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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

In the first class in our course on how to enjoy cooking more, host Cristina Quinn teams up with the Washington Post food team to uncover tips for identifying your kitchen personality. Food and dining editor Joe Yonan, food writer and recipe developer Aaron Hutcherson and recipes editor Becky Krystal identify how to apply personality characteristics — like a tendency to tinker or an adherence to rules — to your cooking experience. The process can make preparing a meal more personalized and therefore more pleasurable. Find more than 10,000 recipes – sortable by cuisine, course and time it takes to cook – in The Post’s recipe finder. Try one of Cristina’s favorites, Simple Butter Chicken. Subscribe to The Washington Post for just 50 cents per week for your first year. (Sale ends July 10). Connect your subscription in Apple Podcasts.

In the second class of our course about ways to enjoy the daily task of preparing meals, we make the case for revisiting what you know. Washington Post food and dining editor Joe Yonan, along with recipes editor Becky Krystal and food writer Aaron Hutcherson, explain how building a repertoire can be a useful way to take the drudgery out of cooking, put it on a bit of autopilot and build up your kitchen confidence. Host Cristina Quinn helps listeners identify recipes that resonate, master them through practice and level up by making small tweaks and enhancements that can be unique to the chef. Find more than 10,000 recipes – sortable by cuisine, course and the time it takes to cook – in The Washington Post’s recipe finder. Try one of Cristina’s favorite recipes, Mushroom and Black Bean Burgers With Balsamic-Glazed Onions.Subscribe to The Washington Post for just 50 cents per week for your first year. (Sale ends July 10). Connect your subscription in Apple Podcasts.

In the third class in our course on how to enjoy cooking more, we focus on reframing the way we think about the task. Food writer and finalist on “Food Network Star,” Mary Beth Albright, offers advice on how to understand cooking as less of an item on your to-do list and more of an act for you that can nourish your well-being in ways that are worth recognizing. Mary Beth lays out ways that the process of cooking has benefits for our mental and emotional health through meditative tasks, appreciating rituals, and having a little fun by naming the things you cook.For more on the relationship between food, cooking and mental health, read Mary Beth’s book, “Eat and Flourish.” Find more than 10,000 recipes – sortable by cuisine, course and time it takes to cook – in The Washington Post’s recipe finder. Try one of Cristina’s favorite recipes, Smothered Chicken.Subscribe to The Washington Post and connect your subscription in Apple Podcasts..

In the last class in our course on how to enjoy cooking more, we bring you everything and the kitchen sink. From reliable shortcuts and suggestions for the most essential pantry staples, this class has all the scraps and tasty morsels that could have been left on the cutting-room floor but are too good to miss. For more on the relationship between food, cooking and mental health, read Mary Beth Albright’s book “Eat and Flourish.” Find more than 10,000 recipes – sortable by cuisine, course and time it takes to cook – in The Washington Post’s recipe finder. Try one of Cristina’s favorite recipes, Quinoa and Roasted Vegetable Bake With Gruyere.Subscribe to The Washington Post and connect your subscription in Apple Podcasts.