Using Failures, Movement & Balance to Learn Faster

This Guy Deserves a Noble Prize, Just changed the lives of thousands You can hear his passion in the Tone. Hes not selling anything and actually sharing cutting edge research that would take years to reach the public

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM EPISODE 7: Learn some motor movement. Inversion, handstand, free throws, drawing, dancing. With more emphasis on the activities that test the vestibular system as vestibular disturbances release all the neurochemicals that are vital for plasticity. The more you don't know how to do something, the more of an effect it will have. Avid gymnasts are comfortable upside down; they will get 0 plasticity from this. Make plenty of errors during your selected activity and DO NOT give up when it inevitably gets difficult. Frustration and uncomfortableness is a sign it's working, not a sign of personal weakness. Give yourself positive self-talk during said difficult learning session. Attaching dopamine to the frustrating event makes it easier, more enjoyable and will accelerate plasticity. He did not say this, but I'd imagine smiling occasionally during the difficult experience can help. Tell yourself that those errors are good for you. Neural-plasticity is a state. This means that you can release the neurochemicals in the brain via vestibular disruption, and then immediately go learn something and have accelerated learning as a result (Ex: Standing on 1 foot for 10 minutes before learning French will not only improve your balance, but enhance your language practice afterwards). The vestibular disruption/motor learning is merely a catalyst that opens the gates for plasticity. Also, having a strong incentive to do something has been shown to have a dramatic effect in learning in adults. It is as dramatic as a childs learning provided the incentive is serious enough, such as being hungry. With adults, plasticity was shown to be more effective when you don't learn so much at once. Do smaller amounts of learning at a time. Now, before ANY of this. You want to be in a state of alertness, but calm. If you are too tired/calm, he said maybe do some controlled hyperventilating to increase the alertness neuromodulator epinephrine. He did not say the "Wim Hof method" specifically, but this would be one way to do this. Coffee can also increase epinephrine. But the best way would be to be well rested. Now if you are too alert/stressed, do some calming breathing exercises. He recommended taking in 2 inhales consecutively and exhaling slowly. When all of this is done, he recommends NSDR/Yoga Nidra for further accelerating learning and states of calm. In episode 6 he suggested walking, running, exercise, or sitting in your thoughts after a learning session to improve plasticity as well. Finally, get good rest the ensuing nights because this is where the neuroplasticity actually takes place. "Plasticity is a state of the nervous system. It's not just geared towards the thing you're trying to learn. Motor movements are the most straightforward way to access states of plasticity, and that could be for the the sake of learning that specific motor movement, or the sake of accessing plasticity more generally."

32:25 'If you're uncomfortable making errors, and you get frustrated easily, if you leverage that frustration toward drilling deeper into the endeavor, you are setting yourself up for a terrific set of plasticity mechanisms to engage.' This made me rethink how I approach learning as someone past the age of 25! Incremental learning where it is then.

“Frustration is the source of Accelerated Learning” Dr.A. Huberman. Thank you for motivating me to go back to school and finish my program!

who else gets a boost of joy whenever this podcast has a new episode? :D

My man shares a lifetime of knowledge he’s accrued along with tens of thousands of dollars worth of education ... all for the betterment of people. Thanks so much for that.

I taught myself how to swim at age 60. It took 6 years, huge frustration and I'm still learning. I got smarter and finished a Masters degree. Now I'm finishing a PhD at 66. Everything Professor Huberman explains is spot on.

The fact that he does this for basically the betterment of any person that wants to learn is amazing. Whenever I have a conversations about any of these subjects, I always tell them about your podcast and contributions, thank you so much.

I appreciate that the podcast is kept in one color scheme (even the pen). It´s visually very calming.

Time stamps of sponsors, thanks to them: 0:30 Headspace 1:40 Athletic Greens 3:12 madefor 4:14 Start of this episode

Protect this guy at ALL costs. Thanks Professor H!🙌👏🙏

I'm in my 5th year of medical school, and none of my professors, residents, or doctors had ever been able to deliver that much information on a single session. You are great, Professor Huberman. Thanks for your time and effort, I appreciate it. 🙏

I'm an Exercise Physiology/Biology undergrad and ophthalmic technician in the Air force, this podcast checks off so many boxes of my interests that I want Dr Huberman to adopt me.

It is wild that society and our school system often times teaches us to feel inferior when we make mistakes and errors within learning. Not only are you not getting dopamine from making mistakes but you are actually getting a feeling of shame, which leads to many people giving up and avoiding the feeling of “not being good at” something. Adults then have to unlearn how they were taught to “learn”. I cannot help but think how this world could benefit from establishing this understanding of learning at a young age. Imagine all the people that could tap into their full potential. Fantastic to hear the “growth mindset” from a scientifically rigorous perspective, with actual tools.

As a student of science, I always felt that a very big reason of people not respecting science and scientists enough as much as they respect some movie stars etc. is because these researches are done in lab and published in journals. Frankly common people cannot understand these complicated information if it is not serving them a purpose in real life. You are just incredible where you actually bridge the gap between findings of scientific community and there applications in a common man's life. You are my role model. I wish, if I could become even half as good as you, I feel I will be able to serve people. I wish, I have an opportunity to actually work for you or work with you and I am firm believer that dreams do come true💕😊🤗

I have Asperger's Syndrome and recently just started studying in college again after a long time of poor health. These podcasts are perfect for me. Not too heavy, not too light. The timing has been impeccable. Thanks Andrew, you're helping to move my life in the right direction.

Seriously Dr. Huberman. Your work must NEVER stop; You’d be letting down a huge, and dedicated audience if you did. Thank you so much for this.

Tbh, his discussion of the subjects/materials are gonna be extremely hard to understand for most people not into science, but this man is just giving it in layman's term. The idea of explaining complicated subject to a simple, easy to understand and digest content is a mark of true genius and dedication in the field. You are truly a blessing Andrew, thank you for all your work 😊

I cannot believe this is free content. This is so insanely, crucially helpful to people, I’m BAFFLED its right here right next to cat videos. So many of these episodes have aggressively helped and impacted my life in just as many different aspects that I can’t list them. Thank you so much Andrew, this is invaluable content and I (we) appreciate you so fucking much thank you 🙏🏼

Wow! getting more out of these than any of the stable self-help/psych books I’ve read. It might just be how I learn, but it sounds like every sentence is such a clear point of action to incorporate into your life. Uni lectures I’ve been to aren’t this dense with information. I’m very grateful for these 👍🏼