Wendy Suzuki

Y si sus mentes funcionan perfectamente y el mundo que estamos construyendo a nuestro alrededor le está diciendo a nuestros cuerpos: «Ya estás bien».

Así que creo que la ansiedad puede ser, como dice la doctora Suzuki, puede ser una amiga, puede ser un amigo ruidoso y molesto y un amigo paralizante, pero alguien intenta llamar tu atención para bien.

Cuando alguien tiene una sensación de agobio y su ansiedad aumenta a lo largo de el día, o siente que no puedo dormir porque estoy ansioso por algo, siento que algo no funciona y ya casi se está convirtiendo en algo crónico.

Ocurre durante semanas, meses, años.

And those tools will allow you to tap into the neurochemistry and the neural circuits within your brain and body that peer-reviewed science has reliably shown can significantly improve your focus and concentration abilities.

Just to give you a little teaser of the kinds of tools that I'm going to provide you on today's episode, a previous guest on the Huberman Lab podcast was Dr. Wendy Suzuki.

Dr. Suzuki is a professor of psychology and neuroscience at New York University, or NYU as it's commonly referred to.

Her laboratory made a very important discovery, which was that a very brief, just 12, actually 13, if you really count the, the intro, but 13-minute daily meditation performed for a period of about eight weeks significantly increased people's focus and concentration abilities.

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Now I'd like to discuss some of the purely behavioral tools that quality peer-reviewed science say can improve focus and concentration significantly.

At the beginning of today's episode, I talked about the study from Dr. Wendy Suzuki's lab, where they explored a 13-minute meditation done every day for a period of eight weeks.

That meditation led to significant improvements in focus and concentration ability, as well as other aspects of cognitive performance.

So often people will tell me they don't have time to do movement, but you can actually stand up from your desk and simply do 10 squats and a little bit of shoulder rolls and mobility, and you will feel immediately improved in your mood and energy levels.

If we follow neuroscientists like Dr. Wendy Suzuki, she has shown through some of her research, there is a change in how you feel in your mood and energy immediately after you move your body.

And for people that are working at a high level and you need to be able to concentrate and maintain that concentration, after an energy burst, for up to two hours after that, you can have improvements in your mood and your focus.

So that's massive for people that might have an after lunch swamp.

¿Es un término científico?

Ese es el término de la doctora y profesora Wendy Suzuki, que se basa en mis veinticinco años de estudiar cómo funciona la memoria.

Me encanta.

Y le apliqué todo mi conocimiento para abordar la ansiedad.

And could you share a favorite study or experiment or bit of research?

Well, I also have the privilege of having Dr. Wendy Suzuki.

She's the head of the arts and science program over at NYU, and she's an author herself and a neuroscientist.

And years ago, when I was working in the White House and President Clinton was there, and this is the only thing that he taught me [laughs] and nothing else to share.

This actually helps you go from the amygdala point of the trigger response, very emotional response, more into the prefrontal cortex." And so I don't know if it was actually an experiment or a study, but it was validated by one of the top neuroscientists, and that makes me really happy because I've been transferring that and teaching that to my clients as well as a way to keep yourself grounded when you're feeling like otherwise you might leak some emotions that you don't think are gonna build your credibility or that connection.

Beautiful.

So this sounds like an acupressure move, and Wendy Suzuki, she's a guest on the show, so it-- she must be right.

She is.

Okay.

So what if we turned it around and we said, as the great Dr. Wendy Suzuki out of NYU says, anxiety is actually a great friend.

It can be an annoying friend that won't shut up sometimes, but can be a great friend saying, hey, you're not safe right now.

What's the state of your marriage?

We also have great information about how physical activity and exercise also influence the brain.

So Dr. Wendy Suzuki is a professor of neuroscience and psychology.

This quote is just, "Simply moving your body has immediate, long-lasting, and protective benefits for your brain, and that can last for the rest of your life." Her research Really kind of looks at two specific areas in the brain that are influenced and, and benefit from physical activity.

One is the prefrontal cortex, which is critical for decision-making, focus, attention, and personality.

Okay.

So what if we turned it around and we said, as the great Dr. Wendy Suzuki out of NYU says, "Anxiety is actually a great friend." It can be an annoying friend that won't shut up sometimes, but can be a great friend saying, "Hey, you're not safe right now."

Mm.

What's the state of your marriage?

It just letting us know something in our life is off or several things in our life is off.

Or as the great Dr. Wendy Suzuki from NYU says, anxiety is really a friend.

It can be an annoying, loud, obnoxious friend, but it's a friend just trying to get your attention because your body's identified some things in the environment that are not okay,

that might not be safe,