Life Matters - Full program podcast

Getting to the end of a busy day, all you want to do is get some sleep, but then anxious thoughts start rushing through your head.

Worrying at night is a common phenomenon. Learn how chronic stress is exacerbating an evolutionary phenomenon, and how to calm yourself and get the best sleep you can.

Plus, author and journalist Julia Baird teases out the idea of grace, and why we're yearning for it in our modern world. 

New applications to the NDIS are currently restricted to people under the age of 65. Australian barrister Peter Freckleton explains why he is lodging a discrimination complaint with the UN about the age cap. And Professor Elizabeth Kendall and Dr Mark Brown explore why the age cap exists and whether the support it provides should be more widely available.

And a recent winner of ABC's Takeover shares her story, about how a diagnosis of autism helped her find a community.

Helping you figure out all the big stuff in life: relationships, health, money, work and the world.

Off-label prescribing of semaglutide drugs for weight loss has attracted a lot of controversy, especially as the drug remains in short supply as a type-2 diabetes treatment.

But the ire directed at larger individuals, both for using the drug and refusing not to, is rooted in fatphobia. We explore the state of Ozempic in Australia and what it's really like to use it for weight loss.

Plus, learn why the next generation of fiancées are turning away from the classic diamond engagement ring, and artist David Bromley opens up about his anxiety and the ways his art helps him stay on track.

Getting inked is a personal act for many of us, and attitudes to that act have changed a lot over time and between cultures.

We look at the stories behind people's tattoos and why people get the ones they do.

And we dive into the politics of Zoom calls and whether camera on is a fair default with Simon Taylor and Clare Bowditch.

What does it take to turn your life around? Does it take a certain personality type? A dire situation? Or is transformation within reach for all of us?

In the last instalment of our Leap series, we look at how you can make a big change in your life.

And author Jaclyn Crupi talks about deepening her relationship with pasta and how the Italian staple connects her to her family.

The federal government has announced a new campaign encouraging more Australians to ‘be that teacher.’ But with teacher shortages becoming more common across the country, what bigger changes are necessary to attract new teachers and retain the ones currently working?

Plus, researchers are working to understand precisely how those kilos of microbes affect our health, but they're also seeing a significant drop in the diversity of that microbiome. A new documentary examines the research of leading scientists on the human microbiome, The Invisible Extinction. Scientists Gloria Dominguez-Bello and Marty Blaser explain their research.

Is the way we live our busy, disconnected lives, making us sick? Canadian physician Dr Gabor Mate  believes so. He has a lot to say about the impact of trauma on children and how physical and mental illness can show up in our bodies later in life. We revisit his interview from earlier in the year, and include a follow up with an autoimmune expert, to explore some of the assertions Dr Mate makes.

Have you ever wished you could be at your own funeral? There's no reason why you can't.

More people are considering the 'living funeral', a celebration of life with the dying person in attendance. We explore the pros and cons of this event, and what it can offer to both the dying and the to-be bereaved.

How does pain in children's television programs influence our kids' relationship with pain? We explore the latest research.

And feminist writer Clementine Ford makes the case for abolishing marriage in her new book I Don't.

You hear a lot of wedding vows where people were overjoyed to "marry their best friend", but it's less common that they were that way before becoming romantically involved.

Dating friends is divisive - high risk, but potentially high reward too. We look at how to get it right.

Plus, Lizzy Hoo and Alex Dyson take a party clash dilemma out of the Too Hard Basket.