Essentials: Understanding & Conquering Depression

Huberman Lab

Scicomm Media

Science, Health & Fitness, Life Sciences

4.8 • 26.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 July 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, I explore major depression, including its underlying biology and discuss science-based approaches to alleviate symptoms and improve mood. I describe the wide-ranging symptoms of depression and explain how key neurotransmitters, hormones, stress, genetics and inflammation contribute to its development and persistence. I also cover treatment options, from traditional classes of antidepressant medications to emerging therapies such as ketamine and psilocybin. Finally, I highlight lifestyle-based tools, including exercise, supplementation and dietary strategies that can help manage depressive symptoms and promote mental well-being. Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/huberman Our Place: https://fromourplace.com/huberman Timestamps 00:00:00 Major Depression 00:01:10 Depression Symptoms 00:06:14 Sponsor: BetterHelp 00:07:33 Pharmaceuticals for Depression, SSRIs; Norepinephrine, Dopamine & Serotonin 00:14:33 Thyroid Hormone, Cortisol, Stress & Depression, Menstrual Cycle, Genetics 00:17:43 Sponsor: AG1 00:19:20 Increase Norepinephrine, Tools: Deliberate Cold Exposure & Exercise 00:21:40 Chronic Inflammation & Depression, Tools: Omega-3s (EPA) & Exercise 00:26:49 Sponsor: Our Place 00:28:41 Tool: Creatine Monohydrate Supplementation & Improving Depression 00:30:20 Novel Depression Therapies, Ketamine, Psilocybin 00:35:29 Ketogenic Diet & Refractory Depression, GABA 00:37:57 Recap & Key Takeaways 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,
0:02.0	where we revisit past episodes
0:04.0	for the most potent and actionable science-based tools
0:07.0	for mental health, physical health, and performance.
0:10.0	I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor
0:13.0	of neurobiology and ophthalmology
0:15.0	at Stanford School of Medicine.
0:17.0	Today we're discussing depression.
0:19.0	In particular, we're going gonna talk about major depression.
0:22.0	The phrase major depression is used to distinguish
0:24.6	one form of depression from the other,
0:26.7	the other one being bipolar depression.
0:29.6	Major depression impacts 5% of the population.
0:34.2	That is an enormous number.
0:36.7	That means if you're in a class of 100 people,
0:39.4	five of them are dealing with major depression
0:41.6	or have at some point.
0:43.7	Look around you in any environment
0:45.2	and you can be sure that a good portion
0:48.6	of the people that you're surrounded by
0:50.8	is impacted by depression or will be at some point.
0:53.8	So this is something we really have to take seriously
	...

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