3 Science-Backed Habits That Will Make You Feel Better Every Day

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Jay Shetty explores how 'complexity bias' leads people to overlook simple, effective health habits in favor of overly complicated routines.

Key takeaways

• Complexity bias causes us to assume complicated solutions are more effective than simple ones.
• Physical movement increases BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor), which acts as 'fertilizer' for brain plasticity and emotional regulation.

Main topics

• Complexity bias in wellness
• The neurological benefits of movement

Notable quotes

We naturally assume that complicated solutions must be more effective than simple ones, even when the evidence suggests otherwise.

Conclusion

True well-being is achieved not by adding more complexity, but by retu

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:01) Hey, it's Jay. I don't know what your day's been like, but I was just thinking about you for a minute. And I hope you're being a little patient with yourself because you deserve it. And yeah, I'll talk to you soon. Speaker 1 (0:24) Over the last seven years, I've had the privilege of sitting down with some of the world's leading neuroscientists, psychologists, physicians, researchers, and happiness experts. Every conversation leaves me inspired. But if I'm being honest, it also leaves me with another habit to try. One expert tells me to prioritize strength training. Another swears by cold exposure. Someone else explains the importance of gut health, sleep consistency, or meditation. I genuinely love learning from these conversations, but after a while I noticed something happened that I wasn't expecting. The more I learned about wellness, the more overwhelmed I could start to feel. I found myself wondering whether I was eating the right foods, getting enough sunlight, taking the right supplements, moving enough, sleeping enough, or following the best possible morning routine. Instead of feeling healthier, I was constantly thinking about all the things I wasn't doing. And I started to wonder if this is what so many of you are experiencing as well. We have more information about health than any generation before us, yet so many people still wake up feeling exhausted, anxious, disconnected, or simply not like themselves. That's when I realized something. I feel our minds have convinced us that feeling better is far more complicated than it actually is. Somewhere along the way, we started believing. that if we weren't following an elaborate routine or optimizing every part of our day, we were falling behind. Psychologists actually have a name for part of this tendency, complexity bias. We naturally assume that complicated solutions must be more effective than simple ones, even when the evidence suggests otherwise. Think about the amount of times you've said, oh, it can't be that simple. Oh, it can't be that easy. It needs to be more complex than that. The result is that we then spend so much time searching for the perfect routine that we overlook the habits that have consistently helped human beings thrive for thousands of years. So for today's episode, I decided to go back through years of conversations we've had on this podcast and ask a different question. Instead of focusing on everything the experts disagree about, I looked for what kept showing up again and again. They debate diets, they debate supplements, they debate fasting, cold plunges and the latest wellness trends. But despite coming from completely different fields, there are three habits that almost everyone agrees have an outsized impact on how we feel. When I say feel better, I don't just mean living longer or lowering every risk of disease decades from now. I mean having more energy when you wake up in the morning, feeling calmer in your own mind, feeling more present. with the people you love. Feeling like yourself again. Today I want to share those three habits with you, but more importantly, I want to explain why they work, because I believe understanding the science behind them is what finally makes them stick. One thing that fascinated me as I looked back through all of these conversations is that the experts almost never started with the newest research. They started with the basics. That's interesting because progress often feels like adding more, more information, more technology, more optimization. But what I've found is that in reality, the fundamentals always need to be met first. Are you sleeping? Are you moving your body? Are you chronically stressed? Are you connected to other people? I think we could all benefit from asking ourselves those questions more often. Before we assume something is deeply wrong with us, It's worth asking whether we've simply become disconnected from the things our minds and bodies have always needed. You can't optimize your way out of needing the three basic things that are going to make you feel your best. So let's start with the number one thing every expert shares we need, and that is simply moving our bodies. If I asked you what exercise is good for, most people would probably give me the same answer. They'd say it's good for your heart, helps you lose weight, builds muscle. or keeps you strong as you get older. All of those things are true, but I actually think they've caused us to miss the most important benefit. This episode of On Purpose is presented to you by Mazda. Peace of mind doesn't happen by chance. It's created through the habits we build before we ever need them. That's the philosophy behind every Mazda. With proactive safety features that help keep you more aware, more connected and more engaged, Mazda helps you feel ready for whatever the road brings. It's why Mazda has been named Consumer Reports' Safest New Car Brand. And as of July 2026, Mazda has won more 2026 IIHS Top Safety Pick Plus awards than any other car brand. Visit www.iihs.org to learn more. A lot can happen when an accident doesn't. Visit mazdausa.com to learn more. Consumer Reports does not endorse products or services. Exercise doesn't just change your body. The first thing it changes is your brain. And once you understand what's happening inside your brain every time you move, it becomes much easier to understand why movement is one of the fastest ways to feel better. One of the biggest misconceptions we've been taught is that exercise is primarily... about burning calories. That's become the story we've attached to it, especially in a culture that's so focused on appearance. We think of movement as something we have to earn or something we should do after we've eaten too much. But your body has never viewed movement as punishment. From a biological perspective, movement is one of the primary signals that tells your brain and body, we're alive, we're capable, we can handle today's challenges. That's a completely different way of thinking about it. For almost all of human history, movement wasn't something we scheduled into our calendars. It wasn't a workout class or 30 minutes to the gym before work. Movement was simply life. We walked to find food. We carried water. We climbed, lifted, squatted, ran, reached and explored just to survive. Anthropologists sometimes describe this as an evolutionary mismatch. Our bodies were designed for a world that demanded regular movement. But we've created a world where we can get through an entire day without asking much of our bodies at all. Our environment changed in just a few generations, but our biology hasn't had nearly enough time to catch up. That's why movement has such a profound effect on how we feel. It's not because your body's impressed that you hit 10,000 steps. It's because you're giving your brain something it evolved to expect. Exercise increases blood flow to the brain, delivering more oxygen and nutrients exactly where they're needed. It also increases the production of a protein called brain-derived neutrophic factor, or BDNF, which many neuroscientists describe as fertilizer for the brain. BDNF helps your brain create new neural connections, strengthens learning and memory, and supports the very parts of the brain responsible for emotional regulation. In other words, movement doesn't just strengthen your muscles. It helps your brain become more adaptable. But movement changes more than just your brain chemistry. It also changes the relationship you have with yourself. We often think that confidence comes before