Health Reality Check
Health Reality Check is a podcast by the World Health Organization's Regional Office for Europe, hosted by family doctor Dr Margarida Santos. Each episode brings together health experts to explore the evidence behind major health questions and claims. Topics range from nutrition and cancer to digital health and health inequalities. The show aims to provide clear, evidence-based answers to complex health issues and help listeners make informed decisions.
Episoder
Do you really need a gym to be healthy? The truth about physical activity
Do you really need 10,000 steps a day? Is lifting weights better than cardio? And do you need expensive gym memberships, supplements and fitness trackers to stay healthy?In this episode of Health Reality Check, family doctor Dr Margarida Santos speaks with Dr Mike Banna, a UK-based GP and health content creator who challenges misleading fitness advice online.Drawing on his own journey from a seden
Is our phone the most dangerous drug we use every day?
Social media can connect us, inform us and entertain us. But it can also keep us scrolling, expose us to misinformation and shape how we see ourselves and the world around us. So how do we build a healthier relationship with our digital lives?In this episode of Health Reality Check, host Dr Margarida Santos speaks with Professor Sander van der Linden, a social psychologist and leading expert on mi
Who Really Keeps Us Healthy?
Is staying healthy simply a matter of making the right choices? Or are those choices shaped long before we make them? In this episode of Health Reality Check, host Dr Margarida Santos sits down with Gundo Weiler, former Director of Prevention and Health Promotion at WHO/Europe, and Allison Ekberg, Technical Officer for Noncommunicable Diseases at WHO/Europe, to unpack what prevention really means.
Who can we trust for health information?
Millions of people get health information from social media. But how do you tell credible information from viral misinformation? Why do myths spread so quickly online? And what makes people trust one voice over another?In this episode of Health Reality Check, host Dr Margarida Santos sits down with Dr Mike Varshavski, family physician and one of the world's most-followed health creators, for
What does the World Health Organization actually do?
Many people know WHO from global emergencies like COVID-19. But what does the World Health Organization actually do the rest of the time? How does WHO develop health recommendations ? Does WHO tell countries what to do? And why does trust matter more than ever?In this special launch episode of Health Reality Check, host Dr Margarida Santos sits down with Dr Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Eu
