In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, I discuss the science of vision and share simple, effective tools to enhance eyesight and preserve eye health. I explain how the eyes and brain work together to process light, color and motion using specialized structures such as the retina and photoreceptors, and why conditions like nearsightedness, visual hallucinations and lazy eye occur. I also cover specific visual protocols to increase alertness and focus during work, improve sleep, and support visual health. Additionally, I highlight key vitamins essential for vision and discuss supplements such as lutein and astaxanthin for maintaining long-term eye health. Huberman Lab Essentials are short episodes—approximately 30 minutes—focused on essential science and protocol takeaways from past Huberman Lab episodes. Essentials will be released every Thursday, and full-length episodes will continue to be released every Monday. 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 ROKA: https://roka.com/huberman Timestamps 00:00:00 Huberman Lab Essentials; Improve Vision 00:01:01 Eyes, Lens, Eyelashes 00:02:40 Retina, Photoreceptors & Brain 00:06:34 Eyesight & Subconscious Vision Effects 00:07:25 Sponsor: Eight Sleep 00:09:02 Time of Day & Retina, Tool: Morning Sunlight Exposure 00:12:02 Tool: Reduce Nearsightedness & Outdoor Time 00:12:33 Accommodation, Focus, Tools: Panoramic Vision; Upward Gaze 00:16:20 Sponsor: AG1 00:18:14 Improve Vision, Tools: View Distances; Smooth Pursuit; Accommodation 00:21:08 Binocular Vision, Lazy Eye, Children 00:23:57 Hallucinations & Visual System 00:25:09 Sponsor: ROKA 00:26:57 Improve & Test Vision, Tool: Snellen Chart 00:29:03 Support Vision, Tool: Vitamin A & Vegetables 00:30:23 Supplements, Lutein, Astaxanthin 00:32:52 Recap & Key Takeaways; Cardiovascular System 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. This podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford.
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. Today's episode is going to be all about vision and eyesight, a topic that's very near and dear to my heart because it's the one that I've been focusing on for well over 25 years of my career.
When we hear the word vision, we most often think about eyesight or our ability to perceive shapes and objects and faces and colors. However, our eyes are responsible for much more than that, including our mood, our level of alertness, and all of that is included in what we call vision. What is vision? Well, vision starts with the eyes. we have no what's called extraocular light perception.
While it feels good to have light on our skin, while it feels good to be outside in the sunlight for most people, the only way that light information can get to the cells of your body is through these two little goodies on the front of your face. And for those of you listening, I'm just pointing to my eyes.
As many of you have heard me say before on this and other podcasts, your eyes in particular, your neural retinas are part of your central nervous system. They are part of your brain. They're the only part of your brain that sits outside the cranial vault.
In other words, you have two pieces of your brain that deliberately got squeezed out of the skull during development and placed in these things we call eye sockets. Now the eyes have a lot of other goodies in them that are very important. And those are the goodies that we're going to focus on a lot today. There's a lens to focus light precisely to the retina.
There are also other pieces of the eye that are designed to keep the eye lubricated. You also have these things that we call eyelashes. Most people don't know this, but eyelashes are there to trigger the blink reflex. They aren't just aesthetically nice. Eyelashes are there so that if a piece of dust or something starts to head towards the cornea, the eye blinks very, very fast.
It's the fastest reflex you own. We also have these things called eyelids. Now eyelids might seem like the most boring topic of all, but they are incredibly fascinating. Today we're going to talk about how you can actually use your visual system to increase your levels of alertness based on the neural circuits that link your brainstem with your eyelids. So,
Let's talk about what the eyes do for vision. Basically, the entire job of the eyes is to collect light information and send it off to the rest of the brain in a form that the brain can understand. Remember, no light actually gets in past those neural retinas. It gets to the neural retina and we have specific cells in the eye called photoreceptors. They come in two different types, rods and cones.
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