How Do We Manage?

Scrolling through social media we’re presented with all sorts of methods to live longer: supplements, bio-hacking, optimisation. All this speaks to a very individualistic approach to health, but actually one of the biggest factors to maximise your longevity is where you live.

Today’s guest, Dr Devi Sridhar is a professor and Chair of global public health at Edinburgh University. She’s written a book called ‘How Not To Die (Too Soon)’ that looks at how governments handle food, education, healthcare systems - even policy around gun violence, clean water and safe roads - can have a huge impact on life expectancy. She poses the idea of making longevity a collective thing, rather than putting the pressure on individuals. 

Your postcode can have a huge impact on your health; whether that’s to do with food, education, or healthcare systems; or even policy around gun violence, safe roads and clean water.

In this episode Dr Sridhar tells Stephanie about the state of health around the world, the countries that we can learn from and the things you can change in your life right now to help you live longer.

Resources & Links 

www.instagram.com/profdevisridhar

Buy ‘How Not To Die (Too Soon)

Host: Stephanie von Bismarck 

Guest: Dr Devi Sridhar

Producer: Holly Fisher

Production Manager: Angela Crago 

Executive Producer: Ellie Di Martino 

The series was recorded and edited at Pod Shop studios. 

Follow @HowDoWeManage

In 2015 the UN warned us that there are only 60 harvests left until the earth’s soil is too degraded to support efficient food production. Our food systems are weak and something needs to change for more sustainable modes of farming. But how realistic is that on a large scale? 

Today we’re tackling the issue with George Lamb. During a break from his successful career as a TV and radio presenter, George met the music producer Andy Cato, who had become aware of the issues with agriculture and food and wanted to do something about it. Together they founded Wildfarmed, a producer of bread and flour made by farms using regenerative methods that protect wildlife and keep the soil healthy enough for us to keep growing for longer.

Today he tells Stephanie about his journey, how everyone can choose a better food system through where they put their money, and why we need to be better educated about where our food comes from.

Resources & Links 

Wildfarmed: https://wildfarmed.com/

Follow Wildfarmed on Instagram: instagram.com/wildfarmed/

Follow George on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/georgemlamb/

Host: Stephanie von Bismarck 

Guest: George Lamb

Producer: Holly Fisher

Production Manager: Angela Crago 

Executive Producer: Ellie Di Martino 

The series was recorded and edited at Pod Shop studios. Follow @HowDoWeManage

Why do we love who we love? Why do we stay when we know it’s over? And how do some couples stay madly in love? These are just some of the questions Dr Justin Garcia has been exploring in a new book called ‘The Intimate Animal’.

Justin is an evolutionary biologist and executive director at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction. He’s been studying how humans have evolved to love, how that can sometimes be at odds with what we desire - and what that means for monogamy and fidelity.

In this episode Justin tells Stephanie about his research into everything from the ways we commit to casual sex throughout human evolution, and how we can apply this knowledge to the modern world of relationships.

Resources & Links 

Buy The Intimate Animal: The Science of Love, Fidelity and Connection by Dr Justin Garcia (published by Penguin Life)

Host: Stephanie von Bismarck 

Guest: Dr Justin Garcia

Producer: Holly Fisher

Production Manager: Angela Crago 

Executive Producer: Ellie Di Martino 

The series was recorded and edited at Pod Shop studios. 

Follow @HowDoWeManage

Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, the audio may intermittently dip in quality, which could affect your listening experience.

According to UN statistics a third of women across the world experience sexual or physical violence at least once in their life. The rates of violence against women and girls are astonishing; in the UK a woman is killed by a man once every three days. So how do we tackle this?

Jackson Katz is an educator and anti-sexism activist. He has spent his career talking to men in positions of influence - whether that’s managers, sports coaches, fathers or uncles - about how they can use their power to help end misogynist views. In his most recent book, ‘Every Man’, he reframes violence against women as a men’s issue rather than a women’s, and talks about how shifting the focus changes the way we challenge the problem.

In this episode Jackson talks to Stephanie about the current climate of misogyny in the online world, and how we equip men with the tools to challenge the influence that it's having on future generations of boys.

Resources & Links 

Order ‘Every Man’ by Jackson Katz

Jackson’s website

Host: Stephanie von Bismarck 

Guest: Jackson Katz

Producer: Holly Fisher

Production Manager: Angela Crago 

Executive Producer: Ellie Di Martino 

The series was recorded and edited at Pod Shop studios. 

Follow @HowDoWeManage

Sue Deagle was living a happy life in northern Virginia. She had a high-flying career and a beautiful home that she shared with her husband, son and daughter. But one day she woke up to find her husband unresponsive in bed, by the time he got to the hospital, he had sadly passed away. Sue suddenly found herself on a new path, juggling motherhood and work while navigating her own grief and her childrens’.

Following up from our episode on the neuroscience behind grief, in this episode we delve into what that looks like in practice. Stephanie speaks to Sue about how the experience of losing her husband changed her life in all sorts of unexpected ways, the hope she could take from that, the surprising places she found solace and understanding, and how we manage being a parent of grieving children.

Resources & Links 

Order ‘Do Loss’ by Sue Deagle:

Amazon UK: https://amzn.eu/d/0f1B9clE

Amazon US: https://a.co/d/07ABxOhI

Read Sue’s Substack ‘The Luminist’

Host: Stephanie von Bismarck 

Guest: Sue Deagle

Producer: Holly Fisher

Production Manager: Angela Crago 

Executive Producer: Ellie Di Martino 

The series was recorded and edited at Pod Shop studios. 

Follow @HowDoWeManage