Having such an amazing archive of material, from the Just One Thing podcast to his many TV programmes, felt like a blessing to our family in the aftermath of Dad’s passing.
However, it took months before I felt able to watch or listen to anything he had produced.
Eight months after he died, I started to relisten to Just One Thing and I was immediately hooked.
Although it was emotionally difficult to listen at first, I was struck by the wealth of useful, evidence-based and easy-to-action information. It is a treasure trove of tips for people wanting to make small changes to their lives.
The beauty of Just One Thing is that those changes, though seemingly small, have an incredible cumulative effect on helping you live a happier, healthier and more productive life.
Dad’s authenticity was a great part of his appeal.
For much of his life, he was far from perfect when it came to looking after his health. He had a sweet tooth and was probably addicted to chocolate. He struggled with insomnia and would be the first to admit he was no lover of exercise.
This meant that he really did understand what others were going through. It drove him to figure out ways to incorporate key changes so that they were not too much of a chore and could become a habit.
Journalist, producer, presenter and writer Michael Mosley died in 2024. ‘At times he was far from perfect when it came to his health, but his authenticity was a great part of his appeal’
‘Eight months after he died, I started to relisten to Just One Thing and I was immediately hooked.’ Jack pictured with his father Michael
Through the podcast, he met many renowned scientists who were performing cutting-edge research into an area of medicine that had been previously left by the wayside: lifestyle medicine.
He found it fascinating and was always sharing a story or an interesting piece of research.
The last conversation I had with him was a long chat on the phone, which finished with him enthusiastically telling me about the latest way to exercise: Nordic walking!
His love for the topics he discussed really shone through. He left a lasting impression on so many. Who isn’t still brushing their teeth on one leg?
But his legacy lives on and we are delighted to share more of Dad’s tips and tweaks in these extracts from Just One Thing Volume 2, so that you can continue to improve your life bit by bit through the learnings of the one and only Dr Michael Mosley.
Tune into pain relief
The endorphins released by the sound of good music have been shown to bind to opioid receptors in the brain, dampening the perception of pain and triggering a mild sense of euphoria.
That’s why listening to music can put a smile on your face, but it also helps to explain a growing body of research showing that music can act as a form of pain relief.
Clinical trials have shown that patients who listen to music as they recover from surgery require, on average, 18 per cent less morphine than those who don’t have music – a significant reduction in drug use.
Make a playlist of your favourite music and listen to it without distractions for ten minutes a day
And an extensive review of studies on music and surgical recovery found patients who listened to music had a significant reduction in pain the day after surgery (needing fewer painkillers), reduced anxiety levels and a lower heart rate.
Listening mindfully to music can also bolster brain power. This means actively focusing on the sounds, the rhythms and the emotions the music evokes.
By actively engaging like this, you will be stimulating not only your auditory system, but also a wide array of brain regions linked to memory, movement, reward and emotion.
Make a playlist of your favourite music and listen to it without distractions for ten minutes a day.
Restrict phone use
Curbing your mobile phone use – even by a little bit – can have very useful health consequences.
A study by Swansea University has shown that even reducing social media use by just 15 minutes a day can significantly improve our general health and immune function, as well as reducing levels of loneliness and depression.
Restricting phone use could be good for your posture, too. That’s because too much doomscrolling can lead to ‘text neck’ – neck and shoulder pain caused by spending extended periods with your chin dropped towards your chest to look down at your phone.
The weight of your head (around 4.5kg) is supported by the spine and neck muscles when standing or sitting upright, but – according to the laws of physics – tilting the head forwards puts increased load on the neck and shoulders.
At a 45-degree angle, the load on the spine could increase to 22kg, a 2014 study by New York Spine Surgery & Rehabilitation Medicine, published in the journal Surgical Technology International, showed.
Embrace the rain
In the UK, it rains on 159 days of each year, on average. But perhaps it’s time that we changed our view of drizzle. Far from being a grey inconvenience, there’s mounting scientific evidence that rain – and the air it leaves behind – may actually be good for us.
It’s not just our gardens and farms that benefit from a good downpour. Rain helps to clean the atmosphere, flushing out pollutants and significantly improving air quality.
One Japanese study found that rainfall reduced the number of harmful fine particles in the air – the type that can lodge deep in the lungs – by around 20 per cent.
This means that going for a walk in the rain, or shortly afterwards, doesn’t just offer solitude and moody skies. It also delivers air that’s cleaner and potentially better for your lungs than the air you’d breathe on a dry day.
The smell of wet earth may have calming, anti-inflammatory effects on both the brain and body
You may also have noticed the rich smell that follows rain falling on dry soil. That’s called petrichor, a term coined in the 1960s.
The main chemical responsible is geosmin, a compound produced by soil-dwelling bacteria and released into the air when raindrops hit dry ground. Geosmin doesn’t just smell good – it may make you feel good, too.
In a recent study from Korea, researchers asked 30 healthy adults to handle soil containing geosmin and compared various measures to those of a control group handling sterilised soil. After just five minutes of exposure, those in the geosmin group had elevated levels of serotonin – the mood-regulating neurotransmitter – in their blood.
Brainwave activity also shifted into a more relaxed state, and their levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation (the immune system’s response to injury, irritation or infection) fell.
In other words, the smell of wet earth may have calming, anti-inflammatory effects on both the brain and body. So go for a walk in the rain or head outside just after a downpour. It may reduce stress and inflammation while lifting your mood.
Start lifting weights
Weight lifting can improve mood and immunity, benefit heart, brain and bone health and slow the pace of ageing. Here are two exercises you can add to your routine without having to spend a fortune on gym membership or equipment.
1. Bicep curls
If you don’t have weights for this exercise, use a bottle of milk instead (a 2-litre bottle is about 2kg when full, so start with it half-empty).
Stand or sit and grasp the bottle with one hand, with your palm facing forwards (underhand grip).
Keeping your elbow close to your side, slowly bend your arm to bring the bottle up towards your shoulder, squeezing your bicep as you lift. Hold for one second at the top, then slowly lower to start position. Aim for ten repetitions, then switch arms. Do three sets for each arm.
2. Weighted squats
Fill a backpack with books or tins and wear it high on your back (start with light weights and increase as you get stronger).
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, your toes pointing slightly outwards. Keeping your chest up and your shoulders back, push your hips back as if sitting in a chair, bending your knees until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
Keep your weight in your heels and your knees tracking over your toes. Push through your heels to stand back up, squeezing your buttock muscles at the top.
Repeat three sets of ten repetitions with a short break in between each set.
Pick up a pen
Studies suggest expressive writing may help you sleep better, think more clearly and even heal faster
In an age of digital distraction, the simple act of picking up a pen and writing down your thoughts might seem quaint – irrelevant, even. But science suggests it may be one of the most effective habits you can adopt to boost health. You don’t need to be the next Virginia Woolf. What matters is the process, not the prose.
Expressive writing involves setting aside 15 minutes to record your thoughts and emotions – particularly those you might normally avoid or suppress. And the results can be profound.
Studies suggest it may help you sleep better, think more clearly and even heal faster.
It’s free, low-effort and private – yet it’s backed by decades of psychological and medical research.
How to get started
- Find a quiet space where you won’t be interrupted.
- Get a pen or pencil and some paper.
- Set a timer for ten or 15 minutes.
- Write continuously without worrying about grammar or structure.
- Focus on your deepest thoughts and emotions.
- Afterwards, keep or discard what you’ve written – it’s up to you.
Read a poem aloud
Quietly listening to or reading poetry can ease stress and lift mood but speaking it aloud adds another layer of calm.
Researchers at the Swiss Association of Art Therapies found reading rhythmic poetry was shown to regulate breathing patterns, slow the heart rate and increase heart rate variability (HRV) – a measure of the body’s capacity to respond to stress.
The study found that this shift was even more pronounced than when participants practised deliberate deep-breathing exercises. ‘The key is rhythm,’ explains study leader Dietrich Von Bonin.
‘When you read rhythmic poetry aloud, your breathing naturally slows and lengthens. This stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system, which supports everything from digestion to immune function and mood.’
For the benefits to kick in, the poetry must include a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables, ideally with longer lines that allow the breath to flow.
To Autumn, by John Keats, is a good poem to start with; or ‘Hope’ Is The Thing With Feathers, by Emily Dickinson.
Von Bonin recommends finding rhythmic poems you like and then reading aloud for five to ten minutes, three or four times a week.
Walk backwards
Build a few minutes of backwards walking into your exercise regime. This low- impact activity can improve stability and balance, ease lower back pain and boost memory and brain power.
It’s not just a quirky fitness trend either, it has deep roots stretching back to traditional Chinese medicine.
When we walk backwards, we use muscles that are usually underworked; the calves and shins and the quadriceps at the front of the thigh get far more engagement.
A Texan study found that blood lactate levels – which are an indicator of muscular effort – were three times higher during backwards walking than ordinary walking.
And despite the effort required, backwards walking is much more gentle on the knees and back.
‘To walk backwards safely, you need to engage your core muscles, pull back your shoulders and lift your chest,’ says Professor Janet Dufek, from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who has been studying backwards walking for more than 30 years.
Get an early night
Making sure it’s lights out at around 10pm or 11pm can boost your mood. Studies have shown that people who go to bed earlier have fewer negative thoughts than those who go to bed later.
A recent study of more than 800,000 people by researchers from Harvard, MIT and the University of Colorado found your risk of depression is linked to the timing of your sleep midpoint (halfway between your bedtime and wake time).
Based on this, they conclude that if someone who normally goes to bed at 1am were to go to bed an hour earlier, they could reduce their risk of depression by 23 per cent, theoretically at least.
Two hours earlier could reduce it by a whopping 40 per cent.
One suggested explanation is that shifting your bedtime earlier means you’ve got a better chance of getting extra hours of light in the morning, which should prompt your body to release more feel-good hormones and helps to reset your circadian clock, which has a powerful influence on your mental and physical health.
This effect is likely to be more pronounced in the summer months when the days are longer and morning light is more intense.
But even in winter, outdoor light exposure still acts as a time cue for your circadian rhythm.
Disrupting this rhythm by staying up late can increase your risk of metabolic problems and mood disorders, and it can weaken your immunity.
Dig for microbiome
Gardening families consume more dietary fibre than families who don’t garden and have a greater microbiota diversity
The physical exertion of gardening is a great way to get fit. But you might be surprised to learn that, in addition, the exposure to bacteria in soil can boost your gut microbiome, the community of micro-organisms that live in your digestive tract, playing an essential part in digestion and immune function.
Dr Hannah Holscher, director of the Nutrition and Human Microbiome Laboratory at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has been studying the benefits of getting your hands dirty. She has researched the ways the microbiome in our gut changes during the gardening season.
‘We recruited families who did gardening and families who didn’t,’ she says. The results were fascinating. Dr Holscher’s team spotted a greater diversity of microbes in the guts of the gardening families at the end of the gardening season than the beginning.
The results also showed that gardening families consume more dietary fibre than families who don’t garden and have a greater microbiota diversity – specifically more of the populations of bacteria that can break down dietary fibre within the intestinal tract.
Wade in water
Even walking vigorously up and down the shallow end will provide resistance and pressure that can improve circulation and challenge your muscles
Swimming has unique benefits over other forms of exercise. Not only is it gentle on the joints and accessible to all ages, but it also provides a powerful workout for both body and brain.
As little as 20-30 minutes of swimming, three times a week, is enough to see real changes, says Professor Hirofumi Tanaka, an exercise physiologist at the University of Texas at Austin.
And you don’t have to be doing a slick front crawl or energetic butterfly action to benefit. Even walking vigorously up and down the shallow end will provide resistance and pressure that can improve circulation and challenge your muscles.
Professor Tanaka adds: ‘You will be working against the resistance of the water and therefore using more muscle groups than you would on land and stimulating blood flow in a way that seems to benefit both body and brain.’
The food hacks that really make a difference
Cooked tomatoes are healthier
To get the most of the benefits of tomatoes, cooking is key.
When you sauté them for a pasta sauce or roast them for a rich soup, the heat breaks down the fruit’s structure. This makes lycopene, a vivid red pigment which acts as a potent antioxidant that can help to neutralise harmful unstable molecules called free radicals. Left unchecked, free radicals can attack cell DNA, proteins and lipids.
Pairing cooked tomatoes with a fat source, such as olive oil, further boosts absorption. ‘Lycopene is an oil-soluble vitamin,’ says Professor Richard van Breemen of Oregon State University, ‘so to help extract it from the plant as we eat it, a little bit of oil like olive oil goes a long way.’
Cooking tomatoes enhances their antioxidants, which help neutralise unstable molecules in the body
Eating a tomato salad might give you 5-10mg of lycopene, but cooking and blending your tomatoes yields much more: 100g of tomato sauce will deliver roughly 50mg of lycopene.
Add turmeric to your food every day
Turmeric’s therapeutic reputation stretches back thousands of years. Research suggests it may boost mood, sharpen memory and help ease aches and pains.
With its warm, earthy flavour and a hint of bitterness, it blends beautifully into a wide range of dishes – from hearty stews to delicate teas.
Here are some tips to incorporate it into your everyday cooking:
1. Stir it into soups, broths and stews
Add a teaspoon of ground turmeric to lentil soups, vegetable broths or slow-cooked curries. It provides depth of flavour and a vibrant colour. Sauté it briefly in oil first to release its aroma before adding liquids.
2. Make a golden latte
Also known as ‘turmeric milk’ or ‘golden milk’, this warming drink is perfect before bed. Whisk half a teaspoon of ground turmeric into warm milk (dairy or plant-based) with a pinch of black pepper, a grating of fresh ginger, a dash of cinnamon and a touch of honey.
3. Add a pinch of it to your scrambled eggs
For a morning boost, stir a small pinch of turmeric into your eggs as they cook. It won’t overpower the flavour, but it will add a sunny colour and subtle complexity. A pinch of turmeric will add punch and vigour to an egg mayonnaise sandwich, too.
4. Mix it into rubs and marinades
Combine turmeric with cumin, coriander, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil to make a simple rub for chicken, lamb or tofu. Marinate for at least an hour to absorb the flavour.
5. Brighten up rice or couscous
Just a quarter teaspoon of turmeric in the cooking water will turn plain rice a brilliant yellow. Also add toasted nuts and herbs for a Middle Eastern twist.
TIP: Always cook turmeric with a little oil or fat and a pinch of black pepper to help your body absorb its active ingredient, curcumin, more effectively.
Pick a polyphenol-rich red wine
Mounting research suggests that, in small quantities and consumed with food, red wine could help protect your heart, regulate blood sugar and even boost the diversity of your gut bacteria.
The root of red wine’s potential health halo lies in its high concentration of polyphenols: beneficial plant compounds found in the skins and seeds of red and black grapes.
These polyphenols are known for their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.
Polyphenols may also support the health of our arteries and microbiome.
Not all bottles of red wine are created equal, however. Polyphenol content can vary dramatically depending on the grape variety, climate and how the wine was made.
Wines from thicker-skinned grapes – such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah (Shiraz), Malbec and Tannat – tend to be richest in polyphenols, especially a sub-group of beneficial compounds called flavonoids.
Avoid heavily processed or mass-produced wines, which often contain fewer natural polyphenols.
The new TV series of Just One Thing, presented by Zoe Ball, Clive Myrie and Roman Kemp, will be on BBC One from Monday, March 23.
