Am I too old to run?! Fearne on why movement is vital for mental health

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1:18Hello, I'm Monica Reinagle, host of the Nutrition Diva podcast. Summer is here and with it, the hot and sticky weather. A morning working in the garden or maybe on the golf course can leave you more depleted than you realize. And plain water isn't always the most efficient way to restore the balance. That's where Liquid IV comes in. Its science-backed formula is clinically proven to hydrate faster than water alone. Whether you're exercising, playing outside, or simply surviving a summer heat wave, it's an easy way to stay hydrated. Shop now at liquidiv.com. Liquid IV, hydration that goes wherever life takes you.

2:18is by location. Programmed subject to terms and conditions. Cilos.com slash terms for details. Subject to change.

2:26Fearne Cotton: Hey everyone, it's Fern. This is Happy Place. I'm wearing a Pasha t-shirt. Let's go. The Pasha t-shirt has nothing to do with anything. When I bought this t-shirt in Ibiza this year, I hadn't set foot in a nightclub. I actually haven't been to Pasha for about 18 years. But But anyway, I'm giving off the vibe of cool clubby mum, which is the absolute opposite of who I truly am. Anyway, that is a small aside. We need to dive into the important subjects of looking at what is making all of us feel happy at the moment and what is making us feel downright grumpy as hell. Let's get to our lovely listeners.

3:08Fearne Cotton: Thank you so much for sending in your messages. It means the world. If you ever want to send in a little message to us of any sort, doesn't have to be connected to this. You can DM us on Instagram. Just follow at happyplaceofficial and slide in to our DMs. Very exciting. I'm going to start with this one. Simon says running. Simon, he literally put running, full stop. No explanation. I am deeply jealous because I used to love running. That for me is the perfect time to not only clear your head, but also listen to great podcasts. I used to listen to like a whole series on runs. I used to absolutely love it.

3:46But due to probably age and also age, my knee refuses to run.

3:55Fearne Cotton: I can jump up and down, but I can't land on my right foot on its own. It just buckles like a little weak Bambi leg. so I need to go and get it sorted and I will at some point because I miss it and you know what I really miss is running at this time of year when you're getting sort of slightly misty slightly darker mornings and you get to watch the sunrise I love it so much so Simon keep on running my friend so good for our heads just doing any any kind of movement is the absolute best so keep on running, my friend. Let's move on to Team Happy Place. Matilda on Team Happy Place works on the commercial team.

4:35Fearne Cotton: So say when we have the Happy Place Festival, she's getting all the brilliant brands along to come and exhibit at the festival or brands that we as a brand, Happy Place, are working with throughout the year. And everybody who works with Happy Place is like, oh my God, Matilda and Marcia and Natasha, that team, they're all in love with them. They are like the nicest humans you've ever met. Matilda says, there's a man who cleans the outside of an office block on my way into work who every day without fail waves at me and says good morning. That is the cutest thing ever. I am so here for like interactions with strangers.

5:14Fearne Cotton: Nice, nice interactions. I love that. Just like even, you know, when you're walking down the street and you catch someone's eye and you smile. I love that. Or I don't know, you're walking down the street and someone goes, oh, I love your cardi. I think those little moments go such a long way. I would say if you walk past someone in the street and you like their outfit or their handbag or they've got cool hair, tell them, say it. It's like the nicest thing. But I love that there's a little routine there that they just say hi. There's definitely a couple of people that live in my local town that I always say morning to, I don't know their name.

5:51Fearne Cotton: I've never been in their houses. I don't know anything about them, but it's just a nice little moment, isn't it? Morning. Hi. You just feel part of this jolly little community. I love it. I'm here for that, Matilda. So onto my like this week. So at the Happy Place Festival, I interviewed Makita Oliver and we've got history and you will hear about that on this upcoming episode that I urge you to listen to for many, many reasons. I don't want to give too much away, but it was deeply powerful and healing. But that's not even my like. I mean, that was a big like for me. But I've taken so much from it, like so much from it that I'll talk about down the line once you've all had a chance to listen to it.

6:35Fearne Cotton: But something that won't be a spoiler is skipping. So if you follow Makita, you'll know that she's really, really into skipping. She's got her own brand, ropes that she's launching soon. And I've done a tiny bit of skipping when I've done boxing classes with my son, but I've always been really reluctant in case I piss myself in the boxing session, which my son would be traumatic, quite frankly. He's 13. I'm embarrassing that it's an embarrassment to him that I even exist. So like pissing myself in a boxing class situation, it's a no-go. But Makita gave me a few little tips of like really simple things like holding my arms out wider to hold the skipping rope, which makes like it's a game changer.

7:22Fearne Cotton: So after the Happy Place Festival, I thought, right, I'm going to start skipping every day. I'm just going to do like a few minutes and build myself up. So since then, I've been building up from like 30 seconds where I'm like really holding my pelvic floor like you wouldn't believe, like my life depends on it. Build up to a minute and then three minutes. Now I'm doing like five to 10 with the odd little stop. Sometimes like trip over the ropes do. I'm still in like practice mode, but I get it. I get skipping. It's really meditative and there's something beautifully rhythmic about it. And okay, this might be TMI.

7:58Fearne Cotton: Sometimes a little bit of wee comes out, but I'm at home and my son's not there to witness it. So I'm just building up my pelvic floor strength and my tolerance to skipping in general and I'm really enjoying it. So what I will say is thank you, Makita. And you must listen to that episode for so many reasons, for so many reasons. Let's move on to our dislikes. So first of all, from our lovely listenership, you beautiful people, Elaine says, so-called friends being two-faced oh yeah that's rough that is a rough one Elaine what I would also say and I can link this back to the Makita episode in hopefully a cryptic way because I really want you to listen to it Makita and I and this is no secret had this weird beef for years I'm talking decades and what we discovered and what you will hear on that podcast episode is that we just didn't get each other because we were basing the idea of each other on assumption only, literally assumption only.

9:13Fearne Cotton: There was very little truth or facts to any of it or the reasons why I thought she hated me or she thought she hated me or I should stay away from her and vice versa. So Elaine, I would say awful if you found out that you've got mates chatting shit behind your back. Nothing nice about that. And maybe there's a moment to go, right, do I really want to hang out with these people? Do I deserve better? But equally, is it an opportunity to have a really honest chat with someone? That's all the podcast is with me and Makita. It's not really an interview. It's just, we're just having a chat and trying to figure each other out and trying to be as honest with each other as possible.

9:54Fearne Cotton: And maybe this is an opportunity for you to do that with the friend that's chatting shit about you or done something behind your back. Maybe it's time to try and work out if you do still have common ground with that person or not. And then you might feel, I don't know, like slightly less frustrated or just like pissed off about it. But that does hurt your heart when friends betray you. So I get it. And I'm sending you loads of love. My dislike at the moment is this seemingly premature state of hibernation that I've gone into. Now look, don't get me wrong. I love hibernating. Autumn and winter, the bit before Christmas, favourite time of year.

10:41Fearne Cotton: I love nothing more than it getting dark at 4pm so I can put my pyjamas on and pretend that the day has ended. But I feel like I've gone into it early. So I'm really, really struggling to find the energy to do anything. Yesterday, I was cooking dinner for my kids. And one of my kids was asking me a question that required me to use my brain and create a sentence that would answer it. And I couldn't. I was so utterly, like, I basically am in hibernation at this point, just sort of like my brain would not function. I'm like, oh my God, God, what? I've got into like, it's dark at 4pm when it's, you know, really not.

11:23Fearne Cotton: It's not dark until like half six. Like my brain has already gone to sleep by about 4pm. And that at this time of year is not appropriate. I feel like a sloth, like a real slow, chilled out sloth. Like I reckon if I lay my head back on our very fluffy, happy place chairs right now, and I just dared to close my eyes for more than about two minutes, I would be out. I would be absolutely, I feel like I could sleep for, well, quite like my tortoise George. If you don't know about my tortoise George, I've got a 56 year old tortoise. He lives in the garden and he puts himself to bed in a pile of mud.

12:06At the end of October, start of November, he just sleeps until late Feb.

12:12Fearne Cotton: The fucking dream. like imagine that that is how much sleep my body feels like it needs at the moment so I'm not loving that for myself because my to-do list is through the roof obviously work and I'm a solo parent and just have to deal with like life stuff I need energy what am I going to do about this early hibernation situation it's not good guys it's not good anyway we will plod on through together and at some point it will be Christmas which I can't wait for because I'm going of down tools, watch it on TV and consume all the chocolate in the world. And I can't wait. Until then, we shall truck on together with our sleepy little eyes, my little mole eyes.

12:56Fearne Cotton: We've got this team. Thank you so much for listening and also for sending in your messages to Happy Place. If you've got a message to send in, head to our Instagram at happyplaceofficial, slide into our DMs and you may feature in one of these episodes. I'll see you soon.

13:43We'll be right back. While supplies last, selection varies by location. Program subject to terms and conditions. Cilos.com slash terms for details. Subject to change. Hi, this is Monica Reinagle of Nutrition Diva. Today's show is sponsored by Nature Raised Farms. Grocery shopping can be a little overwhelming, especially if you're reading labels. And in my opinion, chicken shouldn't be complicated, which is why I appreciate Nature Raised Farms. It's chicken that's just chicken. and their lightly breaded chicken nuggets are free from gluten, dairy, and soy. Look for nature-raised farms on your next grocery trip and feel more confident about your choices.

14:19Hello, I'm Monica Reinagle, host of the Nutrition Diva podcast. Summer is here and with it, the hot and sticky weather. A morning working in the garden or maybe on the golf course can leave you more depleted than you realize. And plain water isn't always the most efficient way to restore the balance. That's where liquid IV comes in. Its science-backed formula is clinically proven to hydrate faster than water alone. Whether you're exercising, playing outside, or simply surviving a summer heat wave, it's an easy way to stay hydrated. Shop now at liquidiv.com. Liquid IV, hydration that goes wherever life takes you.

14:55The podcast industry has spent years arguing about formats. The thing is, podcast audiences never cared. 88 % of them now consume audio and video. Not only that, 63 % of them have started an episode in one format and finished it in another format. And then three quarters of those have switched app mid-story to do it. They're not picking a format. They're picking whatever best fits the moment they're in. ACAST's latest research in Podcast Pulse 2026 maps four of these moments and what each one gives back to a brand. Get the full report at acast.com slash pulse.