Andrew Huberman

[ICTChris]

Big news in the biohacking podcast world this week, as the undisputed star of that space Andrew Huberman is subject of a front cover magazine piece in NY magazine, making allegations about his behaviour towards a number of women.  You can read the piece here.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/andrew-huberman-podcast-stanford-joe-rogan.html

Essentially it accuses Huberman of infidelity and of troubling behaviour.  I find some of the things really weird and uneasy - he apparently yelled at his partner for days about her life choices, specifically having a second child.  He appears to have infected her with an STI.  Reading the article, he comes across as neurotic and obsessive, as well as controlling and abusive, specifically this part

Quote

 

According to Sarah, Andrew’s rage intensified with cohabitation. He fixated on her decision to have children with another man. She says he told her that being with her was like “bobbing for apples in feces.” “The pattern of your
11 years, while rooted in subconscious drives,” he told her in December 2021, “creates a nearly impossible set of hurdles for us … You have to change.”

...

The first three rounds of IVF did not produce healthy embryos. In the spring of 2022, enraged again about her past, Andrew asked Sarah to explain in detail what he called her bad choices, most especially having her second child. She wrote it out and read it aloud to him.

 

That part of the article genuinely reminded me of Justin Lee Collins, if anyone remembers him - obsessiveness about a partners past relationships, controlling behaviour.  A lot of people are defending Huberman by saying "well the guy is 50 and has six girlfriends, what he's saying must work", which overlooks the aspect of his behaviour being controlling.  

Prior to this article, I'd read a lot of criticism of Huberman and the way he presents information in his content.  He mixes things that have good evidential basis, like exercise more, get better sleep, don't drink too much alcohol, with things that don't have a good evidential basis, like cold plunge baths for fat loss, psychedelics for mental illness etc.  Discussion of this here

 

He's generally accused of presenting studies that are not solid evidence for human effects as being solid evidence.  He also shills supplements (the ubiqutous Athletic Greens).  

In one strange moment, he discussed giving his dog synthetic testosterone (Huberman himself takes exogenous testosterone as well as consuming Human Growth Hormone) which he claims improved his dogs mood and anxiety and described his dog looking at him with "gratitude" for doing so.  Must be a clever dog!

Do P&Bers enjoy Huberman's content?

Have P&Bers ever formulated their own protocols for better living?

[GHF-23]

I watched two of his videos and became very briefly obsessed with dopamine. Then I watched another which seemed to largely be talking about how drinking caffeine/brushing your teeth etc at a very particular time would revolutionise your life and decided he was just a better credentialed guru type chap. 

[DiegoDiego]

I've been exposed to him largely through interviews he's done with people I listen to. A lot of it makes sense, for example everyone bleating on about how bad blue light is for you when you're about to sleep, but not clocking that it's therefore a very good way to wake up in the morning (and blue light from the actual sky is far more powerful than that from a screen).

I've not done any more research into that specific claim, but it makes general sense and even if it is a pile of pish I really don't think I'll experience significant negative effects from having my morning cup of tea stood out in the garden rather than sat in my lounge.

With claims about more serious biomodification, or recommending people use things like HGH, then surely anyone would look into things a bit more deeply before taking supplements and talk with their GP. I don't have a huge amount of sympathy for anyone who messes up their body who hasn't consulted their doctor first. What is beneficial for one person can be harmful for another.

I don't see anything wrong with the tweet where he's taken to task for the cold shower thing. He's just tweeting about a study with no further comment. He's not recommending people act on it and he's included a link to the actual study, so people (like the guy trying to take him down a peg) can look at it and decide for themselves how important it is. I don't think a media ban on early-stage research would make the world a better place. Perhaps there are better examples of misleading tweets from him though.

For the arsehole behaviour stuff, that's sort of a separate the art from the artist thing. Alexander Fleming could have been Jack the Ripper and I'd still take penicillin. His behaviour doesn't make anything Huberman's said about medicine more or less factual.

[The Moonster]

Someone taking roids has anger issues? Never. 

I see clips of this Huberman character and you can see why he gains traction - he's very confident and well spoken so people automatically take his word as gospel. He comes across as someone who knows their shit. My suspicions are that he's most probably similar to Jordan Petersen in that he does have an area of expertise that his thoughts are quite useful on, but has to stray outside of that for views on his social channels and thus talks about shit he doesn't really have a hold on.

[velo army]

He's a professor of neuroscience, so he tends not to stray too far from his lane, unlike Peterson. I haven't heard Huberman talk politics.

I tend to take articles like the above with a pinch of salt. It's an edited version of one person's narrative told through the prism of a journalist. It may be true, but if we're talking burden of proof (in regard to studies) then it has to be applied here too. Taking some quotes out of context does not an abuser make.

I don't listen to his podcasts as they're too long, but I like his shorter stuff and really enjoy his approach to morning routines. He does provide links, as Diego says above, so we don't have to just take his word. 

I buy into the cold shower stuff as I've read much more on it. Also, the benefits of cold exposure are manifold, and not just fat loss brought about through production of brown fat (caused by frequent cold exposure). It stimulates the vagus nerve which calms down our nervous systems. I've been having cold showers for years now. 

It's not like he's peddling dangerous stuff, or telling us to support Airdrie.

For more on cold exposure and how discomfort is good for us there's a great book called "what doesn't kill us".

[MazzyStar]

Never heard of him 

[ConstanceDWright]

On 26/03/2024 at 17:06, ICTChris said:

Big news in the biohacking podcast world this week, as the undisputed star of that space Andrew Huberman is subject of a front cover magazine piece in NY magazine, making allegations about his behaviour towards a number of women.  You can read the piece here.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/andrew-huberman-podcast-stanford-joe-rogan.html

Essentially it accuses Huberman of infidelity and of troubling behaviour.  I find some of the things really weird and uneasy - he apparently yelled at his partner for days about her life choices, specifically having a second child.  He appears to have infected her with an STI.  Reading the article, he comes across as neurotic and obsessive, as well as controlling and abusive, specifically this part

That part of the article genuinely reminded me of Justin Lee Collins, if anyone remembers him - obsessiveness about a partners past relationships, controlling behaviour.  A lot of people are defending Huberman by saying "well the guy is 50 and has six girlfriends, what he's saying must work", which overlooks the aspect of his behaviour being controlling.  

Prior to this article, I'd read a lot of criticism of Huberman and the way he presents information in his content.  He mixes things that have good evidential basis, like exercise more, get better sleep, don't drink too much alcohol, with things that don't have a good evidential basis, like cold plunge baths for fat loss, psychedelics for mental illness etc.  Discussion of this here

 

He's generally accused of presenting studies that are not solid evidence for human effects as being solid evidence.  He also shills supplements (the ubiqutous Athletic Greens).  

In one strange moment, he discussed giving his dog synthetic testosterone (Huberman himself takes exogenous testosterone as well as consuming Human Growth Hormone) which he claims improved his dogs mood and anxiety and described his dog looking at him with "gratitude" for doing so.  Must be a clever dog!

Do P&Bers enjoy Huberman's content?

Have P&Bers ever formulated their own protocols for better living?

Thanks for the info, I didn't know about him before. I have solved my problem now with the help of this website, which is a writing service provider  https://stateofwriting.com/uk/do-my-homework website. I have used them to do my homework. I liked them for their affordable price. If you are also a student and need help with your writing work, you can get it there.

Thanks for the info, I didn't know about him before.

Edited Friday at 14:56 by ConstanceDWright

[coprolite]

I don't know much about this guy but he reminds me of a blogger called Seth from the internet's more long form days. In science terms, i don't know how seth treated the ladies. 

https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2023/11/20/the-rise-and-fall-of-seth-roberts-and-the-shangri-la-diet/#:~:text=On his blog and elsewhere,stick of butter a day.

A US Stick of butter is about half a pack (110g).

Spoiler

The article doesn't mention much about the butter, but the big theme of the later blogs was that butter is actually good for you and he was consuming increasing amounts as evidence showed it was improving his mood and brain function. 

Seth died of occlusive coronary heart disease. 

 

[A Diamond For Me]

Never heard of him.  Sounds like an abusive p***k, though.

[Jacksgranda]

24 minutes ago, A Diamond For Me said:

Never heard of him.  Sounds like an abusive p***k, though.

On 27/03/2024 at 16:45, velo army said:

 

It's not like he's peddling dangerous stuff, or telling us to support Airdrie.

 

Maybe that's why he's not asking us to support Airdrie...