Every year the cool January winds inspire hordes to swear off alcohol for a month, buy a gym membership and commit to finally eating more broccoli.
But health is, of course, more complicated than that. If you’re looking to improve your own health while critically appraising systemic and structural issues, we’ve got you covered.
Here are six podcasts to inspire you to wash your hands, overhaul the health system and learn more about diseases.
Canadian “universal” health care is anything but, explains host Dr. Alika Lafontaine, who is both the youngest doctor and the first Indigenous physician to lead the Canadian Medical Association.
Racial inequities have created a deeply divided “system of the haves and have-nots,” Lafontaine says.
Join him for this five-episode series as he looks at how Black people in Canada are up to 70 per cent less likely to get organ donations than white people, why many Inuit still don’t know where their relatives are or where they may be buried after family members were forcibly relocated to prevent the spread of tuberculosis, and what happens to the hundreds of thousands of people who don’t qualify for public health coverage in Canada.
Plus, why having two medical systems — one focused on Indigenous people and one for non-Indigenous people — could finally start to dismantle systemic racism in health care, and how Filipino health-care workers kept public health alive during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lafontaine speaks with doctors and health-care professionals on the frontlines working to change the system, and patients who are navigating systems that were never built for them.
Get ready for a heavy podcast that highlights profound societal divides within your own neighbourhood — but that also digs into solutions and introduces you to people working to overhaul the system for the better. You’ll leave fired up and excited to support solutions.
“Dearly beloved,” host Daniella Barreto intones in her intro, “we are gathered today in memory of the institution of public health.” Far from a dry eulogy, however, this podcast is a peppery “anti-establishment field guide to surviving in the era of pandemics.”
Public Health Is Dead is for everyone who masked, isolated, vaccinated and followed public health orders as best they could — and then watched while their government moved from protective to passive, and now want to know what the heck happened to public health.
Join Barreto, an award-winning podcaster with a background in epidemiology and public health, as she mourns the passing of the public health that was, and proposes how to survive this strange new world where repeat infections and long-term illness are part of the everyday.
Think of it as a “forward-thinking autopsy on how we’ve f*cked up,” she explains on the podcast’s website.
Episodes for the first season are still being produced and released, and Barreto is asking for feedback on what topics listeners want her to cover.
Welcome to the best way to remember it’s time to get that booster and double-check you’re still immune to the diseases you were vaccinated against in your childhood. Also, learn about fun new drink recipes.
Join epidemiologist and disease ecologist co-hosts Erin Welsh and Erin Allmann Updyke as they pour “quarantinis” and “placeboritas” and discuss more or less every disease out there.
This podcast is academia heavy, frequently citing important studies and fresh research, and occasionally icky, but its charming co-hosts keep it light and approachable for all listeners. No science background necessary.
Kicking off in 2017 and still going strong, episodes dive deep on every disease you’ve ever heard of, and many you never have — also, occasionally other related topics like fungal infections, infertility, dog viruses and colour vision deficiency.
While it can be deeply unnerving to learn about all the ways pathogens can absolutely wreck humans, it’s also fascinating to learn about all of the science, public health measures and amazing people who are responsible for creating a world where many of these diseases are distant memories.
Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine
What happens when a podcaster marries a doctor and starts a medical history podcast?
Welcome to Sawbones, co-hosted by Justin McElroy (a different — but equally great — Justin McElroy from the CBC gem Vancouverites know and love) and Dr. Sydnee McElroy, where the couple dive into the history of a wealth of medical topics.
Ever wondered about why we’re attracted to Brazilian butt lifts, the reasons people used to eat red-haired cadavers, how close the Victorians got to building seasickness-proof rooms, or how dirty diapers helped humans discover water-borne diseases?
Haven’t we all.
With a fresh episode coming out roughly every week since 2013, there’s no shortage of wacky and interesting tidbits to load up on for the next time you’re at a dinner party.
Ever rolled your eyes so hard it hurt when you heard about Jordan Peterson’s carnivore diet or Gwyneth Paltrow’s recommendation to steam your vagina?
Then pull up a chair and settle in for a podcast where you’re in good company. Maintenance Phase lets you hang out with journalists Michael Hobbes and Aubrey Gordon as they debunk, decode and make fun of nebulous claims from the wellness and weight loss industries.
Hobbes and Gordon are whip smart and have a delightful co-hosting chemistry, which helps keep the podcast playful as they unpack deeply harmful societal norms.
Topics are very wide-ranging and can be listened to in any order. Who was Pilates? Is there actually any evidence, at all, that fat camps are helpful? Why won’t Ozempic, the diabetes medication that can be used for weight loss, “solve” obesity — and moreover, is obesity even a problem to be solved?
You’ll laugh, you’ll learn, you’ll identify a lot of weird biases you’ve been fed your entire life. And hopefully, you’ll unlearn them.
All bodies are welcome here, and you’re among friends.
Ologies is quite simply the best science podcast out there.
Alie Ward is an enthusiastic, curious and deeply charismatic host who interviews a different expert — or “ologist” — every week, diving into their strange and beautiful minds.
Episodes are stand-alone and there is an absolute wealth of topics to choose from. There are dozens of episodes about the human body, our brains, the food we eat and COVID-19.
But topics stray far beyond humans. From black holes to native bees, disgust to near-death experiences, there is truly an episode for everyone.
Don’t be intimidated by the science — Ward helps break down even the most complex topics (like math and tardigrades) so that you won’t need a scientific background to follow along.
Ologies also has a kid-friendly version called Smologies, where original episodes have been edited to be shorter, classroom-friendly and swear-free.
