Live Well Be Well with Sarah Ann Macklin | Health, Lifestyle, Nutrition

ADHD diagnoses have risen 200% in the last five years. Sarah Warley, founder of BeBright and The Key Clinic, says that’s not overdiagnosis. It’s ancient biology trying to cope with a modern environment it was never built for.

She joins Sarah Ann to unpack what’s actually changed, and why the answer isn’t as simple as real or not real.

Full episode out now: search ‘Live Well Be Well’ on YouTube & Spotify.

Your brain isn't broken. It might just be swimming upstream.

This week I'm joined by Sarah Warley, Founder of BeBright and The Key Clinic, for a deep dive into ADHD, autism, and the "post-diagnostic gap," because after years of watching families get handed a label with no map for what comes next, she built the clinic to answer the question nobody else was asking: what's actually driving the symptoms?

What we explore together:

•Why understanding what's actually driving your symptoms matters more than the diagnosis itself

•The neurodiversity clusters: ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and why almost no one fits neatly into just one

•Why labels can be both a relief and a trap, and how to know which one you're in

•Retained primitive reflexes from infancy that quietly shape adult anxiety, focus and coordination

•Why the "Great ADHD Myth" documentary got the debate dangerously wrong

•What neurodivergent burnout actually looks like, and why it hits the highest achievers hardest

Love, Sarah Ann 💛

My book 'Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Shouldnt-Be-This-Hard-ebook/dp/B0G1DHNRV5

This episode is sponsored by:

POLSEN HEALTH: The compassionate health tracker. Connecting body and mind with unique stress recovery insights so you can live fully today.

👉 15% off with code LWBW15 at https://polsen.health/

PULSETTO: Vagus nerve stimulation for stress, sleep and calm.

👉 Use code SARAHANN at https://pulsetto.sjv.io/SARAHANN

📖 If this resonates, you can join the thousands who read The Compassionate Cure each week.

https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Let's be friends!

📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahannmacklin/

📹 Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@livewellbewellsarah

🐦 Twitter: https://x.com/SarahAnnMacklin

📱 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@livewellbewellpodcast

Sarah Warley:

🔗 The Key Clinic: https://www.thekeyclinic.co.uk/who-we-help

🔗 BeBright: https://bebright.ai/

Chapters

00:00 Introduction

01:19 Swimming upstream: symptoms vs. biological drivers

01:56 The neurodiversity clusters and how they overlap

04:45 Labels: helpful or limiting?

07:57 The origin story: a friend’s daughter and the gluten-dairy transformation

15:19 Is ADHD overdiagnosed? The Great ADHD Myth documentary controversy

20:08 Why parents see themselves in their child’s diagnosis

20:39 Oestrogen, dopamine and perimenopause-triggered diagnoses

24:37 The symptoms to actually look out for

26:38 Retained primitive reflexes explained

29:14 Why the reflexes don’t develop

30:39 The Moro reflex and the woman who hadn’t left her house in 5 years

35:48 What a diagnosis really is: epigenetics and neuroplasticity

39:54 Nutrition, biochemistry and the Walsh Institute

42:48 The five biotypes of depression

45:07 The zinc-copper imbalance: 70-80% of ADHD cases, per the Walsh Institute

47:56 Arthur’s story: from breakdown to a first at Oxford

54:10 What neurodivergent burnout actually looks like

55:56 Sarah’s own ADHD diagnosis: the Bloomberg interview

58:07 Medication: Sarah Warley’s honest take

01:01:31 Why the Key Clinic is multidisciplinary

01:03:19 21st century scurvy: light, senses and mitochondria

01:06:17 Hypersensitive hearing and the hearing curve

01:07:58 Doctor Bérard’s suicidal-depression discovery

01:13:23 Music, rhythm and neurodivergence

01:20:23 How to actually find what you love

01:21:37 Turn your hobby into your job

01:23:44 ADHD as an evolutionary advantage

01:24:15 Why creativity is being cut from schools, and why that’s a mistake

01:27:05 Becoming your own parent

01:28:37 Fun span, not just lifespan

01:29:21 “It’s not you, it’s a lousy cut”

01:30:38 Closing thought: a neuro-extraordinary mind, not neurodivergent

01:32:38 A message for worried parents

01:33:34 What does Live Well Be Well mean to you?

This week's Live Well Be Well Moment with Patric Gagne, author and self-identified sociopath.

We delve into Patric's childhood, when she first realised she was different from everyone around her, what school and friendships looked like, and how she learned to mask — and why understanding this changes everything about how we think about sociopathy in young people.

My book 'Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Shouldnt-Be-This-Hard-ebook/dp/B0G1DHNRV5

This episode is sponsored by:
NOWATCH: The compassionate health tracker Connecting body and mind with unique stress recovery insights so you can live fully today. 👉 15% off with code LWBW15 at https://nowatch.com/

PULSETTO: Vagus nerve stimulation for stress, sleep and calm
👉 Use code SARAHANN at https://pulsetto.sjv.io/SARAHANN

More from me: The Great British Veg Out How to support your gut by eating more, not less https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/p/t…
Reset Your Health If your body feels off after stress, travel, or burnout, this is where to start! https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/s/r...
Free 5-recipe PDF for busy weeks https://open.substack.com/pub/sarahma...
Join thousands reading The Compassionate Cure → https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Let's be friends! 📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sarahannmacklin 📹 Subscribe https://youtube.com/@livewellbewellsarah?si=UbuuWvMjAcTkELPN 📱 TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@livewellbewellpodcast?_r=1&_t=ZN-96iOW29jTRm

This week's Live Well Be Well Moment with Patric Gagne, author and self-identified sociopath.

We delve into one of the most fascinating questions of the episode — what does love actually look like for a sociopath? What does Patric feel for her husband, how do relationships work differently for her, and what happened when she found herself in an unhealthy dynamic she kept returning to?

My book 'Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Shouldnt-Be-This-Hard-ebook/dp/B0G1DHNRV5

This episode is sponsored by:
NOWATCH: The compassionate health tracker Connecting body and mind with unique stress recovery insights so you can live fully today. 👉 15% off with code LWBW15 at https://nowatch.com/

PULSETTO: Vagus nerve stimulation for stress, sleep and calm
👉 Use code SARAHANN at https://pulsetto.sjv.io/SARAHANN

More from me: The Great British Veg Out How to support your gut by eating more, not less https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/p/t…
Reset Your Health If your body feels off after stress, travel, or burnout, this is where to start! https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/s/r...
Free 5-recipe PDF for busy weeks https://open.substack.com/pub/sarahma...
Join thousands reading The Compassionate Cure → https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Let's be friends! 📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sarahannmacklin 📹 Subscribe https://youtube.com/@livewellbewellsarah?si=UbuuWvMjAcTkELPN 📱 TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@livewellbewellpodcast?_r=1&_t=ZN-96iOW29jTRm

This week I'm joined by David Kessler, grief expert, author and one of the most important voices in the world on loss, healing and what it means to find meaning after the people we love are gone.

We explore grief in all its forms, why we get it so wrong, and what it actually looks like to move through loss rather than around it.

David Kessler co-authored On Grief and Grieving with Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and is the author of six books on grief and loss, including Finding Meaning, which adds a sixth stage to the five stages of grief. He is the founder of grief.com, one of the largest grief resources in the world, and has worked with thousands of people through loss — including after the death of his own son.

He is widely regarded as the world's foremost expert on grief and has spent his career changing the way we understand and talk about one of the most universal human experiences.

What we explore together:

• Why the five stages of grief were never meant to be linear — and what that means for how we heal
• What grief actually is, and why it extends far beyond death
• Why we are so bad at sitting with other people’s pain — and what to do instead
• The sixth stage of grief: finding meaning — what it is, and what it isn’t
• Why your loved one’s physical death is permanent, but your loss of hope is temporary
• What David learned about grief from losing his own son
• Why love is the one thing that never dies — and how that changes everything

Love, Sarah Ann

💛My book 'Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Shouldnt-Be-This-Hard-ebook/dp/B0G1DHNRV5

This episode is sponsored by:

Polsen Health: The compassionate health tracker connecting body and mind with unique stress recovery insights so you can live fully today

👉 15% off with code LWBW15 at https://nowatch.com/

PULSETTO: Vagus nerve stimulation for stress, sleep and calm

👉 Use code SARAHANN at https://pulsetto.sjv.io/SARAHANN

👉 If this resonates, you can join the thousands who read The Compassionate Cure each week.https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Let's be friends!📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahannmacklin/

📹 Subscribe: https://youtube.com/@livewellbewellsarah

📱 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@livewellbewellpodcast

💌 Newsletter: https://sarahmacklin.substack.com

Chapters

00:00 Introduction
03:07 Why the five stages of grief were never meant to be linear
05:52 What grief actually is — and why it goes beyond death
12:09 The chapter on anger and why it matters
14:53 Why we’re so bad at sitting with other people’s pain
18:10 There is no perfect way to grieve
20:54 Grief is universal — so why do we forget that?
23:58 When logic tries to fix what only feeling can heal
27:09 Pain and grief as transformation
29:54 The profound healing moment most people miss
32:55 Quieting the mind to stay present with loss
35:56 The goal of grief work: remembering with more love than pain
39:04 Allowing life to happen alongside grief
42:07 David’s personal loss and what it taught him
45:06 Being invested in life while knowing it is temporary
48:12 We are human beings — and we are going to get it wrong
53:52 Waking up after loss and what that first moment feels like
57:07 Finding community and connection through grief
65:56 Your loss of hope is temporary
69:12 Soulmates and what happens after loss
71:49 What is the worst kind of grief?
80:48 Love is what connects and heals us
83:59 The luxury of feelings in this generation
87:09 Final thoughts on living well and being well

This week's Live Well Be Well Moment with Dr Michael, board-certified dermatologist and skin cancer specialist.

We delve into when you should be getting skin checks, what to look for yourself, how quickly skin cancer can progress and what Sarah discovered when she went for her own screening — and why it might just save your life.

My book 'Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Shouldnt-Be-This-Hard-ebook/dp/B0G1DHNRV5

This episode is sponsored by:
NOWATCH: The compassionate health tracker Connecting body and mind with unique stress recovery insights so you can live fully today. 👉 15% off with code LWBW15 at https://nowatch.com/

PULSETTO: Vagus nerve stimulation for stress, sleep and calm
👉 Use code SARAHANN at https://pulsetto.sjv.io/SARAHANN

More from me: The Great British Veg Out How to support your gut by eating more, not less https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/p/t…
Reset Your Health If your body feels off after stress, travel, or burnout, this is where to start! https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/s/r...
Free 5-recipe PDF for busy weeks https://open.substack.com/pub/sarahma...
Join thousands reading The Compassionate Cure → https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Let's be friends! 📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sarahannmacklin 📹 Subscribe https://youtube.com/@livewellbewellsarah?si=UbuuWvMjAcTkELPN 📱 TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@livewellbewellpodcast?_r=1&_t=ZN-96iOW29jTRm

This week's Live Well Be Well Moment with Dr Michael, board-certified dermatologist and skin cancer specialist.

We delve into red light therapy, photobiomodulation, cosmetic lasers and what the science actually says about which treatments are worth your time and money — and which ones aren't.

My book 'Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Shouldnt-Be-This-Hard-ebook/dp/B0G1DHNRV5

This episode is sponsored by:
NOWATCH: The compassionate health tracker Connecting body and mind with unique stress recovery insights so you can live fully today. 👉 15% off with code LWBW15 at https://nowatch.com/

PULSETTO: Vagus nerve stimulation for stress, sleep and calm
👉 Use code SARAHANN at https://pulsetto.sjv.io/SARAHANN

More from me: The Great British Veg Out How to support your gut by eating more, not less https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/p/t…
Reset Your Health If your body feels off after stress, travel, or burnout, this is where to start! https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/s/r...
Free 5-recipe PDF for busy weeks https://open.substack.com/pub/sarahma...
Join thousands reading The Compassionate Cure → https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Let's be friends! 📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sarahannmacklin 📹 Subscribe https://youtube.com/@livewellbewellsarah?si=UbuuWvMjAcTkELPN 📱 TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@livewellbewellpodcast?_r=1&_t=ZN-96iOW29jTRm

This week I'm joined by Rob Rea, human potential coach and breathwork practitioner, and someone who has dedicated his career to helping people access a state of calm, clarity and performance through one of the most powerful tools we all carry with us, our breath.

We explore breathwork, the nervous system, stress regulation and what happens in the body and mind when you finally learn to breathe properly.

Rob Rea is an internationally trained breathwork practitioner and human potential coach with extensive experience across EMEA and APAC. He has been featured in Tatler, The Times and Vogue, and works with business leaders, elite athletes and high performers to help them unlock their potential through breathwork, somatic practices and neuroscience. His RR Method combines functional and transformative breathwork with affective neuroscience, philosophy and physical health to bring clarity, purpose and alignment. 

What we explore together:

• Why trying to switch off your thoughts is making things worse — and what to do instead

• How breathwork creates the conditions for genuine rest and recovery

• What SDR is and why it is one of the most powerful tools for stress regulation

• Why rest and stillness are the hardest things for high performers to accept

• How breathwork changes your body's response to stress at a physiological level

Love, Sarah Ann 💛

My book 'Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Shouldnt-Be-This-Hard-ebook/dp/B0G1DHNRV5

This episode is sponsored by:NOWATCH: The compassionate health tracker Connecting body and mind with unique stress recovery insights so you can live fully today👉 15% off with code LWBW15 at https://nowatch.com/

PULSETTO: Vagus nerve stimulation for stress, sleep and calm👉 Use code SARAHANN at https://pulsetto.sjv.io/SARAHANN

The Great British Veg OutHow to support your gut, energy, and hormones by eating more, not less.👉 https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/p/t…

Reset Your HealthIf your body feels off after stress, travel, or burnout, this is where to start.👉 https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/s/r...

👉 Practical beats perfect. Here's a free 5-recipe PDF I use to support energy and stress during busy weeks.https://sarahannmacklin.com/5_free_recipes

👉 If this resonates, you can join the thousands who read The Compassionate Cure each week.https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Let's be friends!📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahannmacklin/📹 Subscribe: https://youtube.com/@livewellbewellsarah🐦 Twitter: https://x.com/SarahAnnMacklin📱 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@livewellbewellpodcast💌 Newsletter: https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Chapters00:00 Introduction03:00 Why trying to switch off your thoughts makes things worse06:09 What breathwork actually does to your nervous system09:00 The SDR method explained12:06 How breathwork changes your stress response14:54 Rob's personal breathwork practice day to day17:52 Breathing patterns and what yours is telling you21:04 What happens in the body during a breathwork session23:51 Allostatic load and what it means for your health26:56 Why rest feels so hard for high achievers29:57 The difference between relaxation and recovery33:00 Sarah's breathwork experience35:47 How breathwork changes things internally even when nothing changes externally38:59 Music, sound and breathwork42:03 What different people experience during breathwork44:55 Why breathwork is not one size fits all48:09 How to know when to push and when to rest51:08 Why business leaders are the hardest to work with54:02 Moving forward with awareness56:53 How to give yourself permission to do less60:16 What Sarah noticed holding in her body62:55 Learning to sit with stillness66:12 Reframing what rest actually means68:59 What it feels like to let go71:59 Building a breathwork practice that lasts75:08 Physical sensations during breathwork and what they mean77:51 Finding your own capacity80:55 Final reflections on living well and being well

This week's Live Well Be Well Moment with Professor Sophie Scott, neuroscientist and Fellow of the Royal Society.

We delve into what depression actually is at a neurological level, what grief does to your social network in the brain, and why laughter and connection are so much more powerful for healing than most people realise.

My book 'Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Shouldnt-Be-This-Hard-ebook/dp/B0G1DHNRV5

This episode is sponsored by:
NOWATCH: The compassionate health tracker Connecting body and mind with unique stress recovery insights so you can live fully today. 👉 15% off with code LWBW15 at https://nowatch.com/

PULSETTO: Vagus nerve stimulation for stress, sleep and calm
👉 Use code SARAHANN at https://pulsetto.sjv.io/SARAHANN

More from me: The Great British Veg Out How to support your gut by eating more, not less https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/p/t…
Reset Your Health If your body feels off after stress, travel, or burnout, this is where to start! https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/s/r...
Free 5-recipe PDF for busy weeks https://open.substack.com/pub/sarahma...
Join thousands reading The Compassionate Cure → https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Let's be friends! 📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sarahannmacklin 📹 Subscribe https://youtube.com/@livewellbewellsarah?si=UbuuWvMjAcTkELPN 📱 TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@livewellbewellpodcast?_r=1&_t=ZN-96iOW29jTRm

This week's Live Well Be Well Moment with Dr Jack Kreindler, physician and founder of WellFounded Health.

We delve into the science of longevity, what NAD and inflammation are really doing to your body as you age, the truth about cancer risk and what the information overload around fiber, supplements and biohacking is getting wrong.

My book 'Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard': https://www.amazon.co.uk/Healthy-Shouldnt-Be-This-Hard-ebook/dp/B0G1DHNRV5

This episode is sponsored by:
NOWATCH: The compassionate health tracker Connecting body and mind with unique stress recovery insights so you can live fully today. 👉 15% off with code LWBW15 at https://nowatch.com/

PULSETTO: Vagus nerve stimulation for stress, sleep and calm
👉 Use code SARAHANN at https://pulsetto.sjv.io/SARAHANN

More from me: The Great British Veg Out How to support your gut by eating more, not less https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/p/t…
Reset Your Health If your body feels off after stress, travel, or burnout, this is where to start! https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/s/r...
Free 5-recipe PDF for busy weeks https://open.substack.com/pub/sarahma...
Join thousands reading The Compassionate Cure → https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/

Let's be friends! 📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sarahannmacklin 📹 Subscribe https://youtube.com/@livewellbewellsarah?si=UbuuWvMjAcTkELPN 📱 TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@livewellbewellpodcast?_r=1&_t=ZN-96iOW29jTRm