The Science & Process of Healing from Grief | Huberman Lab Essentials

Andrew Huberman

May 28, 2026

Episode description

In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, I explain the neuroscience of grief, including how the brain maps relationships across three dimensions — space, time, and closeness — and why losing someone requires a remapping of those neural circuits. I describe how grief differs from depression, the role of oxytocin in driving yearning after a loss, and why people move through grief at different rates. I also discuss science-based tools for grieving adaptively, including how to access feelings of attachment while decoupling them from episodic memory. Finally, I explain how foundational biology — particularly sleep and cortisol rhythms — shapes our capacity to navigate the grieving process.

Show notes: https://go.hubermanlab.com/RtAnILi

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Timestamps
00:00:00 Grief
00:01:47 Myths of Grief, Kubler-Ross & fMRI
00:03:56 Brain Mapping Experiment, Proximity
00:07:05 Inferior Parietal Lobule; Space, Time & Closeness
00:09:20 Episodic Memory & Remapping After Loss
00:13:41 Tool: Dedicated Time, Counterfactual Thinking & Guilt
00:15:30 Oxytocin & Individual Differences in Grief
00:16:30 Prairie Voles, Monogamy & Nucleus Accumbens
00:21:58 Vagal Tone, Emotional Disclosure & Bereavement Writing Study
00:26:51 Cortisol Rhythms, Complicated Grief & Sunlight
00:30:57 Rational Grieving, Neuroplasticity & NSDR

#hubermanlab #science #health #grief

Disclaimer & Disclosures: https://www.hubermanlab.com/disclaimer

Mindsip insights from this episode:

Maintain attachment to navigate grief effectively

The most adaptive way to move through grief is to maintain and feel the attachment to the person you lost, while consciously working to remap the space and time dimensions.

#emotion

#trauma

Utilize NSDR to enhance neuroplasticity during grief

Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) protocols can be used to accelerate the neuroplasticity required to rewire brain connections during the grieving process.

#neuroplasticity

#NSDR

Rethink five stages of grief as a universal model

Modern neuroimaging and psychological evaluation show that the famous five stages of grief by Kubler-Ross are not a universally accurate model for the grieving process.

#mental-health

Understand biological basis of intense yearning in grief

People who experience intense yearning for a lost person may have more oxytocin receptors in the brain's motivation and craving centers, such as the nucleus accumbens.

#emotion

#oxytocin

Decouple attachment from outdated mental maps during grief

The process of grieving is the difficult work of uncoupling our deep feelings of attachment from the now-incorrect mental maps of where a person is in space and time.

#emotion

#neuroplasticity

Manage cortisol levels to address complicated grief

People experiencing complicated grief have been shown to have significantly higher cortisol levels at 4 p.m. and 9 p.m., disrupting the natural daily rhythm.

#cortisol

#stress

Leverage high vagal tone to enhance grief processing through writing

Individuals with higher vagal tone, who can better regulate their heart rate with breathing, may benefit more from emotional writing exercises to process grief.

#regulation

#vagus-nerve

Understand brain's 3D mapping of relationships

Our brain maps our experience of people using three interwoven dimensions: their location in physical space, their place in time, and our emotional closeness to them.