How to Get and Stay Sober in 2026 (The Biohacker’s Guide) | Luke Storey : 1386
The Human Upgrade: Biohacking for Longevity & Performance
Dave Asprey
4.6 • 7.3K Ratings
🗓️ 25 December 2025
⏱️ 80 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The holidays are when drinking quietly ramps up for a lot of people. More parties, more stress, more excuses, and habits that feel temporary but often aren’t. This episode is for anyone reflecting on their relationship with alcohol, substances, or compulsive habits and questioning whether those patterns are actually supporting the life and health they want going forward.
This episode features host Dave Asprey joined by Luke Storey, a motivational speaker, spiritual teacher, and host of the top-rated podcast The Life Stylist, which has surpassed 10 million downloads. Luke is widely regarded as a pioneer in health and wellness, known for articulating transformative principles around spirituality, addiction recovery, and mental, emotional, and physical health optimization.
Together, Dave and Luke explore why getting sober and staying sober rarely comes down to willpower alone. They unpack how addiction often shows up as biology, trauma, nervous system dysregulation, and learned coping patterns, not just substance use. The conversation expands the definition of addiction to include socially accepted behaviors like alcohol, nicotine, work, scrolling, and distraction.
The discussion moves through long term sobriety, discernment around substances, the role of spirituality in recovery, and how people break free from compulsive loops by addressing root causes instead of chasing short term fixes. Nuanced topics like abstinence, nicotine, psychedelics, and altered states are explored with clear boundaries around safety, intention, and stability.
You’ll learn:
• Why willpower alone fails to sustain sobriety
• How addiction is driven by nervous system wiring and trauma
• Why socially accepted habits can still be addictive
• How to tell the difference between craving and intuition
• What supports long term recovery beyond abstinence
• Why identity and environment matter more than discipline
• How sobriety creates clarity, resilience, and freedom over time
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Dave Asprey is a four-time New York Times bestselling author, founder of Bulletproof Coffee, and the father of biohacking. With over 1,000 interviews and 1 million monthly listeners, The Human Upgrade brings you the knowledge to take control of your biology, extend your longevity, and optimize every system in your body and mind. Each episode delivers cutting-edge insights in health, performance, neuroscience, supplements, nutrition, biohacking, emotional intelligence, and conscious living.
New episodes are released every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday (BONUS). Dave asks the questions no one else will and gives you real tools to become stronger, smarter, and more resilient.
Keywords: sobriety biohacking, addiction recovery science, how to get sober, how to stay sober, long term sobriety, addiction and trauma, nervous system regulation addiction, biology of addiction, habit loops and addiction, compulsive behavior recovery, holiday drinking habits, alcohol and nervous system, dopamine addiction cycles, stress response and addiction, emotional regulation recovery, identity and sobriety, spirituality and addiction recovery, abstinence based recovery, craving vs intuition, addiction and loneliness, socially acceptable addictions, nicotine and addiction debate, psychedelics and addiction recovery, forgiveness and trauma healing, nervous system healing tools, Dave Asprey sobriety, Luke Storey sobriety, The Human Upgrade addiction episode
Resources:
• Luke’s website: https://www.lukestorey.com/
• Dave's Biohacking Holiday Gift Guide | Go to https://daveasprey.com/giftguide/ to explore the full guide.
• Dave Asprey's Latest News | Go to https://daveasprey.com/ to join Inside Track today
• Danger Coffee: https://dangercoffee.com/discount/dave15
• My Daily Supplements: SuppGrade Labs (15% Off)
• Favorite Blue Light Blocking Glasses: TrueDark (15% Off)
• Dave Asprey’s BEYOND Conference: https://beyondconference.com
• Dave Asprey’s New Book – Heavily Meditated: https://daveasprey.com/heavily-meditated
• Upgrade Collective: https://www.ourupgradecollective.com
• Upgrade Labs: https://upgradelabs.com
• 40 Years of Zen: https://40yearsofzen.com
Timestamps:
0:00 - Trailer
0:45 - Introduction
1:18 - Crack, Heroin, and Early Addiction
5:14 - Pandemic and Addiction
8:34 - Addicted to Negative Thinking
10:22 - Getting Sober at 26
15:12 - Why People Become Addicted
16:34 - Heroin and Cocaine Neurochemistry
18:15 - Nicotine Benefits
26:22 - 12 Step vs Ibogaine
27:36 - Complete Abstinence
33:03 - First Ayahuasca Experience
35:28 - Origins of AA
38:34 - Psychedelics and Trauma
42:36 - Choosing the Right Shaman
48:38 - Dark Forces and Protection
58:09 - Intuition vs Craving
1:05:23 - Healing Order of Operations
1:08:16 - Brain Health Risks
1:09:40 - Hyperbaric Therapy
1:12:21 - Closing and Wrap Up
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I checked myself into rehab and I'm going through all kinds of crazy withdrawal and I'm like, can you guys give me some dilaudid or something? You know, I go to the nurse and she said, oh no, you don't need that. We checked your vitals. You're fine. You just got to rough it. And I said, well, give me something. She said, Luke, you have to go to your room and pray. Pray to God to remove your obsession. And that's all she gave me. |
| 0:22.1 | I had never been around religion. |
| 0:23.0 | I wasn't spiritual. |
| 0:24.0 | I didn't believe in God. |
| 0:27.1 | Just from seeing it in the movies, it's the only way I knew how to do it. |
| 0:28.3 | I got on my hands and knees. |
| 0:29.8 | I put my hands in prayer position. |
| 0:34.3 | And I prayed the most humble, sincere prayer of my life. |
| 0:36.7 | It was just, I want to be free. |
| 0:43.2 | You're listening to The Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey. |
| 0:52.5 | Alcohol kills your sleep and ages your brain every time you drink it. If you want to relax and connect, but still feel clear |
| 0:54.6 | the next day, there's a better way. And that better way is true Kava. Kava calms your nervous |
| 1:00.2 | system and enhances social connection by increasing GABA, dopamine, and serotonin activity. |
| 1:06.3 | In the South Pacific, they've used Kava for over 3,000 years for relaxed mental clarity, social connection, |
| 1:13.7 | and resilience, all while supporting brain health and longevity. I'm excited because true |
| 1:18.6 | Kava just released their new instant powders. For the first time, you can get the authentic |
| 1:23.8 | whole-food kava experience in a clean mix-and-go sashay format. I travel with these |
| 1:29.2 | powders because they actually deliver all of the relaxing social benefits I want without |
| 1:34.7 | destroying my sleep score or metabolic health. If you want the relaxing effects of alcohol without |
| 1:40.1 | the downsides, this is the upgrade. Go to Truekava.com and use code Dave10 for 10% off. |
| 1:47.2 | That's T-R-U-K-A-V-A.com for 10% off. |
| 1:52.8 | Giving gifts to loved ones is really good for your biology. |
... |
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