Dr. Elissa Epel: Control Stress for Healthy Eating, Metabolism & Aging

In this episode, my guest is Elissa Epel, Ph.D., professor and vice chair of the department of psychiatry at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and the author of a new book entitled "The Stress Prescription." We discuss her work showing how stress impacts mood, eating behavior, mental health, physical health, and aging. She explains stress intervention tools using “top-down” techniques (e.g., radical acceptance, mindfulness, reframing), body-based methods (e.g., breathwork) including the Wim Hof Method, exercise, meditation, body scans, and environmental shifts proven to help people cease unhealthy rumination patterns. We discuss how stress can positively impact psychology and sense of purpose, how stress affects cellular aging, how our narratives of stressful events impact our mood and biology, and how to effectively reframe stress. She explains science-based techniques to break stress-induced cycles of craving and overeating and thereby improve insulin sensitivity and metabolic health. Dr. Epel provides a wide range of tools shown to be effective in reducing stress and improving various aspects of our health. For the full show notes, visit hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1 (Athletic Greens): https://athleticgreens.com/huberman LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman Waking Up: https://www.wakingup.com/huberman Momentous: https://www.livemomentous.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Dr. Elissa Epel (00:02:33) Sponsors: LMNT & Waking Up (00:06:18) Stress; Effects on Body & Mind (00:12:50) Tools: Overthinking & Stress (00:15:37) Acute, Moderate & Chronic Stress, Breathing (00:21:23) Stress Benefits, Aging & Cognition; Stress Challenge Response (00:27:23) Sponsor: AG1 (Athletic Greens) (00:32:19) Tool: Shifting Stress to Challenge Response, “Stress Shields” (00:37:400 Stress, Overeating, Craving & Opioid System (00:48:55) Tools: Breaking Overeating Cycles, Mindfulness (00:54:44) Soda & Sugary Drinks (01:00:51) Smoking, Processed Food & Rebellion (01:06:47) Tools: Mindfulness, Pregnancy & Metabolic Health (01:14:11) Body Scan & Cravings (01:17:28) Tool: Meditation & Aging; Meditation Retreats (01:23:35) Meditation, Psychedelics & Neuroplasticity (01:26:02) Mitochondrial Health, Stress & Mood (01:29:49) Chronic Stress & Radical Acceptance, “Brick Wall” (01:37:57) Tool: Control, Uncertainty (01:45:25) Stress Management, “Skillful Surfing” (01:50:25) Narrative, Purpose & Stress (01:52:49) Breathwork, Wim Hof Method, Positivity & Cellular Aging (02:03:11) Zero-Cost Support, YouTube Feedback, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, Momentous, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac Disclaimer

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Huberman Lab discusses neuroscience — how our brain and its connections with the organs of our body control our perceptions, our behaviors, and our health. We also discuss existing and emerging tools for measuring and changing how our nervous system works. Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist and tenured professor in the department of neurobiology, and by courtesy, psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford School of Medicine. He has made numerous significant contributions to the fields of brain development, brain function and neural plasticity, which is the ability of our nervous system to rewire and learn new behaviors, skills and cognitive functioning.  Huberman is a McKnight Foundation and Pew Foundation Fellow and was awarded the Cogan Award, given to the scientist making the most significant discoveries in the study of vision, in 2017. His lab’s most recent work focuses on the influence of vision and respiration on human performance and brain states such as fear and courage. He also works on neural regeneration and directs a clinical trial to promote visual restoration in diseases that cause blindness. Huberman is also actively involved in developing tools now in use by the elite military in the U.S. and Canada, athletes, and technology industries to optimize performance in high stress environments, enhance neural plasticity, mitigate stress and optimize sleep.   Work from the Huberman Laboratory at Stanford School of Medicine has been published in top journals including Nature, Science and Cell and has been featured in TIME, BBC, Scientific American, Discover and other top media outlets.  In 2021, Dr. Huberman launched the Huberman Lab podcast. The podcast is frequently ranked in the top 5 of all podcasts globally and is often ranked #1 in the categories of Science, Education, and Health & Fitness.