The Best Well-Being Podcasts To Listen To At Home

A podcast dedicated to exploring both mental and physical wellbeing, Deliciously Ella follows the vast success of the Deliciously Ella recipes and cookbooks and is hosted by the husband and wife duo Ella and Matthew Mills. In each episode they welcome guests – from doctors to authors and wellness experts – to discuss relevant topics, including how to build a healthy and happy brain, how food choices affect mood, and whether morning routines can change your life. Photo: Courtesy

With all this social distancing, our flats and houses have started to feel a bit like desert islands. So, what better to listen to, than the stories and song choices from some of the most fascinating people over the past (almost) century – from Princess Margaret to Margaret Thatcher. Desert Island Discs is not an unexpected recommendation, but it always deserves a mention. With the most incredible archive of episodes to listen to (and new instalments still coming out each week), you won’t fear running out of them however long this lockdown may last… Photo: Courtesy

Not a new suggestion, but an old favourite – Happier with Gretchen Rubin is a cult well-being classic, which has had over 95 million downloads. What began as Rubin’s book, The Happiness Project - documenting a year dedicated to making herself happier through resolutions big or small - has become a whole movement. One part of that is the podcast, in which Rubin and her sister Elizabeth offer practical advice and personal anecdotes in a quest to share happiness. From the impact of one-sentence journals to the joy of music, each episode provides a wonderful way to combat stress and anxiety with practical solutions. They even released an episode last week on ‘Coping During Covid-19 – how to stay happier and calmer in difficult times,’ and we could all do with the answers to that. Photo: Courtesy

A really uplifting choice, How To Fail, hosted by the author Elizabeth Day, explores why moments of failure can actually lead to ultimate success. Day brings on a stream of ostensibly self-evidently “successful” guests, and discusses key moments of their life that they consider a failure. For something so simple, the resulting conversations are tender and joyful. Some episodes are clear winners – Alain De Botton talking about death – while others are more surprisingly heart-wrenching, notably Camilla Thurlow, a former Love Island contestant, discussing the PTSD she experienced after her time working as a bomb-disposal expert. Another moving tale of love is the episode with Elle’s editor-in-chief, Farrah Storr. Her account of the start of her relationship with her husband, the novelist Will Storr – a failed first date that against the odds turned into a close friendship, growing into love through winding walks through London in the early hours of the morning – is a romantic comedy screenplay begging to be made. Photo: Courtesy

Fast approaching its 1000th episode, In Our Time is perfect for those who want to brush up on areas of knowledge that they’ve always wanted to learn more about but have never had the time to. Melvyn Bragg gives a crisp outline of the subject under discussion, introduces three top academics in that field, and then briskly steers the discussion for 42 minutes. The range is huge, from history to science to literature to philosophy. Expect to become unexpectedly fascinated in, say, romantic poetry or the evolution of horses – or at the very least to emerge armed with the perfect fodder for your next pub quiz. Photo: Courtesy

While romance for the unattached has been put on the back-burner for now (unless you’re self-isolating with a new flame - and if so good luck), we could all do with a dose of love. The New York Times has turned one of its most-popular sections, which charts love stories from the astonishing to the ridiculous – always with a different slant on the elusive concept – into a brilliant podcast. These are like the very best bedtime stories. Each brings the written essay to life through familiar voices; some of the most famous actors in the world do the readings. Whether it is Greta Gerwig’s soothing voice reading ‘Sharing a Cab, and My Toes’, which begins ‘As I rode in a cab across the Brooklyn Bridge, a man I barely knew was sucking my toes …’ or the very first essay published, ‘Just Friends?’ read by Tony Hale, Modern Love shows us how universal even the most specific moments can be. Photo: Courtesy

If you want to think about anything other than the coronavrius pandemic, then Caroline Crampton hosts this wonderfully distracting niche podcast about Golden Age detective fiction, discussing books by the likes of Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh and Dorothy L Sayers. The Queens of Crime came into their own after the trauma of the First World War, so we might all find a little refined murder comforting now. Each episode focuses on a theme – recently, romance, murder at sea, and snow. They’re short – usually around 20 minutes – and at least up until the lockdown, include perfectly-chosen guests, such as Sarah Phelps on Agatha Christie. Shedunnit is cosy, but not complacent; although she clearly loves the books she talks about, Crampton is more than prepared to push back against the conventions and prejudices of the 1920s and 1930s. Photo: Courtesy

Like a massage for your brain, and ideal for listening to while you work, because there are no words for your mind to latch onto, is Radio 3’s Slow Radio. The perfect antidote to uncertain and anxious times, each episode focuses on varied sounds from all over the world. Each montage offers a window of tranquillity in the day: listen as the calls of Lapland buntings surrounding a freshwater lake in Siberia mingle with choral music. If you don’t want it to accompany you while you work, set an episode as your alarm and wake up to some of the loveliest sounds of nature to get your day off to a calm and soothed start. Photo: Courtesy

Table Manners is hosted by Jessie Ware and her wonderful chef mother. The formula is simple: have a chat over a delicious three-course meal (which makes for fantastic recipe inspiration - you will want to make it all), and invite entertaining guests along the way, from musicians like Ed Sheeran and Paloma Faith to the chef and restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi and even the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. If you want to feel like you’re having a real dinner party while social distancing – listen to it while you eat and pretend you’re there, too… Photo: Courtesy

"We don’t have to do life alone. We were never meant to." Number one New York Times bestselling author Brené Brown has just launched a podcast to explore some of the deepest questions that concern us. In her own words: "I’ve spent over 20 years studying the emotions and experiences that bring meaning and purpose to our lives, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s this: we are hardwired for connection, and connecting requires courage, vulnerability, and conversation. I want this to be a podcast that’s real, unpolished, honest, and reflects both the magic and the messiness of what it means to be human." One episode really worth plugging into is the second, on being heard and being seen, which tackles issues ranging from consent to sexual violence and social justice. The sole downside? The podcast only launched this month, so for now you’ll have to make do with just three episodes… Photo: Courtesy