From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
The evidence is that 50% of young heroin users who are under 19 will die by the age of 50. It's a terrible danger. People with alcohol problems have got a full 400% increase in expectation of death, than people without alcohol problems.
They used two wires hooked up to a car battery to give me electric shocks. They used electric stun-guns on my genitals twice. I thought I would never see my family again.
The average person works more than five days a week… they're burned out by the weekend, they end up drinking too much alcohol, too much caffeine, they don't look after themselves, they're reacting to how they feel instead of preparing for the tasks ahead.
We have the ability to push much further than we think is possible, but the brain wants us to rest to allow the body to recover. With practice and training we can overcome almost any discomfort.
When those inputs are removed, it starts to prune function and structure, because those functions aren't needed anymore. It's still that same process — we just call it ageing. And it happens because we've removed physical activity, cognitive stimulus, and social connection. The brain responds accordingly.
I want to set an example for this generation of war reporters, and for my generation as a whole, that you don't have to rely on drugs or alcohol to cope with traumatic experiences.
There is also a huge cultural misconception that heart disease is the patient's fault, they did something wrong to themselves. When we blame individuals and not the society that created those risk factors and behaviours, we don't react as forcefully as we could.
Working with the world's best athletes forced us to build the most accurate technology, and not to cut any accuracy or performance corners. Pro athletes helped to remove the stigma around health monitoring and make it something aspirational instead. Technology that's on your body 24/7, it starts to play a role in your identity!
Philosophy is not an anaesthetic, like it's just going to make the pain go away. But there is great solace in really understanding why chronic pain is difficult. Understanding those things can be consoling in itself, in part because it overcomes the isolation of illness.
Many people think the role of bioethics is to go and see what the scientists or doctors are doing and tell them to stop because they are acting, by hypothesis, unethically. However I often find when I go and see what the scientists are doing, they are doing wonderful things and I'm very inclined to say 'great guys, keep going!'
We have a significant ability to change our cognitive trajectory. But first, we need to believe it's possible. And second, we need to engage in the things that allow it to happen.
In the spring, when we lose an hour of sleep, we observe a consequential 24% increase in heart attacks the following day. In the Autumn, when we gain an hour, we see a corresponding 21% reduction in heart attacks.