Dr. Andrew Huberman, a Stanford neuroscientist, is challenging conventional wisdom about brain health and facial aging with revelations about a bodily system most people have never heard of. In his latest research presentation, the professor of neurobiology explains why something as mundane as your sleeping position could dramatically impact dementia risk while simultaneously affecting how old you look each morning.
“Your lymphatic system is absolutely essential to your immediate and long-term health,” Huberman declares, admitting that practices like bouncing on trampolines and specific breathing techniques might sound “goofy” or “newagey”—until you understand the science behind them.
The Mystery of Disappearing Eye Bags
Nearly everyone has experienced waking up with puffy eyes and a tired, aged appearance, only to look dramatically fresher a few hours later. Huberman explains this isn’t about cosmetics or caffeine—it’s pure biology.
“Many people wake up with bags under their eyes, they look kind of groggy, they look much older, and then a couple of hours later they look fresh and that stuff is all cleared away,” he explains. This transformation results from “lymphatic clearance” of facial tissues—a process by which your body removes 3 to 4 liters of excess fluid daily, along with cellular waste products, proteins, ammonia, and carbon dioxide.
When this drainage system becomes sluggish during hours of stationary sleep, fluid accumulates in tissues, causing the visible puffiness particularly noticeable around eyes and cheeks.
Your Brain’s Hidden Waste System
The most alarming revelation concerns the glymphatic system—a waste-clearing network in the brain discovered only in 2012 by researcher Maiken Nedergaard. This system removes toxic proteins including amyloid-beta and tau, both directly linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
During sleep, the perivascular space around brain blood vessels expands by 60%, creating channels that flush cerebrospinal fluid through brain tissue “like a dishwasher,” carrying away metabolic waste. But this critical cleaning process only activates during sleep and works substantially better when you sleep on your side rather than on your back.
“If we don’t clear it out within the brain, we get what’s called brain fog. You get cognitive impairment,” Huberman warns. He describes the sensation as “awful”—the inability to hold and maintain thoughts, existing somewhere between sleep and wakefulness while stressed about the mental cloudiness.
The System With No Pump
What makes the lymphatic system uniquely vulnerable is a critical design feature: unlike your heart pumping blood, the lymphatic system has no pump whatsoever.
“It’s a passive system, no pump, and it’s fighting gravity all the time,” Huberman explains. “Nature came up with a brilliant solution. It’s actually the movement of your body that creates the movement of lymph up through these vessels.”
This isn’t about intense gym sessions. Low-level muscular contractions from walking, standing up and sitting down, and making small movements throughout the day are what push lymphatic fluid through one-way vessels toward your heart.
Why A Stanford Professor Owns a Trampoline
Addressing seemingly frivolous wellness trends, Huberman makes a confession: “I own a small trampoline that I jump on in the morning. I just think it’s fun and it turns out to be really good for your lymphatic system.”
The physics explain why bouncing works. Lymphatic vessels are one-way only, meaning as you shake the fluid, it can only move upward toward the heart regardless of the direction of movement. The misconception that jumping would push fluid downward with gravity ignores the valve design.
Swimming ranks even higher for lymphatic health. “There are great studies showing that,” Huberman notes, explaining that water creates a shearing effect along the skin that squeezes superficial lymphatic vessels just below the surface.
The 30-Second Technique That Works Immediately
Perhaps the most practical discovery involves diaphragmatic breathing—a technique practiced for centuries in yogic traditions as pranayama. What yogic traditions discovered through centuries of practice, modern science now validates through understanding of lymphatic physiology.
Inside your abdomen sits the cisterna chyli—a reservoir containing lymph fluid that hasn’t yet returned to your bloodstream. When you inhale deeply with your belly moving outward, diaphragmatic breathing creates a pressure differential between this lymph reservoir and your blood supply. This pressure difference literally pulls fluid from the reservoir back into circulation.
“Doing this just two or three times when you wake up in the morning, in the afternoon, or really any time you remember will really encourage lymphatic drainage,” Huberman advises. “This is especially important if you’re stuck on a plane or behind a desk.”
The 7,000 Steps Prescription
Huberman recommends at least 7,000 steps daily for optimal lymphatic function, noting that sluggishness from inactivity often results from lymphatic fluid buildup rather than simple laziness.
“Not all, but a fair amount of the sluggishness we feel when we don’t move around a lot is the slow movement and buildup of that lymphatic fluid,” he observes.
For travelers, he offers specific advice: “If you’re sitting a lot because of travel, you should really strive to get as much movement in the airport as you can. Maybe ideally you take the stairs, you don’t get on the conveyors.“
This addresses the modern epidemic of sedentary desk work, where professionals often log 10-plus hours of continuous sitting daily.
When the System Fails
Huberman doesn’t minimize the consequences of lymphatic dysfunction. When liters of waste-laden fluid accumulate, the warm environment rich in amino acids becomes ideal for bacterial growth and inflammation.
“Adipose tissue can really thicken, skin can thicken, and it starts becoming chronically inflamed,” he explains. The condition, called lymphedema, becomes particularly severe in cancer patients whose lymph nodes are removed during treatment, causing painful swelling, infections, and tissue damage.
Do Beauty Tools Actually Work?
Addressing the $50 billion industry built around lymphatic drainage—jade rollers, gua sha tools, and facial massage devices—Huberman’s assessment is measured: they can work, but technique matters more than tools.
Proper lymphatic drainage involves gentle pressure in specific directions, always moving fluid toward major lymph node clusters in the neck, armpits, and groin rather than random rubbing. He cautions that aggressive facial massage can damage delicate tissues and emphasizes that consistency matters more than intensity.
The Heart Health Connection
Much of aerobic exercise’s benefit for heart health comes through lymphatic vessels, not heart cells directly. Cardiovascular exercise triggers lymphangiogenesis—the growth of new lymphatic vessels—particularly around the heart, allowing better toxin drainage and supporting cardiac health.
Immediate Actions You Can Take
Based on Huberman’s protocols, zero-cost interventions include:
- Practice two to three rounds of diaphragmatic breathing (pranayama-style) upon waking
- Aim for at least 7,000 steps daily through regular walking
- Sleep on your side to optimize brain waste clearance
- Prioritize seven to nine hours of sleep nightly
- Take stairs instead of elevators when possible
- Do brief breathing exercises every few hours at your desk
- Perform ankle pumps and hand clenches if stuck sitting
- Stay adequately hydrated, as lymph is 95% water
Weekly practices that enhance lymphatic flow include swimming, cardiovascular exercise, or even five to ten minutes of gentle bouncing or jumping.
For facial appearance, gentle massage moving fluid toward the neck combined with sleeping with your head slightly elevated can reduce morning puffiness.
Why This Matters Now
Modern sedentary lifestyles create perfect conditions for lymphatic stagnation. Hours of desk work, minimal daily movement, and poor sleep hygiene combine to compromise this critical waste-removal system. The resulting consequences range from cosmetic concerns like facial puffiness to serious health risks including cognitive decline, chronic inflammation, and compromised immune function.
The practices Huberman describes cost nothing, require no special equipment except optionally an inexpensive mini-trampoline, and address root physiological processes rather than symptoms. What makes these interventions particularly compelling is their convergence with ancient wellness practices—pranayama breathing techniques have been used for thousands of years, and modern science now provides the mechanistic explanation for their effectiveness.
At age 50, Huberman holds credentials from UC Davis and Stanford, where he now serves as a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology. His emphasis throughout is that these strategies are complementary approaches based on established physiology, not replacements for medical care.
“The lymphatic system’s dependence on movement is biological fact, not alternative medicine,” he stresses. Supporting its function through evidence-based protocols carries virtually no risk while potentially offering substantial benefits for brain health, immune function, and even physical appearance.
The question, as Huberman frames it, isn’t whether your lymphatic system matters—but whether you’re giving it the mechanical forces it needs to function.
Full Podcast Episode: Huberman Lab – Improve Your Lymphatic System (YouTube)
