Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman outlines simple, research-backed daily practices — from timing a warm shower to a two-breath calming technique — that aim to improve sleep, stress response, movement and gut health.
Take a warm shower or bath 30–60 minutes before bed to help your body drop core temperature and fall asleep faster.
Use one physiological sigh (two quick inhales through the nose, long exhale through the mouth) to rapidly downregulate acute stress.
Include low-sugar fermented foods to support the microbiome—examples: sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, miso and refrigerated pickles.
Andrew Huberman frames sleep, movement, stress regulation, nutrition and light exposure as foundational levers that affect mental and physical performance across the day and with aging. His recommendations are presented as short, actionable practices you can add to routine rather than wholesale lifestyle overhauls.
Why it helps: Melatonin release and sleep onset track with a nightly drop in core body temperature. Warming the extremities first speeds the subsequent cooling response.
What to do: Take a hot shower or bath 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime. The heat promotes vasodilation in hands and feet, which lets the body release heat afterward and encourages the core temperature drop that supports drowsiness. Huberman notes this approach can work for perimenopausal and postmenopausal women despite night sweats.
Movement: prioritize mobility plus strength and cardio
What to do: Follow weekly resistance and cardio sessions you can sustain. Add mobility work two to four times per week. Huberman highlights a simple hip-flexor mobility move: step one foot back, bend the front knee, straighten the back leg, inch the front foot forward until you feel the stretch across the rear hip flexor, hold 10–30 seconds, then switch sides.
Why it helps: The issue is often an exaggerated or prolonged stress response, not the existence of stress. Resetting the breathing pattern shifts heart rate and blood gas ratios quickly and can improve moment-to-moment decision making.
What to do: Perform a physiological sigh when stressed: inhale deeply through the nose until lungs are full, take a second sharp inhale through the nose, then slowly exhale through the mouth. Huberman states this is often the fastest effective deliberate calming tool.
Nutrition: low-sugar fermented foods for the microbiome
What to do: Incorporate low-sugar fermented options such as sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, miso, low-sugar kombucha and refrigerator pickles into meals. Huberman frames this as a practical, broadly applicable strategy rather than a prescriptive diet plan.
Light: use morning light to anchor daily rhythms
Why it helps: Natural light exposure at the start of the day contributes to circadian entrainment, which supports sleep timing and daytime alertness.
What to do: Get bright light exposure soon after waking. The context links light exposure with the broader set of practices designed to organize sleep and wake cycles. Combine this with the other protocols for better consistency.
If falling back asleep is often a nightmare for you, Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman, PhD, might be able to help. He recently went on The Diary of a CEO podcast and shared a hack from his new book Protocols: An Operating Manual for the Human Body. I happened to see a clip of his appearance […]
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