How to Control Your Cortisol & Overcome Burnout · Huberman Lab summary

Key takeaways

Cortisol plays a critical role in energy deployment and overall health, not just stress management.
Understanding and maintaining a proper cortisol rhythm is vital for health, mood, focus, and sleep.
Practical strategies, such as hydration, sun exposure, and nutritional choices, can optimize cortisol levels.
Identifying patterns of burnout can lead to more effective stress management strategies.
Age and gender influence cortisol rhythms and must be considered in health and wellness strategies.

Summary

Understanding Cortisol and Its Importance

In this episode, Andrew Huberman elaborates on cortisol, often misunderstood as merely a stress hormone. Instead, he emphasizes its role in energy deployment and overall health. The cortisol rhythm is highlighted, underscoring the need for high cortisol levels in the morning to boost energy, focus, and mood, and lower levels in the evening to facilitate sleep. Huberman stresses that maintaining an appropriate cortisol rhythm can greatly improve health and performance.

Cortisol Rhythms and Daily Management

Huberman dives into how cortisol levels fluctuate throughout the day, detailing the four phases: minimal secretion before sleep, slight increase during early sleep, a sharp increase approaching awakening, and the dynamics of cortisol post-waking. He emphasizes practical strategies to manage these phases, suggesting tools like bright morning light exposure and adjusting caffeine intake to optimize the hormonal rhythm.

Behavioral and Nutritional Strategies

The podcast provides actionable behavioral and nutritional strategies to optimize cortisol levels. Huberman discusses the benefits of hydration, sun exposure, timing of caffeine consumption, and specific food choices, such as consuming starchy carbohydrates in the evening to aid in lowering cortisol levels. He also articulates the importance of exercise timing and its effect on cortisol.

Addressing Stress and Burnout

Burnout, characterized by feelings of exhaustion and inability to manage stress effectively, is examined in detail. Huberman describes two types of burnout patterns, urging listeners to identify their experiences and apply specific tools accordingly. He presents solutions, including Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) practices, breathing techniques, and supplementation with ashwagandha and apigenin for managing cortisol.

Impact of Age and Gender on Cortisol Levels

The discussion highlights how age and gender influence cortisol levels. Huberman notes that many experience a decline in peak cortisol levels as they age, which can correlate with health challenges. He discusses hormonal differences between men and women and the implications for cortisol management, particularly during menopause.

Show notes

In this episode, I explain cortisol and science-based protocols for properly setting your cortisol rhythm, which can significantly increase your daytime energy, focus, mood, and stress resilience, while also improving your sleep quality.

Most people mistakenly think cortisol is bad, and many assume their levels are too high, when in fact many health and performance challenges simply stem from a disrupted cortisol rhythm. Getting your cortisol rhythm right can be transformative for your health and performance.

I outline behavioral, nutritional, and supplement-based strategies to raise or lower your cortisol levels at the appropriate times of day and night. I also provide specific protocols for overcoming burnout.

If you’re dealing with stress, low energy, hormone or sleep challenges—or simply want to optimize these for the sake of your physical and mental health and performance—this episode offers science-backed protocols to help.

Read the the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com.

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Timestamps

(00:00) Cortisol

(1:29) Stress, Tool: Daily Cortisol Rhythm

(3:16) Cortisol & Directing Energy, Glucose, Adrenals

(6:39) Sponsors: Carbon & BetterHelp

(10:14) Daily Cortisol Phases & Rhythm, Waking Up & Cortisol

(17:55) Cortisol Release & Regulation, Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) Axis

(24:57) Rapid & Delayed Stress Response, HPA Axis

(28:42) Bright Light & Cortisol Release, Tool: Increase Morning Cortisol & Sunlight

(36:58) Sponsors: AG1 & David

(39:48) Viewing Bright Light & Mood, Depression, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

(41:44) Increase Morning Cortisol, Tools: Hydration, Delaying Caffeine Intake

(49:30) Exercise, Entrainment Cues & Cortisol Rhythm, Tool: Boost Energy & Exercise Schedule

(57:52) Does Deliberate Cold Exposure Increase Cortisol?, Energy & Mood

(1:01:19) Sponsor: LMNT

(1:02:51) Increase Morning Cortisol & Nutrition, Grapefruit, Black Licorice

(1:11:34) Afternoon & Evening Cortisol Rhythms, Sunlight, Screens

(1:14:30) Lower Evening Cortisol, Tools: Dim Lights, Light Color

(1:20:54) Lower Evening Cortisol, Tools: Caffeine Timing; Stress Response & Exhales; Starchy Carbohydrates

(1:30:42) Low-Carb Diets & Cortisol, Metabolic Syndrome

(1:35:30) Evening Exercise & Cortisol, Tool: Spike Your Morning Cortisol

(1:44:32) Supplements to Reduce Cortisol, Ashwagandha, Apigenin, Magnesium

(1:50:57) Burnout, Cushing's & Addison's, 2 Burnout Patterns

(1:55:23) Early-Phase Burnout, Tools: NSDR/Yoga Nidra, Boost Morning Cortisol, Caffeine

(2:01:35) Late-Phase Burnout, Tools: Reduce Evening Cortisol

(2:08:02) Age, Male vs Females, Lifespan, Cancer; Menopause; Brain Health

(2:13:41) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube, Spotify & Apple Follow & Reviews, Sponsors, YouTube Feedback, Protocols Book, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter

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