Happiness can play a key role in your health and wellbeing, but you don’t have to to win the lottery or land a better job to feel more of it.
Behavioural scientists say that small habits and strategies can lead to a more satisfied life, no matter your situation. Learning to conquer negative thinking could be as easy as plugging into one of these endorphin-boosting podcasts.
1. Happier with Gretchen Rubin
Gretchen Rubin is a well-known happiness specialist who is notable for penning the No. 1 bestseller ‘The Happiness Project’, in which she brought readers along on her year to greater happiness.
In this practical podcast, she shares tips, habits and thought-provoking ideas for approaching everyday life with more optimism. Gretchen is also joined by her sister and co-host Elizabeth, who regularly tests out the tips and shares personal anecdotes about their success.
2. Better Life Lab
We all know that stressful jobs can take their toll on our physical and mental health, but did you know that workplace stress is now a leading cause of death in the modern world? This podcast looks at how we can take the pressure off when it comes to our careers.
From unpicking the latest social science research to hearing from inspiring guest speakers, these conversations look at how we can ditch workaholism and achieve a healthy, work-life balance once and for all.
3. Feel better, live more
TV medic Dr Rangan Chatterjee invites leading health specialists across a number of medical fields to share simple ways we can all enhance our physical and mental health.
Informative and uplifting, it’s a great place to start if you’re looking for science-backed ideas on better living. From neurologists to nutritionists, each expert-led episode is packed full of facts and information about the human body and psyche, as well as actionable tips to put into practice.
4. The Happiness Lab
Yale professor Dr Laurie Santos has spent decades studying the science of what makes us happy, and she’s constantly surprised to find that many of us do the exact opposite of what research says will truly make our lives better.
Based on the psychology course she teaches at Yale (apparently it’s the most popular class in the university’s 300-year history) Santos cuts through the noise and gets to the heart of what really makes us tick. Spoiler alert: it’s not Instagram-worthy holidays in the Maldives.
