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Our bodies are adapting and changing to meet the demands of the Information Age. What is happening? And what can we do about it? This six-part series is an interactive investigation into the relationship between our technology and our bodies...and how we can fix it.

Body Electric

On Body Electric, host Manoush Zomorodi investigates the relationship between our technology and our bodies... and she has a challenge for YOU.

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What is Body Electric?

In this special series, host Manoush Zomorodi investigates the relationship between our technology and our bodies and asks: How are we physically adapting to meet the demands of the Information Age? Why do so many of us feel utterly drained after a day spent attached to our devices?

Part one kicks off with an exploration into how economic eras have shaped the human body in the past with author Vybarr Cregan-Reid. Then, Columbia University researcher and exercise physiologist Keith Diaz and Manoush discuss his findings and propose a challenge to listeners: Let's see if we can end this cycle of type, tap, collapse together. 

Click here to find out more about the project: npr.org/bodyelectric

Talk to us on Instagram @ManoushZ, or record a voice memo and email it to us at BodyElectric@npr.org.

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Part 1: The Body Through The Ages

In part two: host Manoush Zomorodi delves into how we met and fell hard for the personal computer—and why we continue to have this committed, yet tortuous relationship. We hear from historian Laine Nooney on how the computer revolution forever changed the way we use our bodies at work, at school and at home. 

Manoush also visits the Exercise Testing Laboratory at Columbia University Medical Center where researchers collect data on how her body responds to a day of sitting compared to a day of constant movement breaks.

Click here to find out more about the project: npr.org/bodyelectric

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a voice memo at bodyelectric@npr.org. Talk to us on Instagram @ManoushZ.

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Part 2: When Human Met Desk

In part three: host Manoush Zomorodi explores how our tech habits are causing our eyes to change shape—to elongate—which causes nearsightedness. She investigates why rates of myopia among kids are soaring. She also speaks with Maria Liu, an optometrist with a quest to slow down the progression of myopia in children by opening the first ever myopia control clinic in the United States.

Later in the episode, we hear from a team of employees who tried incorporating "movement snacks" into their days for one week.

Click here to find out more about the project: npr.org/bodyelectric

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a voice memo at bodyelectric@npr.org. Talk to us on Instagram @ManoushZ.

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Part 3: Why Our Eyes Are Elongating

In part four: host Manoush Zomorodi explores the connection between our posture and our mood. A lot of us associate our neck and back pain with spending hours hunched over our phones and laptops. But what if that hunched posture is also making us feel tired, stressed, and anxious? Neuroscientist Peter Strick discusses his groundbreaking research on why exercising our core muscles lowers our stress.

Also in this episode: how a faulty, incorrect study went viral — claiming smartphones were causing people to grow horns on their backs. Science journalist Nsikan Akpan sets the record straight. Later, writer Paul Ingraham shares his daily strategy for doing movement snacks and strength building while balancing deadlines.

Click here to find out more about the project: npr.org/bodyelectric

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a voice memo at bodyelectric@npr.org. Talk to us on Instagram @ManoushZ.

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Part 4: Below the Belt

In part five: host Manoush Zomorodi investigates what information overload does to our physical and mental health. Could our tech use be interfering with the critical dialogue that takes place between the body and the brain? Psychiatrist and neuroscientist Sahib Khalsa shares his latest research on interoception — the brain's ability to sense how the body is feeling — and how finding time to unplug from our devices can help us tune into our body's natural signals.

Also in this episode: neurologist Caroline Olvera takes us inside the "TikTok tics" outbreak — exploring why thousands of teens developed Tourette's-like symptoms after watching TikTok videos in 2021. Plus, how a school in Washington, DC helps kids stay connected to their bodies by creating a high-movement, low-tech environment.

Click here to find out more about the project: npr.org/bodyelectric

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a voice memo at bodyelectric@npr.org. Talk to us on Instagram @ManoushZ.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Part 5: The Mind-Body-Tech Connection

In part six: host Manoush Zomorodi digs into the preliminary results of the listener study with Columbia University researcher Keith Diaz. He shares the surprising — and encouraging — initial findings from more than 20,000 listeners who tried to incorporate movement breaks into their day.

Also on this episode, listener Dana Lopez Maile describes how the study was a "game changer" for her health. Yiliu Shen-Burke, founder of the augmented reality app SoftSpace, explains his vision of augmented reality. Finally, Manoush explores the future of screen time in a new era of artificial intelligence, and the inextricable convergence of humans and machines.

Click here to find out more about the project: npr.org/bodyelectric

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Part 6: Walk Into The Future

Last fall, over 20,000 listeners joined our study with Columbia University to take movement breaks throughout the day. They reported that the more breaks they took, the better they felt. So what's the secret to sticking with it? In this episode, host Manoush Zomorodi shares the top 10 listener tips to start moving, and keep moving, in 2024. 

Click here to join the Body Electric challenge: npr.org/bodyelectric

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Top 10 Listener Tips To Keep Moving

We've all heard of "Zoom fatigue"—that feeling of depletion and exhaustion after a long video call. New findings explain what video calls do to our brains and why they leave us feeling drained. Host Manoush Zomorodi speaks with researcher Gernot Müller-Putz about the latest findings and tips for preventing Zoom fatigue.

Click here to join the Body Electric challenge: npr.org/bodyelectric

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What Zoom Does To Our Brains

The Body Electric challenge has inspired tens of thousands of listeners to incorporate more movement into their days. For some, this new lifestyle has been transformative. Host Manoush Zomorodi checks in with two key members of the Body Electric community: lead researcher Keith Diaz and listener Dana Lopez Maile on how it's going since the Columbia University study officially wrapped.

Click here to join the Body Electric challenge: npr.org/bodyelectric 

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Thinking Long-Term: Making Movement a Lifelong Habit

Thanks to advances in AI, chatbots can act as personalized therapists, companions and romantic partners. The apps offering these services have been downloaded millions of times. If these relationships relieve stress and make us feel better, does it matter that they're not "real"?

On this episode, host Manoush Zomorodi talks to MIT sociologist and psychologist Sherry Turkle about her new research into what she calls "artificial intimacy" and its impact on our mental and physical health.

Binge the whole Body Electric series here.

Sign up for the Body Electric Challenge and our newsletter here.

Talk to us on Instagram @ManoushZ, or record a voice memo and email it to us at BodyElectric@npr.org.

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If a bot relationship FEELS real, should we care that it's not?

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