In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, I discuss interoception, the brain’s ability to sense and interpret signals from the body, which shapes our sense of self and underlies vital functions like focus, sleep, healing and emotions. I explain how the body communicates different types of information to the brain, influencing processes like digestion, heart rate and immune function. I also describe practical tools such as breathwork to regulate alertness, strategies to support gut health and reduce sugar cravings, and awareness practices to enhance interoception. By understanding and applying these tools, you can strengthen the brain-body connection to improve mood, overall health and performance. Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com. Huberman Lab Essentials are short episodes focused on essential science and protocol takeaways from past full-length Huberman Lab episodes. Watch or listen to the full-length episode at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman Timestamps 00:00:00 Sense of Self, Interoception 00:01:25 Brain & Body Communication, Vagus Nerve, Mechanical & Chemical Information 00:04:43 Lungs & Diaphragm, Tool: Breathwork for Alert or Calm 00:09:47 Sponsors: AG1 & Eight Sleep 00:13:14 Brain & Gut Communication, Tool: Reduce Sugar Cravings 00:18:27 Brain, Gut Chemistry, Inflammation & Gut Microbiome, Tool: Fermented Foods 00:22:20 Sponsor: LMNT 00:23:52 Vomiting, Brain; Tool: Reduce Nausea 00:28:52 Fever, Brain Chemistry, Tool: Cooling Body 00:33:20 Vagus Nerve, Emotions, Mood, Tool: Heart Awareness 00:39:29 Recap & Key Takeaways Disclaimer & Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
Welcome to Huberman Lab Essentials, where we revisit past episodes for the most potent and actionable science-based tools for mental health, physical health, and performance. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, we are going to talk about our sense of self, or what's called interoception.
Interoception is our sensing of our internal landscape, things like our heartbeat, our breathing, and our gut. This discussion about sense of self and interoception has many important actionable items that relate to bodily health and brain health.
Of all the topics I could cover, this thing that we call sense of self, which is also called interoception, has perhaps the most foundational level of importance for all that we feel, all that we do, and all that we are capable of doing. And I promise that if you can learn a little bit about the mechanisms of self-sensing,
of understanding what's going on in your internal milieu, as we say, your internal environment, you will position yourself to do some very simple things that can lead to outsized positive effects on everything from sleep to body composition, to mental focus, to mood, your ability to regulate stress, and indeed even your ability to heal and recovery from injuries of different kinds, brain injury and bodily injury.
we have a system in our body that connects our brain to all of our bodily organs and connects all of those bodily organs to our brain. And that communication between brain and body in both directions creates a situation where either we are positioned to do things well, or we are positioned to do things poorly.
So I really want to dive in and dissect what is this system of brain-body communication? What does it look like? What are the actual neurons and connections? The system that's most often associated with this is our 10th cranial nerve called the vagus nerve. The word vagus relates to the word vagabond, which is to wander. And indeed the vagus nerve is a vast, So it's not one nerve.
It's not like one fiber, one axon, as we say. So where do they go? Well, they leave the brain and the brain stem. The brain stem is kind of the back of your brain. If you touch the back of your neck, it's about three inches deep to where you're touching. The neurons that are there send information into the body to control your bodily organs.
how fast your heart is beating, how fast you're breathing, how fast your digestion is occurring. Even things like whether or not you are going to secrete so-called killer cells, your immune cells from your spleen to go ward off bacteria. Now the neurons there don't know what to do. unless they receive information about what's going on within the body.
So everything from your intestines to your stomach, et cetera, and your spleen are sending information also up to the brain. There are two fundamental features of what's going on in your body that need to be communicated to your brain, these neurons in your brainstem, in order for your brain and your body to work together correctly.
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