Essentials: Boost Your Energy & Immune System with Cortisol & Adrenaline
Andrew Huberman, a professor at Stanford, explains how cortisol and epinephrine impact energy and the immune system. He shares practical, science-based tools like morning sunlight exposure, deliberate short-term stressors, and specific supplements to optimize these hormones for enhanced energy, focus, and stress resilience.
Deep Dive Analysis
13 Topic Outline
Hormones, Energy Levels, and Immune System
Cortisol and Epinephrine: Overview and Importance
Biological Mechanisms of Cortisol and Epinephrine
Timing Cortisol Release with Morning Sunlight
Daytime Stress, Learning, and Cortisol's Role
Leveraging Stress to Increase Energy and Resilience
Building Resilience: Cortisol vs. Epinephrine Effects
Brief Stressors and Enhanced Immune System Function
Detrimental Effects of Chronic Stress and Cortisol
Stress and Hair Graying
Supplements to Reduce Cortisol: Ashwagandha and Apigenin
Optimizing Cortisol and Epinephrine with Meal Timing
Recap and Key Takeaways
6 Key Concepts
Cortisol
A steroid hormone derived from cholesterol, vital for immune system function, memory, and preventing depression. It acts as a hormone of energy, stimulating movement and initially suppressing rest and hunger.
Epinephrine (Adrenaline)
A hormone that rapidly increases heart rate, breathing rate, and blood flow to vital organs. It is crucial for immunity, memory, learning, and activating neuroplasticity, creating alertness in the brain and body.
Neuroplasticity
The brain's ability to change and adapt in response to experience. It is primarily stimulated by attention, focus, and often a low-level state of agitation or stress.
Sympathetic Nervous System
The part of the nervous system responsible for the 'fight or flight' response, which triggers the release of adrenaline from the adrenals and epinephrine in the brain, leading to states of alertness and readiness.
Negative Feedback Loop (Cortisol)
The normal regulatory mechanism where high levels of cortisol (glucocorticoids) signal the brain and pituitary to reduce their release of hormones that stimulate cortisol production, thereby preventing excessive cortisol.
Positive Feedback Loop (Chronic Stress)
A dysfunctional state occurring with chronic stress (lasting more than 4-7 days) where the brain and pituitary respond to high cortisol levels by releasing even more cortisol, creating a continuous cascade of stress.
7 Questions Answered
Cortisol and epinephrine are the two hormones that primarily govern energy levels and a healthy immune system. They increase energy and alertness, and when regulated, they are beneficial for immune function, memory, and learning.
Cholesterol is a precursor molecule from which many hormones like testosterone, estrogen, and cortisol are made. In stressed states, more cholesterol is diverted to producing cortisol.
Viewing sunlight within 30 minutes of waking helps time the highest levels of cortisol release to the early part of the day, which improves focus, energy levels, and learning.
No, brief bouts of stress, which involve cortisol and epinephrine release, can actually increase immune system function and protect against infection for about one to four days. Chronic stress, however, can hinder the immune response.
Yes, activation of the sympathetic nervous system, which releases adrenaline and epinephrine, can lead to the depletion of melanocytes in hair stem cells, contributing to graying hair.
Chronic stress, lasting more than four to seven days, can alter the feedback loop between the adrenals and the brain, leading to a positive feedback loop where high cortisol levels trigger the release of more cortisol, often driving cravings for comfort foods.
Ashwagandha can significantly reduce cortisol levels in healthy but stressed individuals, with noted reductions of 14.5% to 27.9%. Apigenin, found in chamomile, also has a mild cortisol-reducing effect and calms the nervous system.
16 Actionable Insights
1. Morning Sunlight Exposure
Get outside within 30 minutes of waking to view sunlight (no sunglasses) for 10-30 minutes, depending on cloud cover, to stimulate appropriate cortisol release for improved focus, energy, and learning throughout the day.
2. Calm Mind, Stressed Body
When engaging in physically stressful activities (e.g., cold exposure, intense exercise), deliberately try to stay calm in your mind by emphasizing exhales or telling yourself you enjoy it, to regulate the adrenaline response and build resilience.
3. Deliberate Adrenaline Boost
Incorporate practices like ice baths, cold showers, cyclic breathing (25-30 deep inhales/exhales), or high-intensity interval training into your routine (every 1-4 days) to deliberately increase epinephrine and cortisol for enhanced energy and immune function, after doctor’s clearance.
4. Maintain Consistent Schedule
Establish and maintain a consistent schedule for light exposure, feeding, exercise, and sleep to buffer against the negative mental and physical health effects of chronic stress.
5. Circadian Eating Pattern
Align your eating window with daylight hours, stopping a couple of hours before sleep and eating upon waking (within 2 hours of sunrise), to regulate energy levels by influencing cortisol and epinephrine.
6. Utilize Fasting Periods
Incorporate fasting, such as skipping breakfast, to intentionally lower blood glucose, which naturally increases epinephrine and cortisol levels, providing a non-chronic stress boost to energy.
7. Delay Morning Caffeine
Delay your caffeine intake for 90 minutes to two hours after waking to allow natural cortisol levels to rise and fall, preventing an exaggerated stress response later in the day.
8. Low-Carb Meals for Energy
When breaking a fast or eating, prioritize low-carbohydrate meals (e.g., meat/fish and salad) to help maintain elevated epinephrine levels and sustained energy.
9. Engage in Regular Therapy
Incorporate regular therapy into your routine, considering it as important as physical exercise, to gain emotional support, directed guidance, and useful insights for overall health.
10. Ensure Electrolyte Hydration
Maintain optimal brain and body function by ensuring adequate hydration and electrolyte intake (sodium, magnesium, potassium) in correct ratios, potentially using an electrolyte drink like Element.
11. Morning Electrolyte Drink
Dissolve one packet of Element in 16 to 32 ounces of water and drink it first thing in the morning to ensure proper hydration and electrolyte balance.
12. Reframe Stress with Dopamine
When experiencing stress from challenging activities, tell yourself that you enjoy or like the experience to liberate dopamine and serotonin, which helps buffer the epinephrine response and provides a sense of control.
13. Ashwagandha for Cortisol
Consider supplementing with ashwagandha (after checking safety with a doctor) to reduce chronically elevated cortisol levels, as it has been shown to decrease cortisol by 14.5% to 27.9% in stressed individuals.
14. Apigenin for Calm & Sleep
Consider taking 50 milligrams of apigenin (found in chamomile) before bedtime (after checking safety with a doctor) to calm the nervous system by adjusting GABA and chloride channels, and to mildly reduce cortisol.
15. Utilize Comprehensive Lab Testing
Engage in comprehensive lab testing, such as through Function Health, to gain insights into over 100 biomarkers related to heart, hormone, immune, and nutrient health, and to detect potential issues like toxin exposure.
16. Learn Stress Shutdown
Actively learn and practice methods to shut off the stress response, as chronic stress (lasting more than 4-7 days) can lead to a detrimental positive feedback loop of stress hormones.
5 Key Quotes
Epinephrine or adrenaline has also been demonized a bit. We think of it as the stress hormone, this thing that makes us anxious, fight or flight. The fact of the matter is that epinephrine is your best friend when it comes to your immunity, when it comes to protecting you from infection, and epinephrine, adrenaline, is your best friend when it comes to remembering things, and learning and activating neuroplasticity.
Andrew Huberman
The body doesn't distinguish between a troubling text message, ice, tumour breathing, or high intensity interval training or any other kind of exercise. It's all stress.
Andrew Huberman
Cognitively reframing that and telling yourself, I like this, I enjoy it, is not going to change the way that that molecule impacts your body and brain.
Andrew Huberman
The point is you can control your immune system by finding a way that you can increase adrenaline. And this runs counter to what we always hear, which is don't get too stressed or you will get sick.
Andrew Huberman
We don't have to be slaves to our hormones and certainly not the hormones that cause us stress. We can learn to control those both to the benefit of our body and benefit of mind.
Andrew Huberman
4 Protocols
Morning Cortisol Timing Protocol
Andrew Huberman- Wake up.
- Within 30 minutes of waking, get outside and view sunlight.
- Do not wear sunglasses.
- Adjust duration based on cloud cover: 10 minutes for bright, no cloud cover; 30 minutes for dense, overcast; 10-20 minutes for light/broken cloud cover.
Cyclic Inhale/Exhale Breathing Protocol (for energy/alertness)
Andrew Huberman- Inhale deeply.
- Exhale fully.
- Repeat deep inhales and full exhales 25-30 times.
- Expect to feel agitated and stressed due to adrenaline and norepinephrine release, leading to increased alertness.
Stress Resilience & Immune System Enhancement Protocol (General)
Andrew Huberman- Pick a practice that deliberately increases your epinephrine and cortisol levels (e.g., ice bath, cold shower, cyclic breathing, high-intensity interval training, running sprints, weightlifting, hot yoga).
- During the practice, consciously try to stay calm in your mind despite the physical stress and heightened alertness. This can be achieved by emphasizing exhales or telling yourself you enjoy it (which triggers dopamine to buffer epinephrine).
- The goal is to release adrenaline from the adrenals without releasing it to the same degree from the brainstem, teaching the brain and body to regulate the stress response.
Circadian Eating Schedule
Andrew Huberman- Eat only when the sun is up (more or less).
- Stop eating a couple of hours before sleep.
- Eat more or less upon waking, assuming waking around sunrise (plus or minus two hours).