Sit back, leave behind the cares of the day and take a sonic journey with Dr Michael Mosley. In this new podcast series, designed to help you let go and unwind, each episode focuses on a scientifically proven technique for activating the body’s built-in relaxation response, and takes a deep dive to explore what’s happening inside as we find stillness and calm. By deliberately slowing your breath you can help bring peace and calm to your body and mind. We discover a sweet spot (it’s around six breaths per minute but varies from individual to individual) where bodily rhythms align to enhance this relaxation response, and encounter the wandering Vagus Nerve with its central, critical role in all of this. Guest: Mara Mather, professor at the University of Southern California. Series Producer, sound design and mix engineer: Richard Ward
Researcher: William Hornbrook
Production Manager: Maria Simons
Editor: Zoë Heron
Specially composed music by Richard Atkinson (Mcasso)
A BBC Studios Audio production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.

Deep Calm - Episode 1: Using Your Breath

If time is tight, what's the one thing that you should be doing to improve your health and wellbeing? Michael Mosley reveals surprisingly simple top tips that are scientifically proven to change your life.

Science

Health & Fitness

In this episode, Michael Mosley discovers that, as well as being a very rewarding thing to do, volunteering your time, labour or spare room can really benefit your health too. Michael speaks with Dr Edith Chen from Northwestern University in the US, who has been investigating the power of helping others. She tells Michael about her studies showing that by boosting your mood and empathy, volunteering can lower chronic inflammation, cholesterol and even help you lose weight. It’s also a great way to meet new people! Meanwhile, Matt gives back to his local community by volunteering at a food bank.
 
Series Producer: Nija Dalal-Small
Editor: Zoë Heron
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.

Volunteer

Although yoga is thought to have been practised for over 5,000 years, its myriad benefits for our health and wellbeing are still being uncovered. Professor Rima Dada from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi reveals the extraordinary findings into the benefits of yoga - how half an hour a day can slow down ageing at a cellular level by protecting your mitochondria and your DNA. It can also improve your brain health and even reduce symptoms of depression. Just a few sessions are enough for our volunteer James to catch the yoga bug! Series Producer: Nija Dalal-Small
Editor: Zoë Heron
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.

Yoga

Reading poetry can reduce stress and help give you words to express the things you're feeling. And reading a poem out loud has been shown to be a surprisingly simple way to activate your relaxation response and bring about a sense of calm. It’s all to do with the way it slows and controls your breathing rate, which in turn stimulates your parasympathetic nervous system and can lead to many beneficial effects. Michael Mosley speaks to Dietrich von Bonin from the Swiss Association of Art Therapies, who says as little as 5 minutes of rhythmic poetry read aloud can be even more effective than slow-paced breathing at relaxing your body and mind. Our volunteer Colm dives into the world of Irish poetry and incorporates reading it aloud into his bedtime routine. Series Producer: Nija Dalal-Small
Editor: Zoë Heron
A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.

Read a poem

Sit back, leave behind the cares of the day and take a sonic journey with Dr Michael Mosley. In this new podcast series, designed to help you let go and unwind, each episode focuses on a scientifically-proven technique for activating the body’s built-in relaxation response, and takes a deep dive to explore what’s happening inside as we find stillness and calm. Most of us instinctively know that music can have a huge impact on our mood. But it can also be an effective tool to tap into your body’s relaxation response. Plus thought loops, soundwaves and an encounter with the Organ of Corti. Guest: Stefan Koelsch, professor at the University of Bergen in Norway. Series Producer, sound design and mix engineer: Richard Ward
Researcher: William Hornbrook
Production Manager: Maria Simons
Editor: Zoë Heron
Specially composed music by Richard Atkinson (Mcasso)
A BBC Studios Audio production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.

Deep Calm - Episode 5: Using Music

Sit back, leave behind the cares of the day and take a sonic journey with Dr Michael Mosley. In this new podcast series, designed to help you let go and unwind, each episode focuses on a scientifically-proven technique for activating the body’s built-in relaxation response, and takes a deep dive to explore what’s happening inside as we find stillness and calm. What is it about the natural world that has such a positive impact upon our physiology - slowing our heart rate and blood pressure, settling our thoughts and so much more? One theory is that it’s connected to the repeating patterns in nature - fractals - and Michael discovers that we live in a fractal universe. Guest: Richard Taylor, professor at the University of Oregon. Series Producer, sound design and mix engineer: Richard Ward
Researcher: William Hornbrook
Production Manager: Maria Simons
Editor: Zoë Heron
Specially composed music by Richard Atkinson (Mcasso)
Extract from "Fractal compositions No.1” composed by Severin Su in collaboration with 13&9 Design.
A BBC Studios Audio production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.

Deep Calm - Episode 1: Using Your Breath

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