Essentials: Breathing for Mental & Physical Health & Performance | Dr. Jack Feldman

Huberman Lab

Scicomm Media

Science, Health & Fitness, Life Sciences

4.8 • 26.2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 November 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, my guest is Dr. Jack Feldman, PhD, a Distinguished Professor of Neurobiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a leading expert in the science of breathing. We explain the mechanics of breathing and the neural circuits that generate and regulate our breathing rhythm. We also discuss how breathing patterns profoundly influence mental states, including their role in reducing anxiety and enhancing emotional resilience. Dr. Feldman also shares practical tools, such as box breathing for daily performance and magnesium L-threonate supplementation to support cognitive health and longevity. Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AGZ by AG1: https://drinkagz.com/huberman Mateina: https://drinkmateina.com/huberman Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/huberman Timestamps 00:00:00 Jack Feldman 00:00:23 Breathing Mechanics, Diaphragm; Pre-Bötzinger Complex & Breath Initiation 00:03:25 Nose vs Mouth Breathing 00:04:23 Sponsor: Mateina 00:05:24 Active Expiration & Brain; Retrotrapezoid Nucleus 00:08:32 Diaphragm & Evolution; Lung Surface Area & Alveoli, Oxygen Exchange 00:12:56 Diaphragmatic vs Non-Diaphragmatic Breathing 00:14:23 Physiological Sighs: Frequency & Function; Polio & Ventilators 00:18:21 Sponsor: AGZ by AG1 00:19:52 Drug Overdose, Death & Gasps 00:21:38 Meditation, Slow Breathing & Fear Conditioning Study 00:25:28 Mechanistic Science in Breathwork Validation; Breath Practice & Reduced Fear 00:27:21 Breathing & Emotional/Cognitive State, Olfaction, Vagus Nerve 00:29:44 Carbon Dioxide, Hyperventilation & Anxiety 00:31:21 Sponsor: Eight Sleep 00:32:47 Breathing, Emotion & Autonomic Processes Coordination; Depression & Breath Practices 00:36:43 Tool: Breathwork Practices, Box Breathing, Tummo, Wim Hof 00:38:46 Magnesium L-Threonate & Cognitive Enhancement; Compound Refinement 00:44:28 Clinical Trial, Magnesium L-Threonate & Cognitive Improvements; Dose, Sleep 00:48:28 Acknowledgements Disclaimer & Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Huberman Lab Essentials, where we revisit past episodes for the most potent and actionable
0:05.8	science-based tools for mental health, physical health, and performance.
0:11.4	I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine.
0:17.0	And now, for my conversation with Dr. Jack Feldman.
0:20.6	Thanks for joining me today. Pleasure to be here, Andrew. You're my go- Dr. Jack Feldman. Thanks for joining me today.
0:21.7	Pleasure to be here, Andrew.
0:23.1	You're my go-to source for all things, respiration, and how the brain and breathing interact.
0:30.1	You're the person I call.
0:31.5	Why don't we start off by just talking about what's involved in generating breath?
0:36.9	So on the mechanical side, which is obvious to everyone,
0:39.3	we want to have air flow in, inhale,
0:43.3	and we need to have air flow out.
0:46.3	And the reason we need to do this
0:48.3	is because for body metabolism, we need oxygen.
0:52.3	And when oxygen is utilized through the aerobic metabolic process, we produce carbon dioxide.
1:00.6	And so we have to get rid of the carbon dioxide that we produce, in particular because
1:05.1	the carbon dioxide affects the acid base balance of the blood, the pH.
1:09.8	And all living cells are very sensitive to what the
1:14.1	pH value is.
1:15.0	So your body is very interested in regulating that pH.
1:18.5	So how do we generate this airflow?
1:21.1	We have to expand the lungs, and as the lungs expand, basically it's like a balloon that you
	...

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