14 episodes

Our bodies are adapting and changing to meet the demands of the Information Age. What is happening? And what can we do about it? This six-part series is an interactive investigation into the relationship between our technology and our bodies...and how we can fix it.

Body Electric NPR

    • Health & Fitness
    • 4.8 • 64 Ratings

Our bodies are adapting and changing to meet the demands of the Information Age. What is happening? And what can we do about it? This six-part series is an interactive investigation into the relationship between our technology and our bodies...and how we can fix it.

    5 minute walk & talk: Writer Kelly Corrigan on making movement breaks productive

    5 minute walk & talk: Writer Kelly Corrigan on making movement breaks productive

    To kick off Season 2 of Body Electric, host Manoush Zomorodi takes a five minute walk with writer Kelly Corrigan. Kelly shares her tips for fitting movement into her busy work schedule—while also making time for rest.

    Interested in taking a walk with Manoush and being featured on a future episode? Tell us about your strategies, struggles, and successes when breaking up your day with movement. Send us a voice memo at BodyElectric@npr.org.

    New episodes every Tuesday. Binge the entire series here.

    Sign up for the Body Electric Challenge here.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    NPR Privacy Policy

    • 5 min
    5 minute walk & talk: Physiologist Keith Diaz hates timers and doesn't count steps

    5 minute walk & talk: Physiologist Keith Diaz hates timers and doesn't count steps

    It's time for another 5 minute movement break! This time, Columbia researcher Keith Diaz joins Manoush to chat about how he uses his treadmill desk to stay active—without getting bogged down by timers, step counters and strict rules. Spoiler alert: Keith doesn't follow his own recommendation of taking a five minute movement break every half hour! Listen to find out what he does instead.

    Interested in taking a walk with Manoush and being featured on a future episode? Tell us about your strategies, struggles, and successes when breaking up your day with movement. Send us a voice memo at BodyElectric@npr.org.

    New episodes every Tuesday. Binge the entire series here.

    Sign up for the Body Electric Challenge here.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    NPR Privacy Policy

    • 5 min
    5 minute walk & talk: Why this listener failed at taking breaks—and her new approach

    5 minute walk & talk: Why this listener failed at taking breaks—and her new approach

    Remembering to get up and move can feel impossible, especially when you love your work and you're "in the zone." That was the case for listener Margot Cox when she signed up for our study with Columbia University last fall. As she put it, she "failed miserably." Today, Margot is ready to recommit to movement breaks. She takes a 5 minute walk with Manoush to talk through a new strategy.

    Interested in walking with Manoush and being featured on a future episode? Tell us about your strategies, struggles, and successes when breaking up your day with movement. Send us a voice memo at BodyElectric@npr.org.

    New episodes every Tuesday. Binge the entire series here.

    Sign up for the Body Electric Challenge here.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    NPR Privacy Policy

    • 5 min
    Part 1: The Body Through The Ages

    Part 1: The Body Through The Ages

    In this special series, host Manoush Zomorodi investigates the relationship between our technology and our bodies and asks: How are we physically adapting to meet the demands of the Information Age? Why do so many of us feel utterly drained after a day spent attached to our devices?

    Part one kicks off with an exploration into how economic eras have shaped the human body in the past with author Vybarr Cregan-Reid. Then, Columbia University researcher and exercise physiologist Keith Diaz and Manoush discuss his findings and propose a challenge to listeners: Let's see if we can end this cycle of type, tap, collapse together.

    Click here to find out more about the project: npr.org/bodyelectric

    Talk to us on Instagram @ManoushZ, or record a voice memo and email it to us at BodyElectric@npr.org.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    NPR Privacy Policy

    • 28 min
    Part 2: When Human Met Desk

    Part 2: When Human Met Desk

    In part two: host Manoush Zomorodi delves into how we met and fell hard for the personal computer—and why we continue to have this committed, yet tortuous relationship. We hear from historian Laine Nooney on how the computer revolution forever changed the way we use our bodies at work, at school and at home.

    Manoush also visits the Exercise Testing Laboratory at Columbia University Medical Center where researchers collect data on how her body responds to a day of sitting compared to a day of constant movement breaks.

    Click here to find out more about the project: npr.org/bodyelectric

    We'd love to hear from you. Send us a voice memo at bodyelectric@npr.org. Talk to us on Instagram @ManoushZ.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    NPR Privacy Policy

    • 23 min
    Part 3: Why Our Eyes Are Elongating

    Part 3: Why Our Eyes Are Elongating

    In part three: host Manoush Zomorodi explores how our tech habits are causing our eyes to change shape—to elongate—which causes nearsightedness. She investigates why rates of myopia among kids are soaring. She also speaks with Maria Liu, an optometrist with a quest to slow down the progression of myopia in children by opening the first ever myopia control clinic in the United States.

    Later in the episode, we hear from a team of employees who tried incorporating "movement snacks" into their days for one week.

    Click here to find out more about the project: npr.org/bodyelectric

    We'd love to hear from you. Send us a voice memo at bodyelectric@npr.org. Talk to us on Instagram @ManoushZ.

    Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    NPR Privacy Policy

    • 24 min

Customer Reviews

4.8 out of 5
64 Ratings

64 Ratings

Janie.MM.P. ,

Love

I just love this podcast. I have been weaving the advice into my sedentary life and it is making a difference!

mer2613 ,

Fantastic

This is the best podcast I’ve listened to in a long time. Excellent production quality. Super interesting. Manoush Zomorodi is a fabulous reporter and host!

Top Podcasts In Health & Fitness

Huberman Lab
Scicomm Media
The School of Greatness
Lewis Howes
Uncared For
Lemonada Media
Ten Percent Happier with Dan Harris
Ten Percent Happier
Passion Struck with John R. Miles
John R. Miles
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
iHeartPodcasts

You Might Also Like

Hidden Brain
Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam
Short Wave
NPR
This American Life
This American Life
Code Switch
NPR
Up First
NPR
Consider This from NPR
NPR