.com. There's a link to those videos and tools and protocols. Everything is timestamped. The two protocols that I just want to remind everybody of are the protocol of near-far viewing that all of us, regardless of age, should probably spend about five minutes three times a week doing some near-far viewing exercises.

Understand & Improve Memory Using Science-Based Tools @ 01:36:38

And there I'm basing it on the human data from Wendy Suzuki's lab, I'm basing it on the studies from Eric Kandel and from others labs. Again, right now there hasn't been an evaluation of a lot of different protocols to arrive at the, you know, peer reviewed laboratory super protocol. However, since what we're talking about is using activities like exercise that most of us, probably perhaps all of us should be doing regularly anyway, and I do believe most, if not all of us should probably regularly be trying to learn

Optimize Your Learning & Creativity with Science-based Tools @ 00:06:33

I don't share these because I think that they are the only ones that are available out there. Certainly they're not, nor do I share them because I think that everyone should do them just because I do them. Certainly not. I share them because many of you have asked for very concrete examples of what I do and when, and so I'll share those with you, and you can decide whether or not those protocols are for you or not.