Essentials: Tools to Boost Attention & Memory | Dr. Wendy Suzuki

Welcome to Huberman Lab Essentials, our series distilling past episodes into the most practical science for mental and physical performance. I’m Andrew Huberman, and today I’m joined by Dr. Wendy Suzuki to map the core of memory and how exercise can sharpen it—let’s start with the basics of what makes memories stick.

Four features make experiences memorable: novelty, repetition, association, and emotional resonance. Strong feelings engage the amygdala, which boosts the hippocampus to store long‑term memories for facts and events.

Give us the hippocampus in plain terms—what it is and what it does.

The hippocampus is a seahorse‑shaped structure that’s essential for forming new long‑term memories, as shown by the classic HM case where removing both hippocampi erased the ability to learn new facts and events. It also lets us recombine stored information to imagine the future, so anytime we bind elements across past, present, or possible futures, we’re leaning on this system.

Why can a single emotional event imprint so fast?

It’s a survival feature: when something frightening or surprising happens, your brain prioritizes that memory so you avoid danger next time. I still feel a jolt rounding the corner where my apartment was once broken into—that’s the system doing its job, even if it’s uncomfortable.

For learning material you’re not excited about, what can we leverage from how memory works—and could you share your path into this research?

During my tenure push I became all work, gained weight, then got serious about exercise and noticed my grant writing transformed—I could focus longer and pull details together more easily. Around the same time my dad got lost driving a short route, which screamed hippocampal decline, and it hit me that exercise might help millions by supporting brain systems vulnerable to aging.

When we move, the brain gets a chemical lift that includes dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine, and aerobic work raises BDNF, a growth factor that supports new neurons in the hippocampus. I think of regular workouts as giving the hippocampus a protective reserve, so I do thirty to forty‑five minutes of cardio most days.

What does your routine look like?

I use video workouts for variety—sometimes with weights, often kickboxing, always enough intensity to raise heart rate—and I’ll add a short stretch. It’s convenient and makes consistency easy.

Mechanistically, how does cardio turn into more BDNF?

First, know that even ten minutes of walking can lift mood, but you need cardio to drive lasting benefits in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex. Two studied routes lead to higher BDNF: muscle‑released myokines and a liver‑generated ketone called beta hydroxybutyrate both cross into the brain and stimulate BDNF production.

Do adults actually grow new neurons?

Despite debate, newer human studies using improved methods suggest the adult hippocampus can generate new neurons even into very old age.

What are the immediate, short‑term brain effects of one workout?

A single thirty to forty‑five minute aerobic session reliably boosts mood, sharpens prefrontal control on tasks like the Stroop, and speeds responses, with reductions in anxiety, depression, and hostility and a rise in energy across ages. These effects last up to approximately two hours, so doing it before your most demanding mental work is ideal, though anytime helps.

Can consistent exercise blunt midlife memory slips and support aging?

A longitudinal study of Swedish women found those who were highly fit in their forties enjoyed about nine extra years of intact cognition later in life. It’s correlational, but it fits the biology of repeated BDNF surges building a more resilient hippocampus.

In my lab, low‑fit adults who did spin classes two to three times weekly for three months improved positive mood, body image, motivation to exercise, Stroop performance, and both recognition and spatial episodic memory versus a seated group task. In already active adults, increasing frequency up to seven sessions a week tracked with better baseline mood and stronger hippocampal memory.

What’s the value of pairing exercise with affirmations or positive self‑talk?

I teach Intensati, which blends dynamic movements with spoken affirmations like “I am strong now,” and research shows affirmations can elevate mood and reshape self‑talk. Combined with a challenging workout, you get the emotional lift plus the cognitive benefits of exercise.

You also studied brief meditation—what’s the minimum effective dose and what changes?

Ten to twelve minutes of a guided body‑scan practice reduced stress reactivity and improved mood and cognitive performance. The real engine is training present‑moment attention daily so you’re less caught by future worry or past rumination.

Beyond that, what should people add to strengthen attention?

Make exercise, meditation, and consistent sleep non‑negotiable, since together they support attention, learning, creativity, and overall brain performance.

Wendy, thank you for your leadership in academia and public education, and for decades of work on memory and neural circuits that we could all put to use today.