The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos

What would you ask a wellbeing expert? Dr Laurie Santos is back with a special season of The Happiness Lab fielding listener questions about work, relationships and getting back out into the world after Covid. She'll be joined by fellow scientists and listeners explaining the stories behind their queries.   Begins July 11.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sharing a new Pushkin show, Legacy of Speed. When two Black sprinters raised their fists in protest at the 1968 Olympic Games, it shook the world. More than 50 years later, the ripple effects of their activism are still felt. Host Malcolm Gladwel tells the stories of the runners who took a stand, and the coaches and mentors who helped make them fast enough — and brave enough — to change the world. In this episode, we hear how coach Bud Winter took what he learned from working with fighter pilots in World War II and created a system for training sprinters at San Jose State. His “Relax and Win” methods used breathing, visualization and other unconventional coaching techniques to create a powerhouse track program. Another thing that made him unique at the time? His focus on recruiting Black athletes to a mostly white school. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Is social media bad for our brains?” asks Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN’s Chasing Life. Dr. Gupta, CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent talks about social media and how, while it can be a place for community and entertainment, it can also be harmful for our mental health. He speaks to social media researcher Prof. Dar Meshi about what social media is doing to our brains, and why we need to set healthy boundaries around our social media use. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sharing a special preview of Pushkin's newest show, Well-Read Black Girl. Glory Edim started a book club called Well-Read Black Girl in 2015, and since then it's exploded into a passionate, worldwide reading community. She aims to amplify the voices of BIPOC writers and celebrate their literary achievements, using the power of conversation to help her members to connect with each other and grow as people.  Social connection is a topic we talk about a lot on The Happiness Lab. There’s lots of evidence that community and social connections are key ingredients for our well-being. The Well-Read Black Girl community embodies this spirit perfectly— group members share their experiences about their favorite writers and express their admiration so beautifully. On the Well-Read Black Girl podcast, Glory has deep, honest conversations with authors of color about the art, craft and power of the written word. You'll hear from luminaries like Tarana Burke, Gabrielle Union, Anita Hill, and more, about how they found their voice, honed their craft, navigated the wild world of publishing, and showed up in the world. We hope listening to this clip will give you a little boost of positive emotion and community.  You can listen to more episodes of Well-Read Black Girl at https://link.chtbl.com/happinesslabgloryedim Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you dread getting out of bed in the morning; if you are bad tempered with co-workers, clients or customers; if you leave work feeling an exhaustion that goes way beyond tiredness... it could be that you're burned out.  Jonathan Malesic felt all these things as a successful academic, and reflected wistfully on his previous job working as a parking lot attendant. Could it be that taking a high status, high paying job was making him miserable and pushing him beyond the limits of his endurance? Jonathan shares what he learned about burnout while researching his bookThe End Of Burnout: Why Work Drains Us, And How To Build Better Lives.  Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.