Sunday Morning for Sunday 12 September 2021

8:10 Study shows Kiwis are more mindful about consumption 

The Consumer Lifestyles Report (which has been running since 1979) was released from the University of Otago Business School this week. The report's aim is to provide insights into the lifestyles, consumption patterns and choices, and behavioural trends of New Zealanders. There is also a particular focus on life after last year's lockdown: according to the data, 57% of consumers report being more mindful about what they consume since lockdown last year, 43% say they have reduced their consumer spending, more of them shop locally (52%) and 42% have shopped online more. Lead study author Professor Leah Watkins joins the show to discuss the report's findings. 

8:23 How often you should exercise to stay in shape -- according to science 

The recent Tokyo Olympic Games was the culmination of years of training as much as twice daily for hundreds of world-class athletes. But how often should ordinary, even reluctant, exercisers be working out to get in shape? Thankfully, science has an answer to this question. Dr Matthew Wright is a lecturer in Biomechanics and Strength and Conditioning at Teeside University and a sports scientist with the British Association of Sports and Exercise Sciences. He explains why quality is more important than quantity when it comes to staying in shape. 

8:39 The Weekend Panel with Richard Harman and Rae Lamb 

Among other topics this morning, our Weekend panellists will be discussing the 20-year anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, vaccine passports and what they'll mean socially, the Covid-19 risks in hospitals, and the questions of whether houses can be built more cheaply.

9:06 Mediawatch

Mediawatch asks if the media can report properly - and safely - from Afghanistan now the Taliban has taken over? Also - how changes at one radio station fired up fans of an outgoing veteran.

9:37 Calling Home: Colin Macrae in Panama 

Titirangi native Colin Macrae used to make his living as a chief engineer on super yachts. You might have seen him before if you've seen the Below Deck Sailing Yacht television series. However, Colin gave it all away at the start of 2018 when he bought a Lagoon 450 catamaran in the British Virgin Islands that had been badly damaged during Hurricane Irma. Colin and his friends have been working on the boat in Panama -- where they all contracted Covid-19 recently -- and they are about to set sail on the long voyage back to New Zealand. He's Calling Home this morning. 

10:04 Kimbra on the No 1 smash hit she never saw coming  

It's been 10 years since Kiwi musician Kimbra hit the top of the New Zealand music charts -- and those of myriad other countries around the world -- as vocalist on Australian singer/songwriter Gotye's smash hit Somebody That I Used To Know. The music video is sitting at over 1.7 billion views on YouTube and the song is one of the best-selling digital singles of all time. Kimbra joins the show from her base in upstate New York to look back on that incredible moment in time and the indelible impact it had on her own career. 

10:25 The psychologist who predicted how the pandemic would play out 

Clinical psychologist and health anxiety expert Dr Steven Taylor's latest book, The Psychology of Pandemics, is a groundbreaking treatise on the subject, but it was a book that many thought would struggle to find a market when it was published a few months before Covid-19 arrived. However, people are certainly reading it now. Dr Taylor, a professor and clinical psychologist at the University of British Columbia, made a number of predictions about the pandemic we are now living through - and almost all of them have been accurate. He and his colleagues have been running research since early 2020 trying to better understand the psychology specific to Covid, and have largely found that not much has changed when it comes to pandemics. 

10:45 My Current Song: Sam V - Wired 

Our guest today for My Current Song is Auckland-based singer/songwriter Sam V. He's been releasing music and making videos for a cool decade, and has a new one that's soared online in the teeth of a level 4 lockdown. Sam joins the show to talk about his new single 'Wired' and the law degree that he'll get back to... one day. 

11:05 How our smartphones are turning us into dopamine junkies 

World-leading addiction expert Professor Anna Lembke says our smartphones are turning us into dopamine addicts. As chief of Stanford University's dual diagnosis addiction clinic, Lembke has treated patients addicted to everything from heroin to water (yes, you read right), and she refers to the smartphone as the "modern-day hypodermic needle". Her new book, Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence examines how we can beat our digital dependencies, with its central thesis attempting to find out why with more abundance than ever, we remain less happy than we were in the past.  

11:37 Music trumps TV and baking for feel-good lockdown moments

Have you listened to more music during lockdown? A recent study in Australia asked participants to rank lockdown activities in terms of most to least effective at making them "feel better." Not surprisingly, watching television and films was the most popular activity, but listening to music was ranked as the No 1 activity at making people feel better, followed by singing and dancing. TV watching featured way down the list, at 18 out of 27. Study co-author Dr Frederic Kiernan researches the relationship between music, creativity, emotion and wellbeing from historical, psychological and sociological perspectives. He joins the show to look at the study's results.