podcast
CNN 5 Good Things
How about a break — for your ears? At CNN, we know the news can be a lot to take in. So each week, 5 Good Things offers you a respite from the heavy headlines and intense news cycle. Treat yourself to something fun and uplifting every Saturday as we share the bright side of life from all over the globe.
Want Better Sleep? Stop Trying So Hard
CNN 5 Good Things
Nov 22, 2025
This student-led choir grew out of a pro-democracy movement in Tunisia. If your mind races the night before a big moment, try these tips from David Beckham’s sleep coach. These newlyweds from Illinois found love in a YMCA pool. A partnership showed up in a warm way for the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. Plus, everyone’s favorite Thanksgiving story will hit a heartwarming milestone.
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Host/Producer: Krista Bo Polanco
Producer: Eryn Mathewson
Showrunner: Faiz Jamil
Senior Producer: Felicia Patinkin
Editorial Support: McKenna Ewen
Episode Transcript
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:00
Hey there, I'm Krista Bo Polanco and this is CNN 5 Good Things. If your mind races the night before something important and you can't fall asleep, a recovery coach for elite athletes says it's normal and has advice that might surprise you. Then we head to one of the poorest communities in the US.
Monica Good Eagle
00:00:18
Our kids are happy with the small stuff. The littlest things make our kids happy, and that makes me happy.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:24
Well, this time a partnership showed up in a big way for this reservation ahead of winter. Plus, a love story that didn't just make a splash, it started with one, and the funny mistake that sparked a heartwarming holiday ritual.
Wanda Dench
00:00:37
He's part of our family.
Jamal Hinton
00:00:38
Yeah, I think Wanda's stuck with me and she doesn't know it.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:42
When we come back, a youth choir born from a country's uprising just made the journey they've been dreaming of.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:01:04
'On a chilly November afternoon in New York City, a choir from more than 4,000 miles away filled Washington Square Park with songs born out of a revolution. These are the alumni of Tunisia 88. It's a student-led music movement that grew a few years after the country's pro-democracy Arab Spring uprising of the early 2010s.
Kimball Gallagher
00:01:30
There was a huge revival of civil society and many new initiatives, lots of hope, lots of space to imagine the future. We decided to try to revive at least the music clubs and help youth find their voice, build community, and lead positive change wherever they are.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:01:52
'Enter Kimball Gallagher. He's a Juilliard-trained concert pianist who performed in iconic venues like New York's Carnegie Hall and on all seven continents. He founded a nonprofit called 88 International, which helps create and nurture after-school music and leadership programs in six countries in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. And he says Tunisia 88 is their flagship program.
Kimball Gallagher
00:02:13
We did create a music club in all 593 public high schools of Tunisia and maybe around 7,000 students approximately have been through this program. It brings some light out in people and it's really about the confidence that the students develop and the community and giving some root and solidity to a sense of hope as well.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:02:38
26 alumni choir members just wrapped their first U.S. Concert tour across seven states, bringing their stories and spirit to American audiences for the first time.
Kimball Gallagher
00:02:47
And I think for them, it's really a dream come true, but it also gives them some kind of solid proof that their voices can matter on a more global stage.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:02:58
They sang songs created from other 88 international programs that are growing in Senegal, Morocco, Myanmar, and The Gambia. But this one is a Tunisia 88 original called, "Not Healed," by alumna Nejiah Abidi. Kimball says the song is about how every wound leaves a scar and how facing those emotions is what carries us towards healing.
Kimball Gallagher
00:03:25
Music is really all about connection and one song, one student can really change a lot of things in somebody's life.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:03:37
We've all had that night, the one before a big moment or a highly anticipated event where you really want and need to fall asleep, but your mind races and you can't. If that's you, Nick Littlehales has some tips. He's an elite sleep coach who's helped some of the world's top athletes, including Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham learn how to rest when it really counts.
Nick Littlehales
00:03:59
When your adrenaline is high, when your stress, worry, anxiety is high you cannot expect your brain to help you go into a sleep state because it's just not ready for this, there's too many things against it so don't try to sleep and people go what do you mean? I said well I coach people how not to sleep.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:04:22
What he means is, instead of obsessing over getting enough sleep the night before, he says what really matters is how you recover in the days leading up to the event, meaning you could potentially bank sleep.
Nick Littlehales
00:04:32
Gathering your recovery in shorter periods more often throughout that particular 48 hours. So you don't stress about the event before the event of trying to get to sleep when you can't.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:04:46
In practice, that means small resets during the day, like a short nap or taking mindful mental breaks. Think of it as charging your internal battery regularly instead of waiting until it's at 1%.
Nick Littlehales
00:04:57
If you have no time to do anything like that and you go, Nick, you're nuts, I can't find 20 minutes, 30 minutes midday, and you say, well, just start thinking about it. Because if you could get one in, in the next seven days, maybe on your day off, and then turn that into two, and before you know where you are, you want one a day. Because what it's done is taken all the pressure off your phase three in the evenings. It's made you create more social life. It's created. More time with the family. You're getting much more from your cycles at night. Less disturbance, more refresh.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:05:33
'And when the night before the big event finally arrives, he says, keep things calm and low stress. Step away from glowing screens, make your room cool, dim, and uncluttered, and if your mind is racing, write down why. Getting worries onto paper can quiet those pre-event jitters.
Nick Littlehales
00:05:48
Once you stop trying to go to sleep, it's amazing that it'll just happen for you. The more you try, the worse it gets.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:05:58
'There's a saying that love is in the air, but for some newlyweds in Maryville, Illinois, it was definitely in the water. CNN affiliate KMOV reports 82-year-old Edward LaRue and 78-year old Marlene Parsons got married last week in the very place they first met, the pool at their local YMCA. The couple met in a water aerobics class, so it's pretty fitting that the aquatics director officiated the ceremony. In fact, the pool wedding was her idea.
Aquatics Director
00:06:27
I went up to them and I said, hey you guys met in the pool, you should get married in the pool and I can marry you because I have a minister license and I didn't think they would take me seriously.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:06:35
The sparks and splashes between Edward and Marlene were undeniable, but they'd both lost longtime spouses a few years earlier. So initially they weren't sure they'd tied the knot again, but it didn't take Edward long to know he wanted to put a ring on it.
Edward LaRue
00:06:49
I took her on my first date December 5th, 23, and I asked her to marry me in like August and she waited till this year to give me an answer.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:06:56
And she said yes again in the pool, in front of friends and a lifeguard safety first. A wet wedding complete with a bouquet toss in their first aquatic dance.
Aquatics Director
00:07:05
I now pronounce you husband and wife.
Monica Good Eagle
00:07:12
My name is Monica Goodiegal. I lived on the reservation my whole life. I'm Oglala Sioux. We've been here for hundreds of years and we're real proud of our culture. We're humble people.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:07:24
On the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, Monica Goodeagle has spent 24 years working with students at Pine Ridge schools.
Monica Good Eagle
00:07:32
So our school, we're a family too, and we really value family. So on the back of all our shirts, it's the Lakota word that says Tiwahe, and Tiwahae means family.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:07:42
Stretching 2.1 million acres of grassy plains, the Pine Ridge Reservation is one of the poorest communities in the country. Resources are limited and everything is spread out.
Monica Good Eagle
00:07:52
Poverty on our reservation and the lack of jobs, our children, our need of like coal.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:08:02
That's where the NAHA, the Native American Heritage Association, comes in.
Erin Hibbs
00:08:06
We provide them with food, clothing, heating assistance, and basic life necessities. We have three tractor trailers at our warehouse and they are on the roads five days a week, dropping off deliveries to the different communities within the reservations that we help.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:08:23
NAWHA's president Aaron Hibb says the nonprofit supports about 75,000 Native Americans annually on reservations in South Dakota and Wyoming, like Pine Ridge.
Monica Good Eagle
00:08:32
Our kids are happy with the small stuff. The littlest things make our kids happy, and that makes me happy.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:08:39
Which is why a few weeks ago, felt different. With winter right around the corner, Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo teamed up with NAHA earlier this month to donate and distribute over 15,000 pieces of warm clothing at the Pine Ridge Elementary School Gym. It's part of Uniqlo's campaign to donate one million pieces of their signature heat tech clothing worldwide in places that need it.
Monica Good Eagle
00:08:59
There was new winter coats, some beautiful winter coats for adults and men, women, children. Everything was brand new. Everything was folded in boxes. It was just so nice. Our kids were so grateful. The temperatures could get down, dip down to minus five, minus seven, and then the snow gets deep. So they'll keep our kids warm this winter, the heat tack. Everything is, they're appreciative of everything.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:09:30
'Up next, an unexpected Thanksgiving text turned into a lifelong friendship, and the story gets better every year. Stick around for the festive feel-good vibes.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:09:41
A mistaken text with a dinner invite meant for somebody else turned into a Thanksgiving tradition. Back in 2016, Wanda Dench from Gilbert, Arizona sent a group text to her grandsons with the Thanksgiving dinner plans. Only one of the numbers wasn't her grandson's.
Wanda Dench
00:09:58
Shortly after that, I get a text saying, who is this? And I said, it's your grandma.
Jamal Hinton
00:10:04
Immediately, I knew it was like the wrong text, so I was like, golly, I'm in a group chat. What do I do? I was like, you know what, I'm gonna respond.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:10:13
'Then 17-year-old Jamal Hinton asked her to send a selfie.
Wanda Dench
00:10:16
And then a second later, I got his picture and say, you ain't my grandma, but can I have a plate though? And I was so embarrassed. I was like, oh my gosh, I sent it to a total stranger. But then, you know, something came over me and it just said, no, no. Just tell them how you feel.
Jamal Hinton
00:10:33
And then she responded, that's what grandmas do, they feed everyone and it had me stumped. I didn't even respond, so I was like, dang, she got me. I thought I was gonna get her.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:10:43
'Jamal posted a screenshot of the text mix-up on X, and the internet went wild over this funny but touching story. Wanda and Jamal met up with each other the day after, just to make sure nothing was sketchy.
Jamal Hinton
00:10:53
And I met her, I just immediately knew that she was a great person. So after that, I was like, hey, I'm not too busy for Thanksgiving. I mean, I already have two, three Thanksgiving's I can go to. What's another one?
Krista Bo Polanco
00:11:04
That first holiday they spent together was a little chaotic, where there were more cameras than relatives. But the real connection happened in the new year, when Wanda and her late husband met up with Jamal and his girlfriend for dinner.
Wanda Dench
00:11:16
We sat and talked at least three hours. We were driving home, my husband and I turned to my husband and said, what just happened? We had the best time ever having conversation. And these two are teenagers. We were in our 50s, late 50s at the time. And it was just no generation gap. It was just the best conversation I've ever had.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:11:36
'And they've met every year since 2016, except for last year. They had to virtually meet up because Wanda was being treated for breast cancer. Now she's cancer-free. So this year, for their 10th Thanksgiving together, it's Jamal's turn to host at his aunt's house. And they say there will be many more Thanksgivings together to come.
Jamal Hinton
00:11:53
Yeah, I think Wanda's stuck with me and she doesn't know it.
Wanda Dench
00:11:55
Oh, you're Stephanie.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:11:58
And their unlikely friendship taught each other valuable lessons.
Wanda Dench
00:12:02
Before I met Jamal, I think I looked at young people as being not so hard workers and entitled. I just completely shattered all my thoughts of young people. And I don't look at young, old people, we're just all the same. He's part of our family.
Jamal Hinton
00:12:21
She taught me that it's okay to open your door sometimes. You never know what's gonna happen if you just take a chance. And that's what Wanda did, she took a chance with me. And it turned into something great.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:12:37
All right, that's all for now. Thank you so much for listening. We'll be back next Saturday with a new episode and join us tomorrow for the next edition of CNN One Thing, wherever you get your podcasts. Take care, have a good day. Til next time.
