Women's Health UK

You won’t be surprised to read that I’m a little bit obsessed with all things health. Once a year, I try to get away on my own for what friends call one of my ‘hardcore wellness trips’. The logistics involved in stepping away from my hectic life are significant. For starters, there are my 10- and seven-year-old children to consider; my husband has many, many talents, but the day-to-day running of the household – and all its laundry, ironing and food shopping – isn’t one of them. Then there’s taking time off from heading up Women’s Health – a task made easier by my brilliant team, who I trust implicitly. So with clean clothes in the wardrobes, food in the fridge and instructions for how to turn the oven on…

Bowel Cancer UK Star Of Hope Bottle Join us in celebrating Dame Deborah James’ legacy by visiting Bowel Cancer UK’s online shop (bowelcanceruk.myshopify.com/products/star-of-hope-bottle), where all proceeds go to the charity’s life-saving work. Buying this bottle (£19.50) could also help deliver two vital awareness talks on the symptoms of this disease.…

Researchers from the universities of Mississippi and Georgia have confirmed what you felt when you last lost sleep over a double blue tick: being ghosted is haunting. In a study titled ‘From Close To Ghost’, researchers examined the psychological turmoil of having a relationship or friendship end without explanation. Participants were asked to reflect on a past relationship and answer questions about their psychological needs. Those who’d been ghosted scored the lowest for ‘needs satisfaction’, which encompasses feelings of belonging and self-esteem. Surprisingly, while participants who had a higher desire for closure were hit hardest by the rejection, they were also more willing to ghost someone else. What’s more, there was no clear difference between losing romantic partners and friends, suggesting that being ghosted by a pal is every bit…

6 The number of high-intensity exercise minutes you need to clock up in order to keep your brain healthy and delay the onset of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. According to research published in The Journal Of Physiology, short bursts of exercise boost the production of the protein that protects the brain from age-related decline. AWEGASMIC Partial to a sundowner on holiday? There could be a reason for that. At the University of Exeter, researchers found that sunsets directly enhance feelings of awe – an emotion shown to improve your mood and increase positive social behaviour. Cheers to that. CROSSWORDS Good news if you’re having a bad day. A recent study from The University of Arizona linked a bad mood with spotting errors and inconsistencies in your work more quickly, since mood…

Q It’s warm outside, so why are my hands and feet so cold? Fingers and toes don’t have the same muscle and fat layers the rest of your body uses to stay warm, so they’re often the first body parts to feel cold, says Meghann Kirk, an internal medicine specialist. Plus, these extremities are located far from the heart and have smaller blood vessels, meaning less blood flow to keep them warm. If you’re dieting or you’ve lost a significant amount of weight recently, your metabolism may have slowed down because your body is trying to preserve calories, which could also make your hands and feet chillier. But there are other explanations, too. Some blood pressure drugs may change circulation, for example, which could make your feet colder than usual; decongestants…

Frequent visitors to these pages will be familiar with perimenopause – the transitional phase leading to menopause, when your fertility meets its natural end. The smorgasbord of symptoms range from raging hot flushes to insomnia, beginning far before the menopause and then continuing for years after. But symptoms can be managed. Alongside hormone replacement therapy (HRT), dietary changes may ease the impact of falling oestrogen levels – the trigger for most perimenopausal symptoms, and the cause of higher cholesterol levels and accelerated bone loss during this stage of your life. It’s the latter that causes some people to take issue with plant-based diets. To protect your bones, you need calcium and vitamin D. Calcium supports your bones’ structural integrity and strength, while vitamin D ensures the calcium is absorbed. The recommended 10mcg…