15 podcasts to lift your spirits and change your life

Listening to an interesting podcast can really make you think and boost your wellbeing. Taking a few minutes to listen to a relaxing podcast can really help you to shut out the rest of the world for a little while – and give you the tools to live a calmer life.

We've put together a collection of podcasts to make you feel good when you're sad, keep you healthy, help you change your life and to show you how to slow down.

Some of them will help you to change your life, while others will inspire you with stories of resourceful women.

Read on to find new podcasts to subscribe to…

According to Dr Chatterjee, health has become overcomplicated – so he's here to simplify it! In each episode, we hear from leading health experts who share tips, advice and easy life hacks to help you live a healthier life. There's some mythbusting thrown into the mix too.

Available on Apple Podcasts and most major podcast apps.

This podcast produced by BBC Radio 4 looks at the limits and potential of the human mind, covering everything from mindfulness to the issue of loneliness in modern life. Well worth a listen.

Tune in on Apple Podcasts and most major podcast providers.

Anxiety expert Chloe Brotheridge, author of The Anxiety Solution, shares her tips to help you live a calmer life with practical steps, encouragement and expert interviews.

Listen on most major podcast apps.

Sas Petherick's podcast focuses on self-doubt and how it can hold you back in your life, work and relationships. This podcast will help you to cultivate self-belief and give you the strength to face challenges in your life.

Sas studied self-doubt as part of her Masters degree and has been fascinated by it ever since. Find it on iTunes or listen on Stitcher.

Each week Jennifer E Snyder interviews inspirational people from a variety of creative industries to find out how they forged their own path.

Episodes cover a broad range of topics, from the importance of confronting stereotypes to building up your own support network.

Listen to Creating Your Own Path on iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher.

If anyone has the secret to happiness, it's probably Gretchen. She's written two bestselling books on the subject – The Happiness Project and Better Than Before.

This supportive podcast offers practical tips to help you find happiness as well as tackling common worries, such as the dread of photo anxiety and how often we should visit family.

Find Happier on iTunes, Spotify and Stitcher.

If you're into your food, then you'll probably like this one. Each week on Spilled Milk, hosts Molly Wizenberg and Matthew Amster-Burton pick a food topic and run with it as far as they can.

Themes include watermelon, molasses cookies and stinky cheese!

Listen to Spilled Milk on iTunes here.

This fascinating podcast shares the best TED talks from the world-renowned TED stage. It covers a variety of thought-provoking topics from coping with failure to forgiveness.

Find TED Radio Hour on NPR One, Google Play Music and Apple Podcasts.

This is a podcast for "creative and passionate mission-driven doers, makers and world-shakers".

It's about building the life that you want for yourself and finding courage from other women.

Out every Monday, each podcast features a different couragemaker to inspire you.

Listen to The Couragemakers podcast on iTunes and Stitcher.

Blogger Shannon Ables of The Simply Luxurious Life is full of clever tips to help you live a more luxurious life on an everyday budget.

Living a more sophisticated life is quite simple, according to Shannon. Tune in every Monday for episodes such as preparing a memorable meal, creating a capsule wardrobe and how to achieve your life goals.

You can catch up with the Simple Sophisticate podcast every Monday on iTunes and Stitcher.

If you feel as though life is too frantic and you're under too much pressure to compete with others, this is the podcast for you.

The Slow Home podcast, presented by Brooke McAlary, looks at how to live a slower, simpler life and chats to other people to find out how they've stepped back from the hectic pace of modern life.

You can find the podcast on iTunes and Stitcher.

Need a moment of calm in your life? Don't miss our own podcast: The Calm Edit (formerly the In The Moment Magazine podcast). In each episode, we talk to a different wellbeing guest to discover practical self-care tips and advice.

Our themes range from psychology and sleep to nutrition and climate change, so you're bound to find an episode that intrigues you.

The tone of the podcast is relaxed and soothing, so it's like listening to a chat with good friends. What could be lovelier?

Past guests include author Matt Haig, TV presenter Dr Rangan Chatterjee and Kim-Joy from The Great British Bake Off.

Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Acast or on your favourite podcast app.

Eat Pray Love author Elizabeth Gilbert helps listeners to overcome creative struggles with the help of expert guests – from writer Neil Gaiman to snowboarder Amy Purdy.

The podcast features real people with creative problems, such as an introverted poet who wants to take her work to the next level and a dance teacher who is nervous about putting on a special performance to mark her 60th birthday.

Although this podcast ended in 2016, there are over 200 episodes to enjoy.

You can find Magic Lessons on Maximum Fun, iTunes and Google Play.

Natalie Lue's Baggage Reclaim series is all about ditching the emotional baggage that's keeping you from having healthy relationships and teaches you how to reclaim your true self.

It's about building your self-worth, letting go of the past and ending self-criticism. A real mood-booster. Although this podcast has come to an end, there are still lots of past episodes to enjoy. You can catch up with Natalie Lue's monthly column in every In The Moment Magazine and she's also appeared as a guest on the In The Moment Magazine podcast, talking about how to stop being a people-pleaser.

You can listen to Baggage Reclaim on iTunes, Soundcloud, Tunein and Stitcher.

If you want to get into mindfulness but can't find the time, this podcast could be the key. The podcast is produced by Michael Chaskalson, who has also written an accompanying book.

Available on most major podcast apps.