Health questions, answered with human stakes.
Chasing Life brings medical curiosity to ordinary worries and strange frontiers, from eye drops and beta blockers to moon-mission health concerns. Dr. Sanjay Gupta speaks with named guests, fields listener questions, and keeps the science practical without sanding off the human stakes.
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Chasing Life approaches health as a set of daily questions, not a remote lecture from a clinic. The show is curious first. It listens to what people are actually worried about: heart medication, aging eyes, screen time, sleep, scams, breathing, bowel movements, and the fear that comes with uncertain diagnoses. Dr. Sanjay Gupta gives the conversations a recognizable medical center of gravity. He explains terms carefully, but the show rarely feels abstract. A question about astronauts becomes a look at NASA’s RIDGE concerns: radiation, isolation, distance from Earth, gravity, and environment. A question about beta blockers becomes a practical discussion of long-used medication and why doctors are reconsidering who still needs it. The show is willing to be awkward. Its episode on bowel health treats embarrassment as part of the medical problem, bringing in Dr. Tricia Pasricha to connect gut function, brain health, and everyday behavior. It also stretches into culture and technology. Bill Weir’s work on 50 Years of Apple opens a conversation about children, tablets, habits, and what constant devices may be doing to attention and brains. Claire Duffy’s appearance around Terms of Service gives the show a sharper edge, especially when AI-generated fake ads use medical trust to sell false hope. The breathing episode with James Nestor fits the show’s wellness side without becoming vague or misty. It asks how something automatic can also be a skill. The episode with Jonathan Gluck is quieter and heavier, centered on chronic cancer and the strange space between sick and well. That emotional register matters. Chasing Life can be brisk and service-oriented, but it does not treat patients as puzzles or listeners as passive consumers of tips. It works best for people who want health information with context, humility, and a little newsroom urgency. The show’s recurring pattern is simple and sturdy: start with a real worry, bring in reporting or expertise, then leave the listener with clearer questions to take back into life.
Made for: Chasing Life suits listeners who want medical reporting that stays practical, curious, and emotionally grounded. It is especially useful for people navigating aging, family health decisions, wellness claims, technology habits, or confusing medical headlines.
What sets it apart: The show combines listener-driven questions, doctor-led explanation, and reporting across both clinical and cultural health stories. It can handle eye drops and beta blockers one week, then move to moon missions, AI deepfakes, or living with incurable cancer without losing its clear center.
All over the world, there are people who are living extraordinary lives, full of happiness and health – and with hardly any heart disease, cancer or diabetes. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been on a decades-long mission to understand how they do it, and how we can all learn from them. Scientists now believe we can even reverse the symptoms of Alzheimer’s dementia, and in fact grow sharper and more resilient as we age. Sanjay is a dad – of three teenage daughters, he is a doctor - who operates on the brain, and he is a reporter with more than two decades of experience - who travels the earth to uncover and bring you the secrets of the happiest and healthiest people on the planet – so that you too, can…
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
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This episode addresses a listener's question about whether to continue beta blockers after a heart attack, discussing their history as standard treatment and current medical reevaluation.
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On Chasing Life, Dr.
This episode explores how improper breathing affects health and features an interview with James Nestor, author of 'Breath', discussing scientific insights and practical methods to improve breathing.
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