
Boost Your Energy & Immune System with Cortisol & Adrenaline | Huberman Lab Essentials
Andrew Huberman
Mar 13, 2025
Mindsip insights from this episode:
Practice mental calmness during physical stress to build resilience
You can deliberately enter a state of physical stress, like a cold shower, while practicing mental calmness to build resilience for real-life events.
Reframe stress as enjoyable to boost dopamine and resilience
Telling yourself you enjoy a stressful activity releases dopamine, which is the precursor to epinephrine, giving you more chemical ability to push through.
Time morning sunlight to optimize cortisol peak
Viewing sunlight for 10-30 minutes within 30 minutes of waking is the best way to time your daily cortisol peak for optimal energy.
Manage stress to preserve sex hormone levels
When you are stressed, more of your body's cholesterol is used to create the stress hormone cortisol instead of testosterone and estrogen.
Use fasting to boost adrenaline and energy levels
Skipping meals is a behavioral tool to deliberately increase epinephrine and cortisol, biasing your system toward more energy and alertness.
Reduce cortisol levels by 14.5% to 27.9% with ashwagandha
The supplement Ashwagandha has been shown in human studies to reduce cortisol levels by 14.5% to 27.9% in stressed individuals.
Break the cycle of chronic stress to lower cortisol levels
Long-term stress alters your brain's feedback loop, causing high cortisol levels to trigger the release of even more cortisol.
Leverage brief stress to boost immunity
Contrary to popular belief, brief bouts of stress that increase adrenaline can actually enhance your immune system's ability to fight infection for one to four days.
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