Drinkable sunscreen offers a new form of skin protection

Only 14% of men and 30% percent of women in the US use sunscreen – and about one-third of those don’t use enough. Is digestible sunscreen the answer?

The US skincare market is expected to reach $11bn by 2018, proving that people are more than willing to pay to keep their skin healthy and looking youthful. But expert advice on how to maintain good skin hasn’t changed much over the years.

The bottom line remains: wear sunscreen. Apply it liberally and wear a hat for insurance. Maybe just try to stay in the shade if you can.

Continue reading...

from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/292OYVa
via health

Chapeau! Stylish cycling gear for the road

From action cameras to heads-up displays, we select gear to propel you to the front of the peloton this season

• Filament: a custom carbon-fibre bicycle made for one

Continue reading...

from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/28XOlvu
via health

How was your weekend running?

Running as catharsis and as part of a wider, inclusive group of running communities can only help in bad times. How was your weekend running, and did it bring PBs and some much-needed endorphins?

Two of the most important things about running for me are its quality of catharsis - a good run can usually make even grim things seem better - and it’s supportive, inclusive and kind communities. Not one community, but many - whether it’s this wonderful group of individuals below the line, a running club, an online forum, or the nervous and jokey chat at the start line of a race. Thank god for the running communities over the last few days, then.

On Sunday, after not very much sleep and some runs that - for once - did not make me feel any better - I lined up for the Harry Hawkes 10 for the first time. Having finally felt like I was coming back into form, I wanted to properly race it, but was nervous that negative thoughts and a general atmosphere of doom might not help my head. So I took a leaf out of Asta’s book, and ran it “blind”. Oh well, ok, not quite: I put a strip of gaffer tape over my Garmin, turned in on at the start but didn’t peek until after I’d finished. This allowed me to judge, post-race, whether the patches that felt hardest really had been.

Continue reading...

from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/28XK2Cs
via health

My workout: Charlie Dark, 45, night runner – ‘The best thing? You don’t need equipment’

Friends and colleagues began to say, ‘You’re a different person. What are you doing?’

I started running at night, because I was embarrassed to do it during the day. I teach poetry and creative writing in east London, and I didn’t want the children to see me sweating in the street. I loved rediscovering the city at night: the light, the traffic, the type of people you see – it all changes.

I was 35 when I started (I’m 45 now) and my body wouldn’t do what I needed it to. I have children, and that was an added impetus to get myself together. Friends and colleagues began to say, “You’re a different person. What are you doing?” I was running four or five times a week, following training plans as well as making it up as I went along. Within months, I started to change physically. Over two years, I lost around three stone.

Continue reading...

from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/28TWvVz
via health

A letter to … a woman at the checkout who was vile to me

The letter you always wanted to write

I emptied my basket slowly, items placed one by one on the conveyor belt, tucked neatly against the checkout divider. I studiously moved them into the order in which I would place them in my Bags for Life. Their solidness tethered me to the moment: if I focused on the job in hand, everything would be OK.

I vaguely became aware of you leaning over me, reaching across to add a handful of things to your shopping already being scanned by the cashier and packed by your husband and son. I concentrated on my things: very soon it would be my turn to pay and then I could go home.

Continue reading...

from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/28Xlbiu
via health

A must-read book? Go on, make me

Faced with rave reviews of musicals, films, books and plays, why does Oliver Burkeman run a mile?

Somewhere around the 500th headline I read in praise of Hamilton, the universally acclaimed Broadway musical due in Europe next year, I was struck by a deflating thought: I’ll probably never see it. Not just because it’s virtually impossible to get a ticket, but because so many people – people whose tastes I trust – have raved about it that I now regard the prospect with annoyance. Two years ago, it was the Richard Linklater movie Boyhood, which I still haven’t seen; then Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, which I still haven’t read. Straw polls of friends suggest I’m not alone in this reaction – call it “cultural cantankerousness” – which seems to affect books, films, plays, holiday destinations and restaurants equally. Increasingly, my first thought on seeing something described as a “must-read” is‚“Oh really? Try and make me.”

It would be easy to dismiss this as simple contrarianism. After all, we live in an era that champions ostentatious dissent from the mainstream, whether you’re a journalist trolling for clicks by explaining what “Donald Trump gets right”, or a hipster embracing fashions because others disdain them. And contrarianism has its merits: “Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority,” Mark Twain said, “it is time to pause and reflect.” But unlike contrarianism, cultural cantankerousness isn’t solely about appearing different from others: even alone in a room, I’d be disinclined to pick up Ferrante’s books if others were available. Nor is it because I suspect these works of art are no good; they’re probably all sensational. When it comes to, say, TV shows about competitive baking, I resist the pull of the crowd because I’m confident I’m not missing much. In the case of Hamilton or Boyhood, I’m sure my perversity is costing me real enjoyment.

Continue reading...

from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/28VSfqT
via health

Antibiotic-free meat to hit the shelves

Don’t want to eat pork pumped full of penicillin? Look for a smiling pig’s face on your next packet of bacon

Name: Antibiotic-free meat.

Age: Brand new.

Continue reading...

from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/28N24c3
via health

Exercise your democratic right

Voting in the EU referendum gives you the perfect excuse for a run – down to the polling station

Choosing whether to vote in or out in the EU referendum is potentially one of the biggest and longest-lasting decisions you will ever be asked to make. It is also a very good excuse for an extra run. Your polling station is likely to be only a warm-up from your home, and can be the beginning of a rewarding and purposeful run.

You can exercise your democratic right at the same time as exercising your body. GoodGym, UKRunChat, Marathon Talk and OurParks are backing the idea:

Continue reading...

from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/28M4cw9
via health

Overstretched doctors urge two-week absence before workers need to see GP

Requiring a sick note after one week takes time away from patients who may need appointments more, doctors say

Staff who fall ill should be able to stay off work for up to two weeks before they need a sick note in order to relieve the strain on overstretched GPs, leading doctors believe.

Continue reading...

from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/28R9PdT
via health

Chimpanzees hold secret to ultimate comfy bed, says expert

Primatologist creates ‘humankind evolution bed’, which apes key features of a treetop lair to provide a good night’s sleep

After he woke feeling unusually rested and refreshed among the treetops of an east African forest, Koichiro Zamma was convinced he had ended the seemingly elusive quest for the perfect sleep.

There were no memory foam pillows or mattresses, just a simple bed of cool leaves held together by a wickerwork of twigs, and built not by humans but by chimpanzees.

Continue reading...

from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/28KJcXv
via health

Kit stop: running-kit reviews and your questions answered

A roundup of some recent new running kit for women, plus send your questions on your own kit needs

Continue reading...

from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/28LZDpI
via health

Minneapolis tries to topple Portland as America's most cycle-friendly city

The Twin City’s ambitious new bike plan includes 144 miles of protected lanes and a doubling of cycle numbers by 2020. Portland, though, is fighting back …

Minneapolis does not have the immediate look of a place set on becoming a city where lots of people ride bikes. Aside from the long, freezing winters, this is a place very obviously built around cars. The roads are generally multi-lane, often one way, and parking is largely straightforward, even in the centre. But things are changing.

Lisa Bender, the city council representative who has done as much as an anyone to push cycling in Minneapolis, laughs when asked if the aim is to make her home the second most bike-friendly city in the US, after the traditional cycling centre of Portland, Oregon.

Continue reading...

from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/28KbBfR
via health

Heinz falsely marketing Shredz toddler products as healthy, says watchdog

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission starts legal proceedings in federal court over food snacks for children aged 1 to 3 containing 60% sugar

Food companies who make misleading health claims on children’s products have been put on notice by Australia’s consumer watchdog, which is taking the multinational Heinz to court for promoting its sugary Shredz toddler products as healthy.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has started legal proceedings in the federal court against HJ Heinz Company Australia Ltd in relation to the food snacks marketed to one- to three-year-olds.

Continue reading...

from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/28KOdUy
via health

'Silent epidemic' of chronic pain affects nearly 28 million in UK, study suggests

Review finds women are more likely to experience chronic pain than men, while prevalence was generally found to increase with age

Chronic pain affects more than two fifths of the UK population, meaning that around 28 million adults are living with pain that has lasted for three months or longer, a new study reveals.

The authors estimate that almost 44% of the population experience chronic pain, with up to 14.3% living with chronic pain that is either moderately or severely disabling.

Continue reading...

from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/28NpgVF
via health

Older people are under threat from loneliness

Feeling isolated is not only soul destryong, it’s also a risk factor for early death

Macbeth may have spoken of “that which should accompany old age/ As honour, love, obedience, troops of friends” but here and now old people are more likely to be bitterly lonely, according to a paper by Marcus Rand of the Campaign to End Loneliness. It seems that about one in 10 of people over 65 feels chronically lonely all or most of the time.

A lot of this is due to things we think of as benefits: easy transport so people have no need to go on living where they grew up and maybe elders in the family still live; and the ability to make arrangements online, using digital skills which older people may not have.

Continue reading...

from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/28IB4IX
via health

How was your weekend running?

Yesterda saw one of my highlights of the racing year - did you race a mile? As always, I want to hear about your triumphs, your training, your injury woes, your questions and all your many miles

The last couple of weeks have seen the start of the main block of marathon training, for Berlin at the end of September. So it was a bit of a switch to go out yesterday and race a mile. The Amba City of London mile, though, has become one of my favourite events of the year. It’s brilliantly organised, a fabulous course on closed roads around St Paul’s Cathedral, you get a medal, water and there’s a goody bag for little racers. You can enter multiple waves. How much, you ask? Oh, it’s free. I don’t know how they do it, but if you were judging races on value for money, I think we have an annual winner ...

I ran in the women’s wave and the family wave. I was pleasantly surprised - once my lungs stopped screaming at me - with my time, 5min 44sec, which is quicker than last year despite coming at the end of a very high mileage week (for me). But more importantly, my two little mini-racers both scored PBs. This is undoubtedly one of the best things about this race - inspiring little runners to get out and try their best and, hopefully, plant the seeds of a lifetime’s habit. Or at least a love of race bling ..

Continue reading...

from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/1UijMjW
via health

Should parents ever comment on their daughter’s weight?

It’s natural for parents to be concerned for their child’s health, but could regular remarks about size and diet lead to an increased risk of problems in the future?

First, a confession. I once commented unfavourably on the legs of one of my daughters. I was cross about her short school skirt, but it’s no excuse. May God forgive me because, according to a study this week in Eating and Weight Disorders, she will never get over it. Researchers found that the more a parent comments on their daughter’s weight, the more likely she will be unhappy with her body as a young woman. In the study, 501 women between the ages of 20 and 35 were asked about their body image and to recall how often their parents commented about their weight. Those with a healthy body mass index were nearly a third less likely to recall parents commenting on their weight than women who were overweight. But regardless of their BMI, women were less satisfied with their weight if their parents had made remarks about their size as adolescents. The message to parents? Zip it. But does that mean you can’t comment at all?

Continue reading...

from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/1UigFxM
via health

Everything you wanted to know about diabetes

Diabetes affects four million people in the UK, and more are diagnosed each year. But what is it and how is technology revolutionising the lives of those who have it?

Four million people in the UK live with diabetes and nearly a quarter of a million more are being diagnosed each year. Ninety per cent of those with diabetes have type 2 diabetes (T2D) and you’re more prone to it if you’re overweight, it runs in your family or you’re of south Asian or African descent. In T2D, the body doesn’t respond properly to insulin, the hormone produced in the pancreas that dispatches glucose from the food we eat to the cells of the body to be used for energy or stored as fat. T2D is treated by weight loss, lifestyle changes and oral drugs. Type 1 diabetes (T1D), which accounts for 10% of cases, can appear in childhood and is treated with injectable insulin. In T1D, the pancreas gradually stops making insulin for reasons that are still unclear but may be triggered by a viral illness.

Continue reading...

from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/21tD2z9
via health

Lidos: UK rekindles passion for swimming

A surge in interest in open-air lidos has added impetus to projects restoring Britain’s municipal baths to their former glory

Swimmers across Britain will greet the longest day by plunging into a pool tomorrow. Many will take that summer solstice dip amid the splendour of a restored public lido or municipal baths as the national appetite for preserving historic leisure facilities grows.

Last week, the Grade II*-listed Victoria Baths in Manchester, which has been closed since 1993, moved a stage nearer to opening for swimmers again. The city has just announced stage two of a lengthy restoration – with a planned commercial refurbishment of its lavish marble Turkish baths, designed by architect Henry Price and first enjoyed when the baths were completed in 1906.

Continue reading...

from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/1WUNOzO
via health

The Body Coach: Joe Wicks 15 minute meals to make you lean – video

Joe Wicks, also known as the Body Coach, is the man who will make you “lean in 15.” Wicks started using his famous slogan in his Instagram videos before making a Lean In 15 book that became a number one best seller worldwide. With over 1 million Instagram followers, he releases his second book this week

• Meet the Body Coach, the man with the million-dollar muscles
  

Continue reading...

from Health & wellbeing | The Guardian http://ift.tt/1UGdc6s
via health