This is the Guardian. writer and broadcaster and I spend way too much time online. But now those years of

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listen wherever you get your podcast.

Bye! What if the next time that you went to go and see your doctor, alongside a packet of pills, they prescribed you a dance lesson?

While you might be slightly taken aback or even delighted, this isn't a new idea.

The concept of social prescribing where health professionals can refer their patients to a range of

non-medical, local services to support their health and well-being, has been around for decades.

But now it's really beginning to gain some traction. A new

trial in parts of England will be exploring whether sports, arts and outdoor

activities like roller skating or gardening

could help young people aged 11 to 18 with their mental health

while they remain on NHS waiting lists for formal treatment.

It's a really enticing idea, but is there enough evidence

to prescribe surfing for anxiety?

From the Guardian, I'm Madeline Finley and this is Science Weekly. Susan Smith, you're a GP and a professor of general practice at Trinity College Dublin,

and along with colleagues you recently published a paper looking at the evidence for

social prescribing something that's becoming increasingly common for

GPs to recommend to their patients but before we get into that I'd really like to understand more about what

...