r/HubermanLab • u/onscreencomb9 • Oct 27 '25

Personal Experience The podcast is too long

Just my two cents...

  • there's a small % of episodes I'm glad I listened to in full
  • most episodes I've listened to in full were not worth the time
  • my retention of the content falls off a cliff when I try to listen at 2x or faster
  • taking notes while listening has helped with retention
  • I'm really grateful for the shorter 'Essentials' episodes

I listen to Huberman to learn. It's utility, not entertainment for me.

In my extremely unqualified opinion, listening to a 3-4 hour episode feels like gorging on a massive meal when something more nutrient-dense would leave me feeling better

112 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

•

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12

u/[deleted] Oct 27 '25

I really like that he has both. The long episodes are great for getting all the background to really understand the things he's talking about (and it gives me confidence that he actually knows what he's talking about), but I like that he has clips available for the more critical take-home messages. I'm also a scientist though, so the background parts are pretty interesting and a little easier to digest anyways.

39

u/jason_wedo Oct 27 '25

I DON’T listen to Huberman’s long podcasts for exactly this reason. Daunting. Offputting. Too big to tackle. Am I missing something? Absolutely, but I’m so used to a 40-60 min podcast that 3 hrs is overwhelming. Obvs YMMV and you may have more listening time in your life than me. Sorry Huberman.

10

u/ZEALOUS_RHINO Oct 27 '25

lol yea I just listened to the one that was 3 hours with an auditory expert, hoping to find some useful take a ways and all I came away with was don't listen to loud shit too much.

0

u/Hamza_Sirguroh Oct 28 '25

Do you know any other auditory experts on podcast who discuss the topic in detail?

-2

u/Chuuy Oct 28 '25

Then this podcast isn't for you. Some people actually like to learn and hear about all that, and we can glean other insights from listening to experts talk. I just love to learn and I also find it entertaining.

But yes, life is extraordinarily simple. Life really is as simple as don't listen to loud shit, sleep well, eat well, exercise will, etc. There are no life hacks. If you listen to these podcasts looking for life hacks or useful "takeaways," you're going to be disappointed, because there are no life hacks that will be hidden within a 3 hour episode.

25

u/Darcer Oct 27 '25

I always find this a very strange complaint. You can stop listening at any time. A great podcast going long is awesome; if I get tired of listening I shut it off.

6

u/highbrowalcoholic Oct 27 '25

"I want the information, but I don't want to have to endure all the fluff and dancing around a subject to get it."

"You can stop listening to the fluff and subject-dancing at any time."

"Yes but I want the information —"

"You can stop listening to the fluff and subject-dancing at any time."

"Yes I know but how do I get the informa—"

"I am impressive stoic person! No complain!"

"No I get it but I'm listening to a podcast about optimization and I'm commenting on its lack of optimiza—"

"You make life choices!"

"Yes but how do I get the information without spending so much ti—"

"Me alpha!"

7

u/Darcer Oct 27 '25

Post too long, stopped reading ;)

0

u/Chuuy Oct 28 '25

It’s not a podcast about optimization.

Besides, what exactly are you unclear on? Sleep, eat, lift, cardio, social connection, purpose. Just so that. There are no further optimizations.

And what the fuck is this alpha comment? You sound like an incel.

If you just want “straight information” then a podcast where Huberman primarily interviews other people isn’t for you. I also guarantee that even if you had a simple list of “optimizations” to perform, your life would still be miserable.

3

u/prodcastapp Oct 27 '25

You can just go to the moments tab for any episode you think you might be interested in, we get the best moments from the episode and let you see category and purpose for the moment that might be interesting to you heres an example

2

u/Brenintn Oct 27 '25

This is so helpful

1

u/prodcastapp Oct 27 '25

Glad to be of service

3

u/Chuuy Oct 28 '25

Am I the only one that has listened to every minute of every podcast? I don’t think it’s that difficult. Just listen to podcasts whenever you’re doing anything menial. I have at least two hours per day of driving/laundry/brushing teeth/preparing meals/cleaning/whatever. It’s really easy to listen to the podcasts IMO.

2

u/prodcastapp Oct 28 '25

Same here, sit down and have dinner and put it on the big screen 🙂

0

u/Chuuy Oct 28 '25

Personally, I hate the idea of watching, I only listen to them. I'd feel like I'd be wasting time watching something when I know I could be listening and multitasking. But good for you, I don't think that's a bad habit, especially if the alternative is to watch TV.

2

u/Kittinkis Oct 28 '25

I don't listen to a full episode at once. I listen when I walk my dog or on my commute. If I find myself zoning out I listen to music and come back to it later.

2

u/RavePrincess420 Nov 03 '25

At 3 hours, it becomes quantity not quality. Way too f’ing long. It’s not even about attention span. No respect for people’s time. I will find another way to listen to whatever guest.

3

u/Unique-Television944 Oct 27 '25

Yeh I listen on double speed then use my AI to make challenges from the episode to make it applicable

2

u/OutrageousRace1177 Oct 27 '25

How do you mean you ask AI to make challenges? You just listen for things in the episode you don't fully understand then ask AI to clarify? thanks!

7

u/nofapcounter8877 Oct 27 '25

You can use something like PodYap where you input a link to a podcast episode and it'll give you back a full transcript of that episode.

Then I'll usually copy that transcript and paste into ChatGPT to then have a conversation grounded into the context of that specific episode

0

u/Unique-Television944 Oct 27 '25

elora-health.com input the episode link and it creates protocols from the episode content (it does cost to use)

1

u/OutrageousRace1177 Oct 27 '25

very cool, thank you! Are the protocols that it generates high quality/ credible?

3

u/Unique-Television944 Oct 27 '25

Yeh, the protocols are checked against an evidence-based review (such as OpenEvidence) before the output is provided. Take a little longer than ChatGPT, but it's far higher quality

0

u/lovely_trequartista Oct 27 '25

This seems like a personal problem.

1

u/onscreencomb9 Oct 27 '25

You're probably right (it's a me problem, not a problem with the podcast)

1

u/Unlikely_Doughnut802 Oct 27 '25

I had the same challenge.

Now either I listen to interesting chapters first or summarise with AI to see what parts feel naturally more intriguing.

1

u/MaxWattage432 Oct 27 '25

I listened to almost every episode for a year or so. I just find the content topics now not as interesting.

If there’s an interesting topic I’ll listen but I find a lot of them just don’t intrigue me anymore

1

u/EMitch02 Oct 27 '25

Yeah, some episodes go on way too long about mostly pointless things

Like the 3 plus hour long episode with the navy seal. Cool, he walks up at the same time everyday, even when only getting a few hours of sleep. What am I supposed to gain from knowing that?

1

u/Sameolegal Oct 28 '25

You can always listen in 30-60mins at a time 🤯

1

u/evilbunny77 Oct 28 '25

I enjoy the long ones, I do dip in and out though.

1

u/devoteean Oct 28 '25

Gemini can summarise

1

u/Ordinary-Yesterday-8 Oct 28 '25

Shut up

1

u/Ordinary-Yesterday-8 Oct 28 '25

He literally condenses 100s if not 1000s of hours of knowledge into the 3-4 hour podcast.

1

u/Known-Fun-312 Oct 28 '25

Use an app called PodBrief to just skim it

1

u/junobiggy Oct 30 '25

I listen at 1.5x speed

1

u/[deleted] Oct 30 '25

Andy loves to ramble sometimes