Is Your Apple Watch Making You Anxious? A Neuroscientist (and Her Daughter) Explain

Is your Apple Watch making you anxious? Cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Caroline Leaf is joined by special guest Dominique Leaf, her daughter and the show's producer, to ask whether we are over-tracking and over-optimizing our health to the point where health anxiety is rising.Dominique wore an Apple Watch for years and took it off. She talks openly about how the numbers fed her eating disorder struggles, and how tracking pulled her away from how she actually felt in her body. Dr. Leaf explains what happens in the mind and brain when a number on a screen hijacks your nervous state, and why the fix is never the device. One phrase runs through the whole conversation: observe, do not merge. What you'll learn:• Whether a fitness tracker causes health anxiety or reveals anxiety that was already there• Why anxiety is data and a signal, not a disorder to be eliminated• The four warning signals to read before you reach for a device• What merging with a tracker does to your brain on a physical level• Why your mind is 99 percent of who you are and your brain and body are 1 percent• The seven-day exercise that shows you how often you really check• Three questions that reveal whether tracking has turned compulsive  Support the sponsors: Quince: free shipping and 365-day returns at https://quince.com/leaf Ritual: 25% off your first month at https://ritual.com/leaf Shopify: free trial at https://shopify.com/leaf Veracity: up to 65% off with code DRLEAF at https://veracityhealth.co Resources: Dr. Leaf's Website: https://drleaf.com Neurocycle Certification (opens September): https://drleaf.com  1:1 Coaching with Dr. Leaf: https://drleaf.com/coaching-1-1 Neurocycle App: https://drleaf.com/neurocycle-app Subscribe so you don't miss the next one. New episodes every Wednesday. Do you track your health, and does the data leave you calmer or more worried? Tell me in the comments.