Figuring It Out

TW: This episode contains reference to suicide and self-harm. 

Lauren McQuistin is a musician and writer, who runs the popular instagram account Brutal Recovery. Lauren has been sober for seven years and is releasing her debut book ‘No Lost Causes Club: An Honest Guide to Recovery and How to Find Your Way Through It’.

More and more of us are reconsidering our relationship with alcohol, but sobriety can often be overwhelming, and it can feel difficult to ask for help.

In part one, Lauren joins Dr Alex George to take us through her personal story with alcohol, describes how alcohol impacted her closest relationships and why you need both willingness and opportunity to become sober.

Plus, Lauren discusses whether regret is inevitable when first in recovery and reveals why you don’t need to wait for your drinking to get ‘bad enough’ to stop.

Follow @brutalrecovery and pre-order Lauren’s book ‘No Lost Causes Club: An Honest Guide to Recovery, and How To Find Your Way Through It’

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In part three, Oli unpacks the impact sleep has on your energy levels, how our everyday micro-stresses have damaged our collective mental health, and how becoming a more hypervigilant society has impacted our sleep patterns…

Plus, Oli and Dr Alex George discuss the impact of caffeine on your sleep and why ditching alcohol can scientifically transform your sleep.

Follow @_olipatrick and listen to his podcast ‘The Energy Equation’

Preorder Happy Habits here

Follow the podcast on Instagram @thestompcast

Get the new, pocket guide version of The Mind Manual now

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In part two, Oli unpacks how to understand (and boost!) your energy score, the benefit of improving your cardiovascular fitness on your overall health and why you should place more importance on getting the basics right than trying popular biohacks…

Plus, Oli and Dr Alex George discuss the concept of ‘wellbeing burnout’ and debate when it’s actually beneficial to measure and track various health metrics.

Follow @_olipatrick and listen to his podcast ‘The Energy Equation’

Preorder Happy Habits here

Follow the podcast on Instagram @thestompcast

Get the new, pocket guide version of The Mind Manual now

Download Mettle: the mental fitness app for men

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Oli Patrick is a renowned physiologist, wellbeing expert and host of the brilliant podcast ‘The Energy Equation’.

So many different lifestyle factors influence our energy levels. From sleep, nutrition and exercise, it can be difficult to stay on top of everything - which can lead us to feeling like we’re not at our optimum performance.

In part one, Oli joins Dr Alex George to discuss what energy actually is, dives deep into the different factors impacting our energy and shares a useful exercise to help you understand your energy levels.

Plus, Oli discusses his path into physiology and how physiologists can work in tandem with other health professionals to create a more holistic approach to health care.

Follow @_olipatrick and listen to his podcast ‘The Energy Equation’

Preorder Happy Habits here

Follow the podcast on Instagram @thestompcast

Get the new, pocket guide version of The Mind Manual now

Download Mettle: the mental fitness app for men

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In part three, Paul Sinton-Hewitt CBE shares how running can improve your longevity and provides some helpful tips and tricks on how to get started with running.

Plus, Paul and Dr Alex George discuss the importance of making small incremental changes when embarking on a running journey and how you can make running enjoyable, even when it feels challenging.

Follow @paulsintonhewitt and buy his book ‘One Small Step: The incredible story of parkrun’ through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Stompcast by earning a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too!

Follow the podcast on Instagram @thestompcast

Get the new, pocket guide version of The Mind Manual now

Download Mettle: the mental fitness app for men

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In part two, Paul Sinton-Hewitt CBE joins Dr Alex George to discuss how running can help you process difficult emotions and heal from trauma, and the pair share stories about how running has transformed their lives.

Plus, Paul shares why walking isn’t a lesser form of running and why it’s important to remember that there are no rules when it comes to running - every speed and distance is acceptable!

Follow @paulsintonhewitt and buy his book ‘One Small Step: The incredible story of parkrun’ through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Stompcast by earning a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too!

Follow the podcast on Instagram @thestompcast

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Paul Sinton-Hewitt CBE is the founder of parkrun. Parkrun began in 2004 with just 13 runners, and has since turned into a worldwide phenomenon with over 10 million runners across multiple continents!

Running has so many physical and mental benefits, but it also has the ability to forge friendships and create communities you never thought possible.

In part one, Paul joins Dr Alex George to discuss the story behind parkrun, how the cultural movement of running has changed in the past five years and why regularly running with others has the power to change your life.

Plus, Paul shares why you should never compare yourself to other runners and reveals the surprising backlash parkrun received when it first launched…

Follow @paulsintonhewitt and buy his book ‘One Small Step: The incredible story of parkrun’ through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Stompcast by earning a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too!

Follow the podcast on Instagram @thestompcast

Get the new, pocket guide version of The Mind Manual now

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In part three, Professor Daniel M. Davis discusses the importance of improving the public’s understanding of the immune system and shares some useful tips and tricks on how to best support your immune health.

Plus, Dan and Dr Alex George unpack why it’s important to not believe the hype  when it comes to immune health and why we shouldn’t try to over-optimise our lives.

Buy Dan’s latest book ‘Self Defence: A Myth-busting Guide to Immune Health’ through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Stompcast by earning a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too!

Follow the podcast on Instagram @thestompcast

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In part two, Professor Daniel M. Davis discusses the different factors that impact our immune health, the link between our immune health and mental health and the unexpected effect strenuous exercise can have on our immune system…

Plus, Dan and Dr Alex George unpack how age impacts your immune system and why embracing the complexity of the immune system can actually give you a sense of power.

Buy Dan’s latest book ‘Self Defence: A Myth-busting Guide to Immune Health’ through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Stompcast by earning a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too!

Follow the podcast on Instagram @thestompcast

Get the new, pocket guide version of The Mind Manual now

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Daniel M. Davis is a world-renowned immunologist and Professor Immunology at Imperial College London. He is an acclaimed author and researcher and released his latest book ‘Self Defence: A Myth-busting Guide to Immune Health’ on 5th June 2025.

In part one, Dan joins Dr Alex George to unpack the endless myths we hear about our immune health, how stress can impact our immune system and reveals how much of our immune health is actually predetermined by genetics.

Plus, Dan discusses the ways in which the immune system can fight off cancer and why it’s so important to be skeptical of anything that sounds ‘too simple’ when talking about immune health…

Buy Dan’s latest book ‘Self Defence: A Myth-busting Guide to Immune Health’ through our affiliate bookshop and you’ll help fund Stompcast by earning a small commission for every sale. Bookshop.org’s fees help support independent bookshops too!

Follow the podcast on Instagram @thestompcast

Get the new, pocket guide version of The Mind Manual now

Download Mettle: the mental fitness app for men

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.