The Wellness Scoop - Fixing Brain Rot, The 'Maxxing Obsession & Is Cereal Junk Food?

Episode Date: July 6, 2026

Is Bran Flakes really junk food? Are our attention spans under threat? And have we reached peak optimisation culture?  This week we unpack the government's proposed changes to healthy eating guidelines, which could see breakfast cereals like Bran Flakes classified as HFSS foods, and explore what the debate reveals about fibre, free sugars and how we define healthy eating. We also dive into new research on doomscrolling, TikTok and attention spans, including the surprising activity that may help strengthen our ability to focus. Plus, from slowmaxxing and joymaxxing to spermaxxing and nonnamaxxing, we explore the internet's latest wellness obsession and ask whether the drive to optimise everything is finally starting to backfire. Drop Gabrielle an email to sign up as a research participant: [e-mail] To get 30-days free on The Way App, head to thewayapp.com/wellnessscoop Send your questions for our weekly Q&A to ⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠ For more from Rhi and Ella:  Order your copy of Ella's new book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Quick Wins: Healthy Cooking for Busy Lives⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Order your copy of Rhi's new book: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The Fibre Formula⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Sign up here to check out Rhitrition+ new Food Freedom course: ⁠Rhitrition+⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I am genuinely so excited about today's sponsor because it's the way. Honestly, if you have listened to me any time over the last few months, you know I have become a little bit evangelical about this app. And I honestly recommend it to everyone. My friends, my family, people on Instagram, everyone. And she recommended it to me, so it's true. I've heard so much about it. It's just because it has had such a big impact on me.

I've meditated on and off for 15 years or so now, but using the way it's honestly the first time we've become so consistent with this daily practice and I've just seen the most unbelievable results as a result of that the app is just incredible and what I love is every day you open it and there's a meditation waiting for you so you don't scroll that you don't have to choose between hundreds of options there's no wondering what to do it just takes you on a path well I think that's why it works so well because you know most of us just don't need more big decisions every day to make Ella know exactly that we've got decision fatigue, haven't we? So this is so nice because you just follow this path of meditation,

which is led by Henry, the founder, who's just the most amazing teacher. And he makes it seem somehow just incredibly simple, but exceptionally profound at the same time, which is a very rare skill. And I've been using it too. Yes, I've now finally begun a meditation journey and I've been doing some of the shorter practices on busy days because I completely understand why you talk about it so much, Ella. It really is a nice intro in for me. Yeah, it is and I'm so glad. Anyway, it's helped me feel so much calmer, less reactive, more present. It all sounds like huge claims, but I just say, please, please, please try it if you're struggling with stress or overwhelm.

You've just got to give it a go. And the lovely thing is that everyone listening can definitely try it themselves. Exactly. So you can get a 30-day free trial, so just try it every day for a month. It'll change your life. All you do is head to theway app.com forward slash wellness scoop. Yeah, that's thewayapp.com forward slash wellness scoop. Welcome to the Wellness Scoop, your weekly dose of health and wellness inspiration.

And as always, we're both here as your host. I'm Ella Mills. And I'm Rihanna Lambert. And after a decade in the wilderness industry, we know how overwhelming and confusing health advice can be. And that's why we've created this podcast to cut through the noise and make healthier living, simple, fun and personal. Welcome, guys. It's so nice to see you. I hope you're having a lovely start to your summer. We have got so much to talk about today. Goodness me. What is coming up, Ray?

Yes, we do. I almost laugh when I want to read out the first headline we've got. Could brand flakes really be classed as junk foods? We're kicking off the podcast with a bang today. What the government's proposed sugar rules mean for cereals, yoghirts and healthy eating advice. And then why the average brick could spend five years, five years, doom scroll. the surprising habit that may improve attention and focused and what brain rot is doing to our attention spans. Then our trends today of slow maxing, sperm maxing and the rise of the internet's latest wellness obsessions, plus have we reached peak optimization culture? Yes, exactly. We're diving a little bit more into that because of this maxing obsession that's everywhere. And we have, before we kick off today's show, some really nice listener feedback. We love hearing from you, as you guys know. Obviously, our Thursday episodes are all dedicated to our community,

but honestly there's so much feedback. We're going to have to, I think, bring us a little bit on Mondays as well. But we had an email from one of our lovely listeners called Gabby, and Gabby has a PhD in Health Psychology and works as a lecturer at the University of Salford and as a guest lecturer at the University of Liverpool. Anyway, she emailed us all about trackers and the impact of listening to data instead of ourselves. and it was such an amazing bit of feedback from her own work that I asked if she could share it as a voice note so you could all hear too. Hi all, Dr Gabriel Humphreys here.

Thank you so much Ella and Ree for having me. I am a regular scooper and a huge fan of this podcast. I see listening to it as my own little self-care moment, so I am so excited to get to add to it. For context, I'm a researcher in health psychology and I'm a specificer. specifically focused on digital health and behaviour change. Because of this, you can imagine I was so excited when you discussed Stephen Bartlett's podcast and self-tracking. And this is what I can add onto. So the quantified self is absolutely at play here. This term refers to when your subjective feelings get replaced with quantitative elements. And that means numbers. We can go from doing

something for joy to reach a certain score, calories burn, and this applies to lots of different areas, but some of our recent research focuses on smartwatch use. Here, we delved into the impact of the quantified self on individuals and people really share that receiving this data is something that they slowly over time rely on. So much so if you challenge someone, what would happen if you took off your smartwatch, they say, how will I know what I've done without it? So while somebody might be going for a run or a swim or a leisurely walk, all of a sudden, without that data being there, we feel lost. We feel like we cannot trust our own perceptions of an activity by itself. Another recent study we've completed examined the psychological impact of removing your smartwatch.

and here we interviewed a prior full-time smart watch wearers. While this was a qualitative study interviewing people, so we cannot be sure on that cause and effect. Participants commonly discussed gaining bodily intuition back because they could no longer rely on the quantitative self. They no longer had that data to tell them what they should do and how they'd done in an activity. Decisions became for them,

rather than based on a score. And one participant specifically said, I wasn't even doing it for the health benefits. I was doing it for my watch, a really striking quote that has stayed with me. If you don't own a smart watch, the quantified self might still be relevant for you as well. This can be applied to lots of different things,

but eating feels really relevant to discuss on this podcast, seeing food only for its numerical value, you over feelings like joy, fullness or disgust is the quantified self in action. This can be applied to all realms of diet culture, but calorie counting and the current focus on a really high protein consumption might be the most relevant there. So that's my two cents on the quantified self. If you are panicking though, thinking, that's me. Remember the wellness scoop ethos, small steps. Take small steps to become a little bit more in tune with your body, and slowly over time, you can start doing things for you rather than a screen.

Additionally, if you'd like to be involved in any of our active research studies on this topic, and we do have many, drop me an email via the show notes. Thanks again, Ella and Ray for having me. I am a very giddy recording this and to hear it back. Gabrielle, thank you so, so much for contributing to that as you were saying everything that first of all, please go everybody and sign up if you are somebody

that wants to ditch your tech and you want to explore a bit more about gaining your own intuition again. But it's so interesting because I normally save these conversations for Thursday's episode, but I went to see Toy Story 5 as well at the cinema at the weekend.

And this is happening, not just in adults, but in children as well, the reliance on tech and the loss of self. It's a huge subject. So, yeah. And it's so interesting because you talk, you know, obviously things like intuitive eating, but, you know, learning to trust your hunger signals

or fullness signals or your energy signals of like, you know, maybe you have time to exercise today, but actually, you know, you're really tired today, in which case actually would a walk be nicer than like a hardcore gym session. And I just feel so much in the world of wellness we're so busy ticking boxes or tracking things or trying to do it, quote unquote, right,

that we are so terrible, generally speaking. You guys let me know if you agree or disagree. At listening to ourselves, I certainly feel like I spent a long time trying to do it right. And I now learned to listen to myself. And I feel so much healthier and happier, most importantly, as a result. I sent Ella. I don't know if you've seen it yet because you probably bricked out. But a new invention that I saw pop up with contact lenses, almost like a black mirror episode,

that you put into your eyes that you can then use for data. I was absolutely gobsmacked that were even wanting to invent. these things. It's gone past being a cinema screen and it's gone into, it's translated. Have you seen the new Kylie Jenner meta glasses? They're so freaky. So you can go around just being like, take a photo. So I'm just like. Invision of privacy completely. Oh my gosh, it's insane because if I was going to take a photo of you on the train, you'd probably realize, you know, I've got my phone out. It's like not that subtle. Oh my gosh. It's terrifying. Yeah. The thought of what this opens up for people that don't take pictures for the right reasons is

absolutely terrifying. I worry about my children now. I worry about where I'm sat and I do look on the train and I look as anyone wearing those really. Why would anybody want to, please let us know. Is there a reason people want to wear these glasses of cameras in them because I am quite intrigued? I know. Well, it's friction maxing. Do you remember we're going to talk about maxing? This idea of adding like difficulty where the idea that because of people can be like, hey, play this song. Can you not just get your phone out of your back and do that on Spotify? Like how come on, our lives are so easy. How hard, how many steps were involved in like taking phone out bag, putting Spotify on? It's the curiosity of scientists to just keep pushing boundaries. And I do wonder

if there's an ethical limit to how far we push these boundaries. Ella, that was a wonderful recommendation for our podcast. Thank you. What a thought-provoking start. How are you, though? We forgot. How are you? I'm good. Do you know, I wanted to share actually a really interesting feature I did on the BBC at the weekend. I think we touched on it in the podcast before about do hot drinks actually cool you down. Exactly. And I was being asked this, of course, because around the world now globally, we would be experiencing climate shifts.

And we've known this in temperature. We might get extremely cold winters, extremely hot spells in the summer. And many countries aren't equipped, particularly the UK, to deal with the extremities that we're now faced. So the question that I was faced by the interviewer was, you know, is it better to have a cold drink or a hot drink? And actually, when I delved into it and did a bit more research, as well, caffeine is a really non-beneficial component to your diet in a heat wave.

Really doesn't help, really disrupts your body's ability to cool down. So all these iced coffees and iced lattes that we may consume during a heat wave are definitely not beneficial. But the researchers at Nottingham Trent University actually led by Professor Charles Yo, who we've had on the podcast lots of times before, and explored the difference between the two. And that's the study I broke down, that there is actually no scientific difference between the hot tea or the cold drink. But it's whether it's a dry air or a humid or a moist air that defines the cooling you might experience

from the sweating of having a hot tea in the first place. So there's a little bit of nuance in there. I thought it was an interesting one to share. Very interesting. So the take-going, what should we do in a heat wave? I'd stick to cold drinks, to be honest. Homemade laminates were my thing. And like watermelon juices.

Oh, so good. Lovely. Ella, how about you? Busy weekend. Because I feel like with our garden now, it's actually really sad that the heat wave makes gardening very, very, very difficult. Oh my gosh, just like out in my nighty at six in the morning. I have to say one of the most, like, wholesome sites of my whole life.

So basically my potatoes are coming, which is so exciting. And May, who's my younger of the two girls, has been so into the gardening project and like has been really helping me with the veggies and just loving it. Anyways, she was so excited that potatoes were coming. She's been elated all week. And then she wakes up very early. And Matt had already gone to work and Matt's guy, my older one, was still asleep. So May goes downstairs by herself.

She opens the door. She lets the dogs out. I mean, she's five. She's unbelievable. And I looked at my bathroom window. I could see her in the vegetable garden, digging up, this is 6.30 in the morning, digging up potatoes. And she's got a whole bucket of them for her teacher.

That's so lovely. It was too much. That is the most wholesome thing I've ever heard in my life. But it goes to show when you actually expose children or you're able to expose children to where food comes from, there's something so rewarding. It's such a give-back loop, any age. It's so cool.

And we're like watching the tomatoes. One of them is starting to go red. I mean, it's so cool. Anyway, our quixettes come through, garlic. Yeah, I've had some real fails on spinach and more salad-y bits. All my salad. Eating my pigeons, I think. Well, mine also.

when we had that freak thunderstorm, because we had this tropical sort of storm one night, and then the next day you've got these extreme heats. I think some plants do really struggle to thrive, not that I know much about horticulture, but that's something that I could say. And then my raspberries have come out so early that now they're almost destroyed. And you think, because normally they don't come out this time of year at all. It's much later on. We've had so many raspberries.

It's unbelievable. We picked like a mega bowl of them. So that's been fun. I also have a squash that's almost as tall as me already. Are you joking? That's a maize. Sorry, repeat. Tall bean.

And I've created a TP structure that the squashes are growing up, and it's nearly at the top of the TV. It's very cool. So every morning as well, May goes out at 6.30 in the morning to measure tall bean. Tall bean is a Cinderella cartoon pumpkin. So if you look at the coach and the film, the Disney film. This is what it's honestly. I'll bring a photo. It's honestly is unbelievable.

It's a really classic pumpkin type. Okay, so. Anyways, that's life. Also, do you know what I've been planning as well? I just say it because always I don't know a scoop first. I'm going to start in September, which I'm so excited about doing live beginners. And then we're going to do more kind of self-esteem focus meditation courses, which I'm so excited about. I'm going to make them really small, just 15 people in a class.

So we're like very together to be a real journey. Anyway, I'm so excited. Everything's exciting. I love it. It's perfect. It's what we all need. And now on to our exciting headline of the week. headline number one.

Brand flakes could be classified as junk food under a new healthy eating guidance. Okay, I'm going to be honest and say I was confused by the whole situation here. Rie, I know you were asked to talk about at 5 o'clock in the morning or something. There's headlines, so you're probably... It was 3 a.m. I declined the press feature.

Do you remember? Yeah, I was like, sorry, no offense, but like, who cares about brown flakes at 3 in the morning? I get some strange media requests, as if pregnant I'm going to wake up in the middle. middle of the night to discuss brand plates. But also how much for an engaged audience do you have on brand plagues at 3am? I'm not sure you tell me. Anyways you guys might have seen this this will have had huge pickup everywhere and it creates a lot of debate. It's very, very confusing.

So essentially what's happening is in the UK, we now have something in play, came into play almost a year ago called HFSS. That stands for high in fat, sugar and salt. Now this was essentially introducing stages between 2022 and 2025, but most of it really came into play last year. And it's part of the government's obesity strategy. The idea with this is that foods that are high in fat, salt and sugar basically can't be, for example, near till points. There's to be, I think, two metres from till points in large supermarkets. There's watershed bans in terms of ads for them.

I think we've talked about this before. I think it's like a tiny plaster on a gaping hole. There's massive kind of loops through it, which is that companies now do huge in-isle activations, loads of stickers on the floor and things like that. It's only two metres from the tills, though. It's not exactly that difficult to hide. Also, people then reformulate and they're using artificial sugars, which we know are arguably worse for us, loads and loads of UPFs to add the flavours instead.

So I understand the kind of premise. I think the reality is it's just so far from what we need. But this exists. The government are also looking at adding to this current regulation that's already in play with something called a nutrient profiling model. Really shaking her head. I'm very excited to hear about that. But basically products would receive points for things like calories as well and saturated fat, etc.

And then positive points for things like fruit and vegetable content, protein, fiber. And then those scores together would classify whether food is HFSS or not. In a way, I prefer that and I'm excited to hear what we think. because I think it takes more of the whole into account, whereas, as I said, you see things now that are just reformulated with artificial sugars, but it still has no fibre, etc. in it, so it's not grey. But food companies are not happy about this, and that's really what kicked off these headlines,

because I think Kellogg's were very, very vocal who owned brand flakes about these propositions because it would classify something like a brand flake as not healthy, essentially. Terrible for their business model. Yes, and it's great that these new, but I say new, it's something that I've been trying to be implemented for years, but nutrient profile and model will force companies to really think carefully about the ingredient decks. I mean, that's only a positive. Yeah, because you would then be actively trying to add fibre and protein, for example, into the product, although, you know, we both know that can go many different ways. And that's my major concern is that we've already seen, as Ella mentioned, cereals targeted at children. I actually talk about. I actually talk about. I took a walk down the cereal aisle last week.

I made a little video. I haven't shared it yet. But just looking at the cartoon images and all the packets, you know, just having a real thing about. Nothing makes me cross that. Me too. And it's unbelievable, the stark difference. And actually, I feel sad for brown flakes.

So bran flakes don't do this. But it's the other cereals that are obviously blatantly high in sugar. But it's the people that create. Coco Popes used to have, I don't know if it's still there, but I still remember seeing it when we were looking at the space in store for work. And Kellogg's Cocoa Pops had no. front supporting your family's health and it's a claim they can make because they add like a sprinkling of vitamin D and you just think how confusing for people great cartoon characters the children

want it colorful packaging really cheap and then so supporting your family's health are you joking this is the issue with a numerical formula for food flat out because there's always loopholes and that's my big concern with this as well is that you'll get the high art and then the argument is things like sweetness are not fully agreed upon so even though we say perhaps adding an artificial sweetener might give a negative score. Perhaps actually it won't because it's still deemed technically by the World Health Organization as safe. So therefore, I'm not a fan of nutrient profile modeling for that very reason that scientists disagree immensely already about the ultra-process food conversation.

And that's where there's cereals that are really high in what people call natural sweeteners, although there's still sweeteners in my eyes that have that impact on your gut health and are making you crave more sugar for children that are just full of, additives to pump up the fiber, the sweeteners to create the coca pop alternative or strawberry alternative. And it's something that I feel really strongly against. And I feel that those products are now going to come shining through with this new nutrient profiling model. But the public, so we might be aware everybody listening, because you're a scooper, as Gabrielle said at the beginning, you're aware of the fact that sugar is not black and white. However,

in the general public health consensus, people are starting to. to clock on to the fact too much sugar is bad, only just, even though we've been talking about it for 10 years. So most people are just looking at one marker on a packet and it's either protein or sugar. And that's where I think we're going to get a load of issues because we're talking about fibre on the wellness scoop. Actually, that might take another seven years to infiltrate into the public space. Exactly that.

And one of these things about the nutrient profiling is that it would take into account free sugars, which is something that I would love you to explain to us all because I think this is where it all gets a bit confusing. But essentially, what we're looking at here is not only added sugar, like literally seeing an ingredient, I can think sugar, but things that found in fruit concentrates, fruit juice, syrups, etc., which aren't currently counted in this model. So, which is how I'm saying people get round the HFSS thing, by instead of using conventional sugar, they use this.

But this new amendment would make sure that that's not the case, which is probably inherently good, but explain to us what we mean by free sugars. Yeah, it is inherently good. as long as it doesn't push them down the artificial route, but I do have a feeling that's where we're going to go, sadly. So essentially free sugars. First of all, a sugar where inside a glucose molecule or a fructose molecule in fruit,

something where the cell is intact. And then when the cell's broken down, like in a smoothie, let's say, if you're eating natural fructose sugars, which are not bad for you in a peach or a banana or an apple, and then you blend it in a smoothie, it becomes free because you're breaking down the cell wall where that sugar is contained.

And I think loopholes for so many years, like you've said, with adding fruit juice to items, they are free sugars because they hit your bloodstream extremely quickly compared to intrinsic sugars, which you need the fibre, you need to actively chew your food or have some form of release within the cell and your insulin and your body reacts accordingly. And the danger of too many free sugars in a concentrated dose is that you get that massive spike and crash in blood sugars. So it will definitely cut out a lot of the added syrups and dextrosis and added things that are there. Things that people think are natural that aren't and that's what's really confusing about them. But if we actually bring bran flakes into this equation, this is what's so interesting because they, you know, Ella, you've had a look at the ingredient deck.

You know, their whole wheat, whole bran, whole wheat flour. And they do contain a bit of glucose syrup. So that's where the free sugar would get caught out in this new guise. guidance and that's where they're probably not very happy at all. Yeah, I actually then had a look because there's a lot of pushback from that kind of cereal industry being like, no, no, no. We can't do this because cereals such as brown flakes and special K are important source of fibre in the British diet.

And I was like, oh, interesting. I wonder how much fiber they actually contain. So I had a look. Brown flakes, pretty good. 5.1 grams of fiber per 30 grams of serving. So probably not wrong to say, let's not ban that. But then special K is 1.8 grams of fiber. fibre per serving corn flakes the other one they're talking about one gram of fibre per serving so i think

we can say corn flakes and special k here are doing nothing can i add that it took me six months to get corn flakes removed from the nursery menu in my son's nursery because people think they're healthy quite quite healthy and that they're really really not and it's interesting because then i was like oh i wonder what a bowl of porridge comparatively is and with only oats so assume you're not adding banana or nut butter or anything to it that's four grams so that's four times obviously more than in corn flakes. But still not as high as the brown flakes. And this is why, you know, I actually let my children have brown flakes.

You can also buy really nice, bogey, organic versions of bran flakes that don't have added glucose syrup. But I don't think we should be demonising a lot of those other types of cereals because we then get into a real conundrum in the supermarket shelves of what on earth are people shopping for and what do they go towards? I do think it's very confusing for the consumer because special case seen as diet culture, but also therefore seed as healthy because there's that blurred line where people associate diet food with health. Corn flakes, incredibly confusing because they're one of the oldest cereals invented in the 1950s.

It's that my grandparents used to eat either shredded wheat or corn flakes and add a taste bit of sugar on top. But that was what they did. It's opened up a can of worms, Ella. I know. It's so interesting. We actually tried, gosh, how long ago now, a long time ago, five or six years, because we, Delicious, Ella has delicious granolas, but to try and do a like natural brand flake, kind of a high fiber. I can't remember what we called it, but it was like a high fiber flake and I had hazel nuts

and raisins in. It was very high in fiber. But we just couldn't, we couldn't price align it with the big cereal brands. And it was, I have to say it was one of my more favorite products we did. I loved it. I ate it every day. Currently in pregnancy, I, in the evening, I can't eat dinner, I will have a bowl of something like that.

But it didn't last long in market because it just, it wasn't, it wasn't cheap enough and people were not willing to pay more for cereal, which was so interesting anyway. No, it really is. And it goes to show that how do you police food is the question. How do we change this food landscape? And the debate is going to continue. So we'll watch this space for you. We'll keep discussing the nuances and we'll let you know what Kellogg's reply to with that.

one. Okay guys, we are going to take a very quick ad break now and then when we come back, we are going to be diving into the antidote for brain rock. Headline number two, Ella, today is very different, but it's about something I think we all can end up while we find ourselves doing. I particularly amongst the heat wave recently have had major anxiety. I mean, I've been in tears. I'm very hormonal about the climate crisis and the impact on our wildlife and our ecosystem. So doom scrolling, 708 videos a day how TikTok has turned our teens into addicts, Ella. Yeah, this is actually a three and one headline because then we also had around the same time, average Britain will spend five years team scrolling.

That's not just Gen Z or Gen Z, whatever we want to call them. That's five years of their whole life, do you screen. And then in good news, there was also an article, the antidote to brain rock music lessons. So we thought, okay, well, these are also interrelated. Let's just scoop them up into one. So yeah, it's a three and one kind of headline. But I think we just have to pause on the fact that the average Britain at the moment would spend almost five years of their life at dooms scrolling. And that's based on research from the habits of more than 6,000 people in the UK.

Yeah, they found that 36% of smartphone use is unintentional. I mean, it's over a third. And that's time spent opening the apps out of habit. I'm flicking between the platforms. Flicking between the platforms. Just like, you know, you're in a queue, there's two people and four. front of you and you're like, I can't stand still. Let me just ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. It's a huge challenge. It's actually a sign of mental resilience. It's really, really difficult.

You almost have to retrain your brain on it. We've had T.J. Power on in the past to discuss this sort of thing. Because on average, and I would say, I think it's more than this. That's one hour and 26 minutes a day. No, that's of the unintentional. Of the unintentional flicking. So that's not just phone time. That's the unintentional. Like, it's not, oh, let me. Purposefully pick it up. I have a stye this morning. I was selling raised my first one ever. Anyways, I like open my phone and went on chat GPT. Sorry guys, if that annoys you because I know it annoys some of you. But, and I was like, right, here's a picture of my eye, what shall I do, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So that's deliberate. It's still phone time. Whereas if I'm like in the queue and I'm bored and I'm just sort of ding, ding, ding,

that's what they mean. It's over an hour a day. It's an hour and a half a day of this kind of unintentional. I'm bored, but I'm not really doing anything. So it's not reading the news on your phone or like what's happening or doing something. We're like, I deliberately want to action something involved in my phone. So that was for adults. And what's even worse, Seller, is that this unintentional pickup in 16 to 24 year olds is 44% of their phone time. And whereas 45 to 54 year olds weren't far behind them at 42%. And we really are locked in. It's a really scary time. I keep referring back to Toy Story 5. Honestly, epic film. I know, can't wait still. I really highly suggest it. But it really highlights the fact that there was this real dystopian moment where Woody looks out across the houses around.

And you know, that blue haze and light you get from the phone in the evening. And everyone has just got that on in their living rooms. And it's not just the TV anymore. It's the kids upstairs in their bedrooms on their devices. It's very, very eerie. And then the other interesting step from this research was that four in ten of us say we have little or no control over how we use our phones, which I think is this just interesting bit. Like we all know we spend too much time on our phones, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But I think it's this idea that we spend so much of it not deliberately using them that I thought was really interesting. I saw some research come out from a cardiologist. It must have been, do you know what, I'll dig up the paper and bring it for next week, saying that we're most vulnerable when we wake up first thing in the morning with our heart health. And it's very important, even just to sit on the side of the bed before we leap up and we just go. But most people nowadays are just picking up their phone in the morning and it will be unintentional. scrolling or looking through and that also is not helping the stress levels we've already woken up with naturally and he said he thinks and theorises that it may be linked to more cases

of strokes the fact that we've also increased our phone use which is something we've not discussed before either which I will I'll bring it I'll have a look into it yeah please do that's nuts anyways the second piece of analysis that then came out was looking exactly at more teenagers and this time and that was saying they're looking at the habits of 14 to 16 year olds and found on average they watched over 700 TikTok videos a day. How is that even possible? I know. It's insane.

Anyways, it brings us to our third headline that guys, you are not alone. If you are struggling with unintentional phone use, feel really addicted to it, feel like it's not really in your control. The good news is there is an antidote to the brain rot that we are all collectively experiencing and, Rhee, you're going to love it because a new study shows it might be a musical instrument. Also, instruments singing counts. So if you're not into actually picking up a physical instrument, that also contributes. I love this.

Researchers compared 268 children and young adults aged 8 to 34, splitting them into musicians and non-musicians. So they did do a direct comparison. And the groups were carefully matched also for age, socioeconomic status, of course, because entry to music now is incredibly difficult in this country. It's not a funded area. Exercise habits and personality traits. and participants then had to complete a series of tasks that measured their attention span. So those with the formal music training were faster to respond and showed fewer lapses and concentration. And I think that definitely, it's not just about cognitive ability to learn.

This is about the ability just to have your mind taken away by something without realizing actively that that's what you're embarking upon. Music connects to a part of our brain that can be emotive and theoretical, which is really rare. It can use both hemispheres. And that's why some people, it wasn't true in my case, say that you're good at maths if you're good at music. That was not true for me. But, you know, there is a lot of people that you'll find mathematicians are very good at musical theory work. Yeah, it's so interesting. Anyways, I'm sure it's not only music that can do this, but it's this nice example, I guess, of really absorbing ourselves in activities.

that demand our focus and concentration wholly. And as you said, then time kind of disappears as a result. And, you know, for some people that might be amazing, crocheting. You know, I'm sure that has similar impacts, but it's just in some ways. But I just thought it was interesting to show, like sometimes it's all a bit depressing when it's sort of our phones have taken over and we can't get off them, but it's nice knowing. Actually, there is research to show. There are things that we can be absorbing ourselves in that really are an amazing antidote to that.

That includes cooking. It includes drawing. I think it's anything that brings joy. And I think that active, joyful component of doing something that's not tech related is really key. We are so into colouring in our house at the moment. And I have to say, I love it. Like, I can sit in colour for ages. And it's amazing again, like how much it absorbs you. I know it sounds so silly. And there was obviously a moment. What was it like 10 years ago when mindful coloring was an enormous trend. It was like the number one book on Amazon. I'm just going to say, I think we should bring it back. Well, kids' colouring books were topping the Sunday Times bestsellers chart for months at the beginning of the year. Literally, there's actually an uproar about it for the other authors in the categories. But it's amazing. And I want to buy watercolours because I had those as a kid and I think I need to get them for the boys. It's also very interesting that there's this stereotype that girls sit in color and boys don't.

And I actually have to say there is a huge level of truth within that with attention spans. but when I give my boys some pain, they do sit down for a prolonged period of time and they will really enjoy it. It's very calming. I'm loving coloring. I honestly can see myself just taking their coloring books now in the evenings.

And I think it's also, I don't know if anyone else is the same, but I am quite an antsy person and I feel I need to be using my hands a lot of the time. I find it hard just to sit still when I'm not, when I'm a bit bored, if I'm honest, like, you know, watching a show, and it's like not that absorbing anyways.

So I find doing something like coloring, amazing girls that you can't use your phone. What I have enjoyed about the heatwave, the only thing I will say, because I have not really had a good time with it. But it's the evenings where it is actually still very warm. So I go outside a bit more or I get more stuff done in the house at 10pm, 9pm, whereas normally perhaps I'd be sitting watching something or, you know, being a bit more active, which is great.

But it leads us on to headline number three, Ella, which is why believing in free will could be the secret to happiness. Yes, exactly. okay we're not about to become a philosophy podcast today. Interesting as that could be to delve into, but obviously health and happiness are so interweven, like, you can't separate the two. And I think so many of us focus on our health because of it having a huge role in our day-to-day happiness and well-being and how we feel in and of ourselves. Anyway, there was an interesting new study that I thought you guys might also think was something to look at, which is basically just believing in free will.

believing we have that autonomy essentially make us happier. And this is from researchers at Sarland University and they were looking at data from about 2,000000 people from three separate studies and found this really consistent pattern that people who believe strongly that they could shape their own actions and decisions tended to report much higher levels of happiness and positive mood. And I just thought that was really interesting and connected to obviously what we talk about here with our health and well-being, the idea that if we're in charge of our own health, and our habits and, you know, how we curate those, it has a really good impact on us. It's true.

My dissertation at university looked at self-efficacy and self-esteem linking to and with vegetable. I did it obviously with vegetable input as a nutrition student. But there's 100% a correlation. And one of the most striking findings from this Ella came from an experiment involving around 1,000 adults and the participants were then split into two groups. you had one group that read material that supports the idea that they can freely choose their actions. But the other group didn't.

And I think that's what's so interesting because afterwards, if you rated happiness on a scale from one to seven. And of course, like Ella and I have just said, how we individually see happiness can vary. Of course, very subjective. Yeah, really subjective. But those encouraged to believe in free will reported an average score of 5.2 out of 7 compared to those that didn't at 3.3. So there's a lot to be said for this. And there's so much going on in the world right now where some people don't have free will

and it makes me really sad because sometimes you can change your half empty cup to half full just by knowing you've got free will of a choice you're about to make next. Yeah, no, exactly. And obviously it doesn't, it's not plausible for every single person at every single point of life.

But I just think there's this idea that like believing we have agency and it's not that obviously you have agency over every aspect of your life. There will be work commitments and all sorts of responsibilities that you have. But the idea that we still have an element of agency to choose what to make for dinner, to choose, you know, how to spend our free time. Even what to wear, you get to choose. If you've woken up, you've had a really bad 24 hours. You do have a choice the next day, who to interact with what you do to some degree, what phone call you choose to make.

And that can ultimately change your mood and your day. I remember quite early on when I was sort of, because I was not a glass, half full person in any shape or form growing up. And, you know, as I wanted to flip that, I remember one of the things I found so interesting is exactly this, like taking a situation and really trying to reverse the mindset and looking at the two different ways you could see it. And like, you know, I got nervous of flying. And I remember thinking of it. It's like, there's two different ways to see it. One is like, wow, this is extraordinary. Like, I'm above the clouds.

and, you know, there's no kind of awe and a magic to it. And it's an acceptance. And one was like, no, I'm really scared. I'm going to cling on for dear life. And I found that really interesting to keep flipping that of like, or, yeah, I really don't like what I have to do today. Or I'm really worried about it. But this is an interesting opportunity.

And that consistent flipping of it, over time, it did become quite innate. It's interesting. You raised flying because it's something I also very much experience. but you're right. I think it's the lack of control. Lack of control, but it links back to our tech at the beginning how when we lose that sense of control, we find it very difficult to flip our mindset. And I do believe that's where we also have the poor mental health rates we currently have.

It's not just the environment we live in. It's feeling like we don't have control. It's how I feel about climate change. I feel like I have no control over it whatsoever. So I choose to throw myself into discussing the sustainability of our diets, you know, the impact on cutting a third of emissions fruit. food. Yeah, but that's about having a semblance of agency, isn't it, as well? Yeah, that's how I probably control my sphere. And I think people with stronger beliefs in free will, they do

report more positive moods. We have to look at this as a mental health aspect massively. Yeah, anyway, just as I kind of thought, like the bits of your day you have agency on, I think focusing on that could be a real positive. I love it, Ella. I think it's really, really important because when we think of algorithms and genetics and economics, it just everything can feel very, very It's overwhelming. But we can change our algorithms. Or just turn them off. Or just turn them off or brick them out.

So yes, Ella, let us now move on from. The maxing. Yes, to the trendy maxing obsessions that we have got. Let's max out on maxing. Okay. Interesting, because I was also at a conference last week where I was asked about protein maxing. So there's so many maxes now. Yeah, it's become, I think, like a pretty well established, I think, like any reputable newspaper,

media outlet talking about it as well as social media. I then got this email about slow maxing, which actually I like because it was saying that this is going to be one of the biggest shifts of 2026. I mean, question mark if that's true. I'd say. But that was the idea that's like the antithesis of optimization and culture and that we know we're moving towards like slower more intentional approach to self. So slow maxing sounds very, very nice. But then a listener sent us an email about an article on the Guardian on sperm maxing, kind of what you says on the tin, like maximising your burn potential. The Times then had a piece on vagina maxing. I can't go over that. Which I found all a bit frightening. And then there are times also run a second piece. And that was why maxing your life is the

hot trend this summer. Anyway, basically everywhere I've looked, I've seen something on maxing. Which is optimization in a different word. 100%. And actually this why maxing your life is the hot trend this summer. Interestingly, under the headline, it said, time to supercharge everything you do. If you have the energy and the ego. And I think both the energy and the ego are really interesting bits to talk about this. Anyway, I don't know about you guys, but we have just seen this everywhere. Fibre maxing, sleep maxing, skin maxing, protein maxing, as you said, Ray. Scent maxing, I mean, what the hell. Money maxing, productivity maxing, fun maxing. Dua Lipa, apparently is fun maxing. She does look like, she having a great time. Jim maxing, joy maxing, as I said, sperm maxing,

nona maxing. Nonna maxing. That's maxing out being a nona, an Italian grandmother. Apparently even Liz Kendall, who is the technology secretary currently, who knows if she will be much longer because we're about to have a big government shakeup. But she was describing the government's investment into AI strategy as Brit maxing. So basically, whether you're sperm maxing, vagina maxing, Brit maxing, maxing, protein maxing, fun maxing, apparently you can max out everything. Essentially, you take an air of your life and you supercharge it. And I'm really bored of it and I'm finding it really annoying and grating and I want to talk about it. I find it incredibly grating. I'm just...

Shut up. I don't want to max. I just want to relax. I mean, trends that seem harmless like this are the ones that often in disguise can cause the biggest harm because of the obsessive. So this is why I thought it was interesting. Obviously, we talk about trends every week. We talked about fibre maxing, what, six months ago or so?

And I was like, oh. And that was great at the time because it was the only thing. It was quite sweet and nice and like up your fibre. Okay, that's okay. and then obviously you have like fun maxing joy maxing okay so you want to max out on having a nice time not such a bad thing non-a-maxing maxing out on like being your inner Italian grandmother

like go for it these are not bad things I just think the problem is and this that subheader of that Times article summed up so well like do you have the ego to do it essentially and I don't mean that in a rude way but it's just like I'd almost say economics and ego to do it yeah and time as well but it's like isn't really necessary like do you

can you just relax without having to like max out on relaxing. Do you know what I mean? Like just sit, just a, just read a couple of pages of your book. Do you have to book max? It's making my brain hurt just thinking about it. It's just like we can't just do things anymore and just like be and just because everything has a hashtag and everything has to become a trend because the only way that these generations feel validation is if it goes viral on social media so it has to be a trend. And it's almost like we're validating like every semblance of our existence these days where You know, you can't, as I said, like, I don't know, you've had a long week and you're just going to sit down and read a few pages of your book and then you might do something else.

It's like, no, we must term that something. That must be like slow maxing. It's like, I actually don't think it's anything. It's setting everybody up. I'm just going to say it's for failure because it's striving for a perfection. Maxing it out is striving for the optimal maximum load. And we can't all achieve that. So every day you might be striving for something that's completely unachievable.

But also maybe unnecessary? Unnecessary, unachievable. Actually, the research from the American Psychological Association suggests that perfectionism among young adults is increasing and it has done for decades. And I've struggled with this concept with my work-life balance massively. But one of the fastest growing forms is what's known, Ella, as socially prescribed perfectionism.

And that's the feeling that other people expect you to be perfect. And I feel the problem with sharing these maxing trends is that it is the validation from others that you're doing it to begin with. It's not often what you're doing for yourself. It's for your watch, like we said at the start. For sure, exactly. So you're putting pressure on yourself, not just to, like, do a good job, but to show other people that you're doing a good job

because you think that they need you to do that. Anyway, I just think it's exhausting. It's exhausting. And I just think there's like, oh, I find this whole industry so irritating because it's this idea that, like, there's just always a better version of yourself around the corner. And like, don't get me wrong. That's okay to have within reason because that's our car full.

But when does it become extreme? Exactly. And it's like, look, it's really hard. You know, learning to kind of accept ourselves as we are, I think it's really important. But equally, there's part of ourselves that all of us ultimately, I'm sure, would love to shift or gently evolve. Like, you know, that's really normal. That's really okay.

I think that's probably an inherently healthy thing. You know, like to be happy as we are, but also to know, like, there are a part of of ourselves, maybe it's your patience, maybe it's your presence, maybe it's your ability to absorb yourself and what you're doing or to learn a new skill. Like that's all well and good. But it's just this idea that like we always have to be so much better than we are. And you know, with self-esteem is such a huge issue collectively, not just in younger generations. And I find the maxing thing is like, can't you just look, I really think we have to learn to be okay as we are. And then also just gently improve on it, but I find this idea that there's always a best self waiting to be

unlocked and to do that we must measure, track, optimize, compare, and it starts off as quite healthy and then I think it ends up as like, again, it's just a measured tool for validation. Well, I worry exactly like you've just summarized there that happiness isn't a permanent state. No. Nothing you max towards is possibly ever going to be a permanent state. And I think we have expectations that if we do all these sorts of things, that's what's going to happen. And I think the sooner we all realize that we need to sit with being sad sometimes, sit with being bored, sit with being happy or sit with being frustrated, and that these feelings pass and they constantly fluctuate in a continuum.

That's when we will be okay. But these trends don't ever state that. No. It makes it almost impossible, like I said, almost like you feel like you're failing because it's impossible to reach a permanent state of slow maxing or even fiber maxing. You need it have every single day. Yes, we want to aim for a target. It doesn't mean every day has to be perfect. And this is really concerning, I think, psychologically speaking, for our well-being.

Yeah, and it starts off kind of fun and silly. And then you end up something where, like, this idea of like just sustainable, balanced, like day-to-day, genuinely healthy-ish living is not good enough. And that I just don't like. I don't like anything that takes away from that. So anyway, I feel like I want to call time on maxing. I'm done. I don't want to max anything. So wellness scoopers, unless it's fibre, we don't want you maxing loads.

Let's just, what's the halfway to max? What can we say? Average. Just be bang average, guys. Everything you're doing life, just be average. I mean, reading. I'm actually not even joking. Like, I think it's almost like a little bit of aspiration for average is not the

worst thing. It's this idea again that like we take our hobbies and they can't just be hobbies, you know, some watercolour for the sake of just a calming activity. It's like, no, no, I must now become an artist. I have to say, I can relate because I've enjoyed singing being a hobby rather than a career massively. When something has pressure behind it, it just changes. Your enjoyment goes if you've got a pressure on it. Yeah, and it's just like doing things because they're fun to do as opposed to like needing to be good at them

or needing to even tell anybody that you're doing it. And I think that's a really missing thing from our world. That's a challenge for the future generations, especially with the online world. So I'd love to know your thoughts on that, Wilders. do let us know if you love maxing or you don't because there will be some of you out there inevitably that do have a pretty balanced outlook and you do find these things inspiring and that's okay i just wonder for the bulk of people yeah if it's good for the mental health so you can pop us an email yeah of course hello at wellness hyphen scoop dot com we love hearing from you and yeah

is everyone else a little over the maxing are you over it let us know and we will see you on thursday see you then guys bye bye