Andrew Huberman
Neuroscientist · Huberman Lab
Stanford neuroscientist and host of the Huberman Lab podcast, where he translates peer-reviewed research into step-by-step "protocols" for sleep, focus and stress. His toolkits have made things like morning sunlight and deliberate cold exposure mainstream. He is also open about the supplements he personally takes and where the evidence is thin.
- Entries
- 30
- Does
- 21
- Recommends
- 8
- Discusses
- 1
The gear and products they use
All 17 products in this stack
- SupplementDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Creatine monohydrate
Five grams a day sits in his foundational protocol, and he points to creatine as one of the few supplements with evidence for both physical and cognitive effects.
Source: Huberman Lab: Foundational Fitness ProtocolView item: Creatine monohydrateBacked by 10 of 34 stacks - SupplementDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Magnesium (threonate or glycinate)
Takes magnesium threonate in the evening, one of three ingredients in his sleep stack, and notes that a minority of people find it does the opposite.
Source: Huberman Lab: Master Your Sleep & Be More Alert When AwakeView item: Magnesium (threonate or glycinate)Backed by 9 of 34 stacks - SupplementDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Electrolyte supplementation
Salted water goes down in the morning and around training; he argues most people underconsume sodium relative to how much they sweat.
Source: Huberman Lab: Hydration and electrolytesView item: Electrolyte supplementationBacked by 6 of 34 stacks - SupplementDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Omega-3 (EPA/DHA)
Treats omega-3s as foundational, and points to more than a gram of EPA a day for cardiovascular health, cognition and mood.
Source: Huberman Lab: supplementation topic pageView item: Omega-3 (EPA/DHA)Backed by 6 of 34 stacks - SupplementDoes itSponsor, disclosed
AG1 (Athletic Greens)
Nutritional insurance on top of food, taken daily. AG1 is a longstanding sponsor of the Huberman Lab podcast and is listed on his own sponsors page.
Source: Huberman Lab: sponsors pageVisit drinkag1.com (opens in a new tab)Backed by 3 of 34 stacks - SupplementDiscusses$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Melatonin
Actively advises against melatonin as a routine sleep aid, pointing to the hormonal nature of the compound and the wildly supraphysiological doses sold over the counter.
Source: Huberman Lab: Sleep ToolkitView item: MelatoninBacked by 3 of 34 stacks - SupplementDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Ashwagandha
Uses it only during unusually stressful stretches rather than continuously, and he stresses cycling it off because of the effects on cortisol and the rare liver reports.
Source: Huberman Lab: Tools for Managing Stress & AnxietyView item: AshwagandhaBacked by 2 of 34 stacks - GearDoes itSponsor, disclosed
Eight Sleep
Cools the bed for sleep onset and warms it before waking, using a temperature-controlled mattress cover. The company is a longstanding sponsor of his podcast.
Source: Huberman Lab: sponsors pageVisit eightsleep.com (opens in a new tab)Backed by 2 of 34 stacks - SupplementDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Glycine
Two grams of glycine goes into the evening list on three or four nights a week rather than every night.
Source: Huberman Lab: Toolkit for SleepView item: GlycineBacked by 2 of 34 stacks - SupplementRecommends$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Rhodiola rosea
Frames rhodiola before training as a way to blunt the perception of effort and buffer cortisol, particularly on tired days.
Source: Huberman Lab: Science-Supported Tools to Accelerate Your Fitness GoalsView item: Rhodiola roseaBacked by 2 of 34 stacks - SupplementDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Alpha-GPC
Alpha-GPC at 300mg before workouts and demanding cognitive work, for acetylcholine support.
Source: Huberman Lab: Foundational Fitness ProtocolView item: Alpha-GPCBacked by 1 of 34 stacks - SupplementDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Apigenin
Second in that stack, at around fifty milligrams before bed for easier sleep onset.
Source: Huberman Lab: Toolkit for SleepView item: ApigeninBacked by 1 of 34 stacks - SupplementDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Fadogia agrestis
Describes cycling it for testosterone support, while being explicit that the human evidence is essentially absent and animal toxicity data exists.
Source: Huberman Lab: Hormone optimisation episodeView item: Fadogia agrestisBacked by 1 of 34 stacks - SupplementDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
L-theanine
Third in the stack, and he leaves it out on nights when it gives him unusually vivid dreams.
Source: Huberman Lab: Master Your Sleep & Be More Alert When AwakeView item: L-theanineBacked by 1 of 34 stacks - SupplementDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Myo-inositol
Myo-inositol at 900mg targets getting back to sleep after waking in the night rather than falling asleep in the first place.
Source: Huberman Lab: Your Top Questions on Sleep, AnsweredView item: Myo-inositolBacked by 1 of 34 stacks - AppRecommends$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Reveri
Hosted its researcher David Spiegel, and recommends clinical self-hypnosis in short sessions for sleep, stress and pain.
Source: Huberman Lab: episode with Dr David SpiegelVisit reveri.com (opens in a new tab)Backed by 1 of 34 stacks - SupplementDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Tongkat ali
Daily for free testosterone and libido, though he warns it can interfere with sleep if taken too late in the day.
Source: Huberman Lab: Hormone optimisation episodeView item: Tongkat aliBacked by 1 of 34 stacks
Protocols
11 entriesRepeatable, mostly free routines with a defined trigger and dose.
Alternates resistance training with endurance work weekly, and treats strength as non-negotiable.
Source: Huberman Lab: Fitness ToolkitBacked by 27 of 34 stacksPopularized the roughly eleven minutes of total weekly cold guideline, and takes deliberate cold several times a week. He is careful to keep it away from strength sessions.
Source: Huberman Lab: Using Deliberate Cold Exposure for Health and PerformanceBacked by 20 of 34 stacksCompresses the eating window, typically skipping breakfast and finishing food several hours before bed.
Source: Huberman Lab: Fasting and meal timingBacked by 18 of 34 stacksAnchors the whole day on getting outside within the first hour of waking, a few minutes on bright mornings and longer when it is overcast.
Source: Huberman Lab: Toolkit for SleepBacked by 9 of 34 stacksHolds his first caffeine until roughly ninety to a hundred and twenty minutes after waking, reasoning that it avoids the mid-morning crash.
Source: Huberman Lab: Using Caffeine to Optimize Mental & Physical PerformanceBacked by 3 of 34 stacksRuns ten to twenty minute sessions to recover from short nights and to reset between work blocks, having popularized the NSDR label.
Source: Lex Fridman Podcast #435 transcriptBacked by 2 of 34 stacksColleagues of his at Stanford published on cyclic sighing, and he uses the double-inhale-long-exhale pattern as an in-the-moment way to drop stress within seconds.
Source: Huberman Lab: Tools for Managing Stress & AnxietyBacked by 1 of 34 stacksRanks a fixed wake time ahead of any supplement or device, near the front of his sleep toolkit, and tells people to go to sleep when sleepiness first arrives.
Source: Huberman Lab: Toolkit for SleepBacked by 17 of 34 stacksSets the general health dose at roughly an hour a week across three sessions, reading the cardiovascular and mortality data as support for regular heat exposure.
Source: Huberman Lab: The Science & Health Benefits of Deliberate Heat ExposureBacked by 13 of 34 stacksAdvises a cool, dark bedroom with blankets you can throw off, because core body temperature has to fall by one to three degrees for sleep to start and hold.
Source: Huberman Lab: Toolkit for SleepBacked by 7 of 34 stacks- CBT-I (cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia)Recommends$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
Points people with ongoing insomnia towards cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, not towards supplements or sleep aids.
Source: Huberman Lab: Your Top Questions on Sleep, AnsweredBacked by 2 of 34 stacks
Habits
2 entriesDaily practices held long enough to become default behavior.
Argues for dim, warm, low-placed lighting in the evening, and against bright overhead light between 10pm and 4am.
Source: Huberman Lab: Toolkit for SleepBacked by 5 of 34 stacksPuts the caffeine cutoff at roughly eight to ten hours before bed, pointing out that people fall asleep fine and still lose deep sleep to a late coffee.
Source: Huberman Lab: Toolkit for SleepBacked by 4 of 34 stacks
In their own words
Checked word for word against the linked source
“If I don’t feel I slept enough, I do this non-sleep deep rest yoga nidra thing that I talked about a bunch. … It puts me back into a state that feels like sleep and I feel very rested.”
Lex Fridman Podcast #435 transcript (opens in a new tab) · 28 Jun 2024 “This is always what I’m telling people to get sunlight in their eyes in the morning and in the evening. People say, “There’s no light, no sunlight this time here.” I’m like, “Go outside on a really overcast day. It’s far brighter than it is at night.””
Lex Fridman Podcast #435 transcript (opens in a new tab) · 28 Jun 2024 “The first tool I'd like to talk about is one that I've mentioned before on this podcast several times. … And that is to delay your caffeine intake to 90 to 120 minutes after waking up on most days.”
Huberman Lab: Using Caffeine to Optimize Mental & Physical Performance (opens in a new tab) · 5 Dec 2022 “So the most common question I get about deliberate cold exposure is how cold should the water be? And we've answered that with uncomfortably cold to the point where you want to get out, but you can safely stay in.”
Huberman Lab: Using Deliberate Cold Exposure for Health and Performance (opens in a new tab) · 4 Apr 2022 “So personally, I can only talk about what I personally do. I personally take 3 or 400 milligrams of magnesium threonate about 30 to 60 minutes before sleep, and it helps me fall asleep.”
Huberman Lab: Master Your Sleep & Be More Alert When Awake (opens in a new tab) · 11 Jan 2021 “The other thing is theanine, T-H-E-A-N-I-N-E, theanine, 100 to 200 milligrams of theanine for me also helps me turn off my mind and fall asleep.”
Huberman Lab: Master Your Sleep & Be More Alert When Awake (opens in a new tab) · 11 Jan 2021 On L-theanine
“It stands to reason that for those of you interested in the general health effects of sauna, about an hour per week broken up into three sessions makes the most sense based on my read of the data.”
Huberman Lab: The Science & Health Benefits of Deliberate Heat Exposure (opens in a new tab) · 25 Apr 2022 On Sauna
Latest episodes
All of Huberman Lab (opens in a new tab)- How to Accelerate Learning & Improve Education | Joe Liemandt (opens in a new tab) · 2h 34m
- Essentials: Diet & Nutrition for Mental Health | Dr. Chris Palmer (opens in a new tab) · 39m
- How to Improve Motivation & Overcome Procrastination | Dr. Masud Husain (opens in a new tab) · 2h 21m
- Essentials: How to Access Your Creativity | Rick Rubin (opens in a new tab) · 36m
- Neuroscience of Emotions & Tools for Improving Emotion Regulation | Dr. Ralph Adolphs (opens in a new tab) · 2h 10m
Stack notes are paraphrased. Anything in quotation marks is a short excerpt copied from the transcript it links to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.