# How To Stop Overthinking Things You Can’t Control With Dr Hannah Critchlow

An episode of [Live Well Be Well with Sarah Ann Macklin | Health, Lifestyle, Nutrition](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1508380100), 3 Jun 2026, 1 h 46 min.

Audio: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/APO8616415062.mp3

Have you ever wondered why your brain feels like it's working against you when actually, it might just be waiting for you to understand it? This week I'm joined by Dr. Hannah Critchlow, neuroscientist, Cambridge University researcher, and author of 21st Century Brain, and this conversation genuinely shifted something for me. Hannah has a way of taking the science of your brain and making it feel like something you can actually use, today. Not in a "10 steps to fix yourself" way. What we explore together: • Why does your brain fear uncertainty more than pain itself, and what does that mean for how you handle stress and change? • Did you know emotional intelligence is a bigger predictor of life satisfaction than IQ, and that it can actually be trained? • How is your gut shaping your mood, your empathy, and even how kind you are to complete strangers? • What are sleep, nutrition, and movement really doing for your brain, and why do amino acids matter so much at night? • Why is walking in nature one of the most underrated tools for emotional regulation? • What does the rise of AI relationships mean for real human connection, and what are we at risk of losing? • Why is curiosity our greatest superpower, and how do we protect it? Love, Sarah Ann 💛 Healthy Shouldn't Be This Hard: A Simple Way to Eat, Think and Feel Well: https://amzn.eu/d/0a0d1MQr This episode is sponsored by: DIOME: Rest deeper. Stay grounded. Rested is available now and Grounded lands later this month. 👉 Get 20% off with code SARAH20 at DIOME.CO NOWATCH: The compassionate health tracker Connecting body and mind with unique stress recovery insights so you can live fully today. 👉 15% off with code LWBW15 at https://nowatch.com/ More from me: The Great British Veg Out How to support your gut by eating more, not less https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/p/t… Reset Your Health If your body feels off after stress, travel, or burnout, this is where to start! https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/s/r... Free 5-recipe PDF for busy weeks https://open.substack.com/pub/sarahma... Join thousands reading The Compassionate Cure → https://sarahmacklin.substack.com/ Let's be friends! 📷 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sarahannmacklin 📹 Subscribe https://youtube.com/@livewellbewellsarah?si=UbuuWvMjAcTkELPN 📱 TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@livewellbewellpodcast?_r=1&_t=ZN-96iOW29jTRm Timestamps 00:00:00 Intro 00:04:08 Why Our Brains Fear Uncertainty More Than Pain 00:16:01 How to Build Habits That Protect Your Brain 00:21:00 Hannah's Personal Story: PhD Burnout and Starting Over 00:28:00 What Happens to Your Brain During a Breakup 00:35:13 How to Move Forward After Loss or Grief 00:37:46 Sleep, Nutrition and Movement: The Brain's Three Pillars 00:43:09 Essential Amino Acids and Why You Can't Sleep at Night 00:46:05 What Emotional Intelligence Really Is (And Why It Beats IQ) 00:49:41 How to Train Empathy: Self-Compassion and Reading Fiction 00:52:27 Brain Synchronicity: The Science of Human Connection 00:56:13 Gut Feelings, the Vagus Nerve and Intuition 00:59:25 How a Healthy Gut Makes You More Altruistic 01:00:15 Emotional Regulation: What to Do When You Can't Switch Off 01:05:26 Why Alcohol Makes Emotional Regulation Worse 0 1:08:58 How We All See the World Differently: The Duck, The Rabbit and The Dress 01:15:44 Loneliness, Mitochondrial Health and the Cost of Disconnection 01:17:01 AI, Human Connection and What We Risk Losing 01:38:50 What the Pandemic Taught Us About Face-to-Face Connection 01:41:24 Why Collective Intelligence Is Our Greatest Superpower 01:42:07 What "Live Well Be Well" Means to Dr. Hannah Critchlow Love what you're hearing? My small ask is to please rate and review Live Well Be Well. This helps the show expand and allows me to keep producing these with the best quality guests. It means a huge amount to me, so thank you.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.