# Just Do Something - The Ultimate Wellness Hack

An episode of [Dr Justin Coulson's Happy Families](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1082244480), 30 Sep 2026, 11 min.

Audio: https://mgln.ai/e/187/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/fa326977-3de5-4283-9b8b-af3500c58607/b69b2795-5503-4de1-ac91-af460017906e/d54c35cd-23e1-44e2-b8bb-b4cb008df00b/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=a05f1702-0c0e-4b0f-8014-af460017907c

What if improving your wellbeing was far simpler than you thought? In this Doctor’s Desk episode, Justin and Kylie unpack a huge new scientific review published in Nature that analysed 183 wellbeing studies involving nearly 23,000 people worldwide. The conclusion? You don’t need the perfect routine, expensive programs, or hours of free time to feel better. You just need to do something. From exercise and mindfulness to yoga, gratitude, therapy, and simple self-awareness practices, the research shows that consistent small actions have a powerful impact on mental health and happiness. Justin and Kylie also share their own honest experiences of trying to prioritise wellbeing in the middle of busy family life. If you’ve been waiting for the “right time” to take care of yourself, this episode is your reminder that small steps still count. KEY POINTS: • A major Nature study reviewed 183 wellbeing interventions • Exercise combined with psychological support had the strongest results • Mindfulness, gratitude, yoga, and compassion practices all improved wellbeing • Consistency matters more than perfection • Small actions done regularly can create major emotional shifts • Parents don’t need hours of free time for self-care to work QUOTE OF THE EPISODE: “Don’t overthink the perfect wellbeing routine. Just do something.” RESOURCES MENTIONED: • Nature systematic review and meta-analysis on wellbeing interventions • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) • Mindfulness and positive psychology practices • Boys: Building Strong Young Men from the Inside Out by Dr Justin Coulson ACTION STEPS FOR PARENTS: • Choose one simple wellbeing habit you can realistically repeat this week • Aim for consistency over intensity • Pair movement with reflection, mindfulness, or connection • Notice how you feel when you stop prioritising your wellbeing • Give yourself permission to start small rather than waiting for perfect conditions See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:06] Speaker 1: Increasingly people are focused on well-being well-being has been the
[0:09] Speaker 1: buzzword for at least a decade and yet there are
[0:12] Speaker 1: so many different pathways to well-being people are very curious
[0:16] Speaker 1: about what is going to give maximum bang for buck
[0:19] Speaker 1: plus so many well-being quote-unquote interventions now cost money what's
[0:24] Speaker 1: the best way to boost your well-being how can you
[0:28] Speaker 1: be quote-unquote happier and help your kids to get there
[0:31] Speaker 1: as well especially if they're struggling Today, it's a doctor's
[0:34] Speaker 1: desk episode on the Happy Families podcast, where we unpack
[0:37] Speaker 1: the latest meta-analysis, systematic review in the journal Nature, looking
[0:44] Speaker 1: at randomized controlled trials of wellbeing-focused interventions. Oh, I just
[0:49] Speaker 1: love it when I get to talk science. That's coming
[0:51] Speaker 1: up next on the Happy Families podcast. Stay with us. G'day,
[0:56] Speaker 1: welcome to the Happy Families podcast. We're Justin and Kylie Coulson.
[0:59] Speaker 1: This is Australia's most downloaded parenting podcast. today some positive
[1:04] Speaker 1: parenting solutions to help boost your well-being kylie you get
[1:09] Speaker 1: so excited every time we get to talk science i
[1:11] Speaker 1: get to dive into the latest research today we are
[1:13] Speaker 1: really going to kick off a big one published at
[1:16] Speaker 1: the start of this year in nature which is one
[1:18] Speaker 1: of the world's most prestigious journals a systematic review and
[1:23] Speaker 1: network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials well-being focused interventions by
[1:27] Speaker 1: laurie wilkie and colleagues how exciting does that sound I'm
[1:31] Speaker 1: so excited. I know. I can see the goosebumps on
[1:34] Speaker 1: your arms as you heard me read out that scientific title.
[1:37] Speaker 1: It just sounds so, so good. Where do you want
[1:41] Speaker 1: to start with this one? There's a lot to talk about.
[1:43] Speaker 2: Well, I think the best place to start is at
[1:45] Speaker 2: the beginning. What did they do?
[1:47] Speaker 1: Fair enough. So basically, the best studies are the ones
[1:51] Speaker 1: where we do a systematic review. That means we go
[1:54] Speaker 1: through all the research literature and a meta-analysis. That means
[1:57] Speaker 1: that we're literally looking at all of the studies that
[1:59] Speaker 1: do this thing. randomized controlled trials of course being the
[2:03] Speaker 1: gold standard as well so these are the very best
[2:05] Speaker 1: studies and it's a whole bunch of them all being
[2:08] Speaker 1: analyzed you know how people say oh you can get
[2:11] Speaker 1: you can get a study to tell you anything well
[2:13] Speaker 1: this time we're looking at 183 well-being randomized controlled trials
[2:19] Speaker 1: so it's a big meta-analysis big synthesis of all the
[2:22] Speaker 1: literature looking at interventions for wellbeing in adults without diagnosed conditions. Okay.
[2:29] Speaker 1: So we're talking about mentally healthy adults.
[2:31] Speaker 2: There's a lot of groups here. Are the randomized studies
[2:35] Speaker 2: done in different places at different times with different researchers?
[2:39] Speaker 1: That's exactly right.
[2:40] Speaker 2: Right. Okay.
[2:41] Speaker 1: And that's why these are so powerful because if one
[2:44] Speaker 1: researcher gets a certain effect and they keep on doing
[2:46] Speaker 1: these studies and they keep getting that effect, but no
[2:48] Speaker 1: one else does, we call that an experimental expectancy effect.
[2:51] Speaker 1: People show up and the experimenter expects something's going to
[2:54] Speaker 1: happen and people kind of, it always becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
[2:58] Speaker 1: Even if they haven't communicated that, there's something that happens
[3:00] Speaker 1: there that's really quite strange. But when you get a
[3:04] Speaker 1: whole lot of studies from all over the world, from
[3:06] Speaker 1: different research labs, looking at the same problem, but in
[3:10] Speaker 1: slightly different ways, you pull it all together.
[3:13] Speaker 2: You're taking different cultural contrasts in as well. Yes. Yeah.
[3:17] Speaker 1: And that's where the power of these big literature syntheses
[3:20] Speaker 1: and meta-analyses really plays out. So I'm fascinated by this
[3:24] Speaker 1: study because- So how many did you say? 183 trials. 183.
[3:28] Speaker 1: We're talking about close to 23,000 different participants from all
[3:31] Speaker 1: over the world in these well-being trials.
[3:35] Speaker 2: So you'd have to believe that there's kind of some
[3:37] Speaker 2: truth in here.
[3:38] Speaker 1: We can unpack some truth. That's right. We can talk
[3:41] Speaker 1: about it.
[3:42] Speaker 2: So what were the well-being interventions they actually did?
[3:45] Speaker 1: They had a look at a bunch of them. So
[3:47] Speaker 1: all of these studies, they include psychological interventions, something called
[3:50] Speaker 1: acceptance and commitment therapy, which is a very popular form
[3:53] Speaker 1: of therapy, mindfulness-based interventions, compassion-based interventions. They were looking at
[3:59] Speaker 1: the effect of exercise, yoga, educational interventions, nature-based programs. And
[4:06] Speaker 1: they even did an analysis of doing an approach where
[4:09] Speaker 1: they combined exercise and psychological intervention at the same time.
[4:13] Speaker 1: So this is thorough. There's a lot going on.
[4:15] Speaker 2: I haven't read your paper. No. And I have not
[4:18] Speaker 2: been a participant in any of these. But I would
[4:22] Speaker 2: think that based on all of the interventions you're talking about,
[4:26] Speaker 2: there's going to be positive outcomes across the board because
[4:31] Speaker 2: whenever we do anything out of the norm to connect–
[4:35] Speaker 2: with self and to become more aware, it feels like progress.
[4:41] Speaker 1: So the research has found in all of these randomized
[4:43] Speaker 1: controlled trials, the overall effect was when you do anything,
[4:48] Speaker 1: it improves your well-being compared with people who aren't doing
[4:50] Speaker 1: anything at all. Yeah.
[4:51] Speaker 2: I know from my own personal experience, I can go
[4:53] Speaker 2: for a 5K run, which kills me, but I still
[4:57] Speaker 2: feel really good for having done it at the other end.
[4:59] Speaker 2: Or I can go for a walk down at the
[5:00] Speaker 2: beach and I'm not using half the amount of energy,
[5:04] Speaker 2: but I still feel better- for having done that than
[5:07] Speaker 2: sitting on the couch.
[5:08] Speaker 1: After the break, I'm going to go through precisely what
[5:10] Speaker 1: they found because some things do work better than others.
[5:13] Speaker 1: But the good news is they all work. And I'm
[5:15] Speaker 1: going to talk about the implications of that as well.
[5:17] Speaker 1: That's next. Stay with us. We're back. It's the Happy
[5:26] Speaker 1: Families podcast. Want to be happier? Want to have higher
[5:29] Speaker 1: levels of well-being? The evidence says just do something. Just
[5:32] Speaker 1: do something and you'll probably do really well. Kylie, I
[5:35] Speaker 1: want to go through these results. They actually do matter
[5:37] Speaker 1: and they are quite relevant if people are trying to
[5:39] Speaker 1: work out, well, where am I going to get the
[5:40] Speaker 1: best bang for buck? So the best way to boost
[5:44] Speaker 1: your well-being is to do exercise, but combine that with
[5:49] Speaker 1: some kind of psychological intervention. Now, that might be listening
[5:51] Speaker 1: to great podcasts. It might be doing some relationship building.
[5:54] Speaker 1: It might be meeting with a therapist once a month.
[5:57] Speaker 1: But doing something where you're moving your body seems to
[6:00] Speaker 1: be the best way to boost well-being, especially when you
[6:03] Speaker 1: combine it with some kind of psychological intervention. The next
[6:06] Speaker 1: best thing were things like mindfulness, compassion, working on positive
[6:14] Speaker 1: psychology kinds of stuff. That's gratitude and optimism and focusing
[6:20] Speaker 1: on strengths and all those sorts of things. Yoga and
[6:22] Speaker 1: exercise interventions demonstrated moderate, consistent effects, and there was no
[6:28] Speaker 1: significant difference between any of those interventions. They all just
[6:31] Speaker 1: kind of worked. The one thing that surprised me that
[6:35] Speaker 1: didn't work nearly as well as all the other stuff
[6:38] Speaker 1: was nature-based interventions. They weren't significantly better than controls in
[6:43] Speaker 1: the meta-analysis, which means all the forest bathing or the
[6:48] Speaker 1: sitting somewhere quiet and just soaking up nature, that stuff
[6:51] Speaker 1: didn't have the same positive outcome.
[6:55] Speaker 2: So were they doing forest bathing and combining that with
[6:58] Speaker 2: some kind of psychological?
[7:00] Speaker 1: No, no, it was purely the nature-based intervention.
[7:02] Speaker 2: Yeah, I was going to say, because I think that
[7:05] Speaker 2: the more you understand about yourself, the more you are
[7:08] Speaker 2: able to process things better, and the more you're able
[7:12] Speaker 2: to appreciate quiet and stillness. If you don't have self-awareness
[7:17] Speaker 2: or the tools in your toolkit to help you do
[7:20] Speaker 2: those things, then often the silence is actually more noise,
[7:25] Speaker 2: if that makes sense, because you've just got so much
[7:27] Speaker 2: going on. Yeah, yeah.
[7:28] Speaker 1: That default mode network in your brain kicks into high
[7:31] Speaker 1: gear and you're like, whoa. That may be part of it,
[7:33] Speaker 1: although the researchers argued it was something else. Okay. They
[7:37] Speaker 1: said that there was a high level of what they
[7:38] Speaker 1: call methodological heterogeneity. In other words- In other words, the
[7:43] Speaker 1: methodology for all the studies was too different, and they
[7:46] Speaker 1: were studying too many different variables for them to get
[7:49] Speaker 1: a really clear and concise measure of what's going on.
[7:51] Speaker 2: That's fair.
[7:51] Speaker 1: So I would actually argue that those kinds of nature-based
[7:55] Speaker 1: interventions can and do work, but they weren't able to
[7:58] Speaker 1: study it the way they needed to in here. Having
[8:01] Speaker 1: said that, they didn't find it, so we have to
[8:03] Speaker 1: report that accurately and appropriately. So what does this mean
[8:07] Speaker 1: for us? It basically means that if you would like
[8:09] Speaker 1: to increase your well-being... Do something. Do something.
[8:13] Speaker 2: Just do something.
[8:13] Speaker 1: But do it consistently. If you can't do it every day,
[8:16] Speaker 1: do it five times a week. And if you can't
[8:18] Speaker 1: do it five times a week, do it at least
[8:19] Speaker 1: three times a week. And like you said before, Kylie,
[8:22] Speaker 1: whether it's a walk, spending some time in the park
[8:25] Speaker 1: or laying on the trampoline, staring at the clouds, whether
[8:28] Speaker 1: it's meditation, whether it's yoga or exercise or learning about
[8:35] Speaker 1: mindfulness or learning about the psychology of compassion or or
[8:40] Speaker 1: meeting with somebody and doing some self-work. It all works.
[8:45] Speaker 1: It all works. You've just got to be consistent and
[8:47] Speaker 1: do it frequently. That's my very happy news from the
[8:50] Speaker 1: doctor's desk today.
[8:52] Speaker 2: When I first started learning about just how to kind
[8:57] Speaker 2: of work through my own challenges and create a toolkit
[9:01] Speaker 2: that would work for me, I thought that I had
[9:04] Speaker 2: to do it every day, that I had to be
[9:07] Speaker 2: kind of that consistent. that, so that it would make
[9:12] Speaker 2: a difference. And over time, it wasn't my reality. I'm
[9:19] Speaker 2: a mom of six kids and a grandbaby. You are
[9:22] Speaker 2: gone a lot. And so the idea that I would
[9:25] Speaker 2: have this heavenly, you know, kind of hour or two
[9:28] Speaker 2: to myself in the mornings before everybody got up and
[9:31] Speaker 2: that I would be able to just have that stillness
[9:34] Speaker 2: and have that meditation time and, you But what I
[9:40] Speaker 2: found is as I have become consistent with it, that
[9:43] Speaker 2: even if I only do it once or twice a week,
[9:46] Speaker 2: the shifts that it helps me in are massive compared
[9:50] Speaker 2: to not doing it. And I notice it more when
[9:53] Speaker 2: I haven't done it. And I've actually gone to you
[9:56] Speaker 2: and just said, I'm falling to pieces.
[9:58] Speaker 1: I just need to do that thing. I've got to
[10:00] Speaker 1: back yeah yep yep uh do the thing do the
[10:03] Speaker 1: thing it will make you happier ideally it won't add
[10:05] Speaker 1: stress to your life we will link to the article
[10:07] Speaker 1: in the show notes although if you're anything like kylie
[10:10] Speaker 1: you don't need to read the article you just need
[10:12] Speaker 1: to do the thing i just like reading the articles
[10:15] Speaker 1: That's our Doctor's Desk episode for today. Thanks so much
[10:17] Speaker 1: for joining us. The Happy Families podcast will be back tomorrow.
[10:20] Speaker 1: It's produced by Justin Rulon from Bridge Medium. M. Hammonds
[10:22] Speaker 1: provides our admin and other support. If you would like
[10:26] Speaker 1: more info to make your family happier, visit happyfamilies.com.au.

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