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PODCAST

So That"s Why

You"ve been told to drink eight glasses of water a day. You"ve chased 10,000 steps like it"s some kind of biological law. You"ve checked your cholesterol without being entirely sure what you"re actually checking for. Most health content tells you what to do. Nobody explains why. That"s the gap So That"s Why was made to fill. Each week, Jen, Chris, and Matt take one everyday health question — the kind that"s been nagging at the back of your mind, or that you"ve just accepted without thinking — and

education life sciences

All Episodes

20:52

Why Do We Get Wrinkles and What Actually Causes Them?

So That"s Why ·

2026/10/01

Nearly all of us blame the calendar for wrinkles, but the science says the calendar is mostly innocent.Estimates put at least 80% of visible facial ageing down to sun exposure, not birthdays. In this episode, Jen, Chris and Matt go one layer beneath the surface of the skin to find out what a wrinkle actually is. They cover the slow collagen decline that starts in the late twenties, the fibroblasts that build the skin's scaffolding, and the MMP enzymes that break it down again. They explain how UV

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23:41

Why Does Our Metabolism Slow Down With Age?

So That"s Why ·

2026/09/24

Your metabolism has an alibi. A study of over 6,000 people found metabolic rate is essentially flat from 20 to 60.Most of us start blaming our metabolism somewhere in our thirties. The largest study ever done on human energy expenditure suggests we have been accusing the wrong party. Using doubly labelled water, the gold standard for measuring energy expenditure in real life, researchers tracked over 6,000 people aged from eight days old to 95 across 29 countries. Between 20 and 60, metabolic rate

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19:45

Why Do Some People Tan While Others Don't?

So That"s Why ·

2026/09/17

Two people, the same beach, the same sun. One turns golden, the other turns red. Why?That is the question Jen, Chris and Jamie set out to answer this week, and the answer surprises almost everyone. Tanning isn't a skill you build over a summer. Whether you can tan at all is settled by your genes, and it was decided before you were born. The team unpack what a tan really is (a repair job, not a sign of health), why everyone has roughly the same number of pigment cells but wildly different results,

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20:43

Why Do We Need Cortisol?

So That"s Why ·

2026/09/10

Cortisol has become the hormone everyone wants to get rid of. It is also one of the reasons you can get out of bed at all.Jen, Chris and Matt unpack what cortisol is actually doing while you go about your day. They cover how the HPA axis works as a self-correcting chain rather than a tap left running, why cortisol climbs before you wake and jumps again in the first half hour after you open your eyes, and how one hormone reaches nearly every tissue in the body by slipping into the nucleus of your

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15:20

Why Do We Get Goosebumps?

So That"s Why ·

2026/09/03

A cold shower, a jump scare and your favourite song all trigger the same reflex. Here's why we get goosebumps, and what they really mean.This week, Jen, Chris and Jamie unpack one of the body's quietest mysteries. Why does a freezing shower, a fright in a dark room and the best moment of a song you love all produce the exact same reaction? The answer starts with a single nervous-system circuit and a tiny muscle at the base of every hair. Along the way, the team explores why goosebumps are far more

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17:10

Why Do Cells Turn Cancerous?

So That"s Why ·

2026/08/27

Your body will copy three billion letters of DNA today, tens of billions of times over, and get almost every one right.So the real puzzle is not why cells occasionally go wrong. It is why they so rarely do.Jen, Chris and Matt take on one of the biggest questions the show has tackled, and they take it on strictly as biology. This episode is about what physically changes inside a single cell to turn it cancerous. It does not cover causes, risk or anyone's diagnosis, and the hosts say so plainly at the

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18:54

Why Does Stress Make Us Ill?

So That"s Why ·

2026/08/20

Stress gets blamed for everything, yet a little of it is genuinely good for you. So why does stress make us ill?In this episode, Jen, Chris and Jamie unpack one of the most misunderstood ideas in health. Stress on its own isn't the problem. The problem is a system that's brilliant in short bursts but never gets switched off. The team walks through the two systems that fire when your brain senses a threat, why chronic stress is now ranked alongside smoking as a heart risk, and how the same chemistry

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19:50

Why Do We Get Afternoon Energy Crashes?

So That"s Why ·

2026/08/13

Ever wondered why your energy nosedives at almost exactly the same time every afternoon? Surveys put the average moment at a suspiciously precise 2:36 PM. The twist is that it happens whether you eat lunch or not.In this episode, Jen, Chris and Matt unpack the real reason behind the afternoon slump. It isn't one thing breaking down. It's four biological systems reaching their low point at the same time and amplifying each other into a measurable dip in focus, accuracy and motivation. They walk

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19:21

Why Do We Get Headaches?

So That"s Why ·

2026/08/06

Your brain has 86 billion neurons and zero pain receptors, so why does a headache feel like it's happening inside your skull?It's one of the strangest facts in human biology, and it changes how you think about every headache you've ever had. In this episode, Jen, Chris, and Matt unpack where head pain actually comes from, why migraines arrive with nausea and light sensitivity, why caffeine both helps and hurts, and why reaching for painkillers too often can quietly make things worse. With over 200

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22:07

Why Do We Need Iron

So That"s Why ·

2026/07/30

Iron is the most common nutritional deficiency on the planet, and most of us barely think about it. In this episode, Jen, Chris and Matt unpack why iron quietly runs every cell in your body, why so many of us are running short, and why the tiredness it causes is the kind no amount of coffee will fix.Around a quarter of the world is anaemic, and iron deficiency is behind roughly half of those cases. Yet iron rarely gets the attention of magnesium or vitamin D. The team explains what iron actually

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17:16

Why Does Alcohol Affect People So Differently?

So That"s Why ·

2026/07/23

In any group, one person is merry after two drinks while another seems untouched all evening. So why does alcohol affect people so differently?It turns out to be one of the most individual pieces of biology there is. In this episode, Jen, Chris and Matt unpack why the same few drinks can land completely differently on two people sitting side by side. They follow alcohol through the liver's two-step, single-lane processing system, explain why more than 500 genetic variants are involved before you've

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19:14

Why Does Your Body Need Magnesium and Are You Getting...

So That"s Why ·

2026/07/16

Magnesium drives over 300 biological processes in the body, yet most people don't get enough. And the standard blood test used to check for it often misses the problem entirely.In this episode, Jen, Chris, and Matt unpack why magnesium deficiency is so widespread, why it's so difficult to detect, and what the science actually says about getting levels right through food and supplementation. They cover the sleep connection that fuelled magnesium's viral moment, the stress depletion loop that keeps

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19:48

Why Do We Get Pins and Needles?

So That"s Why ·

2026/07/09

That strange tingling, buzzing sensation when your foot falls asleep is one of the most universal physical experiences there is. But almost everyone has it backwards: pins and needles don't happen while something is going wrong. They happen when things are being corrected.In this episode, Jen, Chris, and Matt unpack exactly what's happening at the nerve level when pins and needles strike. They cover why nerves fire chaotically under compression, why the tingling only begins once pressure is

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13:27

Why Do We Feel Tired After Eating?

So That"s Why ·

2026/07/02

Your lunch is quietly manufacturing sleep hormone — and that is only half of what is happening. In this episode, Jen, Chris, and Jamie unpack the real biology behind post-meal tiredness, from the brain neurons that food literally switches off to the circadian dip that amplifies everything.Episode SummaryThe post-lunch slump has a proper name — postprandial somnolence — and a surprisingly fascinating set of causes. Research shows it affects the majority of people to some degree, with measurable drops

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16:41

Why Do We Yawn and Why Is It So Contagious?

So That"s Why ·

2026/06/25

Yawning has nothing to do with oxygen. It's your brain's built-in cooling system, and the contagious version taps into the same neural circuitry as empathy.In this episode, Jen, Chris, and Matt unpack the surprisingly complex science behind one of the most universal human experiences. They dismantle the oxygen myth with the research that disproved it, explain the brain temperature regulation theory and how it works mechanically, explore why contagious yawning is observed across species from

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13:00

Why Do Wednesdays Feel Harder Than Mondays?

So That"s Why ·

2026/06/18

Everyone complains about Mondays. Turns out we've been blaming the wrong day entirely.Researchers who analysed 2.4 million social media posts and blogs found that Monday is actually the second happiest day of the week. Wednesday scored lowest for happiness — consistently. In this episode, Jen, Chris, and Matt explore why the midweek slump is real, what the science tells us about the likely causes, and what you can actually do with that information.Timestamps00:00 — Introduction 01:00 — The research

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20:57

Why Do Adults Still Get Acne?

So That"s Why ·

2026/06/11

Most people assume acne ends with their teenage years. The science says otherwise — and the reason it keeps coming back has nothing to do with dirty skin.In this episode, Jen, Chris, and Matt unpack the four biological processes behind every breakout and explain why they don't simply stop at the end of puberty. They cover the adult-specific triggers — hormonal shifts, cortisol, and diet — and bust two of the most persistent myths in skincare: that pores open and close, and that acne means your skin

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16:02

Why Do We Need Omega-3 and Are You Getting Enough?

So That"s Why ·

2026/06/04

Your body cannot manufacture Omega-3. And yet roughly 40% of the brain's grey matter is built from it — making it one of the most important nutrients most of us consistently underestimate.In this episode, Jen, Chris, and Jamie unpack why Omega-3 is so much more than a vague health recommendation. They cover the critical difference between ALA and the active forms EPA and DHA, why plant sources alone aren't enough, and what a significant body of large scale research says about the effects on heart

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11:57

Why Does Hair Turn Grey?

So That"s Why ·

2026/05/28

Hair doesn't turn grey — every strand grows out of the follicle completely colourless. So when greying happens, what's actually failing is the system that was adding colour all along.In this episode, Jen, Chris, and Jamie unpack the biology of grey hair: the specialised cells that inject pigment into each strand as it grows, why those cells eventually stop working, and what a landmark study published in Nature revealed about stem cells getting physically stuck in the wrong part of the follicle. They

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16:40

Why Does Blue Light Affect Sleep?

So That"s Why ·

2026/05/21

We all know we shouldn't scroll before bed — but has anyone actually explained why blue light disrupts sleep?In this episode, Jen, Chris, and Matt unpack the biology behind one of modern life's most common habits. Specialised cells in your retina contain a protein called melanopsin that is maximally sensitive to blue light wavelengths — the same wavelengths emitted by our screens. When those cells fire, they signal your brain's master clock that it's daytime, suppressing melatonin and delaying your

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