We spend a lot of time talking about how AI can help us think faster, work smarter, and get more done. What we talk about less is the toll that AI use may be taking on our bodies.
In my work in health and well-being, I spend a great deal of time focused on the connection between physical health, energy, stress, and performance, especially in the way many of us work today. My colleague and Chief Clinical Officer, Dr. Jennifer Birdsall, recently released a guide exploring AI’s impact on well-being, including physical health .
Between leading teams, frequent travel, and life at home with a 4-year-old and a 10-month-old, I’m constantly reminded that physical and mental energy are not unlimited resources. Rest, movement, sleep, and recovery matter, even when technology makes it feel like we can keep going indefinitely. As AI becomes more embedded into how we work and live, it has the potential to shape not only productivity, but also our routines, behaviors, energy levels, and ability to recognize when we need rest. AI can operate continuously. Human beings need rest, recovery, movement, and connection.
AI Is a Machine. We Are Not.
The guide opens with a simple but important reminder: “AI is a machine; humans are not. When we’re working with body-less AIs, we may tune out the internal signals that tell us it’s time to eat, sleep, take a break, get outside, or hang out with another human.”
Many people are already feeling this, even if they have not stopped to name it yet. AI makes it easier to move quickly from one task to the next with very little friction. You finish one email, summarize one report, brainstorm one idea, and immediately move onto the next. The momentum feels productive and rewarding, which is part of what makes these tools so effective.
The guide explains that completing tasks and making progress can trigger dopamine release in the brain, reinforcing that cycle of productivity and momentum. In many ways, that’s a positive thing. AI can absolutely help reduce administrative burden, improve efficiency, and free up time for more meaningful work. But it also means we have to be intentional about staying connected to our own physical needs while using it.
How AI May Be Changing Our Expectations Around Productivity
One of the more interesting insights in the guide is how AI may subtly reshape our expectations around output. When tasks that once took hours can now be completed more quickly, it naturally changes our perception of what should fit into a day. That can be motivating and empowering. It can also make it harder to recognize when it’s time to stop.
As the guide notes, AI “may change what you expect to accomplish in an hour or a day so that it’s harder to recognize when it’s time to stop working and start resting.” AI is not going to be the thing that tells us to slow down. Those decisions still belong to us.
Four Ways to Use AI in Ways That Support Physical Health
The physical health section of the guide offers several practical strategies for using AI in ways that support well-being rather than undermine it.
1. Set intentions before you begin
Before opening an AI session, decide what “done” looks like and establish a stopping point, even if the task itself is not fully complete. We often plan for productivity, but not necessarily for rest. Both deserve intentionality.
2. Create more natural pauses throughout the day
The guide recommends limiting notifications and reducing prompts that encourage constant task-switching. Those small breaks between activities matter. They are often the moments where we stand up, stretch, refill our water, or mentally reset before moving onto the next thing.
3. Use AI processing time intentionally
If a platform takes a few minutes to complete a task, use that moment to physically step away rather than immediately filling the space with another activity. The guide even suggests reframing AI usage limits as built-in reminders to pause instead of inconveniences to work around.
4. Use AI to support healthy habits, not just productivity
The guide also encourages people to think about AI as a tool that can support healthy habits, not just efficiency. AI can help organize wellness goals, support healthier routines, analyze sleep or fitness trends, prepare healthier meal ideas, or build more realistic behavior-change strategies.
Some tools even support voice interaction, meaning AI use does not necessarily have to involve sitting still behind a screen. AI does not have to mean doing more at all times. It can also help support healthier and more sustainable ways of working.
A Reminder About AI and Medical Guidance
The guide also includes an important reminder that AI is not a medical professional. While it can be helpful for gathering information, brainstorming questions before an appointment, or exploring general wellness ideas, it does not know an individual’s full health history, medications, or personal circumstances.
Medical decisions should always involve a qualified healthcare provider. It is also important to be thoughtful about what personal health information is shared with AI platforms and how that information may be stored or used.
The Question Worth Asking
The physical health section closes with a question worth asking ourselves: “Does AI make me tune out my body, or help me take care of it?”
As AI continues to evolve, that question becomes increasingly important, not just professionally, but personally. The habits we build around technology shape how we work, rest, and show up for the people around us.
As a parent, I think about that often. My kids may not understand AI yet, but they are watching the habits I build around work, technology, rest, and presence. That alone feels like a good reason to be intentional about how I use these tools.
AI is an incredibly powerful tool, and when used thoughtfully, it can absolutely support healthier habits, stronger self-awareness, and more sustainable ways of working. The goal is not less AI. It’s smarter AI use that keeps the whole person, body included, at the center.
