Essentials: Using Hypnosis to Enhance Mental & Physical Health & Performance | Dr. David Spiegel
Andrew Huberman interviews Dr. David Spiegel about hypnosis as a state of highly focused attention that can enhance control over mind and body rather than diminish it. They discuss the underlying brain networks involved in hypnosis, including changes in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, insula, and posterior cingulate cortex, and how these changes support dissociation, cognitive flexibility, and altered bodily control. The conversation covers clinical applications such as stress reduction, sleep, pain management, phobias, trauma and PTSD treatment, hypnotizability assessment, the eye‑roll test, the role of breathing, and how hypnotic-like states show up in performance, children, and group settings.
Try This Today: How to Use Gratitude to Feel Happier & Improve Your Relationships
Mel Robbins explores gratitude as a practical, science-backed tool for rewiring the brain away from negativity and reducing stress, rather than as a superficial positivity practice. Drawing on research studies and expert insights, she introduces three main gratitude tools: an unsent gratitude letter, a three-minute nightly gratitude journal (and morning variations), and a gratitude-focused text chain. Throughout the episode, she emphasizes how small, consistent gratitude practices can improve mental and physical health, deepen relationships, and help listeners reclaim control over their attention and emotional state.
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.
Essentials: Erasing Fears & Traumas Using Modern Neuroscience
Andrew Huberman explains the neuroscience of fear, trauma, and post-traumatic stress, detailing the brain and body circuits that generate and maintain these states. He describes how the autonomic nervous system, HPA axis, and amygdala-based threat circuitry interact with memory and prefrontal narrative systems to create adaptive and maladaptive fear responses. The episode reviews behavioral therapies, drug-assisted psychotherapies, physiological breathing protocols, lifestyle factors, and certain supplements that can help extinguish and replace fearful and traumatic memories.
No.1 Brain Scientist: Your Brain Is Lying To You! Here's How I Discovered The Truth!
Harvard neuroscientist Dr. Jill Bolte-Taylor explains how four anatomically distinct brain systems shape our thoughts, emotions, and behavior, and argues that we can learn to consciously choose which "character" to lead with in any moment. She recounts her catastrophic left-hemisphere hemorrhagic stroke, eight-year recovery, and how losing her left brain radically shifted her perspective on identity, trauma, and the preciousness of life. Throughout the conversation she connects brain anatomy to practical tools for emotional regulation, trauma integration, lifestyle choices, and cultivating a more balanced, peaceful mind.
Neuroscientist Emily McDonald: #1 Science-Based Hack to Rewire Your Brain to ACTUALLY Manifest the Life You Want
Neuroscientist Emily McDonald explains how understanding and rewiring the brain can help people break out of feeling stuck, overcome procrastination, and consciously create a life that aligns with their values. She connects neuroscience concepts like the default mode network, dopamine, vagus nerve tone, and neuroplasticity to practical tools for identity shifting, managing fear, structuring rewards, and manifestation. The conversation also explores self-worth, jealousy, money beliefs, relationships, and Emily's own journey from heavy labeling and health issues to designing a life and career that feel authentic and joyful.
The surprising science of adolescent brains | Jennifer Pfeifer
Neuroscientist Jennifer Pfeiffer argues that adolescence is not a period of dysfunction but a transformative stage of growth spanning roughly ages 10 to 25. She explains how puberty, brain development, and social context shape adolescent behavior, debunks common myths about smartphones and mental health, and highlights the far greater importance of relationships and caregiver well-being. The talk calls for changing the cultural narrative about young people from doom and blame to respect, support, and shared opportunity.
12 Minutes to a Better Brain: Neuroscientist Reveals the #1 Habit for Clarity & Focus
Mel Robbins talks with cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Amishi Jha about how attention works in the brain and why it is both powerful and fragile. They break down the three systems of attention (selective "flashlight," alerting "floodlight," and executive "juggler"), how stress and chronic demand degrade these systems, and how neuroplasticity allows them to be trained. Drawing on decades of research with military service members, first responders, athletes, and others, Dr. Jha explains why a minimum of 12 minutes of mindfulness practice, four days a week, can stabilize and improve attention, mood, and stress, and she demonstrates practical exercises listeners can start immediately.
Essentials: How Your Brain Functions & Interprets the World | Dr. David Berson
Andrew Huberman speaks with neuroscientist David Burson about how the nervous system creates perception, focusing on vision, color processing, circadian regulation, balance, and movement control. They explain how retinal circuits, melanopsin-containing ganglion cells, the vestibular system, cerebellum, midbrain, basal ganglia, and cortex interact to stabilize our view of the world and guide behavior. The conversation concludes with a striking example of cortical plasticity in a blind Braille reader whose visual cortex had been repurposed for touch.
Feel Better Now: Neurosurgeon Reveals the New Science of Healing Your Body & Stopping Pain Today
Mel Robbins speaks with neurosurgeon and CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta about the new science of pain, why chronic pain develops, and how it can often be reduced or prevented. They explore how pain is generated in the brain, the role of factors like sleep, mood, stress, and prior pain experiences, and why movement, meditation, and other non-drug approaches can change the brain's pain circuits. Gupta shares research-backed strategies such as the MEAT protocol, virtual reality, nerve blocks, and pain journaling, along with his wife Rebecca's long journey with chronic pain, to offer hope and practical tools for listeners.
Protect & Improve Your Hearing & Brain Health | Dr. Konstantina Stankovic
Andrew Huberman and Dr. Konstantina Stankovic discuss how the auditory system works from the ear to the brain, emphasizing its extraordinary sensitivity and importance for communication, emotion, and cognition. They cover causes and types of hearing loss, tinnitus, noise exposure thresholds, and practical strategies to protect hearing, including sound level limits, earplugs, and possibly magnesium intake. The conversation also explores links between hearing loss and dementia, cochlear implants, genetic and environmental contributors to hearing loss, inner ear regeneration research, and broader issues such as environmental noise pollution and sensory-driven brain plasticity.
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.