Science of Mindsets for Health & Performance | Dr. Alia Crum

About this video

Dr. Alia Crum, a tenured psychology professor at Stanford and founder of the Stanford Mind and Body Lab, joins Huberman to discuss mindsets: how what people think and believe shapes how physiology reacts to food, stress, exercise and medication. Huberman describes work from Dr. Crum’s laboratory showing beliefs about a treatment’s side effects profoundly affect how quickly treatments work and how effective they are. He highlights a study by graduate student Lauren Howe in which children undergoing peanut allergy treatment fared far better when educated that side effects were a byproduct of a treatment that would help them, and why those side effects arose. On sleep, Dr. Crum discusses belief effects from tracker scores while cautioning it is not all or nothing, since sleep has real benefits. On stress, she argues public messages oversimplify stress as purely damaging, while the literature shows encountering adversity or challenge need not be debilitating.

Key takeaways

• Dr. Crum argues beliefs about food, exercise, stress and medication change their physiological effects.
• Dr. Crum describes reframing treatment side effects as signs of help improving children’s allergy treatment experience.
• Dr. Crum cautions mindset effects on sleep are real but not all or nothing.
• Dr. Crum argues stress encountering challenge does not have to be debilitating.
• Huberman recommends asking what your mindset is about stress, food, exercise and relationships.

Episode details: published January 24, 2022 · 768.2K views · 1:41:03 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. The science and protocols described are Andrew Huberman’s, presented for education — not medical advice. Consult a qualified professional before changing your own health practices.

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