All protocols
5,261 protocols across every category, most recommended first.
- ▶ 1ToolsSunrise Simulator
A light-based device that mimics natural morning sunlight, typically used soon after waking when outdoor light exposure is limited. It helps anchor the circadian clock and can improve alertness, mood, and sleep timing by providing a strong early-day light signal.
- ▶ 1DietCarbohydrate-Fueled High-Intensity Sports
For high-intensity intermittent sports like MMA, a fully ketogenic diet is generally not the best fit because repeated explosive efforts rely heavily on carbohydrate availability. The practical approach is to include enough carbs to support sprinting, grappling, and recovery so performance does not drop during hard bursts.
- ▶ 1DietKetogenic or Lower-Carbohydrate Eating
A ketogenic-style or lower-carbohydrate diet used especially outside high-intensity training, when the goal is to reduce carbohydrate intake and rely more on fat for fuel. It can support metabolic management and improve energy efficiency or steadier blood sugar control for many people, particularly at lower exercise intensities.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsAssess Limbic Friction Before Learning
Before any learning bout, ask whether you are too alert and need calming or too sleepy and need more alertness, then use behaviors to adjust arousal toward the ideal learning state.
- ▶ 1DietBring a dish to group cooking gatherings
For social cooking-competition style gatherings, each person brings a particular dish to share.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsMultidimensional Movement
Engage in movement in many different dimensions and relationships to gravity, rather than only linear, regular movement patterns.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsSet Collaborative, Measured Exercise Goals
If trying to start exercising, choose a realistic target rather than swinging between too much and too little. Examples given include going once before next week, once per week, or Monday and Friday, then building from there.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsExternalize Childhood Reflections Through Writing, Speaking, Trusted Conversation, or Therapy
After reflecting on childhood, put the thoughts outside yourself in writing or speech, discuss them with a trusted other, or see a therapist if needed to process their current effects.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsSurround Yourself With Positive Memories in Your Physical Space
Display photographs or other reminders of people, experiences, and times you liked in your environment. Even without deliberate daily attention, this can cue positive emotional states and bias your unconscious climate toward the positive.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsReflect on Positive Experiences, Effort, and Learning
Deliberately counter negativity bias by recalling good things that happened to you, what you did well, what you learned from things that did not go as planned, and the effort you made even when outcomes were imperfect.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsExamine Self-Talk
Notice what you say to yourself in quiet moments or pauses in the day. Use this to identify repetitive negative, critical, or intrusive internal messages that may be occurring many times a day outside awareness.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsSquats
Use squats to develop the legs; mentioned as a concrete training behavior and also as an analogy for disciplined self-improvement.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsInfluence vs Concern Exercise
Draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper, label one side concern and the other influence, then write down the things occupying your waking hours. Use it especially when sticky thoughts are preventing sleep. Huberman says doing it once a week has been very helpful; Stumpf says he now does it about once a month or once every six months.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsAvoid Electronic Device Light Right Before Bed
Avoid bright electronic device light in a dark room right before bed.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsChange Unsafe Situations Contributing to Intrusive Thoughts
If intrusive thoughts reflect a genuinely unsafe situation, change the situation rather than only working on the thought.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsIdentify Intrusive Thoughts
First notice and identify intrusive or repetitive thoughts, including self-talk that may occur hundreds of times a day outside awareness. Then ask what purpose the thought is serving.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsReduce Phone Screen Time to Under 1 Hour Per Day
Challenge yourself to drive daily total phone usage to under an hour; in their experiment they excluded phone calls. Andy reports getting his down to 30 minutes by the last week of January.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsUse a Laptop Instead of a Phone for Social Media
Force social media use onto a laptop instead of a phone because the platform is less sticky and less intuitive there; Andy says he would post what he wanted and then leave.
- ▶ 1ToolsWind Tunnel
Lower-risk way to simulate the sensation of falling through the air before skydiving; instructors can hold onto you and you do not need a parachute or airplane.
- ▶ 1ToolsAutomatic Activation Device
Recommended for skydiving. An AAD is a computer that senses fall rate and barometric pressure and will fire the reserve parachute if you do nothing; noted as having hundreds of documented saves for unconscious or otherwise incapacitated jumpers.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsAdd Three 30-Minute Cardio Sessions If You Hate Cardio
Huberman cites evidence that adding three 30-minute cardio sessions grows the anterior mid-cingulate cortex, specifically if you hate cardio.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsStart the Day With a Small Act of Discipline
Begin the day as early as possible with some act of discipline, such as making the bed or drinking a 16-ounce glass of water before coffee.
- ▶ 1DietHydrate First Thing in the Morning
Drink a 16-ounce glass of water in the morning before coffee; Andy says he implemented this and felt much better from hydrating first thing.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsPrepare Food the Night Before a Busy Day
If you know the next day will be busy, meal prep the night before. If breakfast is not ready-to-eat or is complicated, do all the prep work beforehand so a healthy breakfast is easier the next morning.
- ▶ 1DietEat a Healthy Breakfast
Choose a healthy breakfast rather than something less healthy; prepping breakfast ingredients the night before can help, such as cutting up asparagus for an omelet in advance.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsSweat Once Per Day
Try to get a sweat or get as close to sweat as possible once a day; for some people this may just mean getting off the couch and walking around. If you cannot fit in other exercise, Andy suggests sitting in the sauna for 30 minutes as one option.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsDo Either Jujitsu or a Workout, Not Both Hard on the Same Day
As he gets older, Andy sees utility in both jujitsu and workouts but not in doing both very hard on the same day because it can overdo fatigue.
- ▶ 1ToolsBear Bell
Wear in bear country, such as places like Glacier with grizzlies, as a hiking safety tool.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsHang Your Food in Bear Country
When hiking in places like Glacier with grizzlies, hang your food.
- ▶ 1BehaviorsVaccination
Use vaccines to protect against dangerous infections; discussed specifically in the context of childhood vaccination against lethal illnesses such as mumps, measles, and rubella, and also includes adult vaccination examples such as the shingles vaccine.