In this episode, I explain cortisol and science-based protocols for properly setting your cortisol rhythm, which can significantly increase your daytime energy, focus, mood, and stress resilience, while also improving your sleep quality. Most people mistakenly think cortisol is bad, and many assume their levels are too high, when in fact many health and performance challenges simply stem from a disrupted cortisol rhythm. Getting your cortisol rhythm right can be transformative for your health and performance. I outline behavioral, nutritional, and supplement-based strategies to raise or lower your cortisol levels at the appropriate times of day and night. I also provide specific protocols for overcoming burnout. If you’re dealing with stress, low energy, hormone or sleep challenges—or simply want to optimize these for the sake of your physical and mental health and performance—this episode offers science-backed protocols to help. Read the the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman Carbon: https://joincarbon.com/huberman BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/huberman David: https://davidprotein.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00) Cortisol (1:29) Stress, Tool: Daily Cortisol Rhythm (3:16) Cortisol & Directing Energy, Glucose, Adrenals (6:39) Sponsors: Carbon & BetterHelp (10:14) Daily Cortisol Phases & Rhythm, Waking Up & Cortisol (17:55) Cortisol Release & Regulation, Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis (24:57) Rapid & Delayed Stress Response, HPA Axis (28:42) Bright Light & Cortisol Release, Tool: Increase Morning Cortisol & Sunlight (36:58) Sponsors: AG1 & David (39:48) Viewing Bright Light & Mood, Depression, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) (41:44) Increase Morning Cortisol, Tools: Hydration, Delaying Caffeine Intake (49:30) Exercise, Entrainment Cues & Cortisol Rhythm, Tool: Boost Energy & Exercise Schedule (57:52) Does Deliberate Cold Exposure Increase Cortisol?, Energy & Mood (1:01:19) Sponsor: LMNT (1:02:51) Increase Morning Cortisol & Nutrition, Grapefruit, Black Licorice (1:11:34) Afternoon & Evening Cortisol Rhythms, Sunlight, Screens (1:14:30) Lower Evening Cortisol, Tools: Dim Lights, Light Color (1:20:54) Lower Evening Cortisol, Tools: Caffeine Timing; Stress Response & Exhales; Starchy Carbohydrates (1:30:42) Low-Carb Diets & Cortisol, Metabolic Syndrome (1:35:30) Evening Exercise & Cortisol, Tool: Spike Your Morning Cortisol (1:44:32) Supplements to Reduce Cortisol, Ashwagandha, Apigenin, Magnesium (1:50:57) Burnout, Cushing's & Addison's, 2 Burnout Patterns (1:55:23) Early-Phase Burnout, Tools: NSDR/Yoga Nidra, Boost Morning Cortisol, Caffeine (2:01:35) Late-Phase Burnout, Tools: Reduce Evening Cortisol (2:08:02) Age, Male vs Females, Lifespan, Cancer; Menopause; Brain Health (2:13:41) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow & Reviews, Sponsors, YouTube Feedback, Protocols Book, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter Disclaimer & Disclosures Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Full Episode
Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, we're discussing cortisol, in particular, how to control your cortisol in order to avoid burnout, or should you already be feeling burnt out, how to overcome burnout.
Now it's hard for me to overemphasize just how important cortisol is. In fact, in the late stages of preparing for this episode, it dawned on me that if ever there were an episode of the Huberman Lab podcast that people could benefit from in terms of their health and wellbeing, this would be that episode. And I say that because as you'll soon learn,
Cortisol, the biology of it, how it impacts your mood, your sleep, your immune system, your overall feelings of wellbeing, not just in the moment, but over the long term, and your ability to control cortisol at different portions of the day and night makes it one of the most, if not the most powerful levers for your health and wellbeing.
So I'm very excited to get into the material for today's discussion about cortisol, how to control it, and how to avoid and overcome burnout. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that 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. In keeping with that theme, today's episode does include sponsors. OK, let's discuss cortisol. Now, I believe that most people have heard of cortisol and most everyone that hears the word cortisol hears it somewhere nearby the word stress.
And it makes sense why you would hear about cortisol in that context, because indeed, cortisol is a hormone that's made and released in response to stress. Now, the problem with thinking about cortisol simply as a stress hormone is that it's doing a lot of other things unrelated to stress that are super important and positive for you.
However, it all depends on how high your cortisol levels are and when. So during today's discussion, there's going to be a very prominent theme, which is your cortisol rhythm, or more particularly your 24 hour so-called circadian rhythm in cortisol. And here's the important first thing to remember. You want your cortisol high
early in the day, shortly after waking, and you want your cortisol low in the hours right before sleep and in the first hours of sleep. If you remember nothing else from this episode, please remember that because if you get those two things correct, everything else in terms of health and wellness and performance, all of that will be reinforced by getting your cortisol rhythm correct.
So today I will explain how to get your cortisol rhythm correct. I will also explain what stress does to cortisol in the short term, which turns out to be good for you. And in the long term, if you're dealing with long bouts of stress associated with what eventually becomes burnout.
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