Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman says these 5 daily habits are key to optimal mental and physical health

 Is your doctor informing you of this? Or is s/he incompetent in this also?

Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman says these 5 daily habits are key to optimal mental and physical health

From cold plunges to waking up at the crack of dawn, health optimization trends have caught the attention of the masses and grown in popularity. 

However, Andrew Huberman, a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine and host of the Huberman Lab, suggests we quiet the noise and return to the basics. Prioritizing five daily things is crucial for staying physically and mentally healthy, he recently shared—and they’re easier to implement than you may think. 

“The most important step toward robust mental & physical health is when we realize that no single protocol, program supplement or Rx* is alone going to solve it & we instead initiate a series of *daily actions toward persistent wellbeing,*” Huberman wrote in a recent tweet.

To feel mentally and physically strong while simultaneously searching for the renowned Fountain of Youth, Huberman says to intentionally bolster the following into your day: sleep, sunlight, movement, nutrition, and social connection.

 

 

 

Sleep

As conventional wisdom has told us for centuries, getting enough sleep helps us feel better mentally and physically. General guidelines recommend adults get at least seven hours of sleep each night. It helps decrease stress, regulate the body’s internal systems, and improve mood (as we know, grogginess and crankiness go hand in hand).  

In a previous podcast, Huberman says sleep is the best stress reliever, trauma releaser, immune booster, and emotional stabilizer. 

Establishing a wind-down routine for thirty minutes to an hour before bed, going to bed and rising at the same time, and sleeping in dark, cool environments can also bolster the quantity and quality of your sleep. 

Sunlight 

Living in Michigan means cloudy a lot of the time. Minnesota was colder but at least sunny.

A 2013 study concluded that over a 31-year period, Michigan winters are filled with clouds more than 50% of the time. That means the months of December, January and February are quite cloudy. 

Getting sunlight first thing in the morning signals to the body that it’s time to wake up; it also helps regulate the body’s circadian rhythm, which will, in turn, signal it’s time to sleep later that night. 

And more, getting sunlight is the best way to absorb vitamin D, or the sunshine vitamin—long championed for improving bone and immune strength. Research suggests vitamin D may also improve brain function and memory. 

 Movement 

I get out walking my trails 7-8000 steps 3-4 times a week.

Another pillar we are far too familiar with is the importance of exercise. Huberman advises incorporating resistance, mobility, and cardio into your routine, albeit not all on the same day. National guidelines recommend at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous intensity exercise (think: a fast walk or cycle) or 70 minutes of intense exercise (think: running or cardio) each week, along with at least two days of strength training. 

Movement can help the brain stay strong, improve cardiovascular health, and reduce stress.  One CDC expert calls walking “the closest thing we have to a wonder drug.” As our muscles atrophy with age, consider upping your strength and resistance training. 

We often hear that the best way to keep an exercise routine is choosing something you love and can keep up. 

Nutrition

Yeah, I'm not good at this, not worrying about it though.

Yes, eat healthy. But Huberman points to the importance of the type of food, the amount of food, and the timing of meals.

A diet rich in many kinds of whole foods, from fruits and vegetables to nuts, seeds, and legumes (cue the 30 plants a day challenge) can strengthen the gut microbiome. A diverse gut microbiome can improve immune and brain function. Maintaining a diet rich in plants, protein, and fiber can ensure you get the right amount of food that keeps you feeling full and energetic for longer (highly-processed sugary foods can cause you to crash and get even hungrier).

While it may not work for everyone, Huberman has previously recognized the benefits of intermittent fasting. It may reduce the risk of heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. With an eye on living longer, C-Suite executives and longevity researchers alike have committed to intermittent fasting. Dr. Mark Hyman, the founder and senior advisor for the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine and author of Young Forever: The Secrets to Living Your Longest, Healthiest Life, previously told Fortune he fasts overnight between 12 and 16 hours. 

Social connection 

I excel at this, have 4 groups of friends I travel internationally with.

We are in a loneliness epidemic. Feeling socially isolated has health consequences comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes daily. Moreover, loneliness can increase the risk of developing dementia, depression, and anxiety, among other health conditions. This year, the U.S Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a national advisory warning on the health effects of loneliness. Many are calling for ways to reimagine socialization through structuring environments collaboratively and creating space for intergenerational friendships to be the bedrock of a community. 

Beyond the health benefits of feeling connected, the power of our social relationships largely determines the level of our happiness. Keeping and making friends from childhood to middle age and beyond is an integral part of staying healthy. Volunteering, or joining activity groups or hobbies—to name a few—can help grant people a sense of connectedness. A recent survey from the AARP found a vast majority of adults (87%) view play as a pillar of their health, with many saying it helps them stay connected to others.  

While Huberman notes those with the means and the time can expand their routine to incorporate additional ways of strengthening their health, he calls his five key strategies “a robust and reliable foundation.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

People With Brain Injuries Heal Faster If They Get Up And Get Moving

The conclusions from this could just as easily be explained by those people able to get moving earlier had less severe strokes.
http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2015/07/06/419519145/people-with-brain-injuries-heal-faster-if-they-get-up-and-get-moving
When Kate Klein began working as a nurse in the Cleveland Clinic's Neurointensive Care Unit, one of the first things she noticed was that her patients spent a lot of time in bed. She knew patients with other injuries benefitted from getting up and moving early on, and she wondered why not patients with brain injuries.
"I asked myself that question. I asked my colleagues that question," Klein says. "Why aren't these patients getting out of bed? Is there something unique about patients with neurologic injury?"

Doctors have long encouraged their surgical patients to get out of bed as soon as it's safe to do so. Movement increases circulation, reduces swelling, inflammation and the risk of blood clots, and it speeds healing.
But that wasn't the thinking with brain injuries, explains Edward Manno, director of the Neurointensive Care Unit at the Cleveland Clinic and one of the neurologists who works with Klein. "The predominant thinking was that rest was better suited for the brain," Manno says.
Often the damaged brain is susceptible to lack of blood flow. Increased activity may make things worse if initiated too quickly, Manno says. "So many of us thought for quite some time that we needed to put the brain to rest after the initial insult of stroke or other neurologic injury."

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Nancy Albert, Kate Klein and Nancy Kaser collaborated on a study of early mobility for patients with brain injuries.

Dustin Franz for NPR

But some doctors, including Manno, suspected patients with brain injuries could benefit from getting out of bed sooner. They just didn't have any proof.
Although plenty of research had been done on early mobilization of patients with other injuries, Klein discovered that no one had actually studied whether it was safe or beneficial for patients with brain injuries caused by seizures, stroke or head trauma to start rehabilitation right away. So she designed a study of her own.
Over the course of a year, Klein tracked more than 600 patients with brain injury, getting more than half of them up and out of bed as early as the first day they were admitted to the ICU. What she found was that getting up and moving had clear benefits. Patients who started their rehabilitation earlier spent less time in the ICU and less time in the hospital. "They have less pressure ulcers, less infections and spend less time on the ventilator if they need ventilator therapy," says Klein. And most say they feel a lot better.
One of the barriers to getting patients with brain injury up is how difficult it is. It took two nurses more than half an hour to get patient Patricia Weeden out of bed and into a chair to visit with her daughter. Weeden, 66, from Cleveland, has suffered severe seizures that damaged her brain. She's hooked to a ventilator, so she can't speak. And she's unable to sit, stand or walk on her own.
"It is difficult to get these patients up," explains Klein.
As a result of her study, the Cleveland Clinic has installed ceiling mounted lifts at each patient's bedside in the Neurointensive Care Unit. Nurses receive other equipment and training to make moving patients safer and easier.
And although it seems like a lot of effort for a few steps from bedside to chair, Klein says it represents huge progress for a patient like Weeden. The benefits may go beyond preventing bed sores or infections. Manno says it may also speed the recovery of the brain.
The brain rewires itself, explains Jeffrey Kleim, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Arizona State University who studies what happens to the brain after injury.

"And it does this by forming new synapses, forming new connections," says Kleim. "The neural circuits begin to change and adapt, and that's how these new functions begin to emerge in the remaining brain areas."
That neuroplasticity has been shown to be heightened immediately after injury in studies with animals. If the same is true in humans, the sooner patients get up and engage their brains the better their chances of recovery.
Kleim says much of the animal research has been focused on finding ways to jumpstart the rewiring process with drugs or electrical stimulation. But in people, he says, there is a much simpler way to drive the recovery process.
By getting patients up and out of bed early, even taking them outside, Klein and Manno say they are attempting to provide the sort of familiar experiences that are already known to stimulate the brain's natural rewiring process. Those experiences can be powerful, explains Klein, recalling a patient who suddenly began to speak after being outside for the first time.
"She was listening to the traffic, feeling the wind on her face, and then her sons came and they said 'Hi Mom,' and she looked up and said, 'Well, how are you doing?' Those were her first words," Klein says.
But as dramatic as those moments are, Manno says they only illustrate how much we still don't know about the recovery of the brain. For example, it's still unclear if all kinds of brain injuries can or should be treated the same.
"We are just scratching the surface here," says Manno. "There's a tremendous amount of work to be done in this area."