Andrew Huberman

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 the biology, psychology, and utility of play.

much of our childhood development centers around play, whether or not it's organized play or spontaneous play.

But as adults, we also need to play.

And today I'm going to talk about what I like to refer to as the power of play.

Let's talk about play.

What is the utility of play?

Why do we play when we're younger?

Why do we tend to play less as we get older?

And what in the world is play for?

As we're going to learn later in the podcast,

Play is generated through the connectivity of many brain areas.

But one of the key brain areas is an area called PAG, periaqueductal gray.

The periaqueductal gray is a brainstem area.

So it's pretty far back as the brain kind of transitions into the spinal cord.

And it's rich with neurons that make endogenous opioids.

So these are not the kinds of opioids that are causing the opioid crisis.

These are neurons that you and I all have that release endogenous, meaning self-made or biologically made opioids.

They go by names like enkephalin and things of that sort.