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Andrew Huberman
Oct 22, 2026
31 protocols
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Essentials: Developing a Rational Approach to Supplementation for Health & Performance
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Behaviors
Exercise
“So things like viewing morning sunlight and exercise are behavioral tools.”
0:56 ·
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In this episode
31 protocols
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0:56
Exercise
Behaviors
“So things like viewing morning sunlight and exercise are behavioral tools.”
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5:38
Vitamin Mineral Supplement
Supplements
“I would say for people that are extremely physically and or mentally active and for people that perhaps are following a intermittent fasting schedule so they are not ingesting a lot of food in general or restricting their food intake to specific times of day, well, then a vitamin mineral supplement likely makes sense for them. However, it's going to be very important to ingest that vitamin mineral supplement with food because otherwise they can cause some stomach upset.”
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6:40
Digestive Enzymes
Supplements
“Once those three questions have been answered, assuming that somebody is able to spend about $100 or more on supplements per month, then my recommendation is that they not focus on any specific supplements directed towards sleep or toward focus or hormone augmentation, but rather that they focus on buffering and enhancing their foundational nutrition, adaptogens, probiotics, prebiotics, and digestive enzymes because of the simple fact that if they do that, they're going to raise the tide on all the biological and organ systems that are going to lead to enhanced mental health, physical health, and performance, including sleep.”
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6:40
Adaptogens
Supplements
“Once those three questions have been answered, assuming that somebody is able to spend about $100 or more on supplements per month, then my recommendation is that they not focus on any specific supplements directed towards sleep or toward focus or hormone augmentation, but rather that they focus on buffering and enhancing their foundational nutrition, adaptogens, probiotics, prebiotics, and digestive enzymes because of the simple fact that if they do that, they're going to raise the tide on all the biological and organ systems that are going to lead to enhanced mental health, physical health, and performance, including sleep.”
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6:40
Probiotics
Supplements
“Once those three questions have been answered, assuming that somebody is able to spend about $100 or more on supplements per month, then my recommendation is that they not focus on any specific supplements directed towards sleep or toward focus or hormone augmentation, but rather that they focus on buffering and enhancing their foundational nutrition, adaptogens, probiotics, prebiotics, and digestive enzymes because of the simple fact that if they do that, they're going to raise the tide on all the biological and organ systems that are going to lead to enhanced mental health, physical health, and performance, including sleep.”
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6:40
Prebiotics
Supplements
“Once those three questions have been answered, assuming that somebody is able to spend about $100 or more on supplements per month, then my recommendation is that they not focus on any specific supplements directed towards sleep or toward focus or hormone augmentation, but rather that they focus on buffering and enhancing their foundational nutrition, adaptogens, probiotics, prebiotics, and digestive enzymes because of the simple fact that if they do that, they're going to raise the tide on all the biological and organ systems that are going to lead to enhanced mental health, physical health, and performance, including sleep.”
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7:17
Broad Spectrum Foundational Supplement
Supplements
“But to sort of close the conversation on foundational supplementation, I think a broad spectrum supplement that has many, many ingredients is going to be the best route to ensuring foundational supplementation is covered. And I do think that should be the starting place for any and all supplementation regimens that's going to allow you to feel better overall, sleep better overall, focus better overall, and support all the different systems in your brain and body that are going to allow you to be at your best”
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8:56
Limit Caffeine After 2 p.m.
Behaviors
“First of all, are you ingesting caffeine after 2 p.m.? If the answer is yes, you want to limit or eliminate caffeine after 2 p.m.”
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9:02
Avoid Food Within Two Hours Before Bed
Behaviors
“The second thing is most people would do well to avoid food within the two hours prior to bedtime. But of course, you don't want to be so hungry that you can't fall asleep, okay?”
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9:16
Myo-Inositol
Supplements
“If, for instance, you're somebody who falls asleep just fine, but wakes up in the middle of the night around 2 or 3 a.m. or any time for that matter and has trouble falling back asleep, there are two categories of supplements that you might want to consider. The first is myo-inositol, typically taken as 900 milligrams of myo-inositol.”
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9:47
Theanine
Supplements
“But theanine, which typically is taken in dosages anywhere from 100 milligrams to 400 milligrams, theanine can be great for many people, but for people who have excessively vivid dreams those excessively vivid dreams can lead to immediate waking and sometimes a little bit of anxiety upon waking in the middle of the night. So some people who wake up in the middle of the night so jolted mentally and physically out of sleep because of their intense dreams would do well to avoid theanine supplementation.”
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10:36
Magnesium Threonate or Magnesium Bisglycinate
Supplements
“And those are magnesium threonate, which is interchangeable with magnesium bisglycinate. Both have transporter systems that allow them to readily cross the blood-brain barrier, and they lead to a mild form of drowsiness, mild in the sense that it's not going to prevent you from operating a motor vehicle or kind of any conditions under emergency that might arise in the middle of the night, but people who take those often find that their transition time into sleep is much faster and their sleep is also much deeper.”
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11:12
Apigenin
Supplements
“The other supplement is Apigenin, A-P-I-G-E-N-I-N. Apigenin, which is a derivative of chamomile, I've talked about this in various podcasts before, also acts as a bit of a anxiety-lowering compound, which is essential prior to sleep for people to essentially turn off their thinking or to be able to reduce the amount of ruminating and problem-solving and future anticipation that they're doing, which is a requirement for falling asleep.”
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12:57
Stop a Supplement Immediately if It Causes Negative Effects
Behaviors
“If something induces a negative effect, I recommend ceasing taking it immediately.”
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13:01
Test Single-Ingredient Supplements One at a Time Before Combining
Behaviors
“If something does not produce any negative effects, then I think you wanna try a single ingredient formulation for about a week while not varying anything else, not changing anything else in your overall protocols, and then see what works best and see if the combination works even better.”
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13:44
Avoid Melatonin
Supplements
“I've talked about melatonin before on numerous podcasts, mine and others, and I will say once again, I am not a fan of melatonin for a couple of reasons. Melatonin is a hormone known to induce sleepiness, but not keep us asleep.”
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14:54
Morning Sunlight Viewing
Behaviors
“Getting morning sunlight increases cortisol levels. Cortisol levels are very important to have elevated early in the day for focus and alertness and for immune function and to make sure that cortisol levels are low at night”
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15:45
Fadogia Agrestis
Supplements
“Fadogia agrestis This is an herb that I talked about before on the podcast that when taken at dosages of 600 milligrams per day many people not all report elevated levels of libido, elevated sperm production, elevated testosterone, in some cases, elevated estrogen, a bunch of hormones downstream of luteinizing hormone.”
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16:39
Cycle Fadogia Agrestis
Behaviors
“Some people need to cycle it eight weeks on, two weeks off. Other people opt for 12 weeks on, a month off.”
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17:58
Tongkat Ali
Supplements
“There are other supplements, in particular Tonga Ali, which is known to increase free testosterone by reducing sex hormone binding globulin. Tonga Ali can be beneficial both for men and for women in dosages anywhere from 200 milligrams to 600 milligrams per day.”
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18:27
Get Blood Work 8–12 Weeks After Starting Tongkat Ali
Behaviors
“I should note that the effects of Tonga Ali can take a little bit longer to experience. So perhaps blood work should be done eight to 12 weeks after initiating the Tonga Ali protocol as opposed to earlier.”
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20:28
Caffeine
Supplements
“If you want to increase alertness and focus, caffeine is a potent way to do that. It works.”
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21:08
Alpha-Yohimbine
Supplements
“One particular form is called alpha-Yohimbine. It sometimes goes by the name Raulwalsine, and that's spelled R-A-U-W-O-L-S-C-I-N-E. Again, that's alpha-yohimbine. And it's used as a stimulant, often to also promote fat loss and alertness.”
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22:32
Alpha-GPC
Supplements
“So for instance, alpha-GPC, which is essentially a choline donor, acts in the pathways related to the neuromodulator acetylcholine and can enhance focus. So a dosages of anywhere from 300 to 600 milligrams, people experience heightened levels of focus for sake of mental work or physical work.”
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23:27
L-Tyrosine
Supplements
“Similarly, 500 milligrams to 1,000 milligrams or somewhere in between of something like L-tyrosine, which is amino acid precursor to dopamine, a different neuromodulator, taken alone or in conjunction with, again, I believe in separating these things out by product, but I suppose you could take alpha-GPC and L-tyrosine together if you had already tried them separately and decided they worked well for you.”
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26:00
Phenylethylamine
Supplements
“I rely on something else for dopamine augmentation which is phenylethylamine, which is a little bit more short lasting.”
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27:00
Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Supplements
“There's now a lot of data showing that ingesting one to three grams of EPA in particular in the form of either fish oil capsules or liquid can be beneficial for a number of different aspects of brain and body health, and can enhance focus and cognitive ability.”
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29:04
Protein Intake
Diet
“He talks about total protein needs per day. It's about one gram per pound of body weight per day for most people, although there's some variation depending on activity, et cetera.”
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29:34
Whey Protein
Supplements
“He actually pointed to some interesting data on potato protein as perhaps being a great plant-based substitute for those that don't want to take whey-based protein, but the fact that whey-based proteins can be very useful for getting to and above a protein threshold for all sorts of reasons, not just for muscle building, although it's great for that, but for other purposes as well.”
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29:34
Potato Protein
Supplements
“He actually pointed to some interesting data on potato protein as perhaps being a great plant-based substitute for those that don't want to take whey-based protein”
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30:28
Get a Significant Fraction of Nutrition From Whole Foods
Diet
“I think that most people would agree that getting some significant fraction of your nutrition from whole foods is going to be useful for a variety of reasons in particular the fiber that comes along with it the bulk of the food that tends to make us feel sated”