Huberman Lab Appearance

Resources for my appearance on the Huberman Lab podcast.

If you’re visiting from Huberman Lab, welcome.

I’m Michael Easter, a writer and journalist who explores the edges of human health, performance, and resilience. I travel into the world’s most remote and extreme places to uncover what helps us live fuller, wider, and more meaningful lives.

I’m the author of the books The Comfort Crisis and Scarcity Brain, and I also write Two Percent, this Substack newsletter. It goes out three times a week and shares what I’m learning on the ground and thinking about in real-time.

Each Two Percent post delivers practical strategies to enhance your physical health, mental resilience, performance, and purpose.

The tools I share are backed by science, rooted in human experience, and optimized to work in the real world. And we’ve built an incredible community of likeminded people around them.

If you’re interested in receiving my emails, you can sign up here:

You can also read more about how our Two Percent Membership works and what our readers are saying about it here.

Below, you’ll find all of the books, stories, and resources I mentioned during my conversation with Andrew. If you have questions, feel free to drop them in the comments section.

Thanks for your interest in my work. All I ask in return is that you use it—venture out and do something hard and wild that changes your life.

Resources

I mentioned many Two Percent posts, books, and other resources in my conversation with Andrew. I’ve collected them here and lifted the paywall from any Two Percent Member posts.

As Andrew says, “This is part of my desire and effort to bring zero-cost information about science and science-related tools to the general public.”

The Comfort Crisis

• The Comfort Crisis

  My first book, which Andrew mentioned at the beginning of the podcast and many times throughout it.

• The Comfort Crisis of Physical Activity
  Early in the episode, I explained how exercise is a modern concept. This post presents alarming statistics about the decline of human movement, issues with modern exercise, and potential solutions to these problems.

• Explore Two Percent
  Much of my writing focuses on the mismatch between the challenges and discomforts humans evolved to face and how our modern, comfortable environments have removed those essential discomforts and challenges. That’s deeply affected us, diminishing our physical and mental health and the experience of being alive. I encourage you to explore the Two Percent archive. You’ll find a lot of material on the topic.

The Two Percent Mindset and Mental Toughness

• The Two Percent Manifesto
  Andrew asked me how the average person can onramp to doing more hard things. My answer was to take the Two Percent mindset. This post explains the concept and how to use it.

• Resilience is normal
  Psychologists used to think people weren’t inherently resilient. Then new research began to suggest a brighter picture. But now, cultural forces may be pushing us in the direction of less resilience. The good news: You can combat those forces and be far more resilient than you think.

• How to Build Mental Toughness

  Andrew and I talked about the importance of shaping your narrative. That, I think, is the foundation of resilience.

• My Badass Mom
  Here’s the story about my mom. I mentioned this after Andrew asked if I ever had moments when writing flowed effortlessly. This story is the example I gave. It took me a handful of moments to write—but about 34 years of being a son to get to the point where I could write it.

• 4 Ways to Find Belonging
  Andrew and I discussed my love of the Grateful Dead and how it helped me find community online and in person. This post explains how becoming a fan of something can help you find human connection.

• The Benefits of Silence
  Andrew and I spoke briefly about how time in silence is uncomfortable at first—but can deliver health, creativity, and mindset benefits.

• The Science of First-World Problems
  This post explains the idea of “prevalence-induced concept change,” discovered by Harvard researchers. Think about it as the science of first-world problems. It explains that as humans experience fewer problems, we just lower our definition of what constitutes a problem. We end up with the same number of troubles—but our issues become more hollow over time.

Exercise and Physical Fitness

• Rucking 101
  This post covers the benefits of walking with weight and some of the most common questions I get.

• Walking Meetings Work Miracles
  I told Andrew about the power of taking walking meetings. This post outlines six tactics to help you pull off walking meetings.

• Six Fitness Lessons from a Fascinating Study on the Amish
  This post shows how farming changed human fitness, the upsides of farm and manual labor, and six ways to mimic farm and manual labor in your exercise. The result: You’ll fill fitness gaps and build grit.

• How I trained for an 850-mile hike
  This post details how I physically prepared for a 40-day hike. I share my philosophy on training for big outdoor events and a sample week of exercise.

• Four fitness skills every human needs
  Four movements your exercise routine should include to improve your performance, resilience, health, and longevity.

• The 6 Pillars of Useful Fitness
  I explained my thoughts on training for the outdoors. Training for the wilderness is likely best for overall health, longevity, and utility.

• The Inactivity Paradox
  Sitting is a significant source of pain and disease among Western populations. Yet there’s a paradox: Many hunter-gathers avoid pain and disease but sit just as much as people in the West. This post explains the “inactivity mismatch hypothesis” and four practical ways to leverage this idea to improve your health.

Misogi

• The Misogi Guide
  Andrew and I chatted extensively about the value of Misogi: Doing one epic challenge each year with a 50/50 shot of failure. People often ask me for advice on how to create a Misogi. This post will help.

• Four Lessons from Misogi
  Andrew asked me why we shouldn’t advertise our Misogi. Point three of this post explains why.

• Read More
  Chapter 6 of my book, The Comfort Crisis, dives into the concept and power of Misogi. Dr. Marcus Elliott created the idea of Misogi. I then deeply researched the idea and discovered why it’s critical for human potential today.

Dopamine, habit-forming technology, and gambling

• The Casino Laboratory
  Here’s a free chapter from my book, Scarcity Brain, which covers the casino laboratory I told Andrew about (don’t tell my publisher I’m giving this chapter out lol). I also included the book’s Introduction, which provides context for the chapter.

• CouplaBeers is So Right
  This post explains why the viral Saturday Night Live skit understands addiction and bad habits better than the medical establishment. You’ll enjoy this post if you enjoyed Andrew’s discussion with Ryan Soave.

• Five Ways to Leverage the Power of Emotions
  I told Andrew a story about my mom and what she learned about the numbing effect of phones when she found herself without her phone during a post-cancer checkup. This post details that story and gives five practical takeaways.

• Eight Ways to Optimize Boredom
  Andrew and I discussed the value of boredom in a world that offers effortless escapes from it. I explained how I like to think “more boredom” rather than “less phone.” This post will help you leverage the power of boredom.

Nutrition

• A smarter perspective on sports nutrition
  I mentioned my four rules for endurance eating. This post covers the details of those four rules and how to eat for weight loss, strength training, and short and long endurance work.

• What I ate on an 850-mile hike
  Eating this way helped fuel my hike. And, as Andrew said, “This is the exact opposite of how people should eat in everyday life.”

• The Power of Observation and Three Steps to Build Good Habits
  I don’t believe I mentioned these posts on the podcast, but I figured I’d share them. They offer the most valuable tools for improving nutrition and reaching goals.

Psychology

• The True Science of Gratitude

  I told Andrew about the shift in perspective I experienced after spending 33 days in the Arctic. Mainly, I was far more grateful for everyday things. And that radically shifted my perspective. Gratitude is essential for wellbeing, but the science and advice around it is murky. This post explores what really makes people grateful.

• Six Reasons to Appreciate Life Right Now

  Related to the above, this post covers six graphs that show how great it is to be alive today and five actions you can take to change your life.

• Five Ways to Live Authentically
  Living true to yourself is arguably the most important thing you can do to have a life well lived. This post explores the philosophy, art, and science of living true to yourself. It also reveals five research-backed ways to live authentically.

• The Health Benefits of Gathering
  Andrew and I discussed the importance of gathering and finding your tribe. I mentioned that we don’t have as many places to gather anymore, like local pubs. This conversation with

  Gwendolyn Bounds
  and its accompanying post covers the problem and looks for solutions.

Misc.

• Scarcity Brain
  My second book, which uncovers the science of breaking bad habits and how our ancient brains are being taken advantage of today. I traveled about 50,000 miles around the world—into casino labs in Las Vegas, drug dens in Iraq, and the Bolivian jungle—to report this book.

• Little Chapel on the River
  

  Gwendolyn Bounds
  ’ book about what she learned about community, belonging, and human connection from a small pub on the Hudson. An important read in an increasingly fractured world.

• Grateful Dead Onramp
  I went into this podcast repeating to myself, “Michael, don’t talk about the Grateful Dead, don’t talk about the Grateful Dead, don’t talk about the Grateful Dead.” Then I got into hour two of the podcast … and started talking about the Grateful Dead. In fairness, I felt vindicated when Andrew told me that Rick Rubin also told him to get into the Dead. Anyways, here’s an onramp I created if you want to dabble in the Dead.

Have fun, don’t die, thanks for being here,

-Michael

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Partnered with Jaspr air purifiers

You might recognize Jaspr from our coverage of the easiest ways to avoid microplastics and our Holiday Gear Not Stuff Gift Guide. I think using a Jaspr is one of the easiest thing you can do to improve your health—all you have to do is plug it in and remember to breathe. I love watching the Jaspr in our kitchen kick on and filter our air after my frequent cooking disasters. Get a discount through this link.