The Ideal Length of Time for Focused Work | Dr. Andrew Huberman
00:00:00.000 | A question I often get is how long should I try to focus?
00:00:05.000 | Well, the research literature point to the key importance
00:00:08.700 | of so-called ultradian cycles.
00:00:10.380 | You've all probably heard of circadian cycles
00:00:13.140 | or circadian biology circa the day,
00:00:15.740 | circadian is about 24 hour cycle.
00:00:18.580 | Well, our brain and body operate within that day
00:00:21.660 | or within each and every day, I should say,
00:00:24.540 | with 90 minute ultradian cycles.
00:00:27.220 | So my suggestion would be anytime you're going to sit down
00:00:29.800 | and try and focus, you're going to try and do a focused bout
00:00:32.400 | of physical exercise or skill learning or musical learning,
00:00:35.520 | or maybe you're even just having a conversation,
00:00:37.180 | maybe you're a therapist or you're attending therapy
00:00:39.120 | or a class, how long should it be?
00:00:41.040 | And the ideal duration is about 90 minutes,
00:00:43.880 | not exactly 90 minutes,
00:00:45.440 | but we can reliably say 90 minutes or less, okay?
00:00:48.760 | It doesn't have to be the full 90 minutes,
00:00:50.700 | but trying to push yourself to be able to drop
00:00:52.600 | into two hours of focus or three hours of focus
00:00:55.400 | while possible is not really in line
00:00:59.060 | with what we know about the underlying biology.
00:01:01.120 | Everything from our sleep states
00:01:02.960 | or the different stages of sleep and our waking states
00:01:05.660 | is divided into these 90 minute cycles
00:01:07.920 | or so-called ultradian cycles.
00:01:09.380 | So what I like to do is set a timer for 90 minutes.
00:01:12.080 | I acknowledge and accept the fact that under most conditions
00:01:15.760 | unless I'm really pressed for a deadline
00:01:17.840 | and I'm optimally caffeinated, et cetera,
00:01:20.000 | the first five to 10 minutes of that 90 minutes
00:01:22.480 | are a transition time.
00:01:23.600 | It's like the warmup for focus,
00:01:24.960 | but I do include it in that 90 minutes.
00:01:26.920 | And then I really try and drop into
00:01:29.220 | doing focused mental work or learning of some sort.
00:01:32.340 | Again, this could be physical as well,
00:01:33.800 | motor skill learning,
00:01:34.980 | or I think we're running or lifting weights, et cetera,
00:01:37.560 | and really try and drop into that
00:01:39.140 | across the full 90 minutes.
00:01:40.400 | Again, accepting the fact, okay?
00:01:42.740 | It's not just an idea,
00:01:43.640 | the fact that occasionally our focus will flicker.
00:01:46.660 | It will jump out of focus.
00:01:47.980 | And then a big part of being able to focus
00:01:49.700 | is to go back to focusing.
00:01:50.940 | The way I'd like you to conceptualize this perhaps
00:01:53.260 | is that arrowhead suddenly getting very, very broad,
00:01:55.660 | that you're focusing on many things,
00:01:56.960 | or that arrow shifts to a different location in the room.
00:02:00.120 | The key is to be able to shift it back
00:02:02.080 | and to narrow it once again.
00:02:03.380 | And that's an active process,
00:02:05.260 | so much so that it requires a lot of metabolic energy.
00:02:08.200 | Your brain is the chief consumer of metabolic energy.
00:02:13.200 | The calories that you consume
00:02:14.700 | is so-called basal metabolic rate.
00:02:16.040 | Most of that isn't related to movement
00:02:17.560 | or heartbeat or breathing.
00:02:18.560 | It's related to brain function.
00:02:20.360 | Your brain is a glutton with respect to caloric need.
00:02:23.740 | So understand that at the end of 90 minutes,
00:02:25.660 | or maybe even after 45 minutes,
00:02:27.240 | you might feel rather tired or even exhausted.
00:02:29.960 | And it's very important that after about a focus,
00:02:33.000 | that you take at least 10 minutes,
00:02:34.720 | and ideally as long as 30 minutes,
00:02:36.800 | and go through what I call deliberate defocus.
00:02:39.480 | You really want to focus on somewhat menial tasks
00:02:42.080 | or things that really don't require
00:02:43.680 | a ton of your concentration.
00:02:45.720 | This is starting to become a little bit
00:02:47.160 | of a movement out there in the kind of pop psychology
00:02:50.040 | and optimization world.
00:02:51.840 | This idea of not looking at your phone
00:02:54.140 | as you walk down the hall to the bathroom,
00:02:55.460 | certainly not looking at your phone in the bathroom.
00:02:56.980 | And I should mention, by the way,
00:02:58.380 | this is a particular annoyance of mine.
00:03:00.540 | Have you noticed that wait times for restrooms
00:03:03.460 | in public places has increased substantially
00:03:05.420 | in the last 10 years?
00:03:06.680 | The reason for that is not digestive, okay?
00:03:09.500 | It's not the gut microbiome.
00:03:11.060 | I mean, it might be the gut microbiome,
00:03:12.500 | but chances are it's because people are on their phones
00:03:14.320 | in the bathroom.
00:03:15.160 | So you're doing yourself and everybody else a favor
00:03:17.900 | by staying off your phone in the restroom,
00:03:20.300 | staying off your phone while walking down the hall,
00:03:23.220 | try and give yourself some time to deliberately decompress,
00:03:26.300 | to let your mental states idle,
00:03:29.060 | to not be focused on any one thing.
00:03:30.900 | That period of idling is essential
00:03:33.900 | for your ability to focus,
00:03:35.260 | much in the same way that rest between sets
00:03:37.340 | of resistance training or rest between exercise
00:03:40.420 | is vital to being able to focus and perform
00:03:43.100 | during the actual sets or during the actual bouts
00:03:45.640 | of running or cycling or whatever
00:03:47.940 | your particular form of exercise might be.
00:03:50.060 | So deliberate decompression is key.
00:03:52.220 | And I know this is hard because we're all being drawn in
00:03:54.660 | by the incredible rich array of sensory information
00:03:59.020 | available on our phones and other devices,
00:04:01.340 | but I can't emphasize this enough.
00:04:03.260 | Our ability to focus is not just related
00:04:05.800 | to what happens during the entry
00:04:07.660 | and movement through those focus bouts,
00:04:09.740 | but after those focus bouts,
00:04:11.620 | we really need to deliberately decompress.
00:04:13.420 | And of course, the ultimate decompress,
00:04:15.180 | the time in which we are not directing our thinking
00:04:17.260 | and our action is during sleep.
00:04:18.740 | And so it's no wonder,
00:04:20.120 | or I should say it holds together logically
00:04:22.100 | that that deep long-lasting duration
00:04:25.300 | of not controlling where our mind is at
00:04:27.820 | is in fact the ultimate form of restoration,
00:04:30.340 | even if we have very intense dreams.
00:04:32.180 | So take that period after each 90 minute
00:04:34.560 | or less focus bout, right?
00:04:35.760 | Remember those focus bouts don't have to be full 90 minutes.
00:04:38.020 | Let's say you do 45 minutes of work.
00:04:39.740 | You're just done with it.
00:04:40.580 | Set it down and go do something for maybe five, 10,
00:04:43.180 | maybe even 30 minutes that is functional for your day,
00:04:46.980 | right, just not just walking around in circles
00:04:48.820 | or staring up at the sky,
00:04:49.740 | although if you can do that, do that.
00:04:51.580 | But most of us have other things to do,
00:04:53.140 | but do things that are rather automatic
00:04:54.780 | or reflexive for you,
00:04:55.900 | and try not to do any focused reading,
00:04:58.300 | try not to bring your vision into a tight location,
00:05:01.140 | such as your phone,
00:05:02.340 | and try and deliberately decompress
00:05:04.280 | because that will allow you to drop
00:05:06.100 | into intense bouts of focus again,
00:05:08.460 | repeatedly and repeatedly throughout the day.
00:05:10.600 | [upbeat music]
00:05:14.020 | [upbeat music]
00:05:16.600 | you