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What is Happiness? Is happiness more than just feeling good? What do different people mean when they use the word happiness? What did ancient philosophers like Aristotle mean when they used the word happiness?   Joar Vittersø is a professor in Psychology and have spent many years studying and researching the ancient concept of Eudaimonia. He is also the editor of The Oxford Handbook of Eudaimonic Wellbeing which I highly recommend if you want to get a better grasp of what Eudaimonia is.   I really enjoyed my conversation with Joar and hope you will too.

Too much demand? Too little recovery? Stress is something that affects all of us to some degree. But what is Stress? How could a scenario look like from healthy to clinically burned out? Perhaps most importantly, what can you do about it?   Giorgio Grossi is a licensed Psychotherapist and Head of Research at the special stress clinic Stressmottagningen in Sweden.  He is an author of many stress-related books such as Hantera din Stress med Kognitiv Beteendeterapi and Vägen ur Utmattningssyndrom.   For more episodes follow me at @healthpsychologyandhumannature on Instagram and FB.   Have a terrific day.

How do we sense if we have eaten or not and how is that linked to how long an organism lives? In today’s interesting episode David tells us about the mechanistic target of rapamycin, mTOR for short.   Professor David Sabatini is a member of the Whitehead Institute at MIT and perhaps more importantly the person who discovered mTOR.    Friends I really hope you will enjoy today's Episode.

How does our Microbiome affect our health and how long we live? How does drugs like Metformin and others affect us through the Microbiome? In today's conversation Filipe shares his views on this and a lot more.    Filipe Cabreiro is the Principal Investigator of the Cabreiro Lab which focus on how the Microbiome regulates the effect of Drugs and Diet on Healthspan and Lifespan.   Have a terrific day.

Mitochondria are often referred to as the powerhouse of the cell. They are important as they create energy which enables us to live our daily lives. Mitochondria also seem to affect our health, aging, diabetes and more. How can we affect our Mitochondria? Exercise.   Professor David Bishop is a world leader in muscle exercise physiology with more 250 publications. David leads the Skeletal Muscle and Training research group, which has two key research areas: exercise as mitochondrial medicine, and human performance.   Davids Twitter: @BlueSpotScience   Hope you enjoy it.  

Making and maintaining a change can be hard. Thankfully something exists called Motivational Interviewing which is a powerful approach to facilitate change. In today’s episode me and Dawn talk about what Motivational Interviewing is and why it works. We also talk about dawns book: Motivational Interviewing in Nutrition and Fitness.   Dawn Clifford, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor at Northern Arizona University. She teaches courses in nutrition education and counseling and has experience implementing and directing university-based health coaching programs. She is also a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers.   Resources mentioned in the episode   Videos of effective and ineffective MI: https://www.youtube.com/user/MerloLab/   Book of MI for the individual: Finding Your Way to Change   The official MI webpage: https://motivationalinterviewing.org/   Hope you enjoy the episode.

How does our beliefs affect us and our lives? Does it matter if we believe we can or can’t learn and grow? In today’s episode me and Kali talk about The Growth Mindset. What it is; how it affects us; tips on where to learn more about it and suggestions of how to internalizing it.   Kali Trzesniewski have a Ph.D. in Psychology from UC Davis. She is a social-developmental psychologist with an interest in understanding how to raise children to grow up to be healthy productive members of society. She studies how self-perception such as growth mindset and self-esteem fosters thriving lives throughout the lifespan.   Have a terrific day.

What role does Music play when it comes to Exercise? According to new fascinating research, music seems to be one important element of a good workout. Making it more enjoyable and can improve performance.   Matthew Stork PhD have done several studies of how music affects exercise and have also worked as a strength and condition coach at McMaster University. He is also highly interested in getting more people on the exercise bandwagon.   For more episodes, tips and inspiration follow me at @healthpsychologyandhumannature on Instagram and FB.   Have a terrific day.

Can what we believe affect the outcome of a drug and change the neurochemistry of our brain? What happens when we connect with and believe in our doctors? The Placebo Effect is a powerful real thing which can have a big impact in treatments and everyday life. Today Karin explains what the placebo effect is, the biology of the placebo effect, the mechanisms of the placebo effect and much more.   Associate Professor Karin Jensen is the leader of the Pain Neuroimaging Lab at the Karolinska Institute, a research group focusing on brain mechanisms involved in the experience of pain and placebo effect.   For more episodes, tips and inspiration follow me at @healthpsychologyandhumannature on Instagram and FB.   Have a terrific day.  

How does our Life affect our genes and in turn our health? Can our wellbeing make us more resilient? How does threat and uncertainty affect our Health? In today’s episode Steve provides his thoughts on these questions and more.   Steve Cole is a Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences in the UCLA School of Medicine. He studies e.g. how life events, loneliness, wellbeing and subjective experiences affect our gene expression and health.   Hope you will enjoy today's episode.

How ought one to live? Epicureanism is a Philosophy created by Epicurus who lived 341-270 BC. It is famous for it’s thoughts about the meaning of life/how you should live your life. Epicureanism focus on reducing your mental and emotional pain and satisfying your basic needs such as food, shelter and connection with others. This is believed to create a peaceful enjoyment/tranquility named Ataraxia. Dr. Catherine Wilson is a former Professor of Philosophy with degrees in Philosophy from Yale, Oxford and Princeton. She has written three books related to Epicureanism: How to Be an Epicurean, Epicureanism: A Very Short Introduction and Epicureanism at the Origin of Modernity. For more episodes, tips and inspiration follow me at @healthpsychologyandhumannature on Instagram and FB. Have a terrific day.

Is it possible to affect how long we live and our long term health? Can you live until you become 100 with the health of a 60 year old? Luigi Fontana have a science based broad approach to both longevity and long term health(healthspan). He also shares his great thoughts about the good life and how we can affect the state of our planet. I highly encourage you to check out his new book named “The Path To Longevity”. Luigi Fontana is a Professor of Medicine and Nutrition and a Leonard P. Ullman chair in translational metabolic health. He is also the director of the healthy longevity research and clinical program. You find him on Twitter at: @LuigiFontana22 For more episodes, tips and inspiration follow me at @healthpsychologyandhumannature on Instagram and FB. Have a terrific day.  

Can the adult brain change for the better? In todays episode the friendly and knowledgeable Michael Merzenich tells us all about Neuroplasticity (the brains ability to change), the physical underpinnings of the changing brain, what happens to the brain as it gets older, brain training and a lot more. Professor Emeritus Michael Merzenich have published more than 150 articles in scientific journals (some in Science and Nature) and received numerous awards and prizes. An example is one of the world’s top neuroscience prizes named the Kavli prize. He is also the brain behind BrainHQ (a brain training company) and the author of the book Soft-Wired. Have a terrific day.  

How does a week of exercise optimized for health and longevity look like? How does a one minute workout at high intensity compare to a 50 minute workout at moderate intensity? What is interval training and why is it important? Answers to these and many other  questions will be given in todays episode by the pedagogical expert Martin Gibala. Martin Gibala is a professor of kinesiology at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. His main interest is the physiology of exercise, including the effects of training and nutrition and application to health and performance. Martin have also written the bestseller the One Minute Workout which you will learn more about in today’s episode.        If you want to connect to Martin you can do that through Twitter or his personal website. He and a college also created an online course about exercise which you can find here. For more episodes, tips and inspiration follow me at @healthpsychologyandhumannature on Instagram and FB. Have a terrific day.    

What are emotions? What problems can one get from emotions? How can you handle your emotions in a better way? These questions and other will be answered today by the Swedish clinician Kristoffer Pettersson. Kristoffers have specialized in experience-based methods, such as Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Affect Focused Therapy. He is the co-author of two Swedish books on Affect Focused Therapy, the latest one being “I befintligt skick”. He also run the education company Mendeleo which brings together lecturers in the field of applied psychology and offers further education to professionals in human care professions. For more episodes, tips and inspiration follow me at @healthpsychologyandhumannature on Instagram and FB. Have a terrific day.

How does calorie restriction, intermittent fasting, exercise, stress, drugs and supplements affect our ageing and health? You’ll learn all about it in todays episode with professor Brian Kennedy. It is highly important to focus on ageing as it is a big risk factor when it comes to many chronic diseases such as Heart Disease, Alzheimer’s, Diabetes and Cancer.   Brian is the Director of National University Health System (NUHS) Centre for Healthy  Ageing in Singapore. He and his lab is directed at understanding the biology of ageing and translating research discoveries into new ways of delaying, detecting, preventing and treating ageing and associated diseases. For more episodes, tips and inspiration follow me at @healthpsychologyandhumannature on Instagram and FB. Have a terrific day.

Can we live longer due to a healthy microbiome? Dario have done some fascinating work when it comes to how fish age due to it’s microbiome. How much longer do they live and why? You’ll get the answers in todays episode.   Dario Valenzano is a group leader at the Max Planck institute. He is interested in ageing, the microbiome, evolution and a lot more.  He has a Ph.D. in Neuroscience and have worked at Stanford University before starting his work at the Max Planck institute.   Darios Twitter: @darissambaya   For more episodes, tips and inspiration follow me at @healthpsychologyandhumannature on Instagram and FB.   Have a terrific day.

Health really begins at the cellular level according to professor Terry Wahls. Terry is a patient with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, which confined her to a tilt-recline wheelchair for four years. Although Dr. Wahls restored her health using a diet and lifestyle program she designed specifically for her brain and is now able to pedals her bike to work each day. Today we talk about her recovery, her current studies and Mitochondria. Dr. Terry Wahls is a clinical professor at the University of Iowa where she conducts clinical trials testing the efficacy of therapeutic lifestyle to treat multiple sclerosis related symptoms. In addition, she is the author of The Wahls Protocol: A Radical New Way to Treat All Chronic Autoimmune Conditions Using Paleo Principles ,and the cookbook The Wahls Protocol Cooking for Life: The Revolutionary Modern Paleo Plan to Treat All Chronic Autoimmune Conditions.           For more episodes, tips and inspiration follow me at @healthpsychologyandhumannature on Instagram and FB. Have a terrific day.

Interested in improving your life? In todays Episode Massimo tells us about how to practice stoicism, a practical philosophy of life; how to improve upon yourself; How to Exercise the Dichotomy of Control which is the main concept in Stoicism; How to start our practice and a lot more. Professor Massimo Pigliucci is known for popularizing Stoicism with e.g. his TEDx talk viewed more than 400 000 times, his short TEDed video with more than 4 million views and a lot of presentations and books. Two of his books are: How to Be a Stoic and A Handbook for New Stoics. To see more of Massimos work go to: https://massimopigliucci.com/massimo-central/ Follow Massimo on Twitter: @MassimoPigliucci For more episodes, tips and inspiration follow me at @HealthPsychologyAndHumanNature on Instagram and FB.

Does brain training work? What can you do to improve your cognition and why do we have consciousness? In todays episode we get into all of this good stuff. Adjunct Research Professor Bobby Stojanoski is highly interested in both how the brain works and our experience and studies things like memory, attention and perception. He use advanced techniques like fMRI and EEG to measure what is going on in the brain For more episodes, tips and inspiration follow me at @healthpsychologyandhumannature on Instagram and FB. Have a terrific day.