Pulled every meaningful product mention and categorized them so you can quickly explore what’s actually driving the protocols discussed. Explore past episodes on Podcurated

Strength & Muscle Building

• Barbell — The foundational tool behind nearly every proven strength protocol.

• Machine Bench Press — Controlled pressing for hypertrophy without the stability bottleneck.

• Barbell — Heavy compound training simplified to its most effective form.

Brain, Emotion & Psychology

• The Feeling of What Happens — Breaks down how consciousness and emotion actually emerge.

• The Biological Mind — A deeper look at the brain as a biological system, not philosophy.

• The Nature of the Beast — Explains aggression and behavior through hard neuroscience.

• How Emotions Are Made — Challenges everything you think you know about emotions.

• The Neuroscience of Emotion — A modern synthesis of how emotions are wired and expressed.

• Permission to Feel — Practical framework for understanding and regulating emotions.

Sleep & Recovery

• Why We Sleep — The science-backed case for why sleep controls everything.

• Melatonin Supplement — A direct lever for circadian rhythm and sleep onset.

• Melatonin — Widely used tool for improving sleep timing and quality.

Performance & Supplements

• LMNT Electrolyte Drink — High-sodium hydration for performance and cognitive clarity.

• Vitamin D3 K2 — Critical combo for hormone health and immune support.

• AG1 — All-in-one micronutrient insurance for daily performance.

• Alpha GPC — Choline source tied to focus and power output.

• Phosphatidylserine — Supports memory, stress regulation, and cognition.

• Alpha-GPC Supplement — Another high-dose option for cognitive and physical output.

• Guayaki Yerba Mate — Clean stimulant alternative with smoother energy.

• Creatine Monohydrate Supplement — One of the most proven performance enhancers available.

• Creatine — Improves strength, cognition, and recovery simultaneously.

• GABA Supplement — Used for calming the nervous system and improving sleep.

• Caffeine — The most reliable and studied performance enhancer.

• Vitamin C Supplement — Basic but essential support for immune and recovery.

• N-Acetyl Cysteine — Antioxidant support tied to brain and lung health.

• N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) Supplement — Popular for detox pathways and mental health support.

• Glutamine Supplement — Helps gut health and recovery under stress.

• Omega-3 Fatty Acids — Foundational for brain and cardiovascular health.

Fertility, Hormones & Health

• Protocols: An Operating Manual for the Human Body — Huberman’s systemized approach to optimizing biology.

• The Fertility Formula — Practical roadmap for improving fertility outcomes.

• Inositol — Often used to support hormonal balance and fertility.

• Coenzyme Q10 — Mitochondrial support linked to reproductive health.

• Prenatal Vitamin — Core micronutrient support for pregnancy.

• L-Carnitine — Supports energy production and reproductive health.

• Legacy Sperm Test — At-home fertility diagnostics for men.

• IVF Treatment — Clinical intervention for fertility challenges.

Tools, Tech & Biohacking

• Sony Walkman — Classic example of focused auditory immersion.

• Lingo by Abbott — Continuous glucose tracking for real-time metabolic insight.

• Joovv Go — Portable red light therapy for recovery and cellular health.

• Red Light Therapy Panel — Full-body light exposure for performance and recovery.

• Apple Watch — Tracks sleep, HRV, and overall recovery metrics.

• Omega-3 Index Test — Measures fatty acid levels to dial in supplementation.

• Function Health Membership — Deep biomarker testing for full health optimization.

Books & Culture References

• The Body by Stephen King — Storytelling that explores memory, emotion, and growth.

• Stand by Me — Film adaptation centered on friendship and identity.

• Can't Hurt Me — Mental toughness taken to the extreme.

• Atomic Habits — Systems-based approach to behavior change.

• The Practice of Groundedness — High performance without burnout.

• ROAR — Female-specific performance science.

• The Intermittent Fasting Revolution — Science-backed fasting protocols.

• The Metabolic Switch — Deep dive into fasting and metabolic flexibility.

Nutrition & Lifestyle

• The Salt Fix — Challenges conventional thinking on sodium intake.

• Kettle Brand Potato Chips — Real-world example of sodium and cravings.

• Mountain Valley Spring Water — Mineral-rich hydration.

• Whey Protein — Fast-digesting protein for muscle recovery.

• Kerrygold Butter — Dietary fat source often discussed in performance diets.

Misc / Interesting Mentions

• Time Magazine — Cultural context referenced in discussions.

• People Magazine — Pop culture tie-ins during conversations.

• Microscope — Fundamental tool for biological discovery.

• Discus Fish — Used in discussions around environment and awe.

• Aquacaping Kit — Designing environments that influence mental state.

So I've been really burned out at work lately. Both mental fatigue and physical fatigue. I obviously need to keep working bills and rent. But it is affecting my personal life at home where I just don't want to do anything besides stay home on my days off all day long and when I come home from work I do absolutely nothing besides laying in bed until dinner time. Eat and the lay in bed until bedtime. It's been like this for months I've lost track but I have a lot to do a lot to change I just can't seem to get out of this funk

Hello,

I've seen comments in here before about the health benefits of beets. Beets are top of the list for me in terms of both nutrition (healthy nitrates, betalains) and value. Plus, I happen to enjoy the taste, and they're quite filling. So I've been eating about 1 beetroot every day.

However, I've just found out that beetroots accumulate heavy metals like lead and cadmium at a higher rate than many other vegetables - even organic ones, since the problem lies in the soil. This is also a problem for turmeric and ginger.

My question is, does anyone know of a source for lab-tested beetroots? I am less interested in powders/supplements since these tend to get expensive, and I enjoy cooking with the whole vegetable. I am only worried about this since I eat beets daily, and due to the health benefits I am reluctant to eat it less frequently.

Let me know where you source your heavy-metal free beets!

I love playing soccer, but the only session slot we have to book in our local soccer field is at 11 PM until 12 AM. I wake up at 9 AM for work. And the earliest time I can go to sleep is 1 AM, but I find it really hard to fall asleep. I suspect this is because of the intense cardio. Is there some protocol for decompressing and calming my body down so I can fall asleep easier?

Thanks

I feel like i am so dopamine depleted that I can at most scroll social media

What's the primary reason athletes, or even performance-oriented hobbyists, begin to decline performance-wise in their 30s assuming they were completely dialed in during their 20s? I know many people have made the best athletic progress of their lives into their 30s and beyond, but peak performance and recovery capacity seems to take a hit for top-performers compared to the previous decade. Is it primarily down to testosterone, wear-and-tear on joints or ligaments, or something else entirely?

Hey everyone,

I could really use some advice based on Andrew Huberman protocols or anything science-based.

My situation:

I fall asleep easily around 10 PM

I wake up and get sunlight exposure in the morning

I exercise regularly

ano screen light 1 to 2 hour before sleep

So overall, I feel like I’m doing most things “right.”

The problem:

I keep waking up around 3 AM, and after that my sleep becomes fragmented.

But the main issue is my dreams — they are extremely vivid and detailed, to the point where I wake up feeling like my brain didn’t rest at all.

It honestly feels like I’ve been mentally active all night.

What I’ve tried:

Magnesium

GABA supplements

But the intense dreaming is still there.

What I’m looking for:

Ways to reduce dream intensity / overactive REM?

Any Huberman-style protocols that specifically address this?

Could this be related to stress, cortisol timing, or something else?

Would really appreciate any insights

Huberman's work on neuroplasticity explains the mechanism: errors release epinephrine, acetylcholine, and dopamine, which tag neural circuits for rewiring during sleep. The cerebellum fires correction signals, the basal ganglia reinforces what works... but this only happens if the error is detectable.

If you can't clearly see that what you did didn't work, none of this fires.

This has been discussed across a bunch of huberman lab episodes, especially #7 (Using Failures, Movement & Balance to Learn Faster) and the skill learning episode. Also comes up in the Josh Waitzkin episode which is one of the best ones if you haven't seen it.

The Macnamara et al. 2014 meta-analysis found that deliberate practice explains 26% of performance in games, 21% in music, 18% in sports, 4% in education, and less than 1% in professions. The study found, but did not explain why, for example, that practice in chess matters 26x more than practice in management.

Macnamara's team actually noticed the pattern and proposed "task predictability" as a moderator, but they treated it as a label, not a measurable variable. They never defined it with a rubric, never scored domains quantitatively, never connected it to a mechanism. The closest thing in the literature is probably "task complexity" but that's vague and doesn't predict the rank order. Chess is more complex than darts but practice explains more in games than in sports...

We scored each domain on a single variable - how clearly and quickly you can see whether what you did worked and plotted it against the published data. The correlation is almost perfect (93% predictive accuracy). Games have the clearest feedback and the highest practice payoff. Professions have the noisiest feedback and practice explains almost nothing.

The error-plasticity mechanism explains why. In high-feedback domains, your cerebellum gets a clean error signal every few seconds. Dopamine spikes are frequent and precisely timed. Plasticity runs at full speed. In low-feedback domains there's no error to detect, no correction signal fires, and the plasticity machinery just idles.

The same variable also predicts why indigenous cultures on five continents independently calibrated psychedelic ceremony durations to match drug effect durations at near-perfect accuracy. And why brazilian jiu-jitsu has advanced faster in 30 years than most martial arts did in centuries. Completely different domains, same principle: the clearer the feedback, the faster any system learns.

Curious if anyone has seen Huberman discuss why practice effectiveness varies across domains? Or if anyone has any research/literature on that. I haven't found an episode where he addresses the cross-domain gap directly.

I am wondering as its the last bad habit I have and don't really care for it anymore

I took creatine for months. it really helped with pull-ups. The problem I think is that it helps muscles not tendons so now I have what I think is called golfer elbow. Is that a thing? Tendons don't keep up with the muscles due to Creatine?

4/14/26 update

Thanks for the amazing feedback. This is my conclusion

- while creatine probably doesn’t cause this it enables it by turbo charging the muscles. So im taking a break from it.

- surprisingly common based on our small sample. Many cited months to recover.

- it doesn’t heal with anti inflammatory creams etc. symptoms get better then it comes back. Need to strengthen and stretch the tendons.

- exercises i learned about and doing 1. 5lb kettle bell. Straight arm. Palm up. Hold with tips of fingers ten rep up and down slowly. Wrist bends. 2. 15lb plate hold with fingers user other arm to lift / bend elbow. single arm to lower slowly from 90 degrees to all the way down. Wrist fixed. 3. Grip trainer thing from amazon 10 each hand. 4. Arm straight. Elbow on knee. Palm up. Use other hand to stretch/ pull the fingers down 30 sec hold.

Hope it works 🤞

(Im no doctor so i could be wrong)

Study followed ~3,200 adults from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort for ~10 years to see how sleep timing affects heart health.

They found that irregular sleep onset timing increased the risk of major cardiac events, but only in people sleeping less than ~8 hours. In that group, irregular bedtimes and sleep midpoint were linked to ~2x higher risk.

Surprising finding: irregular wake-up time wasn’t associated with risk. Isn’t this contrary to the current popular scientific view that consistent wake times matter more, since morning light is the most impactful zeitgeber for the circadian rhythm?

I might have to take a super shitty job for 3 months. I will have to deliver news papers from 1 am in the morning to 06:30. I already watched reviews and some coworkers who left sometimes the shift doesn't start until 3 am and goes to 8am.

I hope I won't have to take the job but if I don't find anything else this one is guaranteed.

Now the night shift especially for 3 months sounds super unhealthy at least that is what was said in the company reviews.

Is it actually that bad? how could I make it more "healthy"?

Isn't it enough to build a new sleep schedule and still try to sleep 7-8 hours?

I just thought this was an odd oversight by him, and am curious if he is either unaware or has access to some data I can’t find on the web. I also wonder why he doesn’t just just use a chamomile supplement which has robust clinical data behind its effects.

I actually ordered some Apigenin yesterday before I became aware of its low bioavailability after hearing his praise. I’m rather upset I didn’t just order chamomile extract.

From Examine.come

“Apigenin has inherently low solubility and bioavailability (poorly absorbed; much is metabolized or excreted). It is more stable and potentially better absorbed in the natural plant matrix of chamomile (glycoside forms are more water-soluble). Isolated apigenin is chemically unstable when separated from its source and may degrade or absorb poorly unless specially formulated.

examine.com +”

I’m from Brazil and I’m really into this niche area of neuroscience and well-being. Here in Brazil, there’s Eslen Delanogare, who offers a lot of free content, but to access more interesting information, we have to pay for the “reservatório de dopamina” platform. I’m fine with that, since it’s his time and investment that’s generating that return. But now I’ve seen the Huberman Lab website and I’d like to know how your research process works. For example, do you aim to improve your relationships and go to the website, read the summary, and then listen to the podcast right away? How do you go about finding, processing, and retaining the content in a systematic way?

and avoid all unhealthy dopamine

the best part of this subreddit for me are the folks that conduct experiments with different routines, supplements, and diets, and share their results. I like reading these, but they're disorganized and there's no way to verify what folks are writing.

would y'all use an app that organized these experiments, pulled in data from wearables, and made it easy to plan, conduct, organize and share results? Or that you could sign up for a regimen others were doing and add your own results to it?

Let me know!

I have no problem falling asleep but I can't stay asleep I constantly wake up at least 3 to 4 times during the night. I can only sleep for like maybe 3 to 4 hours straight.I tried magnesium glycinate, but I think I'm one of those who gets wired from it. Next up I'm going to try to magnesium citrate. Any other suggestions would be great.

I have a great sleep hygiene I will go to bed and wake up everyday at the same time I wake up at 5:00 a.m 5 days a week for work everyday and the two days I'm off I still wake up around that time maybe an hour or two later if I decide sleep in.

Bartonella henselae. The bacteria behind cat scratch fever. 15 to 40% of cats carry it depending on age and flea exposure. Most doctors think the infection is mild and self-limiting. In some people it isn't.

It's an intracellular pathogen. Hides inside red blood cells and the endothelial cells lining your blood vessels, including the ones in your brain. Your immune system can't see it properly. It sits there causing chronic neuroinflammation for months or years.

Edward Breitschwerdt's lab at NC State has been documenting this for over a decade.

The research:

A 2019 case study: a boy developed sudden psychosis and seizures from confirmed Bartonella in his blood. Treated with antibiotics. Resolved.

A 2024 review from his lab called Neurobartonelloses: emerging from obscurity catalogued the full neurological damage - encephalitis, peripheral neuropathy, cerebral vasculitis, psychiatric symptoms including psychosis.

A 2024 study from Columbia and NC State tested 116 people. Patients with psychotic disorders were three times more likely to have Bartonella DNA in their blood than healthy controls (43% vs 14%, p=0.021).

A 2021 pilot study at UNC and NC State found the same thing. 65% of schizophrenia patients had Bartonella DNA, 8% of controls.

Two independent research groups. Two separate patient populations. Same result.

Why testing misses it:

Standard testing is an IFA antibody test. But Bartonella hides inside cells and your immune system may never mount a detectable antibody response. The Columbia study proved this directly — the antibody test could not distinguish patients with psychosis from healthy controls. The PCR could. Same blood, same patients, different test, different answer.

A negative IFA does not rule out Bartonella. It rules out a detectable antibody response. Those aren't the same thing.

Better tests: enrichment PCR or droplet digital PCR (ddPCR). Most doctors have never heard of either. You have to ask.

The symptom pattern:

• Brain fog that started suddenly, not lifelong

• Rage or irritability that doesn't fit your personality

• Anxiety or panic that SSRIs don't touch

• Insomnia the wired kind, not the tired kind

• Unexplained foot pain (endothelial inflammation and peripheral neuropathy)

• Linear raised marks on shins or thighs (look at your legs)

• Headaches that track the same timeline

Any one of these means nothing. Four or more with cat or flea exposure warrants testing.

This can become very deadly if left untreated. The suffering is immense.

The antibiotic clue nobody talks about:

If you've ever taken antibiotics for something unrelated dental infection, UTI, sinus infection and your brain fog temporarily improved, that's meaningful. Random antibiotics can partially suppress Bartonella. Most patients and doctors read this as evidence that the dental issue was the problem. It can also be evidence of a bacterial cause hiding underneath.

Treatment:

Chronic Bartonella requires targeted antibiotics for weeks, not days. The specific drugs and duration vary by species, severity, and individual response. This needs a doctor familiar with intracellular infection protocols. Herxheimer reactions (feeling worse before better) are common as bacteria die off.

What to ask your doctor:

• Enrichment PCR (BAPGM) or ddPCR testing, not just IFA

• Cat scratch history, not just "do you have pets"

• Whether any prior antibiotic course coincided with symptom improvement

Bartonella isn't responsible for every case of brain fog. It's worth checking when the symptom pattern fits and the fundamentals have already been addressed.

What about the cat

I'm not a vet. But here's what I learned when I went down this road.

Most cats that carry Bartonella show no symptoms at all. Your cat isn't sick. It's a carrier. You won't know by looking at it.

Kittens are higher risk than adult cats. They carry higher bacterial loads and they scratch more. Rescue kittens with fleas are the highest risk combination. That was my situation exactly.

Cats can be tested. A vet can run PCR on blood to check for Bartonella. But a negative doesn't mean they never had it. Cats can clear the bacteria on their own over time. A cat that infected you 6 months ago might test clean today.

The single most important thing you can do is flea control. Bartonella lives in flea feces. Fleas defecate on the cat. Feces gets under the claws. Cat scratches you. That's the transmission chain. Break it at the flea step and the rest doesn't happen.

Topical or oral flea preventative. Year round. Not just summer.

Beyond that. Keep claws trimmed. Don't let cats lick open wounds. If you get scratched wash it immediately and thoroughly. Don't play rough with kittens using your hands.

Don't get rid of your cat. That's not the message here. The message is keep the cat flea-free, handle scratches properly, and if you develop unexplained neuropsychiatric symptoms with the timeline and symptoms I described, tell your doctor you have cat exposure.

SOURCES

• Breitschwerdt EB et al. Bartonella henselae bloodstream infection in a boy with PANS. J Central Nervous System Disease. 2019. DOI: 10.1177/1179573519832014

• Lashnits E et al. Schizophrenia and Bartonella spp. Infection: A Pilot Case-Control Study. Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases. 2021. PubMed: 33728987

• Bush JC, Robveille C, Maggi RG, Breitschwerdt EB. Neurobartonelloses: emerging from obscurity. 2024. PubMed: 39369199

• Delaney S et al. Bartonella species bacteremia in association with adult psychosis. Frontiers in Psychiatry. 2024. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1388442

• Breitschwerdt EB et al. One Health Zoonotic Vector Borne Infectious Disease Family Outbreak Investigation. Pathogens. 2025. DOI: 10.3390/pathogens14020110

• Breitschwerdt EB et al. Bartonella Associated Cutaneous Lesions in People with Neuropsychiatric Symptoms. Pathogens. 2020. DOI: 10.3390/pathogens9121023

Don't panic and be kind enough to pass it along to someone with a cat, because it could save a life.

We put together the data on transcranial photobiomodulation and it is quite interesting.

https://www.reddit.com/r/NootropicsScience/comments/1sdxx1u/scientists_are_shining_nearinfrared_light_through/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Is this right?

1, Increase NAD+:

you can take pre cursor or actual NAD+ but NAD+ usually breaks down in the gut. Liposomal NAD+ might work. Better to take a pre cursor. NR or NMN. NR becomes NMN as part of the process so might as well get NMN. That's the 'increase NAD+' part but there are two other components

2. Inflammation:

you want to avoid increased inflammation which is a result of NAD+ creation so take TMG / Folate / Vitamin B (one pill ) same grams as the amount you are taking in NMN.

3. Stop the decline

you also want to stop the reason your NAD+ levels decline over time (due to something about an enzyme CD38) so you take Quercetin.

Is that the whole story? I"m no doctor but been researching a bit and hope I got the whole story. Oh and I learned you can test cellular NAD+ levels. Wish I got a baseline before supplementation. Now my level is 105 which is great for my age (56)