Try This

In this first class of our course on how to get better sleep, host Cristina Quinn outlines why trying to get yourself to sleep can sometimes be a barrier to getting rest. But if we shouldn't will ourselves to sleep, what should we do instead? Cristina talks to an expert with a clear plan for how to tackle anxiety at bedtime by taking some tangible steps during the da...

Lying awake at night, ruminating over stuff that bothers you is not fun. But it’s normal! We’ve all done it and it can get in the way of the rest you need. In class 2 of our course on how to sleep better, Cristina walks us through how trying to suppress your difficult feelings from popping up at night might be counterproductive. Sleep expert Lisa Strauss explains a t...

In class 3 of our course about how to get better sleep, we dig in on a moment most of us are familiar with – waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to fall back asleep. Sometimes our default setting is to keep thinking our endless thoughts, but, it turns out, what we really need is a distraction. And you want to make sure to find the right kind of di...

In class 4 of our course on how to get better sleep, Cristina and sleep expert Lisa Strauss explore the concept of sleep drive. Counterintuitively, sometimes you need to increase your need for sleep, even if you’re exhausted already. Lisa Strauss explains a technique called sleep compression, where you limit your sleep opportunity to a more sustainable quantity – and...

In the fifth and final class of our course on how to get better sleep, we focus on melatonin. Researchers found that melatonin use in the United States more than quintupled between 1999 and 2018. You might know someone w...

In the first class of our course on making the most of your friendships, host Cristina Quinn learns what it means to be socially fit — and why it’s never too late to start getting those reps in. Cristina talks to Bob Waldinger, director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development — the longest longitudinal study on human happiness — about why friendships matter for our...

In Class 2 of our course on friendship, you’ll learn how to get out of your comfort zone when it comes to fostering new friendships and resuscitating old ones. Cristina talks to Washington Post advice columnist Carolyn Hax about doable ways to make real-life connections at a time when technology makes that seem hard. F...

In the third and final class of our course on how to make the most of your friendships, we offer guidance for what to do when things go wrong. Making friendships work requires adjusting expectations, having difficult conversations and sometimes deciding when parting ways is for the best. This class unpacks practical tips for doing each of these things, with guidance ...

In the first class in our course on how to enjoy cooking more, host Cristina Quinn teams up with the Washington Post food team to uncover tips for identifying your kitchen personality. Food and dining editor Joe Yonan, food writer and recipe developer Aaron Hutcherson and recipes editor Becky Krystal identify how to apply personality characteristics — like a tendency...

In the second class of our course about ways to enjoy the daily task of preparing meals, we make the case for revisiting what you know. Washington Post food and dining editor Joe Yonan, along with recipes editor Becky Krystal and food writer Aaron Hutcherson, explain how building a repertoire can be a useful way to take the drudgery out of cooking, put it on a bit of...

In the third class in our course on how to enjoy cooking more, we focus on reframing the way we think about the task. Food writer and finalist on “Food Network Star,” Mary Beth Albright, offers advice on how to understand cooking as less of an item on your to-do list and more of an act for you that can nourish your well-being in ways that are worth recognizing. Mary ...

In the last class in our course on how to enjoy cooking more, we bring you everything and the kitchen sink. From reliable shortcuts and suggestions for the most essential pantry staples, this class has all the scraps and tasty morsels that could have been left on the cutting-room floor but are too good to miss. 

Affirmations help buffer stress and can make you emotionally and mentally stronger. Host Cristina Quinn talks to clinical psychologist Natalie Dattilo-Ryan about what kinds of affirmations are most effective. She lays out an exercise to help get you started with identifying the right kinds of statements to shore up your sense of self. Next, Cristina dives into resear...

Humans have a tendency to interpret information and experiences in ways that support our existing beliefs. Host Cristina Quinn returns to clinical psychologist Natalie Dattilo-Ryan to understand how you can change long-held beliefs by using confirmation bias in your favor. Datillo-Ryan explains how to identify a belief about the type of person you want to be and then...

The team behind “Try This” is dedicated to helping listeners learn new things, in ways that feel doable. So we're sharing a recent “Post Reports” episode about how polling works.

On this episode of The Washington Post’s daily news podcast, “Post Reports,” Martine Powers speaks with The Post’...

Remembering all the complex details of how the electoral college works is not exactly easy. And just when you’ve mastered how it all adds up, you probably won’t need to think about it again for another four years — hardly a formula for cementing something in your brain. “Try This” host Cristina Quinn is here to help.

In the second class in our series about how the electoral college works, host Cristina Quinn talks to historian Alex Keyssar of the Harvard Kennedy School about the compromises that drove the Founding Fathers to land on a complex, winner-takes-all system rather than a straightforward popular vot...

The electoral college has served as the system to elect U.S. presidents since the earliest days of the country. And while it has evolved over the years, Americans still use this complex representative system to choose their country’s leaders. The system, however, is not without its flaws — and many have pushed for alternatives over the years.

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