Andrew D. Huberman Quotes

“Positive thinking is not about being delusional. It's about learning how to take control of internal processing and knowing it'll shape your external environment.”

“Testosterone makes effort feel good.”

“We can use play as a means to enhance neuroplasticity and explore novel situations, regardless of age.”

“At the end of the day, the only thing that you truly can control is where you place your attention and where you place your effort.”

“Dopamine is the molecule that makes us look at things outside the boundaries of our skin, to be in pursuit of things.”

“Gratitude sounds like complacency, and people fear that they’re not going to be persistent. But serotonin resets dopamine, which puts you back in the fight and allows you to fight longer and further.

If you look at high-performers in these very high-risk/high-consequence special operations communities, they have gratitude practices and they incorporate them.”

“I think a deliberate practice of relishing or enjoying what we have is so powerful and not just going through the motions, if we’re not enjoying it and we’re just waiting for the end result, we’re going to be unhappy.”

“If you are in frustration and strain, a sense of play is great because in play, you have focus, and you have intention and alertness. It keeps you light enough that there’s that dopamine release.

As adults, we tend to be more demanding of ourselves. We don’t tend to embrace as much play. I think play is important because it’s a great way to learn dopamine release. And it’s a great way to expand one’s experience of life.”

“Neuroplasticity has two parts. One is the trigger. In adults it is triggered by focus and attention and even a heightened state of agitation. The more frustrated you feel, the more you’re actually triggering learning and saying, ‘this is important’.

The second part is deep relaxation. That’s when the connections between neurons called synapses actually get stronger. That’s when the connections that you don’t want get removed.”

“Serotonin is about feeling like we have enough in our immediate environment. And it’s so powerful because unless that serotonin box is checked off periodically, we cannot lean back into the dopamine outward pursuit process for very long.”

“The human species was given this tremendous gift of neuroplasticity, the ability to change ourselves and be better in deliberate ways. And my definition of greatness is anyone that’s making that effort, even in a tiny way, just to take this incredible machinery that we were given — this nervous system — and to leverage it toward being better, feeling better, and showing up better for other people.”

“The mental strain you feel when you’re learning something is the trigger for neuroplasticity for your brain to change. Neuroplasticity is a process of taking something where there’s a duration path and outcome — where I’m working hard.

I’m thinking hard. Maybe it’s a hard conversation. Maybe it’s a business plan. Maybe it’s a scientific career. And the goal of neuroplasticity is to make things reflexive. So you don’t have to think about them.”

“A new study found that just one 5 minute deliberate cold exposure session (20C/68F; which isn’t that cold!) elevated mood and reduced negative affect and changed resting state connectivity in brain networks associated with positive affect (for the 'better').”

“As we head toward the 'spring forward' daylight savings, I am reminded how these rules are based on total lack of how our circadian biology actually works.

I believe the solution is in educating our lawmakers. After all most of them look like their health could use a boost too!”

“Books that transformed my world view and that impact my thinking and behavior daily:

1) 'The Secret Pulse of Time' by Stefan Klein
2) 'The Creative Act' by Rick Rubin
3) 'On the Move' by Oliver Sacks”

“Clarity > speed”

“Coolidge effect: mate to satiety; the point where further arousal is impossible. But replace the female with a novel one and the male immediately regains vigor and arousal.

It has also been shown for females; introducing a novel male restores arousal. The mechanism is dopamine dependent.”

“Despite what you may have heard, zero drinks is better than a few (even red wine) and the threshold beyond which health issues start to surface is 2 drinks per week.”

“Diet is not just about weight. It’s also a potent tool for treating mental health challenges: depression, bipolar depression, ADHD, schizophrenia and more.”

“Every organ exhibits circadian oscillations in function. Once you realize it's (sun)light to the eyes that sets the master circadian clock and that in turn properly coordinates all other circadian oscillations, it’s clear why viewing morning sunlight works so well to promote health.”

“Exposing your eyes to sunlight in the morning increases daytime energy and mood and improves nighttime sleep.

But it also triggers a cascade of short, medium and long-acting peptides and hormones that powerfully modify state of mind and body in other (positive) ways too.”

“Forcing exercise worsens physiological metrics of health while voluntary exercise does the opposite. The impact of the mind (and mindset) on physiological metrics is robust.”

“Hydrating properly significantly improves mental and physical performance. This is not guesswork.

The Galpin Equation:
bodyweight in pounds divided by 30 = the number of ounces of water to ingest per 15 min of exertion. (On average, not necessarily on the 1/4 hour).”

“I think gratitude is wonderful, it resets the system so that you can be in pursuit.”

“If you dread cold showers or a cold plunge first thing in the morning, you stand to benefit more, not less from the long lasting adrenaline and dopamine increase it triggers.

No obligation; there are many other tools to select from. Avoid deliberate cold after workouts however.”

“If you’re focusing on how someone else is failing, what’s wrong with X, Y or Z, you’re wasting valuable neural real estate, building less, creating less and slipping backwards. That’s the slow lane. We all have limited forebrain resources — use them wisely.”

“In a recent class I taught at Stanford University we read and applied data-supported tools on how to learn/neuroplasticity.

Among the most effective tools: periodically thinking back on material in a structured way and figuring out where your gaps in knowledge remain, reread and repeat.

It outperforms note taking. (But also take notes).

The best structure is to try and make it linear. That is, try not to let your mind skip around between different components of the learn material. That process can come later.

The first step is to get mastery over the concepts in a start to finish way. For the type of material that requires problem sets obviously you’ll need to do the problem sets.”

“It’s clear dopamine is not about reward but rather about motivation and drive, and a willingness to persist in a given mode of action and thoughts.

Thus, ask yourself:
1) Where do you get your dopamine from?
2) Is that serving to move you forward? Keeping you stuck? Regressing?”

“My understanding is that you would have to ingest an incredible amount of aspartame to make it really risky.

But if you’re really concerned, you can opt not to ingest it.

I use stevia in limited amounts, very occasionally ingest aspartame but avoid sucralose because I hate the taste.”

“No, there is no true artificial replacement for sunlight that is as good, but if you can’t view sunlight in the morning then bright artificial light would be your next choice.

And don’t forget that there is sunlight on cloudy days. It’s especially important to view that sunlight on cloudy days.”