WebMD Health Discovered Podcast Interviews Writer Who Co-Authored A Book With Oprah

If you don't watch the news, have a news feed, or boycott social media, then you haven't seen Oprah discussing her weight loss journey using drugs such as Wegovy. 

One of the best health podcasts in the audioverse has the next best thing -- Oprah's co-author of a book about happiness.

 WebMD Health Discovered Podcast, Dr. John Whyte hosted Dr. Arthur Brooks, who co-authored a book with none other than Oprah Winfrey, entitled, Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier. 

 

In this episode, Dr. Brooks, a behavioral economist, discusses how we study happiness, using a combination of psychology and biology to understand how people can have the toolkit they need to be happier.

 

"Many people desire happiness, but is there a science to being happy? Can we learn to be happy regardless of external challenges? Are there evidence-based tools and practices for managing emotions and enhancing our lives? We spoke with Arthur C. Brooks, who co-authored the book Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier with Oprah Winfrey, about using science to understand happiness from a psychological and biological perspective, the intersection of happiness with our environment, the impact of social media, the benefits of healthy relationships, and how we can actively teach ourselves to live happier lives."

 
Some highlights in the episode include: 

• 2:40: How can we better understand happiness? 
• “If you find a group of people and some of them are happier than others, you want to look at all the things in their background, all the things that they're doing, and then you want to see statistically how each one of those things individually affects or is associated with their happiness.”
• 4:26: How does neuroscience play a role? 
• “Your limbic system creates emotions, nothing more, positive and negative to give you information about whether something is something you should avoid or something you should approach, and all those emotions, all those feelings are created in different parts of the brain. And we can actually see how the brain is processing those different emotions with brain imaging.”
• 9:10: Can you just wish yourself to be happy?
• “You're not going to wish yourself happier. But you can work yourself to greater happiness by managing your emotions so that they don't manage you. And that means being conscious of what your emotions are. And then using a set of techniques that we talked about, that Oprah Winfrey and I talk about in this book, but actually how to do that.”
• 20:14: How does social media play a role? 
• “When you're feeling lonely, that feeling of loneliness really is a deficit of oxytocin in your brain, and this is intensely uncomfortable, and so you look for ways to satisfy your need for oxytocin. One of the things that people often do is they go to social media. But that's like getting all your calories from fast food — it will give you tons of calories, but not enough nutrients, which is one of the reasons that people will scroll social media or spend a lot of time on social media, increasing or leading to more loneliness, not less.”

In case you missed it, check out these WebMD Health Discovered podcast episodes featuring notable guests.

• Start the New Year with Self-Compassion
• Dr. Neha Pathak interviews guest Kristin Neff, PhD, a pioneer in the field of self-compassion research and author of the books “Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself,” and “Fierce Self-Compassion: How Women Can Harness Kindness to Speak Up, Claim Their Power and Thrive.” 
• Sober Curious? Shift Your Relationship To Alcohol With Mindful Drinking 
• Dr. Neha Pathak talks to Amanda E. White, licensed professional counselor and the owner of Therapy for Women Center, author of “Not Drinking Tonight,” and creator of the popular Instagram account @therapyforwomen. 
• From Microaggressions to Hypervigilance: How Racism Affects Black Mental Health 
• Dr. Neha Pathak spoke with Riana Elyse Anderson, PhD, LCP, clinical psychologist and Fellow at the Hutchins Center for African and American Research at Harvard University. 
• How Can Practical Optimism Change Our Lives?
• Dr. Neha Pathak interviews Sue Varma, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist and author of the new book “Practical Optimism: The Art, Science, and Practice of Exceptional Well-Being.”

 Check out the WebMD Health Discovered podcast. It is one of the best health and wellness podcasts. It's a much better resource than that family member all of us have who claims to be an expert in medical diagnosis and treatment because they've watched all 19 seasons of Grey's Anatomy.