selfcare

How to sound like Mister Rogers

Oftentimes, it's easier to scroll through our phones than do some squats. So what can we do to motivate ourselves to pick movement? In this episode of Life Kit, we speak with clinical psychologist Diana Hill and movement specialist Katy Bowman about how to retrain your brain to crave physical activity more than your phone.

Creating time for connection and growth. July is a quiet time in educational development, as commencement is in the rearview mirror and the frenetic prep for the new academic year is still over the August horizon. I've been enjoying commuting less and reading more. I've also been contemplating the theme

Our phones have become misery machines. Hopescrolling can change that.

In this challenging time, many people are feeling anxious, uncertain, and unsure how to live out their values—whether they’re up against injustice on a grand scale or facing something close to home, like a schoolyard bully or problematic workplace culture.

Work anxiety can happen to the best of us. Here's how to manage workplace anxiety, including tips to accept it and use it to your advantage.

Practical strategies for keeping up with the news while avoiding information overload. This article also encourages educators to share these techniques with students, helping everyone stay informed in a balanced way.

Being a leader means that our emotions get triggered. Ethan Kross, author of Shift, explores his research on how we can better manage our emotions.

Join the challenge to go (almost) phoneless

Boost your motivation and confidence as you return to the classroom after a break. Discover five practical steps to ease into the new term and tackle challenges with a fresh perspective.

In our first "How To..." guide of 2025, Dr Laurie is asking how can we stop striving for perfection and make peace with the idea that it's ok to lead messy and "half-assed" lives.  Oliver Burkeman (author of Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time For What Counts) explains how we can embrace imperfection and find liberation and joy in just doing our best.

Exercises to help you feel thankful

Keep these science-backed stress busters in your back pocket this holiday season. Whip 'em out the next time you're at a table full of bickering in-laws or your flight gets canceled!

Sometimes you're just feeling blah: the weather's bad, you can't get out of bed and you're struggling to shake off that listlessness. In these moments, the solution is often simpler than we think. This episode, NPR's science desk and Life Kit staff present research-backed mood boosters to instantly shake yourself out of a slump and turn your day around.

Do you seek a deeper understanding of yourself, others, and the world?

We spend more and more of our lives staring at screens. Our cellphones, smartwatches and laptops allow us to communicate instantly with people anywhere in the world, and quickly look up obscure facts. But our digital devices are also altering our brains in profound ways. This week, psychologist Gloria Mark explores how our ability to focus is shrinking, and offers ways to protect our minds in a world filled with endless distractions.

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Karen Costa shares how role clarity and boundaries can help us thrive on episode 505 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast

In part six: host Manoush Zomorodi digs into the preliminary results of the listener study with Columbia University researcher Keith Diaz. He shares the surprising — and encouraging — initial findings from more than 20,000 listeners who tried to incorporate movement breaks into their day.Also on this episode, listener Dana Lopez Maile shares how the study was a "game changer" for her health. Yiliu Shen-Burke, founder of the augmented reality app SoftSpace, explains his vision of augmented reality. Finally, Manoush explores the future of screen time in a new era of artificial intelligence, and the inextricable convergence of humans and machines.Click here to find out more about the project: npr.org/bodyelectricWe'd love to hear what you thought of the Body Electric series. Go to npr.org/tedsurvey to share your feedback.

Dave Stachowiak and Bonni Stachowiak talk about navigating insecurity in teaching on episode 490 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast

In part three: host Manoush Zomorodi explores how our tech habits are causing our eyes to change shape—to elongate—which causes nearsightedness. She investigates why rates of myopia among kids are soaring. She speaks with Maria Liu, an optometrist with a quest to slow down the progression of myopia in children by opening the first ever myopia control clinic in the United States.Later in the episode, we hear from a team of employees who tried incorporating "movement snacks" into their days for one week.Click here to find out more about the project: npr.org/bodyelectricAre you signed up for Columbia's study, or following along with the series? We want to hear your thoughts! Send us a voice memo at bodyelectric@npr.org. Talk to us on Instagram @ManoushZ, and on Facebook @tedradiohour.