Essentials: Using Play to Rewire & Improve Your Brain
In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, I discuss why play is a powerful yet often overlooked tool for shaping the brain across the entire lifespan, not just during childhood. I explain how play engages specific brain circuits and neurochemicals, allowing us to explore different roles and learn in low-stakes environments uniquely suited to learning. I also describe why adults benefit from deliberately reintroducing play and which forms of play are most effective for expanding cognitive flexibility and creative thinking.
Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com.
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Timestamps
(00:00:00) Power of Play
(00:00:37) Play, Brain & Exploring Contingencies; Creatives
(00:03:27) Childhood Play & Low-Stakes Scenarios
(00:05:18) Sponsor: Mateina
(00:06:21) Tool: Adults & Playful Mindset
(00:08:53) Play Postures; Eyes
(00:12:00) Group Play, Testing & Breaking Rules
(00:14:32) Role Play
(00:15:43) Sponsor: AG1
(00:16:34) Play Mindset, Low-Stakes Situations, Tool: Adult Play for Brain Health
(00:22:29) Tinkerers & Creatives, Playful Spirit
(00:24:54) Sponsor: Our Place
(00:26:09) Tool: Play to Enhance Neuroplasticity: Dynamic Movement, Chess & Mental Roles
(00:30:15) Personal Play Identity, Adulthood
(00:33:23) Recap
Disclaimer & Disclosures
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The Huberman Lab podcast is hosted by Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., a neuroscientist and tenured professor in the department of neurobiology, and by courtesy, psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford School of Medicine. The podcast discusses neuroscience and science-based tools, including how our brain and its connections with the organs of our body control our perceptions, our behaviors, and our health, as well as existing and emerging tools for measuring and changing how our nervous system works.
Huberman 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. He 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.
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 10 of all podcasts globally and is often ranked #1 in the categories of Science, Education, and Health & Fitness.