Episode Description: This week, Arielle and Karissa explore two powerful shifts in health and wellness. First, they dive into YCT-529, a promising hormone-free male birth control pill that may finally bring more balance to reproductive responsibility. Then, they share a simple but impactful habit: a one-minute daily wellness check-in designed to increase self-awareness, reduce burnout, and help you focus with kindness. The Optimist Daily is a project of the World Business Academy. Donate link: https://www.optimistdaily.com/donate-to-support-the-optimist-daily/?gift=Y%20http:// Transcript: Theme music Arielle Hello and welcome to The Optimist Daily’s Weekly Round-up. I’m Arielle. Karissa And I’m Karissa, and we’re working hard to put solutions in view and optimism in movement. Arielle Hello! We are back with yet another episode of our pod to share the solutions from the Optimist Daily this week. And in case you can’t get enough of us, we definitely recommend that you sign up for our free daily newsletter. That way, you can get all of the solutions that we don’t get to talk about on the pod right into your inbox. Karissa You can also follow us on socials if that’s how you prefer to get our news. We are @OptimistDaily on just about everything, except on X, where we are @OdeToOptimism. So definitely give us a follow if you want your solutions there. Arielle We’d also like to send out a really big thank you to all of our Emissaries—people who sign up on our website to support us financially. These are people who donate either just once or monthly or annually—however many times they like. So a huge thank you to you guys. Karissa Yeah, we’re a small team, and we need your support. But there are definitely non-financial ways to support the mission of the Optimist Daily. You can share this podcast or the newsletter with a friend, share a social post—anything to get this positive, optimistic news out there and make a difference. So we really appreciate it. Arielle Well Karissa, how are you doing this week? Karissa I am doing well for the most part. Summer is definitely summering, which is good and bad because it’s been really hot, but it’s been nice just to have a little bit of time to decompress. How about you? Arielle I’m not gonna lie. I’m a little bit under the weather. I’m trying my best to not sound too sick and sniffly on the pod, but excuse me if I sound a bit congested. Karissa I feel like there hasn’t been much sickness in a while because it has been warm, so yeah. Arielle Yeah, I’m actually grateful that it’s been so long since I’ve been sick. I’m going to take this and run with it. Hopefully I get better soon. I’ve just been making myself chicken noodle soup and chugging ginger lemon honey tea, so yeah, fingers crossed. Karissa Yeah. Hope the healing goes smoothly. Arielle Thank you. Karissa But it kind of sounds like we’re both maybe in a little bit of a brain fog lately. My brain fog is not from being sick, but just like I said, it’s been hot and it’s summer and… that brings me to my “I’m an optimist, but…” Arielle Yeah, go for it. Karissa I’m an optimist, but I am not too optimistic about my level of focus lately. I try to give myself a little bit of a pass because it is summer, and I think summer is a good time to kind of step back a little bit and enjoy it, but I just feel like it’s gotten kind of bad. Last week, there was a day I was working and I just feel like I wasn’t even really working—I was just rotting away on my phone. I did get my work done, but it took a lot longer than it needed to. Arielle Yeah. Karissa I just feel like I haven’t been able to focus lately. So that’s why when I saw my solution for the week, I was pretty excited. I’ll get into that later. But before I jump into my solution, I want to hear if there’s anything you’re “an optimist, but…” about this week. Arielle Yes. Well, before we get started, I want to give a quick heads-up that my “I’m an optimist, but…” leads me into my solution, and it will touch on topics related to contraception and sexual health and the existence of sex in general. The discussion isn’t graphic at all, but just in case you prefer to skip that kind of content, feel free to jump ahead a few minutes to Karissa’s solution. With that said, I’m an optimist, but lately it’s dawned on me that because I’ve been using hormonal birth control for over a decade now, I’m not truly in touch or aware of who I am without the potential side effects the pill has on me. I don’t know if you can relate, Karissa, but I know a lot of my friends have been choosing to stop taking birth control. After a few months of adjusting, they tell me there’s a certain level of self-knowledge about their cycles and their womanhood and their bodies that they never would have known had they continued taking the pill. I feel like I kind of want to experience this as well, but my partner and I definitely don’t want to get pregnant, and it feels too risky to stop birth control altogether. Do you have any feelings about this, Karissa? Karissa Yeah, I mean, I feel like I’m kind of in the exact same boat as you because I’ve been on the birth control pill for over a decade now too. And I have the same feelings like—do I really know who I am without the pill? I’ve been on the exact same brand of the pill, and I remember when I first started, I was also starting college. Arielle Yes. Karissa And I remember being so depressed that year. I don’t know if part of that was amplified by being on hormonal birth control, because that is one of the side effects. Probably the combination of everything going on and new changes and stuff. But we kind of talked last week about the societal tax of being a woman. It just sucks that we have to be the ones that deal with birth control in order to prevent pregnancies. Arielle Yeah, I totally agree. So here’s my big question: why has male birth control been stuck in the condoms-or-the-snip era for decades now? Karissa Yeah, I mean literally that is the big question. Meanwhile, women have had pills, implants, IUDs, shots—the whole pharmacy aisle—and it’s felt pretty one-sided to prevent pregnancies. Arielle Yeah. Even with the non-hormonal ways that you can track your cycle, it’s still all on women to manage that. Karissa Totally. Arielle But the good news is that maybe that won’t be the case for much longer. That brings me to the title of the article I’m talking about today: First hormone-free male birth control pill shown safe in early trial. The new male birth control pill in question is called YCT-529. Karissa Oh, so it’s also hormone-free? That’s a pretty big deal. I guess we’re talking about fewer side effects. Arielle That’s the hope. Instead of tinkering with testosterone or progestin, this pill targets something totally different. It blocks a vitamin A metabolite from attaching to receptors in the testes. Karissa Oh, okay. So it stops sperm production at the source. Arielle Exactly—without touching hormones that affect mood, libido, or sexual function. Karissa And is it reversible? Arielle Yep. You take it, sperm production pauses. You stop, fertility gradually comes back. But this first trial wasn’t necessarily to prove it works as birth control yet—it was just about safety and how the body processes the drug. Karissa Okay. So who signed up for this trial? Arielle Sixteen healthy men aged 32 to 59. And here’s the clever part—they’d all had vasectomies, so even if something unexpected happened, there was zero risk of an accidental pregnancy. Karissa Ah, built-in safeguard. That’s pretty clever. Arielle Mm-hmm. They split the participants into groups—smaller doses for some, larger doses for others—and a few tested what happens if you take the pill after a high-fat breakfast. Karissa And what were the results of that? Arielle The pill was well tolerated, no side effects linked to the drug. Nadja Mannowetz, the Chief Science Officer at YourChoice Therapeutics, said they saw good and quick bioavailability. Blood levels dropped by half in two to three days, which means this could become a once-a-day pill. Karissa Okay, so the safety is looking good. And what about actually lowering sperm count, since that’s important? Arielle Yeah, that’s what they’re testing now in efficacy trials. Mannowetz thinks the final dose will probably be closer to the higher end they tested—about 180 milligrams. Karissa I see. And are there other players in this race? Arielle Oh yeah. There’s NES/T—that’s N-E-S forward-slash T. It’s a daily gel with testosterone and progestin that you rub on your shoulders and arms. And then there’s ADAM, a non-hormonal hydrogel implant that temporarily blocks the vas deferens, like a reversible vasectomy. Karissa Oh, okay. Well, good to see there will probably be some options. I feel like if any of these actually do end up hitting the market, there’s going to be a lot of interest. Arielle The surveys agree. In 2023, 75 percent of more than 2,000 men in the U.S. and Canada said they’d be open to trying new male birth control. And a 2019 study found nearly half of sexually active men aged 18 to 49—not trying to conceive—said they’d be very interested. Karissa Well, that’s huge. Arielle Stephanie Page, an endocrinologist at the University of Washington, put it perfectly: “Men are very eager to have more reproductive agency and to participate in contraception.” Karissa Yeah, that’s great news. Even if one of these works out, it could completely shift how responsibility is shared. Arielle Exactly. The goal is a future where contraception is truly a partnership—not something one side carries alone. And I know my partner would definitely be interested. (laughs) Karissa Mine too! Arielle If you want to look more into this study, it was published in the journal Communications Medicine and the title is Safety and pharmacokinetics of the non-hormonal male contraceptive YCT-529. Karissa Awesome. Yeah, this is great. And any form of birth control isn’t 100 percent—it’s close—but I think having that double protection will be even better for people looking to prevent pregnancy at the moment or always. Arielle Yeah. And it’s a lot less… less of a commitment than getting the snip. Karissa Yeah, exactly. Arielle All right. Well, I’m curious to see how your lack of focus will connect to your solution today, Karissa. Karissa So lately I’ve been really trying to reinforce the theme in my life of staying consistent and focused on my goals, and I was taking a look at my vision board for the year earlier today that just hangs over my desk. And there’s so much about like focus and consistency on there. So I know that that’s something I wanted to work on a lot this year and just like in yoga lately too, because we often set intentions during our practice where we think of a word or a mantra, I just find myself choosing presence and focus a lot. So that’s why I was really pleased to see this interesting solution that is titled How to build a one-minute daily health check-in that actually sticks. Because I mean, life often runs at full speed, and our own well-being can just get lost in the shuffle. So a daily check-in, even one that just takes a minute, it creates a pause to reconnect with yourself. You can kind of think of it as a daily reset button that will help you notice how you feel. Recognize early signs of stress and make small adjustments before burnout sets in. Arielle Yeah. Well, I think your plight is really relatable. I know that I can definitely relate. And this solution honestly sounds a lot more doable than trying to completely overhaul your wellness routine. Karissa A check-in is way less intimidating than larger wellness routines. It doesn’t require creating a perfect schedule or enough mental energy to dive deep. Arielle Right. And sometimes we can’t control the fact that we didn’t get enough sleep, for instance, or have unexpected things to deal with during the day. Karissa Yeah, exactly. So a minute check-in is simply a mindful moment that encourages awareness and small shifts in behavior. And we do all have a spare minute during the day. Arielle Yeah, definitely. What should we do during these quick check-ins to really make the most of one minute? Karissa The first step to building any habit is understanding why it matters. Do you want to feel more balanced, to manage energy better, or simply check in on your mental state? Defining your personal reasons makes the habit meaningful rather than just another goal. So you can try to jot down one or two statements that capture why this actually matters to you and this will keep your practice anchored when life gets busy. Arielle Yeah, I love this. Intention is certainly key in anything we do. But life does get hectic. So are there any suggestions on the best time of day one can do this check-in? Karissa That brings me to Step 2, which is to pick an actual time slot. A habit is easier to maintain when it fits into your daily rhythm, so choose a time you already pause, like after brushing your teeth, while your coffee is brewing, or before bed. And I was even thinking maybe instead of scrolling on my phone while maybe I’m sitting on the toilet for a long time, I could even do this practice too. So there’s a lot of windows of opportunity for this. Arielle Yeah, I’m also thinking of a lot of the opportunities I have during the day where I can incorporate this practice. Maybe on a walk with my dog, for instance, or, you know, organizing or folding laundry. Karissa Yeah, exactly. Those are great ideas. But overall consistency is key. So linking the habit to an existing routine makes it easier to remember, and those are definitely things you’re probably doing every day. Step 3 of this little check-in is to create your check-in template because your one-minute practice should be straightforward. So you can decide what you want to reflect on each time. Some examples you can include are: How does my body feel right now? Are there any areas of tension or discomfort? What is my energy level? Is it high or low or somewhere in between? How am I feeling emotionally? What does my body need—hydration, food, rest, or movement? You can choose a few prompts that feel most relevant to you and stick with them to create consistency, which is an overarching theme here. And Step 4 of this is to choose your style because there’s no single right way to do this. You can speak your thoughts aloud, type a quick note, or use a simple checklist too instead of it all just being in your head. Arielle Ah, I didn’t even consider that we could just write this out or make a checklist, but I like these ideas because I’m such a to-do list girl. Karissa Me too. Some people even prefer visual cues like emojis to track mood or energy levels, so that’s also a great idea. But the best format, of course, is one that you can sustain. And I guess that brings me to Step 5, which is to keep it simple because the magic of this habit lies in how short and accessible it is. It’s not really about solving every problem or diving into deep reflection. One minute of honest awareness is just enough. Arielle Yeah, I guess it’s also a great focusing practice as well. Because you just want to focus on that one thing, which is checking in with yourself. Karissa Yes, absolutely. And that’s why I need to do this—to practice focus. And on days when you have more time, you could expand the practice if you wanted, as long as you don’t let the longer sessions become a pressure. Step 6 here is to use it as a guide for your day. So a quick check-in is more than just self-awareness. It’s a tool for decision-making. I mean, if you notice you’re exhausted, you might swap a high-energy workout for a gentle stretch instead. And if stress is building, a few deep breaths or a short walk might help. Step 7 is to track your effort and note your answers. Instead of analyzing every response, focus on the act of showing up. You can mark a calendar or use a habit tracker to log your one-minute check-ins, and that can build momentum and a sense of accomplishment. So I really like that tip. And Step 8 is to actually personalize your practice. By naming your practice, you can make it feel like your own. So whether you call it a pause minute or a mood check, a personal touch really helps it stick. And Step 9 is to allow it to evolve because some days your check-in will feel insightful and other days it might just feel repetitive. But that’s part of the process. Arielle Yeah. And that’s also just what consistency is. Sometimes it’s boring. Karissa Yeah, totally. And you can adapt the questions or timing as your needs change. The goal is simply to keep listening to yourself on a consistent basis. And that brings me to the 10th and final step: Practice this practice with kindness, because a check-in is not a performance or a test. If you discover you’re tired or tense, it’s an opportunity to care for yourself and not judge yourself. You should treat it as you would a conversation with a good friend—honest, curious, and kind. Arielle That’s a great reminder. Kindness to ourselves is so important and so overlooked. Well, Karissa, I certainly love these pointers and I am definitely going to try to incorporate this practice into my daily routine. Karissa Yeah, me too. I mean, a one-minute check-in might seem small, but over time it builds a powerful sense of self-awareness and balance. And by pausing each day to ask how you feel and what you need, you really create this great habit of listening and responding with care—to yourself and to others, I would say too. Arielle It’s a simple yet transformative way to show up for your well-being. Thanks for sharing the solution, Karissa. Karissa Yeah, absolutely. I really liked the solution and I really loved the other solutions we shared on the Optimist Daily this week as well. Arielle Yes, and they include Helsinki marks a year without traffic deaths, thanks to slower speeds and smarter streets, Monotasking is the mental reset your brain has been waiting for (and also kind of related to focus), Could flossing be the future of flu shots?, and 7 creative ways to repurpose your old sleeping bag before tossing it. What else do we have, Karissa? Karissa New York becomes first state to mandate all-electric new buildings, Just looking at someone sick may prime your immune system, study finds—I wonder if people’s immunity is being boosted by looking at you, Arielle (laughs) or not—but yeah, that’s a really interesting one so I’d recommend checking out that cool study. We also had Drones reveal record-breaking turtle nesting site in the Amazon and Why spending time in nature boosts brain health, according to a neuroscientist. So a lot of really interesting solutions this week on the Optimist Daily, so go check them out. Arielle All right. Well, thank you so much, Karissa, for sharing your time and energy with me. We will be back next week with more solutions—and hopefully I’ll be better by then. In the meantime, I wish all of our listeners and readers a wonderful weekend. And you too, Karissa. Karissa Yes, and I—and I’m sure everyone else—wish you a speedy recovery. Looking forward to being back with more solutions next week. Arielle Bye! KarissaThe post Podcast Transcript August 15, 2025— Hormone-free male birth control + one-minute wellness check-ins first appeared on The Optimist Daily: Making Solutions the News.