#360 ‒ How to change your habits: why they form and how to build or break them | Charles Duhigg, M.B.A
Release Date: 08/11/2025
#377 ‒ Special episode: Understanding true happiness and the tools to cultivate a meaningful life—insights from past interviews with Arthur Brooks
The Peter Attia Drive
In this special episode of The Drive, Peter presents a curated “best of” conversation with bestselling author and previous guest Arthur Brooks, organized around four core themes: happiness itself, the forces that undermine it, the tools and practices that help cultivate it, and the courage required to live and love well. The episode brings together the most meaningful moments from two past interviews into a single, focused discussion that distills Brooks’ most insightful ideas and offers practical takeaways for building a life that's both successful and deeply happy. We discuss: ...
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#376 - AMA #78: Longevity interventions, exercise, diagnostic screening, and managing high apoB, hypertension, metabolic health, and more
The Peter Attia Drive
In this “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) episode, Peter tackles a wide-ranging set of listener questions spanning lifespan interventions, exercise, cardiovascular risk reduction, time-restricted eating, blood pressure management, hormone therapy, diagnostics, and more. Peter reveals the single most important lever for extending healthspan and lifespan, and explains how he motivates midlife patients using the Centenarian Decathlon framework. He discusses the importance of addressing high apoB and cholesterol even in metabolically healthy individuals with calcium scores of zero, how to manage high...
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#375 - Ketogenic diet, ketosis & hyperbaric oxygen: metabolic therapies for weight loss, cognition, Alzheimer’s & more | Dom D’Agostino, Ph.D.
The Peter Attia Drive
Dom D'Agostino is a neuroscientist and professor at the forefront of metabolic therapies, including ketogenic diets, exogenous ketones, and hyperbaric oxygen. In this episode, Dom breaks down nutritional versus supplemental ketosis, defines meaningful ketone thresholds, and outlines practical ways to achieve ketosis. He explains how a ketogenic diet can support metabolic health and weight loss, and advises on how to maintain adequate protein and avoid common mistakes. Dom surveys the growing landscape of exogenous ketones—from salts and esters to 1,3-butanediol—and effective pairings...
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#374 - The evolutionary biology of testosterone: how it shapes male development and sex-based behavioral differences, | Carole Hooven, Ph.D.
The Peter Attia Drive
Carole Hooven is a human evolutionary biologist whose research centers on testosterone, sex differences, and behavior. In this episode, she explores how prenatal testosterone orchestrates male development in the body and brain, how early hormonal surges shape lifelong behavioral tendencies, and what rare natural experiments—such as 5-alpha-reductase deficiency—reveal about the biology of sex differentiation. She discusses distinct male and female aggression styles through an evolutionary lens, how modern environments interact with ancient competitive drives, and the implications of...
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The impact of gratitude, serving others, embracing mortality, and living intentionally | Walter Green (#288 rebroadcast)
The Peter Attia Drive
Walter Green is a remarkable philanthropist, mentor, author of This Is the Moment!, and founder of the impactful “Say It Now” movement. In this episode, Walter delves into the unique insights gained from his challenging upbringing, discusses embracing mortality, and highlights the mindset of “finishing strong.” He shares insights on intentionality, thinking in reverse, saying “no,” prioritizing relationships, and the essence of focusing on others. The conversation focuses on the “Say It Now” movement, which stresses the importance of expressing sentiments to loved ones well...
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#373 – Thyroid function and hypothyroidism: why current diagnosis and treatment fall short for many, and how new approaches are transforming care | Antonio Bianco, M.D., Ph.D.
The Peter Attia Drive
Antonio Bianco is a world-renowned physician-scientist and expert in thyroid physiology and metabolism. In this episode, Antonio explores the complex biology of thyroid hormone production, conversion, and regulation—highlighting how deiodinase enzymes modulate hormone activity at the tissue level and why that matters for interpreting lab results. He discusses the shortcomings of relying solely on TSH as a marker of thyroid function, the ongoing debate around combination therapy with T3 and T4 versus standard T4 treatment, and how genetics, tissue sensitivity, and individual variability...
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#372 - AMA #77: Dietary fiber and health outcomes: real benefits, overhyped claims, and practical applications
The Peter Attia Drive
In this “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) episode, Peter breaks down the science of dietary fiber, moving beyond the blanket advice to “eat more fiber” to uncover what it actually does in the body and where its benefits are truly supported by evidence. He explains how different types of fiber—soluble, insoluble, viscous, and fermentable—affect digestion, satiety, weight management, and glycemic control, and compares their impact to other, more potent metabolic tools. Peter also examines how certain fibers influence lipid metabolism and cardiovascular risk, evaluates the strength of...
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#371 – Women’s sexual health: desire, arousal, and orgasms, navigating perimenopause, and enhancing satisfaction | Sally Greenwald, M.D., M.P.H.
The Peter Attia Drive
Sally Greenwald is an OB-GYN who specializes in women’s sexual health from a hormonal and physiologic perspective, with expertise spanning desire, arousal, pelvic floor function, contraception, and menopause care. In this episode, she explains why sexual health is a vital component of overall well-being, exploring topics such as the drivers of desire, the anatomy of sexual function, myths and realities around orgasm, and the role of hormones in perimenopause and menopause. She also covers vaginal and pelvic health, pain with sex, evidence-based therapies for low desire and arousal, how...
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Longevity 101: a foundational guide to Peter’s frameworks for longevity, and understanding CVD, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, nutrition, exercise, sleep, and more (re-broadcast)
The Peter Attia Drive
In this special episode, Peter provides a comprehensive introduction to longevity, perfect for newcomers or those looking to refresh their knowledge. He lays out the foundational concepts of lifespan, healthspan, and the marginal decade. Additionally, Peter discusses the four main causes of death and their prevention, as well as detailing the five key strategies in his longevity toolkit to improve lifespan and healthspan. Detailed show notes provide links for deeper exploration of these topics, making it an ideal starting point for anyone interested in understanding and improving their...
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#370 - AMA #76: Peter evaluates longevity drugs, aspirin for CVD, and strategies to improve muscle mass — proven, promising, fuzzy, noise, or nonsense?
The Peter Attia Drive
In this “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) episode, Peter revisits the “proven, promising, fuzzy, noise, nonsense” scale and applies it to a variety of popular topics. He begins with a refresher on what each category represents before classifying a range of interventions based on the strength of their supporting evidence. The conversation spans three main areas: drugs for geroprotection (including GLP-1 receptor agonists, SGLT2 inhibitors, methylene blue, and telomere-lengthening supplements), the use of low-dose aspirin for cardiovascular disease prevention, and strategies to improve muscle...
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Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling author known for distilling complex neuroscience and psychology into practical strategies for behavior change, performance, and decision-making. In this episode, Charles explores the neuroscience behind habit formation, including how cue-routine-reward loops drive nearly half of our daily actions and why positive reinforcement is far more effective than punishment. He explains how institutions like the military and Alcoholics Anonymous engineer environments to change behavior at scale, as well as discussing the limits of willpower and how to preserve it by shaping context. The conversation also covers the real timeline of habit formation, how to teach better habits to kids, the role of failure and self-compassion in lasting change, and the power of social accountability. Charles further discusses how cognitive routines enhance productivity and creativity, how to gamify long-term goals through immediate rewards, why identity and purpose are often the strongest forces behind sustainable behavior change, and the potential of AI to power habit change.
We discuss:
- How Charles’s background in journalism and personal experiences led to his interest in habit formation [3:15];
- The science behind reinforcement: why positive rewards outperform punishment in habit formation [10:15];
- How the military uses habit science to train soldiers using cues, routines, and rewards [17:15];
- Methods for creating good habits and eliminating bad ones: environmental control, small wins, rewards-based motivation, and more [24:00];
- How parents can teach kids to build habits and strengthen willpower [32:15];
- How adults experience changes in motivation and cue effectiveness over time, and why willpower must be managed like a finite resource [34:30];
- Keys to successful habit change: planning for relapse, learning from failure, and leveraging social support [38:00];
- Advice for parents: praise effort, model habits, and normalize failure [47:45];
- The time required for making or breaking a habit [50:45];
- The different strategies for creating new habits vs. changing existing ones, and the crucial role of cues and reward timing [55:15];
- How to create habits around long-term goals when the rewards are delayed (like saving money) [1:01:45];
- How to stick with good habits that offer no immediate reward: designing reinforcements and identity-based motivation [1:11:15];
- The potential for AI to provide social reinforcement [1:16:45];
- Mental habits: how thought patterns and contemplative routines shape deep thinking, innovation, and high-stakes performance [1:23:30];
- How cognitive routines boost productivity and habit formation but may stifle creativity [1:35:15];
- Contemplative routines: using stillness to unlock deeper productivity and creativity [1:40:45];
- How habits reduce decision fatigue and enable deep, high-quality productivity [1:44:15];
- New research that reveals the power of environment and social feedback in habit formation [1:49:45];
- How AI may transform work, identity, and our sense of purpose [1:53:45];
- The potential of AI-powered habit change, and the essential—but often lacking—element of motivation [2:02:30]; and
- More.
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