Huberman Lab
Essentials: Maximize Productivity, Physical & Mental Health With Daily Tools
22 May 2025
In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, I provide a science-based daily protocol designed to enhance performance, mood and overall health by strategically timing simple yet powerful tools and behaviors. I explain how to increase energy and alertness in the morning, optimize your workspace and work sessions for maximum focus, and structure your day for sustained productivity. I also discuss the roles of fasting, meal and caffeine timing, and key nutrients, as well as how to leverage exercise to sharpen alertness and cognitive performance. Additionally, I describe evening practices and supplements that help you fall asleep quickly and promote quality sleep. 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 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 Office Hours, Example Daily Protocol 00:01:48 Morning, Tools: Temperature Minimum, Walk, Sunlight & Cortisol 00:05:30 Hydration, Electrolytes, Tool: Delay Caffeine 00:07:39 Sponsor: Eight Sleep 00:09:45 Morning Focus, Fasting 00:10:34 Tools: Optimize Workspace, Screen Position, Work Bouts 00:13:45 Tool: Timing Work Bouts, Temperature Minimum 00:16:02 Exercise, Strength & Hypertrophy, Endurance Training, Tool: 80/20 Workouts 00:19:01 Sponsor: AG1 00:20:48 Afternoon, Meal Timing, Carbs, Omega-3s, Tool: Afternoon Walks & Light 00:25:33 Dinner, Sleep Transition, Carbs, Serotonin 00:28:44 Sponsor: LMNT 00:30:16 Accelerate Sleep, Tool: Reduce Temperature & Hot Baths 00:32:06 Sleep Supplements, Magnesium, Apigenin, Theanine; Waking at Night 00:35:06 Example Daily Routine, Work Blocks 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. I decided that we would hold office hours.
Office hours in the university setting are when students come to the professor's office or you meet outdoors on campus or in the classroom to review the material and questions from lecture in more detail. Now, unfortunately, we don't have the opportunity to meet face to face,
in real life, but nonetheless, you've been sending your questions, putting them in the comment section on YouTube, et cetera, and I've prepared a number of answers to the questions that have shown up most frequently.
Now, in order to provide context and structure to the way that we will address these questions, I've arranged the science and science-based protocols that relate to various aspects of life, such as mood, exercise, sleep, waking, anxiety, creativity, et cetera, into the context of a day.
Selecting the unit of a day in order to deliver this science information and protocols is not a haphazard decision on my part. it's actually the case that every cell in our body, every organ in our body and our brain is modulated or changes across the 24 hour day in a very regular and predictable rhythm.
And so selecting the unit of the day is not just a practical one, but it's one that's related to our deeper biology. So let's talk about how to apply quality peer reviewed science to your day. and how to optimize everything from sleep to learning, creativity, meal timing, et cetera. I'm going to do this in the context of my day and what I typically do.
I tend to wake up sometime around 6 a.m., 6.30. The first thing I do after I wake up is I take the pen that's on my nightstand and the pad of paper on my nightstand and I write down the time in which I woke up. The reason for writing down what time I wake up is because I want to know what's called my temperature minimum. I don't care what my actual temperature is.
I care when my lowest temperature is. And I know that that lowest temperature is approximately two hours before my average wake up time. The second thing I do after I wake up is to get into forward ambulation, which is just nerd speak for taking a walk.
There's a phenomenon whereby when we generate our own forward motion, forward ambulation, visual images pass by us on our eyes, so-called optic flow. Experiencing visual flow has a powerful effect on the nervous system. The effect it has is essentially to quiet or reduce the amount of neural activity in this brain structure called the amygdala.
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