Essentials: The Science of Making & Breaking Habits

Huberman Lab

Scicomm Media

Life Sciences, Science, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 26.2K Ratings

🗓️ 4 December 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, I explain how to create lasting habits and break unwanted ones. I explain two habit-building systems: one aligned with daily rhythms and another based on a 21-day cycle of forming and reinforcing habits. I also discuss why habit formation differs between individuals and how certain "linchpin" habits can make other behaviors easier to adopt. Finally, I share practical tools—including visualization, task bracketing, and methods for rewiring bad habits—to support lasting behavioral change. Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AGZ by AG1: https://drinkagz.com/huberman Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00) Habits (00:43) What are Habits?, Neuroplasticity (01:15) Goal-Based vs Identity-Based Habits (02:33) How Long Does It Take to Form a Habit?; Limbic Friction (05:31) Sponsor: Eight Sleep (06:59) Tool: Linchpin Habits (08:51) Habit Strength, Context Dependence & Limbic Friction (10:41) How We Form Habits, Tool: Review Procedural Steps (12:49) Tool: Task Bracketing (16:30) Sponsor: LMNT (18:02) Should You Schedule Habits?; Phase-Based Habit Plan (20:00) Phase 1 (Morning) & Challenging Habits (21:23) Phase 2 (Afternoon), Relaxation; Mellow Habits (24:46) Phase 3 (Evening), Enhancing Sleep & Habit Consolidation (28:00) Habit Flexibility & Daily Timing (30:33) Sponsor: AGZ by AG1 (32:02) Tool: 21-Day Habit Program; Habit Missteps (37:16) Tool: How to Break Habits & Replacement Behaviors (39:59) Recap 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. I'm Andrew Huberman,
0:12.6	and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, we're
0:17.6	talking all about habits. In particular, we're going to discuss the biology
0:22.8	of habit formation and the biology of how we break habits.
0:27.1	Habits are things that our nervous system learned,
0:30.5	but not always consciously.
0:31.8	Sometimes we develop habits that we're not even aware of
0:35.1	until they become a problem,
0:36.3	or maybe they serve us well, who knows.
0:38.3	But the fact of the matter is that habits are a big part of who we are.
0:43.3	In fact, it's estimated that up to 70% of our waking behavior is made up of habitual behavior.
0:49.3	So if habits are largely learned, consciously or unconsciously,
0:54.5	we have to ask ourselves, what is learning?
0:56.6	Well, learning is neuroplasticity.
0:59.3	Neuroplasticity is simply the process
1:01.8	by which our nervous system changes in response to experience.
1:05.5	But at the end of the day, neuroplasticity is about
1:08.0	forming new neural circuits, new pathways
1:10.4	by which certain habits are likely to occur
1:12.9	and other ones are less likely to occur.
1:14.9	As many of you are well aware,
	...

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