After a long summer of beach reads and fashion magazines, getting back into textbook reading can be difficult. Many students dread reading assignments, whether it’s multiple chapters of a textbook or even a few pages of an article. As a society, we have gradually started to rely on digital tools to get information. One of the easiest ways to lighten a reading load while also feeding intellectual appetite is podcasts. Each week, this column will suggest and review a given podcast that applies to the position in the academic calendar. This week’s focus is on health, especially as students readjust to living in close quarters with others, maintaining health should be the top priority.
Andrew Huberman, author of The Huberman Lab, is a neuroscientist who currently runs a lab out of the Stanford School of Medicine. His podcast releases weekly episodes that cover a wide variety of health concerns, health practices and suggestions for how to improve one’s mind and body. As students and human beings, it is so important to maintain physical and mental health. The Huberman Lab uses real science and science-based techniques to help you understand your body. The podcast’s mission is to bring little-to-no cost solutions to those who are looking to better themselves. Each episode goes in depth into the scientific reasoning behind why our body’s function the way they do and how we can make changes to positively impact our health. As a neuroscientist he has the knowledge to cover most topics. However, he frequently brings special guests on the podcast who specialize in whichever field he touches on that week.
The five main things that matter most to college students are nutrition, sleep, motivation, fitness and stress. Huberman takes on all five of these health concerns in separate episodes, where he goes in depth into common problems and offers up simple solutions that the average person can implement into their routine. One of his most recent episodes, “How to Cultivate a Positive, Growth-Oriented Mindset,” featuring Dr. Jamil Zaki, discussed the negative impact of cynicism and how to navigate personal relationships. One’s mindset when it comes to school and personal lives can really hold one back from their full potential. Another one of the biggest stressors on student life is the impact that social media and cellphone usage can have on our mental health. Huberman joined up with Dr. Jonathan Haidt to help us understand “How Smartphones & Social Media Impact Mental Health & the Realistic Solutions.” By relieving and understanding mental stressors, students will have more time to focus on schoolwork and academic improvement.
Maintaining physical health is just as important, and it can get hard to fuel oneself properly throughout a busy school day. Huberman’s episode with Dr. Layne Norton, “Tools for Nutrition and Fitness,” covered both important areas. It combined strategies to help educate people on what they should be putting in their bodies for maximum performance, as well as how to train on a weekly basis. Finally, getting enough sleep is step one of creating healthy habits and a productive daily routine. Huberman is most known for his research on sleep and as a neuroscientist he can help us understand issues such as insomnia. While he has multiple episodes on sleep, his episode with Dr. Matthew Walker, “Protocols to Improve Your Sleep,” gave detailed practices for the average human to improve the overall quality and quantity of sleep.
Keeping up with healthy practices and implementing small daily habits can drastically improve academic performances. It is important to start the year of mentally and physically healthy so that students don’t fall behind later in the year. One can find the Huberman Lab episodes through Spotify, YouTube and Apple podcasts. Happy listening.
