AMA #9: Kratom Risks, Does Infrared Sauna Work & Journaling Benefits

The episode is an Ask Me Anything (AMA) from the Huberman Lab premium subscriber channel, hosted by Andrew Huberman, who introduces himself as a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. He says the premium channel exists to support the free standard podcast, which comes out every Monday, and to fund research on human beings at Stanford and elsewhere aimed at mental health, physical health and performance. He also says the Tiny Foundation has agreed to match every research dollar the channel generates.

The stated pricing is $10 a month, $100 for a 12-month subscription, or a one-time lifetime payment, all available at hubermanlab.com/premium. Non-subscribers can hear the first 20 minutes. The first listener question is: what are the short- and long-term effects of taking kratom?

Kratom comes from a tree that grows naturally in Indonesia, Mitragyna speciosa. The host says people have known for at least a couple of hundred years, and possibly much longer, that chewing its leaves produces a mild stimulant effect. Extraction can now concentrate kratom from the leaves into supplements, most often sold as capsules and sometimes as raw powder.

The central point of the segment is that kratom's effects depend on dose. At low doses it is a mild stimulant. At higher doses it acts as an analgesic (a painkiller) and a sedative. The host says it also acts as an opioid in the body, and that this is why kratom is so controversial today.

To set the context, the host describes the opioid crisis. He says the term mostly refers to events in the United States, though the problem extends beyond its borders. It means overconsumption of and widespread addiction to opioids such as morphine and oxycodone (OxyContin), which generally work as painkillers and sedatives. Some people, especially at low to moderate doses, also feel euphoria. Tolerance builds quickly, so users need more and more of the drug to get the original effect.

He separates "habit-forming" from "addictive." Addictive means a person keeps taking something or doing something despite negative consequences. He notes that other definitions exist and offers a broader one of his own:

I define addiction more broadly as the progressive narrowing of the things that give you pleasure.