We’ve hit peak health neurosis.

The co-author of Outlive—the book that brought longevity practices to the masses—recently said the new obsession with health optimization has become "cult-like" and "possibly destructive."

Think: Healthy people worrying about hyper-specific health details like sleep scores, protein timing, and exact minutes of zone 2 cardio to reach perfection.  

Health exists on an inverted U-shaped curve. Too little, and your physical health suffers. Too much, and your mental health and relationships suffer.

Example: Jen Murphy, who wrote WSJ’s What’s Your Workout? column for two decades, told me that after she’d profile exercised-obsessed CEOs, she’d often get emails from their spouses (or ex-spouses). “They said they wished their partner put as much energy into their relationship and family as they did into their workouts.” 

Health markers can look perfect on paper. But if the way you get there leads to anxiety and social isolation, that can actually make you less healthy overall. Massive studies show that for most people frequent social connection has about the same positive impact on longevity as exercise.

FWIW, I think the new focus on health has been largely beneficial, when we consider that 70% of the country is overweight or obese and only 1 in 8 people are metabolically healthy. But a subset of the already-healthy population is tipping into neurosis.

Do enough, but not so much that you lose the plot and drive yourself crazy. It’s a hard balance to strike and it looks different for everyone, but it’s worth figuring out.

Here’s a deeper dive on the topic: