Advice for evening shift workers & awakeness enthusiasts
I work from 4pm to 1am and often struggle to feel tired enough to sleep soon after my shift. Could you provide specific advice and protocols for those with similar schedules? Additionally, any tips for managing post-work mental engagement with life's facets and fascinations, and becoming more willing and able to shut down and fall asleep, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Mineral Balancing
Hi, I am a HTMA (Hair tissue mineral analysis) practitioner and have seen incredible results by bringing my clients' mineral systems back into balance. Have you ever looked into the study of mineral balancing pioneered by Dr. Paul Eck and Linus Pauling who won a Nobel Prize for chemistry? I am curious to know Dr. Huberman's thoughts!
How to deal with sunlit nights?
I have heard you talk a lot about (morning) sunlight exposure and how to deal with dark months in northern countries. I have heard less about the flipside, how to deal with the months where the sun almost doesn't set in those same countries. I live in Estonia, where currently sun rises at 4:30 AM and sun sets 22:40. That makes it very difficult to get enough sleep. My protocol is currently that I sleep with heavy dark curtains and a light that automatically slowly brightens across 30 minutes by 7AM when I have my alarm. Then I go outside to walk my dog. As the sun has been up 3 hours by this time, is this good to get this light as the sun is already high up in the sun? You have mentioned that viewing "morning sunlight" at 10AM would not be early enough, as the light spectrum by that time is not the "morning" spectrum any more. Or have I misunderstood? Evening is more complicated to figure out. As sun is up so long, I should lower the curtains at some point. Currently my protocol is to walk the dog at 7PM with sunglasses on (it just hurts my eyes too much at this point not to have them). The sun is still up quite high at that point in the evening. When I get home from the walk, I lower the curtains and have only dim lights until I go to sleep. Still, curtains aren't perfect and sometimes I use sleep mask in addition. What would be the best timing of switching to more dim mode in case one cannot orient with sunset? Any additions to evening protocol you suggest? Thank you for all the good work!
Chronic Lyme’s disease legitimacy
I have dozens of friends and family who all claim they have the same disease, lyme’s borreliosis. From my understanding the disease is a legitimate disease spread by deer ticks typically in the north east United States ,where I live, but the disease isn’t supposed to be chronic and shouldn’t last more then a few weeks. But dozens of my friends and family all claim they have been experiencing symptoms for years and it impacts their life tremendously. One of my close friend’s story is he was bitten by a deer tick in 2018 and acquired the disease and after a few months of feeling fatigue, muscle sourness, brain fog, headaches, he started seeing a physician who specializes in the chronic form of the disease. He said he would make himself go to work to provide for his family and go straight to bed after he got home, not leaving the house for anything besides was he absolutely need to do. They prescribed him numerous pills and medicines for years with no prevail, spending tens of thousands over this period on treatments. Eventually he spent a substantial ,undisclosed to me, amount of money and went to Lymestop in Idaho. This facility uses magnetic therapy and after 3 months you need to come back for a checkup and after another 5 months you’ll be healed. He said the treatment took a couple minutes and was very “voodoo”. He returned after 3 months for his checkup which was mandatory or else “the treatment wouldn’t work”. After 8 months from when he first visited he started feeling better and began consistently exercising for the first time in his life and hasn’t felt any symptoms since he went in 2022. From my understanding the chronic form of disease is not scientifically backed and this story is more of a testament of the placebo effect at work. My questions are, Is Chronic Lymes disease scientifically backed? Is there any scientific evidence of chronic lymes disease having this effect on people? Is there any scientifically backed treatments for the disease? If the disease is not real then why do dozens of my friends and family believe they have it and experience symptoms? Could the best treatment for a fake disease just be a placebo treatment? Also most people I’ve talked to claim the disease has different symptoms for everyone, below is a list of symptoms I found on the Lymestop website which correlates with the various symptoms I’ve heard claimed by people I know with the disease. Symptoms that are gradually getting worse The feeling of “prematurely aging” or “slowly dying” Persistent swollen glands Sore throat Fevers Sore soles of feet, especially in the morning Pain in the fingers, toes, ankles, wrists, knees, elbows or shoulders Swelling of the fingers, toes, ankles, wrist, knees, elbows, hips or shoulders Unexplained back pain Stiffness of the joints or back Muscle aches or cramps Obvious muscle weakness Twitching of the face or other muscles Confusion, difficulty thinking Difficulty with concentration or reading. Problems absorbing new information Word search, “name block” Forgetfulness, poor short term memory, poor attention Disorientation – getting lost, going to the wrong places Speech errors – using the wrong word or misspeaking Mood swings, irritability, depression Anxiety, panic attacks Psychosis (hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, bipolar) Tremors Seizures Headaches Abnormally sensitive to light Abnormally sensitive to sound Double vision, blurry vision, “floaters” Ear pain Buzzing or ringing in ears, decreased hearing Increased motion sickness, vertigo, spinning sensation Off balance “tippy” feeling Lightheadedness, wooziness, unavoidable need to sit or lie down Tingling, numbness, burning or stabbing sensations, shooting pains, skin hypersensitivity Facial paralysis – Bell’s Palsy Unexplained tooth or gum pain Neck creaking or cracking, neck stiffness, neck pain Fatigue, tired, poor stamina Insomnia, interrupted sleep, early awakening Excessive night time sleep Napping during the day Unexplained weight gain or weight loss Unexplained hair loss Pain in genital area Unexplained menstrual irregularity Unexplained milk production or breast pain Irritable bladder or bladder dysfunction Erectile dysfunction Loss of libido Queasy stomach or nausea Heartburn, stomach pain Constipation Diarrhea Lower abdominal pain or cramps Heart murmur or valve prolapse Heart palpitations or skips “Heart block” on EKG testing Chest wall pain or sore ribs Sinus congestion Breathlessness, “air hunger”, unexplained chronic cough Profuse sweating at night “Brain fog”
How to deal with pain
I’m 31 years old and sport has been an important part of my life for many years. When I look at the performances of many athletes, I believe that these athletes must be in pain during and after the sports session. Due to the many and intensive sessions, many athletes certainly have to deal with pain on a daily basis. Dirk Nowitzki once said that it's easier to list the areas that don't hurt. I myself have been struggling with pain in my everyday life for about 1-2 years. As a rule, one pain follows me for a few days to several weeks and is followed by another pain. I have to say in advance that a) I am very sensitive and b) I am also relatively anxious about illnesses. I would like to know how to deal with pain, how much pain is part of sport (professional and non-professional), whether it is normal to have pain every day at the age of 30 and - most important - how to judge whether a pain is dangerous or not without having to go to the doctor all the time. Especially as a normal person who is not accompanied by medical staff on a daily basis.