Health and wellness hacks are a dime a dozen in the social media age, but sometimes someone provides an insight that cuts through the rest. Neuroscientist and podcaster Andrew Huberman wowed Jimmy Fallon recently with his “single best thing” we can all do as soon as we wake up to help us get the most out of our day.
It can be done while drinking your morning coffee, or stretching on the porch. The most important thing is that you do it immediately after waking up.
Neuroscientist shares ‘single best thing’ we can all do upon waking
“Many people struggle with sleep,” Andrew Huberman told Jimmy Fallon during an episode of The Tonight Show on June 6.
“And the single best thing you can do, not just for sleep but for all of your mental health and physical health, believe it or not, is as soon as possible after waking, try and get some bright light, ideally from sunlight, in your eyes for somewhere between 5 and 15 minutes.”
That’s his advice. It doesn’t involve movement. Nor does it involve caffeine or hydration or vitamin C or nootropics or anything else. It’s as simple as getting bright sunlight onto your face – directly into your eyes – soon after waking.
You can do it while drinking your morning coffee, he adds. Or out on the porch in an armchair. It’s less effective through a window or while wearing sunglasses, but absolutely fine while wearing regular eyeglasses or contact lenses.
Tapping into your circadian biology
There’s a biological reason behind Huberman’s advice.
Light hitting the eyes when the sun is low in the sky, he says – even on an overcast day – triggers the activation of a special set of neurons. The technical name of these neurons is intrinsically photosensitive melanopsin retinal ganglion cells. They send a direct signal to the brain to wake you up and give you better mood and focus.
Moreover, he continues, performing this simple task “sets a timer” for you to feel sleepy in about 16 hours. As a result, he says, you’ll find it easier to get to sleep when that timer reaches zero, and enjoy a much deeper sleep.
So if you’re someone who struggles to get to sleep when you put your head down, this might be a trick worth trying. What sets it apart from many other methods of getting to sleep is that it begins at the start of the day, as soon as you wake up.
“This is the foundation,” he says. And it all has to do with our circadian biology. Circadian rhythms are the physical, behavioral and mental changes that follow a 24-hour cycle. They’re one of the most important ways we lock into natural ways of being, since humans evolved to live on a planet that rotates once every 24 hours.
Who is Andrew Huberman?
Aside from being Jimmy Fallon’s guest on The Tonight Show, Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist and tenured professor at Stanford’s School of Medicine.
He is also a McKnight Foundation and Pew Foundation Fellow, and won the Cogan award in 2017 for advances in the study of vision.
He hosts the Huberman Lab podcast, which he and Jimmy Fallon discuss briefly during the conversation mentioned here.
It has released more than 220 episodes on the subjects of neuroscience, human behavior, and health. It is among the most popular health podcasts, and has a 4.8 rating on Apple Podcasts.
