456 episodes

Is there a science to being happy? Does our brain chemistry, or even our genetics, determine how we feel about our lives? Can we learn to become even happier? While happiness may look different for everyone, and can at times feel impossible to achieve, we know it’s an emotion that can be crucial to both your physical and mental health. So in this season of Chasing Life, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is setting out to better understand happiness and what the science tells us about the best ways to achieve it.  

Chasing Life CNN

    • Health & Fitness
    • 4.4 • 580 Ratings

Is there a science to being happy? Does our brain chemistry, or even our genetics, determine how we feel about our lives? Can we learn to become even happier? While happiness may look different for everyone, and can at times feel impossible to achieve, we know it’s an emotion that can be crucial to both your physical and mental health. So in this season of Chasing Life, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is setting out to better understand happiness and what the science tells us about the best ways to achieve it.  

    Does Money Buy Happiness?

    Does Money Buy Happiness?

    We’ve all heard the phrase, “money doesn’t buy happiness.” But, Elizabeth Dunn, a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia, says that isn’t necessarily true. She sits down with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent, to talk about her research into getting the “biggest happiness bang for our bucks,” and lessons from her book, “Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending.”
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    • 33 min
    The Habits of Happy People

    The Habits of Happy People

    Have you ever wondered why some people seem naturally happier than others? Or if there are any universal keys to happiness? Sanjay sits down with social psychologist and University of California Riverside Professor Sonja Lyubomirsky who has been studying happiness for the last 35 years. The author of The How of Happiness discusses her findings and what she calls “happiness interventions” as well as how we can apply these practices in our own lives to boost our happiness.  
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    • 34 min
    Want to be Happier? Confidence Can Help

    Want to be Happier? Confidence Can Help

    Trying new things. Setting Goals. Rebounding from setbacks.  All of these tasks have at least one thing in common – they require confidence. And according to neuropsychologist Ian Robertson, confidence can also make us happier. Robertson is the T Boone Pickens Distinguished Chair at the Center for BrainHealth, UT Dallas, an Emeritus Professor at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, and author of How Confidence Works: The New Science of Self Belief. He and Dr. Sanjay Gupta discuss how confidence might be the most important resource for well-being and why imposter syndrome isn’t such a bad thing. 
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    • 38 min
    Your Trauma May Be Making You Sick

    Your Trauma May Be Making You Sick

    Have you ever wondered if stress and trauma from your past could be making you sick? Author and trauma expert Dr. Gabor Maté, says our past experiences may literally be the root cause of “trauma related illness,” something he writes about in his most recent book, “The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture.” Drawing on his experience as both a Holocaust survivor, and a physician, Mate sits down with Dr. Sanjay Gupta for an intimate and wide-ranging conversation to share his steps for healing and living happier lives.
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    • 38 min
    How Exercise Can Make Us Happier

    How Exercise Can Make Us Happier

    When it comes to finding joy and happiness, exercise is not always top of mind but maybe it should be. Exercise benefits our physical health as well as helps to reduce anxiety, stress and symptoms of depression, yet many Americans say exercise is not something they enjoy. So where’s the disconnect? And how can people consistently reap the “feel good” benefits of exercise? Health psychologist and author of The Joy of Movement: How Exercise Helps Us Find Happiness, Hope, Connection and Courage, Kelly McGonigal talks with Sanjay about the why moving your body can be a source of joy and hope. And for listeners who say they don’t enjoy exercise or have limited mobility, she has some tips that might turn things around.
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    • 38 min
    A Conversation with Dr. Anthony Fauci

    A Conversation with Dr. Anthony Fauci

    Dr. Anthony Fauci became a household name during the COVID-19 pandemic as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. But the coronavirus pandemic wasn’t the first public health crisis Dr. Fauci helped Americans navigate, or the first time he’s come under fire. Dr. Fauci sits down for an interview with CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta to discuss his life and new memoir "On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service."
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    • 31 min

Customer Reviews

4.4 out of 5
580 Ratings

580 Ratings

drd5e ,

Aging series missing one big topic

Loved this latest season of Chasing Life about aging, covering many aspects of the topic. But I feel it missed one big issue that 50% of the population deals with as part of aging - perimenopause and menopause! Would have loved to hear you address that and how it affects women’s aging process.

Deepti416 ,

Step off the hamster wheel!

We’ve been chasing material things for a long time. It’s time to step back and start chasing life. Excellent podcast if you want to step off the hamster wheel and contemplate other things!

smlowe5637 ,

Needed now, more than ever!

I’m with bigmo1969. The way you presented information on “Coronavirus: Fact vs Fiction” - the previous incarnation of this podcast - was calming and informative. We’re still living in a pandemic and the need for information is greater than ever, as governments turn a blind eye to what’s happening and mandates and restrictions that were saving lives are dropped. COVID-19 is on the rise again, and nobody’s really tracking the spread and the fallout from it. With the various mutations and variants, what’s changed? What’s remained the same? With vaccines unavailable to many and much of the world, is COVID-19 really here to stay, as those who say we have to learn to live with it say? Even if we had sufficient supply, could the vaccines we have today effectively eliminate the virus? Is it possible to create a vaccine that could make a person immune to the virus, so that the virus denied any viable hosts would just die out? These are just the questions off the top of my head, without really thinking about it. Even if it’s once a month, since your podcasts are weekly, could you work in a COVID-19 episode, or designate a COVID corner or COVID moment each week?

I actually stopped listening to the podcast when “Coronavirus: Fact or Fiction” transitioned to “Chasing Life” because the podcast became less relevant to my immediate information needs with respect to protecting my family and myself. Some of the episode titles look interesting, so I’ll probably shoehorn some of them into my already full listening time, but a return to “Coronavirus: Fact vs Fiction” in some form would put your podcast back into my must-listen-to podcast list.

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