Huberman's Cold Water Awakening

A story about how a conversation with a Navy SEAL friend after a cold water swim led Andrew Huberman to start sharing science with the public.

"In 2019, I have a good friend named Pat Dossett - he's a Wharton grad, former Navy SEAL operator who did 9 years in the SEAL teams. We were literally getting out of the water after an early morning cold water swim, and he asked me 'What are you going to do in 2019 to make the world a better place?'

I said, 'Well, I'm trying to figure out neuroregeneration, stress, and how to sleep better in my lab.' He said, 'Yeah, but what are you really gonna do?' He was kind of poking at me.

I said, 'Well, I think it'd be fun to just teach science on the internet and just put quality information out there because I don't see that.' So I started doing that in 2019 - little short posts, pretty nerdy stuff, mostly on Instagram, and people seemed to like it.

Then in 2020, I realized there was a tremendous need for people to have tools for managing stress, circadian rhythms, sleep, and mental workload because everyone was locked down and stressed out. I started disseminating these tools by going on podcasts and Instagram, which eventually led to appearances on Rogan, Rich Roll, and then Lex Fridman suggesting I start my own podcast."