Andrew Huberman

Submission 2,471

About

Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist and podcaster known for recommending a series of "protocols" to maximize health, performance and longevity. His content has inspired a devoted and sometimes-parodied online following, as well as memes about his suggestions to enhance the brain. In late March 2024, a New York Magazine article describing Huberman's personal life was published and received an intense online reaction. The article described Huberman secretly dating five women at the same time in a manner that many found ethically questionable and highly manipulative, sparking controversy on social media in the following days.

Career

Huberman is a tenured professor in the Neurobiology department at Stanford University. His research work has focused on studying vision. In January 2021, Huberman launched the Huberman Lab podcast, discussing his research and the research of other scientists with the public. In the course of two years, his long-form podcast grew to become one of the top 10 most popular podcasts on Spotify, and its channel, as of early 2024, has over 3.5 million subscribers on YouTube.^[2]

New York Magazine Article

A March 25th, 2024, piece written by Kerry Howley for the Intelligencer section of New York Magazine investigated Andrew Huberman's personal life, centering on the stories of a group of women whom he reportedly dated simultaneously. According to the article, Huberman allegedly led each woman to believe his relationships with them were monogamous and pursued fertility treatments and family planning with one woman while keeping up his sexual relationships with five others.^[7] The article took Huberman's focus on "control" over the body's neurobiology as a central thread, comparing it to the control the women interviewed said he allegedly appeared to desire in his relationships.

Online response to the article was divided. Supporters of Huberman, like fellow podcaster and collaborator Lex Fridman called it a "hit job" and attacked the media for publishing the piece about Huberman. Fridman's March 25th post to X about this received over 18,000 likes in 20 hours (seen below).^[8]

Others mocked the response of Huberman's defenders, like X user @CoryPunter on March 25th, who received 4,000 likes in 21 hours for commenting on a conversation between two of Huberman's fans (seen below).^[12]

On the /r/HubermanLabs subreddit, users debated whether Huberman's behavior (as described in the article) affected their view of the man as a credible source of life advice. Some posts on the subreddit described feeling "disappointed," while others joked about Huberman's time management skills. A March 25th post by Redditor geo_jam quoting the article and asking for Huberman's "harem protocol" earned over 2,200 upvotes in a day (shown below).^[9]

Many joked online that Andrew Huberman must have a "protocol" for cheating with several women at the same time. For example, on March 25th, 2024, X user @francisjfoster received 20,000 likes in a day for a post (seen below, left) in which he argued that Huberman's cheating was proof that his "methods" were effective.^[10] On March 26th, X user @kashviETH received over 790 likes in 12 hours for posting an I Bet He's Thinking About Other Women meme describing the Huberman situation (seen below, right).^[11]

Online History

Huberman is a frequent collaborator with other podcasts such as Lex Fridman, whose show he has appeared on several times. Huberman is perhaps best known for his "protocols," which are suggestions for how to eat, exercise, sleep and care for the body and mind. Dozens of protocols are described on the fan page hubermanprotocols.org.^[3]

One of the most discussed is the protocol suggesting that people expose themselves to sunlight as soon as they wake up. Other frequently discussed protocols include ones on alcohol, which advocates for moderation if not abstinence. For example, on July 13th, 2023, @hubermanrules posted a meme (seen below) about the protocols, receiving over 120 likes in the course of five months.^[4]

Huberman Types / Huberman Husbands

Ultra fans of Huberman's program are referred to as "Huberman Types" by many online. Other posters joke about their commitment to the sometimes-rigorous protocols that Huberman suggests.

The earliest instances of the phrase "Huberman type" on X date from the early spring of 2023. A typical example of this posting was uploaded by X user @VOCEGRIFFIN (seen below) on February 17th, 2023, and received almost 40 likes in 10 months.^[7]

On TikTok, numerous women posted about their "Huberman Husbands" in the spring of 2023, talking about the health habits that their spouses had picked up from listening to Huberman's podcast. For example, on July 19th, 2023, TikToker @siececampbell posted a description of her "Huberman Husband," earning over 60,000 likes and 680,000 views in the course of five months (seen below, left).^[5]

TikToker @claire.elis, on July 26th of the same year, expressed her own love for Huberman's content by asking, "Who needs a Huberman husband when you have literarily taken notes on all his podcasts for years?" earning over 71,000 likes and 600,000 views over the course of five months (seen below, right).^[6]