Try This

The Washington Post

“Try This” from The Washington Post is a series of audio courses designed to jump-start the parts of life where we can all use a few pointers — with pithy, snackable solutions you can easily use. Host Cristina Quinn brings exactly the right amount of motivation with her endearing enthusiasm and the curiosity to learn along with you. Each course is a quick and practical guide that provides new perspectives on the kinds of hurdles we all share. If you’ve been searching for the right place to start, Try This. read less

Our Editor's Take

The Try This podcast is about trying new things and finding solutions for everyday situations where one might feel stuck. Its host is Cristina Quinn. She works as a journalist at The Washington Post.

The first course, or season, on the podcast is about getting better sleep. It's difficult to overstate the importance of a good night's sleep. Adequate rest can affect decision-making skills, interpersonal relations, and mood. It also reduces the risk of illness, boosts the immune system, and contributes to a healthy weight. On the flip side, poor sleep and insomnia can impact mental health. It's crucial to address difficulty falling or staying asleep.

In this podcast, Quinn wants to help listeners to achieve that. She talks to experts who provide advice on creating an environment for optimal sleep. Difficulty falling asleep can have its roots in anxiety. This creates a cycle where one worries about not getting enough sleep. That makes it even harder to fall asleep. When talking with sleep expert Lisa Strauss, Quinn comes up with ways to disrupt the pattern. Strauss provides techniques, like compartmentalizing, to help avoid waking up in the middle of the night. There are also things one can do during the day that may help them fall asleep.

Screens can also have a negative effect on sleep. Turning them off at least an hour before bed is one of Straus's recommendations. She also stresses the importance of being comfortable and calm before bed. One episode of the podcast discusses melatonin. People take it to help them sleep, but there is debate on its effectiveness. In a judgment-free way, Strauss examines the research on melatonin. She invites listeners to make up their own minds.

The first season of Try This is a great choice for people who struggle with falling or staying asleep. The podcast boasts concrete advice backed by research. Each course provides advice on a new topic.

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Play Trailer

Introducing “Try This”

Introducing “Try This”

Meet The Washington Post’s Cristina Quinn, who is always game to try something new. She is your guide in “Try This” — a new series of audio courses from The Post that will provide quick, fresh and practical approaches to tackling the kind of hurdles we all face: how to sleep better, get the most out of our relationships, get out of our own way and more. Follow “Try This” now so you catch the first course when it drops Tuesday, Dec. 5.

Season 2

Are you socially fit?

Are you socially fit?

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 health and what we can do to assess our connections. He gives practical advice for how to take stock of, reinvest in or rethink our relationships, with exercises that can work as an ongoing social fitness regimen. You can learn more about the Harvard Study of Adult Development here. Waldinger and his colleague wrote a book, “The Good Life,” that includes more tips for finding satisfaction in human relationships. Subscribe to The Washington Post and connect your subscription in Apple Podcasts.

Why it pays to get out of your comfort zone

Why it pays to get out of your comfort zone

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. Friendship expert Danielle Bayard Jackson makes the case that spending time with friends can be as simple as some shared errands. And Bob Waldinger is back to explain how we don’t always know what we actually want from interactions with other people. It turns out, we might surprise ourselves. For more advice on how to navigate all sorts of relationships, read columns by The Post’s Carolyn Hax. Subscribe to The Washington Post and connect your subscription in Apple Podcasts.

When to call it quits

When to call it quits

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 from Washington Post advice columnist Carolyn Hax and friendship expert Danielle Bayard Jackson.For more advice on how to navigate all sorts of relationships, read columns by The Post’s Carolyn Hax. Find Danielle Bayard Jackson’s podcast, Friend Forward, here. Subscribe to The Washington Post and connect your subscription in Apple Podcasts.

Season 1

Stop trying to fall asleep

Stop trying to fall asleep

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 day. If you’d like additional resources, here are some columns from sleep expert Lisa Strauss who is featured in this episode:Overthinking at night? 6 strategies for better sleep.Three ways to fix sleep issues when nothing else worksSubscribe to The Washington Post and connect your subscription in Apple Podcasts.

Go ahead. Think about the thing that’s keeping you up.

Go ahead. Think about the thing that’s keeping you up.

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 technique for identifying and changing negative thought patterns. Consider this an exercise in compartmentalizing – a technique for preventing intrusive thoughts from taking over at bedtime. Subscribe to The Washington Post and connect your subscription in Apple Podcasts.

What to do if you’re up in the middle of the night

What to do if you’re up in the middle of the night

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 distraction – one that requires little to no thinking or mental commitment. Cristina explores tips on how to do that and an accessory that can help. Here are some of Cristina’s favorite suggestions for soothing distractions that might work for you:The autobiography of Eleanor RooseveltRick Steves’s travel podcasts Subscribe to The Washington Post and connect your subscription in Apple Podcasts.

Sleep is a ball of pizza dough

Sleep is a ball of pizza dough

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 you just might find the sweet spot for the amount that best suits your body over the long-term. What does this have to do with pizza? You’ll find out – and it will be delicious. Subscribe to The Washington Post and connect your subscription in Apple Podcasts.

The melatonin factor

The melatonin factor

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 who swears by melatonin or maybe you yourself do. But does it work? What do we know about how effective melatonin supplements are, and what does it mean for helping you get better sleep? Cristina unpacks the research and helps you determine if melatonin is the right choice for your sleep needs. Here are some organizations and labels to look for when purchasing melatonin supplements:National Sanitation FoundationUnited States Pharmacopeia Read more from The Washington Post about how and when to take melatonin.Subscribe to The Washington Post and connect your subscription in Apple Podcasts.

Other

Introducing “Try This”

Introducing “Try This”

Meet The Washington Post’s Cristina Quinn, who is always game to try something new. She is your guide in “Try This” — a new series of audio courses from The Post that will provide quick, fresh and practical approaches to tackling the kind of hurdles we all face: how to sleep better, get the most out of our relationships, get out of our own way and more. Follow “Try This” now so you catch the first course when it drops Tuesday, Dec. 5.