Can meditation positively influence the gut microbiome?
There's a newspaper controversy (eg https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/jan/17/meditation-could-have-positive-impact-on-gut-overall-health-microbiome) around a study in General Psychiatry that claims that meditation positively influences the gut microbiome. But the above mentioned study is supposedly flawed because it compares the stools from monks to villagers without controlling for diet. I was hoping you'd discuss this study and the overall literature on this topic. (My personal experience is that meditation does wonders for my gut)
Does anybody even read anymore? A question about reading.
The premium content mentioned that transcripts of podcasts might be coming. Is that something that is still in the works? 3 and half or 4 hours of lectures is a really, really big time commitment. Reading would help me take in the information that I am interested in so much faster. Additional question: How many words a minute do I need to read for graduate school? My understanding is that there is often more than 500 plus of reading a week. I know that we can improve reading speed. Any tips from your perspective on best practices to get through dense textbooks faster?
How early is too early?
Hello Dr. Huberman, It's been a real pleasure stumbling upon your channel. I have struggled on and off as an adults with getting enough sleep. I am on week 2 of implementing some of the strategies from the podcast, mainly the morning routine. I get up when I know there's no way of getting back to sleep. I turn on as many lights as I can (no sunlight this time of year for me) and drink a glass of water and head out with the dogs. I have ordered some Magnesium Threonate and I am optimistically waiting its arrival. I have experienced some really positive out comes from this, however, not with regards to sleep, I'm not getting discouraged I'm sure this takes time. With that said, here it is 5:38am on a Saturday morning and I've been up since 4:00am, should I be getting out and walking my dog at 4? I am willing to do that (as I said, its been really positive experience so far) if that will help but even my dog doesn't want to go at 4. Just asking for some advice.
Movement skill
Dr Galpin briefly mentioned movement skill as one of the parameters of athletic performance. How does one acquire such skill? How well does it stay with you throughout life? We've all seen professional athletes in their 70s outperform young athletes just based on skill. My squash coach had 2 knee replacements and could barely walk but he was still the best player in the club just based on skill. Are there protocols to enhance skill acquisition? Will someone who is completely self-taught but with 10000 hours of practice outperform someone with 1000 hours of deliberate structured practice? Does having skill contribute to confidence and reduce stress in a competition? Sometimes athletes can perform their best under pressure (high stakes, spectators, etc) and sometimes they totally fail. Does one have to develop stress resistance specifically for high pressure situation or just having thousands of hours of practice guarantees that you can't fail? Where does movement skill end and mental skill begin? Is playing soccer a movement skill? What about video games? I imagine that there are sports that are more strategic and based mostly on athletic performance and strategy, such as competitive rowing or cycling, and sports that are much more skill based, such as ping pong or racecar driving.