Leveraging Ultradian Cycles by Huberman
Huberman tries to get at least one, usually two 90-minute sessions of work on something cognitively challenging, per day
- He tries to do this every day, (even on the weekends) — circuits for focus are plastic and strengthened when used repeatably
Most people know that these 90-minute cycles are happening while we sleep, but most (including me), don’t know when their rhythms begin
- These cycles are orchestrated by our glucocorticoid system
- I can figure out my optimal working hours by observing when I have peak mental/physical energy between waking and noon, and between noon and 6-7pm
Glucocorticoids peaks early in the morning before leveling out throughout the day, but(!) they don’t actually level out entirely, they bounce up and down, which continues to shift our ultradian cycles (so the cycle isn’t exactly 90 minutes)
Within each 90-minute cycle, I’ll have about 60 minutes where I can really get into a deep focus — it will take ~10-15 minutes to “warm up”, but at that point, my neurons should be primed for learning