Last week, nearly 6,000 superfans packed Radio City Music Hall — but not to see their favorite pop star.
asserted
superfans → pack → star
Instead, wellness obsessives were there to worship at the altar of their hunkiest high priest — tattooed skateboarder, rock-music obsessive, Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman.
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obsessives → worship → priest
They stood in the aisle of the esteemed venue, posing and taking photos with his long-anticipated book, Protocols: An Operating Manual for the Human Body, as a photo carousel splayed across the screens.
And when he finally took to the stage, the audience hung on his every word.
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audience → stand → word
Even though many of those words — personal anecdotes and pretty generic wellness advice — had been shared before, across multiple podcast episodes.
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many → share → episodes
In a different era, he might have been dismissed as a science geek.
uncertain
he → dismiss → geek
But in today’s longevity-obsessed economy, he’s a demigod.
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he → obsess → economy
Call it revenge of the nerds, except the nerds got hot.
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nerds → call → nerds
The timing of his rise, rooted in the pandemic, coincided with people taking a genuine interest in understanding and having more autonomy over their health — so his advice on the importance of sleep, exercise, supplement protocols and, of course, neuroplasticity has gone viral time and again.
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advice → root → course
Searches for the scientist have surged 2,100% in five years.
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Searches → surge → years
He’s amassed nearly 16 million followers on YouTube and Instagram, over half a million on TikTok, and a 55,000-person Reddit community whose members call themselves “sungazers,” because, well, Andrew Huberman wants you to go outside.
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you → amass → themselves
Though his net worth isn’t public, his empire now includes a bestselling book, live events, merchandise, a paid Huberman Lab membership ($10 a month), major sponsors and compensated advisory relationships with health and wellness companies.
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empire → include → companies
His Huberman Lab podcast has 3 million weekly listeners, but his influence extends far beyond his nearly 3-hour episodes.
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influence → have → episodes
Devotees have changed their lives based on his advice.
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Devotees → change → advice
Some avoid caffeine until 90 minutes after waking to align with what Huberman explains is their natural cortisol rhythms.
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Huberman → avoid → caffeine
Others have added explosive, high-intensity workouts to their routines not only for cardiovascular benefits, but because Andrew Huberman says it can enhance neuroplasticity (the reprogramming of your brain).
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it → add → brain
Some critics have questioned the neutrality and accuracy of his advice, arguing that he promotes supplements and brands in which he may not disclose a stake, and that he can broadly extrapolate and oversimplify studies.
And in 2024, a New York magazine exposé detailed allegations about complicated and overlapping romantic relationships — and a tendency for him to have angry outbursts and rages.
Would it bother his fans that a man who’s built a brand off self-regulation and optimizing life, offering advice on relationships and attachment style, had a very different private life?
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who → question → life
His cultlike devotees don’t really care about cancel culture.
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devotees → care → culture
They want to keep listening.
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They → want → ?
For Delphine Le Grand, a follower and founder of the membership peptide company The Protocole, Huberman’s intellect outweighs his alleged personal failings.
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intellect → outweigh → failings
“It’s not ideal behavior,” she told The Post.
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she → ’ → Post
“But I feel like one’s health knowledge is separate from being romantic.”
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knowledge → feel → ?
He arrived at Radio City with two friends carrying a black leather-bound notebook, ready to absorb every word.
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He → arrive → word
Rossitto religiously follows one of Huberman’s most famous protocols: getting outside immediately after waking and exposing his eyes to natural light for several minutes to prepare him for better sleep that night.
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Rossitto → follow → sleep
Even during a New York winter, Rossitto said he gets outside as much as possible because of Huberman’s long-winded episodes on the benefits of sunlight.
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he → say → sunlight
His friends had incorporated Huberman into their lives too.
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friends → incorporate → lives
Ethan Libonati, 24, works night shifts in a neuro ICU and wears blue-light-blocking glasses at night to manage the disruption to his circadian rhythm.
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Libonati → work → rhythm
Another friend, 32, told The Post he was particularly drawn to Huberman’s discussions about the benefits of nicotine, which Huberman touts as a cognitive enhancer that helps with focus.
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that → tell → focus
And 67-year-old Alie Zinnurova put her devotion more simply: “I practice what he says.”
Specifically, following his advice about hormone regulation and living in a way to avoid hormone replacement therapy.
Inside Radio City, Huberman understood his audience wasn’t accidental.
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audience → put → City
“I imagine none of you stumbled in here,” he told the crowd, who clapped and cheered as the 6 ‘1, strapping scientist took the stage in what he called a “pinch me” moment.
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he → imagine → me
He spoke about finding purpose, painful memories, and not needing to be “good” at everything.
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He → speak → everything
One woman translated his sermon-like discussion of how his new book came to fruition into Italian on her iPhone while he spoke.
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he → translate → iPhone
Halfway through the show, the audience was invited to ask questions, ranging from brain health and trauma to what Huberman would tell his younger self.
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Huberman → invite → self
“You’ve met an insane amount of brilliant people.
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You → meet → people
What separates those operating at the very highest levels from other high performers?” one audience member asked.
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member → separate → performers
Huberman responded that he didn’t fully understand how his own success happened, but described having a “compulsion” to be the highest-performing version of one’s essential self.
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success → respond → self
But he also argued that if your protocols pull you away from living a balanced life rather than the fullest version of yourself, then you’re missing the point.
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you → argue → point
“The appeal of Huberman is that he’s incredibly level-headed.
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he → ’ → Huberman
He doesn’t get too excited about anything,” explained Dominic D’Alexander, a 30-year-old New Yorker, who works in the wellness space.
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who → get → space
He added that the elaborate tools often peddled by influencers are where biohacking can start to lose the plot.
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biohacking → add → plot
“I don’t need a vibrating sound board to relax my breathing before bed,” he said.
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he → need → bed
…and 17 more, not listed.
The Aporia
