TEDMED Now

In this episode of TEDMED Now, Kelly Thomas revisits A.J. Jacobs’ TEDMED Talk about his yearlong quest to become the healthiest person alive, exploring healthspan, burnout, resilience, joy, and the pressure to optimize every part of life. Jacobs tracked, tested, and changed nearly every aspect of his health, from exercise and nutrition to sleep and daily habits. But his experiment led to an unexpe...

What if changing a habit is less about willpower, and more about learning to pay attention? In this episode of TEDMED Now , we revisit psychiatrist and neuroscientist Judson Brewer’s TEDMED Talk to explore how habits take shape in the brain, why cravings can feel so automatic, and how curiosity can help interrupt the loop. Through the science of reward-based learning and mindfulness, Brewer offers...

Why do we struggle most when it matters most? In this episode of TEDMED Now , Kelly Thomas explores how pressure affects the brain, drawing on Sian Leah Beilock’s research on performance under stress. The episode reframes choking not as a lack of ability, but as a response to unfamiliar conditions. It also highlights how practicing under pressure can help us perform more effectively when the stake...

What does it take to keep going when the odds say stop? In this episode, we explore the remarkable journey of endurance swimmer Diana Nyad, who spent decades pursuing one seemingly impossible dream: swimming 110 miles from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage.  At 64, after four failed attempts, brutal storms, jellyfish stings, hallucinations, and nearly 53 hours in the water, she finally made it...