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Change Your Brain. Dr. Andrew

Huberman
Change Your Brain: Neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman | Rich Roll Podcast
Thanks for watching! Read all about Dr. Andrew Huberman here
https://bit.ly/richroll533Dr. Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist and tenured professor in
t...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwQhKFMxmDY&ab_channel=RichRoll

The human brain is really bad at doing what´s best for us because of our reward system. It is
optimized for the progression of our species not for things that are good for us in the 21st
centry world. The human brain will grab strongly any behaviour that makes us feel good that´s
why it is not optimized for making wise choices. But there must be something we can do...

5 concepts:

Sensation: No negotiable you CAN´T control this.

Perception: Which sensations you are paying attention to. You CAN control this.

Emotions: Sensations merged with perceptions

Thoughts: Expontaniously. they happend spontaneously and they can be deliverated.

Behaviours-Actions:

Neural Plasticity. If you wanna change your brain as an adult...

If you wanna learn something the key is to bring focus to some particular perception of
something that is happening during the learning process. The reason for this is there is a
neurochemichal sytem involving acetylcholine and they come from 2 nucleai in the base of the
brain nucleus bacillus. All day long you are doing things in a reflexive way but when you do
something and you think about it VERY INTENSELY acetylcholine is released from bacillus at
the precise neurons that were involved in that behaviour and mark those for change during
sleep or during deep rest later.

For people that really wanna change their brain the power of focus is really the entry point. The
brain tries to spend as more reflexive time as possible but when we decide to focus the brain
switches to a different mechanism and tries to understand DURATION, PATH and OUTCOME.
These 3 concepts have a feeling of agitation and frustration and that is because the circuits
that turn on before acetylcholine are of the stress system, norepinephrine, which is adrenaline. If

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 you have alertness and focus the acetylcholine and norepinephrine converge to mark those
neurones for change.

If you really wanna change your brain what you have to do is bring amazing amount of
concentration to your brain and then least amount of concentration. Check out Eric Knudsen
studies at Stanford that says that plasticity in the brain can be as fast and dramatic as in
childhood. Also, and very important. There has to be a sense of URGENCY, so if you don´t have
this try to create it somehow.
The brain doesn´t have a recognition of wether or not something is pleasureful UNTIL LATER.
Once you accomplish your goal, the reward systems like dopamine start kicking in. Also, you
can eat a "magic" plant that will put your brain in a plasticity state but without focus it will be
like learning 9 languages at the same time without being able to speak one of them.
Domine´s main role is to be released anytime you achieve a milestone or you think you are on
the right path. Norepinephrine -which is normally rate limiting- at some point there is so much
norepinephrine that you quit, is the main cause of quiting. Dopamine can push that noradreline
back down and give you more room to do duration, path, outcome work.

Success in any endeavor is higly related to the focus that we can bring in that endeavor and the
reward system is entirely internal. The agitation and stress that you feel at the beginning of
something is just a gate and you have to pass through that gate to get to the focus component.
And if you can reward the effort process you really start to feel joy when low levels of
excitement in the effort process. If you can recognize agitation stress and confusion as an
entry point to where you eventually want to go is more easy to pass that door.

The only rewards that are worth are the internal rewards. Set small goals inside of a larger goal
means having an infinite amount of energy and focus to persue those goals. Micro-slice
everything. The Navy Seals that made it through the whole process didn´t do it cause of
determination. They did it by an internal reward process of micro-slicing reward for getting to
that next milestone.

David Goggins Navy Seal guy) went to the lab with him to be sometted to a fear experiment.
He understood that an adrenaline response is supossed to move us not to keep us stationary.
He uses behaviour as the way to shift sensation perception feelings and thoughts. Most people
when they don´t like what they feel they start negotiating sensation which will never work, they
´ll try to shift perception which is hard (like, I´m going to think about it differently). It´s hard to
control the mind with the mind. Goggins has discovered the holy grail of neuroscience which is
modifying your brain by putting yourself into discomfort and using that as a propeller to move
him into action. He uses behaviours as the starting point. When these are very concrete and
they are the control panel for the rest of steps (feelings, thoughts, perception, memories) when
it comes to shift the way that you function. It is absolutely foolish for any of us that we can , for
example, fight our addictions, by thoughts. Behaviours always first. MOOD FOLLOWS ACTION.

For me Alejandro) learning how to calm the nervous system is very important. Physiological
sighs are one of the fastest way to drop down my arousal level. This is: 2 inhales followed by a

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 large exhale. TRUST ME, IT WORKS. Also, mental focus, follows visual focus. Between sessions
go into D focus mode, go see the horizon for a couple of minutes. Yoga Nidra, wonderful
practice. Optical flow, going out for a run also helps.
This moment is awesome. The link goes straight to the point where he talks about the making
of devices that will predict bad or good decisions and many more things based on bio-markers.

Change Your Brain: Neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Huberman | Rich Roll Podcast
Thanks for watching! Read all about Dr. Andrew Huberman here
https://bit.ly/richroll533Dr. Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist and tenured professor in
t...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwQhKFMxmDY&t=6426s&ab_channel=RichRol
l

Change Your Brain. Dr. Andrew Huberman 3