The Side Effects of Knowing Too Much

Welcome to Effective Habits, a weekly newsletter where I share evidence-based strategies and tools to help you live a happy, healthy, and productive life.

Today at a Glance:

• How to Be Happier in Five Steps (With Zero Weird Tricks)

• The Age of Diagnosis: How the Over-Medicalization Of Everything Makes Us Sick, Anxious, and Lost

• What Are You Optimizing For?

How to Be Happier in Five Steps (With Zero Weird Tricks)
Dr. Laurie Santos

🔦Lights, Camera, ...
We like to think we’re built for happiness, but the science says otherwise. According to Yale professor Laurie Santos, our brains evolved for survival, not joy, which means that we’re wired with quirks that reliably sabotage our well-being. We fall prey to “miswanting,” chasing things like money, promotions, or possessions that we assume will bring lasting happiness but rarely do. We compare ourselves endlessly to others, even when we’re doing well, and we adapt so quickly to good things that their glow fades faster than we expect. These mental traps—along with biases like the “impact bias,” which makes us overestimate how much events will change our lives—leave us chronically dissatisfied. The good news, Santos emphasizes, is that happiness isn’t out of reach: with deliberate practice and behavioral shifts, we can “rewire” our minds to stop leaning on faulty instincts and instead build habits that create real and lasting well-being.

🎬Action!

1. Prioritize social connection. Actively carve out time to be with friends, family, or colleagues in real life, not just online. Even brief, meaningful interactions, like a call or shared meal, can significantly boost well-being.

2. Practice being other-oriented. Shift focus outward by helping others, whether through small acts of kindness, volunteering, or generosity. Research shows giving your time or resources often brings more happiness than spending on yourself.

3. Cultivate gratitude. Train your mind to notice the good by keeping a daily or weekly gratitude list. Even writing down three small blessings helps reframe your outlook and can improve mood within weeks.

4. Savor positive moments. Pay deliberate attention to the joys of everyday life, from a great cup of coffee to a walk outdoors. By slowing down and noticing details, you prevent happiness from slipping by unnoticed.

5. Move your body daily. Treat exercise as mental health care, not just physical. Even 20 minutes of movement—walking, stretching, dancing—can improve mood and resilience by tapping into the body-mind connection.

The Age of Diagnosis: How the Over-Medicalization Of Everything Makes Us Sick, Anxious, and Lost
Derek Thompson

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We live in an era where illness seems to multiply on paper faster than in reality, a time when the lines between health, suffering, and identity blur under the weight of medical labels. Rates of diagnoses for conditions like depression, anxiety, ADHD, autism, and PTSD have surged, but as neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan argues in The Age of Diagnosis, this explosion often reflects not more sickness, but a steady expansion of what counts as sickness. Behaviors once chalked up to quirks, phases, awkwardness, or simple nervousness are now formalized into disorders, and while such labels can bring comfort, access to treatment, and validation, they also risk trapping people inside identities that make recovery feel out of reach. The story is not one of villains—O’Sullivan notes the medical community deliberately broadened diagnostic criteria to avoid past under-diagnosis—but rather of trade-offs, where compassion can slide into overreach. This dynamic is mirrored in the realm of physical health: detection tools like genetic screenings, full-body MRIs, and ultrasounds catch more disease than ever, saving countless lives, yet also uncovering incidental findings that seed anxiety and prompt unnecessary interventions. The result is a paradox of modern medicine: we’ve never been better at naming and finding illness, but these very powers can burden us with worry, over-treatment, or the sense that our maladies define who we are. As writer Rachel Aviv reminds us, “there are stories that save us, and stories that trap us”, and the challenge of our time is to not just question how much sickness we have, but how much of life we should be calling sickness at all.

🎬Action!

1. Use diagnoses as tools, not identities. If you or a loved one receives a diagnosis, treat it as a guide to understanding and treatment, not as a label that defines who you are. A diagnosis can explain pain, but it should not become your personality or your destiny. Ask yourself regularly: Is this label helping me get better, or is it trapping me?

2. Balance medical care with real-world support. Don’t rely solely on doctors to meet your needs for care and connection. Actively cultivate supportive communities (e.g., friends, family, mentors, faith groups, or clubs) that remind you you’re more than a patient. Look for spaces where you feel cared for outside the clinic.

3. Stay mindful of over-detection. More tests can uncover small issues—like nodules or cysts—that would never have caused harm, but once discovered, may fuel anxiety and unnecessary treatment. Ask your doctor whether a screening is truly necessary given your health and risk factors, rather than automatically assuming more is always better.

What Are You Optimizing For?
Jack Raines

🔦Lights, Camera, ...
Many people fall into the trap of confusing the means with the ends, optimizing for a metric that once signaled success long after it stops serving their real goals. Think of someone chasing promotions at work: at first, climbing the ladder brings higher pay, recognition, and fresh challenges, but eventually each new title adds more stress without adding much meaning. Or imagine someone saving relentlessly for a bigger and bigger financial target, long after they already have enough to live comfortably. In both cases, the metric becomes the focus, not the outcome it was meant to support. The harder challenge is to pause, step back, and ask: What am I actually optimizing for? If the answer doesn’t align with the outcomes you value—whether that’s creativity, financial stability, meaningful work, or simply feeling healthy—it may be time to shift direction and let go of the old metric in favor of a new one that better reflects your real ends.

🎬Action!

• Step back and identify what you’re truly optimizing for. Ask yourself: Is the metric I’m chasing (money, followers, promotions, milestones) still bringing me closer to the life I actually want or has it become a habit of its own? If the answer doesn’t align with your real goals, redefine your focus and choose a new metric that reflects the outcomes you truly value.

TOOL TIP

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FUN FACT

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Disclaimer: The information provided in this newsletter is for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult a medical professional for advice, diagnosis, or treatment. We are not liable for any risks or issues that may arise from using this information.