Ep 88: Is Fitness Becoming Health Anxiety?

*]:pointer-events-auto R6Vx5W_threadScrollVars scroll-mb-[calc(var(--scroll-root-safe-area-inset-bottom,0px)+var(--thread-response-height))] scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]" dir="auto" data-turn-id= "request-6a05e87f-f904-83ea-94e7-9ff998b81ad5-0" data-turn-id-container= "request-6a05e87f-f904-83ea-94e7-9ff998b81ad5-0" data-testid= "conversation-turn-12" data-turn="assistant"> We've never had more information about our own bodies. Sleep scores. HRV. Resting heart rate. VO₂ max. Blood glucose. Calories. Steps. Blood tests. Recovery scores. Training readiness. We can measure almost everything. But here's the question we wanted to ask: has knowing more actually made us healthier or just more worried about being unhealthy? This episode starts with Dean wearing an analogue watch that does something revolutionary: it tells the fucking time. From there, we get into our own relationships with health data, training and ageing, and ask whether we've reached a point where some people trust the number on their wrist more than how they actually feel. We talk about the difference between useful monitoring and obsessive checking, why perfectly normal changes in sleep, fatigue and performance can suddenly feel like problems that need fixing, and whether the fitness and wellness industry has helped create a generation of people who are physically healthy but permanently concerned that something is wrong with them. There's also a bigger contradiction at the heart of the conversation: we have more health technology, information and access to expertise than any generation before us, yet at population level we still face enormous problems with obesity, inactivity and chronic disease. So maybe the problem isn't that we need more information. Maybe we need to get better at knowing what actually fucking matters. A conversation about health anxiety, wearables, blood tests, control, uncertainty, ageing, fitness and learning when to stop measuring everything and just get on with your life. But it goes deeper on many levels for all our listeners to question things. Come join us in this weeks episode _:empty]:hidden">