Dr. Craig Heller: Using Temperature To Optimize Performance, Brain & Body Health

This episode I am joined by Dr. Craig Heller, Ph.D., Professor of Biology at Stanford University and world expert on the science of temperature regulation. We discuss how the body and brain maintain temperature under different conditions and how most everyone uses the wrong approach to cool off or heat up. Dr. Heller teaches us the best ways and in doing so, explains how to offset hyperthermia and hypothermia. He also explains how we can use the precise timing and location of cooling on our body to greatly enhance endurance and weight training performance. He describes how cooling technology discovered and engineered in his laboratory has led to a tripling of anaerobic (weight training) performance and allowed endurance athletes to run further and faster, as well as to eliminate delayed onset muscle soreness. Dr. Heller explains how heat impairs muscular and mental performance, and how to cool the brain to reduce inflammation and to enhance sleep and cognition. We discuss how anyone can apply these principles for themselves, even their dogs! Our conversation includes both many practical tools and mechanistic science.
Read the full show notes for this episode at hubermanlab.com.
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Timestamps
00:00:00 Introducing Dr. Craig Heller, Physiology & Performance  
00:02:20 Sponsors: AG1, LMNT & Waking Up
00:06:45 Cold Showers, Ice Baths, Cryotherapy  
00:10:45 Boundary Layers  
00:11:55 Cooling Before Aerobic Activity to Enhance Performance  
00:14:45 Anaerobic Activity Locally Increases Muscle Heat  
00:16:45 Temperature Gates Our Energy Use  
00:19:00 Local Versus Systemic Fatigue: Heat Is Why We Fail  
00:22:10 Cooling Off: Most Methods are Counterproductive  
00:26:43 Exercise-Induced Brain Fog  
00:27:45 Hyperthermia  
00:31:50 Best Body Sites for Cooling: Palms, Foot Pads, Upper Face  
00:38:00 Cooling Your Brain via The Upper Face; Concussion  
00:41:25 Extraordinary (Tripling!) Performance by Cooling the Palms  
00:45:35 Enhancing Recovery, Eliminating Soreness w/Intra-workout Cooling  
00:50:00 Multiple Sclerosis: Heat Sensitivity & Amelioration with Cooling  
00:51:00 Enhancing Endurance with Proper Cooling  
00:53:00 Cool Mitt, Ice-Cold Is Too Cold, 3 Minutes Cooling  
00:58:20 How You Can Use Palmer Cooling to Enhance Performance  
01:01:15 Radiation, Convection, Heat-Transfer, Role of Surface Area  
01:04:40 Hypothermia Story, Ideal Re-Heating Strategy  
01:11:40 Paw-lmer Cooling for Dog Health & Performance  
01:12:45 Warming Up, & Varying Temperature Around the Body  
01:17:35 Cooling-Enhanced Performance Is Permanent  
01:19:55 Anabolic Steroids versus Palmer Cooling  
01:24:00 Female Athletic Performance  
01:25:18 Shivering & Cold, Metabolism  
01:26:55 Studies of Bears & Hibernation, Brown Fat  
01:31:10 Brown Fat Distribution & Activation In Humans  
01:34:18 Brain Freeze, Ice Headache: Blood Pressure, Headache  
01:37:50 Fidgeters, Non-Exercise Induced Thermogenesis  
01:39:44 How Pre-Workout Drinks, & Caffeine May Inhibit Performance  
01:43:42 Sleep, Cold, Warm Baths, Screens, & Socks  
01:48:44 Synthesis  
01:49:30 Supporting the Podcast & Scientific Research  
Disclaimer & Disclosures
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