How Do We Manage?

Childbirth is something that many women will experience, and yet if you speak to them you’ll find their experiences vary wildly, from stories of pure elation to ones that are far more traumatic. Women are told to plan for the birth they want and yet they rarely get to have it. So what are we getting wrong? Megan Rossiter is the founder of Birth Ed - an antenatal programme that is designed to help...

Did you know that, according to a study by the University of Liverpool, as many as 16.5% of hospital admissions in the UK are caused by adverse reactions to medication? Or that most prescription drugs work for less than half the population? We can be very willing to take the medicines that are prescribed for us, but how much do we really know about what we are ingesting? Dr Nick Barber is Emeritus...

In recent weeks the British government has announced that social media will be banned for under 16s. Australia implemented their own ban last year. Social media bans have attracted mixed reviews; some say that they will keep children safe, others say it takes the responsibility away from the big tech companies. Our guest today helps us to understand what social media bans are, and what the effects...

How we navigate the future in an uncertain world is tricky. But for this week’s guest it is her job. Amy Webb is a futurist; someone who uses data, evidence and methodology to predict multiple plausible outcomes for the future. Amy is the CEO of Future Today Strategy Group, who advise leaders and businesses on how to strategise for potential outcomes. She publishes an annual ‘Convergence Outlook’;...

Motherhood has created social and political change for centuries, so why has the act of growing, birthing and nurturing children been so overlooked as something that women just ‘do’? Elinor Cleghorn is a historian and author, whose first book ‘Unwell Women’ documented the ways in which women’s health has been treated throughout the ages. Her latest book ‘A Woman’s Work: Reclaiming The Radical Hist...

Did you know that playing on the monkey bars could help improve your child’s writing skills? It’s reported all over the world that our lives are becoming more sedentary than ever before, and the knock-on effects for children extend far beyond health issues. Movement is key for cognitive development in children, and when a Christchurch-based teacher called Gill Connell recognised this in her classr...

According to the charity Women’s Aid, statistics show that nearly a third of women in the UK have experienced domestic abuse in some form. Ministers have called it a ‘national emergency’ and yet women who decide to press charges against their abuser can find themselves in an extremely precarious position once they are in court. Dr Charlotte Proudman is a renowned barrister and activist who has vas...

For years the conversation around mental health has been framed in a negative way. People often ask you ‘what’s wrong?’ but do they ever ask you ‘what’s right?’ In a new book What’s Going Right: A Powerful New Method for Optimizing Your Mental Health, celebrity-endorsed psychiatrist, renowned author and president of Pacific Premier Group, Dr Paul Conti flips the lens on mental health to arm us wit...

How many times have you used your water supply today? To brush your teeth? Flush the toilet? Perhaps you gave your apple a quick rinse at breakfast while the kettle was boiling for your coffee. For many of us around the world we take for granted that when we turn a tap on water appears. But what if that basic resource suddenly disappeared?  A scenario where we're left with no water is referred to...

Pain is something we all experience in some shape or form. However, 19% of adults in Europe and the US live with chronic pain, and almost half say they don’t get proper relief - so what are we getting wrong?  To understand the nuances of pain - whether chronic, acute or emotional - and its treatment, this week we speak to Dr Kirsty Bannister, Principal Investigator of the Central Modulation of Pai...

Since the release of Louis Theroux’s documentary on the ‘Manosphere’ we have heard a lot of noise about influencers who are promoting potentially dangerous and misogynistic lifestyles and attitudes to young men. But when we know that our sons will see content like this whether we like it or not, how do we talk to them about it? Ben Hurst is an educator who works with boys and young men to talk abo...

Fertility issues in a heterosexual couple generally fall into a 50/50 split between men and women. So why then, when we talk about infertility in a couple trying to conceive, does the focus often fall to the woman? Even in a world of increased research and technology around having a baby, men’s fertility is still an under-discussed topic. Dr. Anand Patel is a UK-based GP and leading specialist in...

Scrolling through social media we’re presented with all sorts of methods to live longer: supplements, bio-hacking, optimisation. All this speaks to a very individualistic approach to health, but actually one of the biggest factors to maximise your longevity is where you live. Today’s guest, Dr Devi Sridhar is a professor and Chair of global public health at Edinburgh University. She’s written a bo...

In 2015 the UN warned us that there are only 60 harvests left until the earth’s soil is too degraded to support efficient food production. Our food systems are weak and something needs to change for more sustainable modes of farming. But how realistic is that on a large scale?  Today we’re tackling the issue with George Lamb. During a break from his successful career as a TV and radio presenter, G...

Why do we love who we love? Why do we stay when we know it’s over? And how do some couples stay madly in love? These are just some of the questions Dr Justin Garcia has been exploring in a new book called ‘The Intimate Animal’. Justin is an evolutionary biologist and executive director at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction. He’s been studying how humans have evolved...

Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, the audio may intermittently dip in quality, which could affect your listening experience. According to UN statistics a third of women across the world experience sexual or physical violence at least once in their life. The rates of violence against women and girls are astonishing; in the UK a woman is killed by a man once every three days. So how do w...

Sue Deagle was living a happy life in northern Virginia. She had a high-flying career and a beautiful home that she shared with her husband, son and daughter. But one day she woke up to find her husband unresponsive in bed, by the time he got to the hospital, he had sadly passed away. Sue suddenly found herself on a new path, juggling motherhood and work while navigating her own grief and her chil...

Grief is something we will all experience in some shape or form in our lives, not just through the death of loved ones but also in the breakdown of relationships, the loss of jobs and for the lives we thought we might lead that have taken a different path. When we grieve our brain is battling a lot of conflicting information, and on this episode of How Do We Manage we invite in Dr Mary-Frances O’C...

We learn a lot at school and university, but are we taught enough about how to have agency over our own mental health? One professor in the US didn’t think so and so created ‘Stoked Lab’. It’s a module at California’s Stanford University that teaches students how to find happiness and positivity in life. Through practical skills and life philosophies that the students can apply to their own journe...

In the year 2000 the UN Security Council launched Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security - the first commitment to recognise the importance of women’s roles in conflict prevention and resolution. But more than 25 years on how much progress have we made? While the number of women at negotiation tables is going up, there is still a way to go. Fawzia Koofi is an Afghan politician, writer and ac...

Ghosting, situationships, catfishing: dating culture has never been more complicated, and single people worldwide are getting fed up. When we are faced with thousands of potential suitors to choose from, how do we make ourselves stand out, ensure that we are making meaningful connections and prevent the dating fatigue from setting in? Erika Ettin is a dating coach who works with clients to put a l...

When we picture healthcare experts we might think of people like doctors, nurses, surgeons and neurologists. But what about the patients? Patients are able to give us so much insight into what our healthcare systems are really like; where they thrive and where they fail. Tilly Rose describes herself as an ‘expert’ patient. She spent the best part of two decades trying to receive diagnoses for a wh...

Sheldon Thomas is the founder of Gangsline Foundation Trust, a pioneering organisation that supports young people caught up in gangs. Once involved in gangs himself, Sheldon now dedicates his life to prevention and intervention; he has worked around the world to give young people a second chance through his mentoring schemes. On this episode of How Do We Manage Sheldon tells Stephanie about his ow...

How often do you use AI in your daily life? Perhaps you use it to find a recipe, or to help plan your week, or a holiday. But have you ever turned to it for emotional support?  As the world’s collective mental health is worsening, many who are suffering do not have access to the support that they need, and so the number of people turning to the likes of ChatGPT or Gemini for help is increasing. Bu...

When you think about an angry person, who do you picture? Perhaps someone who flies off the handle easily, or someone who becomes intimidating when they are frustrated. Anger is framed so negatively in our society, but actually it’s as informative an emotion as happiness or sadness. Many of us hold our anger back but suppressed anger can be just as harmful as anger that comes out as aggression, so...