How to STUDY EFFECTIVELY | Andrew Huberman

as we get older and especially as we get

to our mid and late 20s it takes an

immense amount of focus and energy in

order to learn but that focus and energy

feels almost like an agitation for

people feels like something to back away

from but if we can learn to approach

that and understand that that agitation

is actually the circulation of chemicals

which is the the brain and nervous

system telling itself aha now I need to

pay attention and change we can start to

actually modify the way that system

works how do you think our relationship

with learning has been formed over time

hearing from your own as well I think it

was the great physicist Max delbrook who

said that you know when teaching assume

zero knowledge and infinite intelligence

I try and keep that in mind I think that

we are all innate Learners by virtue of

the fact that this thing this nervous

system as it's called is really a map of

our experience the nervous system is

there essentially to educate itself so

that it can operate better in a given

environment and once one understands

that you start to realize that the forms

of learning are many anytime you're

teaching or learning is you're trying to

find a universal algorithm of how the

brain works and what I mean by that is

that you know all these nerve cells they

only can communicate through chemicals

and electricity you know it's really

just meat in there uh believe it or not

but there are algorithms that are

Universal so whether or not one learns

better verbally or visually or whether

one has a propensity for math or for

verbal subjects what is true for all of

us is that the brain is there always

asking questions and trying to make

predictions about its environment and I

think what happens is when we're

children we are learning passively all

the time as we get older and especially

as we get to our mid and late 20s it

takes an immense amount of focus and

energy in order to learn but of course

the nervous system can still shape

itself well into adulthood almost

certainly for the entire lifespan but

that focus and energy feels almost like

an agitation and I think that as

children we don't necessarily experience

that agitation because For Better or For

Worse we can experience and change

passively neuroplasty just happens by

way of pure experience as we get older

mid 20s early 30s and so on that

threshold of agitation for people feels

like something to back away from but if

we can learn to approach that and

understand that that agitation is

actually the circulation of chemicals

which is the the brain and nervous

system telling itself aha now I need to

pay attention and change we can start to

actually modify the way that system

works so that's a bit of a convoluted

answer to your question but I I think

that at the heart of our nervous system

is this ability these algorithms by

which it can change themselves and it's

on all of us to understand that that bit

of agitation and discomfort need not be

interpreted as discomfort that's the

Edge Where Learning is beginning how can

someone start thinking about how they

should approach learning terrific

question and fortunately nowadays we can

look to studies done in humans that

Define some very key principles the

first principle is that the whole

process of neuroplasticity and learning

is really a two-stage process first

there must be focus and alertness that

focus and alertness is associated with

the release of neurochemicals so- called

neuromodulators things like acetycholine

in particular H which sort of acts as a

highlighter pen if you will for certain

Connections in the brain to later be

reinforced and the neurochemical

adrenaline which is also called

epinephrine epinephrine also called

adrenaline is associated with an

increase in kind of agitation and

alertness so you need alertness and

focus and then the second stage is that

it is only during periods of deep rest

in particular sleep and something that I

call non-sleep Deep breast which I've

given an acronym because scientist like

acronyms nsdr non-sleep de breast things

like yoga Nedra things like shallow naps

things like forms of meditation that

don't involve a lot of focused

concentration it is only periods of

intense focus and alertness followed by

periods of deep breast that allow the

nervous system to change and there is an

abundance of evidence for that so that's

the first thing to understand the brain

actually rewires during deep sleep and

rest because during deep sleep and rest

naps Yoga Nidra deep sleep there's a

replay of the very same cells in the

brain that were active during learning

oftentimes in Reverse for reasons that

are still not understood but at a much

higher repetition rate so you're

actually getting repetitions while you

sleep this is why one will strain to

learn a language or a motor skill or

maths or something like that over and

over and over doesn't happen you take a

couple nights sleep take a break from

and all of a sudden it's there it's

because it happens in rest now there's

some other things that one can do to

enhance this process further that are

arrived to us from good data first of

all there's a so-called ultradian Rhythm

which is the 90minut Cycles during which

we can focus pretty well for a duration

of about 90 minutes of course flickering

in and out of focus nobody really

focuses for 90 minutes straight unless

they built up that capacity or they are

very interested in what they're learning

right they're just wrapped with

attention usually people fck clicker in

and out and of course nowadays there's a

lot of literature and ideas about ways

to maintain Focus put the phone away

limit noise some people like background

noise some people like music some don't

it's very contextual highly

individualized but 90 minutes is sort of

the the batch of time that the brain can

focus really hard on one thing before it

needs a true rest of of an hour or two

before you can go back to learning or

working very hard the other thing is

that there's some very interesting data

showing that shallow naps or nsdr

non-sleep deep rest done within 4 hours

of one of these 90-minute learning bouts

can be very beneficial for accelerating

learning and then there are these

incredible data on so-called Gap effects

so there have been studies now of of

skills that are physical skills mental

skills where people will for instance

try to learn scales on the piano or a

math problem or a spatial problem or a

physical skill and then at random every

so often a buzzer will go off and the

person will just be told to do nothing

sit there eyes closed or eyes open and

do nothing just stop the learning

process from for about 10 seconds and

then return to doing what they're doing

these are these little micro rests turns

out that during those micro rests the

hippocampus the brain areas you know

that's associated with learning in

memory and the neocortex also associated

with learning in memory under goes

replay of the thing that the individual

is trying to learn at 20 times the speed

also in Reverse just as in sleep and

that can lead and has been shown to lead

to accelerations in learning so whether

or not you're a child or an adult every

so often when trying to learn something

just pause for 10 seconds or so do your

best to just clear your mind of course

it's very hard to clear the mind and

then go back to the learning task as as

it were and that has been shown to very

to significantly accelerate the learning

process and the retention of newly

learned

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