Hearing birdsong can help us feel less anxious, recover from stress faster, and even reduce muscle tension ... but can it help us fall asleep? Drew Ackerman of Sleep With Me podcast listens to recordings of birdsongs to see if it'll help with insomnia.

Link to episode transcript: https://tinyurl.com/5n7sxjtb

Episode summary:

Drew Ackerman, aka Scooter of Sleep With Me Podcast, has always struggled to get to sleep. Even as an anxious kid, worries would keep his mind churning as the night wore on. For our show, he tried a science-backed practice for easing stress: listening to the twitter of birds. He discovered the recordings reminded him of easeful summer afternoons, transporting him to another time and place. The research bears this out: different sounds affect us in different ways. For many, birdsong lowers our body’s stress responses. And for Drew, that helped him get a little sleepier.

Practice:

1. Listen to a recording of birdsong.

Today’s guests:

Drew Ackerman You might know Drew as his alias, “Dearest Scooter,” the host of Sleep with Me podcast. Drew struggles with bedtime worries and has a history of insomnia himself, but he’s great at helping others sleep. Sleep with Me is one of the most listened-to sleep podcasts. On each episode, “Scooter” lulls listeners off to dreamland with meandering bedtime stories intended to lose your interest.

Listen to Sleep With Me Podcast: https://pod.link/sleep-with-me

• Follow Drew on Twitter: https://tinyurl.com/2p8nrhnp

• Follow Drew on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dearestscooter/

• Follow Drew on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Sleepwithmepodcast/

Emil Stobbe is a post-doctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Germany.

Jesper Alvarsson is a professor of Psychology at Södertörn University in Sweden.

Eleanor Ratcliffe is a professor of Environmental Psychology at the University of Surrey in the UK.

More episodes like this one:

The Science of a Good Night's Sleep (Sleep Tips, With Drew Ackerman) - https://tinyurl.com/3wrwzrxy

Why You Should Snap Pictures of Nature (Appreciating The Outdoors, With Tejal Rao) - https://tinyurl.com/erwdvwrw

Related Happiness Breaks (a short, guided practice by The Science of Happiness)

Restore Through Silence, With Tricia Hersey - https://tinyurl.com/4h8ww8ub

Feeling the Awe of Nature from Anywhere, With Dacher Keltner - https://tinyurl.com/43v74ryn

Tell us what sounds relax you! You can even send us a recording, we’d love to hear it. Email us at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Help us share The Science of Happiness!

Leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and share this link with someone who might like the show: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Pilina is an indigenous Hawaiian word, or concept, that describes our deep interconnectedness. Harvard Clinical Psychology Fellow Jo Qina'au guides us through a contemplation of our profound interrelationships.

Link to Episode Transcript: https://shorturl.at/npAM9

How to Do This Practice:

Pilina comes from the indigenous Hawaiian language and culture. Pilina means connection, or interconnectedness.

1. Settle into a comfortable position and observe your breath.

2. Visualize someone to whom you feel meaningfully connected and acknowledge the feeling of Pilina, or deep interconnectedness, between you two.

3. Reflect on what it is that connects you, what impact that connection has had on your life, and what it may have had on theirs.

4. Notice how it feels to acknowledge these things.

5. Repeat steps 2-4 with as many people as you wish.

Today’s Happiness Break host:

Jo Qina’au is an indigenous Hawaiian meditation teacher and a Clinical Psychology Fellow at Harvard Medical School.

• Learn more about Jo’s work: https://tinyurl.com/2wfcma5f

• Follow Jo on Instagram: https://tinyurl.com/3v8ubn6a

If you enjoyed this Happiness Break, you may also like these Happiness Breaks:

• 5 Minutes of Progressive Muscle Relaxation, With Jo Qina’au - https://tinyurl.com/4f3fd97f

• Visualizing Your Best Self in Relationships, With Dacher Keltner - https://tinyurl.com/4dzpatx7

Check out these episodes of The Science of Happiness about connection:

• How to Feel Less Lonely and More Connected - https://tinyurl.com/36t6urte

• When It's Hard To Connect, Try Being Curious - https://tinyurl.com/3778r4h9

We love hearing from you! Tell us who you feel Pilina with, and what it means to you to reflect on it. Email us at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Find us on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/6s39rzus

Help us share Happiness Break! Rate us and copy and share this link: https://tinyurl.com/6s39rzus

We all could use a break to feel better. That's where Happiness Break comes in. In each biweekly podcast episode, instructors guide you through research-backed practices and meditations that you can do in real time. These relaxing and uplifting practices have been shown to help you cultivate calm, compassion, connection, mindfulness, and more — what the latest science says will directly support your well-being. All in less than ten minutes. A little break in your day.

Thinking about happy memories activates reward centers in our brains, and can help us feel more connected and accepted. Palestinian-American poet Naomi Shihab Nye discovers the joy-bringing power of recalling her good childhood memories.

Link to Transcript: https://tinyurl.com/2r63e6tn

Episode summary: Whether it’s news notifications or work emails, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the stresses of our time every moment of every day. But what if there was something we could do to rekindle the greatest joys of our pasts? How might that shift how we feel in the present moment? Simply reflecting on happy memories has been shown in a lab to reduce stress, activate the reward center in our brain, and uplift our mood. This week, Palestinian-American poet and author Naomi Shihab Nye reminisces on happy memories from her youth and finds the practice soothes her and sparks joyfulness. We also hear from neuroscientist Mauricio Delgado about how the practice changes the way we think and feel, and which types of happy memories serve us best.

Practice: For one week or more, spend 5-10 minutes each day writing in response to the following prompt:

Think about good memories you have from your past. Write a few paragraphs describing them and one event that you still remember to this date. Please provide as many details as possible, including who was there, so that another person reading what you wrote could understand how you felt at that time.

Today’s guests: Naomi Shihab Nye is a Palestinian-American poet and author. Her new book of poetry, Grace Notes, will be available May 7.

Order Grace Notes: https://tinyurl.com/st3w6n8t

Check out Naomi’s children’s book about a child visiting her Palestinian grandmother, Sitti’s Secrets: https://tinyurl.com/5embjxuj

Follow Naomi on Instagram: https://tinyurl.com/5hddcf8k

Mauricio Delgado is a psychology professor at Rutgers University who studies social and cognitive neuroscience.

Learn more about Mauricio’s work: https://tinyurl.com/4tt7bp2d

Follow Mauricio on Twitter: https://tinyurl.com/27kvv6j7

More episodes like this one:

Why We Should Look Up at the Sky - https://tinyurl.com/4xs88sye

Why We Need Friends with Shared Interests - https://tinyurl.com/bdesh3he

Related Happiness Breaks:

A Meditation to Connect to Your Roots, With Yuria Celidwen - https://tinyurl.com/3ae3w3z3

Where Did You Come From? Guided Writing, With Lyla June - https://tinyurl.com/ytypxn5t

Tell us about your happiest childhood memories, and what they bring to you now. Email us at happinesspod@berkeley.edu or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Help us share The Science of Happiness!

Leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts and share this link with someone who might like the show: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap