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Control Your Brain Chemistry for Focus, Motivation & Well-Being | Huberman Lab Essentials

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Control Your Brain Chemistry for Focus, Motivation & Well-Being | Huberman Lab Essentials

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854 segments

0:00

Welcome to Huberman Lab Essentials,

0:01

[music] where we revisit past episodes

0:04

for the most potent and actionable

0:06

science-based tools for mental health,

0:08

physical health, and performance.

0:11

I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor

0:13

of neurobiology and ophthalmology at

0:16

Stanford School of Medicine. Today we

0:18

are going to discuss your brain

0:19

chemistry and how to control and

0:21

optimize your brain chemistry for all

0:23

aspects of mental health, physical

0:25

health, and performance. The important

0:27

thing to know is that your brain and

0:29

your spinal cord and the rest of your

0:32

so-called nervous system

0:34

control all the organs of your body and

0:36

that all the organs of your body feed

0:39

back, meaning they communicate through

0:41

chemicals and other means to your

0:42

nervous system.

0:44

And vitally important is the fact that

0:47

which neural circuits are active and

0:50

which neural circuits are likely to be

0:52

less active at any given moment depends

0:55

on two major categories of chemicals. It

0:58

depends on hormones and it depends on

1:02

so-called neuromodulators.

1:04

And the four neuromodulators that we're

1:06

going to talk about today that are of

1:08

the utmost importance for your goals are

1:12

dopamine,

1:13

epinephrine, also called adrenaline,

1:15

serotonin, and acetylcholine. There are

1:18

many features of how neuromodulators

1:20

work, but for sake of today's

1:22

discussion, we only need to focus on two

1:25

of those features. And those are

1:26

fast-acting features and longer, slower

1:29

features or what we call baseline

1:31

features. Now, perhaps surprisingly, I'd

1:34

like to focus on the slow actions of the

1:36

neuromodulators first because those slow

1:38

actions of the neuromodulators are

1:40

happening in you and in me and in

1:42

everyone right now, and they set the

1:45

backdrop, the context in which the

1:48

various tools to manipulate dopamine,

1:50

epinephrine, serotonin, or acetylcholine

1:53

will work.

1:55

What do I mean by the context or the

1:56

backdrop, or the baseline? Well,

1:59

it's fair to say that most people are

2:02

awake during the daytime and asleep at

2:03

night. So, schedules of sleep and

2:06

wakefulness will vary, but in general,

2:08

everybody, regardless of whether or not

2:10

you're nocturnal, or you're so-called

2:12

diurnal, you're awake during the day,

2:14

pretty much everybody follows a schedule

2:16

in which from 0 to 9 hours after waking,

2:21

that is, from the time you wake up until

2:23

about 9 hours later,

2:26

the neuromodulators dopamine and

2:28

epinephrine tend to be at their highest

2:31

levels that they will be at any point in

2:34

the 24-hour period, in any period of the

2:37

day.

2:38

So, we can call this 0 to 9 hour period

2:41

phase one of the day, just for

2:43

simplicity. And I've referred to this

2:45

before in a previous episode, but not in

2:48

this exact context. From 9 to about 16

2:51

hours is what we will call phase two,

2:53

and that's when dopamine and epinephrine

2:56

levels tend to subside a bit compared to

2:58

the earlier phase one part of the day,

3:01

and serotonin levels start to increase.

3:05

And then, phase three of the 24-hour

3:07

cycle, which is from about, and again,

3:09

about, these are approximates, from

3:11

about 17 hours after waking until about

3:14

24 hours after waking, is phase three of

3:18

the day. We're not going to focus too

3:19

much on phase three today, because phase

3:22

three of the 24-hour cycle, that 17 to

3:25

24-hour period, is one in which you

3:27

ought to be deeply asleep, whether or

3:29

not you're nocturnal or diurnal. So,

3:31

we're mainly going to focus on

3:33

what we're calling phase one and phase

3:35

two. Phase one being this dopamine,

3:37

epinephrine dominated phase of our day,

3:39

and phase two being this more

3:41

serotonergic, or serotonin dominated

3:44

portion of the day. And then, you might

3:45

say, "Well, what about acetylcholine?"

3:48

Forgot about acetylcholine? Well, we

3:49

didn't forget about acetylcholine.

3:50

Acetylcholine is under control more in

3:54

terms of what we happen to be doing at

3:57

any given moment, whether or not we're

3:58

focusing or not focusing, whether or not

4:00

we're learning or not learning.

4:02

And here I'm referring to acetylcholine

4:03

specifically in the context of the brain

4:05

and thinking because as some of you are

4:08

probably shouting out there, right? If

4:10

you're exercise physiologist or you know

4:11

anything about how the brain controls

4:13

movement,

4:15

acetylcholine is used at the nerve to

4:17

muscle synapse, right? So, neurons don't

4:19

just control other neurons electrically.

4:22

The way you're able to move in fact is

4:24

because neurons are controlling the

4:25

electric activity of muscles,

4:28

literally the contraction of muscle

4:29

fibers, and that

4:31

control is exerted through the release

4:34

of acetylcholine. So, acetylcholine is

4:35

working at muscles as well, but we're

4:36

not focused on that today. We're focused

4:39

on

4:40

what we can do during phase one of the

4:42

day and what we can do during phase two

4:44

of the day to control the specific

4:47

neuromodulators, dopamine, epinephrine,

4:49

serotonin, and acetylcholine toward

4:51

particular end goals. So, again, it's

4:54

really important to understand what the

4:56

backdrop of these neuromodulators is,

4:59

the so-called baseline, and that they

5:01

vary across the day if you're going to

5:04

be able to leverage tools to optimize

5:06

your brain chemistry. Before we dive

5:08

into the more pointed directed effects

5:10

of specific tools on neuromodulators,

5:13

I'd like to have just briefly mention

5:14

hormones because they are also important

5:17

for understanding the background and the

5:19

context and these baseline levels of

5:22

neuromodulators. Hormones have many

5:25

different effects on the brain and body,

5:28

and not unlike neuromodulators, some of

5:29

those effects are very fast, some of

5:31

them are very slow. Today we want to

5:33

think about hormones as they relate to

5:35

these neuromodulators, the dopamine,

5:37

serotonin, epinephrine, and

5:38

acetylcholine. And in general,

5:42

testosterone tends to collaborate with

5:45

and increase the action of dopamine.

5:48

That's not always the case, but in

5:49

general, when testosterone goes up,

5:52

dopamine goes up.

5:54

In general, when corticosteroids like

5:57

cortisol and some related steroid

6:00

hormones increase, epinephrine levels go

6:03

up. And in general, when hormones like

6:05

oxytocin or prolactin are increased,

6:09

levels of serotonin go up. And then we

6:12

have poor old lonely acetylcholine off

6:15

on its own. But it's not poor and

6:16

lonely, it actually has incredibly

6:17

potent effects on its own. So it's

6:19

really that it just doesn't need much

6:20

help from the hormone systems, or at

6:23

least not the steroid hormone systems,

6:24

in order to have its tremendous effects.

6:26

If you understand these four

6:28

neuromodulators and you understand that

6:31

while there are many tools ranging from

6:33

pharmacologic to behavioral that can tap

6:34

into these neuromodulator systems that

6:36

can kind of press on the gas of

6:38

dopamine, pull back on serotonin, and so

6:40

on. Well, then you can create a sort of

6:44

kit, a grab bag of things that you can

6:46

use in any context, or I should say that

6:49

you can look to depending on the context

6:52

you're in, and create the states of body

6:54

and mind that you want. Now, once again,

6:56

painting with a somewhat broad brush,

6:58

but nonetheless an accurate brush, we

7:01

can say that dopamine, when elevated

7:05

above baseline,

7:07

tends to increase states of motivation,

7:10

both mental and physical motivation,

7:13

drive, and to some extent focus.

7:16

Epinephrine and a closely related

7:19

molecule called norepinephrine,

7:22

and again, I want to emphasize that

7:23

epinephrine is adrenaline and adrenaline

7:26

is epinephrine. Norepinephrine is

7:28

noradrenaline and noradrenaline is

7:31

norepinephrine, but today we're going to

7:32

just simply talk about epinephrine and

7:34

norepinephrine.

7:36

That category of neuromodulator is

7:38

mainly responsible for generating our

7:42

energy, our level of fuel and baseline

7:46

level of forward center of mass, as I

7:49

like to call it. When epinephrine levels

7:51

are high, we tend to feel agitated, we

7:53

tend to feel like we want to move, we

7:55

tend to feel like we can't shut down our

7:57

thinking and our anticipation of what's

7:59

going to happen next. And when

8:00

epinephrine levels are very, very low,

8:02

we actually have less physical energy,

8:04

we tend to have less mental energy in

8:07

terms of generating thoughts very

8:09

quickly, and so on and so forth. Now,

8:11

the neuromodulator serotonin

8:13

creates a number of different states in

8:15

the brain and body, but for sake of

8:17

today's discussion, we're going to think

8:19

about the predominant states that it

8:21

creates, and those are states of

8:23

contentness, being happy, feeling fairly

8:26

relaxed, feeling soothed, and to some

8:29

extent even some relief from pain or

8:32

lack of pain.

8:34

Serotonin is associated with a feeling

8:37

of satiety, of having enough of what we

8:39

already have. And acetylcholine, we can

8:42

say, is mainly

8:45

associated with states of focus.

8:48

And we can go a step further and say

8:50

that it's mainly associated with steps

8:52

of focus as they relate to learning and

8:54

encoding new information, so-called

8:56

neuroplasticity.

8:58

So, let's say you want to be more

8:59

motivated, you want to be more in

9:01

pursuit of goals, and you want to have

9:03

more energy and to be more focused.

9:05

There are many ways to go about that, in

9:07

fact, there's a near infinite cloud of

9:09

opportunities, everything from

9:11

prescription drugs to illicit drugs,

9:13

which I certainly do not recommend,

9:16

supplements, nutrition,

9:18

you can listen to particular music, you

9:21

can do all sorts of cognitive,

9:22

behavioral, nutritional supplementation

9:24

tricks, or

9:26

you can just understand that what you're

9:29

really after are increases in dopamine

9:31

above baseline that you control,

9:34

and there are ways to control them that

9:36

are quite potent and science tells us

9:39

which tools are going to be the most

9:41

potent and the most versatile for you.

9:44

So, I'm going to share those tools with

9:45

you now with the caveat that each one of

9:48

those tools

9:50

could be its own entire podcast episode

9:52

and that we've done near entire episodes

9:55

on each of these tools or small

9:57

collections of these tools. So, I'm

9:58

going to cover these in somewhat

9:59

superficial manner. Let's say you want

10:01

to increase dopamine for sake of

10:02

increasing motivation.

10:05

The first thing to do is to understand

10:07

what the natural behavioral tools are

10:09

for increasing dopamine and to do those

10:11

as consistently as possible. Again,

10:14

these are tools that you'll want to do

10:15

nearly every day if not every day.

10:19

And I know I'm sounding like a broken

10:20

record on this one, but here again we

10:23

come to sunlight and

10:26

I should say not just the desire to but

10:29

really the need for viewing the maximum

10:32

amount of sunlight that one can

10:34

reasonably get given schedules and

10:36

locations in the world, time of year, et

10:37

cetera. In the early part of the day.

10:41

Within the first hour of waking,

10:43

ideally, but certainly in the first 3

10:45

hours of your day, you're going to want

10:47

to maximize sunlight exposure to your

10:49

eyes. Never look at the sun or any other

10:51

light so bright that it's painful to

10:53

look at and yes, of course, blinking is

10:55

fine, but no, take sunglasses off, go

10:57

outside once the sun is out and get some

10:58

natural light in your eyes. So, if you

11:00

get sunlight exposure to your eyes and

11:01

it does have to be to your eyes in the

11:03

early part of the day, you increase the

11:04

amount of dopamine receptor that you

11:06

have, which allows whatever circulating

11:08

dopamine happens to be there to have a

11:10

greater effect on motivation and I

11:13

should say also on mood and feelings of

11:15

being in pursuit and generally in

11:18

craving and pursuit of things in life.

11:20

Now, there's another way to increase the

11:22

effect of whatever dopamine happens to

11:24

be circulating in your brain and body.

11:27

And this again relates to increasing the

11:29

number or the efficacy of the receptors

11:32

for dopamine. How do you do that? Well,

11:35

it turns out that regular ingestion of

11:37

caffeine at safe and appropriate levels

11:40

of about 100 to 250 mg

11:43

is going to increase the number of D2

11:45

and D3 dopamine receptors. When you

11:47

drink caffeine, it's going to increase

11:49

your levels of adrenaline and so-called

11:52

epinephrine, which will increase your

11:53

energy levels. It's going to decrease

11:55

levels of something called adenosine,

11:56

which builds up while you're sleepy.

11:58

It's going to make you feel less sleepy,

11:59

more alert, more energetic. That's sort

12:01

of obvious. But, what's less obvious is

12:03

that it's increasing the number and

12:05

efficacy of dopamine receptors, so that

12:07

whatever dopamine happens to be around

12:09

in your system is going to have more of

12:11

a potent effect. So, these are ways of

12:13

modulating more or less the baseline of

12:16

dopamine that you are able to produce

12:17

and the ways that dopamine can have its

12:20

action by way of binding to receptors

12:22

more potently.

12:24

Now, there are other ways to increase

12:26

dopamine in a more acute or directed

12:29

way. There ways to spike your dopamine,

12:31

to enhance your state of motivation,

12:34

mood, focus, and so on. If you're

12:37

somebody who has

12:39

or is taking drugs for depression or

12:41

mania, please be very cautious about

12:43

manipulating your dopamine in any case.

12:46

I don't just say that to protect us, I

12:47

say that to protect you.

12:49

But, if we were to look at the

12:50

supplement landscape and ask which

12:52

supplements increase dopamine, there are

12:54

a vast number of them.

12:56

But,

12:57

the three main ones, the most effective

12:59

ones that are readily available out

13:01

there without a prescription, are mucuna

13:03

pruriens. This is actually the outside

13:05

of a velvety bean that has been

13:07

extracted and put into a supplement.

13:08

Mucuna pruriens is actual L-DOPA. It's

13:11

99% L-DOPA, which is a prescription drug

13:15

that is given for Parkinson's and for

13:17

other purposes where increasing dopamine

13:19

is important.

13:21

I don't recommend mucuna pruriens. I'm

13:23

not saying that no one should take it,

13:25

but I don't take it and I don't

13:26

recommend it because it tends to so

13:29

potently and acutely increase dopamine

13:31

that there's a pretty substantial crash

13:33

afterwards. The other two supplements

13:35

that can increase dopamine in a

13:38

short-term way, but in a significant way

13:41

are L-tyrosine. So, you can buy that as

13:43

a supplemented amino acid. People vary

13:45

tremendously in their sensitivity to

13:47

supplementing L-tyrosine. I know people

13:49

that can take 2 g. I know people that

13:52

can barely take 100 mg. I know people

13:54

that the best dose for them is 0 mg. So,

13:56

there's a lot of variation there

13:57

depending on sensitivity and their

14:00

natural baseline levels of dopamine and

14:02

whether or not they're doing a lot of

14:03

other things to support dopamine. But

14:05

nonetheless, taking L-tyrosine will lead

14:07

to fairly substantial increases in

14:10

dopamine within about 15 to 45 minutes

14:12

and it lasts for about 30 minutes to 2

14:15

hours and then there's kind of a

14:16

tapering off. Some people experience a

14:18

little bit of an emotional or and/or I

14:21

should say energetic crash. Some people

14:22

don't. Then the other supplement that I

14:25

certainly use and that I know a number

14:27

of other people use is more fast-acting

14:28

but more potent, which is

14:29

phenylethylamine.

14:31

This relates to the so-called PEA

14:33

molecule.

14:34

P P E A

14:36

and

14:37

phenylethylamine increases dopamine and

14:39

some metabolites related to dopamine in

14:41

ways that really increase energy and

14:43

feelings of well-being and motivation.

14:45

And again, it's fast-acting. So, my

14:46

particular protocol, the one I use is

14:48

I'll take phenylethylamine at dosages of

14:51

about 300 to 600 mg along with some

14:55

L-tyrosine or I'll take it on its own

14:58

with a molecule or I should say a

15:00

compound that we'll talk about a little

15:01

bit later as it relates to

15:02

acetylcholine, alpha-GPC. But tyrosine

15:04

and phenylethylamine taken alone or

15:06

together will make you feel more

15:08

motivated and more alert, more willing

15:11

and able to lean into particular

15:13

motivated behaviors, whether or not

15:14

they're physical or cognitive. But

15:16

leaving that aside, there are certain

15:18

behavioral protocols that are unrelated

15:21

to your overall goals and motivations

15:24

that can increase dopamine in a very

15:25

sustained way. And without question, the

15:28

most potent behavioral tool for doing

15:30

that is going to be deliberate cold

15:33

exposure.

15:34

Deliberate cold exposure has been talked

15:36

about a lot here and elsewhere in terms

15:39

of its

15:41

ability to do things like reduce

15:43

inflammation

15:44

as a way to test and improve resilience

15:47

because uncomfortable cold, uh, provided

15:50

it's applied safely, is a great way to

15:52

learn to be more resilient because

15:53

you're essentially staying or forcing

15:55

yourself to stay in a circumstance where

15:57

your system is flooded with adrenaline.

15:59

As I mentioned before, dopamine tends to

16:01

collaborate with epinephrine and vice

16:02

versa. Many people will ask which

16:05

protocols to follow. Please see the

16:06

episode on the use of deliberate cold

16:09

for health and performance. You'll find

16:11

that hubermanlab.com. So,

16:14

the use of cold water for increasing

16:15

dopamine is a real tool. It's, I would

16:18

say, a power tool. I want to just

16:20

briefly return to the fact, however,

16:23

that all of that is riding on that phase

16:26

one, phase two background, meaning it's

16:28

probably going to take less cold water

16:30

exposure, or I should say, less time

16:33

doing cold water exposure early in the

16:34

day to get a big increase in dopamine

16:36

than it would later in the day. Because

16:38

later in the day, your baseline levels

16:40

of dopamine are lower and you've got

16:42

more serotonin circulating.

16:44

That should make sense to you now as to

16:46

why that's the case. And does that mean

16:48

that you should really modify your

16:50

protocols dramatically? Probably not,

16:52

but you might keep that in mind that if,

16:54

for instance, you need to be in a highly

16:56

motivated, focused state in the late

16:58

part of the day for whatever reason, it

16:59

might take a few or more of these tools

17:02

in combination in order to accomplish

17:04

that. Whereas if you're somebody who

17:05

feels pretty good during the day, but

17:06

you're kind of lacking motivation, you

17:08

want to increase dopamine levels and you

17:09

don't yet need to or want to resort to

17:12

prescription drugs or supplementation,

17:14

well then you might layer in and

17:15

behavioral protocols, paying attention

17:17

to, of course, the things that you might

17:18

be doing that would also potentially

17:20

suppress dopamine. So, again, that kit

17:22

of tools is designed for you to play

17:25

with if you choose, if it's safe for you

17:27

to apply them, then do that. Consider

17:30

doing them individually, not trying to

17:32

hit all the tools all at once, right? I

17:35

mean, why throw all those tools at your

17:37

dopamine system at once?

17:39

Better would be to have those tools in

17:41

your kit and be able to deploy them

17:42

depending on whether or not you're on

17:44

travel, whether or not you're eating

17:45

well or less well, whether or not you're

17:47

sleeping well or less well.

17:49

That's highly individual, and I like to

17:50

think that in having those tools in

17:52

hand, you'll be able to adjust them and

17:54

apply them in the ways that allow you to

17:56

access the dopamine increases that

17:59

you're after. So, next I'd like to talk

18:00

about epinephrine, also called

18:02

adrenaline.

18:03

I want to point out that epinephrine is

18:06

released both in the brain and the body.

18:08

In fact, there's a barrier between brain

18:10

and body that prevents the epinephrine

18:12

that's released from your adrenal glands

18:14

from crossing the blood-brain barrier.

18:16

So, your brain has a separate site

18:18

called the locus coeruleus. This is a

18:20

collection of neurons in the back of the

18:22

brain that kind of sprinkle the rest of

18:23

the brain with epinephrine

18:25

and essentially wakes up

18:28

whatever neural circuits happen to see,

18:30

or I should say, uh,

18:32

wake up any circuits where that

18:34

epinephrine happens to arrive, right?

18:37

And generally increase the excitability

18:38

of those networks. That's why we say

18:40

epinephrine

18:41

increases energy. I'm not talking about

18:43

caloric energy, although that's

18:45

distantly related to this, but really

18:48

energy and the desire to move. For many

18:50

people, increasing

18:53

adrenaline or epinephrine might seem

18:55

like a crazy idea. Most people probably

18:56

associate this molecule with stress, and

18:59

they would like to be less stressed.

19:00

But,

19:01

there are people, including me, that

19:03

want to increase our levels of

19:05

epinephrine at least early in the day.

19:07

I'm somebody who wakes up rather slowly.

19:09

In fact, I tend to be kind of thinking

19:11

about thinking about maybe being in

19:14

action early in the day, but I try and

19:16

push myself to get into action, which

19:19

itself can increase epinephrine. I

19:21

should mention that any physical

19:23

activity, any physical activity,

19:25

walking, running, weightlifting,

19:27

swimming,

19:28

even talking for that matter, is going

19:30

to increase levels of epinephrine. Locus

19:32

coeruleus is a brain structure that is

19:35

tightly coupled with behaviors in a

19:38

bidirectional way. That is, when you are

19:41

in action, you increase the amount of

19:43

epinephrine released from locus

19:44

coeruleus, you wake up the brain.

19:47

And conversely, when locus coeruleus is

19:50

active, the brain wakes up. So, it's

19:51

reciprocal, it goes both directions. So,

19:54

keep that in mind. Exercise does indeed

19:56

give you energy. It burns caloric

19:58

energy, but it gives you neural energy

20:00

by way of increasing epinephrine

20:02

transmission from locus coeruleus. So,

20:04

we have exercise and we have caffeine as

20:07

potent tools for increasing epinephrine

20:08

and thereby energy.

20:10

Another potent tool that's purely

20:12

behavioral, but it is known to work

20:14

based on excellent studies in humans, is

20:17

so-called cyclic hyperventilation. Some

20:19

of you may be familiar with Wim Hof

20:21

breathing. There's also Tummo breathing,

20:23

which is very similar, Kundalini

20:25

breathing.

20:26

All of those styles of breathing involve

20:28

cyclic hyperventilation. Deep inhales

20:31

and either passive exhales or active

20:34

exhales, but repeating inhale, exhale,

20:36

inhale, exhale in a very deep and

20:37

repetitive way. If you did that for 25

20:41

repetitions, 25 inhales and exhales, you

20:44

would feel more alert. You'd also feel

20:45

more warm. Why? Because you increased

20:48

epinephrine adrenaline release in the

20:50

brain and body. It works the first time

20:52

and it works every time to increase

20:54

epinephrine and thereby energy. If you

20:56

do that over and over, you're going to

20:57

be very alert. You're going to have more

20:59

energy, you're going to feel like you

21:00

want to move around a lot more. In fact,

21:02

you might even feel agitated. So, people

21:04

with a lot of anxiety or prone to panic

21:05

attack might want to be cautious in how

21:07

they train and embark on that type of

21:09

breathing, might want to approach it a

21:11

little more carefully or avoid it

21:12

altogether. But, for most people, cyclic

21:14

hyperventilation is simply going to get

21:15

you more energized and feeling like you

21:17

want to move, feeling like you can think

21:19

more clearly, and you will be more

21:21

wide-eyed and alert because you are

21:23

releasing adrenaline. And the cold water

21:25

exposure protocol that I talked about

21:27

earlier and that's covered in our

21:28

episode on cold and in the newsletter on

21:30

cold, well, that, as I mentioned

21:33

earlier, potently increases dopamine,

21:35

but also epinephrine. Now, we can't

21:37

really say that there are foods to

21:39

increase epinephrine. There are, of

21:41

course, prescription drugs that will

21:43

increase epinephrine.

21:45

And, of course, there are all sorts of

21:47

so-called beta blockers that will block

21:49

the receptors for epinephrine to make

21:51

you feel calm for public speaking or for

21:53

various heart conditions, etc. That's

21:55

really the domain of physicians and

21:57

should really be worked out with your

21:59

cardiologist, with a physician, etc. I

22:01

think the tools of exercise and, should

22:05

you want very potent increases in

22:08

adrenaline, high-intensity exercise, as

22:10

well as the tools of caffeine, cyclic

22:13

hyperventilation, and deliberate cold

22:14

exposure really combine to give you a

22:17

nice little kit, I would say a versatile

22:20

kit, of ways to increase epinephrine for

22:23

sake of having more physical and mental

22:25

energy. So, next is the neuromodulator

22:27

acetylcholine. And, as I mentioned

22:29

earlier, acetylcholine is associated

22:32

with states of focus. And those states

22:34

of focus can be high-energy states of

22:36

focus. So, the ones that are accompanied

22:40

by high levels of dopamine and

22:41

epinephrine, and where we're really

22:43

excited about and really lasered in on

22:46

something, or they can be the calmer,

22:49

more relaxed states of focus, like

22:51

reading a book or practicing music or

22:54

listening very carefully to somebody in

22:56

a way that's relaxed and calm. Now, ways

22:58

to increase acetylcholine in a potent

23:01

way include, again, nutrition and

23:04

supplementation. It is important to have

23:07

baseline levels of acetylcholine be

23:09

sufficiently high as well. And for that,

23:11

the ideal situation is to regularly

23:14

ingest foods that provide enough of the

23:16

precursors for acetylcholine to be made.

23:18

Eggs contain a lot of choline, beef

23:20

contains choline, soybeans contain

23:22

choline. So, there are vegan or non-meat

23:24

sources. Chicken, fish, mushrooms,

23:26

kidney beans, these sorts of things

23:28

contain a lot of choline. And there are

23:30

other vegetables that contain choline.

23:31

So, depending on your dietary

23:33

preferences and needs, you can um select

23:35

certain foods uh to ingest to get enough

23:37

choline to synthesize enough baseline

23:39

acetylcholine.

23:42

In the realm of supplementation, there

23:43

are some excellent tools for increasing

23:46

acetylcholine in the acute short-term,

23:49

meaning over the course of about 30

23:51

minutes out to about 2 hours or maybe

23:53

even 4 hours. The most common of those

23:55

molecules is actually nicotine.

23:57

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors are

24:00

abundant throughout the body and brain.

24:02

They're in various brain circuits. They

24:04

are on muscle. And yes,

24:07

smoking nicotine either by vaping or

24:09

cigarette will activate those nicotinic

24:12

receptors.

24:14

But, of course, smoking is a terrible

24:16

thing. It will also activate things like

24:18

lung cancer. So, I definitely don't

24:19

recommend that. It also activates

24:21

addiction because of the ways that it

24:24

triggers activation of the dopamine

24:26

circuits. However, some people will chew

24:28

Nicorette or other nicotine type gums.

24:32

Some people are very sensitive to

24:33

ingested nicotine. Some people take it

24:35

and feel absolutely terrible. But, some

24:38

people do use them as a cognitive

24:39

enhancers. Supplements that I have used

24:42

and do use for increasing acetylcholine

24:45

are things like Alpha-GPC

24:48

or Huperzine.

24:50

Alpha-GPC

24:51

is in the choline pathway such that more

24:55

acetylcholine is synthesized after you

24:57

ingest it. That's the general logic or

24:59

framework of how it works. Whereas

25:01

Huperzine is mainly in the enzymatic

25:03

pathway. It tends to adjust how much

25:06

acetylcholine is broken down and lead to

25:08

net increases in acetylcholine.

25:11

I will often take 300 mg of Alpha-GPC

25:14

prior to workouts or prior to cognitive

25:17

work bouts. I tend to take it alongside

25:19

caffeine and phenylethylamine, so I take

25:22

that in combination either before

25:24

workouts or work bouts. It really

25:25

sharpens my focus and again, I'm doing

25:27

that three, maybe four times per week

25:29

and I'm careful to do that in the early

25:31

part of the day so that it does not

25:32

disrupt my sleep. So let's discuss

25:34

serotonin.

25:35

Serotonin, as I mentioned earlier, is

25:37

associated with brain and body states of

25:40

well-being, of comfort, of satiety and

25:43

therefore it should come as no surprise

25:44

that a lot of the prescription drug

25:46

treatments for things like depression

25:48

involve increasing levels of serotonin

25:50

in the brain and body.

25:52

That said, anytime you talk about

25:54

prescription drugs for serotonin,

25:56

we also want to acknowledge that there

25:58

are often side effects associated with

26:00

increasing serotonin. In particular, if

26:01

serotonin levels go too high, that is if

26:04

the dosages of those treatments go too

26:05

high, people will, for instance, feel

26:08

reduced appetite, reduced libido,

26:10

increased lethargy, etc.

26:12

And there's a so-called serotonergic

26:14

syndrome. That said, there are

26:16

behavioral tools, nutritional tools and

26:18

supplementation tools that can tap into

26:20

the serotonin system, not to the same

26:22

degree and potency, but nonetheless, in

26:25

ways that can still impact our feelings

26:27

of well-being in positive ways. What

26:29

sorts of things? Well, for instance,

26:32

physical contact, things like holding

26:35

hands, believe it or not, hugs,

26:37

cuddling, etc. can increase serotonin

26:40

transmission and they make people feel

26:42

good. This shouldn't really come as a

26:43

surprise. There's also gratitude and we

26:46

did an entire episode about gratitude.

26:47

There's a lot of misunderstanding about

26:49

gratitude. Turns out, first of all, that

26:52

receiving, not giving gratitude, is what

26:55

has the most potent effects on

26:56

increasing serotonin and activity of the

26:58

brain circuits that involve serotonin

27:00

and that lead to increases in feelings

27:02

of well-being. So, this is interesting.

27:05

Receiving

27:06

much more than giving gratitude

27:09

is what activates those serotonergic

27:10

pathways. The other thing about

27:12

gratitude that's somewhat

27:13

counterintuitive is that observing

27:15

others giving and receiving gratitude is

27:18

immensely powerful for evoking serotonin

27:21

and the activity of serotonergic

27:23

circuits in you, the observer. So,

27:25

receiving and observing gratitude turns

27:28

out to be the most potent way to

27:29

increase serotonin in the brain and

27:31

body. Now, what about

27:34

nutritional approaches to increasing

27:36

serotonin? Well, just as we have

27:38

tyrosine as an amino acid precursor

27:40

upstream of dopamine synthesis,

27:43

we have

27:45

the amino acid tryptophan, which is

27:47

upstream of serotonin synthesis. And one

27:50

simply has to go online and put in

27:53

tryptophan-containing foods, and you

27:55

will discover that there are a lot of

27:56

foods that are enriched in tryptophan

27:58

that can lead to net increases in the

28:00

amount of serotonin available in the

28:01

brain and body. Now, one molecule that I

28:03

found to be particularly interesting and

28:05

useful, and this is one that I haven't

28:07

talked about yet on this podcast, is

28:10

inositol, in particular myo-inositol.

28:13

Myo-inositol can have the effect of

28:16

increasing serotonin and other

28:19

neurochemicals, but primarily, at least

28:21

in terms of the neuromodulators

28:22

discussed today, serotonin. I've been

28:25

taking 900 mg of myo-inositol

28:28

every third night or so as a test of its

28:30

ability to improve sleep, and I have to

28:32

say

28:33

the depth and quality of sleep that I've

28:35

been obtaining on myo-inositol is pretty

28:39

remarkable. And of course, I should

28:40

mention that no supplement, either added

28:43

or withdrawn from your protocol, should

28:45

ever be used as a direct replacement for

28:48

prescription drug treatments that your

28:49

physician has given you. You should

28:51

always talk to your physician anytime

28:52

you remove or add something to your drug

28:54

protocol or prescription protocol, of

28:56

course. And again, this is a general

28:58

theme of all four of these

28:59

neuromodulators, dopamine, epinephrine,

29:01

acetylcholine, and serotonin.

29:03

You want to make sure that you have

29:05

sufficient baseline levels of those

29:07

things through things like diet, regular

29:10

behaviors, and then you have the

29:12

opportunity to use supplementation and

29:15

if it's appropriate for you,

29:15

prescription drugs, and certain

29:17

behavioral protocols to try and get

29:19

these potent increases, these acute

29:21

increases in whichever the

29:22

neuromodulators you happen to want to

29:24

leverage for your particular goals. So,

29:27

that brings us to the end of at least

29:29

this exploration of the neuromodulators,

29:31

dopamine, epinephrine,

29:33

acetylcholine, and serotonin.

29:35

Whether or not you're using nutritional

29:37

tools or supplementation or prescription

29:40

drugs or any other sort of protocol to

29:43

try and create a desired effect of focus

29:46

or energy, motivation, relaxation,

29:49

you're playing with the same

29:52

neurochemical ingredients. So, what I'm

29:55

hoping is that rather than decide that

29:57

anyone tool is the most useful or that

30:00

anyone neurochemical is most useful for

30:02

that matter,

30:03

that the information that I've provided

30:05

today allows you a kit of versatile

30:08

tools that allows you to figure out what

30:11

levels of dopamine and augmentation of

30:14

dopamine are appropriate and necessary

30:16

for you. What levels of acetylcholine

30:20

and tools for manipulating acetylcholine

30:22

are going to be most useful for you and

30:24

so on and so forth. So, I'd like to

30:25

thank you once again for joining me

30:27

today in our discussion about these

30:29

incredibly powerful molecules we call

30:31

neuromodulators

30:33

and the things we can do and take in

30:36

order to control them so that we can

30:38

enhance our mental health, physical

30:40

health, and performance. And last but

30:42

certainly not least, thank you for your

30:44

interest in science.

30:47

>> [music]

Interactive Summary

This episode of the Huberman Lab explores how to manipulate the four key neuromodulators—dopamine, epinephrine, acetylcholine, and serotonin—to optimize mental health, performance, and daily energy. Huberman emphasizes the importance of understanding the daily 'baseline' cycles of these chemicals and provides a versatile 'kit' of behavioral and nutritional tools, such as light exposure, exercise, and targeted supplementation, to help listeners manage these states effectively.

Suggested questions

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