In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, I explain how neuroplasticity allows the brain to continue to adapt and change throughout life, particularly through focused attention and active engagement in learning. I explain how neuroplasticity differs in children and adults, highlighting the key neurochemicals required for adult learning. I explain science-supported protocols to boost alertness and improve attention, including techniques like visual focus and goal accountability. I also discuss how sleep, along with practices such as non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) and naps, support the brain to enhance learning. 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 our full-length episodes will still be released every Monday. Read the full show notes at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman David: https://davidprotein.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman More Huberman Lab Huberman Lab Premium: https://go.hubermanlab.com/premium Huberman Lab Merch: https://go.hubermanlab.com/merch Timestamps 00:00:00 Huberman Lab Essentials; Neuroplasticity 00:03:27 Sponsor: David 00:04:43 New Neurons; Sensory Information, Brain & Customized Map 00:07:40 Recognition, Awareness of Behaviors 00:09:58 Sponsor: AG1 00:11:06 Attention & Neuroplasticity 00:15:40 Epinephrine, Acetylcholine & Nervous System Change 00:18:20 Improve Alertness, Epinephrine, Tool: Accountability 00:20:39 Improve Attention, Acetylcholine, Nicotine 00:23:09 Sponsor: LMNT 00:24:26 Tool: Visual Focus & Mental Focus 00:29:54 Tool: Ultradian Cycles, Anchoring Attention 00:31:00 Sleep & Neuroplasticity; NSDR, Naps 00:33:34 Recap & Key Takeaways 00:36:38 Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow & Reviews, Recommendations, Sponsors Disclaimer & Disclosures
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. My name is Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine.
Today, we're talking about neural plasticity, which is this incredible feature of our nervous systems that allows it to change in response to experience. Neuroplasticity is arguably one of the most important aspects of our biology.
It holds the promise for each and all of us to think differently, to learn new things, to forget painful experiences, and to essentially adapt to anything that life brings us by becoming better. So let's get started. Most people are familiar with the word neural plasticity, which is the brain and nervous system's ability to change itself.
All of us were born with a nervous system that isn't just capable of change, but was designed to change. When we enter the world, Our nervous system is primed for learning. The brain and nervous system of a baby is wired very crudely. The connections are not precise. And we can see evidence of that in the fact that babies are kind of flopping there like a kind of a little potato bug with limbs.
They can't really do much in terms of coordinated movement. They certainly can't speak. And they can't really do anything with precision. So I want you to imagine in your mind that when you were brought into this world, you were essentially a widely connected web of connections that was really poor at doing any one thing.
And that through your experience, what you were exposed to by your parents or other caretakers, through your social interactions, through your thoughts, through the languages that you learn, through the places you traveled or didn't travel, your nervous system became customized to your unique experience.
Now that's true for certain parts of your brain that are involved in what we call representations of the outside world. A lot of your brain is designed to represent the visual world or represent the auditory world or represent the gallery of smells that are possible in the world. However, there are aspects of your nervous system that were designed not to be plastic.
They were wired so that plasticity or changes in those circuits is very unlikely. Those circuits include things like the ones that control your heartbeat, the ones that control your breathing, the ones that control your digestion. And thank goodness that those circuits were set up that way because you want those circuits to be extremely reliable.
So many nervous system features like digestion and breathing and heart rate are hard to change. Other aspects of our nervous system are actually quite easy to change. And one of the great gifts of childhood, adolescence and young adulthood is that we can learn through almost passive experience. We don't have to focus that hard in order to learn new things.
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