Getting Brighter

Social media is commonly branded as one of the key factors responsible for deteriorating mood and mental health, especially in adolescents – but is the science in agreement? Join us as we delve into the double-edged sword that is social media, and take a closer look at the magnitude of its well documented relationship with outcomes such as well-being, depression, loneliness, and body image. We dis...

Money makes the world go around - but how rational and smart are we with our money decisions? Science shows that our upbringing, surroundings, and past experience can expose us to a series of biases that makes us less smart with money than we might think! Join us as we uncover a series of money mistakes and bust a bunch of money myths, all in the hope of making you better informed about the psycho...

Is there such a thing as a ‘highly motivated person’, or is motivation something that can be cultivated by our social surroundings? In this episode, we discuss some of the key motivators that drive us to engage in health behaviour, perform in the workplace, and achieve academically. We also discuss some science-backed standards for defining your goals by considering both their content (what is it...

We all know the feeling of a post-lunch slump or the Christmas dinner food coma. How else might our diet impact how we feel, and could there be serious implications for our mental health? We dig deep into the science on how what we eat makes us feel. We also discuss the effects of being vegetarian, vegan, keto and paleo on mental health, and what micronutrients we might lack for optimal mental hea...

Be it emailing a distant relative, replying to your friend on the group chat, or joining colleagues for a Zoom meeting – communicating online is the new normal. Sure, it might be quicker, but are we actually communicating more effectively? In this episode, we discuss whether there are just some things that are better said in-person, and whether all mediums for online communication should be consid...

Neuro-what? A big word to describe the brain’s way of repairing and renewing itself. We break down all the neuroscience talk to tell you what the latest science says about keeping our brains healthy. Do we still grow new neurons as adults? Why is it important? What can we do to help our brains keep healthy, and what may we be doing that harms it? Tune into episode 5 to find out. 📊 Key research st...

While we may like to imagine that we’re entirely in control of how we think and act, the groups that are most important to us hold influence over almost every aspect of our lives – including whether we smoke, exercise, or recycle. In this episode, we discuss the power of group norms (what others do, and what they approve of), and why their influence is often underestimated relative to other indivi...

Working four days instead of five for the same salary may sound too good to be true - but is it? The 4-day work week campaign has been getting steady traction since the first small trials 5 years ago. Several large-scale trials across multiple countries have now tested the ‘work arrangement of the future’, with many more underway. We explain where the idea for dropping a workday first came from, d...

Though we may not realise it, our environments are often designed with the intention of ‘nudging’ us towards more desirable choices – a phenomenon known as choice architecture. In this episode, we introduce you to two of the main techniques used in choice architecture – nudges and defaults – and demonstrate how influential they can be in guiding the choices we make about our health, savings, and t...

Everyone knows that exercise is good for our physical health - much less attention is given to its benefits for mood and mental health. Join us as we dig into the science of exercise for preventing and treating all-too-common mental health conditions, like depression, anxiety, and stress. We discuss what type of exercise works best, in what duration, as well as how this evidence is and should be u...

Welcome to Getting Brighter! 💡 Before we officially kick things off, we wanted to share the why & how of Getting Brighter. Why did we create this podcast? Why are we the right people to do it? How is it all going to work? We lay it all out in this bonus mini episode. Tune in and follow us on Instagram , Threads , and Twitter @getbrighterpod.

Welcome to Getting Brighter - the podcast shedding light on the science of health, wealth, and society. The first episode is out on Wednesday, 3rd January 2024.