What I worry about...and what I don't...

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Health advice doesn’t just inform us, it recruits us into worrying. One week it’s microplastics, the next it’s seed oils, artificial sweeteners, organic food, supplements, or the newest longevity protocol someone wants to sell you. I wanted a calmer, evidence-based way to decide what truly deserves attention, and what can be safely downgraded from daily stress to a simple “noted.”

I walk through my own evidence-grounded worry list and explain the logic behind it. I put brain health and heart health at the top because the biggest drivers are common, measurable, and often modifiable: blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, smoking, physical activity, sleep, weight, and social connection. I also make the case for injury prevention as a major longevity strategy, since one accident can wipe out months of fitness and strength. And I talk honestly about social connection, not as a soft “nice to have,” but as a real lever for living long and well.

Then I switch to the other side of the equation: what I don’t worry much about. I explain why dose and context matter for artificial sweeteners, bacon, and ultra-processed foods, why organic-only eating can be an expensive distraction, why seed oils often get blamed for the wrong reasons, and why most supplements and trend-driven longevity testing don’t earn their hype yet. The takeaway is a simple three-bucket method: what deserves action, what deserves proportion instead of panic, and what is mostly noise.

If this helps you reclaim time, money, and mental space for the basics that work, subscribe, share this with a friend who’s overwhelmed by health headlines, and leave a review on Apple or Spotify. 

What’s one worry you’re ready to let go of?

Transcript

Evidence As A Worry Filter

SPEAKER_00 0:00

The evidence doesn't just help me decide what to do. It also helps me decide what deserves my worry and what doesn't. And maybe that's useful for you too. Because we're surrounded by health warnings. One day it's artificial sweeteners, the next it's microplastics, or cholesterol, or seed oils, or non-organic food, or the latest longevity protocol we need. So how do I decide what deserves my attention? In this episode, I'll use my own worry list as the case study. Not because your worries should be the same as mine, but because the process may help you figure out your own. What should you act on? What should you watch? And what worry might you finally be able to let go?

Why Health Warnings Feel Endless

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Hi, I'm Dr. Bobby Du Bois, and welcome to Live Long and Well, a podcast about what the evidence can and can't tell us about living healthier lives. As a physician, scientist, Iron Man athlete, and author of several hundred scientific papers, I read the studies so you don't have to, helping you cut through the hype, focus on what actually works, and make better choices for your health. Welcome back to Live Long and Well. I'm Dr. Bobby. In the last episode, I talked about the health plan I actually follow and why. What I can influence directly, where I need support from others, and where medication or surgery is the right tool. Today's episode is the companion, the health worries I actually take seriously, and why. But let me explain what I mean by worry. This isn't just a list of things that makes me anxious. And it's not a list from headlines or whatever health scare happens to be trending. It's my evidence-grounded worry list. While doing these podcasts, I've looked at the evidence for many, many health topics. And that process changed what I worry about. And probably more important, what I don't. I do feel sometimes like I'm a mythbuster. I take a thing that people worry about, look at the evidence, and say, eh, not so much. So today I'm using my own worry list as the case study. Not because, not because my worries should become yours. They shouldn't. You have different risks, family history, preferences, but the method may still help. Because the real question is not what does Bobby worry about? The real question is how do you decide whether the evidence justifies your worries? So this episode is really about sorting. What deserves attention because the evidence is strong enough and the stakes are high enough? What deserves action? What deserves a conversation with your doctor? What deserves respect but not panic? And what can you stop carrying around as a daily worry?

Newsletter And One-Page Action Items

SPEAKER_00 3:57

If you haven't signed up for my newsletter, please do so. Just click the link in the show notes or go to drbobbyevidence.com. Being on the newsletter list will also get you my one-page action items for each episode. Some of them will have checklists to do, some will have a calendar laid out for you, some will have summaries of studies and links to the evidence. And for this episode, there'll be one too. And of course, it's free. I have no financial motive in what I say or how I say it.

What Actually Makes My List

SPEAKER_00 4:35

Okay, let me start with what I do worry about. But I'm going to keep this really short because a lot of it overlaps with the health plan I talked about in the last episode. Now, of course, that's not an accident. The things I worry about are the same things that shape what I do.

Brain And Heart Risks That Matter

SPEAKER_00 4:58

The first health worry I take seriously is the duo of brain and heart health. Look, this doesn't come out of nowhere. Almost every day I see a headline about heart disease, increasing risk of dementia, or a new study suggesting yet another risk factor I should pay attention to. Sometimes it isn't a headline. Sometimes it's a friend who had a sudden heart attack or dementia diagnosis. Those moments get my attention. What makes this category especially important and a bit easier to think about is that many of the same risk factors matter for both the heart and the brain. Blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, smoking, physical activity, sleep, weight, social connection. So, yes, I worry about the brain and cardiovascular health. Not with panic, not with panic, but with respect. As I shared in my episode about reducing our risk of cognitive decline, the 2024 Lancet Commission on Dementia identified 14 modifiable risk factors and estimated that addressing them could prevent or delay around 45% of dementia cases worldwide. That's huge. Look, that doesn't mean any one person can reduce their personal risk by 45%. Population estimates aren't personal guarantees, but it does convince me that some levers are worth taking seriously. So I pay attention to my blood pressure, I pay attention to my cholesterol and my sleep and all the other preventable factors. It's not about panic. It's about if evidence shows that a risk factor matters and is at least partly modifiable, it deserves a place on my list. Okay, let's now turn back to you. Do you know your own brain and cardiovascular risk factors? There are risk calculators that I've shared before. Do you know your blood pressure, your cholesterol, blood sugar, family history? Have you checked your hearing and vision? Are you sleeping enough? Are you socially connected? And if something is moving in the wrong direction, is it time to talk with your doctor? The goal is not to worry more. The goal is to convert worry into a useful next step.

Injury Prevention To Protect Fitness

SPEAKER_00 7:47

The second health worry I take seriously is avoiding injury. This one often becomes real in a very ordinary way. Maybe I'm out on the bike and I just avoid an accident. Maybe a friend hurt her back, strained a tendon, or had a skiing injury that suddenly made a mess of everything. One day you're active, the next day you're not. That gets my attention. And the issue isn't just the injury itself. More importantly, it's what happens after the injury. If I can't be active for weeks or even months, I'll lose a lot of aerobic fitness and muscle strength. And as we age, it gets harder and harder to regain what we lose. The challenge of regaining what we lose isn't just for those of us who are 60 and older. I mean, probably starting in our late 30s, that repair process takes longer. That's why preventing an injury matters to me, and why injury avoidance is part of my plan. The question for you may be what kind of injury would most mess up the life you want? Is there something you could do now? Strength work, balance work, better shoes, giving yourself more recovery time that might lower the chance of losing months due to an injury. Or perhaps modify your sports to be less likely to cause injury. Don't try those black diamond ski slopes anymore. Ride your bike indoors a bit more, or let a few pickleball shots go to make it less likely you hurt yourself.

Social Connection As A Health Lever

SPEAKER_00 9:43

The third worry I take seriously is my social connections. They matter both in the quality of our life and the evidence supports the length of our life. And this one can sneak up on us. A family member moves out of town. Someone we care about is nearing the end of life. Or as we age, our friends age and eventually die. Life changes, and if we're not paying attention, our circle becomes smaller and smaller. And those moments remind me that connection isn't automatic. It has to be tended. And unfortunately, unfortunately, social connections aren't my strong suit. So I need to stay focused on this. I need to make that phone call or invite the friend for coffee.

Microplastics With Practical Steps

SPEAKER_00 10:39

Well, I also worry about microplastics, but in a different way. As I talked about in my microplastics episode, they're found in the blood, in arteries, in organs, in placentas, in the brain. And that can't be good for you, but also creates a challenge because microplastics are everywhere in the air and the food and our water and our clothes. Microplastics are a tough worry area. Look, with blood pressure, I can measure it. With strength, I can train it. With sleep, I can protect it. But with microplastics, I can't eliminate all exposure. So my approach is to reduce exposure where the changes are easy, they're practical, they're sustainable. After reviewing the evidence for that episode, I've stopped using plastic containers to store food. I've replaced plastic cutting boards with wooden ones, and I don't microwave food and plastic. Look, these aren't perfect solutions. They don't eliminate exposure. But they're reasonable steps that don't make my life harder. And that's the theme. When a concern is real, but hard to avoid completely, I try to look for practical levers. What can I change without turning my life into a pretzel? What reduces exposure without creating too much anxiety? What can I sustain? So, yes, I worry about microplastics, but I worry in a proportional way. I don't think the answer is to panic about every piece of plastic in modern life. I think the answer is to reduce exposure where it's easy to do so and then move on. Okay, let's return to you. Ask yourself, what are the health concerns in your life that really are worth worrying about? What deserves attention because you can actually do something useful with that attention. Now, to paraphrase a popular book title, sweat the real stuff, not the small stuff.

The Worries I Mostly Drop

SPEAKER_00 13:04

Okay, now let's shift to the part of the episode that maybe most important. What I don't worry much about. This is where the evidence is really helpful. It doesn't just tell me what to take seriously, it also helps me avoid giving too much worry to the risks that are really small or uncertain or less important than the basics. Look, most of us aren't short of health worries. We're overloaded with them. Every headline gives us something new to fear or avoid or track or test or optimize. But a good health plan isn't just about adding concerns. It's also about removing some. When we put small risks in the same category as major risks, we may spend more time worrying about the occasional diet soda than our blood pressure. More energy debating whether every fruit and vegetable has to be organic than building muscle. More money chasing supplements than strengthening relationships. So this section is not about dismissing risks. It's about proportion. The question isn't is this thing perfectly safe or perfectly healthy? Well, very few things are. The better question for me is how big a driver is this likely to be compared with everything else? Let's start with artificial sweeteners. Look, I don't drink a lot of them, but if it saves some calories here and there, why not? I reviewed the evidence in my Diet Coke and Twinkings episode. Love that title. And I don't panic if somebody has a diet soda. Bacon or deli meat is another example. Yeah, eating pounds of bacon per day may not be ideal. But the evidence I reviewed in episode 41 didn't stop me from enjoying my breakfast. Which brings me to the issue of dose. Look, if someone's eating a lot, a lot of bacon or processed meat every day. Okay, that's one thing. Someone has some bacon or deli meat as part of an otherwise reasonable breakfast or lunch. I don't think that deserves the same level of worry. This is where people can and often get stuck. They hear that something has risk and they treat all exposure as equal. But life doesn't work that way. Dose really matters. Look, occasional ultra-processed foods fall into the same category. My episode on this laid out the various potential health concerns. Mostly I worry about the potential to gain weight, and less frankly, about the additives. And for me, it doesn't mean eating some Oreos at a party is a crisis. The issue is not whether you ever eat ultra-processed food. The issue is whether ultra-processed food has become your primary food group. There's a big difference. I also don't worry much about whether I need to eat all organic foods. I did an episode on this, so I won't repeat the whole discussion here. But my bottom line is that I don't think the evidence supports the idea that eating all organic food is necessary for living long and well. Look, if somebody wants to buy organic, can afford it, feels good about it, that's great. But I don't think people should feel like they're failing their health if they buy conventional produce. And it can be thousands of extra dollars a year. Look, the bigger issue is not whether you buy organic, it's whether you're eating enough fruits and vegetables of any kind. I also don't worry much about seed oils. I did an episode on this too, so I won't repeat the entire story. But my bottom line is that I don't think seed oils deserve the fear they get. That doesn't mean every food made with seed oils is good for you. Many foods that contain seed oils also are ultra-processed, calorie-dense, don't have protein, and are easy to overeat. But that's different from saying the seed oil itself is the main problem. I also don't worry at all about drinking eight glasses of water a day. Hydration matters, of course. But the egg glasses rule is an urban myth. Listen to my episode. And trust your brain's thirst mechanism and your kidneys to do the balancing. Then there are supplements. And the many, many, many, many claims of what I should buy and take on a daily basis. I'm not anti-supplement. I'm pro evidence. Supplements may help some people in some circumstances. A multivitamin may make some sense if your vitamin D is low or if blood tests show it's low and taking a vitamin D supplement might help. And I don't worry about taking fish oil supplements. So my approach is fairly simple. Is there a clear reason for me to take a supplement? Is there evidence in people? Is the benefit meaningful? Is it safe and is it worth the cost? And for most supplements, the answer is no convincing evidence that I really need them. I also don't worry about following every longevity trend. Microbiome optimization, biologic age testing, total body scanning, NAD boosters, personalized protocols experts want to sell you. Some of these may eventually prove useful. But right now, we don't have convincing evidence. And likely most won't show benefits that folks claim.

The Three Buckets For Decisions

SPEAKER_00 19:59

Okay, so how might you apply this approach? I'd start with three buckets. First, what deserves real attention because it's common. Evidence shows it matters, and at least it's partly modifiable. For me, that includes brain and heart health, avoiding injury, and having social connections. Look, for you, the list will be different. Second, what deserves proportion rather than panic? Where you don't worry about some exposure, but you stay mindful on how much you get. This is where I put those things like artificial sweeteners and bacon and ultra-processed foods and seed oils and almost all supplement claims. They're not necessarily meaningless, but they don't deserve the same emotional weight as blood pressure or smoking or physical activity or loss of strength or loss of purpose. And third, what's mostly noise? Maybe it's the longevity trend of the month. Maybe it's another test. Maybe it's another supplement. Maybe it's a food fear that has grown larger than the evidence supports. That third bucket matters because time and money and attention are limited. Every worry takes up space. Every new health task crowds out something else.

Turning Worry Into Next Steps

SPEAKER_00 21:33

Let's wrap up. What are the health worries I take seriously? Brain and heart health. Not with panic, but with attention to risk factors, I can influence. Avoiding injury, because an injury can interrupt my life. And as we age, it gets harder to regain loss, muscle strength, and fitness, social connections. Because living long and well is not just about biomarkers, it's about the life we experience each day. And what don't I worry much about? A lot. I don't lose sleep, which as we know is critical, about reasonable amounts of artificial sweeteners, occasional bacon, eating some processed foods, eating all organic food, seed oils, doing every longevity trend. It all boils down to what deserves attention because the evidence is strong enough and the stakes are high enough. What deserves proportion instead of panic? And what's mostly noise. And what worry can you finally let go of? Worry should serve us, but only if it points us towards useful action. If it doesn't, maybe it's time to let go of

Share What You Worry About

SPEAKER_00 22:53

it. Let me know what you worry about and what you don't. Go to drbobbyevidence.com or use the link in the show notes to let me know. Or whether you've signed up for my newsletter, just reply to it with your thoughts. It goes right to my email inbox. I read all your notes and I care about everything you say or suggest. Until next time.

Reviews And Final Reminder

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Thanks so much for listening to Live Long and Well with Dr. Bobby. If you like this episode, please provide a review on Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen. If you want to continue this journey or want to receive my newsletter on practical and scientific ways to improve your health and longevity, please visit me at Dr. Bobby Livelongandwell.com. That's doctor as a dr bobby live longandwell.com.