Andrew Huberman - How to Focus to Change Your Brain | Huberman Lab Essentials
发布时间:2024-12-19 13:00:11
原节目
好的,这是对Huberman Lab Essentials 关于神经可塑性的一集的总结,重点关注关键原则和可操作的工具:
**神经可塑性:大脑的改变能力**
神经可塑性,即神经系统响应经验而发生改变的能力,是学习、适应和克服挑战的基础。虽然我们的大脑从出生起就被“设置为改变”,但随着年龄的增长,我们重新连接大脑的难易程度会降低。婴儿的神经系统为学习做好了准备,但随着经验的积累,神经系统会变得定制化,以适应独特的个人经历。然而,一些重要的回路,比如那些控制呼吸和心跳的回路,被设计为具有抗改变性。虽然大脑在青春期后停止产生大量的新神经元,但如果创造了正确的化学和环境条件,它仍然能够发生显著的改变。
**成人神经可塑性的三大支柱**
Huberman强调,解锁成人神经可塑性的关键在于激活三个关键的神经化学系统:
1. **肾上腺素(肾上腺素):** 这种神经化学物质,从脑干的蓝斑释放,发出警觉性和注意力的信号。产生肾上腺素包括利用恐惧、爱或恨作为学习的动力因素。
2. **乙酰胆碱(来自脑干):** 这种神经调节剂,从上丘脑旁核释放,就像聚光灯一样,过滤感觉输入,增强“信噪比”。
3. **乙酰胆碱(来自基底核):** 这种释放,加上脑干的乙酰胆碱和肾上腺素,创造了加强或削弱神经通路所必需的条件。
播客强调,仅仅体验某事并不能保证大脑的改变。当我们有选择地转移注意力,以告诉大脑是时候改变时,才会发生改变。
**注意力是改变的关键驱动因素**
播客强调了集中注意力对于开启可塑性的重要性。实验表明,只要成年人将注意力集中在相关的感觉输入上,他们就可以迅速改变他们的大脑表征。仅仅是体验,没有集中的注意力,不会诱导可塑性。
**增强神经可塑性的实用工具**
Huberman提供了几个可操作的工具,用于挖掘神经可塑性的机制:
* **优先考虑警觉性:** 优化您的睡眠时间表,以确保在学习期间保持警觉。确定您自然最警觉的时间,并将这段时间用于专注学习。
* **利用动机:** 挖掘不同的动机来源——爱、恨、恐惧或个人目标——以提高您的警觉性和能量。
* **参与视觉聚焦:** 练习有意的视觉聚焦,以此来增强心理聚焦。您可以通过将您的视觉注意力保持在屏幕上的一个小的、静态的位置上来做到这一点。缩小您的视野,稍微向焦点交叉您的眼睛,会触发乙酰胆碱和肾上腺素的释放。
* **听觉聚焦:** 通过闭上眼睛并注意声音来使用听觉聚焦,这有助于创建一个听觉注意力的锥体。
* **以90分钟为一个单位进行聚焦:** 将学习会话组织成90分钟的周期,承认注意力会时而增强,时而减弱。可以通过移除设备来减少干扰。允许在开始时进行热身。
**休息和睡眠的重要性**
神经可塑性不仅仅发生在清醒时。巩固新的学习主要发生在睡眠期间。确保您在学习后获得足够的睡眠,并且学习没有受到干扰。如果睡眠不好,学习可能仍然会在第二天晚上发生。学习后立即进行的短暂的“非睡眠深度休息”(NSDR)或短时间的午睡(90分钟或更短)可以显著加速可塑性的速率。这些NSDR协议创造了一个空间,让你的大脑没有组织性的想法。
**结论**
Huberman最后强调,可塑性发生在整个生命周期中。有了正确的工具,任何人都可以利用他们大脑的改变能力。达到一个人不害怕或羞于追求目标的地步,可以帮助创造更多的能量和注意力来为目标服务。通过理解可塑性的神经化学基础,并通过结合简单的行为技巧(如视觉注意力),人们可以在任何年龄学习和适应。
Here's a summary of the Huberman Lab Essentials episode on Neuroplasticity, focusing on key principles and actionable tools:
**Neuroplasticity: The Brain's Capacity for Change**
Neuroplasticity, the nervous system's ability to change in response to experience, is fundamental to learning, adaptation, and overcoming challenges. While our brains are "wired to change" from birth, the ease with which we can rewire our brains diminishes as we age. The nervous system of a baby is primed for learning, but with experience, the nervous system becomes customized to unique individual experiences. However, some essential circuits, like those controlling breathing and heartbeat, are designed to be resistant to change. While the brain stops producing significant numbers of new neurons after puberty, it remains capable of significant change if the right chemical and environmental conditions are created.
**The Three Pillars of Adult Neuroplasticity**
Huberman highlights that the key to unlocking neuroplasticity in adults lies in engaging three critical neurochemical systems:
1. **Epinephrine (Adrenaline):** This neurochemical, released from the locus coeruleus in the brainstem, signals alertness and attention. Generating epinephrine involves using fear, love, or hate as a motivating factor for learning.
2. **Acetylcholine (from Brainstem):** This neuromodulator, released from the parabigeminal nucleus, acts like a spotlight, filtering sensory input and enhancing the "signal-to-noise" ratio.
3. **Acetylcholine (from Nucleus Basalis):** This release, combined with the brainstem acetylcholine and epinephrine, creates the conditions necessary for neural pathways to strengthen or weaken.
The podcast emphasizes that simply experiencing something doesn't guarantee brain change. Changes happen when we selectively shift our attention in a way that tells the brain it is time to change.
**Attention as a Key Driver of Change**
The podcast stresses the importance of focused attention to open up plasticity. Experiments reveal that adults can rapidly change their brain representations, provided they pay focused attention to the relevant sensory inputs. Mere experience, without focused attention, does not induce plasticity.
**Practical Tools for Enhancing Neuroplasticity**
Huberman provides several actionable tools for tapping into the mechanisms of neuroplasticity:
* **Prioritize Alertness:** Optimize your sleep schedule to ensure alertness during learning periods. Identify the time of day when you are naturally most alert and dedicate this time to focused learning.
* **Leverage Motivation:** Tap into different sources of motivation—love, hate, fear, or personal goals—to increase your alertness and energy.
* **Engage Visual Focus:** Practice intentional visual focus as a way to enhance mental focus. You can do this by maintaining your visual attention on a small, static location on your screen. Narrowing your visual field and slightly crossing your eyes toward a focal point triggers the release of acetylcholine and epinephrine.
* **Auditory Focus:** Use auditory focus by closing your eyes and attending to sounds, which helps create an cone of auditory attention.
* **Focus in 90-Minute Bouts:** Structure learning sessions in 90-minute cycles, acknowledging that focus will ebb and flow. Distractions can be reduced by removing devices. Allow for warm-up at the start.
**The Importance of Rest and Sleep**
Neural plasticity doesn't solely occur during wakefulness. Consolidating new learnings occurs primarily during sleep. Make sure that you get enough sleep after a learning bout, and that learning is not interfered with. If sleep is poor, the learning may still occur the next night. Brief periods of "non-sleep deep rest" (NSDR) or short naps (90 minutes or less) immediately after learning can significantly accelerate the rate of plasticity. These NSDR protocols create a space where your mind is not organized in thought.
**Conclusion**
Huberman concludes by emphasizing that plasticity occurs throughout the lifespan. With the right tools, anyone can harness the power of their brain's capacity for change. Getting to the point when one is not afraid or ashamed to pursue goals, can help create more energy and attention for goals. Through understanding the neurochemical underpinnings of plasticity and by incorporating simple behavioral techniques such as visual attention, one can learn and adapt at any age.