Dr. Andrew Huberman's podcast has introduced millions of people to the science of circadian rhythms. The protocols he describes — morning sunlight, adenosine management, cortisol anchoring, melatonin timing — draw on peer-reviewed circadian research, though some rest on stronger evidence than others.
But there is a significant gap between knowing a protocol and actually executing it every day. This guide covers the core Huberman Lab sleep and circadian protocols and how to implement them in real life. (ARC is not affiliated with Andrew Huberman or Huberman Lab.)
Protocol 1: Morning Sunlight Exposure#
The most frequently cited Huberman recommendation: get outside within 30–60 minutes of waking and get natural outdoor light for 5–10 minutes (or 20–30 minutes on cloudy days). ARC uses a single 20-minute target so you don't have to judge the cloud cover. Do not wear sunglasses if you can safely go without, do not view through glass, and never look directly at the sun.
The mechanism: bright light reaching the retina signals the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which helps time the morning cortisol rise and sets when melatonin will rise that evening, roughly 14–16 hours later. This anchors your entire circadian clock. To see how cloud cover changes the dose, try the free sunlight calculator.
How to execute it: ARC's morning light timer runs toward the 20-minute target on your Lock Screen and Dynamic Island, starting from today's real sunrise. Log it each morning and ARC keeps a 14-day strip of the mornings you got your light, so you can see how consistent you really are.
Protocol 2: Delay Caffeine 90–120 Minutes After Waking#
Huberman consistently recommends avoiding caffeine for 90–120 minutes after waking. The reason he gives: caffeine blocks adenosine receptors, so coffee straight after waking masks leftover sleep pressure that returns when the caffeine wears off.
Huberman's rationale is that this softens an afternoon crash. It's a popular recommendation; the direct evidence is thin, and the early-afternoon dip happens partly regardless of coffee because it's built into your circadian clock. The best test is your own afternoons. (More on this in the science of delaying coffee 90 minutes.)
ARC can notify you when your coffee window opens, and its five-day experiments let you test one change at a time against your own check-ins, with "no difference" as an allowed result.
Protocol 3: Identify and Protect Your Peak Focus Window#
Huberman frames the day by hours since waking: roughly the first 8 hours for alert, focused work, hours 9–16 for a calmer, more creative stretch, and hours 16–24 for winding down and sleep. Your peak focus hours are the 2–4 hour block when focus comes easiest.
Typical estimates by chronotype: for Lions, this window is often 8–11 AM. For Bears, 9 AM–12 PM. For Wolves, it shifts to the afternoon or early evening. More in peak focus windows.
ARC places your peak hours using your chronotype and the peak you describe during setup, and shows them in your day plan.
Protocol 4: Caffeine Cutoff Based on Half-Life#
Huberman frequently discusses caffeine's 5–6 hour half-life; yours may be anywhere from about 4 to 7 hours, and ARC asks which you are. If you have a coffee at 3 PM, about a quarter is still circulating at 1 AM for an average metaboliser, roughly 25 mg from a standard cup. Whether that matters depends on the dose and your sensitivity, which is why ARC aims for under 50 mg at bedtime rather than a fixed clock time.
The calculation: work backward from your target sleep time. For one standard cup and an average metaboliser, the cutoff lands roughly 5 hours before bed, around 6 PM for an 11 PM bedtime. A second cup, a stronger drink or slow metabolism pulls it earlier. Try it with the free caffeine calculator.
That's the math ARC redoes every time you log a drink. It shows your active mg throughout the day, your decay curve, and your last safe coffee time.
Protocol 5: Light Management in the Evening#
In the final 2–3 hours before sleep, Huberman recommends dimming all lights and — critically — lowering their position. Overhead lights signal daytime to the SCN; low, dim, warm light signals evening. Avoiding bright screens (or using blue light blocking glasses) protects the melatonin onset that your morning light set up 14–16 hours earlier.
ARC sends a wind-down notification before your bedtime, reminding you to start dimming the lights.
Making It Stick: From Protocol to System#
The Huberman protocols are ideas; the hard part is running them every day. In ARC, the morning light timer, the caffeine cutoff and the wind-down notification put them on a schedule timed to your chronotype.
You do not need to remember five separate rules. You need one app that handles the sequencing for your specific chronotype, every day.