NSDR Huberman: His Full Protocol, Science & Recordings

If you search "NSDR Huberman," you'll find a dozen generic explainers that mention Huberman coined the term and move on. None of them actually cover what he recommends. After reviewing 6+ podcast episodes, his newsletter, and a decade of daily practice, here's the full picture: his specific protocol, the studies he cites, and the free recordings he uses, compiled into one guide.

Huberman coined the term non-sleep deep rest because he needed a category, not a rebrand. He'd been recommending yoga nidra to podcast listeners for years but kept running into the same problem: the name carries spiritual baggage that makes scientists and skeptics check out before they try it.

So he created an umbrella term. NSDR covers yoga nidra and clinical self-hypnosis, two techniques that share a core mechanism: you stay awake while deliberately shifting your nervous system into a parasympathetic state. No mantras, no mysticism, just guided body awareness and controlled breathing that downregulates your stress response.

Why Huberman stopped saying "yoga nidra"

It wasn't a dig at the tradition. It was a practical decision. Huberman wanted to get the tool into the hands of people who would never sit through a class called "yoga nidra" but who desperately needed a way to regulate their nervous system between work bouts. The new label removed the friction.

NSDR as umbrella: yoga nidra + self-hypnosis

Here's what I found after reviewing Huberman's episodes on this: he treats yoga nidra and self-hypnosis as two flavors of the same underlying state. Both use guided audio, both produce measurable changes in brain activity, and both require you to stay conscious while your body drops into deep relaxation. The difference is mostly in the cuing style. Yoga nidra uses body scans and rotation of awareness. Self-hypnosis uses more directive suggestions. Huberman recommends both under the NSDR umbrella.

NSDR vs meditation: Huberman's sharp distinction

Here's what most people get wrong about NSDR: they assume it's rebranded meditation. It's not. Meditation typically asks you to focus on a single object (breath, mantra, sensation) and return to it when your mind wanders. That's deliberate prefrontal activation. You're training top-down control.

NSDR works in the opposite direction. A guided audio track walks you through a sequence of body awareness cues, breath adjustments, and intentional relaxation. You're not trying to focus. You're letting go of control on purpose. That's why Huberman calls it "deliberate defocus," and it's why the two practices produce different brain states.

I pulled these from his podcast episodes, newsletters, and social media. Here is the NSDR protocol Huberman recommends:

1. Duration: 10, 20, or 30 minutes per session. Use 10 minutes for a quick reset, 20 minutes after a learning bout, 30 minutes for deep recovery or sleep support.
2. Timing: Afternoon between work bouts or at night if you wake up and can't fall back asleep.
3. Frequency: Daily. Huberman has practiced NSDR nearly every day for about 10 years.
4. Method: Always use a guided audio track. Huberman recommends guided over self-directed, especially for beginners.
5. Key mechanism: NSDR shifts you from sympathetic (alert, stressed) to parasympathetic (calm, restorative) dominance without sleep.
6. Dopamine effect: Yoga nidra increased dopamine release by 65% in the basal ganglia in a PET scan study (Kjaer et al., 2002).
7. Neuroplasticity use: Do 20 minutes of NSDR immediately after intense learning to accelerate neural rewiring.
8. Huberman's framing: NSDR is an "amplifier" alongside cold exposure, sitting on top of his 5 pillars of health (sleep, sunlight, movement, nutrients, relationships).

Huberman does this every single day. He's not theorizing. In a LinkedIn post, he confirmed he's been practicing NSDR daily for roughly a decade. That's not a guy who read one paper and started recommending it. Let me walk through the specifics.

Duration: 10, 20, or 30 minutes (and when to use each)

Huberman recommends matching duration to your goal:

• 10 minutes: Quick nervous system reset. Good for best times to practice NSDR between meetings or after a stressful call. I'd call this the minimum effective dose.
• 20 minutes: His go-to after a focused learning bout. This is the sweet spot he references most often for neuroplasticity benefits.
• 30 minutes: Deep recovery sessions. He uses these when sleep was short the night before or when he needs a full parasympathetic reset.

Timing: afternoon between work bouts + nighttime for sleep recovery

Huberman's primary window is the afternoon, between bouts of deep work. He's mentioned using NSDR specifically to avoid the 2-3pm energy crash without caffeine.

His secondary use case: middle-of-the-night wakeups. If he wakes at 3am and can't fall back asleep, he'll do a 30-minute NSDR session instead of lying there frustrated. He's been clear that this doesn't replace sleep, but it provides genuine restoration. For his full nighttime stack, see his Huberman sleep cocktail.

Frequency: daily, for roughly a decade

This is the detail that convinced me Huberman genuinely relies on NSDR, not as a content topic. He practices it daily, has for about 10 years, and considers it one of his core "amplifiers" for mental and physical performance.

As Huberman puts it: "Pillars of mental and physical health and performance: 1) Sleep 2) Sunlight 3) Movement 4) Nutrients 5) Relationships. Amplifiers: Cold exposure (1-5 min). Non-Sleep-Deep-Rest (NSDR); done at any time."

That's a strong endorsement from someone who could recommend any tool in the neuroscience toolkit.

Everyone cites the "65% dopamine increase" from NSDR without explaining what it actually means. After breaking down the studies Huberman references, here's the science of NSDR that actually holds up.

The Kjaer 2002 dopamine study: what "65% increase" actually means

This is the study that gets passed around like gospel, so let me be direct about what it actually measured. Kjaer et al. (2002) used PET scans to measure dopamine release in 8 experienced yoga nidra practitioners during a session. They found a 65% increase in endogenous dopamine release in the ventral striatum (part of the basal ganglia involved in reward and motivation).

Here's what matters: this was endogenous dopamine, meaning your brain produced it on its own, not from a substance. And it happened in the striatum, which is tied to motivation and reward processing. That's a meaningful finding because it means NSDR may help restore baseline dopamine levels without the crash you get from stimulants.

The limitations are real, though. Eight participants is a small sample. They were experienced practitioners. And PET scans during meditation states are tricky. But the mechanism is plausible, and Huberman treats this study as a directional signal, not proof of a guaranteed outcome.

The 2024 functional connectivity study: NSDR changes your brain differently than napping

This is the study I found most compelling. Published in Scientific Reports (2024), researchers measured functional connectivity changes during yoga nidra in both experienced meditators and novices. The finding: yoga nidra produces distinct patterns of brain connectivity that don't match what happens during a light nap or normal relaxation.

Huberman highlighted this one directly: "NSDR (Non Sleep Deep Rest) aka Yoga Nidra... Functional connectivity changes in meditators and novices during yoga nidra practice." That matters because the most common objection to NSDR is "why not take a nap?" This study suggests the two states are neurologically distinct.

Huberman's neuroplasticity connection: NSDR as step 2 of neural rewiring

Here's where Huberman's framework gets interesting. He doesn't treat NSDR as a standalone relaxation tool. He treats it as the second step in a 2-step neuroplasticity process:

As Huberman explains: "Self-Directed Neuroplasticity: your ability to change your nervous system in specific ways = 2 steps: 1) Deliberate focus (the more intense the better) on the thing you're trying to learn. 2) Sleep & Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) states, which are when actual neural rewiring occurs."

That's a specific, testable claim. Intense focus creates the conditions for change. NSDR (and sleep) is when the change actually happens. This is why he recommends NSDR immediately after a learning bout, not only before bed.

Huberman published what he calls a "Neuroplasticity Super Protocol" in his newsletter. It's his framework for accelerating any kind of skill learning. NSDR isn't optional in this framework. It's load-bearing.

The 2-step framework: deliberate focus + NSDR for rewiring

The protocol is simple in structure: do a bout of intense, focused practice on whatever you're trying to learn. Then immediately follow it with 20 minutes of NSDR.

The logic is that focused effort triggers neurochemical signals (acetylcholine and norepinephrine) that mark specific synapses for change. But the actual rewiring, the structural changes in neural connections, happens during deep rest states. Sleep does this overnight. NSDR does it in real-time, during the day, while the learning is still fresh.

The 90-minute learning bout + NSDR window

Huberman recommends capping focused learning bouts at about 90 minutes, matching your brain's natural ultradian rhythm. After that window, focus degrades and you're just grinding, not learning.

The protocol: 90 minutes of deliberate practice, then a 20-minute NSDR session. He's cited that 20 minutes of NSDR after a learning bout significantly accelerates learning rates compared to just resting or doing something else.

I'll be honest: you can do this self-guided, but most people struggle to maintain the right depth of relaxation without guidance. A guided NSDR audio track keeps you in the right zone for the full 20 minutes. That's what Huberman himself uses.

Who else uses this: Sundar Pichai's NSDR practice

Huberman's NSDR framing has reached beyond neuroscience circles. Google CEO Sundar Pichai told the Wall Street Journal he uses NSDR regularly:

"I found these podcasts which are non-sleep deep rest, or NSDRs. So while I find it difficult to meditate, I can go to YouTube, find an NSDR video. They're available in 10, 20, or 30 minutes, so I do that occasionally."

That quote captures something important: Pichai specifically said he finds meditation difficult but NSDR accessible. That tracks with Huberman's whole argument for why the distinction matters. NSDR requires less effortful control, which makes it easier to actually do.

If I had to distill Huberman's NSDR advice into one sentence: use a guided audio track, keep it between 10 and 30 minutes, and do it daily. The protocol works because it gives your nervous system a reliable way to shift from a dysregulated, sympathetic-dominant state into parasympathetic restoration.

The takeaway is: you don't need to figure this out alone. NSDR tracks are built on exactly the protocol-first, regulation-focused approach Huberman recommends:

• Free 10-minute NSDR track to try the protocol with zero commitment
• 20 and 30-minute sessions for post-learning recovery and deep restoration
• Tracks designed for specific outcomes: sleep recovery, stress downshift, focus reset

Start a free NSDR track and see if 10 minutes changes how your afternoon feels. If it does, explore the full track library to make nervous system regulation a daily protocol.

What does Andrew Huberman say about NSDR?

He calls it one of his core "amplifiers" for mental and physical performance, ranking it alongside cold exposure as a daily tool on top of his 5 health pillars. He coined the umbrella term for yoga nidra and clinical self-hypnosis: two practices that shift your nervous system into a restorative state while you stay awake. After roughly a decade of daily practice, his recommendation is 10 to 30 minute guided sessions for stress recovery, learning acceleration, and sleep support. His key distinction: this is deliberate defocus, not meditation.

How long should you do NSDR according to Huberman?

Huberman recommends 10, 20, or 30 minutes depending on your goal. 10 minutes for a quick reset between tasks. 20 minutes after a focused learning session to accelerate neuroplasticity. 30 minutes for deep recovery, especially if you slept poorly the night before. He uses guided audio tracks for all durations.

Is NSDR the same as yoga nidra?

Close, but not identical. The traditional practice is one flavor under a broader umbrella that also includes clinical self-hypnosis. Huberman chose the broader label to strip away spiritual connotations and make the practice accessible to people who would otherwise skip it. The core mechanism is shared: guided relaxation that shifts your nervous system into a parasympathetic state while you stay conscious.

Can NSDR replace sleep?

Absolutely not, and Huberman has been explicit on this point. His number 1 pillar of health is getting 7-9 hours at night, full stop. However, the protocol can partially compensate for a rough night. A 30-minute session provides genuine restoration, enough to function well, even though it won't deliver all the benefits of a full overnight cycle. Huberman also uses it at 3am when he wakes and can't drift off again, treating it as a productive alternative to lying there frustrated.

Where can I find Huberman's free NSDR recordings?

YouTube is the main source. Look for guided sessions in 10, 20, and 30-minute formats. Huberman has pointed listeners there directly across multiple episodes. You can also try protocol-based tracks designed around the same principles he endorses: guided audio, specific durations, and a regulation-first approach rather than a meditation framework.