Shows / Two Percent with Michael Easter
Two Percent with Michael Easter
Lessons from the frontiers of health, psychology, thought, and human experience. Hosted by Michael Easter—New York Times bestselling author of The Comfort Crisis and Scarcity Brain. New episodes are released twice each week.
Episodes
Two Percent with Michael Easter#59: Why Being Scared Is Good for You | Coltan Scrivner
We’ve made life so safe that most of us are out of practice at handling fear. Michael speaks with Coltan Scrivner about why being scared can be good for you…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#58: Why You Should Hike Right Now | Robert Moor
Michael speaks with Robert Moor, author of On Trails and the new book In Trees, about what five months on the Appalachian Trail taught him about quitting and…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#57: Stop Trying to Sleep Perfectly | David Samson
Up to half of Americans say their sleep is bad, and the rules for fixing it keep piling up. Michael speaks with David Samson, an evolutionary anthropologist at…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#56: Misogi Is a Challenge You're Supposed to Fail Half the Time | Marcus Elliott
Most of us avoid anything we might fail at. Michael speaks with Dr. Marcus Elliott about Misogi, his yearly challenge with about a 50 percent chance of…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#55: The Accidental FBI Director on Moral Courage | Brian Driscoll
Brian Driscoll became acting director of the FBI through what he believes was a clerical error in 2025. He was then asked to hand over the names of thousands…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#54: A Harvard Professor Tested Popular Diets on Himself | Dan Lieberman
Michael speaks with Harvard evolutionary biologist Dan Lieberman, author of Fed Up. They talked about how humans didn't evolve to think about what to eat, the…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#53: Your Mind Lies About How Much You Can Take | Lindsay Crouse
A lot of us think of quitting as a path to failure. Michael speaks with Lindsay Crouse, the former New York Times writer, editor and producer, lifelong…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#52: What Convenience and Your Phone Are Costing You | Tim Wu
Michael speaks with Tim Wu, the Columbia law professor and author of The Age of Extraction, about how media and tech platforms learned to harvest our…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#51: Creatine, Wearables, Carbs: What's Hype and What's Real | Brady Holmer
Michael speaks with Brady Holmer, the exercise scientist and 2:24 marathoner behind the Substack Physiologically Speaking, about which fitness trends hold up…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#50: The Mormon Missionary Who Became a Real Housewife | Heather Gay
Heather Gay, star of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City and author of Bad Mormon, tells Michael why she left the Mormon faith, what that decision cost, and…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#49: Why We Should Stop Eating Lettuce | Tamar Haspel
Michael speaks with Tamar Haspel, The Washington Post's Unearthed columnist and author of To Boldly Grow, about her case for why we should stop eating lettuce…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#48: A Fox News Host’s Formula for Winning Arguments | Jessica Tarlov
Michael speaks with Jessica Tarlov, co-host of The Five on Fox News and author of I Disagree, about how to argue without losing friends. Outnumbered four to…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#47: Lessons from Singlehandedly Fighting Off a Terrorist Attack | Christian Craighead
Michael speaks with Christian Craighead, a former SAS soldier and author of One Man In, about the afternoon he singlehandedly fought off a major terror attack…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#46: How to Learn Faster and Remember More | Jim Kwik
Michael speaks with Jim Kwik, brain coach and author of the new book Limitless Daily, about how to learn faster, remember more, and use AI to get smarter…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#45: Inside the North Tower on 9/11 | Chief Joseph Pfeifer
Michael speaks with FDNY Chief Joseph Pfeifer, who led the first fire units into the North Tower on 9/11 and later gave the order to evacuate the towers. Chief…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#44: How to Recover From Trauma and Come Back Stronger | Elizabeth Smart
Michael sits down with Elizabeth Smart, who was abducted at 14, survived nine months of captivity, and spent the decades after building her own path to…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#43: Avoiding Anxiety Makes it Stronger & Relationship Rules | Dr. John Delony
Michael speaks with Dr. John Delony, host of The Dr. John Delony Show and author of Building a Non-Anxious Life. They discuss: 00:00 Preview 00:54 Mental…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#42: A Trial Lawyer’s Rules for Hard Conversations | Jefferson Fisher
Michael sits down with trial lawyer Jefferson Fisher, author of The Next Conversation, on why hard conversations are some of the most uncomfortable things we…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#41: Should You Take Peptides? A Doctor’s Evidence-Based Answer | Dr. Jordan Feigenbaum
Michael speaks with physician and competitive powerlifter Dr. Jordan Feigenbaum about what peptides are, why they suddenly seem to promise everything, and what…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#40: A Navy SEAL’s Case for Being Humble and Obsessed | Eric Frohardt
Michael speaks with Eric Frohardt about his twelve years on SEAL Team 6 as a sniper and assaulter—and what you can learn from it. They discuss: 0:00 Preview…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#39: A Harvard Psychologist on Mindset and Not Following the Rules | Ellen Langer
Michael speaks with Ellen Langer, the first woman tenured in Harvard’s psychology department and author of The Mindful Body, about how our thoughts and…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#38: How to Use AI, Kill Complacency, Think About Health, and More | Tyler Cowen
Michael speaks with economist Tyler Cowen, author of The Complacent Class, about how AI is changing our lives and what still matters for health, happiness, and…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#37: How to Make Modern Work Less Miserable and What AI is Doing to the Workday | Cal Newport
Michael speaks with Cal Newport, a Georgetown computer scientist and author of Deep Work and Slow Productivity, about why modern work rewards busyness over…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#36: Lessons From The Most Dangerous Job: Hotshot Firefighting | River Selby
Michael speaks with River Selby, author of Hotshot: A Life on Fire, about what seven years as a wildland firefighter taught them about grit, belonging, and why…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#35: Why Meat Eaters Belong in the Animal Welfare Movement | Dan Shannon, Humane League CEO
Michael speaks with Dan Shannon, who runs The Humane League and has been vegan for almost 30 years, about why meat eaters belong in the animal welfare movement…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#34: Why Our Medical System is Broken and How to Take Back Your Health | Dr. Lucy McBride
Michael speaks with Dr. Lucy McBride, a Harvard-trained physician and author of Beyond the Prescription, about why modern medicine overlooks the whole patient…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#33: Are the Blue Zones Longevity Hotspots Fake? | Dr. Saul Newman
The Blue Zones built an empire on one promise: copy how the world's oldest people live, and you can join them past 100. Saul Newman, a demographer at the…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#32: Art is the Missing Pillar of Your Health | Daisy Fancourt & Jesse Albrecht
Most people can name four pillars of health: diet, exercise, sleep, and stress. Daisy Fancourt, the researcher behind a 146-page World Health Organization…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#31: The Science of Muscle and Protein | Dr. Gabrielle Lyon
Most of us assume America's biggest health problem is obesity. Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, a physician for 20 years and the founder of Muscle-Centric Medicine, argues…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#30: Life Lessons From the World’s Most Dangerous Places | Robert Young Pelton
Robert Young Pelton spent his early career as an advertising executive with 50 employees, a Rolls Royce, and a half acre on the ocean. At 40, he walked away…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#29: Summitting Everest and a Case for Adventure | Dr. Jon Kedrowski
Most people will never even think about climbing Mount Everest. Dr. Jon Kedrowski has been on seven Everest expeditions and reached the summit four times…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#28: What High-Stakes Poker Tells Us About Making Better Decisions | Maria Konnikova
Maria Konnikova earned a PhD in psychology at Columbia studying human decision-making. She then took her research into the most unforgiving laboratory there…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#27: The Best No B.S. Self-Improvement Books | Alex Wieckowski (Alex & Books)
Summer is peak reading season, so it only made sense for Michael, author of “The Comfort Crisis” & “Scarcity Brain,” to sit down with Alex Wieckowski of Alex &…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#26: Sports That Protect Your Brain From Dementia | Dr. Tommy Wood
It turns out that tennis might be one of the best things you can do to protect your brain from dementia as you age. For this episode of Two Percent, Michael…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#25: Why Numbers, Scores, and Metrics Make Life Worse | Thi Nguyen
Ever feel like you're winning at life on paper, hitting your steps, your salary goals, your sleep score, and somehow still feel worse? This episode explains…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#24: Why Our Brains Lie About How Bad Things Are (and How to Stop It) | Cara Lai & Roy Baumeister
If you turn on the news right now, you'll be hit with a sea of negativity, and it can convince you the world is falling apart. It isn't. Host Michael Easter…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#23: Daily Habits to Keep Your Brain Sharp as You Age | Dr. Tommy Wood
Cognitive decline as you age is not inevitable — but whether you keep your edge depends almost entirely on what you do right now. Host Michael Easter sits down…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#22: Why Sports Fandom is Good for Us | Leander Schaerlaeckens & Dr. Daniel Wann
Every four years, Americans suddenly remember soccer exists. The World Cup is here and it may be the single biggest sporting event in human history: 48 teams…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#21: Why Health Became the New Religion | Alan Levinovitz
Why do people lose their minds over seed oils, raw milk, carnivore diets, and long Covid? Alan Levinovitz isn't a doctor or a health journalist — he's a…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#20: Why the Steroid Olympics Flopped and the Truth About Peptides | Chris Gayomali & Sam Eagan
What if you juiced a roster of athletes to the gills with performance-enhancing drugs and let them compete for a million-dollar prize? That's the Enhanced…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#19: The Science of Rapid Weight Loss | Tyler Minton
UFC fighters routinely lose 10 to 20 pounds in the 5 days before a weigh-in — then put it all back on in the 24 hours before stepping into the Octagon. It is…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#18: How to Recover When Life Punches You in the Face | Miesha Tate
Miesha Tate became UFC women's bantamweight champion by choking out Holly Holm in the fifth round at the MGM Grand. Two weeks after the highest moment of her…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#17: The Power of the Heat and Sauna | Ashley Paulson & Bill Gifford
When it gets hot, most of us hide indoors with the AC cranked, the workouts moved inside, and the thermostat parked at 72°F all summer long. But humans evolved…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#16: Thinking Patterns of CEOs, Tech Founders, and the Top 0.01% | Dr. Julie Gurner
Dr. Julie Gurner has a two-year waiting list. The Wall Street Journal calls her the real-life Wendy Rhoades (the psychologist from the show Billions). Though…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#15: Dr. Andy Galpin Made Me His Lab Rat During an 850-Mile Hike | Dr. Andy Galpin
A year ago, Michael Easter walked 850 miles across southern Utah in 45 days — about a marathon every day. Dr. Andy Galpin turned him into a lab rat, studying…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#14: The Psychology of Adventure | Jay Carson & Sinhue Xavier
Adventure has been engineered out of modern life, and we're paying for it in ways we don't even realize. In this episode of Two Percent, Michael Easter sits…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#13: How a Hollywood Legend Got Fit at 60 | Brian Koppelman
What does it take to get genuinely strong, healthy, and creatively alive in your late 50s — while having one of the most demanding jobs in Hollywood? Brian…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#12: How to Eat Healthy Without Going Broke | Dr. Nick Norwitz & George Kamel
What happens when you eat 8 cans of sardines everyday for 30 days? For one doctor, his omega-3 levels hit numbers usually only seen in dolphins, his body fat…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#11: Why Most Habit Change Fails (And How to Get Good at Feeling Bad) | Ryan Soave
Sobriety isn't just "not drinking"—it's learning how to live without needing relief on demand. In this episode, Michael Easter sits down with therapist Ryan…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#10: Why Dogs Make Us Healthier & Happier | Sam Alaimo & Dr. Nancy Gee
Dogs don’t just make us happy—they change how we live. Michael Easter talks with former Navy SEAL and writer Sam Alaimo about why dogs pull us back into the…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#9: The Power of Constraints & Why More Freedom Makes Us Miserable | David Epstein
What if everything you believe about freedom is wrong? Author David Epstein joins Michael Easter to break down why constraints — not freedom — drive better…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#8: Subtraction Mindset: Get More By Doing Less | Leidy Klotz
A 3-year old beat a PhD engineer at an engineering problem while playing legos—and that single moment kicked off a decade of research that exposed one of the…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#7: Paths Out of Addiction: Fantanyl, Meth, Marching Band, & Hope | Sam Quinones
100,000 Americans die of drug overdose a year. One solution, today's guest discovered, is rather dorky... Sam Quinones spent 12 years reporting on America’s…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#6: Find Joy in Any Job | Dr. Mim Ari & Robin Greenfield
Is work supposed to feel this miserable? In this episode, Michael Easter sits down with two people who answer the question from opposite ends of the spectrum…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#5: What Science Says About Alcohol & Social Media | Taylor Lorenz & Dean Stattmann
Everyone has a vice. Drinking, smoking, social media, diet soda. And the modern wellness internet will tell you that if you want to live a long, healthy life…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#4: The Science of Whole 30, Food Addiction, and Why Weight is the Wrong Metric | Melissa Urban
Melissa Urban — founder of Whole 30 and author of The Whole30 (updated 2024) and The Book of Boundaries — sits down with Michael Easter for one of the most…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#3: Marathon Tactics and the Upsides of Ultraprocessed Foods | Brady Holmer & Dr. Mike Roussell
The 130th Boston Marathon is this Monday. To mark the occasion, Michael sits down with Brady Holmer — a science writer, runner, and 2:24 Boston finisher — to…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#2: Hunting, Hard Things, and the Mindset That Gets You Through Storms | Donnie Vincent
In this episode of Two Percent, Michael sits down with backcountry bow hunter and filmmaker Donnie Vincent to unpack what months in remote wilderness teach you…
Two Percent with Michael Easter#1: Humans are Built to Walk Farther Than You Think | Dr. Melissa Ilardo and Foster Kamer
Walking shaped humans into who we are—and it’s one of the simplest ways to improve health, mood, and longevity right now. In this episode of Two Percent…
Two Percent with Michael EasterComing April 7: Two Percent with Michael Easter
From New York Times bestselling author and journalist Michael Easter comes a twice-weekly deep dive into the science of living better by doing things the hard…