A Neuroscientist Shares How to Destress in Real Time (Plus 5 Other Brain Hacks)

The EO Powerhouse Speakers Series offers the EO community exclusive access to thought leaders like Dr. Andrew Huberman, a popular podcast host and tenured Stanford University neuroscience professor who specializes in brain development and neuroplasticity.

Dr. Huberman, who also develops tools to optimize performance under stress, was interviewed by Dr. Heather Sandison, an EO San Diego member and naturopathic doctor specializing in Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. Dr. Sandison skillfully guided the conversation so it would resonate with the entrepreneurial audience—and EOers loved it.

Here are six science-backed strategies Dr. Huberman shared to help unlock your brain’s potential, enhance learning, and build mental resilience:

1. Harness the Power of the Physiological Sigh

Fact: Entrepreneurial life gets stressful. Next time you’re stressed, Dr. Huberman recommends dealing with it in real-time with a quick, effective reset on your stress response that your neural circuits are wired to do: the physiological sigh. It’s a pattern of breathing from yogic traditions that Dr. Huberman studied in a clinical trial.

To do the physiological sigh: Inhale deeply through your nose, followed by a quick extra inhale to maximally inflate your lungs. Then, consciously exhale slowly through your mouth.

“It’s the fastest way to take your autonomic nervous system from a state of heightened alertness, even stress or panic, to calm,” Dr. Huberman explained. “That voluntary exhale slows your heart rate down, and you’ll find yourself getting calmer. You may need to repeat it once or twice, but it works very quickly.”

2. Proactively Counter the Effects of Alcohol

“Alcohol has negative effects, so if you’re going to drink, take steps to counter those effects,” Dr. Huberman explained. The downsides of alcohol include disruption to rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, and a decrease in your gut’s beneficial bacteria. One option is to phase out alcohol, but that’s not for everyone.

“If you enjoy alcohol, do so responsibly. But also do something to try and get a bit more rapid eye movement sleep, make sure your electrolytes and hydration are in place, and support your gut microbiome and your sleep,” he shared.

The Huberman Lab podcast devoted an entire episode to alcohol and its effects.

3. Leverage Non-Sleep Deep Rest

Getting good sleep is crucial for overall health, but how can you recover from a night of not-so-good sleep? Dr. Huberman suggests Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR). It’s a derivative of yoga nidra, a guided meditation that leads to a resting state somewhere between asleep and awake.

“Both yoga nidra and NSDR help you defocus and shut down your thinking circuitry, so you’re not in future planning mode—you’re just in sensation,” he explained. “It’s a zero-cost tool to rapidly destress. There’s a tremendous increase in baseline levels of dopamine in the basal ganglia that allows people to feel more restored,” he said. “It is the single most powerful practice that you can do to restore mental and physical vigor besides sleep.”

4. Learn Faster by Self-Testing

Retaining new information is fundamental to entrepreneurial success.

“Neuroplasticity is perhaps the most interesting feature of the human brain—because it can modify itself,” Dr. Huberman shared. It requires high levels of attention and focus. You can trigger plasticity with a specific learning, but the actual plasticity takes place while you’re asleep.

“One of the most powerful ways to learn more rapidly is to do 30–45 minutes of moderately intense, but not super-intense, exercise. Two to four hours afterward, your brain is in a heightened state to learn,” he said. “The way to think about learning and neuroplasticity is you’re trying to offset forgetting.”

And yes, Dr. Huberman has a hack to retain more of what you learn: self-testing.

“The best way to remember things that you learn is to test yourself as soon as possible after being exposed to that information, either mentally or on paper. Just write down as many things that you remember as possible,” he explained. “The data show that if you test yourself on knowledge in one to four hours after being exposed to new information, you offset 50% of the forgetting permanently—which is remarkable.

So, after your next learning session or podcast, jot down key takeaways to supercharge retention.

5. Optimize Cognitive Function as You Age

Dr. Huberman offered multiple strategies to help retain cognitive function as you age:

• Regular cardiovascular exercise, five to seven days per week, at about 60% of heart rate maximum. It increases blood flow, reduces inflammation, and offsets age-related shrinkage of the hippocampus, which is involved in learning and memory.
• Get good sleep. Sleep is important because that’s when your brain eliminates debris with “lymphatic clearance.”
• Eat a quality diet. “Brain deterioration is in some ways proportional to the amount of quality protein intake.” You also need enough healthy fats (think olive oil) and some saturated fat, but keep that to a minimum.
• Get sunlight. “The evidence that supports getting a lot of light during the day—without getting sunburned—and reducing the amount of artificial light at night is just incredible.”

Dr. Huberman offered advice for those who have not yet started to experience mental decline: “Now’s the time to buffer yourself against it. Now’s a great time to quit drinking or smoking too much, and to try and get enough sleep. The brain and body relationship is incredibly valuable, and these things make a tremendous difference.”

6. Find a Like-Minded Community

EO members know, and Dr. Huberman concurs: The power of community is a critical component of health and success.

“Great leaders learn how to tap into their own genuine energy and share it,” he said. “And great leaders find and learn from colleagues and try and improve themselves as they go.”

EO’s Community Responds

EO members were enthusiastic about what they learned from Dr. Huberman. Many took his advice about recalling what they learned—and shared it on social media.

“Dr. Huberman’s research on brain function, stress, and sleep was fascinating! As an entrepreneur, this is especially crucial. For eight years, while running my businesses, sleep and health were not priorities,” said Kate Hancock, an EO APAC Bridge chapter member. “The insights from Dr. Huberman are exactly what I need to continue improving my well-being. Excited to implement these science-backed practices!”

Emily Carrion, EO Chief Marketing Officer and an entrepreneur herself, called the Powerhouse Series an “amazing perk” for the EO community, and summed up the interview on LinkedIn: “We often push ourselves to the limit, but what if we optimized both body and mind for peak performance? The goal? Elevate your energy and focus—because when your body and mind are in sync, you can lead from a place of strength.”

If you missed Dr. Huberman’s Powerhouse session, EO members, Accelerators and Spouse and Life Partners can watch it on demand in its entirety.

Don’t miss EO’s next Powerhouse Speaker Series session with tennis legend and entrepreneur Serena Williams on 5 November 2024. Register today!

Contributed by Anne-Wallis Droter, EO staff writer.

The post A Neuroscientist Shares How to Destress in Real Time (Plus 5 Other Brain Hacks) first appeared on The EO Blog.

The post A Neuroscientist Shares How to Destress in Real Time (Plus 5 Other Brain Hacks) appeared first on The EO Blog.