Early last year, I had a conversation with a friend about the intractable insomnia I was experiencing at the time. This symptom has plagued me on and off since early adulthood. A friend of mine told me that both the quality and quantity of his sleep has improved significantly over the past while, thanks to some habits he’s recently picked up. Most notable among them was the habit of going outside as soon as possible after waking up to soak up 15 or 20 minutes of early morning sunlight. I believe it has something to do with the cortisol surge caused by UV rays and the resetting of the brain’s internal “sleep clock.” He adopted this habit, along with a variety of other seemingly very specific lifestyle and health adjustments, from a podcast called The Huberman Lab, hosted by Stanford University neuroscientist Andrew Huberman. Told.
I was intrigued enough (and sleep-deprived) to start listening. I was skeptical at first. First, there was a lot of talk about supplements. Huberman begins the podcast with a lengthy tribute to his sponsors, the shockingly expensive diet elixir AG1, and a rotating cast of products and services that, in theory, improve health: meditation apps. Cold water plunge bath. A mattress that tracks your sleep. Certain concerns regarding high protein venison delivery. But it didn’t take long for me to be drawn in.
A friend of mine described Huberman as “reassuringly boring,” which doesn’t do justice to his skills as a science communicator, but it does explain his appeal. It helps to some extent. His emotions are eccentric, if not inscrutable, and he has a talent for condensing and simplifying complex research at the same time. His persona is a unique combination of California signifiers. A charismatic health guru. Science friends adjacent to Silicon Valley.
Huberman Lab is one of the most popular podcasts in the world. The most watched episodes tend to focus on practical tools to improve specific areas of physical and mental health, such as breathing techniques to reduce stress or mineral compounds to improve sleep. there is. Huberman calls these practices “protocols,” a term that itself reflects the podcast’s pleasantly straightforward rationalism. Before long, I was listening to listeners regularly and adopting some of these protocols. It was taking me outside first to catch some early morning sunlight, taking magnesium for better sleep, and even pursuing the inexplicably masochistic exhilaration of a daily cold shower. No one knows whether any of this is more effective than a placebo, but Huberman’s careful explanation of the science was convincing. I approached Huberman’s drug with a skeptical and half-hearted attitude.
…The gist is that Huberman, a paragon of an optimized existence, has managed a sex life of near-delirious complexity and duplicity in recent years.
Last month, New York Magazine published a cover story titled “In Love with Dr. Huberman.” This is a very long article that goes into great detail about controversial public interest issues, but the gist of it is that Huberman, the paragon of an optimized existence, has been deranged in recent years. It is said that he has been in charge of a complex sexual life similar to that of a man. And the duplicitous had relationships with six women at the same time, each believing himself to be his exclusive partner.
My own reaction to reading this was more mixed than I expected. There was a certain childish fascination with the strange and complex development of male sexual relationships and the daunting procedures involved in carrying them out. The duplicity and emotional manipulation were undoubtedly vile and degrading to everyone involved, and perhaps most of all to Huberman himself. But his 8,000 words about the popular podcaster’s private life, no matter how much of a moral and sexual debacle it is, seemed excessive and frankly invasive. (I’m a fan of author Kelly Howley, who published a great book last year called Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs. Ironically, this book is about the so-called deep state, and how surveillance culture It’s about how it’s eroding the privacy of Americans.
[ Gwyneth Paltrow: ‘I’ve never been asked that question before. You’ve made me blush’ ]
Mr. Howley’s article also found that Mr. Huberman’s enthusiasm for questionable supplements, although only briefly mentioned, was more real and ultimately more realistic than the WhatsApp group his ex-lovers shared. In that it was also an abomination, it seemed to have eliminated the initiative. Throughout its length, the book never directly addressed the question of why Huberman’s lack of personal integrity was relevant to the broader context of his work.
It would be foolish to try to make the neuroscientist and podcaster a symbol of everything that is wrong with hyper-individualistic techno-capitalist culture. But despite his thoughtful, rationalist style, Huberman says his life can be tweaked, a supplement here, a breathing technique there, to bring him closer to perfection. It expresses an almost mystical promise. The difference between what Huberman is doing and, say, Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand Goop is one thing less than style: content. Despite uncovering cutting-edge scientific research, Huberman has remained at the center of American culture since Benjamin Franklin (himself an “early to bed, early to rise” old man) advised his fellow countrymen: It embodies the logic of individualistic self-improvement that has become the norm. The virtues of temperance and moderation.
I still listen to that podcast, but the effectiveness of magnesium as a sleep aid, for example, is influenced by whether the person recommending it is an ascetic saint or a priapic filth. do not have.
There is some kind of parasocial relationship at work here as well. As a listener of his podcast, I gradually got to know Huberman, against my better judgment and my mistaken sense that I was too sophisticated for such a thing. I started to feel it. This trusted dispenser of benign practical wisdom. This is the person who helped me sleep better and taught me how to breathe when I was stressed. You can’t help but love him even a little. And when I found out he was actually kind of an asshole, I couldn’t help but love him a little more?
[ I tried 11 popular insomnia cures. Do any of them actually work? ]
I don’t think Huberman’s moral failings necessarily negate his protocols. I still listen to that podcast, and the effectiveness of magnesium as a sleep aid, for example, has no influence on whether the person recommending it is an ascetic saint or a priapic native. I don’t accept it. But it also avoids the question of whether our efforts to optimize our existence, whether it be health, productivity, sexual diversity, or happiness, may lead us down a path to self-obsession and away from a good life. you can’t.
