Contrary to common belief, the flu is not directly caused by cold weather. It's actually the influenza virus that's responsible. Cold, dry conditions in winter aid the spread of the virus, as people gather indoors, increasing the likelihood of transmission. While cold weather can weaken immune defenses, making us more susceptible, it's the virus, not the temperature, that leads to flu.

The flu is not caused by cold weather

The common cold virus is often transmitted when a person touches surfaces contaminated with the virus and then touches their eye area. This contact allows the virus to enter the body through the mucous membranes in the eyes, leading to infection. Regular hand washing and avoiding touching the face, especially the eyes, can significantly reduce the risk of contracting the common cold.

Avoid Touching Your Eyes to Prevent Infection

If you're showing symptoms of an illness, it's a strong indicator that you're contagious. Symptoms like coughing, sneezing, or a runny nose are not just signs of your body fighting the infection; they also mean you're likely to spread the germs to others. These symptoms often involve the release of airborne particles or bodily fluids that can carry the virus or bacteria, making it easier to transmit the illness to those around you. Therefore, when experiencing such symptoms, it's important to take precautions to prevent spreading the infection to others.

You Are Contagious If You Have Symptoms 

The human skin acts as the largest barrier against infections, serving as a primary line of defense. Additionally, the eyes, being an extension of the brain, are equipped with their own protective mechanisms. They contain antibacterial chemicals that actively combat invading pathogens. The yellowish discharge often found in the corners of the eyes upon waking. This material is actually the residue left behind after these antibacterial agents have engaged with harmful microorganisms during sleep, essentially the aftermath of a microscopic battle waged to protect your eyes from infection.

Skin Is Your Ultimate Protection Against Infections

The primary pathways for viruses to enter the body are through the eyes and mouth, where protective barriers are less robust compared to other entry points. In contrast, areas like the nose and anus are fortified with mucous membranes and host beneficial bacteria, which form a defensive line against pathogens. The mucus acts as a trap for invading organisms, while the healthy bacteria present compete with harmful microbes, reducing the likelihood of infection. This distinction highlights the importance of protecting the eyes and mouth from exposure to viruses.

Eyes & Mouth Is The Weakest Part

When a virus enters the body, it's quickly detected as a foreign invader. The immune system responds by tagging these viral cells with an "eat me" signal. This signal alerts the body's defense cells to identify and destroy the invaders. White blood cells, such as macrophages, then engulf and digest these marked cells, effectively eliminating them. This process is a crucial part of the body's innate defense mechanism against viral infections, helping to prevent the spread of the virus within the body and aiding in the overall immune response.

What Happens When a Virus Enters Your Body?

The adaptive immune system is highly specialized and tailored to recognize specific pathogens. Unlike the innate immune system, which responds immediately but generally to threats, the adaptive system remembers past invaders and prepares the body for stronger and quicker responses to future attacks. It involves specialized cells like T-cells and B-cells. B-cells produce antibodies that target specific pathogens, while T-cells destroy infected cells and help coordinate the immune response. This system's ability to adapt and remember makes it crucial for long-term immunity.

Adaptive Immune System: Tailored Defense with Memory for Long-Term Immunity

To support your gut microbiome, consider a simple routine of swishing and swallowing a small amount of water before sleeping and immediately after waking up, but prior to brushing your teeth. This practice helps in transferring the beneficial oral bacteria to your gut. The oral microbiome, containing a diverse range of bacteria, plays a role in overall health, and transferring these microbes to the gut can aid in maintaining a balanced gut microbiome. This balance is crucial for digestion, immunity, and overall well-being.

Swish and Swallow Water Before Sleep and Pre-Brushing to Boost Gut Microbiome Health

The innate immune system is the body's initial line of defense against pathogens, offering a rapid, generalized response to foreign invaders. Unlike the adaptive immune system, which learns and remembers specific pathogens, the innate system responds immediately to a wide range of threats. It includes physical barriers like skin and mucous membranes, as well as various immune cells such as macrophages and neutrophils that identify and eliminate pathogens. This system's non-specific, quick-action approach is crucial for early protection.

Innate Immune System: The Body's Immediate, Generalized Line of Defense

Short Bursts of Exercise Boost Immunity, While Marathon-Like Exertion Can Weaken It.Moderate to high-intensity exercise, lasting about 60 minutes or less, can be highly beneficial for the innate immune system. This duration and intensity of physical activity help to stimulate and strengthen the body's defense against pathogens. However, it's important to note that prolonged, intense exercise, such as running a marathon, may have the opposite effect. Extended physical exertion can lead to a temporary decrease in immune system efficiency making the body more susceptible for infections.

Taking three 15-minute sauna sessions can significantly improve your innate immune system. The heat from the sauna stimulates the body's immune response, enhancing the activity of white blood cells and increasing production of heat shock proteins, which play a crucial role in immune system regulation. These short, repeated exposures to high heat not only help in stress relief and relaxation but also bolster the body's first line of defense against pathogens, thereby supporting overall immune health. Regular sauna use, therefore, can be a valuable addition to a healthy lifestyle.

Triple 15-Minute Sauna Sessions: A Warm Boost for Your Innate Immune System

Andrew Huberman's latest podcast explores effective immune-boosting strategies against colds and flu, debunking myths and evaluating remedies like vitamins and exercise, while emphasizing overall immune health.

In this episode, I explain the biology of the common cold and flu (influenza) and how the immune system combats these infections. I describe behavior, nutrition and supplementation-based tools supported by peer-reviewed research to enhance immune system function and better combat colds and flu. I also dispel common myths about how the cold and flu are transmitted and when you and those around you are contagious. I explain if common preventatives and treatments such as vitamin C, zinc, vitamin D and echinacea work. I also highlight other compounds known to reduce contracting and duration of colds and flu.  I discuss how to use exercise and sauna to bolster the immune response. This episode will help listeners understand how to reduce the chances of catching a cold or flu and help people recover more quickly from and prevent the spread of colds and flu. For show notes, including referenced articles and additional resources, please visit hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman Joovv: https://joovv.com/huberman Helix Sleep: https://helixsleep.com/huberman ROKA: https://roka.com/huberman InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/huberman Momentous: https://livemomentous.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Avoid Colds & Flu (00:01:58) Sponsors: Joovv, Helix Sleep & ROKA (00:06:00) Common Cold: Source & Transmission; Cold Temperature Myth (00:13:48) Spreading a Cold; Symptoms & Contagious Myths (00:17:43) Flu Virus & Transmission; Flu Shots (00:23:56) Tools: Injections & Safety; Charting Health Trends & Sickness (00:27:16) Sponsor: AG1 (00:28:44) Spreading Cold & Flu, Symptoms (00:30:43) Immune System, Physical Barriers (00:39:33) Tool: Social Connection & Touch, Avoiding Flu & Cold (00:45:14) Innate Immune System (00:53:13) Sponsor: InsideTracker (00:54:15) Adaptive Immune System; Lymphatic System (01:00:19) Tools: Enhance Innate Immune System (01:06:19) Tool: Microbiome & Nasal Breathing (01:10:58) Tools: Enhance Gut Microbiome: Foods & Water Protocol (01:16:13) Exercise When Feeling Sick?, Sleep (01:21:39) Tool: Exercise & Preventing Sickness (01:28:13) Exercise When Sleep Deprived? (01:32:24) Tool: Exercise Recovery & Carbohydrates (01:34:52) Tool: Sauna & Enhance Immune System (01:42:20) Supplements: Vitamin C, Vitamin D (01:50:58) Echinacea, Zinc (01:55:08) N-acetylcysteine (NAC), Decongestants (02:03:42) Zero-Cost Support, Spotify & Apple Reviews, YouTube Feedback, Sponsors, Momentous, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter Title Card Photo Credit: Mike Blabac Disclaimer

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Huberman Lab discusses neuroscience: how our brain and its connections with the organs of our body control our perceptions, our behaviors, and our health. We also discuss existing and emerging tools for measuring and changing how our nervous system works. Dr. Andrew Huberman is a tenured professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. His laboratory studies neural regeneration, neuroplasticity, and brain states such as stress, focus, fear, and optimal performance. For more than 20 years, Dr. Huberman has consistently published original research findings and review articles in top-level peer-reviewed journals, including Nature, Science, Cell, Neuron, and Current Biology. He is a regular member of several National Institutes of Health review panels and a Fellow of the McKnight Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts. Dr. Huberman regularly consults for technology development companies, professional athletic organizations, and various units of U.S. and Canadian Special Operations.

Huberman Lab

How to Prevent & Treat Colds & Flu

Your actions reveal how badly you want something. If you keep saying something is a priority but you never act on it, then you don't really want it. It's time to have an honest conversation with yourself. Your actions reveal your true motivations.

Look At your Actions To Identify What You Really Want

"He who has a why a to live for can bear almost any how." If your motivation and desire are great enough (that is, why are you are acting), you'll take action even when it is quite difficult. Great craving can power great action -even when friction is high”

The secret to getting results that last is to never stop making improvements. It's remarkable what you can build if you just don't stop. It's remarkable the business you can build if you don't stop working. It's remarkable the body you can build if you don't stop training. It's remarkable the knowledge you can build if you don't stop learning. It's remarkable the fortune you can build if you don't stop saving. It's remarkable the friendships you can build if you don't stop caring. That's the power of atomic habits. Tiny changes. Remarkable results.”

Small habits don't add up. They compound. 

We all have goals that we would like to achieve and dreams that we would like to fulfill, but it doesn't matter what you are trying become better at, if you only do the work when it's to convenient or exciting, then you'll never be consistent enough to achieve remarkable results.

Be A Professional Rather Than Staying Ameture

The Goldilocks Rule states that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge current abilities. Not too hard. Not too easy. Just right. If you hit the Goldilocks and just right, you can achieve a flow state everytime easily.

Reliable Approch To Acheive Flow State Easily

Energy is precious and in the brain is wired to conserve it whenever possible. It is human nature to follow the Law of Least Effort, which states that when deciding between two similar options, people will naturally gravitate toward the option that requires the least amount of work.

Why We Choose To Be Lazy And Do What Is Convenient?

Success is the product of daily habits- not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.

The consequences of bad habits are delayed while the reward are immediate. Smoking might kill you in ten years, but it reduces stress and eases your nicotine cravings now. Overeating is harmful ur action in the long run but appetizing in the moment.

Why We Fall Into Bad Habits Easily?

Habits are a dopamine-driven feedback loop. Every behavior that is highly habit-forming from most basic habitual behaviors like eating food, drinking water, having sex to taking drugs, playing video games, browsing social media.<ul><li>The habit formation is depend on the frequency of the action, not days</li><li>When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.</li><li>Human brain is looking for instant rewards, so make sure your habits are satisfying in the short term</li><li>Never miss twice. If you miss one day, try to get back on track as quickly as possible.</li><li>Use Habit Trackers</li></ul>

How To Build Good Habits?

The habit formation is depend on the frequency of the action, not days. You should ask ‘how many repetitions are required to make a habit automatic?’ Instead of asking ‘how many days it takes to build a habit’.You often decide what to do next is based on what you just finished doing. Each action becomes a cue to trigger the next behaviour. One of the best ways to build a new habit is to identify a current habit you already do each day and then stack your new behavior on top. This is called habit stacking.The habit stacking formula is: "After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT]."

How long does it take to build a new habit?

”The Diderot Effect states that obtaining a new possession often creates a spiral of consumption that leads to additional purchases. “ You can spot this pattern everywhere. You buy a dress and have to get new shoes and earrings to match. You buy a couch and suddenly question the layout of your entire living room.

Your brain has far more neural circuitry allocated for wanting rewards than for liking them. The wanting centers in the brain are large than liking centers of the brain. They are often referred to as "hedonic hot spots" , distributed like tiny islands throughout the brain. For instance, researchers have found that 100 percent of the nucleus accumbens is activated during wanting. Meanwhile, only 10 percent of the structure is activated during liking. That’s why we are more excited before getting something than actually getting it. Like buying an iphone or car.

Why We Are More Excited Before Getting Than Actually Getting It?

The process of behavior change always starts with awareness. You need to be aware of your habits before you can change them.Pointing-and-Calling raises your level of awareness from a nonconscious habit to a more conscious level by verbalizing your actions.<ul><li>Make a list of daily habits and rate by Good Habit (+), Bad Habit (-), Neutral Habit (=). Try to stop bad habits. We have to do this because we are unaware of our daily habits if we don’t write it down. We do habits subconsciously.</li><li>Every time you choose to perform a bad habit, it's a vote for that identity.</li></ul>

How To Stop Bad Habits?

In any election, there are going to be votes for both sides. You don't need a unanimous vote to win an election; you just need a majority. It doesn't matter if you cast a few votes for a bad behavior or an unproductive habit. Your goal is simply to win the majority of the time.For example, It's okay if you couldn't wake up at 6 am sometimes, you have to make sure that you wake up at the majority of times (around 90% of times).Inorder to make a meaningful difference, habits need to persist long enough to break through this plateau- Plateau of latent potential.

Don’t stress if you miss the habit some days

Imagine a stonecutter relentlessly hammers at his rock, striking it perhaps a hundred times without any sign of a fracture appearing. However, upon delivering the hundred and first blow, the rock astonishingly splits in two. It's evident that it was not that last blow that did it -but all that had gone before!If you are struggling to make a good habit or struggling to break a bad one, it because you not yet crossed plateau of latent potential.Breakthrough moments are often the result of many previous actions, which build up the potential required to unleash a major a change.

Plateau of latent potential

This pattern shows up everywhere. <ul><li>Cancer spends 80 percent of its life undetectable, then takes over the body in months. </li><li>Bamboo can barely be seen for the first five years as it builds extensive root systems underground before exploding ninety feet into the air within six weeks.</li></ul>Similarly, habits often appears to make no difference until you cross a critical threshold. The most powerful outcomes are delayed. If you can get a one percent better each day for one year, you'll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you're done.

The best book written on building habits and breaking bad habits.

The #1 New York Times bestseller. Over 10 million copies sold! Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results. If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights. Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field. Learn how to: <ul><li>make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);</li></ul><ul><li>overcome a lack of motivation and willpower;</li></ul><ul><li>design your environment to make success easier;</li></ul><ul><li>get back on track when you fall off course;</li></ul>...and much more. Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.

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Psychology

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Motivation & Inspiration

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James Clear is the author of "Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones" He writes about habits, decision-making, and continuous improvement at jamesclear.com. His website receives millions of visitors each month and hundreds of thousands subscribe to his popular email newsletter.His work has appeared in the New York Times, Entrepreneur, Time, and on CBS This Morning. He is a regular speaker at Fortune 500 companies and his work is used by teams in the NFL, NBA, and MLB. Learn more at jamesclear.com

How to Prevent & Treat Colds & Flu

Atomic Habits

Sebin Thomas