Looking up activates neurons that trigger alertness-associated brain circuits.

Low risk

The headline is broadly defensible, but the qualifications matter. Effect sizes vary by population, the strongest claims rest on shorter trials, and credible voices push back on how it's typically framed.

PARTIALLYSUPPORTED

Consensus

72%

leaning supportive

Evidence quality

66/100

developing

Risk

Low

well-tolerated

Cost / month

$0

estimated

Effort

Med

time & habit

First mentionedJan 2022

Advocates

2

Andrew Huberman· PhD

Now, the neurons that control those muscles have a very interesting feature, which is that when we are looking down toward the ground or anywhere below, basically the central region of our face, the neurons that control that eye movement are intimately related to areas of the brainstem that release certain types of neuromodulators and neurotransmitters. And they activate areas of the brain that are associated with calm and indeed, even with sleepiness and there's an active inhibition or prevention of neurons that increase alertness.

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AV

A. Volkovreader

4h

Bookmarking — the dossier-vs-overview split is the right call. Most of the time I want overview; sometimes I want receipts.

NP

N. Park

2d

Would love a "what would change this verdict" RSS feed. Sign me up if it exists.

88

Andrew Huberman· PhD

Now the opposite is also true, we have neurons that place our eyes into an upward gaze above the sort of level of our nose and up above our forehead. Literally looking up while keeping the head stationary, or if you tilt your head back and you look up, these neurons are still active. Those neurons don't just control the position of the eyes and cause them to move up, they also trigger the activation of brain circuits that are associated with alertness.

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88

Skeptics

0

No creators in this column.

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