Mental Health Toolkit: Tools to Bolster Your Mood & Mental Health

In this episode, I provide science-based tools and protocols to improve mood and mental health. These tools represent key takeaways from several recently published research studies, as well as from former Huberman Lab guests Lisa Feldman Barrett, Ph.D., an expert in the science of emotions, and Paul Conti, M.D., a psychiatrist with vast clinical expertise in helping people overcome mental health challenges. I explain the first principles of self-care, which include the “Big 6” core pillars for mood and mental health. Those ensure our physiology is primed for our overall feelings of well-being. Then, I explain science-based tools to directly increase confidence, build a stronger concept of self, better understand our unconscious mind, manage stress and improve our emotional tone and processing. I also explain ways to better process negative emotions and traumas. This episode ought to be of interest to anyone wishing to improve their relationship with themselves and others, elevate their mood and mental health, and better contribute to the world in meaningful ways.

Articles

• Day and night light exposure are associated with psychiatric disorders: an objective light study in >85,000 people (Nature Mental Health)
• Light exposure during sleep impairs cardiometabolic function (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
• Effect of self-monitoring through experience sampling on emotion differentiation in depression (Journal of Affective Disorders)
• Emotional Granularity Increases With Intensive Ambulatory Assessment: Methodological and Individual Factors Influence How Much (Frontiers in Psychology)
• Brief structured respiration practices enhance mood and reduce physiological arousal (Cell Reports Medicine)
• Cardiac vagal control as a marker of emotion regulation in healthy adults: A review (Biological Psychology)

Huberman Lab Episodes & Resources Mentioned

• Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett: How to Understand Emotions
• Guest Series | Dr. Paul Conti: How to Understand & Assess Your Mental Health
• The Iceberg Model
• Guest Series | Dr. Andy Galpin: How to Assess & Improve All Aspects of Your Fitness
• Fitness Toolkit: Protocol & Tools to Optimize Physical Health
• Foundational Fitness Protocol
• Dr. Layne Norton: The Science of Eating for Health, Fat Loss & Lean Muscle
• Dr. Alia Crum: Science of Mindsets for Health & Performance

Other Resources

• Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) lamp
• Drawing tablet
• The Physiological Sigh
• Paul Conti, M.D.: How to heal from trauma and break the cycle of shame (The Drive episode)
• "Trauma: The Invisible Epidemic: How Trauma Works and How We Can Heal From It"