reposition axis label.

xlabh = get(gca,'XLabel');
set(xlabh,'Position',get(xlabh,'Position') - [0 .2 0])
The above would move the xlabel down by 0.2. The default units is
'data'.

https://groups.google.com/group/comp.soft-sys.matlab/browse_thread/thread/0e0834478ebfa2e1?fwc=1&hl=en&pli=1

ylab=get( gca, 'YLabel' );
set( ylab, 'Position',get( ylab, 'Position' )-[0 .05 0]);

move the ylabel down by 0.05