Essentials: Breathing for Mental & Physical Health & Performance | Dr. Jack Feldman
Andrew Huberman and respiratory neuroscientist Dr. Jack Feldman discuss how breathing is generated and controlled by the brain, with emphasis on the pre-Bötzinger complex, the diaphragm, and the evolution of mammalian respiration. They explore physiological sighs, how breathing patterns influence emotional and cognitive states, rodent studies of slow breathing and fear, and potential mechanisms involving the vagus nerve, olfaction, and carbon dioxide regulation. In the latter part, they discuss magnesium threonate's effects on synaptic plasticity and cognitive aging, including animal and human data on learning, memory, and mild cognitive decline.
THE HUMAN SCREAM
Hosts Josh and Chuck explore the human scream, examining its acoustic properties, evolutionary functions, and how the brain uniquely processes it compared to normal speech. They discuss research on the "roughness" domain that makes screams and artificial alarms especially effective at triggering amygdala-based fear responses, even during sleep. The episode also covers different emotional types of screams, iconic film screams, extreme metal vocal techniques, the potential role of screaming in pain control, and the limited evidence for primal scream therapy.
Most Replayed Moment: Can Eye Movements Heal Trauma? Bessel Van Der Kolk Explains EMDR Therapy!
The conversation explores how common trauma is, how it affects brain function, and how eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) can change traumatic responses. The guest explains specific brain regions involved in danger signaling, body awareness, and time perception, showing how trauma leads to chronic fear, loss of perspective, and reliving rather than remembering events. They then discuss EMDR's mechanisms, research evidence, and demonstrate a brief EMDR-style exercise that quickly reduces the host's emotional activation around a recent unpleasant experience.