Are You Falling For Health Misinformation?

Summary

Chasing Life: Episode Summary - "Are You Falling For Health Misinformation?"

Release Date: March 14, 2025

In this compelling episode of Chasing Life, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, engages in an insightful conversation with Dr. Laurel Bristow, an infectious disease researcher at Emory University and a prominent science communicator. The discussion delves deep into the pervasive issue of health misinformation, its impact during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ongoing battle to promote accurate scientific information in an era rife with conspiracy theories and myths.

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1. Introduction to Dr. Laurel Bristow

Timestamp: 00:00 - 02:57

Dr. Sanjay Gupta reintroduces listeners to Dr. Laurel Bristow, highlighting her significant role during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally gaining attention on Instagram under the quirky handle "King Gutter Baby," Laurel utilized social media to "combat rampant myths and conspiracy theories" surrounding the pandemic with both humor and factual information.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta (00:11): "All over the world, there are people who are living extraordinary lives..."

Laurel Bristow (00:45): "Hello, my little cheesy gorditas, and welcome to Monday."

2. Combating COVID-19 Misinformation

Timestamp: 02:40 - 07:13

Laurel discusses her motivation to educate the public, aiming to "empower people with information" to alleviate fears and confusion during the height of the pandemic. She elaborates on her strategy of responding directly to followers' questions, ensuring that the information shared was both accurate and accessible.

Laurel Bristow (04:19): "I wanted very strongly that, you know, people can feel empowered by information..."

3. The Rise of Conspiracy Theories

Timestamp: 07:13 - 09:19

As the pandemic progressed, Laurel observed a shift from merely providing information to actively battling misinformation. She identifies the psychological need for simple explanations during crises as a breeding ground for conspiracy theories, such as lab leak theories or narratives blaming specific groups.

Laurel Bristow (07:13): "People really want to be able to blame something, right?... so you get lab leak theories..."

4. Psychological Appeal of Misinformation

Timestamp: 09:19 - 11:51

The conversation explores why misinformation spreads rapidly, emphasizing the emotional responses it elicits. Laurel points out that "attention is a currency," with misinformation creators leveraging emotional hooks to build large followings, which can be monetized through various means, including product sales and brand deals.

Laurel Bristow (10:18): "Attention is a currency, right?... it's very appealing to people."

5. Vaccine Misinformation and Public Health

Timestamp: 14:08 - 17:04

Dr. Gupta raises concerns about high-ranking officials, such as the Secretary of Health and Human Services, undermining vaccine confidence by perpetuating debunked myths linking vaccines to autism. Laurel expresses frustration over these developments and underscores the importance of sustained science communication to counteract these harmful narratives.

Laurel Bristow (15:37): "It's really hard that the person who is in the highest position of power... is casting doubt on what are life-saving interventions."

6. Maintaining Optimism in the Face of Misinformation

Timestamp: 17:04 - 19:55

Despite the challenges, Laurel remains optimistic, emphasizing the collective effort required to combat misinformation. She highlights the significance of building a trusted network of science communicators to provide reliable information and support to the public.

Laurel Bristow (17:04): "I'm gonna build my network of people that I trust so that I can tell people... it is a team effort."

7. Strategies for Science Communicators

Timestamp: 19:55 - 21:53

Laurel offers valuable advice to fellow science communicators, stressing the importance of:

• Highlighting the limitations of current knowledge and acknowledging uncertainty.
• Identifying emotional triggers in misinformation to better address them.
• Promoting skepticism by encouraging audiences to question the credibility of sources.

Laurel Bristow (20:01): "If somebody is eliciting an emotional... response in you, that's not great."

8. Navigating Personal Relationships and Tough Conversations

Timestamp: 25:34 - 28:00

Laurel shares her experiences managing relationships with individuals who propagate misinformation. She emphasizes approaching such conversations with curiosity and understanding, aiming to provide alternative perspectives without alienating friends or family.

Laurel Bristow (27:05): "I just approach it from a place of curiosity... so that I can try to walk through that logic."

9. The Impact and Fulfillment of Science Communication

Timestamp: 28:11 - 28:49

Reflecting on her efforts, Laurel acknowledges the positive feedback and personal fulfillment derived from helping others navigate misinformation. She remains dedicated to her mission, finding solace in knowing her work has made a difference.

Laurel Bristow (28:11): "It's very nice... people send nice messages about how helpful people found my information during COVID."

10. Conclusion and Continued Commitment

Timestamp: 28:46 - 30:35

The episode concludes with Dr. Gupta expressing support for Laurel's endeavors, reinforcing the collective responsibility to uphold and disseminate accurate scientific information.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta (18:13): "I'll be on Team Laurel. I get behind that."

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Key Takeaways:

• Empowerment Through Information: Providing accurate, understandable information can significantly reduce public anxiety and counteract misinformation.
• Emotional Hooks Drive Misinformation: Understanding the psychological appeal of conspiracy theories is crucial in developing effective communication strategies.
• Collective Effort is Essential: Combating health misinformation requires a united front of scientists, communicators, and the public to ensure the dissemination of reliable information.
• Maintain Compassion in Conversations: Approaching discussions with curiosity and empathy can help bridge gaps and potentially change minds affected by misinformation.

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For more insights from Dr. Laurel Bristow, listeners are encouraged to tune into her podcast "Health Wanted," available on all major podcast platforms.

Transcript

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

So your Instagram handle is. I mean, I'm sure everyone's asked you this.

[Laurel Bristow]

Sanjay Gupta. Say it.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

King Gutter Baby.

[Unknown]

King Gutter Baby.

[Laurel Bristow]

Yes, it is.

[Unknown]

I want to take you back. Three years ago, March 2021, I sat down one day with someone who was making a name for herself on Instagram. Her name is Laurel Bristow, an infectious disease researcher at Emory University. The reason I wanted to talk to her at the time was because when the pandemic started, she decided to step up to use her background to answer questions about COVID Online. And the way that she did it was not only super informative, but also pretty funny. A breath of fresh air in a pretty dark time.

[Laurel Bristow]

Hello, my little cheesy gorditas, and welcome to Monday.

[Unknown]

Her account specifically focused on combating the rampant myths and conspiracy theories that were circulating online at the time.

[Laurel Bristow]

If you're gonna send me a message that why is no one talking about X or why is no one doing Y? Please make sure that's actually true before you do it. Did you even Google anything?

[Unknown]

I was trying to do my part as well to help people understand what was happening with the COVID pandemic. Longtime listeners may remember that at that time, this podcast was a daily podcast, and it was named Fact Versus Fiction. I really admired the way that Laurel was using a medium that was, unfortunately, the host of a lot of misinformation, the reservoir of a lot of bad information, social media. But she was using it to spread the truth. Well, this March now marks five years since the World Health Organization declared Covid to be a pandemic. And it's no doubt changed all of our lives in some way. But in light of the anniversary, I decided to reach out to Laurel once again to hear how she went about dispelling misinformation during COVID how she approached all of that, and how she is still using that skill today to take on new conspiracy theories, new medical myths, everything from vaccine efficacy to measles. She's really good at this, and that's saying something. And it's a skill that she has that is still, unfortunately, really relevant, and I think something that we could all stand to sharpen. I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent, and this is chasing life. You know, so much has changed since I last spoke to Laurel again three years ago, including her Instagram handle. That was what initially made her pretty Internet famous.

[Laurel Bristow]

I'm sorry I'm no longer King Gutter Baby. I know that you were.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

I love King Gutter Baby.

[Laurel Bristow]

I know, you were so attached to my original, goofy Instagram name, but now it's just Laurel 2 underscore. It is. One of my favorite sound bites of all time is when I got you to say, king gutter baby King, get her, baby.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

I just said it again.

[Unknown]

Today, Laurel hosts her own podcast. It's called Health Wanted. She does it for wabe, which is Atlanta's NPR affiliate. Now, she admits, like many of us, her mental health has improved since the height of the pandemic.

[Laurel Bristow]

It was. Yeah, that was extremely dark. I think I was working on Covid clinical trials in the hospital. So I was seeing COVID patients all day long for many months. It was working six days a week, 10 to 12 hours a day, doing all of this stuff, and then coming home and getting on Instagram and, you know, answering people's questions or explaining scientific research and stuff. And when I look back on it, the amount of work and the pace that I was doing, I'm not even sure how I did it. I think the only reason that that happened is because I did not want to have a moment to stop and really think about what was going on, which was not, like, the healthiest way to cope with it, but it is what I was doing. I think having a purpose really helped my mental health. So I would be at the hospital all day, and then I would come home and sit in my kitchen and set up my little tripod and record videos. It felt very important to me at the time because I had such a close understanding, or as much of an understanding as you could about the virus and what was happening and infectious disease in general. That. That gave me a lot of comfort. And I wanted other people to understand it so that they could make decisions and feel, like, empowered in the decisions that they were making rather than scared of what was happening.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

So was that the real motivator initially was to sort of allay people' anxieties and fears?

[Laurel Bristow]

Yeah, I mean, I wanted very strongly that, you know, people can feel empowered by information, and they want to understand it and they can understand it. And when you have that, you know, it's still. It's not necessarily less scary, but it's less anxiety inducing, and you can feel a little bit more in control of what is happening. And I think that is really helpful for people to stay grounded.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

The videos are great, and people should. You have a lot of followers, but people who have not followed you should watch these videos.

[Laurel Bristow]

Thank you.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

How did you even begin to approach it? What did you think?

[Laurel Bristow]

Yeah, I mean, I think so. I Mentioned in there were like, four days where we had stopped our studies in the hospital before we started doing these clinical trials. And so in that four days, I didn't have a lot to do. And I made my first video where I just said, you know, does anybody want to understand what it means to flatten the curve or, like, want to know what we know about COVID so far to explain to people? And I had some friends say yes. So I made that first video. People started asking questions, and I started getting new followers. And they said, you know, oh, what about this person who's talking about this? Or someone said that they saw this in this paper. And so I really just, like, was looking at my messages and starting to just make videos based on the stuff that people were asking me. And as new papers were being released, I mean, this was a huge time for preprint servers and trying to help people understand, you know, what makes a good paper and what makes a bad paper and how the scientific process works and how vaccine clinical trials work and that sort of thing. So, yeah, yeah, it really. It was kind of a crowdsourcing situation of, what do you want to learn about today?

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Were you surprised at the reaction that you got?

[Laurel Bristow]

I think so. I mean, I would think I was pleasantly surprised that people really did want to understand how things worked. I think it taught me a lot about the ways in which I shape how I give information to people so that they can understand it. But they did. People wanted to understand, how does an MRNA vaccine work? Like, what is actually happening in your cells? How is it different from other vaccines? And so I think it was really cool to find out that people actually have a thirst for this knowledge, because we do have not the best scientific literacy in this country. And so to find out that people really wanted to fill those gaps in and were willing and interested in asking questions was pretty cool.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

At some point, and I don't know when it was, it seemed like the thrust went from. For the whole country went from providing information to battling misinformation. Yeah, that there seemed to be these parallel sort of sources of information out there, some like yours, based on, you know, evidence, the data, your scientific background, and a lot of other things that were really fueled by conspiracy theories, which typically you think of as being, you know, these small pockets, but really gained a lot of steam. When did you first start to sense that?

[Laurel Bristow]

I think it happened pretty early on for me. I think, you know, there were. There are some alternative medicine people who really saw this as an opportunity to push the things that they were selling, which is pretty expected. But then the conspiracy stuff happened really quickly. And I think, particularly when it comes to something like Covid that is like a world disrupting situation, people really want to be able to blame something, right? Like, they do not. It is not appealing to have the answer be this is a thing that just sometimes happens the way the 1918 flu pandemic happened. And so then you get lab leak theories, you get that this is engineered to take out a portion of the population. You get all of this stuff because it helps people understand something that's a little too scary to think about, that it could just happen for no reason, essentially. And so I feel like that conspiracy theory really started extremely quickly.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

So how did you approach approach it then?

[Laurel Bristow]

I mean, it's tricky because conspiracy theories and, you know, having someone to blame and all this stuff that elicits a really emotional reaction in people is really appealing. And people, when people have a visceral reaction, they want to share something really quickly without, like looking into it all the time. And it's hard because the scientific explanation or the reasonable explanation, they're always a little bit more boring. You know, they're not as catchy and stuff. And so it really just takes a lot of patience to approach it from saying, like, all right, let's think through this logically. You try to poke holes in the argument and just try to remind people, you know, that if something causes a visceral reaction in you, you should take a little extra time in looking into it. Because I think that's really hard for people. And that's how misinformation gets amplified so much, is that someone has a strong emotional response to it and shares it without thinking about it, you know, even if they're well intentioned. And it's happened to me too sometimes, you know, I always have to keep myself in check as well with certain things that confirm our biases or, you know, make us feel afraid or make us feel sad. So I think it's just a matter of reminding people to slow down and think through things for a second.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

You said that there were probably people who were benefiting from the idea of having a lot of misinformation out there. Maybe they were selling products or whatever it might be. Do you think that, like, when you look back now over the last few years, is that really what sort of fuels this? Because I'll tell you, Laurel, I'm a pretty simple guy, and I think to myself, I understand why people want to get people to do something, to engage in healthy behaviors, MITIGATE risks, take a vaccine, whatever it might be. When people are convinced not to do something, not to engage in healthy behaviors, not to take a vaccine, whatever. That's a little confusing to me because I think it's just sheer profit, Right. People are going to try and sell you something here. They're telling you not to do something. But I think what you're saying is that there was still probably people who were benefiting by selling products.

[Laurel Bristow]

I mean, yeah, so there definitely. You see the Vax detox products or the COVID vaccine alternatives, those were like, huge things. Immune supplementation instead of getting vaccinated. That's all like product lines that were beneficial. But to your point, in this era of existence, attention is a currency, right? So you can make money in other ways, or even just the value of having a huge following from telling people, don't take the vaccine, don't wear a mask, don't do this. You can build these communities, and then the attention itself is appealing. It can be parlayed into other things. You know, they don't have to necessarily be selling you a product related specifically to this, but, you know, they get speaking engagements, they get, you know, brand deals for other stuff. Their platform becomes valuable to advertisers for other things, and they'll sell their followers those things. So I think that is a huge pathway that is beneficial to people, even if they're not directly selling you anything. I think also people, it's a way to feel community. Right. And I think especially in something like the context of COVID where you have the kind of government or these other entities telling you what to do, I always say it's hard to feel like the smartest person in the room when you're agreeing with everybody else in it. So there's a lot of power to people to say, like, well, actually they don't want you to know this. And then people can feel community in that, in, you know, knowing something that these other people don't know. And I think that's super appealing to people.

[Unknown]

Okay, we're going to take a quick break here, but when we come back, more from Laurel about taking on the new types of misinformation these days.

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[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

You have people now within the administration, including the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Bobby Kennedy, who have said things that have been shown to be demonstrably wrong about vaccines. And I was just in West Texas and part of the reason we're seeing these measles outbreaks is because of pockets of the population that are under vaccinated. And one of the reasons people don't vaccinate is because they're concerned about things like autism. This came about really, I think started with fervor in the late 90s from a paper that was subsequently withdrawn, debunked. But it led to all these studies. People said, okay, look, that paper was debunked, but hey, I'm worried enough about this now that let's study this. And so there was these large studies, hundreds of thousands of children. Their medical records were analyzed. They looked at vaccinated people, they looked at unvaccinated, they looked at the history, like, do you have siblings with vaccination? All that, to say that there's no correlation between vaccines and autism. And yet, Laurel, we have a Secretary of health in the United States, arguably the powerhouse when it comes to scientific discovery in the world, who is saying, I'm still not sure, I think that vaccines cause autism, has said that actually recently. What are we to do with this? I mean, I don't know if there's a clear answer, but how do you think about that?

[Laurel Bristow]

Yeah, I think about it a lot. It is frustrating and stressful. I think it's really hard that the person who is in the highest position of power when it comes to the health of our country is casting doubt on what are life saving, incredible interventions for truly no reason. I mean, we not only have done so much research that shows that there is no connection between vaccines and autism, but, you know, the field of autism has research to support things that, you know, do increase your chances of autism. It's, you know, there's genetics, there's environmental factors, there's all this sort of stuff. And so it's not only frustrating for the idea that people will build this hesitancy to use these vaccines that are so critical to maintaining the health of our country, but also that they, you know, we'll ignore the potential things that do impact autism rates or, you know, the things that we need to do to help. And so I think, I think it's. I don't have an answer, unfortunately, but I do think, you know, you and I, as science communicators will be pretty busy for the next four years trying to clarify statements and make sure people understand what the science actually shows.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Do you get despondent? I mean, are you, are you invigorated to do even more, given what's happening in the country overall? Or do you, like, have you wanted to just say, look, it's been, yeah, but this is a brick wall that I can no longer pound my head against.

[Laurel Bristow]

Yeah, I mean, of course there's part of me that's like, man, after five years, I thought I was going to be like, off the hook. You know, my Instagram was just going to be vacation photos. It would be great. But I do feel very passionately about this. I feel very passionately about people getting accurate information and feeling empowered in the decisions that they make for themselves and their families. So I'm going to keep doing what I do and I'm gonna build my network of people that I trust so that I can tell people, you know, it's a Science communication is a team effort and it really is important that you find a solid core of people who are giving good information, good and accurate information, so that you have someone to turn to. Because I feel very, I feel very optimistic about the passion that a lot of people on social media have, a lot of scientists on social media have, for giving people good information and combating this. So I think I take a lot of comfort in the fact that this is going to be a team effort and the only reason that we're doing it is because we feel very passionately about helping everyone. You know, whether you want to believe in what I'm saying or not, it will benefit you. And I will be here for you when and if you're ready to listen to it.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

I'll be on Team Laurel. I get behind that.

[Laurel Bristow]

Thank you.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Do you think this is a pendulum swing or do you think we are heading towards this trajectory of increased misinformation? You look at X, for example. I don't really do social media much. I don't surf it much. I am definitely, I mean, I'm a lot older than you and I think it just wasn't something that was part of my time really at all. Even as an approaching middle aged person, I guess middle aged now. But do you still, you do Instagram? What about X? Do you find places where it's just. It's become too much of a cesspool?

[Laurel Bristow]

Yeah, I'm off of X. I just, I think that the, the effort versus the benefits are not really there. I think the people who are going to be actually genuinely receptive to learning are seeking their information through things that are a little bit more neutral at the moment, like Instagram or TikTok. You know, the scientific community as a whole kind of all moved to blue sky. So I have that. The things I was using X for, I now get on blue sky, which is great. So, yeah, I think there are certain places that I just, I can't see the benefit of. But there was a lot of talk about, you know, leaving Instagram because Mark Zuckerberg has decided that Meta is not doing fact checking anymore and this sort of stuff. And I just think, you know, if, if the people who are committed to evidence based research leave all these platforms, then it becomes an echo chamber. So there are certain places and who knows, Instagram might become untenable the way X did. But for now I think it's really important to stay on those platforms so that, you know, the people who are asking questions in good faith have good resources that they could potentially find.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Yeah, I mean, so if you're talking to the other science communicators out there, are there some tripwires you tell them to avoid?

[Laurel Bristow]

I emphasize stressing the limitations of what we know. You know, stressing that things change. Those are important. If you're somebody who is, you know, not in the scientific community and you're looking at social media things that I would tell you to look out for because people always want people ask me how to spot bad science. You know, first of all, if somebody is eliciting an emotional, a super emotional response in you, that's not great. Science communication usually, oftentimes that is also tied to, you know, if they have, they are selling a product to you, if their post is telling you about, if they have invented a problem that they are going to sell you the cure for, that's a huge red flag. I think. You know, the biggest one that I think about right now is parasite cleanses. Like if you live in the United States, the chances you have a parasitic infection that needs to be cleansed is so infinitesimally low. But that is a huge industry right now. So things like that. I think if something sounds too good or too bad to be true, it probably is. Unfortunately, science and the scientific process is kind of boring. It's very rare that we have like a huge breakthrough that's really exciting. So most of the stuff you're going to hear from legitimate scientists is not going to be like elicit a super strong emotion from you. So I think those are all really important things to look out for.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

And humility, like you talked about before, I do think this idea of not matching the emotion of a huge emotional response is important. And you know, I mean, I think this idea of living being comfortable with nuance and being comfortable with a little bit of uncertainty, embracing uncertainty, it's challenging.

[Laurel Bristow]

Also it's important. A skill that I think everyone needs to learn is to check the visceral reaction of like, well, it hasn't happened to me, so does that actually happen? You know, there's a big whole world of experiences out there. And so I think that's really an important thing, nuance and context to keep in mind.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Yeah, I saw, I heard about that a lot. With the measles. There's so many infectious disease doctors who, they've never taken care of Measles. Yeah, they've never seen. And these are, you know, people who are experienced, long tenured infectious disease doctors. And questions we get is, hey, everyone got measles. It's not that Big a deal. Then you remind them that several hundred people died, hundreds of thousands got sick, you know, every year. Yeah, it's, it's like the, you're a victim of your own success in some ways.

[Laurel Bristow]

I know. And I also, like, I made a video about, you know, because the claim now is that getting measles is actually good for you. And I read through all the papers that they cite and kind of tear them down. But somebody commented, measles has killed like one person in the last 12 years in the United States. And you're like, let's think through why that might be, guys. Like, come on.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Yeah, exactly. This is a hypothetical. But if you just looked at 100% of the population and you say I'm making it up, but a certain percentage of them are just chaos creators, they are just shit starters. Chaos is the currency for them. Another percentage are people who are naysayers, but they are good faith naysayers, as you've alluded to. I'm really concerned about this for my kids, for my parents, for myself, whatever it may be. And then the rest of the people are like, hey, look, we've looked at all the scientific data, we've done the homework, we've looked at the evidence and we've arrived on the side of you should do these public health practices. Any idea how big each of these buckets, like how many people out there, percentage wise, do you think are just chaos creators?

[Laurel Bristow]

I actually think it's a pretty small percentage. And I say that when you look at kind of maybe the anti vaccine community as a whole, you just find repeaters. You find it's all the same people who are, you know, being quoted, quoting each other, doing these, this quote unquote research, these questionable papers promoting it and stuff. Because I do think it's a small community. I think it's just really loud. And that can trick people into thinking it's this huge community. I think the, probably the biggest percentage is going to be and they're probably actually pretty close to each other. But the people who are on the side of science and scientific research and the people who have legitimate questions or really want to understand, but maybe the only thing that they've been exposed to is this really loud contingency of people who are trying to start problems. I think in the public polling that we see, Emma Rollins just did a Gallup poll about people's attitudes towards health topics and you do really, surprisingly find that a lot more people are on the side of wanting to understand things or caring about these public health Topics than people who are caring about kind of the contradictory or contrarian stuff that is out there.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

I find it's weird sometimes, Laurel, the social media world again, which I don't do a lot of, but that compared to the real world, irl, as the kids call it in real life, so different. And I'm not sure, maybe it's just me again, as a guy in his mid-50s. Maybe people just don't come up to me in real life and say things that I read about, even questions that I would read about on social media. And I don't know what to make of that. I feel like maybe the social media world is highly manufactured. Maybe it's the anonymity that people have there that they say things that they otherwise wouldn't say in the real world. But did you have situations where people you knew, like actual friends of yours or colleagues of yours, took great issue with things that you were saying on social media or friendships or anything that you had to abandon as a result of that?

[Laurel Bristow]

I mean, I think there are some people that I had, like, social media relationships who I saw, you know, reposting stuff that was so inflammatory that I just couldn't really understand. Especially like, you know, me and, you know, what I do for work. And yet you're still posting this stuff. But I think overall directed at you.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Or just in general, you're saying just.

[Laurel Bristow]

In general, you know, just like the scientific misinformation that people would post. But I think overall, like the people that I know in real life, even if we have different, like I have some friends who are into more woo, woo, healing and stuff, and I feel like we can have conversations about where the place is for that and, you know, why I do what I do or support, you know, the interventions that I support. And so I do think a lot of people have been actually very receptive to that. And I think it's important to me because there are some people I can see who maybe don't get it, but could be on the cusp of understanding it, or their values could change or align over time. And so I wanna keep them close because I wanna give them the option if they wanna ask me questions or get clarification or if I can nicely engage with them when I see them posting stuff that is maybe not the most accurate. I think that's really important to maintain that option for people too.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

When you're having discussions about tough topics with family, with friends, how do you approach it nowadays, whether it be Covid or USAID funding or politics in general, or climate change. Do you approach it differently as a result of everything you've learned?

[Laurel Bristow]

Yeah, I mean, I think I just approach it from a place of curiosity. I want to understand what people have seen or heard or read that make them think the things that they are thinking so I can try to walk through that logic.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Where did you hear that?

[Laurel Bristow]

Yeah, tell me what you mean by that. Where did you hear that? You know why I'm interested? Why do you think that that's the case? So that I can have an understanding of how I can approach it. To try to give them the alternative perspective or the alternative statistics or facts that they might not be aware of, or to ask, well, why do you think that that is a credible source? But this is not to try to help people think through things themselves, because the person who is most likely to convince them or change their mind is themselves. Right. So you just want to give them the tools to understand what you're trying to say so that they can factor that into their decision making and the way they think about things.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

You've helped a lot of people, Laurel. Do you reflect on that at all? I mean, you don't strike me as somebody who's very navel gazing and sort of self congratulatory, but you probably helped a lot of people.

[Laurel Bristow]

It is very nice. Every once in a while someone will recognize me in public because it is my face, you know, on my Instagram and come up and thank me. And, you know, people send nice messages. Especially now, I think everyone is a little bit scared that I might just be like, forget it, I'm not doing this again. So I have been getting a lot of nice messages about how helpful people found my information during COVID and I do, I love that and appreciate it. It's hard when you're recording by yourself in your kitchen to know if you're connecting with people. So that has been nice.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

And you're, you're happy?

[Laurel Bristow]

I am. I do. I think. I mean, I think I have the same anxieties and stress that everybody else does, but overall, you know, very happy and very happy to help.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

Thanks so much for joining us.

[Laurel Bristow]

Thank you so much for having me.

[Unknown]

And if you want to hear more from Laurel, you can listen to her podcast. It's called Health Wanted. And you can listen to it wherever podcasts are found. Chasing Life is a production of CNN Audio. Our podcast is produced by Erin Mathewson, Jennifer Lai, Grace Walker, Lori Gallaretta, Jesse Remedios, Sofia Sanchez and Kara Derring. Andrea Cain is our medical writer, our senior producer is Dan Blum, Amanda Seeley is our showrunner, Dan Dezulla is our technical director and the executive producer of CNN Audio is Steve Lichti, with support from Jamis Andrest, John Dianora, Haley Thomas, Alex Manasseri, Robert Mathers, Lainey Steinhardt, Nicole Pesaru and Lisa Namorow. Special thanks to Ben Tinker and Nadia Kanang of CNN Health and Katie Hinman.

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[Laurel Bristow]

I'm CNN's Francesca street, and this week on our podcast Chance Encounters is all about friendship between that lonely American traveler, Lindsay Debates and Doug Gist.

[Dr. Sanjay Gupta]

I mean, she's cute, but loud.

[Laurel Bristow]

Big Brother Protector is the vibe that I felt that fellow American she ran into on the street of Itaewon in Seoul, South Korea, back in the year 2000. Follow CNN's Chance Encounters wherever you get your podcasts.