Health Psychology and Human Nature

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.