Essentials: Using Your Nervous System to Enhance Your Immune System

Huberman Lab

Scicomm Media

Science, Health & Fitness, Life Sciences

4.8 • 26.2K Ratings

🗓️ 25 September 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, I explain how the immune system defends against infection and describe the relationship between the immune and nervous systems. I discuss the immune system's three primary layers of defense, emphasizing how each contributes to protection from infection. I share practical tools to enhance immune function and accelerate recovery from sickness, including specific breathing patterns, sleep positioning and targeted supplementation. I also explore the powerful mind-body connection, showing how mindset and nervous system activation can directly influence the body's ability to heal. Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman Timestamps (0:00) Immune System & Nervous System (0:33) Immune System 101, Innate & Adaptive Immune Systems (8:03) Mucus & Microbiome, Tools: Nasal Breathing; Avoid Eyes; Ingest Fermented Foods (10:57) Sponsor: AG1 (12:04) Sickness Behavior & Vagus Nerve, Fever, Photophobia, Rest (16:43) Humoral Factors, Inflammatory Cytokines (18:14) Sleep & Enhancing Immune System, Glymphatic System, Tool: Elevate Feet (21:12) Sponsor: LMNT (22:44) Stress & Inflammation, Tool: Early Symptoms & Cyclic Hyperventilation (31:09) Positive Mindset & Immune Function, Dopamine (34:03) Electroacupuncture, Fascia, Catecholamines & Inflammation (36:22) Accelerating Recovery, Medication, Tool: Spirulina & Rhinitis (38:34) Recap & Key Takeaways Disclaimer & Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

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.
0:17.5	Today we are discussing the immune system, And we are also discussing how the nervous system
0:23.4	can be used to activate and control the immune system.
0:27.6	The first topic we have to attack is the question
0:31.3	of what is the immune system and how does it work.
0:34.1	I'd like to just take a moment and do a sort of brief immune system 101. Really simple,
0:41.8	cover the basic elements of the immune system so that everyone listening or watching this can get
0:46.4	a clear sense of how the immune system functions and what its basic parts are. It's actually
0:52.6	really simple because it is truly elegant in design.
0:56.9	You have three main layers of defense
1:01.0	for your health.
1:03.1	And the first of those three is a physical barrier
1:07.0	that we call your skin.
1:08.9	And that might seem kind of obvious,
1:10.3	but everything about you is contained
1:13.5	in this compartment that is boundered by your skin.
1:18.4	If you've ever had a cut,
1:19.7	you essentially have a breach of the boundary
1:22.5	that is your immune system.
1:24.5	Still in category one, your body and your external surface, you have openings to that
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Scicomm Media, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Scicomm Media and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.