The Wellness Scoop

A calming, grounding guided meditation to make you feel a little more calm and peaceful during this strange time. The meditation itself runs from 5.30 - 21.20 and is led by Phoebe Greenacre   https://phoebegreenacre.com  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A shorter episode focused on what we’ve been enjoying reading, watching and listening to during these strange times and how we’re trying to keep happy and productive. Poem: The Rainbow Children, Gemma Peacock    Books:  Playing to win, A. G. Larfley and Roger L. Martin Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd, Youngme Moon When Breath Becomes Air, Paul Kalanithi Any Human Heart, William Boyd  Educ...

How can we manage the huge shifts and monumental changes we’re dealing with across the world right now? How do we find joy and keep our sense of self when the way we define ourselves and our everyday has shifted so drastically and so quickly? Can we reframe the uncertainty and anxiety that so many of us our feeling? Psychotherapist Anna Mathur is helping us get to grips with it all, bringing us a...

Does our quest for a seemingly perfect life, a constant need to keep up with the Joneses and a series of unachievable expectations fuel our growing levels of unhappiness and anxiety? We’re looking at the social norms that surround marriage, children, careers, education, income and so much more with Paul Dolan, a professor of behavioural science at the London School of Economics, looking at the res...

How do we reframe our thinking to believe good things can happen, how do we spread good in such a difficult time and how can we manage our mindset to stop us drifting into negativity bias, especially in such an uncertain period? Neuroscientist Dr Tara Swart talks us through the power of the mind, the law of attraction and whether creating the life we want is luck, faith at work or something explai...

Today’s guest, therapist Sasha Bates, talks embracing vulnerability, expanding our emotional bandwidth, why we shouldn’t cut ourselves off from difficult emotions and the importance of stopping the ‘I’m fine’ mentality. From loosening the protective emotional armour we can create in childhood to understanding avoidance and denial, creating space for feelings, finding gems in the rubble and treatin...

Does our cultural move away from the natural world impact our mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing? Does it really change things in our brains, guts and our ability to heal? What does the science say? Our guest is the science journalist Lucy Jones – looking at the most recent studies on our relationship with nature and how it interacts with human biology, neuroscience and psychology, as well...

Can we build a healthy brain? Are there psychological and lifestyle factors that impact on our brain’s functioning and therefore our wellbeing? We’re talking to Kimberley Wilson, a psychologist who’s passionate about education on the preventative measures we can take when it comes to brain health. We talk everything from why we ignore mental health symptoms to dementia, depression, anxiety, stress...

For our final episode of series 4, we're joined by the wonderful journalist Toni Jones, founder of Shelf Help: global platform, book club and community dedicated to self-help and self-development. Toni kicks off the episode by interviewing Matt and Ella about the whirlwind year they’ve had and how much they’ve learnt from our incredible podcast guests. From setting boundaries to work life balance,...

Can a morning routine change your life? Is making a big transformation really as simple as bringing together passion, belief and effort? Can we actually all set our alarms a little bit earlier every day? Today we’re talking to international bestselling author of Miracle Morning, Hal Elrod, about whether implementing just six things over the course of an hour, every single morning, every single day...

Should we eat little and often or three big meals? Why does one meal make one person lose weight and another person gain it? Is it really calories in versus calories out? What about ultra-processed food, how does it impact on us? What happens if we eat just McDonalds for 10 days? We’re exploring personalised nutrition, diet myths and nature versus nurture with scientist Tim Spector. Sign up to our...

Exploring the topic of friendship: how to support one another, how to let go of toxic relationships and why we need to strengthen our relationship with ourselves in order to further our relationships with others. We’re answering all your questions from why can we be so catty to why do we judge so much. Are women really supporting women, how can we be happy for others when we feel intense jealousy,...

James Wilks, producer and presenter of the best-selling documentary Game Changers, joins us to explore a plant-based diet from a totally new angle, looking at how it fuels some of the strongest and most dynamic athletes in the world. From Roman Gladiators to UFC fighters, Olympic champions, the world’s strongest man and American Footballers, we look at the myth of meat and challenge the stereotype...

How do we create real change, build community, find a sense of togetherness and heal the divisions that currently exist in our society? A recent Harvard study concluded that 80% of millennials want to be rich and 50% famous, are we aiming for the wrong things and focusing so much on the big, on grandeur and impossible-to-reach goals that we miss the joy, the purpose, the connection of the small, t...

We tap, swipe and click our devices 2,617 times a day, 34% of us have checked Facebook in the last ten minutes, we answer an email within six seconds and we’re now spending more time on screens than we do sleeping. Is it too much? How is it affecting us all? Should we need a digital detox? How can we wean ourselves off the addiction and control the social anxiety that can come with it? Today we’re...

What happens in birth? Why are we so afraid of it? Do we need to be that afraid of it? Can you really have a calm, empowered experience? Does it hurt? Will I tear? What are my choices? This episode looks at the FAQ’s and the current conversation around birth, breaking down the culture of fear and dread and questioning the current dynamics through the lens of #metoo and whether birth can be a femin...

We talk to Elizabeth day, host of How To Fail, about failing at body insecurity, relationships, wellness, children, families and careers; looking at how failure is an intrinsic part of success, how our mistakes help to move us closer to what we want, the importance of vulnerability and embracing our flaws. We’re looking at all of our biggest failures, what we’ve learnt from them and how that openn...

What is a healthy gut? How do I know if I have a healthy gut? What’s normal? We’re talking to Dr Megan Rossi from Kings College about bloating, gas, constipation, heart burn & reflux, IBS, food intolerances and so much more. From how to nurture your gut microbes to the impact of caffeine, alcohol, sugar, yo-yo dieting, high protein diets, exercise, restrictive eating, antibiotics and probiotics on...

70% of women and just over 50% of men have had imposter syndrome, a constant, nagging sense of self-doubt, insecurity and the fear that others think we’re not good enough to be doing what we’re doing. In today’s episode we talk to clinical psychologist Dr Jessamy Hibberd about how to get comfortable being uncomfortable; how to differentiate between everyday fear and the negative thought patterns t...

Can we really eat in a way that supports and prevents some of the biggest health issues affecting us today? Will going vegan result in vitamin deficiencies? What's the difference between a vegan and a wholefoods, plant-based diet? Should we eat five or ten portions of fruit and veg a day, does it make a difference? What benefits does eating organic really have? With so much conflicting information...

Are you happy, present, at peace with yourself and the world around you? Can you maintain that sense of happiness when life becomes difficult? Finding true happiness is something we all strive for, but so many of us struggle with. This week we’re talking to Gelong Thubten, a Buddhist monk and meditation teacher, who believes happiness can be a trainable skill, a skill that allows us to control our...

How do you make a huge shift in your life, especially one that may make you feel isolated or insecure? This week we’re talking about alcohol, the social constructs that exist around our drinking culture, the rise of sobriety and our fear of being seen as boring. Through the lens of one woman’s journey from alcoholic to teetotaller, we look at how to be vulnerable, how to make a change, how to hone...

Is there a proven link between our diets and our mental health? Could our diets be connected to the rise of anxiety and depression? Are there foods that boost your mood? Can we really eat for happiness? How does your gut health play into your mental health? We’re joined today by Felice Jacka, who gives us a clear insight into the most recent science, definitively answering whether there is a prove...

Does love at first sight exist? What’s the difference between love and lust? What do we look for in a partner? How does our upbringing influence our relationships? Why do people cheat? Love is a complex topic and one that we have a lot of questions on, so this week we’re breaking these common questions down, looking at idealisations versus reality; attachment theory and how to identify where you s...

Why do we sleep, how much does it matter, how much sleep do we really need, to what extent do lifestyle factors like coffee, alcohol and technology affect our ability to sleep? Today we’re talking to Matthew Walker, the award winning author of bestseller ‘Why We Sleep’ about sleep, getting to grips with our sleep cycles, the connection between sleep and our mental and physical health, how to sleep...