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Huberman Lab

How to Focus to Change Your Brain

Huberman Lab

Scicomm Media

Life Sciences, Health & Fitness, Science

4.830.3K Ratings

🗓️ 8 February 2021

⏱️ 91 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This episode introduces neuroplasticity—which is how our brain and nervous system learn and acquire new capabilities. I describe the differences between childhood and adult neuroplasticity, the chemicals involved and how anyone can increase their rate and depth of learning by leveraging the science of focus. I describe specific tools for increasing focus and learning. The next two episodes will cover the ideal protocols for specific types of learning and how to make learning new information more reflexive. For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1 (Athletic Greens): https://athleticgreens.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/hubermanlab Waking Up: https://www.wakingup.com/huberman Momentous: https://www.livemomentous.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Introduction (00:00:32) Sponsors: AG1, LMNT, Waking Up (00:03:50) Plasticity: What Is it, & What Is It For? (00:06:30) Babies and Potato Bugs (00:08:00) Customizing Your Brain (00:08:50) Hard-Wired Versus Plastic Brains (00:10:25) Everything Changes At 25 (00:12:29) Costello and Your Hearing (00:13:10) The New Neuron Myth (00:14:10) Anosmia: Losing Smell (00:15:13) Neuronal Birthdays Near Our Death Day (00:16:45) Circumstances for Brain Change (00:17:21) Brain Space (00:18:30) No Nose, Eyes, Or Ears (00:19:30) Enhanced Hearing and Touch In The Blind (00:20:20) Brain Maps of The Body Plan (00:21:00) The Kennard Principle (Margaret Kennard) (00:21:36) Maps of Meaning (00:23:00) Awareness Cues Brain Change (00:25:20) The Chemistry of Change (00:26:15) A Giant Lie In The Universe 00:27:10) Fathers of Neuroplasticity/Critical Periods 00:29:30) Competition Is The Route to Plasticity 00:32:30) Correcting The Errors of History 00:33:29) Adult Brain Change: Bumps and Beeps (00:36:25) What It Takes to Learn (00:38:15) Adrenalin and Alertness (00:40:18) The Acetylcholine Spotlight (00:42:26) The Chemical Trio For Massive Brain Change (00:44:10) Ways To Change Your Brain (00:46:16) Love, Hate, & Shame: all the same chemical (00:47:30) The Dopamine Trap (00:49:40) Nicotine for Focus (00:52:30) Sprinting (00:53:30) How to Focus (00:55:22) Adderall: Use & Abuse (00:56:40) Seeing Your Way To Mental Focus (01:02:59) Blinking (01:05:30) And Ear Toward Learning (01:06:14) The Best Listeners In The World (01:07:20) Agitation is Key (01:07:40) ADHD & ADD: Attention Deficit (Hyperactivity) Disorder (01:12:00) Ultra(dian) Focus (01:13:30) When Real Change Occurs (01:16:20) How Much Learning Is Enough? (01:16:50) Learning In (Optic) Flow/Mind Drift (01:18:16) Synthesis/Summary (01:25:15) Learning With Repetition, Forming Habits As always, thank you for your interest in science! Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac Disclaimer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Welcome to the Huberman Lab podcast where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.

0:09.0

My name is Andrew Huberman and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine.

0:15.0

This podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford.

0:19.0

It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public.

0:27.0

In keeping with that theme, I want to thank the first sponsor of today's podcast.

0:32.0

Our first sponsor is Athletic Greens. Athletic Greens is an all-in-one vitamin mineral probiotic drink.

0:38.0

I've been taking Athletic Greens since 2012, so I'm delighted that they're sponsoring the podcast.

0:43.0

The reason I started taking Athletic Greens and the reason I still take Athletic Greens once or twice today is that it helps me cover all of my basic nutritional needs.

0:51.0

It makes up for any deficiencies that I might have. In addition, it has probiotics, which are vital for microbiome health.

0:58.0

I've done a couple of episodes now on the so-called gut microbiome and the ways in which the microbiome interacts with your immune system, with your brain to regulate mood, and essentially with every biological system relevant to health throughout your brain and body.

1:12.0

With Athletic Greens, I get the vitamins I need, the minerals I need, and the probiotics to support my microbiome.

1:18.0

If you'd like to try Athletic Greens, you can go to AthleticGreens.com slash Huberman and claim a special offer. They'll give you five free travel packs plus a year supply of vitamin D3 K2.

1:28.0

There are a ton of data now showing that vitamin D3 is essential for various aspects of our brain and body health, even if we're getting a lot of sunshine.

1:36.0

Many of us are still deficient in vitamin D3. K2 is also important because it regulates things like cardiovascular function, calcium in the body, and so on.

1:44.0

Again, go to AthleticGreens.com slash Huberman to claim the special offer of the five free travel packs and the year supply of vitamin D3 K2.

1:52.0

Today's episode is also brought to us by Inside Tracker. Inside Tracker is a personalized nutrition platform that analyzes data from your blood and DNA to help you better understand your body and help you reach your health goals.

2:04.0

I am a big fan of getting regular blood work done, and I've been trying to do it as much as I can afford for years.

2:10.0

The reason is that many of the factors that impact our immediate and long-term health can only be discovered from a quality blood test.

2:18.0

With most blood tests and DNA tests, however, you get information back, but not a lot of information about what to do with those numbers.

2:25.0

With Inside Tracker, they give you a lot of specific recommendations as to lifestyle factors, nutrition factors, supplementation factors, things you may want to add to your life, or things you may want to delete from your life in order to bring the numbers into the ranges that are best for your immediate and long-term health.

2:40.0

There's simply no replacement for these kinds of data.

2:43.0

Your data are the most important data to you, and quality blood tests and DNA tests are the way to access them. If you'd like to try Inside Tracker, go to InsideTracker.com-slash-Huberman to get 20% off any of Inside Tracker's plans.

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