What's Up Docs? podcast | Listen online for free

104 episodes

Daily Dose: Backs
22/01/2026 | 5 mins.
In this Daily Dose, Chris and Xand return to their episode on backs with Dr Mindy Cairns, Specialist Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist and Associate Professor at the University of Hertfordshire. Mindy offered some excellent insight into fear avoidance when it comes to back pain, and why we perhaps don’t need to be a fearful as we may think.
Daily Doses of expert wisdom from previous episodes will be dropping each weekday throughout January (except Tuesdays). You'll find them in the What’s Up Docs? feed on BBC Sounds, alongside all the main episodes of the podcast.
Daily Dose: Protein
21/01/2026 | 4 mins.
In this Daily Dose, Chris and Xand are return to their episode on protein with Nita Forouhi, Professor of Population Health and Nutrition at the University of Cambridge. Nita had a very clear message - get your protein from wholefoods, rather than supplements.
Daily Doses of expert wisdom from previous episodes will be dropping each weekday throughout January (except Tuesdays). You'll find them in the What’s Up Docs? feed on BBC Sounds, alongside all the main episodes of the podcast.
Doctors' Notes: Exercise
20/01/2026 | 21 mins.
Chris and Xand continue their conversation about exercise with Dr Jo Blodgett, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health at University College in London. She’s a life-course epidemiologist whose work focuses on how movement across the whole 24-hour day shapes population health.
They talk to Jo about her own sporting background as a semi-professional national league footballer, the impact of the menstrual cycle on sporting performance and the best way to approach exercise as we age, particularly for women approaching or experiencing the menopause.
If you’d like to share your thoughts on this or any other topic covered on the podcast, you email us at [email protected] or Whatsapp on 08000 665 123.
Presenters: Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken
Guest: Dr Jo Blodgett
Researcher: Samara Linton
Producer: Faye Lyons White
Social Media Producer: Leon Gower
Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar
Editor: Jo Rowntree
Tech Lead: Reuben Huxtable
Digital Lead: Richard Berry
Composer: Phoebe McFarlane
Sound Design: Melvin Rickarby
At the BBC:
Assistant Commissioner: Greg Smith
Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4.
How much exercise should you do?
20/01/2026 | 28 mins.
Welcome to What’s Up Docs?, the podcast where doctors and identical twins Chris and Xand van Tulleken cut through the confusion around every aspect of our health and wellbeing.
In this episode, Chris and Xand explore the role and impact of exercise on our bodies and mood. Is going to the gym three times a week the best way of keeping fit? Or should you spread out your activity in shorter bursts throughout the day? They also discover which one of the brothers is ‘an active couch potato’ and why you can’t out run a bad diet.
Joining them to discuss this is Dr Jo Blodgett, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Health at University College London. She’s a life-course epidemiologist whose work focuses on how movement across the whole 24-hour day shapes population health.
If you want to get in touch, you can email us at [email protected] or WhatsApp us on 08000 665 123.
Presenters: Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken
Guest: Dr Jo Blodgett
Researcher: Samara Linton
Producer: Faye Lyons White
Social Media Producer: Leon Gower
Executive Producer: Rami Tzabar
Editor: Jo Rowntree
Tech Lead: Reuben Huxtable
Digital Lead: Richard Berry
Composer: Phoebe McFarlane
Sound Design: Melvin Rickarby
At the BBC:
Assistant Commissioner: Greg Smith
Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts
A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4
Daily Dose: Nails
19/01/2026 | 4 mins.
In this Daily Dose, Chris and Xand return to their episode on nails with Dr Yusur Al-Nuaimi, Consultant Dermatologist at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital and Clinical Lead for the British Hair and Nail Society. Yusur highlighted how our nails have developed to optimize human function and are deeply rooted without our evolutionary history.
Daily Doses of expert wisdom from previous episodes will be dropping each weekday throughout January (except Tuesdays). You'll find them in the What’s Up Docs? feed on BBC Sounds, alongside all the main episodes of the podcast.

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About What's Up Docs?

In this BBC Radio 4 podcast, Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken are on a mission to help us take better care of ourselves.Although they are identical twins, Chris and Xand are very different and they never stop thinking and arguing about science and health. They want to lead healthy, happy lives and as doctors, they want this for everyone. Yet they tussle over how best to get there.When it comes to looking after our own health, it can be confusing. Medicine and science produce amazing new treatments and diagnostics every day and we are bombarded with so many headlines and pieces of advice; but how are we supposed to know what's really best for us and then successfully apply it to our lives?Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken embrace this challenge; even as they marvel at the scientific breakthroughs, they grapple with the competing claims about health, wellbeing and how to live.From understanding testosterone therapies to microplastics in our diets, and the concept of 'hangriness' to the power of saying no - this podcast deals with the health stresses we all face every day, while taking on board how the decisions by corporations and governments affect all our health.Each episode, Chris and Xand are joined by an expert guest to examine the latest research, psychological insights, and data, to help listeners navigate the overwhelming amount of information and advice out there. They talk about the trials and tribulations in their own lives in their characteristically witty way - each teasing the other as they search for solutions. Xand has trouble sleeping , Chris has noisy knees, one of them has got an embarrassing itch. They have different ways of looking at things and find it really helpful to get the other one's point of view. These doctors are trying their best and encouraging listeners to do the same.Email: [email protected] Whatsapp: 08000 665123A Loftus Media production for BBC Radio 4.

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