How to Use Exercise to Improve Your Brain’s Health, Longevity & Performance
Andrew Huberman discusses how various forms of exercise, including resistance and cardiovascular training, acutely and chronically enhance brain health and performance. He explains the neurochemical and endocrine mechanisms involved, such as arousal, osteocalcin, and BDNF, offering actionable protocols to optimize brain function and longevity.
Deep Dive Analysis
15 Topic Outline
Defining Exercise Categories for Brain Performance
Acute Brain Performance Enhancement Through Exercise Arousal
Arousal's Role in Learning and Memory Consolidation
High-Intensity Training and Cognitive Flexibility Benefits
Long-Term Brain Health and Exercise 'Snacks'
Neurochemical Pathways: Adrenaline, Vagus Nerve, Locus Coeruleus
Motor Network's Control Over Adrenaline Release
Bones, Osteocalcin, BDNF, and Hippocampal Neurogenesis
Fuel Utilization, Lactate, and Blood-Brain Barrier Integrity
Designing a Weekly Exercise Program for Brain Health
The Importance of Explosive Jumping and Eccentric Control
Negative Impact of Exercise Cessation on Brain Health
Exercise, Sleep Quality, and Brain Performance
SuperAgers and the Anterior Mid-Cingulate Cortex
Activating the Anterior Mid-Cingulate Cortex with Challenging Activities
6 Key Concepts
Autonomic Arousal
An increase in sympathetic nervous system activity, leading to heightened alertness, focus, and readiness to act. This state, whether during or after learning, significantly enhances memory and cognitive performance.
Locus Coeruleus
A brain area containing neurons that release norepinephrine, a neurochemical similar to epinephrine. When activated, it 'sprinklers' the brain with norepinephrine, increasing baseline activity and engagement capacity across various brain regions, thereby enhancing attention and focus.
Osteocalcin
A hormone released from bones when they experience mechanical stress (e.g., impact from jumping). It travels to the brain, crosses the blood-brain barrier, and encourages the growth of neurons and their connections within the hippocampus, improving learning and memory.
BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor)
A growth factor that enhances the health and stability of existing neuron connections and promotes new connections. Its release is activity-dependent, meaning it acts best on neurons that are already electrically active, explaining why regular exercise supports long-term brain health.
Lactate
A molecule produced by muscles during intense exercise and by astrocytes in the brain. It can serve as a preferred fuel for neurons, sparing glucose, and also stimulates the release of VEGF, which promotes the stability and growth of the blood-brain barrier, crucial for brain health and longevity.
Anterior Mid-Cingulate Cortex (AMCC)
A brain area powerfully engaged when individuals lean into challenges, demonstrating tenacity and willpower. It maintains or increases volume in 'super agers' and its activation is strongly correlated with grit, persistence, and willingness to exert effort, contributing to superior cognitive function in later life.
9 Questions Answered
Exercise acutely improves brain performance primarily through increased autonomic arousal, which elevates levels of alertness, focus, and attention, making the brain more receptive to learning and cognitive tasks.
Yes, increasing autonomic arousal through exercise after exposure to new material significantly improves memory for that information, including its details, and enhances the persistence of learning over time.
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) done just before or even during cognitive flexibility tasks significantly improves performance, likely due to enhanced arousal and cerebral blood flow.
Engaging core muscles and performing compound movements (multiple joints) during exercise most robustly activate brain areas that communicate with the adrenal glands, leading to the deployment of adrenaline and subsequent brain-wide norepinephrine release, boosting alertness and focus.
When bones experience mechanical stress from impactful exercise like jumping, they release osteocalcin, a hormone that travels to the brain and encourages the growth of neurons and their connections in the hippocampus, improving learning and memory.
Lactate, produced by muscles during intense exercise and by astrocytes in the brain, can serve as a preferred fuel for neurons, sparing glucose, and also stimulates VEGF release, which improves the integrity of the blood-brain barrier, crucial for brain health.
Super agers are individuals who maintain or even increase the volume of certain brain areas, like the anterior mid-cingulate cortex (AMCC), well into older age, defying typical age-related cognitive decline. Engaging in challenging activities, especially those one dislikes, can activate and potentially increase the size of the AMCC, contributing to this phenomenon.
Studies show that after about 10 days of complete cessation from both cardiovascular and resistance training, significant decrements in brain oxygenation levels and other markers indicative of brain health begin to appear.
Yes, exercising after one night of poor sleep can help offset some of the negative effects of sleep deprivation on brain performance and health, though it's important to exercise safely to avoid injury or immune system suppression.
20 Actionable Insights
1. Weekly ‘Hate It’ Workout
To activate and potentially increase the size of your anterior mid cingulate cortex (linked to grit, persistence, and ‘super aging’), commit to doing a safe, physically and psychologically challenging exercise you genuinely dislike at least once per week.
2. Prioritize Sleep, Exercise for Better Sleep
Ensure adequate sleep, as it mediates many positive effects of exercise on brain health. Exercise, especially high-intensity training early in the day combined with bright light exposure, can improve sleep quality and quantity.
3. Prioritize Compound Exercises
To maximize arousal, focus, and brain health benefits from exercise, prioritize compound movements like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, dips, pull-ups, and rows.
4. Load Skeleton with Jumping
Incorporate jumping exercises (e.g., jump rope, box jumps) into your weekly routine to load the skeleton, promoting osteocalcin release from bones, which enhances hippocampus function for learning and memory.
5. Weekly Long Slow Distance Cardio
Include at least one 45-75 minute session of long slow distance (Zone 2) cardiovascular training per week (e.g., jogging, swimming, rowing) to benefit cerebral blood flow and overall brain function.
6. Weekly High-Intensity Interval Training
Incorporate at least one high-intensity interval training (HIIT) session per week, choosing a form that can be done safely and intensely (e.g., 4x4 protocol, 1-minute all-out sprints with 30-second rest).
7. Resistance Training: Time Under Tension
Integrate time under tension (TUT) into resistance training by emphasizing slow, controlled movements and continuous muscle contraction throughout sets to enhance nerve-to-muscle pathways and promote brain-benefiting molecular release.
8. Prevent Injury, Avoid Detraining
Prioritize injury prevention in your exercise routine, as not training for 10 days or more can lead to significant decrements in brain oxygenation and overall brain health.
9. Boost Learning with Arousal
Significantly improve learning and memory by increasing autonomic arousal (e.g., through exercise or cold exposure) either during or, especially, after being exposed to new material.
10. Time Exercise for Learning
To enhance brain health and performance for learning, schedule exercise either before, during, or after periods when you are trying to learn new information.
11. Exercise for Energy & Focus
When feeling tired, engage in exercise to naturally boost energy and focus by deploying adrenaline and norepinephrine through specific neural pathways.
12. Acute Brain Boost: Sprint or Cardio
For immediate improvements in brain performance (e.g., memory, cognitive flexibility), perform six 6-second max sprints on a stationary bike with 1-minute rest between, or do 20-30 minutes of steady-state cardiovascular exercise.
13. Avoid Over-Training Before Cognition
Be cautious not to overdo high-intensity interval training or intense resistance training, especially if you need to perform demanding cognitive tasks afterward, as multiple sessions can diminish cognitive performance.
14. Engage in Regular Therapy
Engage in regular therapy, considering it as important as physical exercise, to gain emotional support, directed guidance, and useful insights for personal and professional life.
15. Optimize Sleep with Custom Mattress
Improve sleep quality by using a mattress customized to your unique sleep needs, considering factors like softness, firmness, and breathability.
16. Utilize Comprehensive Lab Testing
Use Function Health for comprehensive lab testing (blood, urine, saliva) of over 100 biomarkers to gain insights into heart health, hormone status, metabolic function, and more, with doctor-informed analysis.
17. Incorporate High-Protein Snacks
Use David protein bars as a convenient, high-quality snack to meet daily protein goals (28g protein, 150 calories, 0g sugar) without excess calories, especially between meals or when in a rush.
18. Access Foundational Fitness Protocol
Utilize the free Foundational Fitness Protocol available at hubermanlab.com/newsletter for a general template of a weekly exercise program, including cardiovascular and resistance training, to guide your fitness journey.
19. Subscribe to Neural Network Newsletter
Subscribe to the free monthly Neural Network newsletter at hubermanlab.com for podcast summaries and actionable protocols on topics like sleep, dopamine regulation, and deliberate cold/heat exposure.
20. Pre-order Protocols Book
Pre-order ‘Protocols, An Operating Manual for the Human Body’ at protocolsbook.com to access actionable steps for improving sleep, motivation, creativity, gut microbiome, nutrition, exercise, and stress modulation.
5 Key Quotes
If you want to get the arousal that comes from exercise in order to use that arousal to leverage it towards better cognition, brain health, et cetera, the key, the key thing is to make sure that you're doing exercises that are compound exercises.
Andrew Huberman
The next time you're feeling a little tired and you don't want to work out, remember, exercise gives you energy through the pathways that I just described.
Andrew Huberman
BDNF is an activity dependent molecule. It's a molecule that can serve to stabilize and enhance the growth of neurons, keep their connections in place, grow new connections, and it does so when neurons are active.
Andrew Huberman
If you want to improve brain function and brain health over time is to do something you really don't want to do, something really challenging both psychologically challenging and physically challenging at least once per week.
Andrew Huberman
After about 10 days of not doing any training, that is no cardiovascular training, no resistance training, you start to see significant decrements in brain oxygenation levels as well as some other markers that are indicative of brain health.
Andrew Huberman
1 Protocols
Weekly Exercise Program for Brain Health and Performance
Andrew Huberman- Include at least one long slow distance (LSD) or Zone 2 cardiovascular training session per week (e.g., jogging, swimming, rowing for 45-75 minutes at an intensity where you can talk but not complete sentences).
- Include at least one high-intensity interval training (HIIT) session per week (e.g., 4 minutes all-out, 4 minutes rest, repeated 4 times; or 1 minute all-out, 30 seconds rest, repeated several times).
- Incorporate time under tension (TUT) training into resistance training sessions (emphasize muscle contraction, slow lowering of weight, and continuous tension throughout sets).
- Include some form of explosive jumping and/or eccentric landing training (e.g., jump rope, high knees, double unders, box jumps, controlling the landing portion of jumps).
- Include at least one activity per week that you absolutely do not want to do, but that is physically and psychologically safe, to activate the anterior mid-cingulate cortex (e.g., deliberate cold exposure, rope flow).