During a recent appearance on Chris Williamson’s podcast alongside comedians Tom Segura and Matt McCusker, neuroscientist Andrew Huberman gave one of his most candid explanations yet for why he takes tadalafil daily and why he believes many men over 40 could benefit from it as well.
The discussion began around viral social media posts claiming that every man should be taking erectile dysfunction medication. Huberman immediately clarified what he felt was being misunderstood about tadalafil, the generic version of Cialis.
“Tadalafil, which is the generic name for Cialis, was developed first as a prostate health d**g,” Huberman explained. “And then people took more of it and realized that at higher dosages it can be effective for erectile dysfunction.”
He then broke down the reasoning behind the low-dose daily approach, saying, “Low dose, like 2.5 to 5 mg per day, is very helpful for perfusion of the prostate. And also, it causes vasodilation in the brain.”
Huberman said the potential cardiovascular and circulation-related benefits are part of the appeal.
“So, things like strokes, I mean you want blood flow, right?” he continued. “You don’t want excessive blood flow, like you’ve got a headache from it. But our chair of male sexual health and urology at Stanford, Mike Eisenberg, he came on the podcast and he said pretty much every male over 40 or so should be taking about 2.5 to 5 mg per day.”
When the conversation shifted toward the effect most people commonly associate with Cialis, Huberman acknowledged it directly.
“It will definitely notch up like erectile strength,” he said, before joking, “but unlike, you know, some health people out there, I’m not like using the calipers to measure the strength.”
Comedian Tom Segura also openly shared his own routine during the discussion.
“I take the, it’s like five to six milligrams in the morning,” he revealed.
When asked if he takes it daily, he confirmed, “Yeah, every morning.”
He also cautioned against significantly higher doses, explaining that the effects become much more noticeable and can impact blood pressure.
“If you were to get 25, 50, obviously that’s like massive blood flow and you’re going to take note,” Segura said.
Huberman agreed and said, “And it can disrupt, you know, lower blood pressure slightly and things like that because you get vasodilation. So you know, all the pipes are getting a little bigger.”
Huberman later explained why he believes the medical framing around tadalafil matters, particularly for men who may feel uncomfortable asking about erectile dysfunction medication.
“It probably does feel safer for guys to call up their doctor and go, ‘Hey, I heard some MD PhD from Stanford, not me but Mike Eisenberg, said that I should be getting better perfusion to my prostate and I should take 2.5 to 5 milligrams of tadalafil,'” Huberman said.
“And there, they just avoided all the statements about Cialis and ED,” he added. “It’s also cost like pennies. It’s generic now, the patent is out.”
He also noted one small cosmetic side effect he experiences from the daily dosage.
“It will make you a little ruddy,” Huberman said. “Like it makes you a little bit red,” which he attributed to the increased blood flow throughout the body.
