Life Matters - Full program podcast

Recent research suggests social anxiety is on the rise. Beyond the usual feelings around making awkward small talk, many people are struggling to socialise at work, meet new friends or even leave their own house. Psychologist Sahra O'Doherty explains why more of us are experiencing social anxiety and what you can do about it.
When you're parenting small children, sleep can feel like a battleground. So when one person takes a night off, how late is too late to stay out? Aunties Amy Middleton and Joe Sullivan,  weigh in on a sensitive debate, and share some advice on navigating sleep envy and resentment.

Among the major changes slated for the NDIS, funding for "social and community participation" looks likely to be significantly reduced. These programs help people stay connected, build confidence and independence, and participate in daily life. Social researcher and NDIS participant Katie Butler and Megan Spindler-Smith from People With Disability Australia explain how these changes could affect people day-to-day.
With features that are designed for safety, connected cars have been described as a "privacy nightmare on wheels". These vehicles transmit data continuously — tracking location, monitoring calls, recording your voice and even capturing images from inside and outside your car. So how much data is being collected and what are the rules around it?
A new survey has found 1 in 4 doctors believe it will one day be possible to preserve a person's brain and revive their body at a later date. But just because we can, does that mean we should? What would that mean for our sense of humanity?

Not all friendships are for life, and there are plenty of reasons people drift apart. Sometimes distance makes it harder to catch up, or life just pulls you in different directions. But what happens when it's money driving a wedge between mates? Writer Cate Gilpin, comedian Matt Okine and psychologist Rachel Samson explore the friendship wealth gap and how to make peace with it.
The majority of people who stand between you and all manner of natural disasters are highly trained and totally unpaid. It's one thing to sign up as a volunteer to make friends and learn new skills, but many volunteers put their own lives on the line to save others. So how sustainable is a critical system that relies so heavily on unpaid labour, and should they be paid for the work they do?

Helping you figure out all the big stuff in life: relationships, health, money, work and the world.

Less than 4 per cent of the statues in Australia depict women from our history. It reveals a lot about who we remember, and how they're immortalised. Our collective memory is shaped by historians' personal values, ideals and beliefs as much as it is by historical events themselves. So historian and guide Sita Sargeant took it upon herself to reshape this history to tell stories of the women we forgot. 
Shaun Micallef has never understood the appeal of gambling, but he's something of an outlier. Australians are among the biggest punters in the world, and we lose billions each year. He explains why he decided to investigate our national obsession in a new documentary series, and what can be done to protect future generations from falling prey to voracious betting companies.
It's notoriously hard to hold the attention of teenage boys. But when Andy Griffiths stumbled across a novella in his school library about a man who wakes up as an insect, it sparked something wonderful. That reading experience would set him on the path to becoming an award-winning children's author with a penchant for the ridiculous. 
Parenting styles are a bit like fashion — norms are continually challenged, evolving and ultimately judged. Psychologist Christine Bagley-Jones joins Life Matters for Head and Heart to unpack "beta parenting", the latest trend describing a more relaxed, "good enough" approach to child-rearing.