On Sunday 25,000 of us will be running 13.1 miles through Hackney in the Hackney Half Marathon. Runners will be at peak fitness, with preparation having lasted months or even years: some of us started carb-loading at the age of 6. Kit will be checked, weather forecasts scrutinised, and playlists prepared. For me, as a......
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Are you a fan of New Year resolutions? Many of us still see the crossover from December to January as a moment of psychological gravity, a chance to change. I am one such hopeful, having panted my way through seven exercise classes and decluttered one bedroom and the understairs cupboard. Others reject the season of......
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For the past year, I’ve been investing a lot of time and energy into a new project. I have spent 730 hours – or 30 full days – of the last year working on it. If I was earning the London living wage for the time I spent on this project, I would have amassed......
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Cutting carbs. Counting calories. Taking weight-loss pills. Doing juice cleanses. Watching ‘what I eat in the day’ reels. I think it would be fair to say our society is obsessed with controlling food. Some of you will be rolling your eyes at these ‘foodie fads’; others will be part of a diet tribe, convinced that......
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In the same way the resurrection isn’t just for Easter, personal growth isn’t just for January. But a new year does prise open a window to talk about a powerful tool that can help you and those around you grow. I’m talking about coaching....
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PCR tests are a fact of life for most of us at the moment. As a biologist who was doing this procedure long before most people had heard of it, I take secret delight in people’s use of the acronym. Let me open the laboratory door and share the wonders it conceals. The swab that you, or someone else, pokes down your throat and up your nose goes into a tube containing a little liquid. That liquid is then heated or mixed with a chemical to kill any live virus particles, then purified to get rid of every part of the virus except RNA. The test is ...
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Content Warning: Pregnancy loss and baby death. This week has been Baby Loss Awareness Week. A week aimed at breaking the silence surrounding pregnancy and baby loss and so helping those affected by the death of a baby to know that they are not alone. One in four pregnancies will end in miscarriage. What’s more, every day in the UK, 14 babies die before, during, or soon after birth. We also now know that the coronavirus pandemic led to an increase in stillbirths during the first lockdown. If you haven’t experienced this kind of loss ...
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‘It is your responsibility to live your life for yourself. If you don’t, who will?’ So writes Michelle Elman in The Joy of Being Selfish, published earlier this year. Already popular, the concept of ‘self-care’ has gained further momentum during the pandemic, with Google searches for ‘self-care routine’ up 250% since the first lockdown. ‘Self-care’ means responding to your limits and needs to protect your physical, emotional, and mental wellbeing. Its champions recommend habits such as daily exercise, healthy eating, mindfulne...
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More than three months into lockdown, any sense of novelty has well and truly worn off and the scale of the impact of this pandemic on everyone’s lives deepens almost daily. Working together is not just the new normal for neighbours and local communities, but for countries and multinational companies. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the race for a COVID-19 vaccine....
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Fear is in the air – and it is a particular kind of fear. Amidst the daily readjustments, the working from home, the scurry for loo paper and pasta, the calls to relatives, and the deep concern for our livelihoods, the underlying fear that chills the nation is a fear for our very lives. Our delusions of invulnerability have been shattered. ...
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