can you explain "limbic friction"

"Limbic friction" is a term coined by Andrew Huberman to describe the effort needed to overcome states of high alertness or lethargy in order to engage in a desired activity or thought pattern. It relates to the function of the autonomic nervous system, which regulates our alertness or calmness levels, acting as a seesaw either tipping us toward more stress and wakefulness or toward calmness and sleep.

The concept elaborates on the difficulty many people experience when they are either too anxious or distracted (high alertness) and cannot calm down to engage in a behavior or are feeling too tired or lazy (low alertness) and cannot motivate themselves into action 1. These states of being too alert or too calm impede habit formation and maintenance because they require different levels of activation energy or conscious override to perform a certain behavior.

Limbic friction is an important psychological and neurobiological mechanism that underlies habit strength, the likelihood of habit formation, and the degree of effort necessary to sustain or change behaviors. It encompasses both the stress of needing to become more alert when feeling lethargy and the strain of needing to calm down when feeling overly stressed. Both situations demand substantial top-down processing from our forebrain to regulate the limbic system’s influence on our autonomic responses 2 3 4 5.

In short, limbic friction represents the challenge posed by our internal states in changing or maintaining our behaviors, which is a key aspect of neuroplasticity and focus 4. It can often be alleviated by leveraging certain morning activities and neural systems to perform habits with high limbic friction 6, or by utilizing procedural memory to mentally prepare and decrease this friction 7.