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Essentials: Improving Health With Stronger Brain-Body Connection

Jun 5, 2025 40m 34s 13 insights
In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, I discuss interoception, the brain’s ability to sense and interpret signals from the body, which shapes our sense of self and underlies vital functions like focus, sleep, healing and emotions. I explain how the body communicates different types of information to the brain, influencing processes like digestion, heart rate and immune function. I also describe practical tools such as breathwork to regulate alertness, strategies to support gut health and reduce sugar cravings, and awareness practices to enhance interoception. By understanding and applying these tools, you can strengthen the brain-body connection to improve mood, overall health and performance. Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com. Huberman Lab Essentials are short episodes focused on essential science and protocol takeaways from past full-length Huberman Lab episodes. Watch or listen to the full-length episode at hubermanlab.com.
Actionable Insights

1. Enhance Interoceptive Awareness

Direct your awareness toward your heartbeat for about a minute to strengthen vagal connections between the body and brain, improving your ability to sense your internal state and how others feel.

2. Calm with Physiological Sighs

Perform a physiological sigh, which involves two inhales followed by a long exhale, to maximally fill your lungs and then exhale carbon dioxide, thereby slowing your heart rate and promoting calmness.

3. Correct Cooling for Overheating

If overheated or experiencing a high fever (102-104°F), cool the bottoms of your feet, palms of your hands, and the upper part of your face, as cooling the neck or torso can paradoxically increase body temperature and pose danger to the brain.

4. Daily Fermented Foods for Gut

Ingest different types of fermented foods on a regular, daily basis to adjust your gut microbiome, which reduces inflammatory markers, improves cognition, sleep, immunity, and wound healing.

5. Reduce Sugar Cravings with Omega-3s

To limit or eliminate simple sugars, incorporate high omega-3 foods or supplements like fish oil into your diet, as these nutrients can reduce sugar cravings by signaling satiety to the brain.

6. Boost Alertness with Vigorous Inhales

For increased alertness, emphasize deep or vigorous inhales followed by less long or less vigorous exhales, which speeds up your heart rate and can secrete adrenaline, making you feel immediately awake.

7. Practice Gut Sensation

After eating (even a small amount) within the last 1-3 hours, take 10-20 seconds to concentrate on sensing the neurons in your gut and how full you are, which can help you better override gut fullness or emptiness signals.

8. Hydrate with Electrolytes Daily

Dissolve one packet of electrolytes (e.g., Element) in 16-32 ounces of water and drink it first thing in the morning and during physical exercise, especially on hot days, to ensure adequate hydration and support optimal brain and body function.

9. Ginger for Nausea Relief

Ingest one to three grams of ginger to notably reduce nausea, as supported by multiple peer-reviewed research studies.

10. Use NSDR for Recovery

Listen to non-sleep deep rest (NSDR) audio scripts, which involve deep body relaxation and simple breathing, to offset negative effects of slight sleep deprivation and improve your ability to fall back asleep.

11. Optimize Sleep Temperature

Ensure your sleeping environment’s temperature is correct, as your body temperature needs to drop by 1-3 degrees to fall and stay deeply asleep, and increase by 1-3 degrees to wake refreshed.

12. Consider Daily AG1 Supplementation

Take AG1 daily, as it is a vitamin, mineral, and probiotic drink that can improve mental health, physical health, and performance by supporting digestive and immune system health.

13. Cannabis for Nausea

Consider using cannabis (THC and/or CBD) to reduce nausea, as it may change the threshold for firing of neurons in the area postrema.