Habits and Hustle - Episode 582: How Constant Health Optimization Makes Us Less Happy and Healthy

Episode Date: August 21, 2026

What if all this optimizing is actually making us less happy? Sleep scores, step counts, glucose monitors, supplements, peptides, wearables, and endless wellness protocols have turned health into something we constantly track, measure, and try to perfect. But when every meal, workout, night of sleep, and social plan becomes another data point, the pursuit of better health can start creating more stress than clarity. You may look disciplined and optimized on the outside while feeling anxious, restricted, and disconnected from the life you are trying to improve. Technology has also changed the way we trust our own bodies. We wake up feeling fine, check a low sleep score, and suddenly decide we are exhausted. We skip dinners, birthday cake, travel, drinks, and time with friends because we are afraid of disrupting a routine or hurting a metric. The tools designed to support our health can begin controlling our choices, until we are protecting the routine more than we are enjoying the results. The real question is not always "How can I optimize this?" Sometimes it is "Is this actually improving my life?" Health should give you more energy, freedom, connection, and joy. It should not make you afraid of food, obsessed with numbers, or unwilling to be spontaneous. Every protocol, product, and intervention comes with a tradeoff, and more optimization does not automatically mean better physical or mental health. In this episode of Habits and Hustle, I talk about when healthy habits cross the line into obsession, why sleep trackers and wellness scores may create more anxiety than clarity, how people are sacrificing dinners, birthdays, relationships, and spontaneity to protect their routines, and why looking optimized on the outside does not always mean you are healthy on the inside.   What's Discussed: (01:25) Whether constant optimization is making us less happy. (03:11) When tracking and hacking every part of life becomes an obsession. (04:41) Where healthy optimization ends and extreme wellness behavior begins. (05:48) Why checking your sleep score can create more stress than clarity. (06:46) Why looking thin or optimized does not necessarily mean you are healthy. (07:45) How the wellness industry profits by selling fear and endless solutions. (08:17) Why people are optimizing their lives without actually enjoying them. (09:22) How protecting your routine can cost you dinners, birthdays, and relationships. (09:50) Why sleep tracker data can change how tired you believe you feel. (10:33) How technology and constant tracking have weakened human connection. (11:35) Why a phone call can be more efficient than endless texts and meetings. (16:37) Why chasing money, fitness, beauty, and longevity can leave you with fewer memories.   Thank You to Our Sponsors! Magic Mind: Head over to magicmind.com/jen and use code JEN at checkout. Momentous: Ready to try supplements that actually do what they claim? Head to livemomentous.com and use code JEN for 35% off your first subscription.  Therasage: Visit therasage.com and use code JEN to get 15% off your order. Your skin Prolon: Prolon is offering listeners 30% off sitewide plus a $40 bonus gift when you subscribe to their 5-Day Program! Just visit prolonlife.com/JENNIFERCOHEN and use code JENNIFERCOHEN to claim your discount and your bonus gift. Kion: Visit getkion.com/habits for 20% off. Tru Niagen®: For supplements that are rigorously tested, third-party verified, and actually deliver what's on the label, head to truniagen.com   Find more from Jen Cohen: Website: jennifercohen.com Instagram: @therealjencohen Books: jennifercohen.com/books Speaking: jennifercohen.com/speaking-engagements  

Hi guys, it's Tony Robbins. You're listening to Habits and Hustle. Crush it. Before we dive into today's episode, I want to thank our sponsor, Momentus. When your goal is health span, living better, and longer, there are very few non-negotiables. One of them, quality. And when it comes to supplements designed for high performers, nobody does it better than Momentus. Momentus goes all in on NSF certification, which means every single batch is tested for heavy metals, harmful additives, and label accuracy. And that's why they're trusted by all 32 NFL teams and top collegiate sports dietitians across the country. Here's the thing. They don't sell every supplement under the sun because they believe in nailing the basics with rock

solid consistency. And those basics are protein and creatine. Momentous sources creopure. The purest form of creatine monohydrate available, an absolute must for both men and women who want peak physical and cognitive performance. So if you're serious about leveling up, go to livemomentous.com and use code gen for 20% off. Just act now. Start today. Gen for 20% off. Live momentous.com. Hi, everybody. Welcome to another, I guess, quasi-solo episode of Habits and Hustle because I am joined by my very favorite foiler, foil. I'm the voice in your head. Yes, Shawnee Suisa, who I just kind of gab with for about 15, 20 minutes on these episodes and just kind of do a hot take of some kind. And so she's joining us again. But before we even get into the episode, I want to make sure I tell you guys all this, because I always forget, please, guys, if you have not. not subscribe to this podcast either through any platform. I don't know. It could be Spotify, iTunes, it could be YouTube. I don't care. Please press the button. It makes a massive difference in the

algorithm. And it really helps. And I've been extremely remiss to tell people this for, what, six years. So, uh, true. Maybe we should, if you guys listen to this, it takes two seconds and I will greatly appreciate it. Wow. So with that being said, let's move on to the episode. Shawnee, Thank you for being here. Thank you so much for having me. You're so welcome. Okay, I want to talk to you about something that I think is, I'm just going to say it, and then you can tell me what your thoughts are, okay?

Okay. So this episode is going to be about, do you think optimizing is making us less happy? So funny, because I was just thinking about buying an aura ring and in my mind. Yeah, I was like, do I want to do that? Because I honestly hate walking around with my phone. I'd much rather, like, leave it. but I want to track my steps. But, you know, I track my steps.

Is that the gateway drag, they're tracking every single thing in the world? Why can you track your steps on your watch? I guess then you're again. I don't have a watch. No, you can work. Like, I track my steps on this on my Apple Watch. But this is a thing, right? Yeah, but I don't have one.

I don't buy an Apple Watch. Like, listen, you know what? That's true. It's either one or a ring or whatever. Yeah. I guess it's the same thing. I guess this is my point, right? Like I'm a big optimizer, right?

Like this whole podcast, my whole life is about like how to make you better, even one percent better, you know, in a year, right? Like, how do we make our physical health better? How do we make our mental health better? How do we make our emotional, spiritual, everything, health better? But I do think that it's becoming such an obsession in the world right now, or maybe it's, I'm not sure actually if it's the world I'm in or if it's really just, like, really becoming the big, big trend of, like, outside of my own vortex. Because honestly, like, when I watched things everywhere, see people. Everyone's wearing an aura ring. Everyone's wearing an eye, an Apple watch. Everyone is, you know, are doing these things, which I think is good to an extent. But where is the line of it

taking over and controlling your life to a place where you are kind of optimizing everything and trying to hack everything to get a certain score where you're not having like the hat, like your happiness is now like not even being considered or you're like just an or you're Overall, just being is not being. Everything is now like gamified to a place where it's stressful. You know, I just think that there's like, you have to find the balance. Like what's healthy optimization and what's psychosis? What's going to make you go crazy? And I feel like that's the, there's a, it's hard to find. I mean, Brian Johnson or Johnson or whatever. Oh, that's a really good point. I mean, he just got this whole autoimmune disease because of all of his optimization. Let's talk about it. That's a really good point. So Brian Johnson spends what, $2 million a year. On his, like his longevity, his health.

And now he just came down with this autoimmune disease. Now, you know, you can argue maybe he always had some of, maybe he had it, but it was, but it was, he gave himself. Okay. But he, I heard him in an interview saying that maybe, you know, of course he's going to say this, but like maybe it would have been worse if it wasn't at him doing all these things. Or did all of these kooky extremes create it, right? Like, it's like the chicken or the egg. You don't know. But I will say this.

And this is what I think that, like, this is the thing I really believe is honestly. And I think this is like such a cliche. Oh, everything in moderation. But no, the people I know who are honestly like the most healthy or live the longest don't really do any of this stuff. They like kind of like, they know how they sleep. You know when you wake up if you slept well or not. You looking at your aura ring or your whoop or your phone or what. whatever thing you're using to tell you is kind of like becoming like silly at this point,

right? Like you need to know if it's, if your sleep score is 71 or 86, is it going to, what is it going to do? Is it how is it going to change your life? It actually is going to hurt your life. Well, because now you're going to be like, oh, it's going to make you frantic and stressful. Like, how does that number change what you do the next night? Oh, oh, I was only at a 60s. So therefore, maybe my room isn't dark enough. Maybe I should go sleep in the closet. it. Like honestly, or like, oh, maybe my room isn't cold enough. Like, are you going to constantly just, you know, modify what, like, what your circumstances is? That's even more annoying. And it's more of a headache. And how do you live like that? Why are people who are, like,

healthy wearing glucose monitors? Like, it's one thing if you have diabetes. But if you don't have diabetes, why is everybody in their dog on a GLP1 to lose weight? Now, the baseline has become like, now if you lose weight naturally, it's kind of like, it's, it's become like, Like, it's become obsolete, right? You walk around, everyone's thin. But they're skinny, thin, they're not muscular. They're not maybe healthy. My point is, we have all of these mechanisms in place to seem optimized, but really probably

in the inside. Maybe we, on the outside, externally look optimized. But I would be curious to know how optimized are we really inside in our head, in our physicality, in all these things. If you're just skinny, but you have. no muscle on your body, well, that's not so great either. If you're sleeping, you know, okay, but you're constantly thinking about your sleep, well, that's not good for your mental health either. Yeah. Like, I feel like everyone is so, it's become so extreme and over the top because

it's a trillion, multi-trillion dollar business and industry, and this has become what people are now, this is where the money is. And so where the money is, more products, more technology, more everything, More businesses are being based around how do we get you to spend and how are we going to scare you to think that you need this to be healthier? Yes. I think the big question through all of that is like, why are people optimizing so much if they're not also enjoying the life that they're optimizing for? So, you know, if your entire life is about just optimization, but you're not actually spending any of that time enjoying the, you know, the optimizing that you're doing, then it's like, what do you even optimizing for? Well, I know, I make a joke all the time. It's like, here I am working out, eating properly, getting my hair done. doing all these things so I'm really fit and I'm doing all the things and then I stay home and watch like TV and like eat like about myself right alone right so like and I think that's become like the

the funny joke even on social media all these memes you know I'm working out crushing it getting super fit to stay home alone to watch Netflix like literally that is literally what's gone on right I think no one no one like it's like no one's even enjoying there's no one no one's like socializing Because a big piece of it is because it's going to disrupt their routine of being healthy. Because then you're going out to eat. Maybe you're having a drink. Maybe you're doing this. Or you want to go to the gym in the morning.

Right. So like where is the healthy balance? So you're not going to go with your friends to dinner because you don't want to eat that food. So then you'll stay home. You're not going to go up because you want to wake up early so you can get to the gym. You're not going to eat that piece of cake for your husband's birthday. your child's birthday. Why? Because then your glucose will spike. And everything is like now because you're scared of not being optimized. Yes. And it's also, you know, I saw,

don't quote me on this, but I did see a study on Instagram, you know, the notorious academic journal that we love to read from. And on Instagram academia, it said that, you know, studies showed that people who were just told that their sleep scores were lower felt that their sleep was worse and were significantly more tired than people who were told that their sleep scores were higher. A hundred percent. And I strongly believe that because I know people who are just absolutely psychotic about their sleep scores.

And to me, I'm thinking, like, listen, sometimes I get a good night's sleep. Sometimes I don't, I don't, like, whatever. Like, next day comes, next day goes, you know? Like, so freaking true. Like, if I just tell myself, I slept fine, like, I slept fine. Like, I'm good. I'm awake. I'm here.

I'm ready to go. What do we got to do? You know what I mean? Like, just keep it moving. You know what I really miss? I miss. I always say this. I miss living in the 90s and the early 2000s when life was normal. Like, you know what I mean? Like, I didn't wear the, I didn't have an aura ring or while. I just

like did my thing. And if you're right, if I slept well, I slept. If I didn't, well, the next night I'll sleep better. You know, I like, nobody's house was perfectly aesthetic for Instagram with everything detanted. Right. I wasn't scrolling, doom scrolling, like watching strangers who I'll never know, you know, talk about whatever is trending right now or try to like. capture the algorithm in a video that I won't even remember it like in three seconds from then. Like, how many people here remember any reel that they saw five minutes ago? Oh, I have such a good memory for real. Oh, I remember zero.

Remember so many real. I remember none. It's alarming, actually. But you know what? Okay, I'm going to tell you this. If they're funny, that's one thing. But I think most of them are not. And also what I miss in the 2000s is socializing and human connection.

You know, if I call somebody, they're freaked out. Like, oh my God. Like, this is what happens, right? You're such a phone person, though. You're such a phone person. Jen's a great, like, hour long phone call type of person. No, I'm a phone, because, by the way, calling someone is how you connect to somebody.

I don't give a shit. It's so easy. You know, hardiness to talk on text. By the way, you have to stop what you're doing, text the person. The conversation is so, it's so blunted. I stopped answering everybody. I don't answer. I just can't.

It's annoying me. So you know what? I am. that if I text you and you respond, I will call you. Yeah, I love that. I will do that. And by the way, I get, I get shit for that all the time. And what is my biggest pet peeve is when I call the person and they don't answer, I'm like, bitch, I know you're there.

Hilarious. You literally just texted back. You just texted me. I love that you call. My favorite thing is that I can just, I know I can always just call you. Like, I love that. There's some people who just, you know, they're just weird on the phone. I'm like, just answer the fucking phone.

100%. Like, I'm telling you guys now, if you're my friend. If you have my phone number, if you want, if you have to ask a question, please do me a favor. Just call me. All of my brand, all of my sponsors, all of my partnerships. Like, literally, they probably think I'm a crazy person because most people, like, have to send the email and then, like, you know, schedule a phone call and then go onto a Zoom. No, it's too much.

It drives me crazy. Just ask me the two questions. Pick of the phone. Call me. Yeah, it's so much easier. Just, but pick up the phone. And this could be done in two seconds. Like, what is it?

What is it you need to know? What is it that you want? Yes, no, good, maybe, okay. Let's move it. Like, let's keep it going. Like, you know, keep it moving. The amount of, like, time wasted because of all of this rigmarole of, like, having a text someone and then the DM and then scheduling. Like, anyway, the optimization, like. By the way, calling people is actually optimizing your communications, which is hilarious. I was going to optimize Paul. It is a great way to optimize your communication. The best optimization thing to do. I was going to also say it is a really important topic, but I also think because you're so in the midst of everything, it's like it's all consuming for your world right now. Like I don't think the whole world is on GLP ones. However, I think a lot of ours, no, I think a lot of people are more people than you think.

People in Kansas, like lots of people in Kansas are working around on GLP1. You know what? I'm going to tell you something, Shawnee. Yes. And I'm going to tell you why. Because it's become commoditized. You can now get a GLP1. You can get like a tri-zapitide for like 30 bucks. But we're in L.A. You know how quickly people buy into this kind of stuff? It's not just L.A. It's L.A. It's Miami. It's New York. It's places where these things get bought into faster. I don't know that it's really touched like all of Middle America. This is what I will say. How about this? This is what I will say. I think if anyone has expendable income, even a little bit, they are they are on a GLP one or considering it or considering it. Right, right. Okay. That's fair. Okay. So I'm not saying people who don't have money to buy dinner or lunch for. their children are on it. Right. More affluent city dwellers, I would say, yes. Okay, so more affluent city dwellers for sure. Fine.

I would also say, though, that it's becoming very, very cheap to be on one because they're making it now, like, you can buy a cup of coffee and then you can also buy your Treasepitide or your Reddit Troutide or your-Had people don't give a shit. That's the thing is, like, I never, you know, I never got the code vaccine. I just like, I... That's the whole other thing. But yes, I'll do that. But I also have not on the GLPs either.

And, like, you know, I gained a lot of weight this year. And so then I had to lose a lot of weight. And everybody was telling me to get on them. But I just literally was like, I feel like I have so many problems. And I prefer to put, like, other bad things in me that, like, I would rather, like, I'd rather have a Coke Zero than put in some random shot. Because that's like, you know, you give and take. Like, you have to, you know, for the Coke Zero chemical, I give up the potential risk of like, you know, something going wrong over here. You know it's hilarious to me?

A hundred percent. I was like, people will shun you for drinking a Diet Coke, but you can, you can like, you can basically shoot yourself. You can shoot yourself with 97 peptides from China that you have no idea within it. And that's okay. They just have no idea. Because all people care about is being skinny. Right, right.

But yet they can stand on their soapbox and be like, oh my God, you actually had a Diet Coke. I cannot believe you. By the way, wanting to be skinny is actually why I like Cook Zero. Otherwise, I'd go for a regular Coke, but it's hilarious. So we each have our vices. Like, you guys get Ozempi and I get my Cook Zero. Exactly. It's like a bunch of everything is like this world is so ass backwards.

It is unbelievable. And like I just find it to be just like I said, with all this, people are more miserable than ever, which we're going to talk about in the next episode. Well, okay. I want to add one quote. working to live slash living to work. It's the same premise, right? So many people are so caught up making money. So many people are so caught up optimizing their health. We're all caught up. Everybody's caught up doing all these things to better their life, but they're not actually enjoying the better life that

they're trying to better, right? I really, I really, really believe that to be true. I agree with you. It's a real big thing. It also is why, like, you know, growing up, I always wanted to be a billionaire, which is great. Fine. I still do in theory. But I also don't want to have to go about my life in the way that a lot of people who have become billionaires have gone about their life. I don't want to sacrifice living. That's crazy. I don't want to end up with so much money and no memories. Like I just don't want that. I don't want to end up with, you know, the hottest body and the hottest face in the world, but like no happiness, no memories, no joy, no stories, you know? It's just a lot. Like this nose job, now I can't really breathe well, which is fine, fair play. Like, I look a little bit better,

but like I look a little bit better. I don't look like a million times better. I'm not like, oh my God, she's Giselle out of nowhere. Like, I don't know. Now I can't breathe. Now playing tennis is harder. Now working out is harder. Now partying is harder. Everything's harder, right?

I love that you said, can I think, is it worth it? I really love that you said this because I think that's like a really, like there's always a cost. Always. To everything. You know, there's always a pro and a con to everything. So like, that's really interesting because I want to talk about that in the next episode. So let's hold that, okay? You guys, that's the rant for today.

Let us know your comments. Do you really think that we're getting optimized to the place of being completely out of touch, unhappy, or do you think it's a good thing? Let me know in the comments. Please subscribe. And always, always, thank you for listening and we'll see you again soon.

Bye-bye.