How To Rewire Your Brain To Wake Up Early - Dr Andrew Huberman

Summary

The transcript discusses strategies to become a morning person by aligning one's circadian rhythm with natural and social cues. It highlights the importance of exposure to sunlight, exercise, caffeine, and social interactions to shift the body's internal clock. The speaker emphasizes the genetic factors that determine one's natural sleep tendencies and offers practical tips for those aiming to rise early, including the potential benefits of viewing sunlight in the afternoon to mitigate the impact of evening screen time on sleep.

Takeaways

• 🌞 It takes about three days to shift one's biological mechanisms to become a morning person.
• 🧬 Genetic mutations, known as polymorphisms, can make some individuals naturally inclined to be night owls or morning people.
• 🌡 Most people naturally feel best going to sleep between 10:00 PM and midnight, and waking up between 6:00 AM and 8:00 AM.
• 🌅 The primary way to shift the circadian clock is by viewing bright light, such as sunlight, in the morning.
• 🏃‍♂️ Exercise or movement, combined with sunlight exposure, can further help in adjusting one's sleep-wake cycle.
• ☕ Caffeine can be used to entrain the circadian clock to be more alert at a specific time, but it should be managed carefully to avoid delaying sleep.
• 🍽 Eating in the morning can also be a zeitgeber, helping to entrain the body's clock to wake up earlier.
• 🤝 Social interactions can contribute to circadian entrainment, influencing the body's natural rhythm.
• 🌆 Viewing sunlight in the afternoon can help adjust the sensitivity of the retina, reducing the melatonin suppressive effects of bright light at night.
• 🐕 Social interactions with pets, like dogs, can also play a role in circadian entrainment due to their natural inclination to orient towards sunlight.

Q & A

How long does it typically take to shift one's biological mechanisms to become a morning person?

It takes about three days to shift the biological mechanisms to make you a morning person.

What is the role of genetic factors in determining if someone is a night owl or a morning person?

Genetic mutations, specifically polymorphisms, can determine if someone is a night owl, feeling best when going to sleep late and waking up late.

What are the four primary zeitgebers that can help someone become an early riser?

The four primary zeitgebers are sunlight, exercise or movement, caffeine, and social interactions.

Why is viewing bright light in the morning important for shifting one's circadian clock?

Viewing bright light in the morning is crucial for shifting the circadian clock because it's the number one way to phase advance your clock, making you feel awake and alert in the morning.

How does exercise or movement contribute to becoming a morning person?

Exercise or movement is the second most powerful zeitgeber, helping to stack different timekeepers and entrain the circadian clock to be more alert in the morning.

What is the effect of caffeine on the circadian clock, and when should it be consumed for optimal results?

Caffeine can help entrain the circadian clock to be alert at the time of consumption. It's often recommended to consume it 30 minutes after waking or three hours after waking for optimal energy levels.

How does eating in the morning affect the circadian clock, and should everyone eat early?

Eating in the morning can entrain the circadian clock to wake up earlier. However, not everyone needs to eat early; some people naturally feel hungry later in the day.

What is the significance of social rhythms in circadian entrainment?

Social rhythms, such as interacting with other people, can also entrain the circadian clock, contributing to the overall alignment of one's sleep-wake cycle.

How can viewing sunlight in the afternoon help mitigate the effects of bright light exposure at night?

Viewing sunlight in the afternoon, even for a short period, can adjust the sensitivity of the retina, reducing the melatonin suppressive effects of bright light at night by about 50%.

What is the role of pets, like dogs, in aiding the process of becoming a morning person?

Pets, including dogs, can serve as a form of social interaction and movement, naturally orienting towards sunlight and encouraging morning walks, which can help in becoming a morning person.

Outlines

00:00

🌞 Becoming a Morning Person: Strategies and Biological Insights

The paragraph discusses the process of becoming a morning person, which involves shifting one's biological clock. It takes about three days of discomfort to adjust, but after that, it becomes easier. The speaker explains that there are genetic factors that make some people naturally night owls or morning people, but for most, a typical sleep schedule is preferred. To shift one's clock, one should expose themselves to bright light in the morning, engage in physical activity, consider caffeine intake, and possibly eat food. These actions are known as 'zeit gebers' or timekeepers, which help align the circadian rhythm with the desired wake-up time. The speaker also mentions that social interactions can contribute to this process. The importance of sunlight is emphasized, as it directly influences the circadian clock, and the speaker suggests looking towards the sun without damaging the eyes. Exercise is recommended, possibly combined with caffeine, to enhance the effect. The speaker also touches on the idea that eating and social rhythms can influence the body's internal clock.

05:01

🌙 Overcoming Nighttime Light Exposure for Better Sleep

This paragraph delves into the challenges of adjusting to an earlier sleep schedule when exposed to bright lights at night, which can suppress melatonin and disrupt sleep. The speaker suggests viewing sunlight in the afternoon to adjust the sensitivity of the retina, reducing the melatonin-suppressing effects of evening light. This practice is likened to an 'inoculation' against the disruptive effects of screen time at night. The speaker also discusses the broader implications of circadian rhythm adjustments, including the impact of viewing bright light in the evening for those who wish to delay their sleep schedule. The paragraph concludes with a discussion on the universality of these biological mechanisms across mammalian species, including dogs, and the importance of respecting our natural circadian rhythms for optimal health and cognitive function.

10:02

🧳 Embracing Rest and the Benefits of Quality Travel Gear

The final paragraph shifts focus to the importance of rest and the role of sleep in cognitive function and neuroplasticity. The speaker expresses gratitude for the natural sleep cycle and its benefits, including the unconscious mind's ability to process thoughts and information. They also touch on the value of dreams, despite the current lack of understanding of their symbolic meanings. The paragraph concludes with a product endorsement for a travel backpack, emphasizing its organizational features, durability, and the company's commitment to customer satisfaction. A discount code is provided for listeners, highlighting the product's practicality for travel and the speaker's personal endorsement.

Keywords

💡Morning Person

A 'morning person' refers to an individual who naturally wakes up early and feels most energetic and alert during the early hours of the day. In the context of the video, becoming a morning person is discussed as a goal that can be achieved by adjusting one's biological clock through various methods. The video suggests that it typically takes about three days of consistent effort to shift one's biological mechanisms to become a morning person.

💡Biological Clock

The 'biological clock' is an internal timekeeping mechanism found in all living organisms, which regulates physiological processes in a 24-hour cycle known as the circadian rhythm. The video explains that shifting this clock is essential for becoming a morning person, and it can be influenced by external factors such as light exposure and exercise.

💡Zeitgebers

Zeitgebers are external time cues that reset an organism's circadian clock, also known as 'timekeepers.' The term is derived from German, reflecting the influence of early German chronobiologists in the field. In the video, the speaker discusses stacking various zeitgebers, such as light exposure, exercise, and caffeine, to entrain the circadian clock and facilitate waking up earlier.

💡Circadian Rhythm

The 'circadian rhythm' is the body's internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours. The video emphasizes the importance of aligning one's circadian rhythm with the desired wake-up time to become a morning person. This is achieved through exposure to light, exercise, and other zeitgebers.

💡Night Owl

A 'night owl' is someone who prefers to stay up late and sleep late into the morning. The video mentions that there are genetic factors, such as polymorphisms, that can predispose some individuals to be night owls, feeling best when going to sleep late and waking up late.

💡Caffeine

Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant that can temporarily ward off drowsiness and restore alertness. In the video, it is mentioned as one of the zeitgebers that can help entrain the circadian clock to be more alert at a specific time, such as in the morning, aiding in the transition to becoming a morning person.

💡Exercise

Exercise, or physical movement, is highlighted in the video as a powerful zeitgeber that can help shift the circadian clock and make a person feel more awake. Combining exercise with other strategies like light exposure can 'stack' the effects and make it easier to become a morning person.

💡Melatonin

Melatonin is a hormone that regulates sleep-wake cycles by signaling to the brain when it's time to sleep. The video discusses how exposure to bright light in the evening can suppress melatonin production, making it harder to fall asleep. Conversely, aligning melatonin production with desired sleep times is part of becoming a morning person.

💡Phase Shift

A 'phase shift' refers to the process of changing the timing of one's circadian rhythm. The video explains that by exposing oneself to certain zeitgebers at specific times, one can phase advance (wake up earlier) or phase delay (wake up later) their circadian clock, which is crucial for adjusting sleep schedules.

💡Social Rhythm

The 'social rhythm' is the influence of social interactions and societal norms on an individual's circadian rhythm. The video suggests that social activities can also entrain the circadian clock, contributing to the overall process of becoming a morning person or adjusting one's sleep schedule.

Highlights

It takes about three days to shift one's biological mechanisms to become a morning person.

Genetic polymorphisms can determine if someone is a night owl or a morning person.

Most people naturally feel best sleeping between 10:00 PM and midnight, and waking up between 6:00 AM and 8:00 AM.

The primary way to shift the circadian clock is by viewing bright light in the morning.

Exercise or movement is the second most powerful zeitgeber for aligning the body's clock.

Caffeine can help entrain the circadian clock to be alert at a specific time.

Eating in the morning can also help train the body to wake up earlier.

Social interactions can entrain the circadian clock, contributing to becoming a morning person.

The circadian clock generates an intrinsic 24-hour rhythm, which can be adjusted with the right cues.

Viewing sunlight in the afternoon can reduce the melatonin suppressive effects of bright light at night.

Dogs and other mammals have similar circadian biology and can benefit from morning routines.

Circadian biology is a fundamental aspect of life that cannot be completely biohacked away.

Sleep is essential for neuroplasticity and cognitive function.

Dreams may contain valuable information, although the symbols are not yet fully understood.

Prioritizing sleep is crucial for peak performance and cognitive health.

Nomatic backpacks are recommended for their organization, durability, and lifetime guarantee.

Using the code 'mw20' at checkout provides a 20% discount on Nomatic backpacks.

Transcripts

how can people become a morning person

or learn to get up early more easily and

more regularly yeah um three days of

pain the rest is easy so it takes about

three days to shift the biological

mechanisms to uh make you a morning

person now if you are a very strongly

genetically determined Night Owl that's

a thing that's a thing so there are

genetic mutations they call them

polymorphisms that make some people

night owls they feel best

psychologically and physically going to

sleep at about 1: 2 or 3:00 a.m. and

waking up somewhere around you know 10

11 am or noon that exists not just

during development or teen years but

that exists not just for social reasons

other people are true morning people

they feel absolutely best going to sleep

around 8:00 p.m. or 900 p.m. 10: p.m.

would be late for them and they feel

great waking up at 4:00 5 or 6:00 a.m.

okay most people feel best going to

sleep somewhere between 10: and midnight

and waking up somewhere between 6:00

a.m. and 8:00 a.m. or so maybe 5:30 to

8:00 a.m. okay so those are three bins

of the Night Owl the morning person and

then the more typical schedule but it's

heavily weighted toward that typical

schedule if you look at the general

population so if somebody wants to get

up earlier you need to stack the four

primary what are called zeit gers or

timekeepers so named because some of the

early chronobiologists that discovered

this this stuff and the underlying

mechanisms were German as it were so the

number one zeit Gaber the number one way

to shift your circadian clock which is

this cluster of neurons that sits a few

centimeters above the roof of your mouth

is to view bright light at a time when

you want to be awake aka the morning

okay so that's why I say get outside

look at the sun toward the sun don't

force yourself to stare at it don't

damage your eyes blink as needed no

sunglasses eye glasses corrective lenses

contacts are absolutely fine even if

they have UV protection

okay however if you combine that with

another zeit Gaber the second most

powerful zeit Gaber is exercise or

movement so if you do some jumping jacks

you skip some rope or even just take a

walk while facing the sun now you're

starting to stack different zeit gers

and I'll explain the mechanisms in a

moment if you then also add caffeine now

this spits in the face a little bit of

what I said a few minutes ago but if you

were to add caffeine you can entrain as

it's called the circadian clock to be

alert at that time a bit more and I'll

be honest if I'm going to exercise first

thing in the morning I need caffeine I

can't wait that 60 to 90 minutes if I

need to jump right into exercise I find

it's easiest for me to do 30 minutes

after waking three hours after waking or

11 hours after waking and a lot of

people find that the same but of course

exercise when you can because it's that

important but if you want to quot and

optimize your energy levels for exercise

typically people will notice that has to

do with your temperature Rhythm Okay so

we've got sunlight we've got exercise or

movement of any kind it could be jumping

jacks could be walking you don't have to

do a full workout and then caffeine and

in some cases food I'm not big on eating

first thing in the morning I don't like

to eat until 11: a.m. or noon that's

when my first meal arrives for me just

naturally that's when I get hungry it's

all caffeine and hydration prior to that

but if you were to eat something first

thing in the morning you that's part of

the way you entrain your circadian clock

to wake up to essentially wake you up

earlier and then the fourth one is a

social Rhythm if you're interacting with

other people you're going to entrain

your clock to that as well way yes so

there's a socially there's a social

component to circadian entrainment now

the pathways for these are from the eye

in the case of viewing light to the

circadian clock the supermatic nucleus

in the case of caffeine it's more

General in the case of exercise there's

literally a brain stem to circadian

clock connection a big super highway of

neuronal connections that then So-Cal

entrains your circadian clock remember

your circadian clock generates an

intrinsic 24-hour Rhythm such that if we

put you into constant dark or constant

light you would still sleep for a given

bout and then be alert for a given bout

with a little bit of a nap it just is

what would call free run it would drift

a little later each day this is what

happens when you go to Vegas this is

what happens when you're in an

environment without a lot of cues about

the day uh the sunlight uh rising and

setting

cycle

sunlight exercise caffeine and eating

and social interactions bring your

circadian clock into alignment with all

of those zit gers so when I said it

takes three days if tomorrow you want to

start beginning the process of becoming

an early riser you'd set your alarm for

5:00 a.m. no matter what time you went

to sleep the night before you're going

to get up and you're going to do the

four things that I described maybe leave

out food if you don't want to eat maybe

leave out caffeine if you want to delay

by 90 minutes it's going to hurt and

then by the early afternoon you'll be

dragging a bit and you just have to be

careful to not overindulge in caffeine

which will then cause you to fall asleep

later then you want to go to sleep at

your now naturally slightly earlier

sleep time the next day you'll notice

you'll it'll be a little bit easier to

do the morning routine I just described

and by the third day you ought to be

waking up with or before the Alarm by a

few minutes or moments because your

circadian clock has phase shifted okay

it's phase Advanced as we say your

circadian clock intrinsic to you

generates a

24.2 or a 24.3 hour Rhythm it's not

perfectly 24 hours and that we believe

we don't know but the just so story is

that it's that it's such that that

you're able to then shift that clock in

in one or the other direction you can

phase advance so you wake up earlier and

go to sleep earlier you can phase delay

how do you phase delay well you're

probably doing this already everyone

nowadays pretty much qualifies as a

shift worker by the strict and not so

strict criteria of shift work which is

are you doing any kind of cognitive

activity after 9:00 p.m. are you viewing

any kind of bright lights after 9:30

p.m. most people would say yes so the

the Diabolical thing about the Circadian

Timing System is that it requires a lot

of bright light ideally from sunlight

but a lot of bright light early in the

day to make you a morning and daytime

person but it requires just a little bit

of bright light even from an artificial

Source after the hours of about 9:30

p.m. till 4:00 a.m. to quash your Mel

tonin make it difficult to sleep or if

you sleep to make that sleep not as

effective there's a simple remedy

however which is and this is a beautiful

study publishing science reports in

2022 if you view sunlight in the

afternoon even for five minutes or so

could be late afternoon could be sunset

take off your sunglasses look in the

direction of the Sun so now looking West

you adjust the sensitivity of your

retina the neurons in the back of your

eye such that bright light later at

night doesn't have quite as much effect

to suppress melatonin and it reduces the

Melatonin suppressive Effects by about

50% or offsets those so I think of this

afternoon viewing as well first of all

it's nice to look at a sunset if you're

indoors in environment like this even if

there are bright lights on get outside

for a few minutes before the sun sets

this is especially important in Winter

even if you can't see the Sun as an

object get some sun light in your eyes

and that will at least partially offset

the effects of bright light light in

your eyes at night partially and I refer

to this more or less as your Netflix

inoculation so that that night you can

be on your phone or watch Netflix and

it's not going to disrupt your sleep as

much but it will still disrupt your

sleep somewhat but let's you know unless

like Rick rubin's very diligent about

wearing the red lens classes I've

started doing that as well um but if you

don't do that you I'm guessing he also

sees the sunset in the evening um he's

very attached for good scientific

reasons uh to the sunlight thing but

these are little things that take just

moments right they're essentially zero

cost that can really improve your sleep

but that's how you become a morning

person if you want to become a night

person you do the opposite you view

bright light between the hours of 400

p.m. and 10 p.m. and there then you will

phase delay or phase shift in a delayed

way your circadian clock making you want

to wake up later the next morning I

wonder if dogs count as uh social

interaction absolutely and they have all

of the same mechanisms we just described

so I just thinking how can we stack that

everything first thing in the morning

morning walk you if you're in a place

that's not Iceland or somewhere that's

super high North dog social interaction

moving around and then caffeine if you

do or if you don't if you don't want it

but uh if you have a dog that likes to

run you're even better off CU it'll

force you to run if you have if you have

an English bulldog like I did you'd be

lucky if you get out of bed by

their eyes are droopy they don't and um

uh they don't like to move but it is the

case that dogs will naturally Orient

toward the sun you know and people

always ask you know do dogs have the

same mechanisms absolutely intrinsically

photosensitive retinal gangling cells

the one that project to the clock and

carry all of this um thing about

circadian entrainment to sunlight are

present as far as we know in every

extent Mamon species every Mamon species

that's that's alive today um and you

know this is a system that evolved from

bacteria that's very similar to the

opsin the light absorbing molecules that

are in the insect eye it's a very

primordial system it's organized very

differently anatomically in the retina

and to me it's actually one of the more

beautiful systems in in all of us in

fact the one thing that no one can seem

to defeat you're never going to biohack

away is circadian biology this this you

know fluctu 24-hour fluctuation in

energy and focus you know some people

require less sleep but we we're all um

more or less a slave to these mechanisms

and you know it's a good thing that we

are because it forces us to rest

neuroplasticity occurs during sleep it

push down adenosine you know it takes us

through these natural es and cycles of

cognition I'm obsessed by the idea that

in sleep you know the conscious mind

obviously is not in control the

unconscious mind can geyser up thoughts

the brain is organizing things more in

terms of symbols time and space are very

uh very organized very differently in

dreams and there's a lot of information

to be gleaned from dreams it's just that

we don't yet understand what the symbols

mean the kind of classic Freudian yian

um interpretations are certainly not

going to be complete but you know I I'm

so grateful that we get this thing

called sleep and I think thanks to the

great Matt Walker We Now understand that

the whole thing of all sleep would I'm

dead is a really dumb mindset and you

know my team at The hubman Lab podcast

we sometimes joke that we win by

sleeping you know when we're in the peak

of things we all encourage each other to

like get rest you know get rest like we

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thank you very much for tuning in if you

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