"Andrew Huberman"

We’re all crawling out of holiday brain and lingering coughs, trying to remember how to do a show on a Monday without a traffic report.

I loved being cozy and off the grid, but there’s that thud when the world restarts and you have to un-crumple your focus.

Holidays felt like one long Saturday, then everyone got sick, and now I’m itching to re‑enter real life while pretending my inbox is still at zero.

Our guest today is Andrew, a neuroscience PhD and Stanford professor, whose mission is making complex science usable without the fluff.

Holiday brain fog is normal and it snaps back fast; if you’re fighting a bug, a tolerably hot bath or shower before bed for a couple nights can mobilize the immune system, and getting real morning light helps your mitochondria and recovery.

I skipped heat and cold this time because the internet scolded me, and it hit harder; usually sauna saves me when my throat tickles.

When you’re getting sick, keep the heat and skip deliberate cold since it’s a strong stressor; if you sauna, a hat or towel lets your brain tolerate more heat, and men trying to conceive should keep the groin cool because heat lowers sperm quality.

Quick flu tip before nicotine; NAC at 600 to 900 milligrams two to three times a day during exposure or early symptoms showed a big reduction in people getting sick, and it’s a mild mucolytic so expect a bit more drainage.

All right, now nicotine, please, for the friend in our chair who chews and nods.

Nicotine is a rare stimulant that also steadies you; avoid smoking, vaping, dipping, and snuff because of lung and cancer risks, and remember oral nicotine still raises blood pressure, constricts vessels, and is very habit‑forming even if it may be neuroprotective when delivered without smoke.

I never wanted to be the person who can’t function before coffee, so I skipped it; edibles once wrecked me so badly that minutes felt like hours.

Cannabis can make people edgy when they do not use, edibles are where dosing goes sideways, and it cuts REM sleep, which is why dreams roar back when people stop; to boost REM, keep the room cool early at night but let it warm in the last hours of sleep.

If I remember vivid dreams, am I hitting REM?

Yes; early night skews to deep repair sleep and the back half to REM, so keep a regular sleep window and sleep long enough to catch that last cycle.

Mechanistically, REM runs on acetylcholine and nicotine hits those receptors, so used sparingly it can nudge REM; if you use nicotine, low‑dose tadalafil at night can offset vasoconstriction and support brain, prostate, and vascular health, but you need a prescription.

I take metformin, nicotinamide riboside, and resveratrol; it’s been my daily stack.

Behaviors beat pills, but metformin can lower glucose and berberine is a cheaper cousin; NR or NMN sit in the NAD pathway and do not prove longer life in humans yet, though studies suggest less inflammation and more energy, and many of us notice supercharged hair and nail growth.

Sean’s sleep is odd; he crashes, wakes around three, works for hours, then naps, and that’s most nights.

Don’t wrestle the pillow for more than thirty minutes; get up, do something low‑key, and try an earlier lights‑out to capture more deep sleep, plus bright mornings and dim evenings, a soft eye mask, and wax earplugs for mystery noises.

What pulled you into science in the first place?

I grew up around physics and writing, rebelled into skate culture, then fell hard for biology labs in college; now I teach and translate mechanisms so people understand the why behind tools, whether that’s light, temperature, breath, or medicines.

The wellness megaphone is loud and messy; how do we filter trend from truth?

Explain the why; mornings want high cortisol from bright light, movement, and maybe cold, while evenings want dim light, calm breath, and no caffeine, and when people get mechanisms they self‑calibrate; GLP‑1s are a great example, first found through gila monsters, now powerful for obesity and diabetes and maybe for alcohol cravings, and once cost dropped the hot takes softened.

Can our crew realistically hit one hundred?

One hundred is very reachable and one hundred twenty looks like a hard ceiling; the big rocks are less alcohol, better sleep, lower stress, purpose and connection, and real food, and I’ve seen brilliant colleagues chew nicotine gum for possible neuroprotection while avoiding smoke.

Diet rule of thumb, eat like an adult; meanwhile he’s eyeing a cinnamon roll and day‑tripped to Portillo’s.

Alzheimer’s terrifies me; I don’t have the risky gene, but is a cure perennially five years away on purpose?

Labs and pharma are sprinting because the incentive to solve it is enormous, and while no silver bullet exists, managing blood sugar, real sleep, consistent resistance training for strength, and minimizing toxin exposure all help; true ketogenic diets aid some cases, and correlations like pesticide exposure are real without requiring paranoia.

My push for this year is simple; lock the phone away for slices of the day, endure the boredom reset, and let real conversations and quiet rebuild your attention.

Watch any coffee line or elevator and you’ll see the reflex to hide in a screen; I do it too when I feel exposed.

Andrew, that was a perfect reset to start the year; thanks for making science land in plain English.

Thanks for the invite; what you do in long form genuinely enriches people, and that’s different from doom‑scrolling, so keep it coming.

He’s exactly the explainer we need in the noise; the science is steady, we just have to dial down the nonsense.

And for Sean’s sleep, maybe all he needs is a lullaby while I chant SmartLess and tuck him in.

SmartLess is one hundred percent organic and artisanally handcrafted by Michael Grant Terry, and now we can all go take a nap.