February 9, 2022
Power of Play | Huberman Lab Podcast #58
Episode Webpage here
Key Takeaways
- Play is the ultimate portal to plasticity.
- Play allows us to explore different outcomes in a low-stakes environment.
- The “Tinkerers” of the world maintained a strong sense of play throughout their life
- The State of playfulness gets you to play BEST, even in competitive scenarios.
Resources Mentioned
- Spark by John Ratey
- Play It Away: A Workaholic’s Cure for Anxiety by Charlie Hoehn
Intro
- Host of the Huberman Lab Podcast, Dr. Andrew Huberman, Ph.D. (@HubermanLab) is a Professor of Neurobiology and Ophthalmology at Stanford University School of Medicine. His lab focuses on neural regeneration, neuroplasticity, and brain states such as stress, focus, fear, and optimal performance.
- This podcast explores the necessity of play and how it forms us as human beings.
- We read better on paper than smartphones. We do not do a physiological sigh when we read on electronics
Play and the Brain
- Play is Homeostatically Regulated. – If we’re restricted from playing for a certain amount of time, we need more play. Needs to remain in balance
- Play releases natural opioids from the periaqueductal gray (PAG)
- The prefrontal cortex sees and explores many different possibilities of how to interact with our environment while in a state of play.
- Beneficial social play involves low amounts of epinephrine (adrenaline).
- Play is the most powerful portal to neuroplasticity. BDNF is deployed in play.
- Epinephrine and adrenaline suppress our ability to play.
- Novel forms of movement open the portal to plasticity. Engage the vestibular system – balance.
Childhood Play Evolution
- The Baby Brain -we need things delivered to us
- Toddlers – Everything is MINE
- Young children – Children go from self-centered play to sharing and cooperative play.
- 10-14 years old peak time for development and play identity
Playful Mindset
- By entering new situations, you’re working out your brain. Novelty increases plasticity.
- Play allows us to explore different outcomes in a low-stakes environment.
- Observing how you and others react to situations while playing forms how we interact in the world. Are you/they Cheating? Rigid in the rules? Sad if you lose?
- These observations help you understand yourself and others. We discover our proficiencies through play
- “Play is about testing, experimenting, and expanding the brain’s capacity”
- Adults and children establish their roles and form hierarchies through play.
Play Postures
- Eye contact with a lowered down head. We make ourselves smaller and less intimidating. We limit power deliberately
- Head tilted with eyes open is the universal play posture. Might raise eyebrows and purse lips
- Most extreme play – eyes wide open tongue out.
Adulthood Play
- Animals that engage in play for the longest amount of time have the largest neuroplasticity – the brain’s ability to change
- Famous Physicist Richard Feynman was a lifelong tinkerer with a playful spirit. Something he worked very hard to maintain throughout his adulthood.
- 0-25 y/o we learn things through passive exposure because our nerve cells are overconnected.
- 40% of these interconnections are gone after age 25. It’s the removal of incorrect connections and the strengthening of remaining connections.
- Through the process of play, we become and adjust who we are as adults.
- Neurochemical substrates created by trauma shuts down play circuits. By engaging in play as adults, we can re-open these substrates.
- We are built to play. Play circuits remain in adulthood.
Personal Play Identity
- 4 Factors determine our play identity
- How you play – competitive, cooperative, leader, follower?
- Your personality
- Sociocultural and environment
- Economics and technology
