In this Huberman Lab Essentials episode, I explain the neuroscience of grief, including how the brain maps relationships across three dimensions — space, time, and closeness — and why losing someone requires a remapping of those neural circuits. I describe how grief differs from depression, the role of oxytocin in driving yearning after a loss, and why people move through grief at different rates. I also discuss science-based tools for grieving adaptively, including how to access feelings of attachment while decoupling them from episodic memory. Finally, I explain how foundational biology — particularly sleep and cortisol rhythms — shapes our capacity to navigate the grieving process.

Read the episode show notes at hubermanlab.com.

Thank you to our sponsors

AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman

LMNT: https://drinklmnt.com/huberman

Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/huberman

Timestamps

(00:00:00) Grief

(00:01:47) Myths of Grief, Kubler-Ross & fMRI

(00:03:56) Brain Mapping Experiment, Proximity

(00:07:05) Inferior Parietal Lobule; Space, Time & Closeness

(00:09:20) Episodic Memory & Remapping After Loss

(00:11:28) Sponsor: Eight Sleep

(00:14:21) Tool: Dedicated Time, Counterfactual Thinking & Guilt

(00:15:52) Oxytocin & Individual Differences in Grief

(00:18:21) Prairie Voles, Monogamy & Nucleus Accumbens

(00:22:30) Sponsor: LMNT

(00:24:48) Vagal Tone, Emotional Disclosure & Bereavement Writing Study

(00:29:40) Cortisol Rhythms, Complicated Grief & Sunlight

(00:33:03) Sponsor: AG1

(00:34:59) Rational Grieving, Neuroplasticity & NSDR

Disclaimer & Disclosures

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices