Better Off
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Better Off
The latest from public health experts on how we can all lead healthier lives.
Episodi recenti
189 episodiIs working from home unhealthy?
Working from home has its perks: Better coffee, easy commute, no fluorescent lighting. But, as any home office worker can tell you, there are also dow...
How can we protect the health of incarcerated people?
As COVID-19 swept through American prisons and jails in 2020, wardens scrambled to keep prisoners and corrections officers from getting sick. One stra...
Can we end chronic homelessness?
It’s estimated that half a million Americans are experiencing homelessness. Even a brief period of housing insecurity can make existing health issues...
What makes a meal healthy?
What does a plate of healthy food look like? Everyone has an opinion – from doctors to dieticians to wellness experts. But advice on what to eat often...
Is clean beauty for real?
Guests:
Shruthi Mahalingaiah, assistant professor of environmental reproductive and women's health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health<...
Is cooking with natural gas unhealthy?
40 million American homes cook their meals with natural gas. But most people don’t think of the little blue flame on their gas range as the end of a v...
Introducing Better Off Season 2: Home
What makes a healthy home?
In 2022, that question feels more important than ever. What are the right foods to eat? The least-toxic shampoos and...
Update: We’re better off when we can breathe easy
This episode was first released in December, 2020.
Until the COVID-19 pandemic, most of us didn't think about indoor air very much, if at all. B...
We're better off when we unstick the stereotypes around eating disorders
Eating disorders affect a population the size of the state of Texas, cost the economy tens of billions of dollars, and kill 10,000 Americans per year....
We’re better off when we age with resilience
During the earliest days of the pandemic, younger people were told to protect the older adults in their lives from COVID-19 by isolating at home. Conc...
We're better off with Juneteenth
In a special bonus episode, recorded a day before Juneteenth was made a federal holiday, we listen in on a conversation between Opal Lee, an activist...
We're better off with health equity
This spring, public health officials have been laser-focused on getting more Americans vaccinated against COVID-19. So why do racial disparities persi...
We’re better off when we stop pandemics before they start
When Aaron (Ari) Bernstein met his first pediatric patient infected with COVID-19, he realized that this little girl's health was connected to an infe...
We’re better off when life-altering illnesses can be eradicated
In the 1980's, there were millions of cases of Guinea worm disease across the globe, mostly in rural Africa. Donald Hopkins, MPH '70, has spent 40 yea...
We're better off with mRNA vaccines
The technology that is helping us combat COVID-19 is also poised to help us tackle tough infectious and non-infectious diseases. Immunologist Sarah Fo...
We're better off when we swipe right on public health
When Antón Castellanos Usigli was asked to help bring younger LGBTQ people into a Brooklyn clinic for sexual health services, he thought it would be a...
We're better off when kids are resilient
We’re better off when kids are resilient
Are kids going to be okay when the pandemic is over? That’s the question on many parents’ minds as remo...
We're better off when science leads the way
Better Off talks with Harvard Chan School's Howard Koh about lessons learned from the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic, also known as swine flu, and how t...
We're better off when we can breathe easy
Until the COVID-19 pandemic, most of us didn't think about indoor air very much, if at all. But healthy buildings expert Joseph Allen has been studyin...
Introducing: Better Off
How can we make our families, communities, and our world a little bit better during the COVID-19 crisis, and beyond? That's the question we're asking...
Confronting the Climate Crisis: Earth Day at 50
What has the environmental movement accomplished since the first Earth Day in 1970? Where is the movement headed? Gina McCarthy, president and CEO of...
Gaining insight into women's health
Could an app help scientists better understand menstruation, fertility, and menopause? On the latest episode of This Week in Health, Shruthi Mahalinga...
Addressing the Opioid Crisis: Lessons Learned from New York City
Before Mary Bassett was director of Harvard’s FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, she was New York City’s Health Commissioner. Bassett talks about...
Addressing the Opioid Crisis: Unpacking Stigma
Shelly Greenfield to unpacks the stigma that surrounds addiction. A psychiatrist from Harvard’s McLean hospital, Greenfield specializes in addiction—h...
Addressing the Opioid Crisis: Ending Over-Prescription
Physicians’ over-prescription of opioid painkillers opened the door to the current opioid crisis. What can health care providers do to fix it?
C...
August 8, 2019: Using music to combat HIV in Zambia
Each year in Zambia, 60,000 people are infected with HIV, and more than 20,000 die of AIDs. In all, it’s estimated that more than 1.2 million people i...
July 25, 2019: Professional sports and health
In this week’s episode we're talking about new research comparing the health of athletes in the National Football League and Major League Baseball. Th...
July 11, 2019: Human flourishing and public health
What does it mean for someone to flourish? Flourishing is more than just being happy—although that’s a part of it. But the idea of flourishing expands...
June 19, 2019: Creating an inclusive environment for transgender and gender-nonbinary teens
A new study shows that transgender and gender-nonbinary teens face a greater risk of sexual assault in schools that prevent them from using bathrooms...
June 6, 2019: Women are America's 'supermajority'
In this week's podcast we're sharing a special conversation between Cecile Richards, former president of Planned Parenthood and one of the co-founders...
May 31, 2019: A new approach to fighting malaria
Each year, more than 200 million people around the world are infected with malaria and more than 400,000 die. For the past two decades, the most succe...
May 10, 2019: Transforming America's 'sick care' system
Rear Admiral Sylvia Trent-Adams has been caring for people since she was just a child. When Trent-Adams was just 12 she volunteered as a candy striper...
April 25, 2019: There are no 'low-hanging fruits' in science
Noncommunicable diseases—or NCDs—are the leading cause of death around the world. And of those NCDs, chronic cardiometabolic conditions—such as heart...
April 18, 2019: The future of cancer prevention (part 2)
In 2018, colorectal cancer was the third-most common diagnosed cancer among both men and women in the U.S., and data indicate that younger adults are...
April 4, 2019: The future of cancer prevention (part 1)
The statistics on cancer worldwide are staggering: In 2018, more than 18 million people worldwide were diagnosed with the disease, and nearly 10 mill...
March 22, 2019: What can design do for public health?
When many people think of design they’re probably picturing a product, like a new smartphone or car. But the design principles that lead to the creati...
March 7, 2019: Many U.S. schools aren't testing drinking water for lead
The traditional public health mantra is that there is no safe level of lead for kids. But a new report from the Harvard Prevention Research Center on...
February 21, 2019: The connection between coral reefs and human health
Coral reefs aren’t just beautiful. They’re the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the oceans, and can provide food, jobs, and protection from sto...
Feb. 5, 2019: The toll of gun violence in America
Each year in the U.S. more than 30,000 people are killed by guns—with two-thirds of those deaths being suicide. And there are tens of thousands non-fa...
January 24, 2019: Heat is a 'silent killer'
Climate change will mean more extreme weather, including heat waves. And it’s not a distant threat—we’re already seeing the effects now in the United...