"I felt the most alive and yet depressed I've ever felt in my life," he says. "It also got me thinking about my own mortality, you know, that eventually I'm going to die ... My atoms are going to be used somehow." He adds: "The fact that we have access to food is like unbelievable"
Journalist and author Michael Easter talks about his book The Comfort Crisis with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Easter thinks modern life is too easy, too comfortable. To be healthy, he says, we need to move out of our comfort zones and every once in a while try to do something, especially something physically demanding, that we didn't think was possible. Easter discusses rising levels of anxiety and depression in the West and why taking on challenges can be part of the solution.