The Chase Merrill Podcast

Democracy Was Built To Elevate Psychopaths - Alex Tarnava - #66

Alex Tarnava is a health researcher, inventor of molecular hydrogen tablets, and author. What's happening to human capacity? Society is telling people to specialize, comply, and trust institutions — but the systems running our lives may be designed, even if unintentionally, to produce weaker, more exploitable people. So what's actually been engineered into our education, our corporations, and our democracy, and what would it take to build something better? Expect to learn why stress is only beneficial when you can recover from it, how modern AI is designed to be the world's greatest sycophant and what that's doing to your thinking, why democracy's structure of short time horizons guarantees corrupt leaders, the 1919 court ruling that stripped ethics from every major corporation, why leaving a Western country costs more proportionally than Roman slaves paid for their freedom, the clinical evidence behind molecular hydrogen and telomere lengthening in elderly populations, and much more… - Save hundreds on the best saunas on the market: HERE [https://www.heavenlyheatsaunas.com/MERRILL] (use code MERRILL) Save on an amazing cold plunge: HERE [https://tidd.ly/4fqqzf1] (use code MERRILL) - Thank You For Listening To The Chase Merrill Podcast - Get in touch in the comments below or head: HERE [https://www.instagram.com/chasecmerrill/] - Alex's Instagram: HERE [https://www.instagram.com/alextarnava/] Alex's website: HERE [https://alextarnava.com/] - 0:00 Stress Hacking: Why Both Extremes Are Wrong 1:06 Stress Only Builds When You Can Recover From It 8:41 Hard Times Make Strong Men (And How To Shortcut It) 15:01 AI Is The Greatest Sycophant Ever Created 21:32 AGI's Impossible Dilemma: Slavery or Extinction 24:16 The 1919 Ruling That Captured Every Corporation 28:06 How Education Accidentally Elevates Psychopaths 31:46 Why Democracy Guarantees Corrupt Leaders 36:49 Leaving Your Country Costs More Than Roman Slaves Paid for Freedom 43:57 What Better Governance Could Actually Look Like 51:54 Why Men Were Told To Forget Their Purpose 58:42 Building Resilience Without Burning Out 1:03:11 Hydrogen: The Missing Nutrient 100,000 Years in the Making 1:09:54 Echo Chambers Are Making Your Mind Weak 1:16:43 Book Rec and Closing Questions

Your Brain Is Not You - Dr. Lee Warren - #65

Dr. Lee Warren is a neurosurgeon, Iraq War veteran, podcast host, and author of four books, including The Life-Changing Art of Self-Brain Surgery. What if the thing controlling your thoughts, habits, and emotions isn't who you really are? For decades, science taught us that genes and brain chemistry write our futures — that we're stuck with the minds we were given. But the latest neuroscience tells a different story. So what does it actually mean that your mind and brain are separate things, and how much of your life can you still rewrite? Expect to learn why your brain and your mind are not the same thing, how neuroplasticity lets you structurally rebuild your brain in real time simply by changing what you think about, why 80% of your automatic thoughts are biased or outright false, the real timeline for breaking old habits and wiring in new ones, how Dr. Warren rebuilt his life after losing his son at 19, why alcohol is a class-one carcinogen with no safe dose for the brain, and much more… - Save hundreds on the best saunas on the market: HERE [https://www.heavenlyheatsaunas.com/MERRILL] (use code MERRIL Save on an amazing cold plunge: HERE [https://tidd.ly/4fqqzf1] (use code MERRILL) - Thank You For Listening To The Chase Merrill Podcast - Get in touch in the comments below or head: HERE [https://www.instagram.com/chasecmerrill/] - Dr. Lee's Instagram: HERE [https://www.instagram.com/drleewarren/] Dr. Lee's website: HERE [https://wleewarrenmd.com/] - 0:00 Your Brain Is Not You 3:02 Genetic Determinism Is Dead 10:26 You Need Hard Things to Survive Hard Things 14:08 How Lee Became a Neurosurgeon 17:08 200 Surgeries in a Tent 28:52 Coming Home With PTSD 31:17 How Writing Healed What War Left Behind 37:02 Losing Mitch: One Death Can't Kill Two People 40:32 The fMRI Scanner That Changed Everything 52:47 What Is Self-Brain Surgery? 57:59 How Long Does It Take to Rewire Your Brain? 1:16:59 Feelings Aren't Facts — They're Chemical Events 1:22:19 What a Neurosurgeon Actually Does for Brain Health 1:31:00 Closing Questions

Success Isn't Reaching The Top - Dan Millman - #64

Dan Millman is a former world-champion athlete, coach, and bestselling author of Way of the Peaceful Warrior. What does it actually take to live with a peaceful heart? We're told that finding our calling, thinking positively, and reaching our goals will finally make us happy, yet the people chasing those things hardest often feel the furthest from peace. So what are we getting wrong about success, and what would it look like to get it right? Expect to learn why you have far less control over your thoughts and feelings than your actions, why trying to think positively often backfires, how Dan defines success as regular progress rather than reaching the summit, the six words he says could be a lifetime practice, the four purposes of life and the difference between a career and a calling, why a daily death meditation helps you appreciate being alive, what to do when you still haven't found your calling and much more… - Save hundreds on the best saunas on the market: HERE [https://www.heavenlyheatsaunas.com/MERRILL] (use code MERRILL) Save on an amazing cold plunge: HERE [https://nordicwave.pxf.io/WOG6E3] (use code MERRILL) - Thank You For Listening To The Chase Merrill Podcast - Get in touch in the comments below or head: HERE [https://www.instagram.com/chasecmerrill/] - Dan's Instagram: HERE [https://www.instagram.com/danmillmanpw/] Dan's website: HERE [https://peacefulwarrior.com/] - 0:00 Shaped Like Stones In A River 6:11 Why Action Beats Thoughts And Feelings 8:54 The Problem With Positive Thinking 11:04 Entitled To Your Labor, Not The Fruits 12:48 Why Success Isn't Reaching The Top 16:37 Where "Peaceful Warrior" Came From 22:16 Chop Wood, Carry Water 24:42 The Six Words For A Dollar 27:27 Stress, Tension, And What Meditation Really Does 34:08 The Four-Minute Death Meditation 37:38 The Four Purposes Of Life 42:49 When You Haven't Found Your Calling 45:13 The Book That Failed For Three Years 52:32 Closing Questions: Who To Speak To & Book Recs

Loneliness Is As Deadly As 15 Cigarettes A Day - James Ellis, PhD - #63

James Ellis is a clinical psychologist, educator, and the creator of The Loneliness Doctor. What's happening with modern friendship? Birth rates have collapsed, families are scattered across the country, and our social skills have plummeted just as AI begins to replace the human interactions we have left. So what's actually causing the loneliness epidemic, and how do we rebuild a real social life from scratch? Expect to learn why loneliness is as deadly as smoking fifteen cigarettes a day, why pangs of loneliness light up the same parts of the brain as pangs of hunger, why the average American now has less than one close confidant, why scrolling on social media is connection junk food, the friendship formation formula for building a social life from the ground up, why the "love yourself first" message is actually keeping people lonely, how AI is about to make the loneliness epidemic catastrophically worse and much more… - Save hundreds on the best saunas on the market: HERE [https://www.heavenlyheatsaunas.com/MERRILL] (use code MERRILL) - Thank You For Listening To The Chase Merrill Podcast - Get in touch in the comments below or head: HERE [Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chasecmerrill/] - James' Instagram: HERE [https://www.instagram.com/lonelinessdoctor/] James' website: HERE [https://www.lonelinessdoctor.com/] - 0:00 Is The World Lonelier Than Ever? 3:44 We Have To Build What We Were Born Into 5:16 The Shift From Collectivism To Individualism 9:23 How Tech Trained Us To Avoid Effort 15:07 The Average American Has No Close Friend 17:05 Loneliness Is As Deadly As 15 Cigarettes A Day 19:15 Why Loneliness Feels Like Hunger In The Brain 23:14 Men vs. Women, Single vs. Partnered 26:22 Social Media Is Connection Junk Food 30:14 Remote Work And The Friendship Formation Formula 39:29 The Best And Worst Activities For Making Friends 44:10 How AI Is Going To Make This Worse 47:26 Raising Children Who Aren't Lonely 1:07:35 Why "Love Yourself First" Is A Lie

Neuroscientist: Lifestyle Pulls The Trigger - Andrés Preschel - #62

Andrés Preschel is a neuroscientist, health and performance coach, applied physiologist, podcaster, and founder of Know Your Physio. What's actually keeping most people stuck below their potential? People chase protocols, supplements, and biohacks without knowing if any of it fits their biology, and the result is years spent optimizing for a body that isn't theirs. So how do you use genetics, blood work, and wearable data to engineer a lifestyle that's actually built for you, and what gets exposed when you do? Expect to learn why genetics loads the gun and lifestyle pulls the trigger, what interoception is and how to develop it, why a continuous glucose monitor does more harm than good for most people, the three KPIs that predict longevity, the 4-7-8 breathing pattern that lowers your resting heart rate on demand, why a hot shower before a cold bedroom transforms your sleep, why Eight Sleep is overrated and much more… - Save hundreds on the best saunas on the market: HERE [https://www.heavenlyheatsaunas.com/MERRILL] (use code MERRILL) - Thank You For Listening To The Chase Merrill Podcast - Get in touch in the comments below or head: HERE [https://www.instagram.com/chasecmerrill/] - Andrés' Instagram: HERE [https://www.instagram.com/andrespreschel/] Andrés' website: HERE [https://apply.andrespreschel.com/] - 0:00 What Know Your Physio Actually Does 1:10 The Bottlenecks Most People Don't Know They Have 7:26 What Interoception Is And How To Develop It 15:09 Why Athletes Should Stop Looking At Their Wearables 17:55 The Three Numbers That Predict Your Longevity 25:02 What HRV Actually Measures 33:33 The 4-7-8 Breathing Pattern 44:57 Hot Showers Before A Cold Bedroom 47:59 Why Eight Sleep Is Overrated 55:52 The Genetic Test Andres Tells Everyone To Run 58:21 Genetics Loads The Gun, Lifestyle Pulls The Trigger 1:04:25 Closing Questions