AMA #18: Cold Therapy Advice, Skin Health Tips, Motivation, Learning Strategies & More

In this premium subscriber AMA, Andrew Huberman opens by announcing that subscription funds now support human research at Stanford, Columbia, NYU and elsewhere, amplified by three dollar-for-dollar donor matches. He then answers listener questions covering how to repair thinning skin with age, the ideal water temperature and safety rules for deliberate cold exposure, science-backed ways to start and stick to a new routine, how to increase REM sleep, and the top changes schools could make to improve learning capacity. He closes with a detailed take on shilajit and testosterone, his book-writing process, and where to find Huberman Lab resources on addiction and recovery.

• Reveals the premium channel now has three dollar-for-dollar donor matches, effectively quadrupling research funding.
  00:01:35
• Recommends 45-50F as his go-to cold-plunge range and admits he never enjoys getting in, much preferring heat and the sauna.
  00:17:47
• Warns that breathwork before cold water can suppress the gasp reflex and that people have blacked out and died doing it.
  00:17:47
• Admits writing the bonus chapters of his book has been hard and that he uses a signed self-contract for each writing block.
  00:22:29
• Says there is currently no clear pharmacology to specifically increase REM sleep.
  00:32:19
• Concludes shilajit ranks low for boosting testosterone and that extra REM sleep beats it.
  00:41:46
• Confirms he closed his animal lab and now focuses mainly on teaching and possible human vision studies.
  00:48:32

• Mineral sunscreens with zinc oxide or titanium dioxide up to 25% are deemed safe by most dermatologists.
  00:05:13
• You do not have to get a sunburn to raise your skin cancer risk.
  00:07:18
• Ingesting 5-30g of collagen daily (often 15-30g) with vitamin C shows moderate improvement in skin elasticity and plumpness.
  00:08:20
• Red light or near-infrared panels for 10-15 minutes a day, five days a week over months can moderately improve skin appearance.
  00:09:54
• Announcing your goals to supportive people can reduce follow-through; a signed self-contract works better.
  00:21:25
• During REM sleep the body cannot release adrenaline, allowing intense emotional dreams without a physical stress response.
  00:27:42
• Wendy Suzuki's NYU lab found ~13 minutes of daily meditation significantly boosts working memory and focus.
  00:34:55
• Random 10-second micro-gaps during learning trigger hippocampal replay at 20-30x speed, multiplying repetitions for free.
  00:37:34
• Cardiovascular exercise just before studying boosts learning via dopamine, epinephrine and norepinephrine.
  00:39:09
• An extra 20 minutes of REM sleep serves testosterone better than taking shilajit.
  00:44:22

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