The Tony Wrighton Podcast

One of the world's foremost relationship experts is on Zestology today - Esther Perel. If you haven't seen her TED talks, do yourself a favour, get googling and come back to me in half an hour. Her take on bickering is especially good.

I was grateful to meet Esther Perel recently and interview her for Zestology and Balance mag. I think the interview is useful listening for anyone in a relationship (or wanting to be in one).

In this Valentine's week I think this podcast might be one of the most important I've recorded. This podcast could help you. Enjoy.

It was great to meet Joe Wicks recently, in conjunction with the awesome Balance magazine. His latest book, The Fat-Loss Plan, came out on Boxing Day. Joe is changing the lives and shapes of gazillions of Brits - he's the author of the UK's biggest-selling diet books since records began and he keeps building his fanbase.

His philosophy about both diet and exercise is to keep it simple.

"People try and change too much at once, and it never works. Pick something that you can do 15 minutes a day, rather than one hour a week."

Which is solid advice. I always feel better when I do a little exercise, than on a day when I do none. Bearing that in mind, you might want to listen to the whole interview now.

Author Brett Moran and I discuss digital addiction and distraction. He's got a great system for focus, productivity and avoiding the online rabbit hole.

And I've got an important(ish) question for you at the end of the podcast.

The final podcast in my series recorded over here in South-east Asia.

Continuing my series of podcasts recorded here in Asia - you may know that I was planning to go off to a monastery to meditate. It didn't quite go to plan. Here's what happened...

This was recorded in London at a nice casual Saturday morning biohackers meetup - 7 energy hacks for 2018.

Huge thanks to Nick Elvery of the Daily Habits podcast and Leanne Spencer of Remove The Guesswork podcast for their excellent contributions - make sure to check out their podcasts too.

You can listen to the show here right now, or if you are short of time you can read on below.

Please note: the below does not constitute medical advice. Always consult your doctor before starting new supplements or regimes. This is just what worked for me.

The "setlist" was:

• L Tyrosine (for focus)
• Colostrum (for hay fever)
• Keto diet (for energy and wellness)
• Blue blockers (to improve sleep)
• Viome (for wellness and stomach)
• Oura ring (for sleep)
• Joovv (for energy and wellness)

But which one didn't I like? Listen on to find out.

This podcast includes the frankly shocking results of my alcohol/ sleep experiment.

Coming up in this podcast, you'll hear about my experiments with:

• The Oura ring
• Sleep and alcohol - my tests.
• Drinking less / aka Dryish January

The Oura Ring

As you may know, I've been road-testing the Oura Ring (and have been talking about it on the podcast). It's a tracking device that you wear on your finger. It measures your sleep, heart rate, heart rate variability, body temperature, and exercise.

Sleep and alcohol

Drinking less

So for more on this, I'm definitely cutting down on the drinking in January - Dryish January as I'm calling it. I've talked to former professional footballer Andy Ramage on today's Zestology podcast. He is a successful trader these days, as well as running the popular site One Year No Beer and being an author at the same time. It's a brilliant interview, and if you're thinking of cutting down on the booze in January, or anytime this year, then I hope you enjoy. And if you want to read his article - How to do dry January without hating your life - it's here.

Steven Masley is one of the world's top experts in this area. He's a bestselling author and TV Doctor in the States, and he knows his stuff. His new book, The Better Brain Solution, is out tomorrow and I heartily recommend a cheeky pre-order as he is one of the top people in the field. It focuses on the link between body, brain and what we eat.

Should you call a Christmas podcast 'Best Bits'? My decision - yes. So take a listen and see if you agree that these are Zestology 'Best Bits', or maybe you'll just think they're Zestology Average Bits! Coming up.

• Best bits 2017
• Some extra bits recorded for this podcast
• 2018 sneak preview, guests lined up
• A few thank yous

I've really enjoyed this year - doing my podcast Zestology as well as my telly work with Sky.

So I've compiled a review of the year. Call it Best Bits if you like.

Three of my favourite Zest moments were chatting with Dave Asprey on injecting stem cells into your unmentionables!, Meghan Currie on switching off, and getting away from screens. And interviewing the author of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, John Gray on his trip to London. They're in here, as are many more personal highlights.

This week, a slightly different format on Zestology, it's my first ever 'Zestology Stories' podcast. And it includes Julia Immonen, a friend of mine and colleague at Sky Sports.

• How to deal with fear (from someone who knows)
• Getting outside your comfort zone
• An incredible breakthrough in treating migraines
• More great stories

Having known Julia for many years, I was astonished when one day she casually announced, "I'm going to row the Atlantic". Astonished because she'd never before mentioned rowing, and you'll hear in this interview how in fact, she'd never even rowed on open water before. Genuinely crazy.

We recorded the interview in our lunch break at Sky, and she told me about some terrifying moments in the middle of the Atlantic. Talk about dealing with fear. It is alongside a couple of other good stories on Zestology podcast this week featuring other short interviews that I've recorded recently.

I have given this a lot of thought recently...

• Is it a good idea to occasionally switch off?

Obviously I work as a sports journo for Sky Sports News, and I love that. I love sport, love reading about sport, love watching sport and so on. I'm also bit of a news junkie as well, often taking part in shows on Sky News and being a pretty avid watcher when not at work. But as well as being a news junkie, I recognise the value of occasionally switching off. Getting home and stepping away from the TV and my phone. Some stories leave me feeling pretty alarmed at the moment, the state of the world I care about and it worries me. So is it ever a good idea to switch off a little?

Look, I don't want news which is solely stories of cats that were lost and found. I want to be well informed and make a difference, so I'm looking for the right balance.

I recorded a podcast where we explored these themes of leadership and whether we can make a difference by switching off. Tayo Rockson was on Zestology (his stuff on mentorship, leadership, and following your gut is especially good.) And I was on his podcast too, where you'll hear my thoughts on switching off the news some more.