The Science of Making & Breaking Habits

About this video

Huberman discusses the neuroscience and psychology of making and breaking habits, boiling the literatures down to explicit steps for forming habits and dismantling habits that undermine health or life goals. He organises habit formation around phases of the day shaped by different neurochemistry. For the second half of the day, Huberman describes people as alert and engaged but with diminished ability to override resistance, which he calls limbic friction. He therefore recommends using that phase for habits requiring little override, such as journaling or practising a challenging piece of music or language that is not excessively demanding. For relaxation in that phase he mentions self-hypnosis resources, meditation, heat and hot baths or showers. On supplementation, Huberman describes ashwagandha as a potent cortisol-inhibiting tool, says he personally does not use it often, and cautions people about using it for longer than two-week periods without breaks.

Key takeaways

• Huberman recommends matching habit difficulty to the phase of day and its neurochemistry.
• Huberman advises placing low-resistance habits such as journaling in the second half of the day.
• Huberman describes the second half of the day as having diminished ability to override limbic friction.
• Huberman cautions against using ashwagandha for longer than two weeks without breaks, as he presents it.
• Huberman presents habit formation and breaking as grounded in neuroscience and psychology research.

Episode details: published January 3, 2022 · 5.6M views · 1:50:39 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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