Florence William’s career as a journalist, author, podcaster, and reporter has frequently focused on the environment, health and science. On this episode of Time4Coffee, Florence discusses the health benefits of spending more time in the great outdoors, and how just one hour a week in nature can heighten your mood, improve your health, and ultimately make your life much better. She has gleaned these insights from her time investigating outdoor health therapies around the world including in Japan and Finland.  All of this is documented in most recent, of two bestselling books, The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative. A graduate of Yale University, Florence works as a freelance writer for publications such as The New York Times Magazine, Outside Magazine, and National Geographic. She joins us on this interview from a cozy office ‘shed’ in her urban backyard, in Washington, D.C., where she is able to get a nature fix every day!

Florence William’s career as a journalist, author, podcaster, and reporter has frequently focused on the environment, health and science. On this episode of Time4Coffee, Florence discusses the health benefits of spending more time in the great outdoors, and how just one hour a week in nature can heighten your mood, improve your health, and ultimately make your life much better. She has gleaned these insights from her time investigating outdoor health therapies around the world including in Japan and Finland.  All of this is documented in most recent, of two bestselling books, The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative. A graduate of Yale University, Florence works as a freelance writer for publications such as The New York Times Magazine, Outside Magazine, and National Geographic. She joins us on this interview from a cozy office ‘shed’ in her urban backyard, in Washington, D.C., where she is able to get a nature fix every day!

Emily Fletcher is founder of Ziva and the creator of the Ziva Meditation Technique, which combines mindfulness, meditation and manifesting to promote high performance. A former musical theatre performer on Broadway, Emily came to the practice of meditation when she realized that she’d achieved her dream of acting on Broadway, and yet she was miserable. She was experiencing extremely high levels of stress, and they showed on her body: she kept getting sick and injured, making it hard to perform; she even started going gray at 26; and she had chronic insomnia. It wasn’t until she began meditating that she was able to stop the harrowing effects this career-induced stress had had on her body. And the practice had fast results. In the first night after trying meditation, Emily slept through the night for the first time in 18 months. Since that fateful turnaround in her life, she decided to dedicate herself to sharing the practice of meditation with as many people as possible. Ziva meditation was the first company to offer online meditation training. Today, Emily is a new mom and an extremely successful CEO who leveled up her life thanks to just 20 minutes of meditation twice a day. Her new book, Stress Less, Accomplish More, is about the Ziva technique and its potential power to change human consciousness. The book comes out in February and can be preordered here.

Emily Fletcher is founder of Ziva and the creator of the Ziva Meditation Technique, which combines mindfulness, meditation and manifesting to promote high performance. A former musical theatre performer on Broadway, Emily came to the practice of meditation when she realized that she’d achieved her dream of acting on Broadway, and yet she was miserable. She was experiencing extremely high levels of stress, and they showed on her body: she kept getting sick and injured, making it hard to perform; she even started going gray at 26; and she had chronic insomnia. It wasn’t until she began meditating that she was able to stop the harrowing effects this career-induced stress had had on her body. And the practice had fast results. In the first night after trying meditation, Emily slept through the night for the first time in 18 months. Since that fateful turnaround in her life, she decided to dedicate herself to sharing the practice of meditation with as many people as possible. Ziva meditation was the first company to offer online meditation training. Today, Emily is a new mom and an extremely successful CEO who leveled up her life thanks to just 20 minutes of meditation twice a day. Her new book, Stress Less, Accomplish More, is about the Ziva technique and its potential power to change human consciousness. The book comes out in February and can be preordered here.

Harvard medical school’s Dr. Steven Schlozman, the co-director of MGH's Clay Center for Healthy Young Minds, has been obsessed with zombies since he was in elementary school. He loved sneaking into the movie theater and watching suspenseful, gory zombie films-- especially without his parents’ permission. It wasn’t until his 20s that Dr. Schlozman realized his second passion: psychiatry. He loved analyzing things that didn’t have a specific, textbook solution. He didn’t want to answer obvious questions like: “What’s wrong with my femur?, or “Why does my tooth hurt?” instead, he wanted to study the most abstract type of conditions: psychological.  Halfway into his career as a physician, his wife got quite ill and understandably Dr. Schlozman had trouble sleeping due to the stress he was experiencing. He decided to distract himself in the best way he thought possible: zombies. After watching Night of the Living Dead late one night, Dr. Schlozman decided to write a fake medical analysis of the illness that made zombies well, zombies. He published it online and it went viral. A publisher approached him soon after to offer him a book deal. His novel, The Zombie Autopsies: Secret Notebooks from the Apocalypse, has won numerous awards and continues to entertain zombie lovers to this day.  Needless to say, Java Junkies, this episode is filled with tons of expert advice on how to improve your mental health, with some heebie jeebies sprinkled in to keep you on your toes…

Harvard medical school’s Dr. Steven Schlozman, the co-director of MGH's Clay Center for Healthy Young Minds, has been obsessed with zombies since he was in elementary school. He loved sneaking into the movie theater and watching suspenseful, gory zombie films-- especially without his parents’ permission. It wasn’t until his 20s that Dr. Schlozman realized his second passion: psychiatry. He loved analyzing things that didn’t have a specific, textbook solution. He didn’t want to answer obvious questions like: “What’s wrong with my femur?, or “Why does my tooth hurt?” instead, he wanted to study the most abstract type of conditions: psychological.  Halfway into his career as a physician, his wife got quite ill and understandably Dr. Schlozman had trouble sleeping due to the stress he was experiencing. He decided to distract himself in the best way he thought possible: zombies. After watching Night of the Living Dead late one night, Dr. Schlozman decided to write a fake medical analysis of the illness that made zombies well, zombies. He published it online and it went viral. A publisher approached him soon after to offer him a book deal. His novel, The Zombie Autopsies: Secret Notebooks from the Apocalypse, has won numerous awards and continues to entertain zombie lovers to this day.  Needless to say, Java Junkies, this episode is filled with tons of expert advice on how to improve your mental health, with some heebie jeebies sprinkled in to keep you on your toes…

Dr. Ellen Vora is a board certified psychiatrist, acupuncturist, and yoga teacher, who takes a functional approach to mental health treatment. She believes in looking at her patients holistically, and addressing challenges at the source rather than with medication. Ellen specializes in depression, anxiety, insomnia, women’s mental health, adult ADHD, bipolar, autoimmunity, and digestive issues. After graduating from Yale University with an undergraduate degree in English, Dr. Vora continued on to Columbia University medical school, although she consistently felt reservations about the profession she was entering. On this not-so-caffeinated career conversation (Dr. Vora recently kicked her caffeine habit) she addresses our society’s struggles with mental health from a holistic psychiatry standpoint, and gives Java Junkies tools to reflect on their own physical and mental health, and what lifestyle changes you can make to feel like your best self. Tune in to this episode of T4C and find out how to better take care of yourself, and why your afternoon snack of Doritos might just be what’s making you depressed.

Dr. Ellen Vora is a board certified psychiatrist, acupuncturist, and yoga teacher, who takes a functional approach to mental health treatment. She believes in looking at her patients holistically, and addressing challenges at the source rather than with medication. Ellen specializes in depression, anxiety, insomnia, women’s mental health, adult ADHD, bipolar, autoimmunity, and digestive issues. After graduating from Yale University with an undergraduate degree in English, Dr. Vora continued on to Columbia University medical school, although she consistently felt reservations about the profession she was entering. On this not-so-caffeinated career conversation (Dr. Vora recently kicked her caffeine habit) she addresses our society’s struggles with mental health from a holistic psychiatry standpoint, and gives Java Junkies tools to reflect on their own physical and mental health, and what lifestyle changes you can make to feel like your best self. Tune in to this episode of T4C and find out how to better take care of yourself, and why your afternoon snack of Doritos might just be what’s making you depressed.

Dr. Bill Stixrud and Ned Johnson are the co-authors of The Self-Driven Child: the Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their Lives.  The main thesis of this incredible book is that the best thing you can do for your child is to give them the freedom to fail. Don’t be fooled by the term “child” though, the advice in this episode is extremely relevant to 18-25 year old Java Junkies!  Dr. Stixrud is a neuropsychologist who is specifically focused on the adolescent brain and the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation, stress, anxiety and technology on our brains. Johnson works with students and their families to prepare young people for tests like the SAT, ACT, GMAT, etc. and to help them manage the stresses that comes with this phase of life at his highly-regarded test prep company:  PrepMatters. Together, the two experts speak in depth about how young people can practice the self-care habits necessary to be healthy, happy, and successful in a time and place (college) where exhaustion and stress have become the status quo. In this super important caffeinated conversation, Andrea dives into some of the most important information that Java Junkies in college need right now in order to become the best versions of themselves.

Dr. Bill Stixrud and Ned Johnson are the co-authors of The Self-Driven Child: the Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their Lives.  The main thesis of this incredible book is that the best thing you can do for your child is to give them the freedom to fail. Don’t be fooled by the term “child” though, the advice in this episode is extremely relevant to 18-25 year old Java Junkies!  Dr. Stixrud is a neuropsychologist who is specifically focused on the adolescent brain and the detrimental effects of sleep deprivation, stress, anxiety and technology on our brains. Johnson works with students and their families to prepare young people for tests like the SAT, ACT, GMAT, etc. and to help them manage the stresses that comes with this phase of life at his highly-regarded test prep company:  PrepMatters. Together, the two experts speak in depth about how young people can practice the self-care habits necessary to be healthy, happy, and successful in a time and place (college) where exhaustion and stress have become the status quo. In this super important caffeinated conversation, Andrea dives into some of the most important information that Java Junkies in college need right now in order to become the best versions of themselves.