Andrew Huberman's Daily Schedule

Dr. Andrew Huberman is known for many things, but especially his morning protocols.

Wakes up naturally between 5:30 am and 6:30 am. For Andrew Huberman's morning routine, he doesn't use an alarm.

"Waking up early, usually around 5:00 or 6:00 am helps you feel more energized and focused throughout the day. Additionally, early mornings are beneficial for regulating circadian rhythms, which can help to improve sleep quality."
Dr. Huberman

Directly after waking up Huberman:

1. Writes down the time he woke up
2. Gets sunlight immediately
   1. This is vital for mental & physical health and to set your circadian rhythm.
3. Delays coffee intake until 90-120 minutes after awaking
   1. Instead, he opts for water w/ sea salt (for electrolytes)
4. Drinks AG1
   1. While yes Huberman has sponsored AG1 on his podcast, he has also been a consumer long before sponsoring on the podcast. He stands by the product.

• Drink 2 glasses of water.
• Drinks AG1 by Athletic Greens (Buy here)
• Drinks LMNT (Buy here)

“I’ve been using AG1 since 2012 because it’s the simplest, most straightforward way for me to get my basis of important vitamins, minerals, and probiotics."

Andrew Huberman on Athletic Greens

"I should mention the Athletic Greens is delicious. I love the way it tastes. I mix mine with some water and a little bit of lemon or lime juice."

"Whenever somebody has asked me what's the one supplement they should take, I always answer AG1 by Athletic Greens."

Dr. Huberman on electrolytes in the morning routine

"Your nervous system and your neurons particularly depend on electrolytes because you need the electrolytes, sodium, magnesium, and potassium, in the proper ratios, in order for those nerve cells to fire what are called action potentials"

"Typically, what I do in the morning is I hydrate, I do take an electrolyte drink, which is a salt-heavy electrolyte drink called LMNT. LMNT is an electrolyte drink that has everything you need in order to get your brain and body to function at its best, but none of the things you don't, in particular, sugar"

If you wake up not fully rested, Yoga Nidra can help you start your day efficiently. This technique can assist you in achieving a sleep-like state and replenishing dopamine, reducing cortisol, and decreasing total sleep need.

Some links to yoga nitras:

• 10 Minute Yoga Nidra
• 35 Minute Yoga Nidra

Dr. Huberman on Yoga Nidra (Non-Sleep Deep Rest)

“There are some interesting data published showing that these yoga nidra meditations, if you will, can upregulate some of the neurotransmitters in the brain, including dopamine, that make you prepared for action.”

‍“There was this lore in the yoga nidra community that 30 minutes of yoga nidra is equivalent to 4 hours of sleep. Frankly, I don’t think there’s any evidence for that specific statement. But when I started doing this practice and exploring it, I found that I would come out of a 30-minute yoga nidra session feeling like I slept 5, 6 hours or longer.”
Read Dr. Huberman's Extensive coverage of NSDR and sleep optimization here.

Yoga Nidra and it's benefits

Yoga nidra, also known as "yogic sleep," is a type of relaxation practice involving guided body scans and visualizations. It aims to bring the mind and body into a deep relaxation state akin to the state between wakefulness and sleep. Some studies suggest that it may improve sleep quality, reduce insomnia symptoms, and alleviate stress and anxiety. Despite its potential benefits, it's crucial to remember that yoga nidra should not replace medical treatment for sleep disorders.

• 2-10 minutes of sunlight exposure while walking for optic flow
• Optional: Use an artificial light if the sun has not yet arisen. Get sunlight when it is available.

Dr. Huberman on the Benefits of Morning Sunlight

“View morning sunlight!” is one of my common refrains. Viewing sunlight within the first hours of waking (as soon as you can, even if through cloud cover) increases early-day cortisol release (the ideal time for elevated cortisol) and prepares the body for sleep later that night. A morning spike in cortisol will also positively influence your immune system, metabolism and ability to focus during the day.

"The single best thing you can do for your sleep your energy your mood your wakefulness your metabolism is to get natural light in your eyes early in the day. This is grounded in the core of our physiology. There are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of quality peer-reviewed papers showing that light viewing early in the day is the most powerful stimulus for wakefulness throughout the day and it has a powerful, positive impact on your ability to fall and stay asleep at night. So this is really the foundational power tool for ensuring a great night's sleep and for feeling more awake during the day."
‍
On Alternative Lighting
“If you wake up before the sun rises, flip on as many lights as you can in your space if you want to be awake in your artificial light environment. And then, once the sun is out, go outside.”

On Optic Flow
“There are now at least half a dozen quality papers published in quality peer-reviewed journals that show that forward ambulation — walking or biking or running — and generating optic flow in particular has this incredible property of lowering activity in the amygdala and thereby reducing levels of anxiety.”

Cold exposure can be done as an ice bath or a shower. Ice baths have been shown to be more effective but cold showers can work too.

Resilience: 1X weekly, 1-3 min
Metabolism: 2X weekly / 11 min total
Recovery: 3-6 min after training
How cold? “I really want to get out but can stay in safely”. (~45F or ~7C)

Sunday – Endurance;
Monday – Legs;
Tuesday – Heat/cold cycling;
Wednesday – Torso push/pull;
Thursday – High effort, short cardio;
Friday – High-intensity interval training
While it's important to customize the routine to fit your personal needs, be sure to maintain the overall goals of the schedule. The specific days of each workout can be adjusted, but it's important to maintain proper spacing between exercises.

Dr. Huberman's workout supplement recommendations

Official supplements by Momentous Supplements as Endorsed by Dr. Huberman

Alpha-GPC by Momentous (buy): 300mg, 30-60 minutes before key workouts. Alpha-GPC promotes the release of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter involved in memory, attention and skeletal muscle contraction. It has been shown to increase power output in athletes.

Tyrosine by Momentous (buy): 500mg, 30-60 minutes before key workouts. L-Tyrosine is an amino acid that can increase the production of dopamine and related neurotransmitters that positively impact energy, motivation and mood. Thus, L-Tyrosine is a powerful tool for enhancing exercise performance.

Creatine by Momentous (buy): 5g daily. Creatine is a molecule that stores high-energy phosphate groups that ultimately lead to the regeneration of ATP, the primary energy carrier in the body. In thousands of studies, creatine has been shown to effectively increase exercise performance.

Grass-fed Whey Protein by Momentous (buy): 40g, 30-60 minutes after workout. Whey protein is a well-absorbed source of protein that is useful for post-workout fueling. Research shows that consuming whey protein benefits muscle gain and fat loss, particularly post-workout.

Dr. Huberman's Fitness Routine

Sunday: Endurance – at least 30 minutes of cardio, ideally 60-75 minutes of zone 2 cardio such as jogging or hiking. Tip: use a weight vest for an extra challenge on shorter workouts.

Monday: Legs – Quads, Hamstrings, Calves. Why legs on Mondays? Training the largest muscle group when you're fresher sets off metabolic processes that elevate metabolism & amplify hormonal events. Get the hardest workout out of the way and move on.

Tuesday: Heat/cold cycling – ideally, hot sauna (20 minutes) + ice bath (5 minutes) x 5 rounds. Check out the notes for best practices and the benefits of heat or cold.

Wednesday: Torso – Push/Pull. Working push/pull enhances strength and joint integrity, and amplifies hormonal effects. Sample exercises: shoulder press, chin-ups. Important tip: don't forget to train your neck safely to reduce shoulder risk of injury and discomfort.

Thursday: Brief Cardio at 75-80% Effort – 35 minutes of running / rowing / cycling / stairs / jump rope, deeper than zone 2 but not all-out effort.

Friday: High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) – goal is to get heart rate way up and tap into strength & hypertrophy training for legs without weights.
Sample exercise: intervals on bike 20-30 second all-out sprint + 10 seconds rest x 8-12 rounds. For most people, max heart rate = 220-age. Only do all-out movements with perfect form.

Saturday: Arms, Calves, Neck – Indirect training for torso. Sample exercise: triceps dip, chin up, dumbbell curls, incline curls, triceps kickback. Tweak the routine and shift to personalize but keep the broad goals – the specific days of each workout aren’t critical but the exact spacing is.

Huberman does a hack squat, leg extensions, seated calf raises, leg curls, glute hamstring raise, etc. Huberman does not do squats or deadlifts.

• Delays caffeine or tea intake by 2 hours after waking for adenosine regulation.
• Prefers Yerba Mate over coffee.
• Prioritizes deep thinking tasks early in morning before eating breakfast.

Benefits of Delaying Morning Caffeine

"I highly recommend that everybody delay their caffeine intake for 90 to 120 minutes after waking. However painful it may be to eventually arrive at that 90 to 120 minutes after waking, you want, and I encourage you, to clear out whatever residual adenosine is circulating in your system in that first 90 to 120 minutes of the day. Get that sunlight exposure, get some movement to wake up, and then, and only then, start to ingest caffeine because what you'll do if you delay caffeine intake until 90 to 120 minutes after waking is you will avoid the so-called afternoon crash"

"And if you drink caffeine at any point throughout the day, really try and avoid any caffeine, certainly avoid drinking more than a hundred milligrams of caffeine after 4:00 p.m and probably even better to limit your last caffeine intake to 3:00 p.m. or even 2:00 p.m"

Significance of Morning Caffeine

"If I'm going to do a resistance training workout, which is what I do three times a week, I will drink yerba mate. I usually brew my own. I'm a big fan of yerba mate because of the caffeine source. It also has a different caffeine-like substance in it. It also is not as dehydrating as coffee, but I also just really like it. But people should avoid the smoked varieties. The smoked varieties can be carcinogenic."

Optional: If Dr. Huberman is still feeling unrested he will do another 10-30 minute Yoga Nidra session.

Some links to yoga nitras:

• 10 Minute Yoga Nidra
• 35 Minute Yoga Nidra

According to Dr. Huberman on social media, it may be more beneficial to do cardio workouts in the evening instead of weight training. However, he emphasizes that it's important to do what feels comfortable for you. He also mentions that there could be some advantages to doing a morning workout and saving cardio for the evening.

Eats 3-4 hours before bedtime

Eats carbs for replenishing glycogen levels and helps with sleep

Avoids eating too much meat before bed to avoid long gastric clearance.

Dr. Huberman's approach to his evening meal

In the Huberman Lab podcast, he focuses on starch for his last meal of the day, as it helps him sleep better. Starchy carbohydrates like pasta, rice, potatoes, etc. can decrease the time it takes to fall asleep and increase serotonin and tryptophan levels. Serotonin is a mood stabilizer that promotes good sleep quality, and tryptophan is an essential amino acid that is a precursor for several hormones, including melatonin and serotonin. Andrew also includes vegetables and sometimes lean protein like tuna or salmon, and if he's not training as much, he reduces the carbohydrate intake by half. He notes that eating too much meat before sleep can negatively affect his sleep quality and that meat has a long gastric clearance time, which may contribute to poorer sleep.

Dims Lighting

"Avoid viewing bright lights—especially bright overhead lights between 10 pm and 4 am.
Here is a simple rule: only use as much artificial lighting as is necessary for you to remain and move about safely at night. Blue blockers can help a bit at night but still dim the lights. Viewing bright lights of all colors are a problem for your circadian system. Candlelight and moonlight are fine."

Detriments of Blue Light in the evening

Exposure to blue light, particularly in the evening hours, can have negative effects on sleep. Blue light is a type of light with a short wavelength that is found in natural sunlight. It has been shown to suppress the production of the hormone melatonin, which is involved in the body's sleep-wake cycle. When we are exposed to blue light at night, it can disrupt the body's natural sleep-wake cycle, making it more difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep.

Research has shown that exposure to blue light in the evening can disrupt the body's natural circadian rhythms, causing a delay in the release of melatonin and making it harder to fall asleep. In addition, blue light has been found to reduce the amount of deep sleep that people get, which is important for physical and mental restoration.

To help minimize the negative effects of blue light on sleep, it is recommended to reduce exposure to screens (such as phones, tablets, and computers) in the hours leading up to bedtime, and to use screens that have a blue light filter or to use blue light blocking glasses. It is also recommended to avoid bright lights and to use dimmer lighting in the evenings, as this can help to promote the production of melatonin and improve sleep quality.

Want to find out more about Andrew Huberman's sleep schedule? Read our article on his extensive sleep routine.

Reads

Huberman attempts to get daily reading in when he can. Right before bed seems to be perfect for winding down and avoiding screen time.