Snapshot · The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
Sunscreen, computers, and air conditioning all became widespread in the 1980s, triggering the vitamin D deficiency epidemic by keeping people indoors and blocking UV exposure.
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At 17:05 · chapter starts 15:15
With the brainstem anatomy established, Dr. Gominak turns to chemistry. What chemical is the brainstem lacking that prevents it from executing normal REM sleep? She zeroes in on acetylcholine — the neurotransmitter of the parasympathetic nervous system. Unlike adrenaline and noradrenaline, which have drug analogues, there are no drugs that replicate acetylcholine. But there is a pathway: vitamin D binds to a receptor inside the nucleus of brainstem cells, activating DNA to express a specific protein — an enzyme called choline acetyltransferase — which in turn synthesises acetylcholine. Lose vitamin D, lose the enzyme, lose the neurotransmitter, lose the ability to enter REM sleep. She contextualises the scale of the problem: sunscreen, computers, and air conditioning all became mainstream in the 1980s. In her class of 300 teenagers before that era, only two were overweight. The diseases now epidemic — ADHD, depression, non-alcoholic fatty liver, rising diabetes — all first appeared or spiked in that same decade. She frames this as a chemical deficiency state created by an indoor civilisation, not a moral failing of individuals.
Sunscreen, air conditioning, and computers all went mainstream in the 1980s. At the same time, ADHD, depression, non-alcoholic fatty liver, and rising diabetes rates were first reported. Dr. Gominak says these aren't coincidences — they're the same story.
Vitamins are a form of biohacking — and if you take them without understanding the underlying biochemistry, bad things will happen. The same outcome you were trying to fix can get worse.
Dr. Gominak estimates billions of people worldwide have abnormal sleep, with sleep study centers in every electrified country publishing abnormal findings.
Making the first hour of your day high-cortisol and the last hour low-cortisol is described as the single most impactful daily habit for mood, focus, alertness, stress resilience, and sleep quality.
A Washington University in St. Louis study found that a great night's sleep produces attention-improvement effects effectively equal to Ritalin.
In the 4 to 6 hours after exercise, dopamine and norepinephrine are elevated, making you more alert and better able to focus — unless you've exercised to exhaustion.
The physiological sigh — two big inhales followed by a full exhale — was discovered by physiologists in the 1930s and is the fastest way to reduce autonomic arousal.
Doing just 10 deliberate exhales throughout the day can significantly elevate heart rate variability by the evening, by repeatedly activating the vagal sinoatrial node pathway.
For nicotine to have a genuine cognitive-enhancing effect rather than merely rescuing withdrawal deficit, Huberman recommends using it only once or twice per week at 3–6 mg.
Because vaping can be done anywhere and is more palatable, people consume far more nicotine via vaping than they ever did smoking, potentially making vaping more dangerous in aggregate despite being safer per puff.
Huberman reported that two injections of approximately 100–200 micrograms of BPC-157 eliminated persistent shoulder pain that had resisted months of other interventions.
Huberman reported that on nights he used the peptide pinealon, he achieved 2.5 to 3 hours of REM sleep inside 6 hours — an unusually high proportion normally only found in the final hours of longer sleep.
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