Andrew Huberman's Sources

“L-tyrosine is the precursor to a couple other molecules like L-DOPA, et cetera, that make dopamine.”

“Full disclosure, I sometimes take L-tyrosine. I'm not taking it right now, but I take it only occasionally.”

“People with preexisting hyper dopaminergic conditions like mania should probably not take L-tyrosine.”

“The other thing about taking L-tyrosine is there is a crash. It can produce a crash and a lethargy and a kind of brain fog after the next day or so.”

“...5-HTP supplements can of course increase 5-HTP or serotonin, but that sometimes can create problems in endogenous or self-made production of serotonin.”

“I have the problem that if I take serotonin supplements, 5-HTP, I fall asleep. The sleep I have is very intense and I wake up three or four hours later.”

“...5-HTP produces a notable decrease in appetite, based on three studies.”

“It does seem to increase cortisol though they report as a minor effect.”

“Inside the bean is L-DOPA. Mucuna pruriens is not just something that promotes dopamine release; it is chemically L-DOPA, the precursor to dopamine.”

“Symptoms of Parkinson disease are notably degraded with Mucuna pruriens.”

“It has effects on feelings of subjective wellbeing, testosterone, and reductions in prolactin.”

“Mucuna pruriens I've tried. It was too dopaminergic for me. I got really, really jazzed up and then a severe crash for me the next day.”

“The omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acid ratio has a profound effect on depression. It has a profound effect on mood.”

“A thousand milligrams a day of EPA was as effective as 20 milligrams of fluoxetine over the course of eight weeks in reducing depressive symptoms.”

“A couple years later I did in fact start taking a thousand milligrams per day of EPA in fish oil.”

“Krill oil... I personally didn't react well to krill. It didn't make me feel very good. I had some kind of skin itches and things like that.”

“Even within the category of fish oil there's a concern sometimes about mercury and other contaminants.”

“L-carnitine actually has some really impressive effects on depression.”

“L-carnitine has been shown to reduce symptoms of fibromyalgia.”

“Rates of pregnancy go way up when people are taking L-carnitine. Both the source of sperm and the source of egg are affected in ways that favor pregnancy.”

“It also has been shown to have a notable decrease in the symptoms of autism.”

“I'd be remiss if I didn't mention another effect of acetyl L-carnitine... which is its effect in reducing the symptoms of migraine.”

“I do believe in probiotics, I take probiotics.”

“If you take lots and lots of certain probiotics like lactobacillus and you really ramp up the levels more, it is not a case of more is better. There are things like brain fog that can come from that.”

“Magnesium threonate and magnesium bisglycinate are interchangeable in my mind, but they are both superior to other forms of magnesium for sake of sleep because of the way that they cross the blood-brain barrier.”

“Apigenin, the chamomile extract, 50 milligrams of that seems to really accelerate the passage into sleep for a number of people.”

“I certainly take 300 milligrams of Alpha-GPC from time to time.”

“I took some turmeric and I noticed that I just didn't feel right. It flatlined my DHT. I came off it and was immediately fine.”

“The two things that were effective for me were 400 milligrams of Tongkat Ali... it's supposed to lower sex hormone binding globulin.”

“I take a lot of supplements but most of them are of the kind of conventional kind, right? You know, fish oil, some D3, some zinc.”

“I take a lot of supplements but most of them are of the kind of conventional kind, right? You know, fish oil, some D3, some zinc.”

“Creatine obviously is a great supplement for raising DHT. Some people are DHT hyper-responders to creatine.”

“Fadogia Agrestis at 600 milligrams, which is actually one-third of what's recommended on the bottle.”

“I tried DHEA some years ago. Zero zip. Actually, the only effect that it gave me was to make me feel kind of lousy.”

“Fadogia Agrestis seems to increase luteinizing hormone in a non-positive feedback or negative feedback type way.”

“I tried keto including taking liquid ketone esters and I got psoriasis on my scalp that was unbelievable. I stopped the ketone esters, put carbohydrates back in my diet, and it went away within a week.”

“I do take boron... I think it's two to four milligrams.”

“I am a big believer based on really good data that you want to get two grams of EPA in your system every day for the antidepressant effects and the blood lipid profile effects.”

“I get the probiotics from the Athletic Greens. I used to supplement with capsule probiotics, but I don't do that anymore because they are ridiculously expensive for what they are.”

“I take some grape seed extract, some ginger.”

“I take some grape seed extract, some ginger.”

“I take some K2 on your recommendation and I noticed that my cardiac markers got better.”

“I take some garlic extract. I sometimes take some CLA, sometimes take some green tea extract.”

“I sometimes take some green tea extract.”

“Melatonin is potentially detrimental to some hormone systems. In particular, it suppresses a hormone pathway that involves luteinizing hormone, testosterone in men, and estrogen in females.”

“Stimulants like caffeine in coffee or tea can really help you push past that afternoon barrier and get you to sleep more like on the local schedule.”

“Concentrations of melatonin in many commercial supplements have been shown to be anywhere from 85% to 400% of what's listed on the bottle.”

“Super physiological levels of melatonin that are present in a lot of these supplements could have dramatic effects on the timing and course of things like puberty in developing children.”

“Melatonin is used widely for inducing sleepiness when you want to fall asleep in the new location that you've arrived.”

“In the elderly, melatonin might be a viable option for those who are having trouble falling and staying asleep.”

“Magnesium has been shown to increase the depth of sleep and decrease the amount of time that it takes to fall asleep.”

“Magnesium threonate seems to be the more bioavailable form of magnesium and is shadowed preferentially to the brain where it engages the GABA pathway.”

“Magnesium glycinate can be similar to magnesium threonate in terms of which tissues it is shadowed to.”

“Magnesium malate is preferentially shadowed to the muscle for muscle repair or restoring magnesium stores in the periphery.”

“Magnesium citrate's main effect seems to be a laxative effect as opposed to a cognitive effect.”

“Theanine activates certain GABA pathways which are involved in turning off top-down processing and thinking, making it easier to fall asleep.”

“...100 milligrams to 300 milligrams of theanine has a calming effect.”

“I recommend taking magnesium and theanine 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime, with or without food.”

“I recommend taking magnesium and theanine 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime, with or without food.”

“For sleepwalkers, theanine can be a problem because it increases the intensity of your dreams and gives you very vivid dreams.”

“Apigenin acts as a little bit of a hypnotic by activating chloride channels and increasing GABA in the brain, basically making you feel a little sleepy.”

“Apigenin has anti-estrogenic effects, so if you want to keep your estrogen up, you might want to be cautious about it.”

“Caffeine effectively operates as a adenosine antagonist. It works by basically occupying the receptor for adenosine... caffeine prevents the actions of adenosine. That's one of the reasons why caffeine makes us feel alert.”

“Magnesium threonate, apigenin, and theanine, which together can really enhance the speed at which one falls asleep and people's ability to stay asleep and to really get into those deep stages of sleep that are particularly restorative.”

“Magnesium threonate, apigenin, and theanine, which together can really enhance the speed at which one falls asleep and people's ability to stay asleep and to really get into those deep stages of sleep that are particularly restorative.”

“Magnesium threonate, apigenin, and theanine, which together can really enhance the speed at which one falls asleep and people's ability to stay asleep and to really get into those deep stages of sleep that are particularly restorative.”

“Inositol also turns out to be especially useful for people who have a tendency to wake up in the middle of the night and have a hard time falling back asleep. It also has some interesting and potent effects on anxiety throughout the day.”

“I'm talking about taking 900 milligrams of myo-inositol also 30 to 60 minutes before sleep along with the standard sleep stack and I found that to be immensely beneficial.”

“I highly recommend that everybody delay their caffeine intake for 90 to 120 minutes after waking. You want to clear out whatever residual adenosine is circulating in your system in that first 90 to 120 minutes of the day.”

“Really try and avoid any caffeine, certainly avoid drinking more than a hundred milligrams of caffeine after 4:00 p.m. and probably even better to limit your last caffeine intake to 3:00 p.m. or even 2:00 p.m.”

“For many people however taking 145 milligrams of magnesium threonate can be very beneficial. That's the dosage that most people will benefit from.”

“...50, 5-0, milligrams of apigenin. And again, you could just take the apigenin on its own.”

“...100 to 400 milligrams of theanine taken, again, alone or in combination with the other supplements mentioned in this stack.”

“About 5% of people report that magnesium threonate really disrupts their gut. It gives them diarrhea or gastric distress, in which case don't take it.”

“Many people who can tolerate magnesium threonate and like apigenin might find that theanine, even at the lowest dose of a hundred milligrams, gives them such vivid dreams that they actually find it disruptive or they wake up in the middle of the night.”

“The ideal time to take those is 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime, especially if you haven't had anything to eat for the three hours or so before bedtime.”

“Melatonin indeed can help us fall asleep, but the dosages of melatonin that are contained in most commercial products is far, far, far greater than what we would make endogenously. So it's really supraphysiological.”

“Every third or fourth night, I will take two grams of glycine and 100 milligrams of GABA in addition to the standard sleep stack... which I find greatly enhances my ability to get into sleep.”

“Every third or fourth night, I will take two grams of glycine and 100 milligrams of GABA in addition to the standard sleep stack... which I find greatly enhances my ability to get into sleep.”

“More recently, I've also started using inositol, in particular myo-inositol. Every other night, I'll take 900 milligrams of myo-inositol in addition to mag threonate, apigenin, and theanine.”

“Caffeine, for most people, except a very small percentage of people, wakes them up, it makes them feel more alert. In fact, some people are so sensitive to caffeine that they feel jittery if they drink it even in small amounts.”

“Caffeine acts as an adenosine antagonist. It binds to the adenosine receptor, it sort of parks there just like a car would park in a given parking slot, and therefore, adenosine can't park in that slot.”

“Caffeine has a lot of health benefits, it also, for some people, can be problematic for health, it can raise blood pressure, et cetera.”

“Should I take melatonin? My personal bias on this is, except in rare cases, no.”

“Melatonin has a second function, which is that melatonin also suppresses the onset of puberty. In kids, and especially in babies, melatonin isn't just released in the evening 12 to 16 hours after we wake.”

“Melatonin will help you fall asleep but it won't help you stay asleep, and many people who take melatonin find that they wake up three to five hours later unable to fall back asleep.”

“In commercially available melatonin, the amount of melatonin has been tested for various brands, and it can range anywhere from being 15% of what's listed on the bottle or up to 400 times more than what's listed on the bottle.”

“Let's say you take an aspirin and you don't normally take aspirin, you will shift your circadian rhythm. Anytime you ingest a compound at high potency, you're going to provide some shift to your circadian rhythm.”

“Certain forms of magnesium can have positive effects on sleepiness and the ability to stay asleep, mainly by way of increasing neurotransmitters like GABA which help turn off the DPO, the kind of thinking about the future.”

“There are a lot of forms of magnesium out there, but in particular is magnesium threonate which is associated with transporters in the body that bring more of it into cells that allow people to feel this kind of drowsiness.”

“I personally take 3 or 400 milligrams of magnesium threonate about 30 to 60 minutes before sleep, and it helps me fall asleep.”

“...100 to 200 milligrams of theanine for me also helps me turn off my mind and fall asleep. I take it 30 to 60 minutes throughout the day.”

“It's probably the taurine, excessive levels of taurine can create some microvascular damage. So if you're having microvascular damage in your eye, you probably have microvascular damage deeper in your skull.”

“I stopped, that's the reason why I don't take energy drinks. Just a consideration, I just want to arm you with information.”

“...50 milligrams of apigenin also can augment or support this kind of creation of a sleepiness to help fall asleep and stay asleep.”

“Theanine can often make your dreams very vivid, sleepwalkers should be careful about taking theanine.”

“Apigenin is a fairly potent estrogen inhibitor, so women who want to keep their estrogen levels high should probably avoid apigenin altogether.”

“Some people take vitamin B6 in order to reduce prolactin levels and thereby reduce the duration of the refractory period.”

“DHEA will increase both testosterone and estrogen. The extent to which it increases one or the other will depend on whether or not you have a lot of aromatase.”

“Certain collections of nutrients are useful for promoting testosterone and estrogen production in their proper ratios. Those things are vitamin D, zinc, magnesium, et cetera.”

“Certain collections of nutrients are useful for promoting testosterone and estrogen production in their proper ratios. Those things are vitamin D, zinc, magnesium, et cetera.”

“Certain collections of nutrients are useful for promoting testosterone and estrogen production in their proper ratios. Those things are vitamin D, zinc, magnesium, et cetera.”

“I personally have supplemented with zinc, magnesium, and vitamin D for years.”

“I personally have supplemented with zinc, magnesium, and vitamin D for years.”

“I personally have supplemented with zinc, magnesium, and vitamin D for years.”

“Creatine either increases 5-alpha reductase or makes the testosterone molecule more susceptible to certain enzymatic reactions that leads to increases in DHT.”

“Creatine can increase DHT, which means that if you take creatine and you're very DHT-susceptible, then you might experience some hair loss.”

“Tongkat ali has been shown in several studies to have some pro-fertility, pro-free testosterone, and subtle aphrodisiac effects.”

“People take this anywhere from 400 to 800 milligrams a day. It liberates some of the bound testosterone and allows more free testosterone to be available.”

“Boron, there's some scientific support for it freeing up more testosterone.”

“The amounts of boron that people take, people take a couple grams of it a day.”

“Fadogia agrestis can increase levels of luteinizing hormone and thereby levels of testosterone or levels of estrogen.”

“Omega-3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid, CLA, either from food or from supplements, stimulate the release of CCK which then reduces, or at least blunts appetite.”

“Glutamine can trigger the release of CCK very potently. It helps reduce the activity of those AgRP neurons that promote feeding.”

“You should always check with a doctor, especially if you have any predisposition to cancers or you have cancer; many cancers and tumors like glutamine.”

“Glutamine can actually reduce sugar cravings. I know many other people have of taking a teaspoon or a couple teaspoons of glutamine several times throughout the day or anytime they crave sugar.”

“Glutamine alone can have a small increase in blood sugar. Especially you diabetics should know that.”

“Berberine's actions very much mimic Metformin. It activates a certain pathway that's associated with fasting and low blood glucose.”

“When I took berberine, I got a pretty splitting headache. So for me it was a no, almost immediately.”

“I became so hypoglycemic that in order to get my blood sugar back up, I think I ate something like 10 donuts and I didn't feel like I had ingested all that much sugar.”

“It radically decreases your blood sugar levels. It actually lowers cholesterol and acts on the liver, which is involved in cholesterol metabolism.”

“Direct contact of berberine on canker sores seems to eliminate canker sores very quickly.”

“L-carnitine has a relationship to power output and ATP production for both aerobic and anaerobic exercise as well as sperm quality and egg quality.”

“Caffeine has very reliably been shown to increase blood glucose just a little bit.”

“Magnesium can also have a modest reduction in blood glucose.”

“Vitamin B3 in particular does indeed stimulate appetite by triggering increases in blood glucose.”

“Zinc seems to lower blood glucose.”

“There are a lot of men and women taking Tongkat Ali to reduce sex hormone binding globulin levels to increase testosterone and estrogen in some cases libido and so forth.”

“...1 to 3 grams per day of capsule form L-carnitine is what's been suggested to improve egg quality and sperm quality.”

“The dosages of D-chiro-inositol that are recommended tend to be 1/25th to 1/40th of the myoinositol dose.”

“Improvements in egg quality that is chromosomal arrangements... the likelihood of sperm being forward fast swimmers as opposed to twitchers or rem motile and having proper morphology.”

“One way to offset the increases in TMAO caused by oral L-carnitine is to take 600 milligrams of garlic per day.”

“...100 to 400 milligrams per day... taken generally with a meal and ideally a meal that contains fat.”

“...400 milligrams per day... taken as once a day early in the day... has been shown to increase free testosterone by way of reducing something called sex hormone binding globulin.”

“I talked about inositol and in particular taking 900 milligrams of myoinositol prior to sleep which is something that I do.”

“Myoinositol is often recommended for people that want to improve egg and sperm quality because of the way that it can positively impact insulin sensitivity.”

“Myoinositol at dosages of 1 to 5 grams per day... has been suggested to improve egg quality and sperm quality.”

“D-chiro-inositol because of the ways that it can balance androgens and offset some of the negative effects of polycystic ovarian syndrome.”

“Getting at least one gram per day of the EPA form of omega-3s... and as high as two or even three grams per day.”

“Zinc dosages that are pretty high of about 120 milligrams taken twice per day with meals can significantly increase testosterone and dihydrotestosterone.”

“Zinc in both animals... and in humans strongly impact the enzymatic functions in the testes including the function of androgen binding protein.”

“If you've ever taken zinc on an empty stomach... you can feel very nauseous not well for a few hours so make sure that you're taking zinc with full meals.”

“If you're going to supplement with vitamin D, probably start at the lower end of supplementation like 1,000 to 3,000 IU, maybe 5,000 IU. Best would be to measure your vitamin D levels.”

“You often will find studies that show statistically significant improvements in collagen composition and skin appearance and even the appearance of reduction in wrinkles.”

“When people supplement with anywhere from 5 to 15 grams of hydrolyzed collagen per day, in particular in combination with vitamin C, one can observe some visible improvements in skin composition.”

“If one decides to go down this route of supplementing, you want to aim for anywhere from 15 grams to 30 grams of collagen peptides per day, and that whole process can be augmented through ingestion of 500 to 1,000 milligrams of Vitamin C.”

“That whole process can be augmented through ingestion of 500 to 1,000 milligrams of Vitamin C as well.”

“Copper has been shown to play a key role in DNA repair, which is a critical component of the turnover of collagen. It has been shown to reduce so-called reactive oxygen species and reduced inflammation.”

“Too much copper is a problem. If you start supplementing with copper beyond that, you can induce an inflammatory response.”

“When taken at twice per day at a dosage of 500 milligrams per dose for a total of 1 gram or 1,000 milligrams per day, niacinamide supplementation can increase the production of ceramides.”

“Niacinamide supplementation can reduce inflammation of skin overall. It also appears to balance the level of oil production in the skin.”

“Hyaluronic acid is a natural component of the skin that provides a physical substrate for holding in water. It gives that kind of plumping, moist look of skin that's characteristic of youthful skin.”

“I personally am a big believer in supplementing with liquid form fish oil. That's what I do.”

“She appropriately cautions against supplementing with vitamin A because as a fat-soluble vitamin, it's very easy to overdose vitamin A if one is supplementing with too much of it.”

“There's a little bit of data suggesting that if you chronically take pill probiotics that yield very high levels of bacteria, then maybe there's some associated brain fog.”

“...100 to 300 milligrams this is a typical daily dose of caffeine.”

“It's going to be just fine to ingest caffeine before you train. It's not going to impact your body temperature and your vasodilation or constriction in ways that will hinder you.”

“If you're not a regular caffeine user and you're thinking, 'Oh, I'm going to drink a cup of coffee and get this huge performance enhancing effect,' that's not going to happen. Chances are it's going to lead to increases in body temperature... that is going to likely diminish performance.”

“If you enjoy caffeine and you're accustomed to it, so-called caffeine adapted, enjoy it before your training.”

“If I were to just elevate my basal level of dopamine by taking, I don't know, 1500 milligrams of L-tyrosine or something, that would be bad because the increase in dopamine would actually be much lower... you're actually going to learn less well.”

“Alpha GPC typically is taken in dosages of about 300 to 600 milligrams. For the cognitive effects, the dosages are much higher up to 1200 milligrams daily divided into three doses of 400 milligrams.”

“Alpha GPC have been shown to do a number of things that for some of you might be beneficial. One is to enhance power output.”

“The effects on cognitive decline are described as notable. Several studies showed a significant but modest effect on in offsetting cognitive decline, in particular in older populations.”

“Power output was notable. A study noted a 14% increase in power output.”

“The symptoms of Alzheimer's have been shown at least among the nutraceuticals of which alpha GPC is to significantly improve cognition in people with Alzheimer's.”

“Fat oxidation is increased by alpha GPC, growth hormone release is promoted by alpha GPC although to a small degree.”

“For physical learning, it appears to be the opposite that if caffeine is in your practice... you would want to do that before the training, take it before the training use it.”

“If you decide to try alpha GPC that you would want to do that before the training, take it before the training use it.”