Category Archive

We all love hugs. I know I do. And when we see someone we know is distressed, our immediate reaction is often an empathetic “come here and have a hug”. This need for physical comfort is deeply ingrained in us. … Read More

Cannabis should be legalised – for medical use at least. I had a friend with MS who got great relief from muscle spasms by smoking grass – but she was forced to get her supply from a drug dealer. I thought … Read More

Does it surprise you when children behave badly if their parents are distracted by a smartphone? Me neither. But now we have a sophisticated study that shows us just how much we adults play into the hands of our children when … Read More

Last year England’s deputy chief medical officer said no one spends long enough washing their hands. Dr Gina Radford said each wash should take around 45 seconds – as long as one verse of “God Save the Queen”. And that you … Read More

One way of eating less is to serve your food on small plates. Even those of us who like to clean our plates would eat less if we used a smaller plate. A variation on this theme is a crinkly plate. This … Read More

Some people are prepared to do things to their bodies that are unproven, verging on crazy, and even downright dangerous. Vaginal steaming, touted by Gwyneth Paltrow, springs to mind. But here’s yet another idiotic fashion – again aimed at the vagina … Read More

I write a lot about statins, the drugs that keep the cholesterol in your blood at healthy levels. I believe they’re a key preventive medicine of our time, keeping millions of people disease free. Just recently a report showed that the side-effects … Read More

Here’s a 21st century conundrum that probably hasn’t happened many times in the past – if you’re carrying the breast cancer-causing BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene mutations, when and how do you tell your daughter she may have inherited it from you? And … Read More

The latest medical tools to diagnose your illness rely on your smell. If that sounds odd just think for moment. Can you recognise your partner, your mum or dad from their smell? Their smell depends on their body chemistry and … Read More

There’s some intriguing new ­research that could help all would-be keep fitters. Share your lifestyle with a friend who is into the things you are and they’ll influence your life for the better. Can our workouts be shaped by what … Read More