Exercise Tips from NPR’s LifeKit: Could Watching TV Actually Help You Get Moving?

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Gretchen Rubin (1:47)

Hello and welcome to a special bonus episode of the Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast. We created this for the Move 26 and 26 challenge. That is where we are all challenging ourselves to aim for 26 minutes of movement every day in 2026

Today, I am thrilled to sit down with someone who has been pulling together advice from many experts on making movement easier for years now.

I am talking to Marielle Segarra, the wonderful host of NPR's hit podcast, LifeKit. If you haven't listened to LifeKit, it is an owner's manual for being a human and it covers everything from how to make friends as an adult to organizing your finances, to managing stress. It is all there. Marielle gets to interview top experts every week and so she just knows a goldmine of some of the best actionable wisdom out there. So I wanted to bring her on to talk about what she's learned over the years as she's talked to so many people on this subject. How do we actually get ourselves to move more? So welcome, Marielle.

Marielle Segarra (3:02)

Thank you. Thank you for that introduction. I was like, I guess I do know a lot.

Gretchen Rubin (3:07)

You do know. Every time I talk to you, you know your stuff. What I love about LifeKit and Happier with Gretchen Rubin is it's practical, it's actionable, it's how do you interpret research and findings and studies into things that people can actually do in their daily life. And so it's so fun for me to talk to you because that's your jam too.

Marielle Segarra (3:29)

I want you to know I wore this shirt today with the big cats on it, because it felt like they were moving. Like it felt like they were moving through the jungle. Yes.

Gretchen Rubin (3:39)

Perfect. I love it. Yeah. Get yourself into it. There's like a hack there, right? Wear something to put your intention out into the world. So let's jump in. And as I mentioned, for the Happier listeners, our challenge to ourselves and to listeners in 2026 was to move for 26 minutes a day in 2026 And we hear all the time how important movement is for health and for happiness. Are you surprised by the degree to which it seems like it's kind of the magical elixir for life?

It just feels like so many things are tied to it, don't you think?

Marielle Segarra (4:18)

Yeah, for sure. I guess it's like we always kind of knew.

But that's the thing is that, like we've been told this since we were kids, right? That you need to move more. But it feels like it can't be that simple, right?

Gretchen Rubin (4:31)

Right.

Marielle Segarra (4:32)

And everyone's like, oh, what do I need to, I need to look for some super fruit to eat, that that is the magic elixir or-

Gretchen Rubin (4:40)

Some new supplement. Some really extreme form of training.

Marielle Segarra (4:47)

And even though we know that movement is so good for us, and also that it feels good when we do it, and our bodies feel better when we do it, it's still so hard to actually get yourself up sometimes.