Using Play to Rewire & Improve Your Brain
Dr. Andrew Huberman explores the profound biology and psychology of play, revealing how it transforms our feelings, thoughts, and actions. He discusses play's role in childhood and adulthood for skill and social development, its neurobiology, and offers actionable recommendations to enhance neuroplasticity and explore novel situations at any age.
Deep Dive Analysis
17 Topic Outline
Introduction to the Power and Utility of Play
Impact of Smartphone Reading on Brain Activity and Comprehension
Play as a Homeostatically Regulated Behavior
The Toddler's Creed and Early Childhood Play
Play as Low-Stakes Contingency Testing
Cultivating a Playful Mindset for Brain Plasticity
Universal Play Postures and Expressions in Animals and Humans
Rule Testing and Breaking in Play
Role Play and Identity Exploration
Neurobiology of Effective Play: Opioids and Adrenaline
Expanding Capabilities Through Tinkering and Play
Play as the Primary Portal to Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity in Adulthood and the 'Fire Together, Wire Together' Principle
Trauma, Play Deficits, and Recovery
Recommended Forms of Play for Enhanced Plasticity
Personal Play Identity and Its Lifelong Impact
Play Transforms Your Future Self and Brain Function
8 Key Concepts
Physiological Sigh
A deep double inhale followed by a long exhale, occurring spontaneously every five minutes or so, which reopens lung alveoli to optimize oxygen intake and carbon dioxide offloading. It can also be used deliberately to reduce stress.
Homeostatic Regulation of Play
Play is a biologically regulated behavior, meaning that if animals or children are restricted from playing for a period, they will play more when given the opportunity, similar to how hunger drives eating or thirst drives drinking.
Periaqueductal Gray (PAG)
A brainstem area rich in neurons that release endogenous opioids (self-made pain-relieving chemicals) during play. This opioid release helps relax the system and allows the prefrontal cortex to explore different roles and contingencies.
Contingency Testing
Play allows individuals to explore different outcomes and 'if-then' scenarios in a low-stakes environment. This helps the brain expand its catalog of potential outcomes and interactions without significant real-world consequences.
Play Postures
Universal body and facial expressions, such as a dog's play bow or a human's head tilt with soft eyes, that signal an intention to play. These are often reflexive and serve to limit power or signal non-aggression during playful interactions.
Tinkering
A form of low-stakes play that involves experimenting and exploring without rigidly following instructions or being attached to a specific outcome. Tinkering is crucial for developing creativity and expanding capabilities in various fields.
Neuroplasticity
The brain and nervous system's ability to change in response to experience. Play is described as a fundamental portal to neuroplasticity, especially for learning new things and expanding one's framework for future learning.
Personal Play Identity
The identity an individual assumes in playful scenarios, which is laid down during development and informs one's personality and behavior in non-playful contexts as well. It encompasses how one plays, personality traits, socio-cultural factors, and technology.
8 Questions Answered
Reading on a smartphone leads to poorer comprehension compared to reading on paper, suppresses physiological sighing (which reduces oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange), and causes the prefrontal cortex to become hyperactive in an attempt to focus.
The primary utility of play is to change the nervous system for the better, allowing individuals to perform better in various activities, explore new ways of being, and enhance creativity and dynamic thinking by testing contingencies in low-stakes environments.
Effective play involves the release of modest amounts of endogenous opioids (from the periaqueductal gray) and low levels of adrenaline (epinephrine). This combination allows the prefrontal cortex to expand its operations and explore new possibilities without being rigidly attached to outcomes.
Animals, like dogs, use a 'play bow' (lowering the head and front paws). Humans often use a subtle head tilt with soft, open eyes, sometimes with briefly raised eyebrows or a slight smile. More extreme signals can include wide eyes and a tongue out.
Play is the fundamental portal to neuroplasticity, allowing the brain to strengthen necessary neural connections and prune away unnecessary ones, especially during development. As adults, engaging in play, particularly novel and low-stakes activities, can reactivate these circuits and maintain brain flexibility.
High levels of adrenaline generated by trauma and stress inhibit the brain circuits that generate play behavior, thereby limiting neuroplasticity. However, engaging in play, dance, and novel movements can help reactivate these circuits and support trauma recovery.
Play that involves novel forms of dynamic movement (different speeds, angles, jumping, ducking, leaping) or activities that require adopting multiple mental roles and exploring diverse contingencies (like chess) are highly conducive to expanding neuroplasticity.
Personal play identity is the unique way an individual engages in play, shaped by their personality, socio-cultural environment, and early experiences. It's important because it influences how one interacts with the world and others in all aspects of life, not just during play.
11 Actionable Insights
1. Dedicate Weekly “Pure Play”
Engage in at least one hour of “pure play” per week, especially in activities where you lack proficiency or perform them in a free-form, low-stakes way. This practice opens neural circuits for neuroplasticity by exploring contingencies with elevated endogenous opioids and low epinephrine, fostering creativity and flexibility in your brain.
2. Cultivate a Playful Mindset
Adopt a playful mindset not only during dedicated play but also in competitive or serious scenarios. By maintaining low levels of adrenaline and focusing less on rigid outcomes, you can access novel behaviors and flexible thinking, which ultimately enhances performance and expands capabilities.
3. Choose Novel, Dynamic Play Activities
Select play activities that involve novel, dynamic movements (e.g., different speeds, angles, jumping, ducking, leaping, dance, soccer) or require adopting multiple roles (e.g., chess). Avoid sticking to activities you are already exceptionally good at, as novelty and exploration are key to opening plasticity portals.
4. Prioritize Low-Stakes Exploration
Put yourself into scenarios where the stakes are sufficiently low that you are not stressed or overly concerned about the outcome. This environment is crucial for the release of endogenous opioids and low adrenaline, which allows your prefrontal cortex to explore more possibilities and expand its functions.
5. Expand Social Play Settings
If you typically play alone or one-on-one, consciously try to expand your play into team-based or group settings. This helps your brain learn and evolve by navigating different social dynamics and assuming varied roles within a collective.
6. Read Key Info on Paper
For important material you need to learn and comprehend, read from physical paper (books or printouts) or a larger screen like a tablet, rather than a smartphone. Reading on smaller screens suppresses physiological sighing, which impairs comprehension and brain activity.
7. Practice Physiological Sighs
Deliberately engage in physiological sighs (a big, deep double inhale followed by a long exhale) regularly, especially when reading on devices or experiencing stress. This technique reopens lung sacs, increases oxygen, offloads carbon dioxide, and quickly reduces stress.
8. Explore Novel Environments
Actively seek out and navigate new and novel environments, rather than repeatedly engaging with the same familiar surroundings. This practice of exploring new spaces contributes to ongoing neuroplasticity and learning throughout your lifespan.
9. Utilize Focus-Rest Plasticity Cycle
To enhance neuroplasticity at any age, apply a two-step process: focus intensely on what you are trying to learn, then engage in deep rest (ideally deep sleep) in the subsequent nights. Naps and non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) can also accelerate this brain rewiring process.
10. Reflect on Childhood Play Identity
Reflect on your play experiences during early adolescence (around 10-14 years old), considering how you reacted to competition, cooperation, leadership, rule-breaking, and role-switching. This self-reflection can reveal parallels to your adult tendencies and preferences in various life contexts.
11. Hyper-Focus for Rote Learning
When the goal is rote memory or regurgitation of information, adopt a hyper-focused mindset by convincing yourself the information is critically important and interesting. This intense, rigid focus is a useful tool for learning tasks that require memorization.
5 Key Quotes
Play is THE portal to plasticity.
Andrew Huberman
The power of play resides in play's ability to change our nervous system for the better so that we can perform many activities, not just play activities, better.
Andrew Huberman
If you want to learn things, widen that visual window, and even better, print things out, pick up a book or read on a tablet even, but try and make that tablet larger than a smartphone screen size.
Andrew Huberman
The state of playfulness is actually what allows you to perform best because the state of playfulness offers you the opportunity to engage in novel types of behaviors and interactions that you would not otherwise be able to access if you are so focused on the outcome.
Andrew Huberman
Play is about dynamically exploring different kinds of movements, dynamically exploring different kinds of thoughts, dynamically exploring different kinds of roles that one could adopt, and that is the way that the brain learns new things.
Andrew Huberman
3 Protocols
Enhancing Neuroplasticity Through Play
Andrew Huberman- Engage in at least one hour of pure play per week.
- Choose activities that are novel and where you do not have immense proficiency.
- If playing an activity you are already good at, engage in free-form, low-stakes tinkering within that activity.
- Focus on exploring contingencies and new possibilities, rather than being consumed by the outcome or performance.
- Ensure the stakes are truly low to maintain low adrenaline levels and allow endogenous opioid release.
Expanding Social Play for Brain Development
Andrew Huberman- If you typically play one-on-one, try to expand into playing as teams.
- If you only play alone, start by expanding into one-on-one play, then progress to group play.
- Choose activities that allow you to adopt different roles and explore a vast landscape of movements or mental roles.
Optimizing Learning While Reading on Devices
Andrew Huberman- Remind yourself to engage in physiological sighs fairly regularly (every 5 minutes or so) while reading or texting on a smartphone.
- For material you need to learn or remember, read from a larger screen (like a tablet) or, even better, from printed materials or books.
- Broaden your visual window by looking at larger screens or physical paper to avoid suppressing physiological sighing and over-activating the prefrontal cortex.