Summary of Huberman Lab Podcast Episode: Optimize Sleep & Wake Timing with Sleep Toolkit | Huberman Lab
Podcast: Huberman Lab
12 min. read
— Description —
Discover the key to high-quality sleep and optimal health Learn how morning sunlight, temperature regulation, and a light breakfast can improve your sleep and wakefulness Avoid fluorescent lights and try afternoon sunlight for better sleep
Maintain a consistent sleep schedule and explore a sleep stack cocktail for those restless nights Dont miss out on the Huberman Sleep Bundle for a complete sleep solution Plus, find out how to combat sleep apnea with nasal breathing techniques.
Optimize Sleep & Wake Timing with Sleep Toolkit | Huberman Lab
Table of contents
Key Takeaways
- High-quality sleep is critical! Sleep is the foundation of mental health, cognitive health, and performance
- Viewing direct morning sunlight within 30-60 minutes of waking will help you fall asleep and stay asleep at night, and optimize cortisol & adenosine levels
- Layer in multiple levers to be more alert: morning sunlight viewing, increasing body temperature, delaying caffeine, movement/exercise upon waking, light breakfast
- Stack the deck to give your body predictable autonomic timing and properly set circadian rhythm to optimize sleep and wakefulness – even if you’re tired, exercise a little (doesn’t have to be intense) and eat a light breakfast, etc.
- Avoid overhead fluorescent light as much as possible between 10pm-4am – these lights will eliminate melatonin circulating in brain & body and will hinder ability to fall and stay asleep (instead, try soft lamps and dim screens as much as possible without straining eyes)
- Viewing afternoon sunlight from sunset can help offset some of the negative effects of light viewing in the evening (10 pm-4 am)
- Try to maintain a consistent sleep/wake schedule (+/- 1 hour) 7 days a week!
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When all else fails, try this sleep stack cocktail (buy single ingredient supplements so you can use what works, ditch what doesn’t): magnesium g(145mg, 30-60 minutes before bed) + theanine (100-400mg, 30-60 minutes before bed) + apigenin (50mg, 30-60 minutes before bed)
- Get the Full Huberman Sleep Bundle
- Sleep apnea can have very damaging effects on sleep and health – train nasal breathing with these methods: (1) use medical tape to tape mouth shut during sleep; (2) practice nasal breathing only during light exercise/cardio bouts
Introduction
- Dr. Andrew Huberman, Ph.D. is a Professor of Neurobiology and Ophthalmology at Stanford University School of Medicine. His lab focuses on neural regeneration, neuroplasticity, and brain states such as stress, focus, fear, and optimal performance.
- In this episode of the Huberman Lab podcast, Andrew Huberman takes a deep dive into all things related to optimizing sleep. He describes behavioral and supplement-based approaches to enhance sleep quality, duration, and impact of sleep and wakefulness practices.
- Host: Andrew Huberman (@hubermanlab)
Levers Of Sleep & Wakefulness
- Brain & body cues: light, dark, temperature, food, exercise, caffeine, supplements, digital tools
- Temperature: a drop in temperature (1-3 degrees) is required for your body to enter a state of sleep; the opposite is also true – you will wake up if your body temperature rises 1-3 degrees
- Caffeine prevents the actions of adenosine and limits sleepiness
View Morning Sunlight
- An increase in body temperature triggers waking up and is accompanied by an increase in cortisol
- When elevated at the right time (first thing in the morning) cortisol enhances your immune system, metabolism, ability to focus, ability to move your body
- You want cortisol to reach its peak right about the time when you wake up
- Viewing bright sunlight within 30-60 minutes after waking triggers cortisol increase early in the day (when we want it peaked) and sets your body for sleep later that night
- If there’s cloud cover and you can’t see the sun, you still want to get outside and get the natural light
- Look toward the sun without sunglasses (corrective lenses are ok even if they have UV protection) & don’t look directly at the sun view in any way that causes pain
- Three critical tips for viewing bright light early in the day: (1) viewing in the first 30-60 minutes of waking has a powerful impact on the ability to fall asleep and stay asleep at night; (2) if it’s dark because of cloudiness or time of day you wake up, flip on artificial lights in your house (but go outside as soon as the sun it out); (3) get outside on cloudy days – you need even more light than a clear day
- Light paradox: artificial light or phone light cannot replace sunlight when trying to turn on the cortisol mechanism – but – it is disruptive enough to disturb sleep at night
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Morning sunlight dose:
- On a clear day: about 5 minutes of sunlight exposure to eyes per day
- On a cloudy day: about 10 minutes of sunlight exposure to the eyes per day
- Densely overcast or minimal sun: about 20-30 minutes of sunlight exposure to eyes per day
- For this purpose, you cannot view sunlight through sunglasses or a windshield
- If you do not have access to any sunlight, explore ring lights
- Goal: view sunlight first thing in the morning 80% of the time – if you miss a day, get twice as much duration of light the next day
- Measuring sunlight: Light Meter (App Store) or Light Meter (Google Play)
- An increase in body temperature triggers waking up and is accompanied by an increase in cortisol
- When elevated at the right time (first thing in the morning) cortisol enhances your immune system, metabolism, ability to focus, ability to move your body
- You want cortisol to reach its peak right about the time when you wake up
- Viewing bright sunlight within 30-60 minutes after waking triggers cortisol increase early in the day (when we want it peaked) and sets your body for sleep later that night
- If there’s cloud cover and you can’t see the sun, you still want to get outside and get the natural light
- Look toward the sun without sunglasses (corrective lenses are ok even if they have UV protection) & don’t look directly at the sun view in any way that causes pain
- Three critical tips for viewing bright light early in the day: (1) viewing in the first 30-60 minutes of waking has a powerful impact on the ability to fall asleep and stay asleep at night; (2) if it’s dark because of cloudiness or time of day you wake up, flip on artificial lights in your house (but go outside as soon as the sun it out); (3) get outside on cloudy days – you need even more light than a clear day
- Light paradox: artificial light or phone light cannot replace sunlight when trying to turn on the cortisol mechanism – but – it is disruptive enough to disturb sleep at night
-
Morning sunlight dose:
- On a clear day: about 5 minutes of sunlight exposure to eyes per day
- On a cloudy day: about 10 minutes of sunlight exposure to the eyes per day
- Densely overcast or minimal sun: about 20-30 minutes of sunlight exposure to eyes per day
- For this purpose, you cannot view sunlight through sunglasses or a windshield
- If you do not have access to any sunlight, explore ring lights
- Goal: view sunlight first thing in the morning 80% of the time – if you miss a day, get twice as much duration of light the next day
- Measuring sunlight: Light Meter (App Store) or Light Meter (Google Play)
Temperature
- To leverage temperature for wakefulness: increase core body temperature quickly by taking a cold shower or ice bath for 1-3 minutes – this will trigger adrenaline and dopamine release and increase core body temperature (remember, our brain functions as a thermostat)
- Exercise (any movement, doesn’t have to be full-blown exercise) will increase core body temperature early in the day (the best time to exercise if your goal is to optimize gains is immediately after waking, 3 hours after waking, 11 hours after waking)
- If you workout in the afternoon (also relevant if you have late caffeine): take a hot shower or bath after exercise to decrease body temperature and help prepare your body for sleep
- Huberman’s recipe for increasing core body temperature: jump rope 10-20 minutes each morning while viewing the sun, then a cold shower
Caffeine
- Delay caffeine intake for 90-120 minutes after waking to avoid the afternoon crash
- Avoid drinking caffeine after 4 pm – if you must have some, limit to 100mg or less
- If you want your caffeine first thing in the morning before exercising, you will likely get an early afternoon dip in energy so plan accordingly
Food
- Eating early in the day makes you more alert and triggers an increase in metabolism and temperature that will make you feel more alert
- What about fasting? Do what feels right for you
- If you eat a large meal first thing in the morning, it will divert blood & resources away from the brain to digest the food and you will feel tired immediately after
- Eating first thing in the morning helps set & train a circadian clock
Leveraging Phases Of The Day For Optimal Wakefulness
- Leverage the natural rhythms of brain & body hormones to make it more likely that you will engage or maintain habits
- In the first 0-8 hours after waking, your brain and body are more active and focus-oriented – you can more easily overcome things with high limbic friction
- In the 9-15 hours after waking, leverage high serotonin and keep stress low by engaging in habits that don’t require a lot of limbic overrides
- Naps: don’t nap if it impacts your ability to sleep at night or causes you to wake up groggy
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Phase 1: 0-8 hours after waking up
- This phase comes with a more alert state which can be heightened by sunlight viewing, caffeine delaying, fasting, etc.
- Norepinephrine, epinephrine, and dopamine are elevated during this phase
- Healthy cortisol is also elevated in the brain and bloodstream
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Phase 2: 9-15 hours after waking up
- Levels of dopamine, epinephrine, and cortisol start to come down
- Avoid caffeine or limit to 100mg max
- Serotonin starts to rise and lends itself to a relaxed state of being – can be enhanced with a warm bath, yoga nidra, ashwagandha, Reveri, Madefor NSDR
- Taper the amount of artificial bright light (unless it’s sunlight which is helpful in the later afternoon/evening when the sun is low and optimizes transition to sleep) & start dimming house lights a bit
- Be cautious of strenuous exercise or ingesting caffeine to perform the exercise as these habits will delay the circadian clock which will make you want to sleep and wake up later
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Phase 3: 16-24 hours after waking up
- This is when you want to prepare for sleep and achieve high-quality sleep
- Avoid bright, artificial light of any color – it takes very little light exposure to disrupt the brain and body’s readiness for sleep
- Place lights low (not overhead if possible) & dim screens as low as possible without strain
- Take a warm bath or shower and drop body temperature to make it easier to fall asleep
- Keep the environment very dark or dim & room temperature low (lower room temperature by 3 degrees)
- The body needs to drop in temperature to fall asleep & stay asleep
- If you wake up in the middle of the night, use as little light as possible
- Deep sleep is critical to wiring neural circuits required for building habits
- If you’re waking up because you’re warm, be sure not to wear socks while sleeping and stick out hand(s) and foot/feet from under the covers
THC & CBD
- While THC & CBD may help you fall asleep, the quality of sleep is suboptimal versus no THC & CBD
- Caveat: if the reasons you have trouble falling and staying asleep are related to anxiety, it’s possible THC or CBD may help reduce the anxiety and assist with sleep
Sleep Supplements
- As always, try behavioral tools before diving into supplements
- Do NOT use melatonin – it’s an endogenous hormone and over-the-counter doses are way too high for the body, especially for kids or for chronic use
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Sleep stack ingredients:
- Magnesium Threonate, 145mg, 30-60 minutes before sleep
- Pro-tip: 5% of people have stomach issues with this form of magnesium, so be careful when starting
- Theanine: 100-400mg, 30-60 minutes before sleep
- Pro-tip: Do NOT take Theanine if you are prone to night terrors or sleepwalking
- Apigenin: 50mg daily, 30-60 minutes before sleep
- Magnesium Threonate, 145mg, 30-60 minutes before sleep
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Sleep stack enhancements every 3rd or 4th night:
- Glycine: 2 grams 30-60 minutes before sleep
- GABA: 100 mg, 30-60 minutes before sleep
- Myo-inositol (particularly helpful for falling asleep again if you wake up): 900mg, 30-60 minutes before sleep – but only every other night (not on the nights of glycine and GABA)
- Read our full summary of Andrew Huberman’s sleep cocktail & routine here.
Behavioral Tools
- Reveri app may help you fall back asleep (there’s a specific protocol for it) if you wake up at night but be sure to dim your phone screen
- Eye masks: effective if the mask is not too tight and the room is cool enough
- Ear plugs: some find them effective because of the sound blocking but others can’t stand hearing their own heartbeat, etc. – personal
- Elevating the foot of your bed a few degrees and help with lymphatic drainage
- Sleep apnea: if you train yourself to breathe through your nose, you may be able to get rid of your apnea – use medical tape to keep your mouth shut while sleeping
- Tip for apnea: to train nose breathing, try doing your low-intensity cardio exercise while breathing through the nose only
- Navigating weekends: try not to sleep or wake up more than an hour beyond the normal schedule; instead of sleeping in, take a short nap or use nonsleep deep rest protocol later in the day
- If you wake up at a regular time but slept late: wait to ingest caffeine 90-120 minutes after waking to avoid disruption of compensatory sleep
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Tips for managing jet lag, waking up because of children, etc.:
- Leverage “temperature minimum” – count two hours backward from natural wake-up time (the body will be at the lowest temperature)& force yourself to do the activity that will advance your clock (view bight light, exercise)
- If you do shiftwork, try to stay on the same schedule for a minimum of two weeks at a time
- If you need to be awake during the sleep cycle (e.g., wake up early for travel, feed baby), use red light – this will not disrupt the circadian rhythm