The Science of Vision, Eye Health & Seeing Better

Name: The Science of Vision, Eye Health & Seeing Better
Uploaded: 2021-06-14T12:00:08.000Z
Duration: 3 h 38 min 38 s

# Introduction

In this section, Andrew Huberman introduces the podcast and its purpose. He also thanks the sponsors of the podcast.

Introducing the Podcast

Andrew Huberman introduces himself as a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine.

The podcast is separate from his teaching and research roles at Stanford.

The purpose of the podcast is to bring science-based tools for everyday life to the general public.

Sponsors

Roka eyeglasses and sunglasses are designed with utmost care and attention to the science of optics and visual system. They are lightweight, don't slip off when sweaty, perform well under all conditions, and have a nice aesthetic. Use code "Huberman" at checkout on roka.com for 20% off your first order.

Inside Tracker is a personalized nutrition platform that analyzes data from your blood and DNA to help you better understand your body and reach your health goals. They have an easy-to-use dashboard platform that informs you what sorts of lifestyle, nutrition, exercise changes you might want to make according to levels of particular metabolic factors in your blood and DNA. Use code "Huberman" at checkout on insidetracker.com/huberman for 25% off any plan.

Helix Sleep makes mattresses and pillows ideally suited to your sleep needs by matching you with a specific mattress based on a brief quiz about how you sleep (on stomach/side/back), whether you run hot or cold etc. Take their quiz on helixsleep.com for more information.

# Helix Sleep Mattresses

In this section, Andrew Huberman talks about Helix Sleep mattresses.

Personalized Mattresses

Everybody needs something different in terms of what they sleep on.

Helix Sleep matches you to a specific mattress based on a brief quiz about how you sleep (on stomach/side/back), whether you run hot or cold etc.

# Conclusion

In this section, Andrew Huberman concludes the podcast and thanks the sponsors again.

Conclusion

Andrew Huberman concludes the podcast by thanking the sponsors again.

He encourages listeners to check out Roka, Inside Tracker, and Helix Sleep for more information.

# Helix Sleep Mattress

This section talks about how to get a customized mattress from Helix Sleep and the benefits of using their product.

How to Get a Customized Mattress

Visit helixsleep.com/huberman

Take their two-minute quiz

They will match you to a customized mattress

Benefits of Using Helix Sleep Mattress

Up to $200 off any mattress order and two free pillows

10-year warranty on that mattress

Try it out for 100 nights risk-free. If you don't like it, they'll come pick it up and take it away. You won't get charged, you'll get your money back.

# Endurance Training

This section discusses endurance training and how to program it if you are also interested in strength and hypertrophy training.

Concurrent Training

Describes how to program endurance training if you are also interested in strength and hypertrophy training.

Ask yourself what are you trying to emphasize, then emphasize that for a 10 to 12 week cycle.

If mostly interested in endurance use a three-to-two ratio, maybe get three endurance training workouts per week, maybe four, and two strength and hypertrophy workouts.

If mainly focusing on strength and hypertrophy, get three or four workouts for strength and hypertrophy and do two endurance workouts.

Starting with Minimum Number of Sets

Start with the minimum number of sets required to get the result that you want.

If not accustomed to doing endurance work start with the minimum number listed on that protocol.

Work your way up by adding sets each week.

Rest Days

Suggests people get at least one complete rest day per week.

Benefit from having two complete rest days each week.

Suggests taking anywhere from five to seven days completely off after a 10 to 12 week cycle.

# The Senses

This section introduces the topic of the senses and how understanding them can help with mental health.

Introduction

Starting with this episode and for the next four to five episodes, we are going to talk all about the senses.

Sight, eyesight, hearing, touch, taste, smell

Also going to talk about interoception or our sense of our internal real estate.

Understanding how the senses are perceived will be in a terrific position to understand the month's topic that follows which is all about mental health.

Relevance

Even if you don't have any trouble seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling and has an excellent sense of interoception these episodes will still be very relevant.

They have everything to do with how you move through the world, how you make sense of information and how you organize your thoughts and emotions.

Practical Tools

Going to cover a lot of practical tools.

# Introduction

In this section, the speaker introduces the topic of maintaining eye health and visual system. The speaker emphasizes that young people should train and support their eyesight to maintain it as they age.

Maintaining Eye Health

Young people who see perfectly should reinforce their visual system to prevent vision loss as they age.

Visual system affects mental and physical performance.

People with clinical disorders of vision or need corrective lenses should consult a good ophthalmologist/optometrist.

Information discussed in this episode is relevant to everyone.

# What is Vision?

In this section, the speaker explains what vision is and how it works. The speaker also describes how the visual system impacts mood and level of alertness.

Definition of Vision

Vision involves eyesight, our ability to perceive shapes, objects, faces, colors, etc.

Eyes are responsible for much more than just eyesight including mood and level of alertness.

How Visual System Works

Light information can only get to cells through eyes.

Neural retinas are part of central nervous system outside cranial vault.

Eyes have other important parts like lens for focusing light precisely on retina.

# Eyelashes & Blink Reflex

In this section, the speaker talks about eyelashes and blink reflex.

Eyelashes & Blink Reflex

Eyelashes trigger blink reflex.

# The Neuroscience of Vision

In this section, we will learn about the role of eyelashes and eyelids in vision. We will also discuss how the eyes collect light information and send it to the brain.

Eyelashes and Eyelids

Costello has long eyelashes that protect his eyes from dust.

The eye blink reflex is the fastest reflex you own.

Eyelids are fascinating because they play a crucial role in linking your brainstem with your eyelids.

Collecting Light Information

The entire job of the eyes is to collect light information and send it off to the rest of the brain in a form that it can understand.

Photoreceptors called rods and cones convert light into electricity within the retina.

Processing Light Information

Within the retina, there are stages of processing that eventually get sent into the brain by retinal ganglion cells.

Cones are responsible for daytime vision while rods are responsible for nighttime or low-light conditions.

Perception of Objects

Everything you see around you is not seen directly but rather through electrical signals received by your brain based on patterns of electricity arriving in your brain.

Your brain compares electrical signals to come up with perceptions like seeing something green or red.

# How We See the World

In this section, the speaker explains how vision works and how different animals see the world differently.

Vision is not Direct

The brain makes a guess about how green or red or blue something is by comparing what's around it.

Light information is transformed into electrical signals that your visual system understands.

Color Perception in Animals

Dogs and cats lack cones that respond to red, meaning long wavelength light. They see green differently than humans do.

Every animal sees the world differently depending on whether they have one or two or three of these different cones: red, blue, or green cones.

Mantis shrimp can see hundreds of colors that human beings can't see.

Other Ways Animals See the World

Pit vipers sense heat emissions and literally see the heat coming off of you or an animal they want to eat.

Ground squirrels can see ultraviolet light and signal each other by standing up outside and shining sunlight off each other's stomachs to each other at a distance.

Diving birds have an arrangement of retinal cells that communicate with their brain both to view the horizon and make accurate dive attacks on schools of fish to catch them for food.

# Vision from Eye to Brain

This section explains how the eye communicates with the brain and how the brain makes guesses about what is there. It also discusses how the brain creates depth and fills in blind spots.

The Brain's Best Guess

The brain makes a best guess about what is in front of us, but it doesn't actually know what's there.

The vision of different animals, such as dogs or dichromats (people who lack a red cone), is distinctly different from human vision.

Despite this guessing, our visual impressions allow us to move functionally through the world.

Blind Spots and Depth Perception

We have a giant blind spot in the middle of our visual field that we don't see because our brain is guessing what's in that spot.

Our eyes are slightly offset from one another, which allows us to compare information about light landing on both eyes to sense depth.

Things closer to us tend to be larger and look like they're moving faster than things further away. Our prior knowledge also helps us understand that things further away are smaller.

# How Vision Works in the Brain

This section explains how much real estate in the brain is dedicated to vision and how neurons take over for those who are blind or low vision.

Real Estate for Vision

About 40% to 50% of the brain's total real estate is used for vision because it's so important.

Neurons Taking Over

For those who are blind or low vision, the real estate in the brain dedicated to vision is taken over by neurons that control sense of touch and hearing.

Blind people have higher acuity and faster hearing and touch.

# Introduction to Eyesight and Vision

This section introduces the science of seeing, eyesight, and vision. It explains that the most ancient cells in our eyes evolved to communicate information about time of day to the rest of the brain and body. The section also describes a particular category of retinal ganglion cell called melanopsin retinal ganglion cells that are involved in a special kind of vision.

Evolution of Eyesight

Eyes did not evolve for us to see shapes and colors but rather to communicate information about time of day.

Every cell in our body needs to know if it's night or day.

The most ancient cells in our eyes are involved in communicating this information.

Melanopsin Retinal Ganglion Cells

These cells have nothing to do with conscious perception but regulate when you'll get sleepy, when you'll feel awake, how fast your metabolism is, your blood sugar levels, your dopamine levels, and your pain threshold.

They behave like photoreceptors and respond best to the contrast between blue and yellow light.

Viewing sunlight for two to ten minutes in the early part of the day can help regulate these cells.

# Impact on Sleep Rhythms

This section discusses how melanopsin retinal ganglion cells impact sleep rhythms. It emphasizes that viewing sunlight for two to ten minutes in the early part of the day can help regulate sleep rhythms, mood, hormones, metabolism, pain threshold, ability to learn and remember information.

Importance of Sunlight Exposure

Not viewing sunlight for two to ten minutes in the early part of the day severely disrupts sleep rhythms.

It also affects mood, hormones, metabolism, pain threshold as well as learning and memory abilities.

Sunlight exposure helps anchor ourselves in time by regulating melanopsin retinal ganglion cells.

# Conclusion

This transcript provides an introduction to the science of seeing, eyesight, and vision. It emphasizes the importance of melanopsin retinal ganglion cells in regulating sleep rhythms and other bodily functions. The transcript also highlights the significance of sunlight exposure for regulating these cells and anchoring ourselves in time.

# The Importance of Blue Light Exposure

This section discusses the importance of blue light exposure for waking up the brain and triggering positive biological reactions.

Benefits of Blue Light Exposure

Blue light is essential for waking up the brain and triggering positive biological reactions.

Artificial lights, especially blue lights, are beneficial if sunlight is not available.

Melanopsin cells in our eyes need blue light to trigger our circadian clock, which signals every cell in our body including temperature rhythms.

Preventing Myopia

Spending two hours a day outdoors without sunglasses can reduce the probability of getting myopia or nearsightedness.

A study showed that getting sunlight during the day for two hours has a significant effect on reducing myopia.

Spending 11 hours a week outdoors can also help prevent myopia.

# Study on Outdoor Time and Myopia Prevention

This section describes a study exploring how outdoor time can prevent myopia.

Study Details

The study looked at 693 students from eight different schools.

A subset of students were encouraged to spend 11 hours a week outdoors, even if they were reading books or doing other activities outside.

The study found that spending more time outdoors reduced the probability of developing myopia or nearsightedness.

# The Benefits of Being Outdoors

In this section, the speaker discusses how spending time outdoors can reduce the probability of developing nearsightedness.

Spending Time Outdoors

Being outdoors for two hours a day can significantly reduce the probability of developing nearsightedness.

Adults who spend two hours a day outside, reading or talking, can offset the formation of myopia.

Melanopsin ganglion cells are responsible for sleep and talking to your circadian clock. They also make connections within the retina that improve the health of muscles within the eye that move the lens and allow you to adjust your vision to things up close or far away.

Getting outside for at least two hours per day without sunglasses on will allow you to offset the formation of myopia.

# How Our Eyes Adjust

In this section, the speaker explains how our eyes adjust where light lands by moving and changing shape through a process called accommodation.

Accommodation Process

The eye can dynamically adjust where light lands by moving and changing shape through a process called accommodation.

Understanding this process not only enhances eye health in both immediate and long-term but also improves focus on physical and mental work.

# Accommodation and Pupillary Reflex

In this section, the speaker discusses how accommodation works in the eyes and how it is related to the pupillary reflex.

The Eyes and Recognition of Faces

The position of irises, pupils, etc. is important for recognizing faces.

Two pupils are indicative of things happening deep in the brain.

If one pupil is bigger than the other, see a neurologist right away.

Accommodation

Accommodation is our ability to accommodate to things that are up close or further away.

When you look far away, your lens actually relaxes and can flatten out.

Looking at something up close takes effort because muscles have to move and contract so that the lens gets thicker (accommodation).

Changes in the size of the pupil also occur during accommodation.

# The Importance of Accommodation Mechanism

This section discusses the accommodation mechanism and its importance in maintaining healthy vision.

Accommodation Mechanism

The pupils dilate when looking at something far away and shrink when looking at something closer.

Spending a lot of time looking at things up close, such as phones and computers, can cause migraines and reshape neural circuitry in the brain.

Not allowing your lens to flatten out by not relaxing your eyes can cause headaches.

Looking at things up close reshapes neural circuitry in the brain, which is not healthy for vision.

To maintain healthy vision, you need to exercise these muscles by going into panoramic vision and letting your vision expand.

# How Often Should You Exercise Your Eyes?

This section discusses how often you should exercise your eyes to maintain healthy vision.

Eye Exercise Protocol

For every 30 minutes of focused work, look up every once in a while and relax your face and eye muscles.

Every 90 minutes of looking at things up close, have at least 20 to 30 minutes of non-up-close vision.

Get outside if possible or get to a window or balcony.

# Effects of Lack of Sunlight on Vision

This section discusses the effects of lack of sunlight on vision.

Lack of Sunlight

Many people are experiencing severe vision problems because they're not getting enough sunlight during the day.

Lack of sunlight can cause sleep problems and myopia.

Getting outside, going into panoramic vision, and looking at things off in the horizon can help maintain healthy vision.

# Optic Flow and Visual Behavior

This section discusses the importance of optic flow in de-stressing the visual system. It also emphasizes the significance of proper visual behavior for maintaining healthy eyesight.

Optic Flow and its Benefits

Optic flow generated by self-motion is good for the visual system, mood systems, and neuromodulator systems that regulate mood.

Self-generated optic flow can be achieved through activities like walking, biking, or swimming.

Optic flow helps to enhance vision and reduce stress on the visual system.

Importance of Visual Behavior

Proper visual behavior is crucial for maintaining healthy eyesight throughout one's lifespan.

Behaviors around vision should be prioritized before considering nutrition or supplementation to improve vision.

Simple protocols can significantly improve vision without any cost involved.

# Alertness and Eyelids

This section explains how alertness affects eyelid movement and how looking up can help stimulate wakefulness signals in the brain.

Relationship between Alertness and Eyelids

Neurons in the brain control eyelid movement based on alertness levels.

When we are tired, our eyelids close, and our chin moves down; when we are alert, our eyelids are open all the way with our chin up.

Looking Up to Stimulate Wakefulness Signals

Looking up towards the ceiling can stimulate wakefulness signals in the brain by activating melanopsin cells located at the bottom of our retina that view sunlight overhead.

This simple tool can be beneficial to the wakefulness systems of the brain, including the locus coeruleus and areas that release norepinephrine.

# The Connection Between Eye Position and Alertness

This section discusses how eye position can affect wakefulness and alertness.

Eye Position and Wakefulness

Looking at a phone or computer screen positioned below eye level can cause sleepiness and difficulty focusing.

Positioning the computer screen at or above eye level can create wakefulness and alertness.

Norepinephrine released from locus coeruleus is a powerful mechanism for waking up the brainstem circuits that control wakefulness, eyelids opening, and looking up.

Eyes up is a route to increased alertness while eyes down is a route to reduced alertness.

# The Impact of Light on Sleep Quality

This section discusses how light exposure affects sleep quality.

Light Exposure and Myopia

Children who sleep in rooms with dim lights or nightlights are more likely to develop myopia (nearsightedness).

Children who sleep in completely dark rooms have a significantly lower probability of developing myopia.

Melanopsin cells are sensitive to wavelengths of light that can penetrate through thin eyelids, making some people more prone to light exposure during sleep.

Light Exposure and Mood

Viewing even low-intensity blue light between 10:00 PM and 4:00 AM can negatively impact dopamine production, learning, immunity, blood sugar levels, and increase the risk of type two diabetes.

Blue light exposure during the middle of the night may distort melanopsin cell communication with the habenula, leading to these negative effects.

# Tips for Better Vision

In this section, Dr. Andrew Huberman shares tips on how to improve your vision.

Importance of Bright Light

Bright light activates melanopsin cells, habenula and dopamine system.

Spend at least two hours a day outside in bright light to offset myopia, support mood and metabolism.

Avoid looking at any light that is too bright during the daytime.

Try not to use nightlights as it can be beneficial for vision to sleep in a darker environment.

Colorblindness

Red-green colorblind individuals lack red cone photo pigment and see the world much like a canine or cat does.

Use magenta instead of red in slides, diagrams, menus etc. to help red-green colorblind individuals see contrast better.

Menus are required by law in the U.S. to be colorblind accessible.

Improving Vision

Spend at least 10 minutes a day viewing things off in the distance beyond four walls or doors of your car/apartment/house.

Seeing at a distance keeps lens elastic and muscles strong that move the lens which has relaxing component to it.

Smooth Pursuit

Our visual system is exquisitely tuned to motion including smooth pursuit which is our ability

to track individual objects.

# Improving Vision

In this section, the speaker talks about how to improve vision by training or exercising the visual system.

Smooth Pursuit Stimuli

You can train or improve your vision by looking at smooth pursuit stimuli.

Visually track a ball moving in various trajectories for a few minutes each day.

The brain follows the eye and has to deal with changes in smooth pursuit.

Lack of smooth pursuit type stimulation from daily life will cause mechanisms for smooth pursuit to get worse over time.

Using Visual System Regularly

Use the visual system regularly for what it was designed for, and smooth pursuit is a great way to keep the visual and motion tracking systems of the brain and the eye working in a really nice coordinate fashion.

Spend five to ten minutes, three times a week on training your vision using smooth pursuit stimuli.

Accommodation Mechanisms

Train accommodation mechanisms by spending a few minutes looking at something up close, then moving it at arm's length and focusing on it for five to twenty seconds before slowly moving it into another location.

This is similar to visual training done post-concussion to repair balance, motor, visual, and cognitive aspects of the brain.

# Post-Concussion Recovery

In this section, the speaker talks about how post-concussion recovery centers around the visual system.

Post-Concussion Recovery Centers

A lot of post-concussion recovery and training centers around the visual system because the brain's ability to make sense of its environment and parse time is affected by concussions.

# Eye Exercises

In this section, the speaker talks about eye exercises that can help improve vision and prevent age-related macular degeneration.

Accommodation Exercise

Practice accommodation by bringing something close to your eyes for a few minutes every other day.

Move the object out past the relaxation point where you will have to do what's called the vergence eye movement to maintain focus on that location as it moves out, bring it back in.

Try and see whether or not you can get things closer without getting cross-eyed.

Practice this often enough, meaning every other day, every third day or so.

Resting Your Eyes

After exercising your eyes, give them some rest. Get outside, look at a horizon or just relax your eyelids with panoramic vision.

Exercise your eye muscles and practice a little bit of smooth pursuit.

Red Light Therapy

Flashing red light into the eyes early in the day can help offset some age-related macular degeneration by enhancing mitochondrial function in photoreceptors.

Doing just a couple of minutes a day of flashing this red light into one eye and then the other before noon time seems to have a significant effect in offsetting some of the age-related macular degeneration that would otherwise occur.

# Photoreceptors and Eye Health

This section discusses the biology of photoreceptors, how they work in light and dark environments, and how blinking can help maintain eye health.

Photoreceptor Biology

Photoreceptors are some of the most metabolically active cells in the body.

Photoreceptors are actually most active in the dark due to a twist of biology that shuts off their activity when light comes on.

Whether or not you see something is because of your photoreceptors turning off, not turning on.

Blinking for Eye Health

Blinking can help maintain vision by lubricating the eyes.

Focusing for extended periods without blinking can cause dry eyes and distortions in oils and liquids across the corneal surface.

Blinking for 5-15 seconds slowly can lubricate the eyes and allow for clear optics.

# Binocular Vision and Lazy Eye

This section covers binocular vision, lazy eye, and personal experience with lazy eye.

Lazy Eye Experience

Personal experience with lazy eye caused by chlorine irritation while swimming.

Asymmetry in organization may have contributed to difficulty breathing on one side while swimming.

Binocular Vision

Discussion of binocular vision and its importance.

# The Importance of Early Eye Treatment

In this section, the speaker discusses the importance of early eye treatment and how it can affect a child's vision in the long term.

Early Eye Treatment

A few hours of occluding one eye early in life can lead to permanent changes in the way that the brain perceives the outside world.

If a child has an occlusion, covering up the other eye is needed to create an imbalance so that the weak eye has to work harder. This is sometimes referred to as amblyopia.

It is important for young people to develop strong binocular vision at both near and far distances.

Covering up one eye recreationally can create imbalances in the brain machinery that compares information coming in through both eyes.

Reversal of Eye Issues

The speaker was able to reverse his issue with occluded vision by patching his other eye and making his weak eye work harder.

The speaker's binocular vision has never been great due to this early event, but he uses other cues such as motion parallax and near-far cues.

Depth Perception

Many animals judge depth by moving their head or undulating.

Boxers and martial artists use motion parallax for slip avoidance, which generates depth perception.

Covering Both Eyes

Covering both eyes early in life does not make you blind. Hubel and Wiesel discovered that it leads to a rewiring of neural connections between both eyes.

# Balanced Visual Input

In this section, Dr. Huberman talks about the importance of balanced visual input through both eyes and how to correct imbalances.

Dominant Eye

Almost everyone has a dominant eye that is not necessarily related to their dominant hand.

Imbalances between the two eyes can be caused by cataract and lens issues or neuromuscular issues.

It is important to correct early childhood issues like strabismus where one eye deviates out or in.

Correcting Imbalances

Covering up the dominant eye a little bit each day can help balance out the visual input.

Doing eye exercises like near-far, covering up the good eye, and doing near-far with the bad eye for 10 minutes a day can help improve binocular vision.

Eye exercises of near-far, smooth pursuit, and checking for dominant and non-dominant eye can be beneficial for those experiencing challenges with fatigued eyes or differences in focus with the two eyes.

# Hallucinations

In this section, Dr. Huberman talks about hallucinations and why they occur.

Causes of Hallucinations

A study on LSD light compounds discovered that hallucinations occur because portions of your brain become underactive.

This is probably why people who go into retreats with no vision experience hallucinations as their visual system becomes under-stimulated.

# Understanding Vision

In this section, Dr. Andrew Huberman discusses how the brain makes guesses about what's out there in the world and how vision is the dominant way we evaluate our surroundings. He also talks about hallucinations and ways to improve your vision.

Brain Guesses About Surroundings

The brain makes guesses about what's out there in the auditory world for low to no vision people.

For sighted folks, light is the dominant way that we evaluate our surroundings.

Hallucinations

Hallucinations are an under-activation of the visual system.

When you're in the dark long enough, you start to hallucinate and see things.

Improving Vision

Putting a Snellen chart in your home can help improve your vision.

Your performance on the Snellen chart will vary depending on time of day due to fatigue and other mechanisms of eye muscles.

Get your vision tested by a professional like an ophthalmologist or optometrist.

Preserving your eyesight and preserving your vision is one of the most life-enhancing things that you can do.

Dispelling Myths About Improving Vision

There are no supplements or vitamins that have been shown to improve vision.

Eating carrots does not significantly improve eyesight.

Perceiving Time Using Vision

Dr. Huberman briefly touches on how we perceive time using our vision, setting up for discussion in the next episode.

# Supporting Vision with Nutrition and Supplements

In this section, the speaker discusses how to support vision through nutrition and supplements. He talks about the importance of vitamin A in supporting vision and how eating vegetables like carrots can help. He also discusses lutein, a molecule found in many supplements for vision health.

Eating Vegetables to Support Vision

Eating dark, leafy vegetables and raw foods that contain vitamin A can help support vision.

Ingesting super physiological amounts of vitamin A will not make your vision better.

Lutein for Vision Health

Lutein is a molecule found in many supplements for vision health.

Studies have shown that consuming lutein-enriched egg yolks can increase macular pigment optical density and improve visual acuity.

Supplementing with lutein may help offset some of the detrimental effects of age-related macular degeneration for individuals with moderate to severe macular degeneration.

For people with normal vision or low levels of macular degeneration, studies did not see significant improvement from supplementing with lutein.

The speaker emphasizes that he is not pushing any specific supplement on anyone but suggests talking to a physician or ophthalmologist before considering supplementation.

# Leucine, Idebenone, Lutein and Astaxanthin

In this section, the speaker discusses the benefits of leucine and non-animal sources of leucine. The speaker also talks about idebenone and its potential benefits for Leber's congenital eye disease. Additionally, the speaker mentions lutein and astaxanthin as supplements that can support vision health.

Leucine

Leucine is an essential amino acid that is important for muscle protein synthesis.

Animal sources of leucine are more bioavailable than plant-based sources.

If you don't eat animal products or don't like your eggs runny, you may not be getting enough leucine.

Non-animal sources of leucine are available.

Idebenone

Idebenone may be beneficial for Leber's congenital eye disease.

There aren't many studies on idebenone yet.

Examine.com has information on idebenone.

Lutein and Astaxanthin

Lutein is a supplement that supports vision health.

Zeaxanthins and astaxanthins are often included in supplements with lutein to support vision health.

Astaxanthin is a red-pink pigment found in seafood and flamingo feathers.

Astaxanthin has positive effects on ocular blood flow, skin elasticity, moisture, quality, and fertility in males.

Lutein and astaxanthin supplements are available for people with concerns about Leber's optic neuropathies.

It may be difficult to get sufficient concentrations of these compounds from whole foods.

# Peer-Reviewed Journals and Behavioral Tools

In this section, Dr. Huberman discusses the importance of peer-reviewed journals and provides an array of behavioral tools to enhance or support vision.

Peer-Reviewed Journals

Dr. Huberman mentions that the studies he discussed were published in quality, peer-reviewed journals.

He emphasizes that just because a study is published in a peer-reviewed journal does not mean one should start taking supplements or doing protocols described in the study.

Behavioral Tools

Dr. Huberman provides an array of behavioral tools to enhance or support vision based on factors such as family history of vision loss and occupational hazards.

He highlights that people who work with metal filings have a higher degree of risk to their visual system than those who do office work, but even those who do office work may suffer from accommodation mechanisms over time due to lack of long-view vision.

Dr. Huberman stresses the importance of having a healthy cardiovascular system through endurance and strength training exercises since blood flow is critical for the neurons in the eye which require energy and nutrients delivered by blood flow. This indirectly supports brain health and vision over time but is not sufficient alone.

# Optimal Window for Learning

In this section, Dr. Huberman talks about the optimal window for learning.

Ultradian Cycle for Learning

The optimal window for learning is 90 minutes which is called ultradian cycle for learning according to Dr.Huberman's research findings.

# How to Access Information

In this section, Dr.Huberman provides information on how to access the podcast and give feedback.

Accessing Information

Dr. Huberman encourages listeners to subscribe to the podcast on YouTube, Apple, and Spotify.

He also requests that listeners give a five-star review on Apple if they feel it is deserved and provide feedback in the comment section on YouTube.

Dr. Huberman mentions that he covers content in shorter format and more depth on Instagram @hubermanlab and all episodes are indexed and searchable on their website hubermanlab.com where links to various studies and downloadable protocols are available for free.

# Introduction

The speaker introduces the podcast and talks about their sponsors.