Dr. Elissa Epel

Sponsors: Thesis, Eight Sleep, HVMN, Momentous

Stress; Effects on Body & Mind

Tools: Overthinking & Stress

Acute, Moderate & Chronic Stress, Breathing

Stress Benefits, Aging & Cognition; Stress Challenge Response

Sponsor: AG-1 (Athletic Greens)

Tool: Shifting Stress to Challenge Response, “Stress Shields”

Stress, Overeating, Craving & Opioid System

Tools: Breaking Overeating Cycles, Mindfulness

Soda & Sugary Drinks

Smoking, Processed Food & Rebellion

Sponsor: InsideTracker

Tools: Mindfulness, Pregnancy & Metabolic Health

Body Scan & Cravings

Tool: Meditation & Aging; Meditation Retreats

Meditation, Psychedelics & Neuroplasticity

Mitochondrial Health, Stress & Mood

Chronic Stress & Radical Acceptance, “Brick Wall”

Tool: Control, Uncertainty

Stress Management, “Skillful Surfing”

Narrative, Purpose & Stress

Breathwork, Wim Hof Method, Positivity & Cellular Aging

Zero-Cost Support, YouTube Feedback, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, Momentous, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter

The Huberman Lab Podcast discusses science and science-based tools for everyday life. In this episode, Dr. Alyssa Eppel is a guest and discusses stress and its impacts on the brain and body. The podcast covers stress interventions such as meditation, breath work, and dietary interventions. Dr. Eppel's work explores how stress and stress interventions vary in effectiveness depending on gender and social status. The podcast also discusses the importance of managing stress, including strategies such as changing beliefs and mindsets, working stress out of the body, and creating safe environments. The episode also covers topics such as sugar addiction, mindful eating, and the use of psychedelics for neuroplasticity. The podcast offers free information about science and science-related tools to the general public and is sponsored by various companies. The episode concludes with a thank you message and links to Dr. Eppel's work and books.

- The Huberman Lab Podcast discusses science and science-based tools for everyday life.
- Dr. Alyssa Eppel is a guest on the podcast and her laboratory focuses on stress and its impacts on the brain and body.
- The podcast discusses stress interventions such as meditation, breath work, and dietary interventions like omega-3 fatty acid intake.
- Dr. Eppel's work explores how stress and stress interventions vary in effectiveness depending on gender and social status.
- Listeners can learn more about Dr. Eppel's work and books in the show note captions.

- The podcast is separate from the speaker's teaching and research roles at Stanford.
- The podcast aims to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public.
- The podcast is sponsored by Thesis, Eight Sleep, HVMN Ketone IQ, and Momentus Supplements.
- Thesis makes custom nootropics that are customized to different types of mental operations.
- Eight Sleep makes smart mattress covers with cooling, heating, and sleep tracking capacity.
- HVMN Ketone IQ is a supplement that increases blood ketones, which is one of the brain's preferred sources of fuel.
- Momentus Supplements are discussed on the podcast and can be found at livemomentus.com/huberman.

- The speaker used to drink soda as a teenager but now prefers coffee or yerba mate tea.
- Drinking sugar in liquid form is harmful to bodily regulation of insulin and glucose.
- Sugary drinks, especially energy drinks, are prominent and may be part of a stress response and hedonic cycle.
- Liquid sugar is more addictive and harmful than sugary food.
- The view on sugar is starting to change and efforts are needed to shift social norms and lobby politicians.
- Bringing junk food or soda to work can be considered passive smoking and it is more considerate to bring a bowl of fruit.

- Effective messaging against smoking targeted young people by making being a non-smoker anti-establishment.
- Activating a sense of rebellion can be effective in changing behavior, especially for the younger generation.
- Dissonance, or showing people how the food industry manipulates and designs foods for addiction, can help reduce eating disorders and reward drive.
- Mindful eating can teach people to enjoy small amounts of rewarding food and avoid bingeing.
- The speaker prefers dark chocolate and has tried a 100% Venezuelan chocolate that was surprisingly good.

- InsideTracker is a personalized nutrition platform that analyzes data from blood and DNA to help understand the body and reach health goals.
- Blood work is important to monitor hormone markers, lipids, and metabolic factors that impact immediate and long-term health.
- InsideTracker provides a personalized dashboard to address nutrition, behavior, and supplement-based approaches to move values into optimal ranges.
- InsideTracker now includes a measurement of apolipoprotein B (ApoB), a key marker of cardiovascular health.
- Use the code "Huberman" to get 20% off any of InsideTracker's plans.

- The study focused on pregnant women and how stress and different patterns of eating affect them during pregnancy.
- Mindful eating strategies were used to help regulate weight gain during pregnancy, but excess weight gain could not be stopped.
- The stress reduction training was found to improve insulin sensitivity during pregnancy, leading to healthier babies with less obesity and illnesses in their first year of life.
- The mental health of the moms also improved, and the effects of the mindfulness training lasted for eight years.
- The mindfulness intervention involved a weekly class, 10 minutes of meditation per day, mindful breathing, movement, and a mindful check-in.

- The text discusses the concept of interoception and exteroception, which are ways of perceiving things beyond or within the body.
- The author wonders if craving is a form of heightened exteroception and if a body scan, which shifts focus to interoception, can reduce cravings.
- The author speculates that breaking the interoceptive-exteroceptive tether may be key to reducing binge eating.
- The author suggests that behavioral interventions could be layered on top of body scans to break this link and reduce cravings.

- There haven't been many long-term studies of stress interventions.
- Short-term meditation interventions have been found to slow biological aging and dampen inflammatory pathways of gene expression.
- A study found that a one-week transcendental meditation retreat had positive effects on depression and gene expression pathways, with those who experienced early adversity benefiting the most.
- Daily short bouts of stress-reducing activities, such as breathing and being in nature, are important for managing daily stress.

1. There is a shift in focus from meditation to psychedelics in discussions about neuroplasticity.
2. The literature supporting brief meditation practices for reshaping the mind is vast and should not be forgotten.
3. Plant medicine experiences are enhanced with training in metacognition and observing the mind and thoughts.
4. The rewiring of the brain after a psychedelic journey takes place in the window after the journey, which can last for weeks or months.
5. Daily repeated short meditations or longer TM retreats can induce significant brain plasticity.

- The speaker discusses a study on mitochondrial health and mood in caregivers under chronic stress.
- The study found that caregivers had lower mitochondrial activity, which explains their exhaustion.
- Caregivers with better mitochondrial enzymes had more positive emotions, especially at night, which is important for long-term health.
- The study suggests that our thoughts and feelings may affect our mitochondrial health on a daily basis.

- Chronic stress is difficult to solve and requires radical acceptance of the situation.
- Best practices for mitigating non-negotiable stressors include recognizing situations that cannot be changed and practicing radical acceptance.
- Negative mind-wandering and wishing things were different can lead to unhappiness and shorter telomeres.
- Metaphors such as dropping the rope can help individuals let go of unsolvable problems and focus on what they can control.
- Loving presence is a gift that can be given in difficult situations.

- The limbic system has no sense of time and can reactivate developmental scripts from childhood in adult relationships.
- This can lead to a repetition compulsion where people try to rewrite their story by placing themselves in traumatic circumstances over and over again.
- Humans have a strong desire for control and certainty, but being comfortable with uncertainty is a rare resilience factor that can reduce anxiety and depression.
- Practices such as mindful check-ins and reframing uncertainty as the beauty of the mystery of life can help build the muscle of tolerance for uncertainty.
- Adopting a receptive posture and being curious about what arises can also help deal with uncertainty.

- Stress can be good or bad, acute or chronic.
- It's not the stressor that's the problem, but how we respond to it.
- Thoughts are the most common form of stress, and managing them involves awareness, rationalization, and diversion.
- Many people are unaware of their stress levels, and it can manifest in physical tension.

- The text discusses the importance of both forward center of mass approaches and stress mitigation techniques in managing stress and thriving.
- The two approaches are not mutually exclusive and can be valuable tools to have in one's kit.
- Stress mitigation techniques require work and effort, but can lead to better results than simply letting stress bulldoze you.
- It's important to discern when to muscle through stress and when to let go and mitigate it.
- The analogy of surfing and navigating waves is used to illustrate the need for skillful management of stress.

- Journaling and creating a narrative around non-negotiable stress is important but often overlooked.
- Creating a coherent narrative is critical to finding meaning and resolution in stressful situations.
- Narrative is everything in stress research, as it's not what happens to us but how we interpret and respond to it.
- A narrative of purpose can help us rise above being monkeys in clothes and have control over how we live and are remembered.

- The speaker is discussing a study on breath work, specifically the Wim Hof method.
- The study is being conducted at UCSF and is funded by the John W. Brick Foundation.
- The study is comparing low arousal relaxation methods, mindfulness, slow breathing to positive stress, exercise and Wim Hof method.
- The study has found that short-term bursts of either aerobic activity or the extreme breathing of the Wim Hof method can improve stress, anxiety, and depression.
- The study is examining different physiological pathways and gene expression patterns to understand the effects of the different stress resilience interventions.

- The text is a thank you message for a discussion on stress, aging, and metabolism with Dr. Alyssa Epple.
- Links to Dr. Epple's work and books are provided in the show notes.
- The podcast can be supported by subscribing to their YouTube channel, leaving a review on Spotify and Apple, and checking out their sponsors.
- The podcast also offers a free monthly newsletter with summaries of podcast episodes and toolkits for optimizing various aspects of health.
- Social media channels for the Huberman Lab podcast are provided.

- There are various strategies to deal with overthinking or ruminating.
- Top-down strategies involve changing beliefs and mindsets to release stress.
- Body-focused strategies involve working stress out of the body to change the mind.
- Changing the scene and creating a safe zone with comforting cues can also help alleviate stress.
- Photographs can be powerful cues for the memory system and can enhance mood.

- There are short-term, medium-term, and long-term stress.
- Measuring levels of the nervous system is important to understand stress.
- Chronic stress can accelerate cell aging, but it can be dealt with using acceptance strategies.
- Breathing strategies are the most direct and fast path to reducing stress in the body.
- The body mobilizes energy during stress, allowing us to increase our capacity to do things.

- Optimal aging is desirable, while accelerated aging is not.
- Underexposure to stress can lead to more rapid aging than ideal amounts of stress.
- No stress is not the answer, as having some stress is ideal for optimal aging.
- Moderate stressors can help build stress resilience and promote a challenge response, which can lead to less inflammation and longer telomeres.

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- The probiotics in Athletic Greens are optimal and vital for microbiotic health.
- Athletic Greens contains adaptogens, vitamins, and minerals to meet all foundational nutritional needs.
- Listeners can try Athletic Greens and receive five free travel packs and a year's supply of vitamin D3K2 by visiting athleticgreens.com/huberman.

- The text discusses ways to shift from a threatened response to a challenge response to stress.
- Mental scripts and self-compassion can help prepare for and recover from stressful situations.
- The author suggests finding personal "stress shields" or strength statements that work for each individual.
- Reframing stress as positive can lead to better performance and recovery. 
- The lion and gazelle analogy is used to illustrate the difference between a threatened and challenge response.

1. There is a relationship between stress and eating, and the opioid system is involved in this relationship.
2. People with a high sympathetic temperament tend to eat less when stressed, while those with a compulsive eating tendency tend to overeat or binge eat when stressed.
3. Stress can lead to cravings for comfort food, which can result in weight gain, particularly in the intra-abdominal area.
4. Obesity is a heterogeneous condition, and not all obese people have a dysregulated stress response.
5. Improved nutrition is the only way to solve the obesity epidemic as a public health problem, as drugs can be overridden by diet.

1. Mindful eating can help with compulsive eating and improve insulin resistance and long-term weight loss.
2. High-intensity interval training and other short-term stress-metabolizing techniques can help with cravings.
3. Top-down strategies, changing the body, changing the scene, and creating safe environments can help with binge eating.
4. Removing sugary drinks from the workplace can improve health, but those with compulsive eating may need extra support. 
5. Motivational interviewing can help those with compulsive eating set goals and improve their health.

Dr. Elissa Epel: Control Stress for Healthy Eating, Metabolism & Aging | Huberman Lab Podcast