The Age-Well Project

SMELL, STRESS, POETRY AND THE BRAIN

It’s national walking month, apparently. For me, every month is a walking month but I’ll admit that May is a particularly enchanting time to walk in Britain – hawthorn blossom, bluebells, birdsong in abundance. And air drenched in perfume. Making May the ideal month in which to walk more. And to walk differently. We know...

How to build better bones

‘What do you want to achieve for your bones?’ This rather surprising question came from Rebekah Rotstein, who had worked with the Royal Osteoporosis Society and is founder of movement system Buff Bones®, when I interviewed her for my new book The Power Decade. My answer was that I wanted them to be dense, because I...

KEEP COOL AND EAT FAVA BEANS

I’m just back from Jordan where we celebrated The Husband’s Big Birthday – rather belatedly, thanks to Covid-19. I always take great interest in how other cultures eat and live, and what they can teach us. The Jordanians (who have much lower rates of dementia and cancer than we do) eat beans for breakfast. Not...

Grab some GABA – and your invitation! + Easter recipes

Annabel’s post a couple of weeks ago about how interrupted sleep may benefit our brains struck a chord with so many readers who experience broken nights. Sleep becomes increasingly elusive as we age, so the idea that night waking benefits cognition is extremely reassuring. Our reproductive hormones can shoulder some of the blame for this...

IS WAKING AT NIGHT GOOD FOR THE BRAIN?

‘Insomnia is not bad itself. You can lie awake and think,’ wrote Muriel Spark in A Far Cry from Kensington. It’s a sentiment that’s been much on my mind over the last few years. A multi-billion pound sleep industry has done its very best to make us fear for our lives if we’re awake for...