• On Good Things Utah this morning – A lot of celebrities launched podcasts during the pandemic, but only one of them has an actual doctorate in neuroscience. That would be actress, author and Jeopardy! host Mayim Bialik, who initially launched the mental-health podcast Mayim Bialik’s Breakdown alongside partner Jonathan Cohen to help listeners, and themselves, make sense of that stressful time.
    • “When the pandemic started, we experienced what I think most people on the planet were experiencing, which was a lot of confusion and fear and what we all learned was called anticipatory anxiety, meaning anxiety about not even knowing what was going to come next,” the former Big Bang Theory star tells Yahoo Life. “And it was a really scary time. And honestly, Cohen and I just sort of started talking about how I’ve been in therapy since I’m a teenager, and even with all of those years and all of that information and even all of my training, there was still a tremendous amount of fear and an uptick in sleep problems, eating problems, rumination. And we really were strong believers in democratizing mental health, and we felt like, Gosh, what about people who have no background, who have never been in therapy or who don’t even know why they’re having trouble sleeping, eating, thinking?”
  • The show, which has seen experts in the field break down mental health concepts as well as guests including Kelly Clarkson and Ben Stiller opening up about their own journeys, continues to flourish three years on. Bialik describes it now as “more of a general kind of wellness conversation” that covers a range of therapeutic topics. As a longtime therapy patient, Bialik knows what works best for her, such as journaling and having periods of quiet twice a day to either meditate or just turn her devices off. She is, however, open to new experiences in the name of mental wellness.
    • “There’s certain things that I’ve just sort of come to terms with that I will not live without,” the former child star says. “You know, I believe in psychotherapy. I believe in doing trauma work. But yeah, I’ve tried a lot of things and Jonathan and I, between us, have more than one shaman we have visited. I’ve done energy work. I believe in craniosacral therapy, which is something that a lot of people don’t kind of believe in.” She adds, “I absolutely believe in a lot of things that I can’t explain. I’ve had people do work that feels like it’s coming from somewhere outside of the realms of my scientific understanding, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t sort of benefit from it.” That said, not everything is a fit.
    • “Transcendental meditation (TM) is something that does not really work for me. I really like guided meditation for my mind and my brain; that’s sort of where I go,” says Bialik, who notes that living in Los Angeles has also made her skeptical of luxury wellness trends. “You’ll have a lot of people in L.A. be like, ‘Pay me $10,000 and I’ll give you a mantra!’ and for some people TM is not bad and they don’t have to pay $10,000 for a mantra. But I’m very wary of things that cost a tremendous amount of money.”
  • We hope you tune in for this Hot topic and so much more this morning on GTU!