Diet & Nutrition for Mental Health | Dr. Chris Palmer

(instrumental 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. Chris Palmer. Dr. Chris Palmer is a medical doctor specializing in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is the world expert in the relationship between metabolic disorders and psychiatric disorders. He treats a variety of different conditions, including psychosis, including schizophrenia, as well as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety disorders, and depression, among others. He is best known for understanding the relationship between how metabolism and these various disorders of the mind interact. And indeed today, he describes not only his own fascinating journey into the field of psychiatry, but also his clinical and research experience using diet, that is, different forms of nutrition, in order to treat various psychiatric disorders. He describes some remarkable case studies of individuals and groups of people who have achieved tremendous relief from the types of psychiatric disorders that I just mentioned a few moments ago, as well as new and emerging themes as to how metabolism and the mind interact to control things like obesity. Indeed, he raises the hypothesis that perhaps obesity, in many cases, is the consequence of a brain dysfunction as opposed to a, the consequence of a metabolic dysfunction that then impacts the brain. During today's episode, he shares with us his overriding hypotheses about the critical roles that mitochondrial function and dysfunction play in mental health and mental illness, and how various particular types of diets, ranging from the ketogenic diet to modified ketogenic diet, and even just slight adjustments in carbohydrate intake, can be used in order to change mitochondrial function and bring relief for various psychiatric illnesses. He also highlights the essential and important theme that various diet interventions, including the ketogenic diet, were not first developed for sake of weight loss, but rather were developed as treatments for neurologic conditions such as epilepsy. Today, he shares with us how the foods that we eat, alone and in combination, and how fasting, both intermittent fasting and more lengthy fasts, can interact with the way that our brain functions to strongly control the way that we think, feel, and behave. What's wonderful is that Dr. Palmer not only explains the science and his clinical expertise, but also points to various actionable measures that people can take in order to improve their mental health. I'd like to mention that Dr. Palmer is also the author of a terrific new book. The title is Brain Energy: A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental Health and Improving Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, OCD, PTSD and More. I've read the book, and it is a terrific read. I came away from this book with a much evolved understanding of how the various psychiatric disorders that I just described, as well as ADHD, emerge in people, and it has completely revised my understanding about the possible origins of various psychiatric disorders and the best ways to treat them, including both with medications, but also with nutritional approaches. If you'd like to learn more about Dr. Palmer's work and the book, please go to chrispalmermd.com. We also provide links to the book and to his website in our show note captions. 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 for the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. Our first sponsor is Thesis. Thesis makes custom nootropics, and as I've said many times before on this podcast, I am not a fan of the word "nootropics" because it means smart drugs, and frankly, there are no specific neural circuits in the brain or body for being, quote-unquote, "smart." Thesis understands this, and they've developed custom nootropics that are designed to bring your brain and body into the state that's ideal for what you need to accomplish. 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I've talked many times on this podcast about the critical relationship between sleep and body temperature. That is, in order to fall asleep and stay deeply asleep throughout the night, our body temperature needs to drop by about one to three degrees. And conversely, when we wake up in the morning, that is in large part because of our body heating up by one to three degrees. Now, people have different core body temperatures, and they tend to run colder or hotter throughout the night. Eight Sleep allows you to adjust the temperature of your sleeping environment so that you have the optimal temperature that gets you the best night's sleep. I started sleeping on an Eight Sleep mattress cover about eight months ago, and it has completely transformed my sleep. I sleep so much deeper, I wake up far less during the middle of the night, if at all, and I wake up feeling far better than I ever have, even after the same amount of sleep. If you wanna try Eight Sleep, you can go to eightsleep.com/huberman to save up to $400 off their Sleep Fit Holiday Bundle, which includes their new Pod 3 cover. Eight Sleep currently ships in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, select countries in the EU, and Australia. Again, that's eightsleep.com/huberman. Today's episode is also brought to us by ROKA. ROKA makes eyeglasses and sunglasses that are of the absolute highest quality. The company was founded by two all-American swimmers from Stanford, and everything about ROKA eyeglasses and sunglasses were designed with performance in mind. I've spent a lifetime working on the biology of the visual system, and I can tell you that your visual system has to contend with an enormous number of challenges in order for you to see clearly, for instance when you move from a sunny area to a shady area and back again, whether or not you're looking at something up close or off into the distance. 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