An athlete’s podcast recommendations

For laughs, learning, or a quick escape from the present moment, these podcasts will provide

When we talk about health, we often forget to talk about our mental health and well-being. Podcasts have become a domain where people can listen and feel more in-tuned to and mindful of their everyday lives. It is the idea of escaping from reality for a few moments while deeply assessing our own lives through a new and different perspective. Some people may find podcasts with expert opinions on mental health beneficial, whereas others may find a podcast with comedic aspects more mentally fulfilling. Below are three podcasts that all have very different set-ups and aims, but that all have the potential to improve your mental health, help introduce you to healthy coping mechanisms to try, or at the very least boost your mood.   

We Can Do Hard Things

This podcast is hosted by Glennon Doyle, Amanda Doyle, and Abby Wambach. Glennon Doyle is a New York Times bestselling author and wife of Wambach, a former US professional soccer player who has won two Olympic gold medals and a World Cup and is part owner of the Angel City FC soccer team. Amanda Doyle is a former attorney and is the current business manager for her sister Glennon Doyle. We Can Do Hard Things focuses on how painful experiences can lead us to do hard things even when we feel ill-prepared. The co-hosts interview people from various industries and sectors and discuss how tough moments have led them to success and gratitude. The overall idea of the podcast is that we are all in this together, and hopefully you will learn something from the podcast that will help to lighten your load just a bit. The We Can Do Hard Things podcast is uploaded weekly on Mondays and Wednesdays, and you can listen wherever you get your podcasts. 

Smartless

If you are looking for a podcast that is easy to follow and will make you laugh, this is the podcast for you. Smartless is a podcast co-hosted by actors Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett. Every week, one of the co-hosts will invite a celebrity guest to appear on the podcast without the other co-hosts knowing. Celebrities such as Ewan McGregor, Kerry Washington, Robert Downey Jr., and Jennifer Aniston (just to name a few) have appeared on the podcast. The other co-hosts then must guess who the celebrity guest is based on clues given by the co-host who already knows who the guest is. The podcast episode is then followed by a non-scripted interview by the co-hosts which often leads to banter and laugh-out-loud moments. The co-hosts often create a comfortable space for the celebrity which allows the celebrity to express themselves in new and fun ways. You can catch Smartless every Monday wherever you get your podcasts. 

Bialik BreakdownMayim Bialik, who played Amy Farrah Flower on the hit tv show the Big Bang Theory, is the current host of Jeopardy and has a PhD in neuroscience. In 2021, the actress started a podcast focussing on mental health based on her own life experiences and the knowledge that she has accumulated over the years from her time studying neuroscience. Bialik co-hosts the podcast with her boyfriend Jonathan Cohen who is a poet, writer, and producer. The dynamic duo discusses topics anywhere from addiction to overthinking basic everyday tasks. Bialik and Cohen often use humour as a way to keep the listener engaged and to lighten the atmosphere when discussing intense issues. The Bialik Breakdown podcast is available anywhere you get your podcast and new episodes are out every Tuesday.