How Your Brain Works & Changes
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN points to it as a foundational neuroscience primer, with some commenters crediting it for practical changes to learning and sleep.
What it is
Andrew Huberman introduces how the nervous system produces sensation, emotion and behavior, and how neuroplasticity lets us change it. It covers neurons, synapses, brain chemicals and the rhythms governing focus, learning and sleep.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2021 to 2023.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec tylerwhipple · 2021-10 · on “Clinical trial shows that the use of Vitamin D supplement improves sleep quality”
If anyone is struggling with sleep, I highly recommend episode 1-3 of the Huberman Lab podcast ( [this video] ), it has literally changed my life. Dr. Huberman is a Neurobiologist at Stanford and explains the science of sleep vs just telling you to not look at bright screens at night. I struggled with sleeping for 20+ years, now I easily wake up early. The biggest game changer: Sunlight in your eyes within 30 minutes of waking up. Try morning walks for 1 week (without sunglasses) and your life will be changed.
Recommends dmfdmf · 2021-05 · on “Ask HN: What are your favorite techniques for overcoming the “pain” of learning?”
Check out Dr. Andrew Huberman's podcast #1 on YT. "How Your Nervous System Works & Changes" He argues that feeling overwhelmed and the frustration of learning are necessary to activate the neuro-chemical processes needed to change our programming. Interpreting this emotional state as "doubt" is itself a mental program that can be changed when you realize that these neuro-chemical processess are necessary and normal. Also, get good sleep (which he covers too). [this video]
Cites overview · 2021-10 · on “Multitasking Doesn't Work”
I haven’t read the article, but the title irrefutably contradicts a very interesting understanding of multitasking shared by Dr. Andrew Huberman on the Huberman Lab podcast. Maybe by being provocative and choosing an absolute position on the matter, the author was hoping to attract readers. For those interested in the explanation given by Huberman, skip to the section titled “Multi-Tasking Is Real” found in the description of the video [0]. [0] [this video]
Cites hollerith · 2023-11 · on “Bacteria store memories and pass them on for generations”
I probably learned that fact from an episode of neuroscientist Andrew Huberman's podcast, and it is more likely than not that I learned it from episode one: [this video]