House Calls with Dr. Vivek Murthy

How can we create a meaningful life in a self-centered world? Have our societal notions of success misled us? How does connection underpin our sense of meaning? What practical skills do we need to understand other humans? And what do morals and values have to do with any of this?   A few years ago, David Brooks, columnist & cultural commentator, experienced deep personal loss. He suddenly foun...

How do you want to spend your time? Where do you want to focus your attention? Science journalist and author Catherine Price poses these questions because she believes that, ultimately, our lives are what we pay attention to. If you add up all the time spent on devices, these days the average person is spending upwards of 60 days a year on their smartphone. Price is the author of “How to Break Up...

We all need to have hope. It’s essential to living a healthy life. So it’s no surprise that “What gives you hope?” is one question Dr. Murthy always asks his guests. In this compilation episode, tune in to hear from Chef José Andrés, Father Greg Boyle, friendship expert Dr. Marisa G. Franco, and others. Even during life’s difficult times, they all have found hope in their own special ways. And as...

Produced together with Calm, here is one of a 5-part series of Mindfulness Tools to offer support during stressful times. Guided by Dr. Murthy, these meditations are intentionally short, meant to fit into your day whenever feels right. We also encourage you to share these episodes with others. Also, we’d appreciate it if you took a moment to rate and review our podcast. Email us at housecalls@hhs....

How can we help young people build healthy friendships?  How do we balance old friendships with new ones?  And why should we be strategic about the energy we put into friendships? The truth is, friendship doesn’t just happen. Great friendships take effort. In Part 2 of our conversation about friendship with Dr. Marisa G. Franco, psychologist and the New York Times bestselling author of “...

Produced together with Calm, here is one of a 5-part series of Mindfulness Tools to offer support during stressful times. Guided by Dr. Murthy, these meditations are intentionally short, meant to fit into your day whenever feels right. We also encourage you to share these episodes with others. Also, we’d appreciate it if you took a moment to rate and review our podcast. Email us at housecalls@hhs....

What’s the single best action a person can take now to live a longer life? How do you take the edge off depression? What can single people do to flourish, and partnered people do to revitalize their romantic relationships? One answer: having good friendships. Our guest is Dr. Marisa G. Franco psychologist and author of “Platonic: How the Science of Attachment Can Help You Make – and Keep - Friends...

Produced together with Calm, here is one of a 5-part series of Mindfulness Tools to offer support during stressful times. Guided by Dr. Murthy, these meditations are intentionally short, meant to fit into your day whenever feels right. We also encourage you to share these episodes with others. Also, we’d appreciate it if you took a moment to rate and review our podcast, wherever you get your podca...

We all experience change. Sometimes we plan a change, sometimes we’re thrown a curveball. It’s just part of life. But why do some changes feel harder to manage than others? And why does change seem easier for some people than others? Guest Maya Shankar is a cognitive scientist and host of the podcast “A Slight Change of Plans,” where she weaves people’s personal stories of change with the science...

Produced together with Calm, here is one of a 5-part series of Mindfulness Tools to offer support during stressful times. Guided by Dr. Murthy, these meditations are intentionally short, meant to fit into your day whenever feels right. We also encourage you to share these episodes with others. Also, we’d appreciate it if you took a moment to rate and review our podcast, wherever you get your...

Produced together with Calm, we are sharing a 5-part series of Mindfulness Tools to offer support during stressful times. Guided by Dr. Murthy, these meditations are intentionally short, meant to fit into your day whenever feels right. We also encourage you to share these episodes with others. Also, we’d appreciate it if you took a moment to rate and review our podcast, wherever you get...

We all experience anxiety as an emotion. It’s part of being human. But can we transform that uncomfortable emotion into a positive? Doing so might require dispelling some common notions about anxiety and learning to counter our own gut reactions in those moments that induce sweaty palms or stage fright. Dr. Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, author of “Future Tense: Why Anxiety is Good For you (Even Though It F...

What makes for a meaningful conversation? In an era where polarization, argument, and competition for attention have taken the place of real conversation, it can be hard to know what to say. Fred Dust, author of "Making Conversation," has spent his life thinking about and designing conversations. These days, he finds that people are struggling to connect, avoiding conversation, or even engaging in...

Hurricanes, droughts, forest fires, and other natural disasters make big news. While cameras show us the wreckage when disaster strikes, for communities on the ground, the story does not end there. The effects of these dramatic and scary events are scarring on our mental and emotional health. What does living in a world of worsening natural disasters mean for our mental health? How can we respond...

Missed school. Kids at home during working hours. Delayed social skills. Too much screen time. Did the pandemic do a number on your parenting? (Not that it was easy to begin with!) Dr. Becky Kennedy, known as the “parent whisperer,” burst onto the scene in the nick of time, with a book-load of theories and advice, as well as some U-turns on recent parenting practices. No more time outs and no more...

What is the feeling you get when a sad, familiar song tugs at you? Or the exquisite pain that comes with the awareness of passing time and loves lost? Best-selling author Susan Cain identifies the simultaneous mixture of joy and sorrow in life as 'bittersweetness'. In this conversation with the Surgeon General, we learn about harnessing the forces of sadness and grief as ways of connecting. Light...

What do you do when who you want to be and who the world tells you to be are different? In a world of stereotypes and expectations, how do we figure out who we really are? Actor Kal Penn and the Surgeon General go deep on these questions as they compare notes on growing up as children of immigrants and discuss Penn’s experiences with discrimination, bullying, self-doubt, and societal pressure whil...

Do we understand what makes us happy? And if we do, can we make ourselves happier? These are the questions Yale Professor Laurie Santos has been studying for years. As students navigate back to school, Dr. Santos and the U.S. Surgeon General explore how we can help our kids, and ourselves, find greater happiness through changing our behavior and shifting our mindset. In a world in which our happin...

What is the difference between loneliness and being alone? The Surgeon General and mindfulness pioneer Jon Kabat-Zinn delve into the complexities of the modern human experience, including the ways technologies that have the power to both bring us together and drive us apart. Embodied wakefulness, says Kabat-Zinn, is the key to showing up whole for a planet-wide renaissance in which everyone leads...

In 1979, Jon Kabat-Zinn took inspiration from a Surgeon General’s report called “Healthy People” to support his pioneering work in the field of mindfulness. Over the next four decades, America experienced a revolution, as millions embraced Kabat-Zinn’s practices for reducing stress. Coming full circle, Kabat-Zinn and the Nation’s Doctor explore the gift of awareness for healing, strengthening, and...

How do you get people to the other side of trauma? In the 1980s, Father Greg Boyle served as a pastor in LA’s poorest parish — which also had the city’s highest concentration of gang activity. Thirty-four years later, he is known as the founder of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang rehab and re-entry program in the world. The sense of belonging created there is so strong that former gang rivals...

Growing up in a small, crowded apartment in Los Angeles, Christian Robinson drew castles, imaginary scenes, and gave himself special powers to create the world he wished to inhabit. Inspired by a grandmother who knew how to make something out of nothing, Robinson nurtured his art into a very real superpower – the ability to help children understand the world and feel they matter. This conversation...

Kate Bowler’s stage IV cancer diagnosis ushered her into a world of fear and pain. Living in 60-day increments, her future held no promises. Angry about losing the life she had created, the love of family, friends, and her faith community helped Kate forge a new type of strength— learning to lean on others. This conversation between the nation’s doctor and Kate Bowler illuminates how we find truth...

Why is food a foundation for human connection? Chef José Andrés has spent a lifetime cooking for friends & family at home, in his many restaurants, and for people stricken by disaster around the world. For José, sharing and providing food spreads the empathy he believes people naturally possess for one another. This conversation between the nation's doctor and the global chef will make you wan...

House Calls with Dr. Vivek Murthy is a podcast hosted by the 21st U.S. Surgeon General. In each episode, Dr. Murthy and his guests explore the uncertainties of life and how to find meaning and joy along the way. By sharing openly what’s on our minds and in our hearts, this series brings healing through conversation.