Brand New Research: 8 Simple & Surprising Changes That Improve Your Life

In this episode, I am sharing 8 brand new studies and exciting new research about simple changes supported by science that can help you improve your day to day life, like…

• How to cut your gym time IN HALF and still get the same benefits. 

• The surprising sound researchers say will boost your mood for EIGHT hours. 

• The research on how mindfulness reduces your anxiety by 30% -  the same as Lexapro.

• And so much more

I’m also joined by Tracey, who leads our research and has helped me produce five #1 Audible Originals and all the science behind it. 

She’s found the studies; we are breaking them down together, and having a ball as we do. 

This episode is going to make you smarter and is packed with the tactical, simple, and science-backed tools that I know you love learning on this podcast. 

Pull up a seat and let’s go.

Xo Mel

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In this episode, you’ll learn:

• 0:13: Why the research studies and science you will learn today matter
• 4:35: Why you can trust the tools you learn on this podcast
• 5:56: Research study #1: A simple action that goes a long way
• 12:32: Research study #2: The way to build strength in just 3 seconds a day
• 19:25: Research study #3: The one sound that boosts your mood for hours 
• 26:43: Research study #4: A powerful tool for anxiety
• 31:35: Research study #5: What a study with 20,000 high schoolers tells us about success
• 36:56: Research study #6: One thing you can do to create lifelong positive memories
• 44:43: Research study #7: How tiny guilty pleasures can strengthen your relationship with your partner
• 52:01: Research study #8: The habit with the largest impact on your quality of life

Resources and study links:

• For Closed Captions: Watch on YouTube and turn on “CC.” For instructions to turn on closed captions, click here.

• The High 5 Habit book
• Study #1: University of Texas at Austin and University of Chicago: “A little good goes an unexpectedly long way: Underestimating the positive impact of kindness on recipients.”
• New York Times: The Unexpected Power of Random Acts of Kindness
• Berkeley Greater Good Research Center: “What We Get When We Give”
• The Mel Robbins Podcast with Dr. Daniel Amen: “Hacking Dopamine”
• Berkeley Greater Good Research Center: “If You Want to Be Happy, Try to Make Someone Else Happy”
• Study #2: Edith Cowan University, More Gym Time, Less Results: “Comparison between concentric-only, eccentric-only, and concentric–eccentric resistance training of the elbow flexors for their effects on muscle strength and hypertrophy”
• The New York Times: “What’s the Single Best Exercise?”
• Harvard University: “Evidence mounts on the benefits of strength training”
• Study #3: University College London, Feeling Chirpy: “Smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment reveals mental health benefits of birdlife”
• Kaiyan Medical: “Back to Nature: The Healing Power of Bird Sounds”
• Audobon: “Around the World, the Soothing Sounds of Birdsong Are Used as Therapy”
• Study #4: Georgetown University Medical Center: “Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction vs Escitalopram for the Treatment of Adults With Anxiety Disorders.”
• Yale University: “How brains benefit from meditation”
• Jon Kabat-Zinn website: lots of research and resources on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
• Free MBSR online course 
• Yale University: Free MBSR resources
• Study #5: University of Pennsylvania and University of Michigan: “Self-control and SAT outcomes: Evidence from two national field studies”
• Harvard Business Review: “The Cost of Continuously Checking Email”
• Study #6: Lancaster University, “It took me back 25 years in one bound”: self-generated flavor-based cues for self-defining memories in later life
• The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk
• Harvard University: “What the nose knows”
• Study #7:  Indiana University, University of Connecticut, and Duke University: “Secret consumer behaviors in close relationships”
• Study #8: University of Hertfordshire, “Self-acceptance may be key to a happier life.”