Mental health awareness is very important especially at the times when everyone around us suffering from grief due to pandemic. It would be tough to focus on ourselves at these times but it is a dire need right now. And while many would recommend meditation and yoga, health experts suggest listening to mental health podcasts is more effective to calm your brain.
This might sound surreal as listening to fictional series or few episodes based on true stories do nothing more than keeping us hooked in our spare time. Well, there’s no denying this aspect but when you know what to listen the benefits of podcasts just get double.
via:bustle
According to the 2016 study by the material scientist and a molecular biologist of UC Berkeley, listening to a variety of podcasts stimulate our brain’s different areas and activates its reward centers. In other words, your brain releases feel-good chemicals like dopamine and oxytocin that improve mental health.
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Furthermore, it improves focus, productivity, ability to consume information and helps to unwind your brain. However, each type of podcast has different effects on the brain. How?
Here is everything explained in detail and what are the must-listen podcasts for mental health.
Improve Mental Health With Podcasts
Meditation And Podcasts
Meditating alone is quite tough for many especially those with anxiety issues as their mind never stays quiet. Meditation podcasts are great to help such people as listening to relaxing sounds activates the auditory cortex of your brain as well as boosts the activity of the thalamus.
via:verywellmind
As a result, the anti-stress chemical called oxytocin is released that reduces cortisol (stress hormone), blood pressure, and stimulates the communication of brain cells. You feel calm and relax so make listening to these podcasts a part of your daily routine:
- The Mindful Minute
- I Should Be Meditating
- The Daily Meditation
Also Read: My Job Is Killing Me! 5 Signs Of Work Stress And Depression
Comedy Podcasts For Mental health
Stress can take a toll on your mental health pushing you deeper into anxiety, panic attacks, and depression. To de-clutter the stressful moments, make laughing your everyday habit. And listening to these comedy podcasts is your dose to laughter:
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- The Birdy Num Num
- Cyrus Says
- The Hilarious World of depression
- The Mental Health Comedy Podcast
Best Mental health Podcasts
Mental health is a serious topic and talking about it is very complex. But when we meet the people alike it’s easy to express what we are feeling right now because there’s hope they would understand rather than saying, “You are thinking too much.”
via:healthline
For such complex conversion, these mental health podcasts can be great:
- Tara Brach
- The Happiness Lab
- Marbles Lost and Found
- Feeling Good Podcasts
- The Brain Warrior’s Way
Apart from these, there are many more good audio episodes around on popular podcasts platforms like Spotify. But none of these would work if you don’t listen to them carefully and embrace the positivity in your life.
So don’t just rely on positive visuals videos around the switch to the podcasts right now. This is a more beneficial and effective form of learning as our brain absorbs more when our focus is undivided.