Warning: some people might find this podcast seriously restful. If that sounds appealing, it should do, because rest is something we all need to prioritise. So says this week’s guest, Claudia Hammond, who argues that being busy isn’t a badge of honour – and taking time out is definitely not lazy. We examine the science behind our struggles to relax and she shares some brilliant insights on our attitudes to downtime, the top 10 activities most likely to help us switch off, and what the benefits a...
Jan 29, 2020•2 hr 41 min•Ep 95•Transcript available on Metacast RE-RELEASE: This episode originally aired last year as a two-part episode. CAUTION ADVISED: this podcast contains swearing and themes of an adult nature. For the past few decades, almost every year, levels of depression and anxiety have increased in Britain and across the Western world. But why? One of the most important voices in this area, Johann Hari, went on a forty-thousand-mile journey across the world to interview the leading experts about what causes depression and anxiety, and what solv...
Jan 22, 2020•2 hr 56 min•Ep 94•Transcript available on Metacast My guest on this week’s podcast is plant-powered wellness advocate, best-selling author and podcast host, Rich Roll. You may remember Rich from episode 28, when he talked about his transformation from overweight alcoholic to vegan ultra-endurance athlete, and the importance of finding purpose in life. Rich is the first of my guests to feature on Feel Better Live More for a second time and that’s because, when I met him back in autumn 2018, I felt a deep connection and I knew our conversation was...
Jan 15, 2020•2 hr 6 min•Ep 93•Transcript available on Metacast Why is it that so many of us find it hard to stick to a new diet or lifestyle plan? We all start off well enough – full of energy and optimism but then the novelty soon wears off and life gets in the way. After some time, we are right back where we first started. The fact is, most health plans are based on the common, but incorrect assumption that we can make sweeping and lasting changes to our health by relying solely on willpower and motivation. But for the vast majority of us, this is just no...
Jan 08, 2020•2 hr 33 min•Ep 92•Transcript available on Metacast CAUTION ADVISED: this podcast contains swearing. Is there a change you’d like to make in your life? Something you’re desperate to overcome, but can’t see how? Or a goal you’re scared to aim for, because it feels too far off? My guest on this week’s podcast might just convince you to have a go. He’s John McAvoy, endurance athlete extraordinaire, author and the man with one of the most inspirational stories I have ever heard. John was born into a notorious crime family and has served a total of 10...
Jan 01, 2020•3 hr 44 min•Ep 91•Transcript available on Metacast Over the past 2 years, I have had the privilege of talking with some of the most influential and insightful voices in the health and wellbeing space. To celebrate, I have released 3 very special compilation episodes at the end of 2019, which happens to also be the end of the decade! In my new book, Feel Better in 5, I split up health into 3 main areas: Mind, Body and Heart. I covered ‘Mind’ and ‘Heart’ in the past 2 episodes of the podcast and in today’s show, the theme is ‘Body’ - we all know t...
Dec 28, 2019•39 min•Ep 90•Transcript available on Metacast Over the past 2 years, I have had the privilege of talking with some of the most influential and insightful voices in the health and wellbeing space. To celebrate, I have decided to release 3 very special compilation episodes at the end of the year, which also happens to be the end of the decade! In my new book, Feel Better in 5, I split up health into 3 main areas: Mind, Body and Heart. The 'Heart' section is all about nurturing your essential human connections. This is such a crucial, but unde...
Dec 26, 2019•44 min•Ep 89•Transcript available on Metacast Over the past 2 years, I have had the privilege of talking with some of the most interesting and insightful voices in health. To celebrate, I am releasing 3 very special episodes at the end of the year which also happens to be the end of the decade! In my new book ‘Feel Better in 5’ I split up health into 3 broad categories: Mind, Body and Heart. The first section ‘Mind’ is all about doing little things each day that will look after your mental health, something that has never been more importan...
Dec 18, 2019•38 min•Ep 88•Transcript available on Metacast This week’s podcast is a first for me – my guest is a former patient of mine, Nicola Singleton. I met Nicola back in September 2016 on the second series of my BBC1 TV documentary, Doctor In The House. Since then, she has completely transformed her health and I’m so pleased she’s agreed to share that story with you. Nicola was, in her own words, ‘aged 38 but feeling 98’. She had a list of 10 different health diagnoses and was taking 20 different pills a day. Her main issues were feeling crippled ...
Dec 11, 2019•2 hr 48 min•Ep 87•Transcript available on Metacast CAUTION ADVISED: this podcast contains swearing. What’s holding you back in life at the moment? Is there a problem – be it practical or emotional, to do with your health, relationships, work, finance or anything else – that seems insurmountable? Whatever your struggle, my guest on this week’s Feel Better Live More podcast believes that the solution is already within you – that you have what it takes to transform or transcend any challenge you face. She’s Marie Forleo, a US entrepreneur, writer, ...
Dec 04, 2019•1 hr 22 min•Ep 86•Transcript available on Metacast How does alcohol fit into your life? Have you ever given it any thought? My guest on this week’s podcast is Andy Ramage, a performance coach and author. He’s also one of the founders of One Year No Beer, a habit-changing programme that invites people to try 28, 90 or 365 days alcohol free – and see what it does for them. Andy was like many of us, he was not an alcoholic but he was what he calls ‘a middle lane drinker’. He would drink a little bit to unwind, at work events, when he saw his friend...
Nov 27, 2019•2 hr 1 min•Ep 85•Transcript available on Metacast When was the last time you gave any real thought to walking? It’s so easy to put one foot in front of the other. Yet this unique, underrated activity sets us apart from other species, and brings incredible advantages – yes, superpowers – if we do it enough. My guest on this week’s podcast is the neuroscientist Shane O’Mara, a professor of experimental brain research at Trinity College Dublin. After reading his remarkable new book, In Praise of Walking: The New Science of How We Walk And Why It’s...
Nov 20, 2019•2 hr 33 min•Ep 84•Transcript available on Metacast This week, the microphones are turned and it’s me in the hot seat. This conversation was recorded at The Festival of Politics 2019 on World Mental Health Day in The Scottish Parliament with Deputy Convener of the Cross-Party Group on Mental Health, Annie Wells MSP. I was invited to speak about my mission to inspire people to make small sustainable changes to their lifestyles, which as many of you know, I believe is the secret to having a healthier and happier life. We discuss how my own experien...
Nov 13, 2019•1 hr 29 min•Ep 83•Transcript available on Metacast What is preventing you from living the life of your dreams? Are you waiting for the right person to come along? Will you be happy when you get a pay-rise? Or perhaps you just aren’t capable of getting what you really want? The truth is, that your perfect life is right here waiting for you to discover it. The only thing separating you from it is the dialogue that exists within your subconscious mind. Guest on this week’s podcast is writer, speaker and thought leader in human potential, Peter Cron...
Nov 06, 2019•2 hr 56 min•Ep 82•Transcript available on Metacast RE-RELEASE - This episode originally aired as a 2-part episode almost 18 months ago and has been one of the most popular episodes to date. After releasing Episode 77, I have had many requests for more information on the impact of circadian clocks on our health. I have therefore decided to re-release this conversation with world-leading expert in circadian biology, whose research in this area is truly ground-breaking. So, here it is! We know that snacking late at night isn’t a good idea, but unti...
Oct 30, 2019•2 hr 33 min•Ep 81•Transcript available on Metacast Loneliness is an epidemic. We are surrounded by people yet many of us feel empty. Why is this? This week, one of my best friends, entrepreneur and podcast host, Dhru Purohit explains that many of us are craving deep meaningful connected friendships and we don’t even know it. We have the feeling that we are in control of our lives, that we are surviving, but we miss the fact that we need a deep connection to others to truly thrive. We discuss the power of touch and how having someone to open up t...
Oct 22, 2019•2 hr•Ep 80•Transcript available on Metacast CAUTION ADVISED: this podcast contains mild swearing. When we think about running, most of us think of it as a form of physical exercise – something that we do to lose weight, look better or stay healthy. Some of us like to measure how far and how quickly we can run. But running can be so much more than that. What if someone told you that running could be a tool to transform your life? This week, film-maker and inspirational human being, Sanjay Rawal, is here to do just that. Whilst making his l...
Oct 16, 2019•2 hr 5 min•Ep 79•Transcript available on Metacast SPECIAL EPISODE FOR WORLD OBESITY DAY to support a charity called HENRY, which is doing amazing work to combat childhood obesity. The statistics look gloomy. 1 in 10 children are obese when they start school and the odds are stacked against them. Only 1 in 20 children who starts school obese, will be a healthy weight when they leave primary school. But finally, there is a glimmer of hope. Have HENRY found a solution to reverse the trend? Their results so far are extremely promising. Today, I tal...
Oct 11, 2019•1 hr 23 min•Ep 78•Transcript available on Metacast Since the dawn of time, humans have worshipped the sun. And with good reason. Our biology is set up to work in partnership with it. From our sleep cycles to our immune systems and our mental health, access to sunlight is crucial for living a happy and fulfilling life. Our bodies and our brains are designed to function during the day and rest at night. But as more of us move into light-polluted cities, spending our days in dim offices and our evenings watching brightly lit screens, we are in dang...
Oct 09, 2019•2 hr 44 min•Ep 77•Transcript available on Metacast We are undergoing a huge technological experiment. In our pockets we have tiny technological miracles through which we can communicate, instantly, with anyone on the planet. We are constantly bombarded with endless information. But what impact is all this having on our brain? Why is it important to allow our brains to drift into random thoughts and be creative? I discuss all this with neuroscientist and brain surgeon, Dr Rahul Jandial, who loves technology but believes that we need to structure ...
Oct 02, 2019•1 hr 14 min•Ep 76•Transcript available on Metacast How do we improve our relationship with our children? Why do our children make us feel so irritated at times? And what do we do if we’ve acted in a way that we shouldn’t have? I’m joined this week by psychotherapist and author, Philippa Perry, to talk about all these issues and more. We discuss why culture gets in the way of our natural instincts and why she believes that allowing your child to “cry it out” can be harmful. We delve into the effect that technology is having on our relationships a...
Sep 25, 2019•1 hr 22 min•Ep 75•Transcript available on Metacast We all know that a poor diet negatively impacts our physical health. In fact, it is now the leading cause of early death in men and number two in women. But it’s not only our physical health that is affected – the effects on our mental health can also be devastating. This week, I am joined by world leading expert in the field of nutritional psychiatry, Professor Felice Jacka, to discuss her ground-breaking research into the link between food and our mental health. We discuss why lifestyle medici...
Sep 18, 2019•1 hr 22 min•Ep 74•Transcript available on Metacast “You are more powerful than your mind allows you to believe” This week, I have the great pleasure of sitting down with arguably the fittest (but definitely one of the loveliest) men on the planet – swimmer and all-round adventurer, Ross Edgley. He believes that the next frontier of human performance is the mind and his superhuman feats are testament to that fact. He is the first ever swimmer to circumnavigate the whole of Great Britain without ever setting foot on land. And this is just one in a...
Sep 11, 2019•2 hr 33 min•Ep 73•Transcript available on Metacast CAUTION ADVISED: this podcast contains swearing and themes of an adult nature. This week's episode wraps up the second season of the Feel Better, Live More podcast. Over the past 12 months, I've had the honour of sharing fascinating conversations with a wide variety of incredible people. Thank you to every single one of my guests - each conversation has been an inspiration to me. In this episode I re-share some of the anecdotes and wisdom shared by a few guests from this series - Dr Tara Swart e...
Jul 30, 2019•39 min•Ep 72•Transcript available on Metacast This week I sit down with natural lifestyle coach, Tony Riddle, who plans to run the whole length of Great Britain completing 30 miles every day for 30 days completely barefoot in order to show what humans are capable of and what he believes is biologically normal for us. He also plans to raise awareness of sustainability along the way. Tony believes that we are a species that is destined to be innately empowered, wild and connected yet our modern lives are removing us from this natural state. F...
Jul 23, 2019•2 hr 53 min•Ep 71•Transcript available on Metacast This interview originally aired 12 months ago as a 2 part conversation, which have proved to be two of the most popular episodes that I have released so far. Many listeners have asked me to re-release them as one single conversation so that they can listen from start to finish without interruption, so here it is! Sleep is one of the most undervalued components of our health, yet neglecting it can have devastating consequences. In this episode, I talk to world-leading sleep researcher, author of ...
Jul 10, 2019•2 hr 32 min•Ep 70•Transcript available on Metacast CAUTION ADVISED: this podcast contains swearing. Many of you will know Michael Pollan as a world-renowned food writer but now he has written a book that brings psychedelic drugs into mainstream consciousness. But why? Long before they gained a bad reputation, it seemed to researchers, scientists and doctors as though psychedelics were going to be the new wonder drugs for mental illnesses. They promised to treat conditions like alcoholism, depression and anxiety without the side effects associate...
Jul 03, 2019•1 hr 25 min•Ep 69•Transcript available on Metacast CAUTION ADVISED: this podcast contains mild swearing. Having won 6 grand slam titles, Jamie Murray is one of the most successful British tennis players of all time. This week, with Wimbledon nearly upon us, I sit down to talk with him about what he does behind the scenes to keep fit and healthy and what we can all learn from this – from the equipment he carries with him to how he focuses his mind before a match. We talk about his childhood, how much tennis he and his brother (Andy Murray) played...
Jun 26, 2019•45 min•Ep 68•Transcript available on Metacast CAUTION ADVISED: this podcast contains swearing. A long healthy life is no accident. It begins with good genes, but it also depends on good habits. If you adopt the right lifestyle, experts say, chances are you may live up to a decade longer. So, what’s the formula for success? National Geographic Explorer and author Dan Buettner has lead teams of researchers across the globe to uncover the secrets of Blue Zones—geographic regions where high percentages of centenarians are enjoying remarkably lo...
Jun 19, 2019•1 hr 15 min•Ep 67•Transcript available on Metacast When was the last time you were completely alone? Not alone by modern standards, but truly alone - with no mobile phone or outside influences providing information to your brain. Can you think of a time? Global icon, prolific mountain runner and guest on this week’s episode, Kilian Jornet believes that it is only when you take away the storm of information, that you can discover what your true priorities are. And for him, the mountains are the tool to do just that. Not only do they allow him to ...
Jun 12, 2019•1 hr 15 min•Ep 66•Transcript available on Metacast 
