The Biology of Aggression, Mating, & Arousal | Dr. David Anderson

(Music) Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life. I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. Today, my guest is Dr. David Anderson. Dr. Anderson is a professor of biology at the California Institute of Technology, often commonly referred to as Caltech University. Dr. Anderson's research focuses on emotions and states of mind and body, and indeed, he emphasizes how emotions like happiness, sadness, anger, and so on are actually subcategories of what are generally governed by states. That is, things that are occurring in the nervous system, in our brain, and in the connections between brain and body, that dictate whether or not we feel good about how we are feeling and that drive our behaviors. That is, bias us to be an action or inaction and strongly influence the way we interpret our experience and our surroundings. Today, Dr. Anderson teaches us, for instance, why people become aggressive and why that aggression can sometimes take the form of rage. We'll also talk about sexual behavior and the boundaries and overlap between aggression and sexual behavior. And that discussion about aggression and sexual behavior also starts to focus on particular aspects of neural circuits and states of mind and body that govern things like, for instance, male-male aggression versus male-female aggression versus female-female aggression. So today, you will learn a lot about the biological mechanisms that govern why we feel the way we feel. Indeed, Dr. Anderson is an author of a terrific new popular book entitled The Nature of the Beast: How Emotions Guide Us. I've read this book several times now. I can tell you it contains so many gems that are firmly grounded in the scientific research. In fact, a lot of what's in the book contrasts with many of the common myths about emotions and biology. So whether or not you're a therapist or you're a biologist or you're simply just somebody interested in why we feel the way we feel and why we act the way we act, I cannot recommend the book highly enough. Again, the title is The Nature of the Beast: How Emotions Guide Us. Today's discussion also ventures into topics such as mental health and mental illness and some of the exciting discoveries that have been made by Dr. Anderson's laboratory and other laboratories identifying specific peptides, that is, small proteins that can govern whether or not people feel anxious or less anxious, aggressive or less aggressive. This is an important area of research that has direct implications for much of what we read about in the news, both unfortunate and fortunate events, and that will no doubt drive the future of mental health treatments. Dr. Anderson is considered one of the most pioneering and important researchers in neurobiology of our time. Indeed, he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. I've mentioned the HHMI once or twice before when we've had other HHMI guests on this podcast, but for those of you that are not familiar, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute funds a small number of investigators doing particularly high-risk, high-benefit work, and it is an extremely competitive process to identify those Howard Hughes investigators. They're essentially appointed, and then every five years, they have to compete against one another and against a new incoming flock of would-be HHMI investigators to get another five years of funding. They are literally given a grade every five years as to whether or not they can continue, not continue, or whether or not they should worry about being funded for an extended period of time. Dr. Anderson has been an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 1989. I'm pleased to announce that the Huberman Lab Podcast is now partnered with Momentous supplements. We partnered with Momentous for several important reasons. First of all, they ship internationally, because, uh, we know that many of you are located outside of the United States. Second of all, and perhaps most important, the quality of their supplements is second to none, both in terms of purity and precision of the amounts of the ingredients. Third, we've really emphasized supplements that are single ingredient supplements and that are supplied in dosages that allow you to build a supplementation protocol that's optimized for cost, that's optimized for effectiveness, and that you can add things and remove things from your protocol in a way that's really systematic and scientific. If you'd like to see the supplements that we partner with Momentous on, you can go to livemomentous.com/huberman. There, you'll see those supplements, and just keep in mind that we are constantly expanding the library of supplements available through Momentous on a regular basis. Again, that's livemomentous.com/huberman. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero-cost-to-consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. Our first sponsor is Levels. Levels is a program that lets you see how different foods affect your health by giving you real-time feedback on your diet using a continuous glucose monitor. One of the most important factors governing our immediate and long-term health, and indeed our ability to think and focus clearly, is our blood glucose levels, also referred to as blood sugar. To maintain healthy energy and focus throughout the day, you want to keep your blood glucose levels steady and avoid peaks and crashes. I first started using Levels about a year ago as a way to better understand how specific foods, food combinations, exercise, and supplements impact my blood glucose levels, and it's been tremendously informative. In fact, it's changed and shaped the way that I organize my entire day. Levels even provides a simple score after you eat a meal, so you can see how different foods affect you and develop a personalized nutrition program that's ideal for you. So if you're interested in learning more about Levels and trying a continuous glucose monitor yourself, you can go to levels.link/huberman. That's levels.link/huberman. Today's episode is also brought to us by Helix Sleep. Helix Sleep makes mattresses and pillows that are of the absolute highest quality. They also have some really unique features, because they are customized to your unique sleep needs. I've talked over and over again on this podcast and on other podcasts about the fact that sleep is the foundation of mental health, physical health, and performance. There's just simply no other substitute for a quality night's sleep on a regular basis. I've been sleeping on a Helix mattress for well over a year now, and it's the best sleep that I've ever had, and that's in large part because the mattress was designed for me. What you need to know, however, is what's the ideal mattress for you, and you can do that by going to Helix site. You can take their brief quiz, which will ask you, "Do you sleep on your side, your back, your stomach, or maybe you don't know, or maybe all three? Do you tend to run hot or cold in the night? Maybe you know, maybe you don't."At the end of that short quiz, they will match you to the ideal mattress for you. I matched to the Dusk, the D-U-S-K, mattress, but again, that's what I need, that's not necessarily what you need in order to get your best night's sleep. But if you're interested in upgrading your mattress, go to helixsleep.com/huberman, take their two-minute sleep quiz, and they'll match you to a customized mattress for you, and you'll get up to $200 off any mattress order and two free pillows, they have terrific pillows. And you get to try out that mattress for 100 nights risk-free, they'll even pick it up for you if you don't love it, but I'm certain you will. Again, if you're interested and you go to helixsleep.com/huberman for up to $200 off your mattress order and two free pillows. Today's episode is also brought to us by LMNT. LMNT is an electrolyte drink that has everything you need and nothing you don't, meaning no sugar, but it has sodium, magnesium, and potassium in the proper ratios. Sodium, magnesium, and potassium are critical for the functioning of all your cells, but of your neurons, your nerve cells, in particular. Many people out there, believe it or not, need to ingest more sodium and more potassium, and magnesium in the proper ratios to sodium and potassium. For those of you that are prehypertensive or hypertensive, you definitely don't want to crank up your sodium intake, but many people out there, especially people following low-carb diets or eating exceptionally clean very well may need more sodium, and by drinking LMNT mixed with water, which is what I do once or twice a day, and certainly also during workouts and after workouts, you can optimize mental functioning and physical performance by increasing your electrolyte balance in the proper ratios. If you'd like to try LMNT, you can go to DrinkLMNT, that's L-M-N-T.com/huberman, and you'll get a free sample pack with your order. Again, that's DrinkL-M-N-T.com/huberman to get a free sample pack with your order. And now for my discussion with Dr. David Anderson. David, great to be here and great to finally sit down and chat with you.