Ed Stott & The Big Life Questions

Finding the elusive balance between utilizing technology and social media for our work, relationships, and overall happiness is no easy feat. It's a constant struggle, and sometimes it feels like these digital distractions have become an all-consuming time suck. We live in the 21st century & for many of us that means that giving up our phones, ignoring our inbox & deleting social media just isn't an option. So today, we're going to examine why tech is so addictive & how we can take back control of our time & our brains. Today's guest is Vivek Wadwha is a Distinguished Fellow at the Labor and Worklife Program at Harvard Law School & the author of Your Happiness Was Hacked: Why Tech Is Winning The Battle To Control Your Brain & How To Fight Back. This episode is supported by Sleeping Duck CONNECT WITH USConnect with That's Helpful & Ed Stott on Instagram. Find Vivek on Twitter BOOKSYour Happiness Was Hacked Got an episode suggestion or feedback for me? Email me - ed@edwinastott.com

Prepare to have your beliefs about nutrition shattered! This week, renowned nutrition expert Marion Nestle exposes the well-kept secrets of the food industry. As part of the Insiders series, we've heard about how our food has been manipulated by companies who are trying to make it more enticing & even addictive. But what about the people who have nothing to do with what's in your food, and everything to do with what you believe about your food? Discover the shocking truth behind your favorite meals and gain invaluable insights into the science and manipulation that shapes what we eat. Buckle up for an eye-opening journey through the world of food! This episode is supported by Sleeping Duck CONNECT WITH USConnect with That's Helpful & Ed Stott on Instagram. Find Marion via her website on Instagram & Twitter BOOKSUnsavoury Truth Got an episode suggestion or feedback for me? Email me - ed@edwinastott.com

Did you know that sleeping with an eye mask on can improve your memory? Or that getting the right amount of light at the right time of day can help to boost your mental health? Me either! But these little hacks & tips are what today's ep is all about. Professor Penny Lewis is an expert in sleep engineering, she's a neuroscientist & the author of The Secret World of Sleep. Penny explains what happens when we're asleep & how we can engineer it to boost the hours we're awake. This bonus episode was brought to you by Sleeping Duck CONNECT WITH USConnect with That's Helpful & Ed Stott on Instagram. Find Penny's Sleep Science Podcast here Got an episode suggestion or feedback for me? Email me - ed@edwinastott.com

Whilst some of the tech our kids use is incredibly useful, the majority is a direct route from advertisers to their brains. So how is advertising & tech targeting our kids, what impact is it having on them & how can we protect them? My guest today is Dr Susan Linn. She's a psychologist & the Author of Who's Raising the Kids? Big Tech, Big Business & The Lives of Children. Susan explains how tech is training kids to be consumers, dampening their creativity plus how it's fueling commercialism and affecting democracy. This episode is supported by Sleeping Duck CONNECT WITH USConnect with That's Helpful & Ed Stott on Instagram. Find Susan via her website & on Twitter. LINKSChildren & Media Australia Got an episode suggestion or feedback for me? Email me - ed@edwinastott.com

TLDR: Learning the truth about how your clothes are made is overwhelming but there's one simple & wonderfully life-enhancing thing you can do about it. I want to put that up front because, if you (like me) are likely to skip past this episode & continue to bury your head in the sand because the state of fast fashion is so damn depressing, you may well believe there's nothing you can do about it. That's not true! In this episode Maxine Bedat, Founder and Director of fashion industry think & do tank New Standard Institute, takes us around the world following the life-cycle of a pair of jeans & the very simple thing we can all to do combat fast fashion. This episode is supported by Sleeping Duck CONNECT WITH USConnect with That's Helpful & Ed Stott on Instagram. Find Maxine on Instagram Find New Standard Institute on Instagram & via their website BOOKUnraveled: The Life & Death of a Garment Got an episode suggestion or feedback for me? Email me - ed@edwinastott.com

Let's take a closer look at what's happening to our food before it gets to us - how it's designed to be addictive, marketed to get us hooked & how that's changing pretty much everything in and around us. Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter & New York Times Best Selling Author Michael Moss is the author of Salt, Sugar, Fat - How the Food Giants Hooked Us & Hooked, How we Became Addicted to Processed Food. This is the first in this special Insiders series that will roll out over the month. Each week we'll hear from an expert who's either dug deep into or previously worked in the industries who's business is our minds & bodies. We'll explore the tricks employed by each of these industries that are cashing in on manipulating our physical & mental health to level up our knowledge and polish up our BS detectors to protect ourselves, our families & our wallets. This episode is supported by Sleeping Duck CONNECT WITH USConnect with That's Helpful & Ed Stott on Instagram. Find Michael via his website on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter Got an episode suggestion or feedback for me? Email me - ed@edwinastott.com

There is nothing more irritating than being told you're 'hormonal', but hormones do play a huge role in the way our brains operate. So what's really going on up there? Dr Sarah McKay is a neuroscientist & the author of the Women's Brain Book: The Neuroscience of Health, Hormones and Happiness. We explore our brains & get to the bottom of this relationship between our brains and our hormones so that we can better understand ourselves & our bodies. This episode is supported by Sleeping Duck CONNECT WITH USConnect with That's Helpful & Ed Stott on Instagram. Find Dr Sarah McKay on Instagram & via her Website. BOOKSThe Women's Brain Book PODCASTTransform Your Mindset with the Expectation Effect Got an episode suggestion or feedback for me? Email me - ed@edwinastott.com

We know so little about getting a great nights sleep ourselves, it's no wonder we're baffled when it comes to helping kids get quality rest. But, that's what we're going to tackle on today's episode of That's Helpful with me Ed Stott. My guest today is Sarah Ockwell Smith, she's a gentle parenting expert (she was actually the first person to coin the term) & the author of The Gentle Sleep Book as well as 13 other parenting books. She breaks down the perfect bed time routine, points out some areas where you may be going wrong & has some fabulous pointers on leaning into your intuition as a parent & how that holds the key to helping your children with their sleep. This bonus episode was brought to you by Sleeping Duck CONNECT WITH USConnect with That's Helpful & Ed Stott on Instagram. Find Sarah via her website on Instagram & Twitter Got an episode suggestion or feedback for me? Email me - ed@edwinastott.com

Despite previously working as a war correspondent, when New York Times journalist Damien Cave moved to Australia from the US, he was shocked by the Aussie approach to risk taking. Our national loves of nippers & surfing turned what his own country had taught him about risk & how it should be managed on its head. He says it's changed not only his life but his family's too & he's since written a book about it. Today, we're exploring how changing the way you think about risk can change your life, broaden your horizons & help raise more resilient children & communities. This episode is supported by Sleeping Duck CONNECT WITH USConnect with That's Helpful & Ed Stott on Instagram. Find Damien on Twitter & Instagram BOOKInto The Rip Got an episode suggestion or feedback for me? Email me - ed@edwinastott.com

If the Kardashian's 5th private jet trip of the morning has you left you wondering why you're bothering with mushy paper straws & an over-worked reusable coffee cup, you are not alone! Fear not though, all is not lost & there are some very good reasons to stay sustainable. Kate Hall is a sustainability blogger & activist who goes by the name Ethically Kate online. She says that a few simple shifts can reduce that environmental guilt we all feel, lead to a much more fulfilling life & of course, help the earth in the process! In this episode Kate runs us through the 3 things we should all be doing. This episode is supported by Sleeping Duck CONNECT WITH USConnect with That's Helpful & Ed Stott on Instagram. Find Kate on Instagram, Facebook & via her website BOOKBolder, Better, Different Got an episode suggestion or feedback for me? Email me - ed@edwinastott.com