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Today’s Health Upgrade

• How to prevent AI from weakening your intelligence

• A hidden health cost

• The cheap happiness upgrade

• The science of resolving conflict and frustration

On Our Radar
What Happens When You Rely On AI For Answers?

For most of you, the question isn't whether you use AI or can find value in it. The real question is whether the way you're using it is already working against you.

A new study from researchers at Carnegie Mellon, Oxford, MIT, and UCLA found that how you use AI determines whether it adds to your intelligence — or takes from it. 

When people used AI to get direct answers, just 10-15 minutes of AI assistance was enough to hurt performance and increase the likelihood of giving up once the AI was removed, even on problems they should have been able to solve.

The researchers split participants into two groups: one had access to an AI assistant for a series of math and reading problems, the other worked through the same problems alone. After the assisted phase, the AI was removed, and everyone tackled identical test problems. 

The AI group solved fewer problems correctly and skipped more, meaning they quit more often. In the math experiment, their solve rate dropped to 57%, down from 73% in the control group. In reading comprehension, the gap was nearly identical.

But the finding that caught our attention: the damage was concentrated among people who asked the AI for direct answers. 

The 61% of AI users who requested straight solutions showed the sharpest decline. People who used AI for hints or clarification? Their results were similar to those of the no-AI group.

The researchers believe that when AI handles the hard work, you never build the mental model needed to solve it yourself. 

And when instant answers become routine, unassisted thinking starts to feel disproportionately hard, a kind of recalibration that turns normal effort into something that feels like a defect.

That said, this is a preprint and is not yet peer-reviewed. However, we were able to read the entire study and review the data, and it is a well-designed randomized controlled trial, which also aligns with several other published studies on the topic.

The takeaway isn't to stop using AI. It's time to think about how you interact with it. You’ll benefit more from asking AI to explain a concept or debate an answer, instead of handing you the answer.

It’s more effective to use AI to pressure-test your thinking rather than replace it. 

A tool that builds capability and one that erodes it are often separated by nothing more than how you phrase the question.

Together With NordProtect
The Health Cost No Fitness Tracker Can Measure

You optimize your sleep. You log your nutrition. You monitor your HRV, your steps, and your recovery scores. You've built real systems to take control of your health, and they're working.

But there's a stressor building in the background that none of those systems can detect. And according to peer-reviewed research, it has measurable consequences on your physical and mental health.

Researchers studying the psychological impact of identity theft found that victims showed clinically elevated anxiety, depression, and physical symptoms, and for cases that went unresolved, that distress was maintained over time.

Here's what's driving it. The data breach problem is bigger than most people realize. The Identity Theft Resource Center documented 3,322 data compromises in 2025 alone, which is a record. 

Apps you use to manage your finances or control your personal life are a potential entry point for identity theft. When one of those systems gets compromised, your name, email address, phone number, date of birth, and sometimes your SSN end up on the dark web, often auctioned to criminals for less than a dollar.

Those criminals use the information to open credit cards in your name, file fraudulent tax returns with your SSN, and drain accounts you've spent years building.

The FTC documented more than 1.1 million identity theft reports in 2024, with Americans losing $12.5 billion to fraud that year — a 25% increase over the prior year. 

What makes this a health problem, not just a financial one: the psychological toll compounds as a case goes unresolved for longer. 

An exploratory study published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences found that identity theft victims commonly reported anxiety, irritability, anger, and sleep disruption — with distress persisting for those whose cases went unresolved. Larger follow-on research has since confirmed that roughly one in ten victims experiences severe emotional distress. For people who've carefully built a healthy lifestyle, that kind of chronic, invisible stress quietly undermines a lot of the work.

The difficult part: most people don't find out until months after the damage has already spread.

If you want a system that monitors these threats around the clock so you don't have to, we recommend NordProtect.

Built by the team behind NordVPN — one of the most recognized names in cybersecurity — NordProtect runs 24/7 dark web monitoring that alerts you the moment your email, phone number, or social security number surfaces where it shouldn't. 

It tracks credit activity in real time and flags new accounts or inquiries opened in your name. And if something does happen, you get access to a dedicated identity restoration case manager with up to $1 million in identity theft coverage, plus up to $50,000 for cyber extortion situations.

That last part matters more than it sounds. Resolved cases have dramatically better psychological outcomes than unresolved ones. Having professional support to close the loop quickly is the difference between a bad week and a bad year.

APC readers can get started with up to 76% off by using the code PUMPCLUB at checkout.

Instant Health Boost Fitness 
The Cheapest Happiness Upgrade Isn't About You

Most of us assume spending money is not the path to happiness. And, in many ways, that logic isn't wrong, but it is incomplete.

A review of 15 experiments found that spending money on others produces a real, measurable boost in happiness, but the cost is probably much less than you imagine. And the effect holds across cultures, ages, and income levels.

Researchers examined every large-sample study (200+ participants per condition) on prosocial spending across children, adults, and participants from over 130 countries. The primary finding: giving to others consistently produced more happiness than spending on oneself.

But here’s what makes it interesting. The key finding wasn't just that giving feels good. It's that three conditions determine whether it actually works: meaningful choice in how you give, the ability to see or understand the impact your generosity made, and some social connection to the person receiving it. 

Remove those ingredients, and the effect weakens or disappears.

When you can see your giving make a difference (even something small), it confirms your capacity to take effective action in the world. That sense of competence, researchers argue, is what drives the emotional benefit. It's not the act of giving itself. It's the proof that you mattered to someone.

A separate study found a similar outcome, but in higher-stakes giving contexts, the happiness boost can reverse within a month. In other words, giving helps, but it’s not a permanent solution to well-being.

The practical threshold is surprisingly low. It could be a coffee or even a text that costs you nothing. Research suggests scale doesn't determine the emotional return; intentionality does. 

In other words, the amount of money matters far less than how and why you give. The research tested amounts as low as a few dollars and found comparable effects to those of larger sums. 

Choose where you give, understand who it helps, and connect it to someone you care about. Small and intentional beats large and obligatory.

Better Questions, Better Solutions 
The Truth About Resolving Conflict and Frustration

Old Question: Why do I shut down or get so angry during conflict?
Better Question: What does overwhelm feel like in my body, and what is it actually telling me?

Most people treat emotional shutdown as a personality flaw. A bad temper. A tendency to "go cold." Something to apologize for after the fact. 

But shutdown isn't always character; sometimes it's physiology. Or emotional awareness (or lack thereof). 

That distinction changes everything about how you handle conflict. And understanding this reality can help you navigate frustration more effectively.

When conflict escalates, your nervous system doesn't consult you. It moves first. Long before the conscious thought "I'm overwhelmed" arrives, your body has already made a decision: tightening your chest, narrowing your focus, flooding you with cortisol. By the time you feel the urge to shut down or explode, you've already crossed the line where real conversation is possible.

But here's what most conflict advice skips entirely: the trigger is almost never what you think it is.

John Gottman's research on couples in conflict found that once heart rate climbs above roughly 100 beats per minute — what he called "flooding" — the ability to process new information or consider their partner’s perspective is lost. 

People stop hearing what's being said. They start defending against a threat their nervous system has already decided is real, whether or not it actually is.

And that threat? Usually, something underneath the argument. 

A feeling of not being respected. A fear that who you are — not what you did — is being criticized. The surface disagreement is often just the match. The fuel was already there.

When you feel your jaw clench, your breathing shorten, or the pull to disengage, that's not weakness. That's your body sending a signal worth reading.

Try This: Start building a map of your early warning signals. The first physical sensation that appears before you're fully flooded. A tight throat. Shoulders rising. A sudden urge to go flat. 

When you feel it, pause and ask one question before responding: What am I actually afraid is happening here? 

Not the topic. Not what they said. What did your nervous system just decide was being threatened?

The answer to that question is almost always more honest and more useful than anything happening out loud.

The Positive Corner of The Internet
About Arnold’s Pump Club Editorial Standards

We do things a bit differently here, starting with transparency.

1. The Content: All APC emails are researched, written, and fact-checked by the APC editors (see bottom of the email), with written contributions from Arnold (noted with “Arnold’s Corner”). Links take you to original studies (not second-hand sources).

2. Does AI play a role? Not for the primary content, but it is used in two ways. The main items are original content written by the APC team. The summaries at the end are AI-generated based on the human-written content above. We also use an AI tool to review our interpretations of the research and ensure scientific accuracy. We don’t assume AI is right, but we use technology to hold ourselves accountable.

3. Yes, we have partners (all clearly noted by “Together With”). Why? Because it allows us to keep the APC emails free. We first test products, and then reach out to potential partners who offer ways to help you improve every day. The bar is set high, and to date, we have turned down millions in ad deals. (Example: we will not partner with any non-certified supplements or those without evidence in human trials). If we won’t buy the product, we won’t recommend it to you. And if there’s no evidence it works, then there’s no place for it here.

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Publisher: Arnold Schwarzenegger​

Editors-in-chief: Adam Bornstein and Daniel Ketchell