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🧠  Explore the wonders of the brain with Dr. Gupta  

CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is today's guest editor.

Hello, CNN Insiders!

In the new season of my podcast, “Chasing Life,” we take listeners on a voyage through the part of the body that I, as a neurosurgeon, know best: the brain.

This complex, roughly 3-pound organ arguably controls all of our bodily functions. But it’s also the seat of our minds – that’s to say the part of us that perceives, thinks, reasons, feels, remembers and wills. It makes us who we are, yet aspects of it are still a profound mystery to neuroscientists, researchers, psychologists, psychiatrists – and often, even to ourselves.

It was an area of medicine that we were (and still are) learning so much about. I knew that it would satiate my curiosity throughout my professional career. I was hooked.

So in season three of “Chasing Life,” we’re going to explore how the brain intersects with different facets of the human experience and how that impacts not only our mental health but our physical health, as well. Think of it as "This Is Your Brain On ____." We’ll talk about how memory works or fails to work; what goes on chemically when we fall in love or interact on social media; why we experience burnout or anxiety; the many benefits of spending time in nature; and how listening to music and loving our pets rearrange our wiring. In an episode about how the pandemic is warping our perception of time, we’ll get tips from a pro – astronaut Christina Koch, who broke the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman – on navigating this distortion.

In other words, we’re telling the story of the brain and, I’ve got to say, it’s a great – perhaps the most wondrous – story; it is fundamentally the story of us. We’ll also share tips for how to make the brain better and healthier – all of which have deep implications for our bodies, too.

Our first episode, which is available now, is on the science behind the expectation effect: how our assumptions can actually impact our health outcomes, for better or for worse, whether it’s how we age or how effectively we exercise. And it’s all scientifically proven.

For all of these reasons, I’m really excited about this new season of “Chasing Life.” I hope you’ll join me on what’s sure to be a fascinating journey.

Season 3 of “Chasing Life,” which aims to help us live better and healthier lives through science, kicked off this week; new episodes are available Tuesdays. You can listen and subscribe by clicking this link or wherever you get your podcasts.

💳   CNN insider rec of the week

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📺 Watch: CNN pays tribute to a long-serving employee, Jay Conroy, who died last weekend. He was a stage manager, someone just out of the camera frame making sure we got you the news every day. Far more important, he was a good friend and a deeply special person to many of us.

💻 Read: Are you watching the CNN Original Series "Reframed: Marilyn Monroe"? Read more about the "blonde bombshell" and how she trailblazed the male-dominated world of film and turned it on its head.

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- Written and edited by Beryl Adcock, Tricia Escobedo, Melissa Mahtani and Jessica Sooknanan