LIFEHACK • 67 videos

How to make smart decisions more easily

Explore the psychology of decision fatigue, what kinds of choices lead us to this state and what we can do to fight it.

TED-Ed • 2023 • Lifehack

DisHonesty: The Truth about Lies

"(Dis)Honesty – The Truth About Lies" delves into the intricate world of human deception, exploring the ubiquity of lying in our lives. Psychologist Dan Ariely and his team dissect the mechanisms behind dishonesty, from white lies to significant frauds. Through personal accounts, the documentary exposes the rationalizations of individuals, including a Wall Street trader and a cheating spouse, shedding light on the justifications people invent for their deceit. Ariely's research uncovers the complexities of dishonesty, revealing the blurred line between harmless lies and catastrophic deception, questioning our collective morality, and exploring potential solutions to this epidemic of cheating that erodes public trust.

2015 • Lifehack

How to Sleep Well

A third of the population regularly struggle with our sleep, which rose to one in two during the pandemic - the highest it’s ever been. However, as more and more people seek help, an explosion in sleep science is enabling the study of sleep in ways not possible before. What’s more, recent breakthroughs are uncovering what’s happening in our brains and bodies while we’re asleep, getting us closer than ever to understanding the importance of sleep for our health. Michael Mosley has struggled with his sleep for years and wants to know if the latest insights can help him and the millions like him. He discovers why cutting our sleep short can be linked to a host of illnesses, including serious diseases like Alzheimer’s. Putting his own sleeping brain and body to the test, Michael signs up for two revealing experiments: wearing a new device that maps his sleep and allows scientists to see how it measures up to an ideal night, and taking part in a sleep deprivation experiment, where he is confronted by the fact that just one sleepless night impacts his cognitive performance. Revealing the very latest science breakthroughs and packed with personal anecdotes, this programme is a useful guide to anyone looking for tips and insights on how to get the benefits from learning how to sleep well.

Horizon • 2022 • Lifehack

Beauty

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but what exactly makes things such as art and architecture aesthetically pleasing, and why do we like looking?

S2E9Explained • 2019 • Lifehack

Athleisure

It began with bloomers. Then came spandex. Now we sport leggings and other activewear everywhere. How did comfy, casual clothing go mainstream?

S2E4Explained • 2019 • Lifehack

The Minimalists: Less is Now

They've built a movement out of minimalism. Longtime friends Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus share how lives can be better with less.

2021 • Lifehack

The Social Dilemma

This documentary-drama hybrid explores the dangerous human impact of social networking, with tech experts sounding the alarm on their own creations.

2020 • Lifehack

Lockdown Productivity: Spaceship You

Pandemic season. How to deal with pandemic isolation.

CGP Grey • 2020 • Lifehack

Playing with FIRE

Playing with FIRE captures the truths and dispels the myths of the growing culture known as FIRE: Financial Independence Retire Early.

2019 • Lifehack

Mysteries of Sleep

Why do we sleep? And what does sleep have to do with memory, trauma, and our emotions? From fruit flies to whales, virtually every animal sleeps. But why? Why do we need to spend nearly a third of our lives in such a defenseless state? Scientists are peering more deeply into the sleeping brain than ever before, discovering just how powerful sleep can be, playing a role in everything from memory retention and emotional regulation to removing waste from our brains. So why are we getting so little of it?

NOVA PBS • 2020 • Lifehack

An Antidote to Dissatisfaction

Everybody is familiar with the feeling that things are not as they should be. That you are not successful enough, your relationships not satisfying enough. That you don’t have the things you crave. In this video we want to talk about one of the strongest predictors of how happy people are, how easily they make friends and how good they are at dealing with hardship. An antidote against dissatisfaction so to speak: Gratitude.

In a Nutshell • 2019 • Lifehack

The Science of Sleep: How To Sleep Better

The British Sleep Council says that 70 per cent of people in the UK do no get enough sleep. Gaby Roslin and Amir Khan present the first of two programmes in which they aim to put things right, applying the latest science to some of the worst sleepers. They include a sleep deprivation experiment, as well as help for an extreme snorer and a man who suffers from night terrors. A woman who has restless leg syndrome, and a man who has had chronic insomnia for 20 years. The sleep deprivation experiment continues, setting up a mini casino to test for risky behaviour, pain resistance and emotional control. Finally, as the subjects reach the final hours of the challenge, the experiment begins to take its toll as the participants' emotions go into overdrive, with one threatening to quit altogether.

2019 • Lifehack

Repeat After Me

A documentary that explores how we repeat trauma. It focuses on the childhoods of significant American politicans. It explores the idea that aggressors were originally victims. And that our 'leaders' are deeply wounded and feel powerless. All footage is credited and used under the principles of Fair Use. This video work is both transformative and educational.

2017 • Lifehack

The God Delusion

The God Delusion explored the unproven traditions that are given as fact by religious faiths, and the extremes that some followers take them. Dawkins argues that faith is not a way of understanding the world (described as "non-thought"), and is opposed to modern science which tests hypotheses and builds theories to describe the world.

2006 • Lifehack

Loneliness

Everybody feels lonely sometimes. But only few of us are aware how important this feeling was for our ancestors - and that our modern world can turn it into something that really hurts us. Why do we feel this way and what can we do about it?

In a Nutshell • 2019 • Lifehack

We Need to Talk About Death

Dr Kevin Fong makes a personal journey through the moral questions about death that face not just the medical profession, but each and every one of us. The question of how we die is a question that all of us must face, and yet we avoid talking about it. Modern medicine is focused on saving lives. Amazing technical advances have increased doctors' ability to treat a wide range of life-threatening diseases, meaning many more people live longer lives. Life expectancy has surged, and we regard death as something to be battled. It is common for the medical system to throw everything into treating patients right to the very end. But in our attempts to defeat death, the question is this - are we over-medicalising death and the final years of life at the expense of providing better palliative care that would result in a better quality of life? Is it time to reset the system, and learn how to die a better death? Kevin meets medical professionals who are at the heart of these dilemmas, as well as people who are right now facing up to the question of how to die a better death.

Horizon • 2019 • Lifehack

Flight from Death

At some point in everyone's life, thoughts turn to death. A subject that most people like to skirt around, it is tackled head on in this award-winning documentary from director Patrick Shen. Shen identifies death as one of the underlying factors in causing modern day malaise and examines various responses to the specter of death as it looms large over our heads. Positing the theory that death is inherently buried in everything we do, Shen lets his theory unravel in an interesting and informative manner. Travelling the globe, the director pools his ideas from an array of sources, including expert commentary from scholars such as Ernest Becker and Sheldon Solomon.

2003 • Lifehack

Yalom's Cure

Bestselling author, popular scholar and existentialist Irvin D. Yalom is one of the most influential living psychotherapists. This cinematic feature is more than a classic biography. Together with Dr. Yalom we travel in an existential journey through the many layers of the human mind while he shares his fundamental insights and wisdom. Dr. Yalom's books sold millions of copies worldwide and critics describe him as: mind-bending, stunning, inspiring, haunting, life-changing.

2014 • Lifehack

A Week Without Lying

Deception is an integral part of human nature and it is estimated we all lie up to nine times a day. But what if we created a world in which we couldn't lie? In a radical experiment, pioneering scientists from across Europe have come together to make this happen. Brand new technology is allowing them to rig three British people to make it impossible for them to lie undetected. Then they will be challenged to live for a whole week without telling a single lie. It is a bold social experiment to discover the role of deception in our lives - to investigate the impact lying has on our mental state and the consequences of it for our relationships, and to ask whether the world would be a better or worse place if we couldn't lie.

Horizon • 2018 • Lifehack

Happiness at Work

Is work oppressive? As illustrated by the recent wave of suicides in major companies, a profound malaise exists. Constant urgency, excessive workloads, lack of training, disarray in corporate organization, management by terror; the 21st Century workplace is continually leaving new victims. Why?

2015 • Lifehack

What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains

Most of us are on the Internet on a daily basis and whether we like it or not, the Internet is affecting us. It changes how we think, how we work, and it even changes our brains.

2013 • Lifehack

6 Problems with our School System

The traditional system of education was designed in the industrial age and is now outdated and ineffective. Learn about the 6 major problems with the system. At NEXT School, we are bringing a much needed upgrade to the education system to address these problems. We are India's 1st Big Picture School. The highly innovative Big Picture Learning framework allows us to personalise each child's educational journey making learning more engaging and relevant. Visit www.nextschool.org to know more.

2016 • Lifehack

The Science of Marital Misunderstanding

In Japan, one couple gets divorced every 2 minutes. Often, the wife initiates the split. Many women say their partners don't understand their feelings, while many husbands seem unaware of the daily stress this can create. The latest research suggests that common marital misunderstandings are rooted in differences between the male and female brain. The problems couples experience today are the result of millions of years of evolution. This program uses findings from neuroscience to explore the issue, and suggests ways for couples to strengthen their bonds.

2017 • Lifehack

Hair Care Secrets

The Horizon team have gathered together a team of scientists and doctors to investigate the incredible, natural material that is growing out of our heads - our hair. With access to the research laboratories of some of the world's leading hair care companies, including L'Oreal and ghd, the team explore the latest cutting-edge research and technology designed to push the boundaries of hair and hair care. Each one of us has a unique head of hair - an average of 150,000 individual hair strands growing approximately one centimetre every month. Over your lifetime, that is over 800 miles. The time and effort we put into styling, sculpting and maintaining this precious material has created a global hair care market worth a staggering 60 billion pounds. With such high stakes, it is inevitable that when developing hair-care products, science and business operate hand in hand. The team reveal how this industry science compares to the rigorous academic standards that they are used to. These investigations also reveal why we care so much about our hair, and whether or not it is worth splashing out on expensive shampoos. They uncover the magic ingredients found in conditioners and lay bare the secrets of the shiny, glossy hair seen in the adverts.

Horizon • 2017 • Lifehack

Happiness

The story of a rodent's unrelenting quest for happiness and fulfillment.

2017 • Lifehack

Perfect Cleaning

Science explains why some cleaning methods work better than others, and that we do not need to purchase multiple cleansers when a few basic ingredients from our pantry and our local pharmacy can get the entire house spic and span.

S1E1The Science of Everyday Living • 2011 • Lifehack

Live to Learn

These 9 life lessons from comedian Tim Minchin will make you laugh -- and learn

2017 • Lifehack

Lessons from the Presidents

Through her unique understanding of some of our greatest presidents, Doris Kearns Goodwin, writer and presidential biographer, provides leadership lessons we all can learn from in our never-ending pursuit to live our fullest and most successful lives.

S1E7Curiosity Retreats: 2016 Lectures • 2016 • Lifehack

Dirt Poor is Bad

This episode looks at the effects of modern life and aging , how excessive cleanliness affects asthma & allergies, how poverty gets under the skin to cause lifelong damage, the physical effects of social isolation, and predicting mental illness and Alzheimer's by just looking at the back of people's eyes. Plus the latest research and where the research is going next.

S1E4Predict my Future: The Science of Us • 2016 • Lifehack

When Genes Mix with the Wrong Environment

The Dunedin Study has identified a fundamental developmental mechanism that completely rewrites the nature versus nurture argument. It is a genetic switch which is thrown by life events , nature loads the gun but nurture pulls the trigger. This episode tracks the hunt for the mechanism using three specific examples - violence in men, depression, and cannabis induced schizophrenia

S1E3Predict my Future: The Science of Us • 2016 • Lifehack

When Teens Run Off the Rails

Troubled teens , why some go bad and others come right. What happens when young people run off the rails? Youth offending is very common , almost everyone does dumb things and many of us break the law. However youth offenders consist of two core groups; life present offenders (people who are going to continue offending regardless), and people who given the right conditions will return to become mainstream citizens.

S1E2Predict my Future: The Science of Us • 2016 • Lifehack

The Early Years

Meet the most scientifically studied people in the world. A group of 1,037 New Zealanders born in one city have been followed since their births in 1972. Members are now dispersed around the globe but 96% of the original group are still taking part - an extraordinary achievement in such a long running study.

S1E1Predict my Future: The Science of Us • 2016 • Lifehack

The Science of Happiness

Dr. Nancy Etcoff, a leading researcher in the field of positive psychology, reveals why it is crucial to understand exactly how our mental and physical health is benefited by emotions like happiness and joy, and how we are affected by anxiety and depression.

5/10Curiosity Retreats: 2014 Lectures • 2014 • Lifehack

Body Language Decoded

Take a journey deep inside the intriguing world of non-verbal communication. As human beings, our bodies communicate our inner emotions and feelings in ways that can often be easily seen by others, but at other times, are barely visible. On every continent and in every ethnicity, expressions of emotions such as happiness, surprise, anger and fear are universally recognized. These expressions are hard-wired into our facial muscles for reasons that have everything to do with human evolution and survival of the species. To the trained observer, the way people move can be more revealing than the things people say. Body Language Decoded features interviews with some of the world’s leading experts in human communication.

2017 • Lifehack

Knowledge

The way TV pollutes our minds with the wrong kind of information.

S1E6How TV Ruined Your Life • 2011 • Lifehack

Progress

Is progress really progress, or is progress regress?

S1E5How TV Ruined Your Life • 2011 • Lifehack

Love

Advertisements and movies' clichéd and unrealistic portrayal of romance.

S1E4How TV Ruined Your Life • 2011 • Lifehack

Aspiration

How TV rubs our noses in other people's superior lifestyles.

S1E3How TV Ruined Your Life • 2011 • Lifehack

The Lifecycle

How stereotypical programming paints our viewings of particular age groups.

S1E2How TV Ruined Your Life • 2011 • Lifehack

Fear

The paranoia created by government via their Public Information Films.

S1E1How TV Ruined Your Life • 2011 • Lifehack

Minimalism

How might your life be better with less? MINIMALISM: A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE IMPORTANT THINGS examines the many flavors of minimalism by taking the audience inside the lives of minimalists from all walks of life—families, entrepreneurs, architects, artists, journalists, scientists, and even a former Wall Street broker—all of whom are striving to live a meaningful life with less.

2016 • Lifehack

HyperNormalisation

Adam Curtis - HyperNormalisation Our world is strange and often fake and corrupt. But we think it’s normal because we can’t see anything else. HyperNormalisation - the story of how we got here.

2016 • Lifehack

How to Find Love Online

Dr Xand Van Tulleken is single and looking for love. Mathematician Dr Hannah Fry wants to use him as her guinea pig to test whether the algorithms that dating sites use to match people actually work. While Hannah builds a dating site, Xand meets the scientists investigating online dating - and learns what pictures to use and what to write in his profile. He tries out a 'bot' that has automated a swiping app and has an MRI scan to find out whether his brain is equipped for love. 50 members of the public take part in some mini experiments at a date night - and Xand goes on various dates to test whether the algorithm is better than him choosing randomly.

Horizon • 2016 • Lifehack

Why you shouldn't trust successful people's advice

10 Ways to be successful... that's bullshit :)

2016 • Lifehack

How To Help Every Child Fulfil Their Potential

Ever wondered why kids say they’re bored at school, or why they stop trying when the work gets harder? Educationalist Carol Dweck explains how the wrong kind of praise actually *harms* young people.

RSA • 2015 • Lifehack

Why We Love Disaster News

Why are we so captivated and fascinated by news stories about disasters? Is it ghoulish and voyeuristic? Not at all...

The School of Life • 2015 • Lifehack

Why We Love to Blame Our Partners

It’s an odd quirk of relationships that, after a time, we tend to develop the sincere conviction that it is all always our partner’s fault.

The School of Life • 2016 • Lifehack

How to Find Fulfilling Work

The key to finding fulfilling work is to think a lot, analyse one's fears, understand the market, reflect on capitalism.

The School of Life • 2015 • Lifehack

The Perfect Country

This is a thought experiment about what the perfect country might be like. It's not an idle daydream, it's a way of highlighting some of the problems with our own nations and a way of signalling what the true opportunities might be.

The School of Life • 2016 • Lifehack

The Missing Scarf

The Missing Scarf

2014 • Lifehack

Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us

This lively RSA Animate, adapted from Dan Pink's talk at the RSA, illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace.

RSA • 2010 • Lifehack

Why Religious Beliefs Aren't Just Silly

Nowadays, many atheists declare not just that god is dead but that anyone who believes in him must be stupid. This seems a little harsh – we prefer to think about where religious beliefs come from: the pained parts of ourselves.

The School of Life • 2015 • Lifehack

How to Get Divorced

The rules for how to doom a relationship are relatively easy to follow. Here are a selection that are guaranteed to blow up love.

The School of Life • 2015 • Lifehack

The Missing Tile Syndrome

Have you ever thought to yourself, "I wish I were ____"? Adjectives may have included: thinner, taller, smarter, etc. If so, you're like virtually everyone else, and afflicted by "The Missing Tile Syndrome." As Dennis Prager explains, we often focus on the missing tile(s) in our lives, which robs us of happiness. In five minutes, learn how to fix your focus.

PragerU • 2014 • Lifehack

3 tips to boost your confidence

When faced with a big challenge where potential failure seems to lurk at every corner, you’ve probably heard the advice, “Be more confident!” But where does confidence come from, and how can you get more of it? Here are three easy tips to boost your confidence.

TED-Ed • 2015 • Lifehack

The 9 BEST Scientific Study Tips

Studying strategies. Help your brain acquire information in a scientific proven way!

AsapSCIENCE • 2015 • Lifehack

The nerd's guide to learning everything online

Some of us learn best in the classroom, and some of us ... well, we don't. But we still love to learn, to find out new things about the world and challenge our minds. We just need to find the right place to do it, and the right community to learn with. In this charming talk, author John Green shares the world of learning he found in online video.

TED • 2012 • Lifehack

What makes us feel good about our work?

What motivates us to work? Contrary to conventional wisdom, it isn't just money. But it's not exactly joy either. It seems that most of us thrive by making constant progress and feeling a sense of purpose. Behavioral economist Dan Ariely presents two eye-opening experiments that reveal our unexpected and nuanced attitudes toward meaning in our work.

TEDLifehack

How to think less and live more -- Paralysis by Analysis

There’s a chicken waiting to cross the road, but every time she is about to take a step she asks herself "is now the right time?”

Lifehack

Should you trust your first impression?

You can't help it; sometimes, you just get a bad feeling about someone that's hard to shake. So, what's happening in your brain when you make that critical (and often lasting) first judgment? Peter Mende-Siedlecki shares the social psychology of first impressions -- and why they may indicate that, deep down, people are basically good.

TED-EdLifehack

Science Of Persuasion

This animated video describes the six universal Principles of Persuasion that have been scientifically proven to make you most effective based on the research in Dr. Cialdini’s groundbreaking book, Influence.

Lifehack

What should we think about death?

A short Humanist animation about death, afterlife, and living in the here and now.

Lifehack

8 traits of successful people

Ten years of research and 500 face-to-face-interviews led Richard St. John to a collection of eight common traits in successful leaders around the world.

TED-EdLifehack

The power of passion

For love or money? Based on hundreds of interviews and his personal experience, Richard St. John suggests that passion, not money, is one of the key drivers of success.

Lifehack

Why it pays to work hard

Nothing comes easy, and behind every success are hours of plain hard work. Sounds intimidating, but Richard St. John proposes a simple shift in attitude to turn mediocre into incredible.

Lifehack