What Andrew Huberman has said about Cortisol awakening response

Huberman said the book's core message is to raise cortisol in the morning and keep it low at night.

“the entire book could be summarized as get your morning cortisol high and your nighttime cortisol low, and your life's going to be 100 times better”

The Joe Rogan Experience: #2553 - Andrew Huberman (Sep 14, 2026) · Listen from 1:30:55

Huberman says deliberately elevating cortisol in the first hour of the day is the single most important practice in health and wellness.

“do things in the first hour of your day to deliberately elevate your cortisol. It will give you elevated mood focus and alertness all day, improved cognition, and it sets you up for low cortisol and great sleep at night”

On Purpose with Jay Shetty: Andrew Huberman: The Simple Habits That Will Transform Your Health (Sep 7, 2026) · Listen from 5:28

Huberman claims morning sunlight can raise cortisol by up to 50 percent above baseline.

“I just look in the direction of the sun. I don't force myself to stare at it. I just get some sunlight in my eyes, which spikes morning cortisol by up to 50% above its baseline levels”

On Purpose with Jay Shetty: Andrew Huberman: The Simple Habits That Will Transform Your Health (Sep 7, 2026) · Listen from 6:38

Huberman says higher morning cortisol shortens the duration of stress-induced cortisol spikes later in the day.

“The higher your morning cortisol, the briefer those spikes in cortisol will be to stress. You recover from stress better if your morning cortisol was high”

On Purpose with Jay Shetty: Andrew Huberman: The Simple Habits That Will Transform Your Health (Sep 7, 2026) · Listen from 7:50

Huberman attributes waking at two or three in the morning to failing to spike morning cortisol.

“if you didn't spike your morning cortisol, what happens is you might fall asleep just fine, but somewhere around two or three in the morning, people wake up”

On Purpose with Jay Shetty: Andrew Huberman: The Simple Habits That Will Transform Your Health (Sep 7, 2026) · Listen from 12:24

Huberman frames the underlying principle of morning light and sleep advice as bookending the day with high morning and low evening cortisol.

“You want high morning, low evening, and nighttime cortisol. Aim for that, that principle, whatever you have available to do that”

The Tim Ferriss Show: #876: Dr. Andrew Huberman — Peptides, Performance, and Protocols (Jul 22, 2026) · Listen from 1:01:07