# \[REPLAY\] Healing Through Hobbies: The Science of Social Prescribing | Julia Hotz

An episode of [Minimalist Moms Podcast | Purposeful Life & Parenting Tips](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1159498258), 10 Apr 2026, 31 min.

Audio: https://prefix.up.audio/s/pdst.fm/e/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/clrtpod.com/m/mgln.ai/e/35/audio2.redcircle.com/episodes/19211e77-56d2-4965-b631-d33b768573e0/stream.mp3

What if the key to better health isn’t found in a pill bottle - but in community, creativity, and connection? Today I’m joined by author and researcher Julia Hotz to talk about her new book, The Connection Cure, where she uncovers how movement, nature, art, service, and belonging can transform our well-being. From dementia care farms in Norway to social prescribing programs around the world, Julia shares powerful, real-life stories of how people are healing through human connection. We dive into how prescribing joy, purpose, and relationships could radically shift how we think about healthcare. Links Discussed in This Episode | • Book: Outlive by Peter Attia • Book: The Nature Fix by Florence Williams • Book: Heartbreak by Florence Williams • Book: Your Brain on Art: How Art Transform Us by Ivy Ross • Book: Together: The Healing Power of Human Connection in a Sometimes Lonely World by Vivek Murthy • Book: The Power of Fun by Catherine Price • Connect with Julia: • Website • Book: The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service, and Belonging • Instagram About Julia | Julia Hotz is a solutions focused journalist based in New York. Her stories have appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, Scientific American, The Boston Globe, Time, and more. She helps other journalists report on the big new ideas changing the world at the Solutions Journalism Network. For her insights on social prescribing, she has been invited to advise health and community organizations, teach in medical schools, deliver talks at TEDx, university symposiums, and international conferences, and write editorials for publications including The Wall Street Journal, Slate, and more. She proudly serves on the board of Walk with a Doc, and as an advisor to Social Prescribing USA. Episode Sponsors | The Minimalist Moms Podcast would not be possible without the support of weekly sponsors. Choosing brands that I believe in is important to me. I only want to recommend brands that I believe may help you in your daily life. As always, never feel pressured into buying anything. Remember: if you don't need it, it's not a good deal! Enjoy the Podcast? Post a review and share it! If you enjoyed tuning into this podcast, then do not hesitate to write a review. You can also share this with your fellow mothers so that they can be inspired to think more and do with less. Order (or review) my book, Minimalist Moms: Living & Parenting With Simplicity. You can contact me through my website, find me on Instagram, Pinterest or like The Minimalist Moms Page on Facebook. Our Sponsors: * Check out BetterHelp and use my code betterhelp.com for a great deal: https://www.betterhelp.com * Check out Cure Hydration and use my code MINIMALIST for a great deal: https://www.curehydration.com * Check out DeleteMe and use my code joindeleteme.com/MINIMALIST for a great deal: https://joindeleteme.com * Check out Wayfair: https://www.wayfair.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

## Transcript

[0:00] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I wanted to bring this conversation back because I think many of us are feeling a quiet kind of burnout right now, not necessarily from doing too much, but from being a little too disconnected from each other, from nature, even from ourselves.
[0:13] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And as we move into a new season, this episode is such a timely reminder that small intentional shifts, like getting outside, creating something with your hands, or investing in community, can have a profound impact on how we feel.
[0:26] \[SPEAKER_01\]: It's not about adding more to your play, it's about returning to what actually sustains us.
[0:31] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So with that, let's get into this replay with my guest Julia Hots.
[0:35] \[SPEAKER_01\]: you talk about the idea of shifting from what's the matter with you to what matters to you.
[0:41] \[SPEAKER_01\]: That thought is transforming our healthcare and our health.
[0:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: There's actually some data shown that up to 80% of our health is determined by factors in our environments.
[0:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Health isn't just about treating what's wrong with us.
[0:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's also about creating environments where we feel really connected and joyful and purposeful and
[1:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: healthy.
[1:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Turns out loneliness is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day and it's like an orange pill bottle.
[1:08] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's got a paint easel inside, a little plant, a little trumpet, a little dog.
[1:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And it's about doing exactly this.
[1:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I talked to a man who was prescribed a cycling course for his diabetes, who was able to come off the insulin, or an empty nest germ mother who was dealing with chronic pain and gets prescribed the spot in this children's charity volunteering for it.
[1:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And that sort of,
[1:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Heelter, according to the studies in the UK, where this has been more widely tested, is it's actually reducing pressure on healthcare, meaning people are going to the doctors less after they've been given a social prescription.
[1:48] \[SPEAKER_01\]: What if the key to better health isn't found in a pill bottle, but in community, creativity, and connection?
[1:53] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Today I'm joined by author and researcher Julia Hots to talk about her new book, The Connection Curre, where she uncovers how movement, nature, art, service, and belonging can transform are well-being.
[2:05] \[SPEAKER_01\]: from dementia care farms in Norway to social prescribing programs around the world.
[2:10] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Julia shares powerful real-life stories of how people are healing through human connection.
[2:15] \[SPEAKER_01\]: We dive into how prescribing joy, purpose, and relationships could radically shift how we think about health care.
[2:21] \[SPEAKER_01\]: If you've ever felt like something's missing from modern medicine, this conversation will open your eyes to what really makes us well.
[2:28] \[SPEAKER_01\]: But before we get into the conversation, I'd love for you just to pause the episode, take 30 seconds or less, and leave a rating and review for the podcast.
[2:36] \[SPEAKER_01\]: This just helps get the podcast boosted in the algorithm, and to be put in front of eyes that could benefit from living a life with clear intention.
[2:42] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So thank you to those of you that have done this.
[2:45] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Azoya, say for those of you that have been listening for years and have yet to do it, what are you waiting for?
[2:49] \[SPEAKER_01\]: It truly takes no time at all, but it makes a huge difference.
[2:54] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And with that, let's get into the conversation with Julia.
[2:59] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So you're here today to talk about your book, The Connection cure, The Perscriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service, and Belonging.
[3:08] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I love the cover, Julia.
[3:10] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Thanks for joining me today.
[3:11] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Thank you so much for having me, Diane.
[3:14] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Absolutely.
[3:15] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So, growing up, did you think you'd ever become an author?
[3:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Honestly, you know, it's funny.
[3:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I pulled out my fifth grade yearbook and it said,
[3:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And that was really cute because I forgot I'd written that, but you know, I kind of chalked that up to, oh, all kids like want to be writers, that's their prime book era.
[3:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So yes and no, I kind of forgot about it for a while.
[3:42] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Okay, so just I know the I read the subtitle but also in the front cover of your book it says a better way of thinking about medicine and healing so I guess before we get into the meat of this conversation why was this something that you even considered writing about
[3:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This for me, you know, I say this early on in the book, I'm not a health expert by any means.
[4:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I still get confused every month when I have to figure out does my insurance cover this?
[4:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: What do these acronyms mean?
[4:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But for me, I think during the pandemic, the thick of the isolation of the pandemic is when I really started seeing these headlines about people just not doing well.
[4:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: People's mental health, the struggling,
[4:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: loneliness was in the news and so I sort of went into this rabbit hole of being curious about why is it that on one hand we're spending more and more money on medication and therapy and we come such a long way and help in so many ways and yet it seems like we're worse off than ever so
[4:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I started exploring this really at began in 2018 when the UK had established a minister of loneliness.
[4:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I was really curious about that.
[5:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'd never thought of loneliness as being something that required government support was even so bad for our health, but it turns out loneliness is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
[5:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So that's where began is really to think about connections as medicine.
[5:16] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Hmm, I think about that when you hear a spouse will die and then not long after the other one will pass away and people are like, oh, they died of a broken heart, but I'm like, no, I think it really has to do with loneliness and Peter, a Tia talks about that in his book out live that truly one of the biggest markers of longevity is companionship, whether that's with our spouse or with the friend.
[5:41] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And if I don't know all the science, but that's why you're here to inform us today.
[5:44] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So you traveled around the globe to find insight into other countries.
[5:49] \[SPEAKER_01\]: What was one of the most interesting things that you learned?
[5:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, I mean, big respects for Peter and Tia, one of many who really put that into the conversation about how social support is one of our greatest pictures of longevity and it's not just the number, it's also the quality of our relationships.
[6:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So I was curious like what does that actually look like as here in the United States where a long way away from
[6:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: social prescribing, from actually having doctors prescribe activities and resources so that we can increase our social connectedness and the longing.
[6:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's kind of happening here, but not quite yet.
[6:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So I would say one of the coolest places that I had seen, one of my favorites, it's like the chapter that makes me really get emotional probably because I think of my own parents is about
[6:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And, you know, I'm thinking about your listeners and what you're all about, and in some ways, this farm is so simple.
[6:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: What happens is people who are diagnosed with dementia, they get picked up in a minivan, they get dropped off at this beautiful expansive farm.
[7:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They all cook breakfast together, and then they go for a morning walk, and then literally they're put to work.
[7:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Oh, and you might think, uh, that's an interesting way of doing care.
[7:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You'd think care is about rest.
[7:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's about recovery.
[7:14] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But actually, what I learned on this farm and from talking to people is that when you have dementia and you feel like so much of your health, his God, so much of your cognitive functioning is gone.
[7:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It feels so good to
[7:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: actually doing something that you actually have sort of a purpose, even if it's just feeding the cows or cleaning the chicken eggs, I thought that was really beautiful.
[7:43] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yeah, I was going to say that since a purpose that is missing when you're just sitting around all day and I mean in how depressing and isolating and yeah I really I love that okay so you talk about the idea of shifting from what's the matter with you to what matters to that thought is transforming our health care and our health let's talk a little bit more about that.
[8:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, and I think from a young age in the United States, like we tend to think of health and health care as being the thing where, you know, we go to the doctor, we talk about our symptoms.
[8:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They prescribe us something to treat those symptoms, whether it's medication or therapy or a surgery, and we're healed.
[8:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But for so much of what actually makes us struggle, it's not that simple.
[8:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: There's actually some data shown that up to 80% of our health is determined by factors and our environment.
[8:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So that includes things like we were saying earlier, your access to social support.
[8:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: your access to green space, your opportunities for physical activity, whether you feel safe in your community, whether you have outlets to cope with stress.
[8:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: All of that does impact your health that makes you more predisposed to anxiety, depression, chronic pain, stress, ADHD, dementia, even.
[9:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And yet most doctors in their sort of clinical toolkit and training don't have something they could easily prescribe to treat that.
[9:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So what's happening is that the conversation is shifting, you know, yes, we need to still treat what's the matter with you.
[9:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We still need to treat those symptoms.
[9:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This is not about replacing other kinds of medicine.
[9:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But in many places, those doctors are saying, OK, I've kind of done all I can with what's in my clinical toolkit.
[9:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So I'm going to refer you to another health worker in my clinic.
[9:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In most places, it's called a link worker.
[9:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And that person is going to have the time to really understand what matters to you.
[9:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: What are the things you love to do as a kid?
[9:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: If you had two more hours in the week, what would you spend it doing?
[9:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And then that link worker also has like a really intimate knowledge of what's actually happening in the community.
[9:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Let's say, Diane, you know, you are talking about your dog.
[9:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Let's say you love animals.
[9:59] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You know, maybe you had a pet when you were growing up, but can't afford one now for whatever reason.
[10:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That link worker might prescribe you to a spot volunteering at a local animal shelter or training therapy dogs.
[10:11] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And it's this idea that, you know, health isn't just about treating what's wrong with us.
[10:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's also about creating environments where we feel really connected and joyful and purposeful and healthy.
[10:24] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Mm-hmm, absolutely.
[10:24] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So I'm not first and foremost in support of medicating.
[10:30] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I think that that is an option.
[10:31] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I don't think it's the worst option, but I'm like, what again, going back to our environment?
[10:35] \[SPEAKER_01\]: What can we change that will have a massive effect?
[10:38] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And I think sometimes we don't think that it will.
[10:40] \[SPEAKER_01\]: But yeah, to talk about how time and nature, which I'm a big believer of this, restores our attention.
[10:46] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So maybe talk a little bit about that and we'll go through some other facets of things that could restore us.
[10:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, I think it's important to say, you know, medication for sure has its place for a lot of patients who've been given social prescriptions, it often looks like a combination of medication and therapy, but at the same time, there's only so much medication and therapy can do and so, you know, I'm thinking as we speak, time and nature about, you know, this one woman, a man who'd been
[11:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: had a lot of terrible things happen to her all at once.
[11:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: She found that her husband was having an affair, she lost her mother, she got fired from her job and she had to move to a place where she knew nobody and this was all in the background of the pandemic itself.
[11:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so for Amanda, you know, first and foremost, she's prescribed the maximum dose of the antidepressants and this really helps her with some of her more severe symptoms, but she's still not feeling healthy.
[11:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so it also happened that Amanda, by virtue of moving to this new place, which was a seaside town in the UK, got to be really curious about that.
[11:53] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And, you know, she talked to her mental health nurse about how she was maybe interested in taking swimming lessons, she'd seen women her age out there swimming.
[12:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so, what did that mental health nurse do?
[12:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: She actually prescribed her a spot in this 10-week cease-famy course.
[12:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And these are like totally badass women, you know, going out there in the cold months of the year all in their 50s.
[12:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And what's happening is that not only does Amanda now have a routine, not only is she objectively doing something that's good for her, she's moving her body, she's getting out of her house into a beautiful natural seascape, all of which has all these physiological benefits, but she's also meeting other people like her.
[12:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so what happens in those 10 weeks?
[12:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Amanda now has a friend circle.
[12:45] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Amanda now has a new habit.
[12:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: and over time, Amanda is actually able to go from the maximum dose of anti-depressants to the minimum.
[12:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I think for sure, some of that comes down to the way that nature has been shown to improve our focus, improve our concentration, reduce our production of the stress hormone cortisol.
[13:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It has all of these just like objective physiological benefits, but it was also the fact that it was
[13:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: like delivered in the social prescription of something she was curious about and of doing it with people like her that I think really made it successful.
[13:22] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Mm-hmm.
[13:22] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Another book I recommend is called the Nature Fix by Florence Williams.
[13:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, she's amazing and her sequel so good, heartbreak.
[13:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Oh, heartbreak.
[13:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, none.
[13:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I was actually super inspired by nature fix.
[13:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Another great one is your brain on art, the talks about art and what I love about.
[13:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: social prescribing is it sort of builds on what authors like Florence Williams have sort of laid out for us?
[13:49] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like, hey, nature is really good for us.
[13:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Art is really good for us.
[13:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Together by The Deck Worthy is another social connection is really good for us, but what do we do about it beyond just saying, hey, you should get out more in nature, hey, you should exercise more, hey, you should create art.
[14:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This is about what happens when our doctors and therapists and health workers actually prescribe you something that helps you to do that.
[14:14] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yeah, which I've heard they do in other countries.
[14:17] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I know that they'll do talk about forest bathing.
[14:19] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I think in Japan, but I'm sorry, you mentioned the term social prescribing.
[14:23] \[SPEAKER_01\]: It's something that we should have touched on right when we first started.
[14:26] \[SPEAKER_01\]: This is the first book on social prescribing.
[14:29] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Why don't you go into a little bit more depth about what that is, what you mean by that?
[14:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Sure.
[14:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So, you know, that example with Amanda is an example of social prescribing.
[14:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I actually always carry this little pill bottle here with me for those who are just listening in.
[14:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's like an orange pill bottle.
[14:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's got a paint easel inside, a little plant, a little trumpet, a little dog.
[14:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's about doing exactly this, thinking of medication as not just the substances we put in our body, but also the things that matter to us in our environment.
[15:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so what it looks like is a health worker trying to understand what matters to you, not just what's the matter with you, prescribing you a spot at a local community activity that corresponds to that needs.
[15:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Usually, that activity is about 10 weeks long.
[15:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: and encouraging the patient whether it's getting them transportation to get there, whether it's covering costs to actually follow through with it.
[15:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so it started in the UK as sort of a response to some of the issues we're talking about around loneliness and stress, things that do impact our health, but healthcare hasn't done a great job at treating.
[15:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And it's actually now spread to 32 countries this idea of social prescribing.
[15:49] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Hmm, in prescribing these non-traditional methods of healing, did you notice that people were skeptical or hesitant, or were they like, I'm at the end of my rope, I'll try anything.
[16:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's a good question, you know, I think it was a combination of both.
[16:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think for sure, like something people often say is, if, you know, if I looked into my doctor's office and they prescribed me an art class when I had like debilitating pain and I really, really needed relief, you know, that wouldn't be so helpful.
[16:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like we need to first take care of the most severe symptoms.
[16:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think it's also about how you frame the question.
[16:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like, I think it's pretty common, especially in the United States, for people to go to the doctor and the doctor to tell them they need to exercise more.
[16:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But I think what can happen sometimes, or here's a big one, you should be less stressed.
[16:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Hey, I think this thing that you're experiencing is caused by your stress.
[16:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's one thing, and these doctors are very well-meaning when they say this because they're right, exercise and stress, physical and activity and stress, and loneliness.
[16:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: These are some of the biggest risk factors for chronic disease and mental health conditions.
[17:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But the problem is, when the conversation stops there, it doesn't give patients tools to actually follow through with it.
[17:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And it's also very different when you say sort of generically, Diane, you should exercise more.
[17:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Versus, you know, Diane, I know that you used to love playing tennis when you were a child.
[17:20] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'm going to prescribe you a spot in this tennis league that meets once a week on Tuesdays, which I know works with your schedule, and don't worry, there's a lot of like other women like there in your boat.
[17:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: and if you need transportation, I could figure that out too.
[17:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like it's a different conversation than just a recommendation and of course it has to be, it has to have buy-in from the patient.
[17:41] \[SPEAKER_01\]: You say that humans are psychologically wired to seek quick fixes, so how can social prescriptions help reverse this mentality?
[17:51] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, I think it's so true, like, and this is what I love about, you know, your pot is like, there's a reason why the culture is the way it is.
[18:01] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like, when we feel a little bit uncomfortable, what do we do?
[18:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We try to buy something, or we try to turn something on, or we try to distract ourselves, and oftentimes we can get into the habit of these behaviors that
[18:13] \[SPEAKER_00\]: you know, aren't really addressing the root cause, right?
[18:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And it's so easy, especially in the United States, like, on case and point of this, right now I'm looking at my like cold brew that's filled to the river with, I really just should have slept more last night or got now to get some sunshine today to get that actual energy boost.
[18:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So it's easy when what we have available and what we're constantly being sold to us, particularly on social media, are these quick fixes?
[18:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah,
[18:43] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But what I think social prescribing does is it starts with a different question.
[18:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's not say, can I treat this thing that's wrong with you?
[18:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's saying, can I help you feel a little bit healthier?
[18:55] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, connecting you, reconnecting you to this thing that you already love.
[19:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And yes, it's going to be a little uncomfortable.
[19:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And yes, it's going to take a little bit of effort.
[19:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But if you could get over that hump and if health care can help you get over that hump,
[19:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: then that's how habits are created.
[19:12] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You go to that first dog walking session, you go to that first pottery class, you go to that first swimming lesson, and then you want to come back, and you have people holding you accountable to come back.
[19:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And over time, what's happening is the next time you're feeling a little bit stressed or anxious or depressed or distracted,
[19:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You'll go back in your memory bank and remember, oh, I felt really good when I got out of this apartment when I didn't treat, you know, my mild discomfort with buying some products and when I reconnected to other people and myself.
[19:48] \[SPEAKER_01\]: So I'm my saying, let's overhaul the health care system, I am not that optimistic, but what is the impact of these conversations on health care right now?
[19:58] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, I mean, my book really talks about the sort of patient level transport transformations.
[20:04] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, Amanda is one of them.
[20:06] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I talked to a man who was prescribed a cycling course for his diabetes, who was able to come off the insulin, or an empty nester mother who was dealing with chronic pain and gets prescribed the spot in this children's charity volunteering for it.
[20:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And that sort of heel to her.
[20:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, there's so many examples in the book that show how this is
[20:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: conditions that aren't even just necessarily explicitly like lonelyness.
[20:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's happening for people with anxiety, depression, ADHD, stress, chronic pain, dementia, type 2 diabetes, addiction.
[20:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And over time, you know, by adding this again, not taking away other options.
[20:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But yeah, adding this to the health care menu,
[20:50] \[SPEAKER_00\]: What's happening according the studies in the UK where this has been more widely tested is it's actually reducing pressure on healthcare, meaning people are going to the doctors less after they've been given a social prescription.
[21:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They report fewer symptoms.
[21:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They report a higher positive mood.
[21:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: In some instances, this has also brought down emergency room visits.
[21:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: had a little complaint and maybe they didn't have someone in their life to check in on them.
[21:24] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so what do they do, especially in a place like the UK or healthcare is nationalized, you send yourself to the emergency room?
[21:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Well, it's been found that social prescribing actually reduces the number of unnecessary emergency room visits and that over time this can save money by not only treating current health problems but preventing future health problems that can otherwise add up to be pretty costly.
[21:55] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I want to hear a little bit more about your story and researching this book, how has this content personally affected you?
[22:03] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I'm not just your perspective, but what is your big takeaway?
[22:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I mean, I think that for me, you know, I'm a journalist and journalists are famously always trying to be objective and lead themselves out of the story and say, oh, I'm just reporting on this, you know, because I'm interested.
[22:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But I think when I connected the dots backward and really asked myself, you know, why am I interested in this?
[22:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Could it be possibly because I could use some of these things?
[22:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And at first, it wasn't immediately obvious to me because I think when we hear social prescribing, we immediately think of loneliness, we immediately think of like older isolated adults, which is its own problem, but it's just not something that I really identified with.
[22:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But when I'd heard these stories and when I'd really surveyed the science about the ways that, for example, like moving our bodies, releases all this serotonin and endorphins and can improve our sharpness and hippocampus functioning, or how spending time in nature can restore our attention, help us feel more calm, help us, slow our heart rate and lower our blood pressure.
[23:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I became really curious about it myself,
[23:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: to confront some of the things that I'd been pushing down.
[23:18] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So like for me, you know, when I wrote this book, it was during COVID.
[23:22] \[SPEAKER_00\]: My parents have had some health issues, so I was worried about them.
[23:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That was pretty anxious about, you know, where they're going to be okay.
[23:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I was going through a tough long distance breakup.
[23:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I was going through, you know, all this work stress and all these things, as I'm saying,
[23:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: devastating events.
[23:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They're actually very human, normal events that happen to people throughout the course of their life.
[23:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But I think I didn't realize the way is that social prescriptions are prescribing myself more nature when I'm distracted, prescribing myself more movement when all I want to do is feel sad and stuck and rumenate on my ex.
[24:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That was so helpful for me.
[24:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So I try it in part three of the book.
[24:07] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I try these things and the message I'd have for everyone is like no matter how sick or well you're doing, we're all affected by our environment.
[24:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so just as we evolve to move our bodies, be in nature, create our serve with a community, feel a sense of belonging.
[24:27] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This is evolutionarily ingrained in us
[24:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: we should be more comfortable with relying on those kinds of medicines when when we're not feeling our health is selves.
[24:42] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Absolutely.
[24:42] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I'm thinking that it is a good idea to look back to things we enjoyed in our childhood, Katherine Price wrote the book.
[24:50] \[SPEAKER_01\]: the power of fun.
[24:51] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I think it was her.
[24:53] \[SPEAKER_01\]: But just like tapping back into this idea of fun, but I'm like, what is that?
[24:57] \[SPEAKER_01\]: If that's so good for adults to do, like maybe the roots of some of the things that we find fun could be things that we enjoy in childhood.
[25:03] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And again, taking on that child like posture.
[25:05] \[SPEAKER_01\]: If you'll silly, it feels like you have to drop your ego.
[25:08] \[SPEAKER_01\]: But I'm like, maybe that's a good place to start.
[25:09] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Do you have any other questions that they've been asked themselves?
[25:12] \[SPEAKER_01\]: As they're discovering what that looks like themselves?
[25:15] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, I think that's exactly it.
[25:17] \[SPEAKER_00\]: That's a great reference.
[25:19] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I'm going to check that out because you're right, like kids just intuitively got this.
[25:23] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah, you know, they don't question their impulse to play.
[25:26] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They don't, they live so much of their lives and what matters to them.
[25:30] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And it will grow up, I think we lose that sense.
[25:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: We tell ourselves for too busy.
[25:36] \[SPEAKER_00\]: You know, and I talked to somebody for the book who was this really burnt out millennial.
[25:41] \[SPEAKER_00\]: She was getting heart palpitations and insomnia because she was so stressed.
[25:46] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And at first, the last thing she needed to hear was that, you know, you need to spend more time doing something else.
[25:52] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But I think what happens to us with these social prescriptions, particularly ones in nature, which, again, do this like really interesting, restorative thing with our attention, is that they give us the sense that we have more time.
[26:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: They help us come back more emerged, more restored, more calm, more focused, and so that all the things that follow, you know, your time in nature are more efficient.
[26:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah.
[26:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah.
[26:16] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And so for questions like for Heather, you know, this person who was prescribed nature, it was obvious to her that she was her happiest self outside.
[26:25] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I was able to tell this by the way that she would just light up when she would talk about the way that she loved the mountain.
[26:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: She's so proud of her knowledge that she was telling tourists about, you know, which hiking trails to take.
[26:38] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So I think that's another question we could ask ourselves.
[26:40] \[SPEAKER_00\]: It's like, what makes you light up when you talk about it?
[26:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: If you had two more hours in the week, what would you spend it doing?
[26:48] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Something you've been curious about as a child, something you're
[26:54] \[SPEAKER_00\]: took a photo of that a flyer or saw posted about on social media, those were places to star.
[27:02] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And I think it's also fun to do this with other people.
[27:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Like sometimes you might think, oh, I don't know where to even begin with that.
[27:09] \[SPEAKER_00\]: What matters to you question.
[27:10] \[SPEAKER_00\]: But when you do it with other people in your case, you know, maybe your husband, maybe, you know, some friends of yours, you might come up with some really interesting answers.
[27:21] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Yeah, absolutely.
[27:23] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Well, you gave me a lot to think about Julia, but for listeners that want to dive into your book and hear more from you, where can they grab a copy and where can they connect with you online?
[27:33] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Sure, so they can grab a copy and check out all the resources and research in the book at www.socialprescribing.co.
[27:42] \[SPEAKER_00\]: And they could find me online.
[27:44] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Um, on my Instagram is Hot Thoughts by last name.
[27:47] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Each or two easy thoughts, as well as my website, Hot Thoughts.com.
[27:52] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I love that.
[27:52] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Are you thinking about writing anything else?
[27:54] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Anything else in the works?
[27:57] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Honestly, I think I'm still going to ride this one out for a while.
[28:00] \[SPEAKER_00\]: This stuff is really catching on in the US.
[28:03] \[SPEAKER_00\]: So I don't want to see where it goes.
[28:05] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Yeah.
[28:06] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I know it's kind of like asking someone, are you going to have a baby?
[28:08] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Are you going to have a second?
[28:09] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Are you going to have a second?
[28:10] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Oh, yeah.
[28:10] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Just curious.
[28:11] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I think this is really, I think this is really important.
[28:14] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And I'm glad that it's catching on.
[28:16] \[SPEAKER_01\]: My final question for you before I let you go is what does it mean to you to live a life with clear intentions?
[28:21] \[SPEAKER_00\]: For me, I think it means waking up every day and asking what matters to me.
[28:28] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Is this thing that has become the focus of my thoughts and of my feelings going to matter in two weeks, two years, 20 years?
[28:39] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think by having that sort of reset and resentering on what matters, you'll be surprised at how much just doesn't and how much that same stuff can so easily take so much of our time and attention, but really it comes down to the things we talk about in the connection cure, you know, time with your loved ones, having a sense of purpose and having joy.
[29:03] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And even if you can take that and start to journal about that, thinking back to a couple of years ago, where the things that I was worrying about, did they ever come to fruition?
[29:13] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I think you can really, like, guess yourself in some of the maybe bad habits that you're in, by just looking to your patterns.
[29:20] \[SPEAKER_01\]: And I think especially with worry, it's like, did that ever play out the way that I thought?
[29:24] \[SPEAKER_01\]: No, yeah, of course, it's gonna be right now that I'm so consumed by again, specifically with worry.
[29:28] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Like, maybe I just release a little bit of that.
[29:31] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I love it.
[29:32] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think you're absolutely right.
[29:34] \[SPEAKER_00\]: Thank you so much for having me.
[29:35] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I love what you're about as well.
[29:37] \[SPEAKER_00\]: I think social prescribing and clear intentions are best friends because it's all about sort of decluttering your life for all the noise and distractions and really resubbring on what matters to you.
[29:49] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Absolutely.
[29:49] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Well, thank you so much for joining me today.
[29:53] \[SPEAKER_01\]: What do you think of the episode?
[29:54] \[SPEAKER_01\]: I hope you enjoyed the conversation.
[29:56] \[SPEAKER_01\]: To learn more about today's guest, including links or resources related to everything discussed today, check out the show notes in your podcast window.
[30:06] \[SPEAKER_01\]: If you'd like to support the podcast, the easiest and most impactful thing you can do is subscribe to the show on iTunes, Spotify, or YouTube, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
[30:16] \[SPEAKER_01\]: and leave a rating or review of your favorite episode.
[30:19] \[SPEAKER_01\]: Lastly, sharing the show or your favorite episode with friends or on social media is so helpful and will encourage others as they set out to pursue a life with clear intentions.

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