The Connection Between Lack of Community, Dopamine, and Chronic Disease: Why Our Modern World Is Making Us Sick and Addicted

Dhru Purohit Show

Dhru Purohit

Medicine, Health & Fitness, Alternative Health

4.7 • 3.4K Ratings

🗓️ 10 November 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This episode is brought to you by Bon Charge, Maui Nui, and Momentous. Our modern world is overflowing with stimulation from phones, social media, and endless choices, so it’s no wonder we feel distracted, anxious, and hooked on the things that drain our focus. But it’s not our fault. Our brains evolved for a world of scarcity, not the digital overload and excess we live in today. Today on The Dhru Purohit Show, we’re revisiting one of our most talked-about moments with Dr. Anders Hansen to explore how our modern world is hijacking our biology. Dr. Hansen shares insights from his time with a Kenyan hunter-gatherer tribe and the lifestyle habits that support their optimal health. He also explains why it’s essential to understand what our brains and instincts were initially designed to protect us from and why overcoming these challenges isn’t simply a matter of willpower. Dr. Anders Hansen is a psychiatrist, speaker, award-winning author, and TV host. His books, The Attention Fix, The Happiness Cure, and The Mind-Body Method, have sold several million copies and topped bestseller lists worldwide. In this episode, Dhru and Dr. Hansen dive into: Dr. Hansen’s experience with a hunter-gatherer tribe in Kenya (1:48) The tribe’s key lifestyle habits for optimal health (4:30) The “comfort crisis” and how time with your community transforms the brain (10:03 Willpower, temptation, and the impact of ultra-processed foods (15:15) Why meaningful connection is vital and how loneliness impacts your health (18:55) The “Roseto Effect:” how strong relationships protect and extend your life (22:32) Final thoughts and key takeaways (30:23) Also mentioned: Full episode with Dr. Anders Hansen This episode is brought to you by Bon Charge, Maui Nui, and Momentous. Right now, Bon Charge is offering my community 15% off. Just go to boncharge.com/DHRU and use code DHRU to save 15%. Right now, Maui Nui Venison is offering my listeners a limited collection of my favorite cuts and products and a FREE 12-pack of venison jerky sticks with your first order of $79 or more! Just go to mauinuivenison.com/dhru to secure your access now, but hurry, supply is limited! Optimize your energy and mental clarity with the purest form of creatine, made by and used by the best, now available in convenient and tasty lemon lime chews. Head to livemomentous.com and use code DHRU for 35% off your first subscription. Sign up for Dhru’s Try This Newsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, everyone. Drew Brod here. Can you relate to the feeling of being addicted to your phone,
0:05.2	social media, or junk food? You know, for most of us, the answer to at least one of those things
0:09.6	is yes. And by the way, it's not your fault. Our brains were not, were not designed for our modern
0:16.9	world. Our ancestors evolved to survive in a world of scarcity. But today, that same biology is
0:22.9	being hijacked by a world of excess. And in today's episode, I'm sharing a really powerful
0:28.6	portion of my conversation with Anders Hansen, all about how our modern life is rewiring our
0:35.2	brains for unhappiness. Now, Dr. Hansen is a psychiatrist,
0:39.1	speaker, an award-winning author, and TV host. His books, the attention fix, the happiness
0:44.2	cure, and the mind-body method have sold several million copies and topped best-seller list
0:50.1	worldwide. And in our conversation today, which is featuring a moment from our previous episode,
0:54.9	something that we want to highlight on, zoom in on, just in case you missed it, or maybe you
0:58.8	never heard the episode in the first place, Dr. Hansen talks about his time living with a modern
1:04.1	day nomadic tribe in Kenya, a community that has no electricity, no social media, no processed
1:08.8	foods, and yet almost no depression, no diabetes,
1:12.2	or no chronic disease. We explore Dr. Henson's learnings about how dopamine, one of the oldest
1:17.0	molecules in the brain, drives so much of our behavior. Why modern life, with its constant
1:22.7	hits of sugar, notifications, novelty, tricks the brain into creating more but feeling less satisfied.
1:28.6	And what we can do to reclaim control over our brain's reward system.
1:33.4	This isn't just about going back to the Savannah.
1:35.6	It's about understanding our biology so that we can design a lifestyle that will work with
1:39.9	our brains, not against them.
1:42.0	Let's listen in.
	...

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