I’m newly married after ten years with my husband, so naturally I’m still in the phase where I’m contractually obliged to think he’s wonderful. Fortunately, he is.

By default, I want to spend most of my free time with him. We’re newlyweds; of course there’s nothing better than being together. But I also know that choosing to spend all my time with him is the safe option - and not necessarily the best one for my creative wellbeing. While many of my favourite experiences are shared with him, I can’t expect one person to fulfil every creative, emotional or intellectual need I have. Nor would I expect that of myself.

That thinking led me to discover the 'Artist Date', a practice popularised by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way. The premise is simple: once a week, take yourself somewhere alone purely because it interests you, with the idea that giving curiosity some space can help replenish your creativity.

There's a science behind nurturing our inner creative selves, too. A UK-based study of more than 7,000 adults found that people who took part in arts and crafts reported greater happiness, life satisfaction and a stronger sense that life was worthwhile. Other research has linked everyday creativity with wellbeing, particularly when it supports feelings of autonomy, competence and connection.

Still, taking yourself on a date when you’re happily married can feel a little counterintuitive. As one friend put it to me: you’re newlywed, you’re in a bubble and you want to protect it. Fair enough. But could deliberately stepping outside that bubble every now and then actually be good for us?

For my thoughts - and the expert take on why prioritising solo dates to protect in your creative health could be so worthwhile - read on. And if you’re interested in other slightly less conventional routes to living well, we’ve also explored the link between creativity and healthy ageing, as well as frictionmaxxing, doodling and little treat culture.

I’m Newly Married—How a Weekly Solo Date Has Boosted My Creativity and Wellbeing Tenfold

What is a solo date, and how does it support creativity?

There’s an important difference between happening to be alone and deliberately choosing time for yourself.

“Being alone can mean answering emails, loading the dishwasher or waxing your legs while your partner is out,” says Meera Moore Danowski, psychotherapist and founder of The Nest Club. A solo date, she explains, means choosing something because you would enjoy it. “There’s a difference between ‘nobody’s here’ and ‘I’ve made time for myself.’”

That is essentially the premise behind Cameron’s Artist Date: spending time following your curiosity with no pressure to perform.

Katina Bajaj, creative health scientist and co-founder of Daydreamers, previously told Marie Claire that “creative health is a pillar of well-being responsible for our vitality, curiosity and capacity for meaning-making.” When it is missing, she says, we can start to feel “robotic or like we’re on a hamster wheel.”

Danowski puts it another way. Solo time gives us an opportunity to ask: “Which parts of me have taken a back seat?” When so much of adult life is spent being a partner, employee, parent or friend, the things that once made us feel most like ourselves can easily get lost.

There is one caveat: don’t make your solo date another wellness task. “The point isn’t to return more productive, enlightened or improved,” says Danowski. “It’s to discover what feels genuinely restorative for you.”

Can maintaining a sense of independence actually strengthen a relationship?

According to Danowski, yes. “A shared life is wonderful, but if you begin to do everything together, you can lose sight of where one person ends and the other begins.”

Therapists often use the term 'differentiation' to describe our ability to retain a sense of self while staying emotionally close to someone else. Research has linked stronger differentiation with better relationship functioning, while separate studies have found that autonomy within romantic relationships can support relationship satisfaction.

Danowski describes it more simply as “standing on your own two feet while staying close.”

“You go out into the world, have an experience that’s yours, and come back to the couple,” she says. “Often, the differences between us were part of what attracted us in the first place.”

In other words, marriage doesn’t have to mean slowly merging into one person who shares a Netflix account, weekend plans and every waking hour.

Feeling guilty about spending time away from your partner? Here’s what an expert wants you to understand

This is probably the part I struggle with most. When work is busy and free weekends feel precious, choosing to spend a chunk of one alone can seem almost wasteful.

Danowski suggests getting curious about the guilt rather than immediately obeying it. “Do you believe a happy couple should want to do everything together? Are you worried your partner will feel rejected? Or is free time so scarce that taking any for yourself feels unfair? Those are different conversations.”

She often sees couples get stuck in a pattern where one person asks for space, the other feels rejected, and the first cancels their plans out of guilt. “Underneath, one person is really asking, ‘Can I have space to be me?’ and the other is asking, ‘Will you still want to come back to me?’”

The answer isn’t to prioritise yourself at your partner’s expense, but to communicate. Sometimes “I’d love Saturday afternoon to myself, and I’m looking forward to seeing you that evening” is enough.

I’ve Been Taking Myself On Weekly Solo Dates Despite Being Married — My Verdict?

I haven’t returned from every solo date fizzing with ideas. Cameron describes the Artist Date as a kind of “play date” with your inner artist: something you approach with a sense of anticipation, curiosity and permission to be a little silly. I haven’t always managed that. Sometimes I’ve felt inspired; sometimes I’ve felt awkward; sometimes I’ve simply wished I was doing whatever I'm doing with my husband.

But I’ve also noticed how rare it is, after ten years in a relationship, to make a decision based entirely on what I fancy doing. Where should I walk? What film do I want to see? Do I want to sit with a coffee for 20 minutes or two hours?

Danowski references relationship researchers John and Julie Gottman’s idea of maintaining an up-to-date “love map” of your partner’s inner world. “It’s tempting to think you finished drawing that map years ago, but we all change through life,” she says. “Time alone lets those parts have a say. Time together is where you share what you’ve discovered.”

That, ultimately, is why I’ll keep dating myself. Not because my marriage is missing something, but because I don’t want to stop being curious about who I am simply because I’ve found someone I love sharing my life with.

3 ideas for solo dates to prioritise your creative health:

1. Kindle walking

If sitting still with a book makes your brain itch, Kindle walking gives you the best of both worlds: movement and something to get absorbed in. The beauty of this practice is that you can walk for as little or as long as you have time for, making it an easy way to carve out a little solo time without having to rearrange your whole day. I found the gentle movement actually helped me focus, and I loved having that quiet pocket of time to myself.

2. Swimming

I have found great joy in swimming of late, possibly because it's one of those rare activities where you’re forced to be completely disconnected from the world. When I swam every day for a week, I loved how mentally quiet my brain felt. Even if you’re not chasing fitness gains, a few slow lengths can make a brilliant solo date when your brain feels especially noisy - opening up your thoughts to more creative pathways.

3. Spend time in nature

This can be as simple as sitting under a tree in your local park, or, if you're interested in the more indulgent option, spending a night somewhere without Wi-Fi, TV, or the usual distractions gives you a lot of time with the silence of your own head. I recently stayed in an Unplugged cabin and, truthfully, I was pretty lazy: I walked, read, ate, stared out of the window and did very little else. But that was also the point. Not every creative reset needs to result in something.

Looking to reignite your creative spark? Shop MC-approved recommendations below:

It might still be too early to announce a buzzword for 2026, but if we were pushed, we'd wager that the term 'energy' would be right up there. Whether it's the time of year, seasonal shifts or simply our stage in life, barely a day goes by right now without a friend commenting that she's feeling drained and depleted - regardless of how well-rested (or otherwise, as the case may be) she is.

Be it good or bad (or more than likely, somewhere in the middle), we're more tuned in than ever before to the nuance of how we're feeling - and the overwhelming sense is that we're tired. Even when we do achieve that elusive eight-hour shut-eye, many of us are struggling with sluggishness, fatigue, and a general malaise that can make even the simplest of tasks feel insurmountable.

Of course, there can be legitimate causes for feeling this way. Hormones, illness, stress and more can all take their toll on our mental and physical reserves, leaving our energy levels depleted - but I don't think I'm alone in feeling like I'm running on empty even when I'm working hard to reduce the impact of these everyday strains. You know the drill: I prioritise sleep, nutrition, exercise and downtime as much as I can - but still, there are days when I'm too exhausted for words.

It's clear there's more to this energy crisis (as opposed to the other, also very real energy crisis) than meets the eye, so in true journalistic fashion, I turned to our excellent MC UK experts for their take - both on what exactly is causing this lack of get-up-and-go and what we can do about it. Their answer? An 'energy audit'.

Keep scrolling for the lowdown, but in the meantime, you might also be interested in our guides to the best low-effort wellness habits, the importance of micro recovery and using friendship as a health tool - plus, find out how one Health Writer got on when she kept an everyday delights journal for a month, here.

Fed Up of Running On Empty, I Tried an ‘Energy Audit’ – and It's Made Me Calmer, More Focused and Less Frazzled

What is an energy audit?

If the concept of an energy audit is new to you, firstly - same, and secondly, prepare to be impressed. It's essentially a super simple hack to help you identify the aspects of your life that are draining, rather than fulfilling, you.

Now, it's unrealistic to operate on a fill-our-cup basis at all times - after all, there are (so many) things we need to do that aren't going to feel replenishing - but an energy audit is a great place to start thinking about where your energy is going on a daily basis.

"Energy isn’t just how motivated you feel," explains longevity expert and co-founder of BodyBio, Jess Kane. "Your body is literally producing energy all day long, largely through our mitochondria (parts of our cells that produce and provide energy to our organs), and that process requires resources.

"An energy audit is about asking yourself: what am I giving my body to produce energy, and what am I asking it to overcome? Look at sleep, nutrition, movement, stress, hydration and recovery, but also pay attention to your patterns. When do you feel clear and energised? When do you crash? What consistently happens before those crashes?"

The point here is to pay attention to yourself - something women, in particular, are notoriously poor at, as we're usually more concerned with the people around us.

"The purpose of an energy audit is to take notice," says career and confidence coach Dr Claire Kaye. "By this I mean paying attention to what is giving you energy, what is taking it away, and what that might be telling you."

What are the benefits of an energy audit?

So, why should we bother with an energy audit? Put simply, it's the first step towards really taking care of yourself - we're talking more than just some breathwork and a long bath once a week, here.

"Perhaps real self-care is not another routine, another wellness trend or another thing to optimise," muses Dr Kaye. "Perhaps it is understanding where your energy is going, recognising what is depleting it, and giving yourself permission to make small changes before running on empty becomes your normal."

1. It can help us avoid burnout

Burnout is a very real issue for many women, with research showing we are at greater risk of developing the classic signs of burnout (emotional exhaustion being top of the list) than our male counterparts.

While we're far from suggesting an energy audit would redress the balance, it might be a useful first step in identifying where we can make subtle changes to our routines to protect our mental health.

"What I see time and time again is that some of the most powerful shifts happen when you simply become aware of a pattern and allow it to sit with you for a while," shares Dr Kaye. "Over time, that awareness starts to influence the choices you make, the boundaries you set, the conversations you have and the things you stop tolerating."

2. It challenges our approach to rest

If you're anything like us, you may be conditioned to think that rest is something you have to earn - but in fact, your energy (quite literally) depends on it. And it won't be news to you that it's not easy to achieve.

“Being responsive to other people can feel caring, responsible and necessary for many women, but when being accessible becomes our default, being unavailable can start to feel like something we need to justify," shares clinical psychologist and Wellwoman ambassador, Dr Claire Plumby.

“You can be physically resting, but if part of your attention is still monitoring messages, anticipating what somebody might need or thinking about the next thing that needs doing, that may not feel like genuinely restorative downtime.

“Creating boundaries around our availability, and recognising that wanting time to ourselves is a valid reason to be unavailable, can help create important space for our own wellbeing.”

The upshot? Prioritising rest should restore and revive your energy, too.

3. It enhances self awareness and productivity

Dr Kaye believes that most women intuitively know where their energy leaks and drains are, but we're not quite giving ourselves the space to hear ourselves think. Engaging in an energy audit forces us to stop and take a hard look at what needs changing, and stops us from fighting our own biology.

An energy audit helps us to recognise what works best for us as individuals, rather than assuming we're all wired the same way.

"Instead of asking, 'Why can’t I make myself work like this?', try 'How do I actually work best?'," advises life and mindset coach Jo Irving. "For years, I thought I should get up early and get my work done first thing. Instead, I’d procrastinate, feel as though I’d wasted the morning and then feel bad about not being productive.

"I’ve since recognised that some of my best energy comes later in the day. I find it much easier to get into a flow state in the evening and can often produce better work in considerably less time. So, rather than continually fighting myself, where possible I structure my work around when I know I work best."

4. It can help structure the day

"An energy audit helps you stop spending your best hours on your worst tasks," shares Jane Ollis, medical biochemist and founder of SONA. "Most people torch their sharpest thinking on email at nine and then attempt the hard stuff at four, when there's nothing left in the drawer. Flip that, and you've won half the battle.

"However, here's the honest bit: an audit shows you the pattern; it won't fix it. If you're running on five hours' sleep, no amount of clever scheduling will save you."

5. It allows you grace

Constantly beating yourself up about not achieving enough in the day? An energy audit can help you cut yourself some (much-needed) slack.

"The biggest benefit is that you stop treating energy as something you have to manufacture through willpower," agrees Kane. "At BodyBio, we talk constantly about building the foundations of health. Your cells need the right raw materials and environment to function properly. You can’t consistently sleep five hours, under-eat, over-caffeinate, sit all day and live in a constant state of stress, then expect one supplement or biohack to fix your energy.

"An audit helps you figure out where your foundations may be breaking down."

How to conduct an energy audit

One of the best things about an energy audit is that, really, there's no set formula for doing it. What works for you will be individual, and it definitely shouldn't become yet another chore that makes you feel you've failed.

That being said, the experts have devised a few ways of conducting an energy audit that you may find helpful if you're struggling to know where to start. There are a couple that I'm keen to try, and they're quite different.

Firstly, Irving's approach appeals as it's simple and straightforward. "There will always be things we don’t particularly want to do, so this isn’t about avoiding anything uncomfortable," she notes. "It’s about becoming aware of what things cost you energetically."

She recommends looking at a normal week and asking:

• What gives me energy?
• What drains my energy?
• When do I naturally feel most focused or creative?
• Where do I get my energy back?
• Look beyond work. Think about tasks, meetings, exercise, your phone, environments, people and conversations.
• Notice what happens in your body, too. Put a hand over your heart or stomach and mentally go through the different parts of your day. What creates a feeling of heaviness or resistance? What feels lighter or energising?

Alternatively, you can do a deeper dive into your energy, as favoured by Dr Kaye:

• Take ten minutes, a notebook and a cup of tea. Draw three columns: people, tasks, thoughts.
• Under people, write down the names of the people you spend most time with. Then ask yourself: who gives me energy? Who drains it? Who leaves me feeling supported? Where am I over-giving? What boundary would help me protect my energy?
• Under tasks, write down everything currently taking up your time and attention. Then ask yourself: what energises me? What drains me? What could I delegate? What could I do less perfectly? What am I doing simply because I have always done it?
• Under thoughts, write down the things occupying most space in your head. Then ask yourself: what decision am I avoiding? What am I worrying about that I cannot control? What keeps replaying in my mind? What would create the greatest sense of relief if I addressed it?
• Once you have done all three sections, take a step back and have a proper look at what you have written. Then ask yourself: what is draining most of my energy right now? What gives me energy that I have stopped making time for? What is one small change I could make this week? What support would genuinely help me right now?

I did an energy audit of my entire day - and the outcome shocked me

How I approach the audit

Armed with my cup of tea, I'm ready and excited for the task ahead: making my energy audit list. Nothing excites me more than a blank page begging to be scribbled on, so it's safe to say that I can't wait to get cracking.

I talk myself out of buying a new notepad for the occasion - I already have so many, and honestly, it's just typical of me to try and procrastinate, so I'm strict with myself and make do. But I'm soon faced with my next challenge: it's been so long since I've sat and really thought about myself rather than the kids, the dog, my husband or my parents (the list goes on) that I actually struggle to engage with the process. Plus, there are so many other things I need to do....

Another (couple of) cups of tea later, and it's clear I can't avoid the hard work any longer, so I decide to ease myself in with Irving's method and work my way up to a more detailed list.

What I discover about my energy leaks

After a good few days of soul-searching and scribbling, I'm starting to get a clearer picture of how my weeks tend to take shape, and it makes for tricky reading. Aside from the usual tasks, I have to dig really deep to examine where my energy is going - and it's confronting.

Caregiving and chores

As a busy mum of three, of course my caregiving responsibilities are going to be a big part of where my energy goes - and while I wouldn't have it any other way, it's clear that I do need to rethink how much of this particular load I'm taking on.

There's lots of caring work (this week alone, I've organised and hosted my daughter's birthday party, had a playdate for my youngest, looked after a friend's child for the afternoon and made a birthday cake for another friend's husband - and that's in addition to my usual responsibilities) which I know helps to fill my cup, but in fact, it's also incredibly draining trying to be everything to everyone, all the time.

And the biggest hurdle is asking myself what support I could put in place to reduce my energy drains. It's totally outside my comfort zone to even admit that I need help, let alone vocalise asking for support - but this trial has done nothing if not show me that I need to get better at delegating.

With this in mind, I start with a few small concessions: on the day I'm commuting rather than working from home, I ask my husband to make the kids' packed lunches. Initially, he's not sure what to include, but the following week he does it without so much as batting an eyelid, and I feel slightly redundant.

My phone

Of course, you can't delegate everything, and I need to take a good, hard look at ringfencing my time more efficiently, starting with where I'm leaking a lot of energy: my phone. And it's not just the mindless scrolling (I've recently invested in a Brick, which has helped cut this down) - it's more the constant messages and influx of information. Three children at three different schools means my inbox is always overflowing, and while I try to stay on top of things, it's inevitable that I miss messages from time to time - something that enrages my children and stresses me out, in equal measure.

So, with this in mind, it's clear that I need a system for dealing with these. I decide to use an hour on a Friday evening to catch up on school-related messages/newsletters and more - in the hope that I haven't already missed too much. This means that the rest of the week feels more free, as I know I'll be responding on Friday - although I soon realise that I need to switch this to mid-week, as it means any responses I do manage to send won't be seen until the following week.

Likewise, rather than mindlessly grabbing my phone during my workday, I know I'll spend the first 15 minutes of my lunch catching up on urgent messages, leaving me free to concentrate on my morning's work - a godsend, quite frankly. While I already have notifications switched off (IYKYK), I'm still guilty of reaching for my device way too much.

People

Phone sorted, I move on to my next biggest drain: people.

"Constant notifications, switching between tasks, too many decisions, unfinished jobs, and never having uninterrupted time can all drain us, but one of the biggest energy leaks can be people," cautions Irving. "Pay attention to how you feel after certain interactions. Conversations where you feel you can’t get your point across, repeated conflict, feeling dismissed or squashed, or being around people where you don’t feel able to be yourself can be incredibly draining - particularly when those interactions happen regularly.

"Sometimes the conversation lasts 20 minutes, but you’re still replaying it two hours later. That’s part of its energetic cost too."

This one is tougher to address; I'm not going to lie. Ageing parents, in particular, are a tricky one: I want to support them, but I'm also spreading myself incredibly thin already. I decide that a twice-weekly phone call and once-a-week visit is all I can offer, right now - and have to be ok with that. Of course, I'm not entirely inflexible on this, and if I'm needed, I'll be there - but it's a good start.

Friendship-wise, I feel my balance is pretty good, as I prioritise spending good quality time with the people who enrich my life - most likely a lovely side effect of age, as I no longer feel any kind of compulsion to socialise with people I'm not friends with.

Thoughts

I've saved the toughest column for last: my thoughts. Naturally chaotic in nature, I have a lot of thoughts racing around my head all day, every day. And before you ask if I've tried mindfulness or meditation - I think we all know the answer to that.

So, rather than berate myself (yet again) for failing to control my erratic mind, I decide instead to channel my energy into journalling my thoughts - and this unexpectedly becomes the highlight of the challenge, for me. Previously, I've tried to do journalling 'right' (always either morning or evening, in a proper journal - you get the gist) but now, I simply have a blank page next to me as I work, ready for me to pour my million and one micro-thoughts onto - and, reader, it really helps to keep me focused: a huge win.

My verdict? I was surprised by my actual energy drains - the big ones weren't the ones I was expecting, and the changes I needed to make were also not as complex as I'd anticipated.

And the standout lesson? I need to calm down (not a surprise to anyone who knows me, but still).

"Don’t turn an energy audit into another thing you have to get right," cautions Irving. "Your energy will naturally change depending on sleep, stress, health, hormones, workload, relationships and what’s happening in your life."

TLDR? Your energy naturally fluctuates, so this process is about trying to work with it, rather than against it. By the Friday of this week, I am exhausted, mentally and physically. Usually, I'd rail against this, wanting to spend my precious free time with my family and/or friends. This week, though, I have the experts' advice ringing in my ears as I make myself a cup of (decaf) tea and take myself off to bed for an early night. Bliss.

Shop MC UK energy audit tools now:

"Have you tried taking some deep breaths?" - forgive me while I eye-roll.

My sister is a breathwork practitioner and, perhaps unsurprisingly, one of the most grounded people I know. For years, I’ve watched her use her breath to regulate everything from pre-work nerves to overwhelm, while I’ve typically opted for my own tried-and-tested coping mechanism: powering through until whatever is stressing me out goes away.

But as it turns out, she might be onto something.

Breathwork has graduated from something I once loosely filed under the 'woo-woo’ category of wellness into an area with a growing evidence base. In a 2023 trial, researchers compared five minutes of daily breathwork with mindfulness meditation over one month. All of the breathwork groups showed benefits, but cyclic sighing - a practice centred on long, slow exhalations - produced the greatest improvement in positive mood and significantly reduced respiratory rate compared with mindfulness.

And mindful sighing isn’t just a wellness trend - it’s a natural reflex that helps regulate our breathing and support healthy lung function.

MC's Senior Health and Sustainability Editor, Ally Head, uses the physiological sigh as a personal stress reset, and I'm beginning to understand why. It takes seconds, requires precisely zero equipment and can be done almost anywhere without anyone really knowing you're doing it.

It sounds almost too simple. But maybe sometimes what an overwhelmed nervous system needs really is one enormous sigh. Are you yawning yet?

While you're here, you might want to read our guide to low-effort wellness habits, somatic healing, EFT tapping and vagus nerve tuning. Plus, neuro-somatic coach Eva Syti shares the six things that women with regulated nervous systems do differently to feel their best.

Is This 2-Minute Breathing Practice Really An 'Off Switch' For Stress? We Let The Experts Weigh In

What is a physiological sigh?

The premise of the physiological sigh is actually super simple: essentially two inhales of breath followed by one long exhale.

“A physiological sigh is typically two breaths in through the nose followed by an extended exhale,” explains breathwork and running coach Ramon Ghosh, founder of Evolve Breathwork. “The two breaths in are a deep inhale followed by a shorter top inhale and then letting out air during your exhale as if you’re slowly emptying a balloon.”

There’s a physiological reason for that slightly unusual second inhale. Ghosh explains that the “top-up” breath helps recruit more of the alveoli - the tiny air sacs within the lungs involved in gas exchange - while the extended exhale can help reduce physiological arousal and slow the heart rate.

Or, as Ghosh puts it rather more simply: “If you have a dog like me, watch them do it before sleep or a nap - a big inhale, sometimes two, and then a large exhale and sigh-like sound. Mammals know how to do this intuitively.”

Can practising breathwork act as an ‘off-switch’ for stress?

Not literally - though it can be a powerful tool when used correctly and practised often.

“I wouldn’t define this as an ‘off switch’ because we are constantly fluctuating within states in our nervous system during the day,” says Ghosh. He uses driving as an example: one minute you can be listening to music and feeling completely relaxed, the next somebody pulls out in front of you and your physiology changes. A minute later, the threat has passed, and it changes again.

Stress itself isn't the enemy, either.

“Working with athletes during hard sessions, I see how useful activation and stress can be for performance,” Ghosh tells me. The important part, he says, is having “the capacity to come back down afterwards rather than remaining highly activated for prolonged periods.”

That’s where something like the physiological sigh can be useful.

Cranial osteopath Helen Johnson of the Academy of Alchemy explains that the body's fight-or-flight response is, fundamentally, protective. In a genuine emergency, heart rate increases, muscles tense and breathing changes to prepare us to respond to danger. The problem is that our bodies can respond to decidedly less life-threatening modern stressors - deadlines, money worries or relationship problems, for example - using some of the same biological systems.

“Consciously breathing is absolutely one of the quickest and most accessible ways to reset our fight-or-flight response,” says Johnson.

Calling a physiological sigh an ‘off-switch’, then, is probably best understood as shorthand for a regulation tool: something that may help turn down the intensity when your body feels overly activated.

“If you do two to four rounds of physiological sighs, many people will be able to feel a difference in their body and mind,” adds Ghosh, although he stresses that responses are individual.

What does the science say about the physiological sigh?

The research that put cyclic sighing firmly on the wellness map came from Stanford Medicine researchers and was published in Cell Reports Medicine in 2023.

Breathwork was credited as a tool to quite literally "breathe away anxiety". It has been linked to greater improvements in mood than mindfulness meditation, with the cyclic-sighing group showing the biggest increase in positive affect. It was also associated with a significant reduction in respiratory rate.

That doesn't mean one sigh can magically erase chronic stress, however.

“It’s very difficult to say because chronic stress is individual and nuanced,” cautions Ghosh. “Breathwork can be a useful part of managing stress over time, but I wouldn't present any single breathing technique as a solution to chronic stress.”

He describes the physiological sigh instead as part of a “breathwork first aid kit” - something to reach for when you notice yourself becoming overly activated.

Why is it important to reduce stress?

We all know that being stressed doesn't feel nice. But the reason experts care about chronic stress goes considerably further than feeling frazzled before a deadline.

When the brain perceives a threat, it activates systems including the sympathetic nervous system and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal, or HPA, axis. Cortisol is one of the hormones involved in that response.

Cortisol often gets cast as the villain, but that isn't entirely fair. It's a vital hormone involved in functions including metabolism, immune activity and our sleep-wake cycle. The goal isn't to eliminate cortisol or keep it permanently ‘low’; healthy cortisol secretion naturally rises and falls throughout the day.

What researchers are increasingly interested in is dysregulation of our stress systems over time.

So where does breathing fit in? Johnson points out that stress often shows up physically before we fully register how overwhelmed we are. “Many of us don’t link our physical symptoms to stress and are unaware that we are living in a physiological state of fear,” she says.

That’s part of what makes breathwork useful: it gives us something simple to reach for when we notice those early signs of tension.

As Ghosh puts it, “With breathwork we aren't avoiding stress; we're practising the ability to recognise changes in our state and regulate our physiology more effectively.”

Does The Physiological Sigh Really Help To Reduce Stress? I Tried It - Here's My Verdict

I hate to be the person who tells you that planning a wedding is one of the most stressful things you'll ever do, because I adored planning mine. But I was also, at various points, completely overwhelmed.

When plans, expectations, people, money and a fairly enormous amount of emotion are all funnelled towards one single day, even the best decisions can suddenly feel very loaded. In the months beforehand, I had days where the stress felt permanently lodged somewhere between my chest and my throat.

Safe to say, I did a lot of sighing. The more I started practising it, the more I realised that one proper, long exhale could create a tiny break in whatever spiral my brain had wandered into.

Strangely, after being in bits at points during the build-up, I was remarkably calm in the final few days before the wedding.

I've carried the habit with me since. When work deadlines pile up, my inbox starts looking threatening, or I can feel that familiar sense of everything bubbling towards the surface, I'll take myself away from my laptop and do a few physiological sighs: inhale, another little inhale, and then one very long exhale.

Does it remove the deadline? Obviously not. Nor does it suddenly make the source of my stress disappear. But it does seem to create a little distance between the feeling and my reaction to it.

Ghosh's description of it as a “breathwork first aid kit” feels right. I'm not expecting two breaths to solve my problems; I'm using them to get myself into a better state to deal with them.

For something that takes less time than boiling a kettle, I can work with that.

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Frazzled.

If I had a pound for every time that word appeared in my WhatsApp messages, I’d be a rich woman. Between our busy jobs, packed social calendars, complicated family dynamics, constant scrolling and endless notifications, my friends and I regularly convene over our shared sense of freneticism. A lot of the time, we seem to almost audibly buzz with the kind of static charge that might zap us if we got too close.

I’m sure you can relate, on some level. This feeling of being stuck in a state of chronic high alert is so widespread that it’s given rise to a whole new vocabulary. Where two years ago you probably hadn’t discussed your nervous system since GCSE biology, we now encounter it almost daily on our social media feeds, where #nervoussystemregulation has been used over 1.3 million times.

Alongside this growing interest, an entirely new industry has emerged: neurowellness, which the Global Wellness Summit identified as one of the fastest-growing trends for 2026. At one end, it’s a hotbed of technology, with vagus nerve stimulation devices and EEG-guided sleep tools. At the other, it’s sparked a revival of ancient practices that have been part of Eastern cultures for centuries.

Here in the West, we’ve grouped these diverse energetic practices - from acupuncture and ear seeding to reiki, qigong and somatic bodywork - under the rather clunky umbrella of ‘energy healing’. You may have noticed them popping up in wellness studios, spas and hotels, or in adverts for week-long energy healing retreats promising to reunite mind, body and spirit. According to Grand View Research, this formerly niche sector of body, mind and energy healing is worth $156.1 billion, with the market projected to grow to $795.7 billion by 2033.

For many of us, we’re still learning this new energetic vocabulary, which gives the world of energy healing an air of mystery and magic. That’s why I decided to delve into it myself, trying five trending practices to uncover what energy really is, how it gets ‘stuck ’, and whether it’s something we really need to heal.

For more on neurowellness and alternative medicine, check out our guides to somatic healing, vagus nerve tuning and at-home acupressure. It’s also worth reading what one writer learned when she consulted a Chinese Medicine Practitioner about her menstrual cycle and struggles with PMDD.

I Tried Five Popular Energy Healing Practices—and the Emotional Shifts Surprised Me

What is energy?

In her book, Unlock Your Power, tapping expert Poppy Delbridge explains that energy is about far more than how tired or alert we feel. “From a psychological perspective, energy is a communication system,” she writes. “It is a felt-sense of how you are in your body.”

That might sound tricky to get your head around, but as bodywork and integrative practitioner Amanda Tizard puts it, it really means that we are energy. “Just like objects and anything you see in nature, we’re completely made up of energy,” she says. “It’s why you can walk into a room or be around a group of people and feel that energy change.”

It’s a concept we rarely tap into in Western culture, but one that’s deeply rooted in Chinese medicine. “The character 氣 (qi) is often translated as energy, but it’s actually a much bigger concept,” says Ada Ooi, TCM practitioner and founder of 001 London. “Qi describes movement, process and transformation, and it doesn’t just affect emotion and spirit. It impacts the functioning of the whole body.”

Is energy something we can heal?

If we follow TCM beliefs, the connection between qi and the functioning of the whole body - from circulation, digestion, immunity, mood, sleep, and the coordination between our organs - makes keeping our energy ‘healthy’ quite important.

Interestingly, though, none of the three practitioners is keen on the phrase ‘energy healing’. “A lot of clients resonate with it, but I tend to avoid using it in private practice,” says Tizard. “What we’re really talking about with this work is moving emotion and changing how we feel.”

Moving energy is something Ooi also talks about. “Practices like Qigong move qi through the meridian networks of your body,” she says, explaining that these meridians are maps of how energy and blood move through our bodies. “Each has a direction and territory,” she tells me. “When we work with them, we’re prompting the body to regulate itself. In Western terms, this is described through the nervous system; shifting someone out of a chronic stress state so the body can do the repair work it already knows how to do.”

What are the benefits of working with energy?

‘Energy healing’ practices, for want of a better phrase, are varied and far-reaching, so choosing the right one for you will depend on what you’re struggling with. Broadly speaking, though, many are intended to promote relaxation and shift you from a state of fight-or-flight towards rest-and-digest. With that can come improvements in sleep quality and reductions in tension, fatigue, stress and anxiety, with some practices also being used to manage physical pain.

Acupuncture is one example: research has shown it to reduce symptoms of anxiety and provide relief from chronic stress. There’s also evidence for emotional freedom techniques (EFT), which Delbridge uses in her own method of Rapid Tapping. Studies have found that a single hour of clinical EFT can reduce cortisol levels by up to 24%.

“The act of tapping sends a calming signal to the amygdala - the part of your brain that governs your stress response,” Delbridge explains. “Doing so gives the body the message that ‘this is safe’ whilst we ask your mind to look at the difficult thing.”

I Spent a Month Experimenting With Energy Healing - Five Practices I Tried

Now, to my whistle-stop tour of energy healing. Before we go any further, though, a disclaimer: bouncing between five different practices over the course of a month is unlikely to be the optimal approach, nor is ‘healing your energy’ something you can achieve in a single session.

That said, even in this short space of time, I learned some surprising things. Most notably, I came away feeling more connected to the relationship between my mind and body.

1. Acupuncture

I’ll start with my favourite, because I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. When I rang the doorbell to Ada Ooi’s Marylebone clinic, I had no idea what to expect. I knew I was there for an Integrav Wellness consultation rooted in Chinese medicine, and that Ooi specialises in acupuncture and ear seeding, having previously used her ear seeds at home (more on those later).

What I wasn’t prepared for was how much it would feel like a traditional doctor’s appointment – only better. Unlike many of the wellness practices I’d tried, much of our consultation was spent talking. Ooi was kind but direct, a combination I immediately warmed to. She asked about my diet, exercise routine, bowel habits, emotional state, stress levels and work schedule before asking me to open my mouth so she could look at my tongue. Yes, you read that right.

From the colour and texture of my tongue, along with the teeth indentations at the sides, Ooi explained that she was seeing signs of energy deficiency. My pulse, when she checked it, backed this up.

Having concluded that my overall energy reserves were low - something I knew in my gut but had been ignoring for some time - it was time for the hands-on work. Most of the session centred on acupuncture, with Ooi placing needles around my feet and lower legs, abdomen, scalp and temples. Some definitely prompted more sensation than others, but none were painful, and the whole process was generally relaxing.

What surprised me was how different I felt when I left. My legs felt lighter, the tightness in my chest had eased slightly and, stick with me here, my forehead felt more…spacious?

More than anything, though, I felt like Ooi had really seen me. She’d picked up on things I’d been struggling with without me having to spell them out, then offered kind but firm advice that really resonated. My body felt tangibly better for the experience, and I’m already itching to book another session.

2. EFT Tapping

My tapping appointment with Poppy Delbridge came just 24 hours after seeing Ooi, so it’s worth bearing in mind that I was experiencing the cumulative effects of both sessions.

We met over WhatsApp video, and I was nervous. As someone who’s naturally shy, the idea of tapping on my face while reciting affirmations with someone watching from the other side of a screen sounded, frankly, awful. But having previously tried Poppy’s tapping sessions independently after hearing her on Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast, I had some sense of how powerful the practice could be.

So, with a deep breath, we got into it - following Poppy’s own Rapid Tapping method - which combines elements of EFT with manifestation. She couldn’t have been lovelier, and I was grateful that she did the whole thing with me, which made me feel a little less like a deer in the headlights.

What I like about tapping is the way it can help you bypass negative self-talk. I typically struggle with affirmations, but focusing on the physical act of tapping made it easier to repeat the words without getting caught up in whether I believed them.

I’m not going to tell you I felt magically at ease. I was still self-conscious at times and struggled to be fully present. But what I love is how easily I can keep practising it. Because whilst an initial session with a practitioner is helpful, once you get the hang of it, you can do it independently at home. Delbridge’s recommendation? Ten minutes in the morning before you start your day.

Even after one session, I noticed an emotional shift. I’m not a crier, but the next morning, sitting outside with my coffee, I suddenly had my Cameron Diaz moment (if you haven’t seen The Holiday, never mind). It wasn’t a big sob, but I did feel better afterwards, and I’ve since made tapping part of my morning routine.

3. Emotional somatic release

If you’ve seen the women breaking down into cathartic-looking sobs on your TikTok feed, you’ll have some idea of what emotional somatic release can look like.

For me, it didn’t quite go that way. I didn’t really expect it to. I struggle to let go and express outward emotion at the best of times, so while I secretly hoped for one huge release, I wasn’t convinced it was going to happen.

Instead, I found the whole thing intriguing, if a little confusing. I met my practitioner, Amanda Tizard, at HOME - one of my favourite wellness studios in London. As the name suggests, it feels safe and cosy as soon as you walk in; all wooden floorboards and incense aromas.

Once in the treatment room, Tizard asked me about my history and why I was there. Then we got started. The practice involved entering a deeply relaxed, hypnotic state where I could allow my mind to move towards a particular memory or sensation. Tizard explained that a lot of the time these memories are preverbal, meaning they won’t be photographic, but can show up more as colours and shapes. This was certainly true for me and, as someone who has never done hypnotherapy before, it was an entirely new experience.

At times, I did question whether I was speaking from my younger self or whether my adult brain was simply making the answers up. But each time I shared my doubts, Tizard was gentle and reassuring, encouraging me to trust myself and adjusting to my pace.

At the end, I did get a release of sorts: the giggles. Just like crying, Tizard says laughter can release energy, and going by the way I felt later that evening, I’d say that was the case for me. I noticed my stomach doing somersaults and experienced a butterfly-like sensation, despite having nothing obvious to be nervous about.

The best part? The next morning, at my regular talk therapy session, I felt much more able to speak freely. I usually struggle to articulate my feelings and rarely feel safe enough to share openly, but that day I felt lighter and more in tune with what was going on in my body.

4. Reiki

My one-hour Reiki session at Neal’s Yard Remedies in Covent Garden was hands down one of the most relaxing hours of my life. Reiki, a Japanese practice centred on the concept of universal life force energy, is intended to promote relaxation and wellbeing.

It certainly did the former for me, although I didn’t experience any dramatic energy shifts during the hour. As Ooi pointed out when I told her this, these practices aren’t quick fixes - the key is consistency and commitment.

Personally, I can see the appeal of Reiki for everyday stress and tension, but perhaps not for any deeply embedded worries. During my appointment, my therapist combined it with sound healing, massage and breathwork, leaving me in a somewhat dizzy state of drowsiness. At times, I even felt as though my body was being pulled gently in one direction and wondered whether I was visibly moving.

Of all the practices I tried, it was probably the one I’d be least likely to return to. But I know people who absolutely love it, which perhaps says as much about the individual nature of these practices as it does about Reiki itself.

5. Ear seeding

Lastly, ear seeding. Similar to acupuncture, these tiny studs, which look a little like gemstones, are placed on specific points of the ear. In traditional Chinese medicine, the ear is considered a microsystem representing different parts of the body, with different points corresponding to different functions.

I used 001 Acu-Studs, which come with a guide to the different points on the ear. I chose points associated with anxiety, digestion and hormone balance. The idea is to leave the seeds in place for a few days, pressing them periodically for additional stimulation.

It’s impossible to know from my experience alone how much of the effect was placebo, but I did feel noticeably calmer on the days I wore them. I’d often press them when I was feeling overwhelmed by work, and even that became a soothing little ritual.

There’s no doubt I felt a stronger effect from my acupuncture session with Ooi, but for something simple I could incorporate into everyday life, the ear seeds get a tick from me.

The verdict: can energy healing cure an overstimulated nervous system?

It’s been a whirlwind of a month, and at times I’ve felt a little like I’ve been tossed around in a washing machine. But now that I’m finally hanging out to dry, I’ve noticed a significant shift in how my body feels.

As the experts pointed out to me, I think the phrase ‘energy healing’ is ultimately a little reductive, missing much of the nuance between practices that can be vastly different from one another. It also implies a kind of magical fix - and none of these is that.

Instead, they’re an alternative way of unlocking emotions you may have buried deep in your mind and body, and for me, they provided a route into feelings and sensations that I struggle to articulate through talk alone. If you’re someone who finds it difficult to open up in therapy, notices stress manifesting physically, or can’t quite pinpoint what’s bothering you, I think these practices offer another way in.

In short, after a month of experimenting, I’m convinced there’s value in paying closer attention to the energetic frequency we’re operating on - and, for me, tapping into that had a surprisingly significant effect.

Shop MC-UK approved energy healing products now:

Every 15 seconds, somebody searches the NHS website for answers about high blood pressure. And while around one third of UK adults are thought to be living with the condition—also known as hypertension—only around half are believed to be diagnosed. Cue concerns around heart disease, heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, kidney disease and vascular dementia, all listed on the NHS webpage. Here to help change that? Huawei's Watch D3, the latest health-tech launch from the number one wearable brand globally* and the industry’s only smartwatch with a medical-grade inflatable cuff for round-the-clock blood-pressure monitoring, making taking control of your health just that little bit easier.

The question is no longer whether a smartwatch can tell you that your blood pressure might be worth investigating, but whether your smartwatch is actually capable of measuring it. Where a single blood pressure reading provides only a snapshot, continuous monitoring starts to paint a wider, far more useful picture. The Huawei Watch D3, with its innovative inflatable airbag, offers the ability to do exactly that.

Start a 24-hour auto-monitoring plan any time, track your blood pressure through every event in the day—from post-exercise to sleep—and view your results in the Huawei Health app. It will even generate an ambulatory blood pressure monitoring report to send straight to your GP, and can also assess whether your blood pressure is in a suitable range before you start exercising, helping you to identify when you can push yourself or if you need to hold off.

The Huawei Watch D3 also tracks 11 other key health indicators through its Health Glance feature, from heart rate, arrhythmia and rhythm to sleep and daily step count. Plus, there's a real-time account of your emotional wellbeing, highlighting when you feel calm, stressed or relaxed. All of which you can share with your family and friends through the Huawei Health Community.

Does all that capability raise the question of exactly how all of these components fit into one wearable device? The answer is rather sleekly. Picture an ergonomic design, at just 11.3 mm thick and 40g in weight—the watch body far more streamlined than you might imagine—while the airbag strap measures in at 5.5 mm, keeping the watch feeling light and non-cumbersome, even through the night.

With three colours to choose from—black, white, and mocha gold—there's an option to suit every kind of wardrobe. And Huawei Watch D3 comes with NFC payments, plus over 100+ sports modes and six days of battery life as well as being compatible with both iOS and Android.

If heart health isn't your top priority, Huawei's other new drop, the Huawei GT 7 Series has been created with outdoor enthusiasts and sports fans in mind. A mind-blowing 3,000 ski resort maps are ready to be downloaded onto the tiny screen, alongside slope gradient tracking, team mate locations and voice alerts to assist with safety.

Huawei aren't holding back when it comes to health tech advancements, that's for certain. Feeling like we're in control of our own health has never been easier, and Marie Claire readers can receive an exclusive £20 discount when buying the Huawei Watch D3 through the Huawei website from the 23^rd September to the 3^rd November with code "AMC20".

Shop the Huawei Watch D3

I've been writing about health and fitness for almost a decade, so you could say I'm familiar with every wellness trick in the book. I'm a big believer in following wellness that works, but the second said trending hacks start to involve colour-coded planners, five-step morning routines or a suspicious amount of admin, I lose interest. I want to sleep better, feel calmer and generally function like a more well-rested human being, but I don't want improving my wellbeing to become another full-time job.

Which is why micro habits have been sounding increasingly appealing. They're deliberately small behaviours designed to fit into your existing life rather than requiring you to overhaul it. The MC team has already investigated everything from neuroscientist-approved productivity tips and journalling to whether sleepmaxxing is actually worth the hype, but I was interested in something much simpler: could giving my day a little more structure have a knock-on effect on how well I slept?

I was intrigued to find out after a new 2026 study found that older adults with more regular daily routines reported less physical pain and fewer depressive symptoms, including those experiencing insomnia. It's a small study of 67 people and can't prove that routine itself caused those improvements, but the findings raise an interesting question about how the rhythm of our days might influence our wellbeing, rather than looking solely at what happens after our heads hit the pillow.

There is evidence for regularity elsewhere, too. A 2025 study found that greater sleep regularity was associated with a lower subsequent risk of depression and anxiety. Again, that's an association rather than proof of cause and effect, but it was enough to pique my interest. So, rather than reinventing my entire night-time routine, I tried spending ten minutes each morning loosely mapping out my day. The results? Keep reading to find out.

Whilst you're here, don't miss our guides to avoidable energy-draining habits, how to boost energy, and how to beat fatigue.

Can Keeping A Daily Schedule Improve Sleep? What The Experts Think

What is a micro habit?

A micro habit is essentially a behaviour small enough to feel genuinely achievable. The idea isn't to wake up one Monday morning as a completely new person; it's to make one change simple enough that you're more likely to repeat it.

Not convinced? Take a look at this UCL research, which found that the more consistently people repeated a new behaviour, the more likely it was to become a habit. Put simply, repetition matters.

Psychotherapist and author Eloise Skinner tells me structure can also help us feel "more organised, ordered and supported", particularly if we're prone to anxiety, overwhelm or struggling with routine. "With a daily schedule, we also reduce the number of choices we need to make each day, which can reduce 'decision fatigue'," she explains.

Dr Nadia Ahmad agrees that keeping things manageable is important. "The key with micro habits is that they should feel achievable," she says. "It could be as simple as writing tomorrow's three priorities, spending five minutes preparing for the next day, or keeping a consistent morning wake time."

Can keeping a daily schedule really improve your sleep?

Possibly - but not because owning a beautifully organised diary magically makes you sleepier.

Ahmad explains that regularity helps support our circadian rhythm, the body's internal sleep-wake cycle. "Our circadian rhythm responds well to consistency, so getting up, eating, exercising and going to bed at broadly similar times can support the body's natural sleep pattern."

There's a psychological element, too. Skinner says our brains are often reassured by "a sense of structure and familiarity" because it removes some of the uncertainty and decision-making from our day. If sleep is important to us, she adds, keeping track of our time can help us actually reserve space for winding down rather than discovering, once again, that it's somehow 11.47pm and we're still doing life admin. *Guilty*

What does the science say on the method?

New research into daily routines has looked at what's known as behavioural-social rhythms - essentially, the patterns we create around when we wake, eat, socialise and sleep. Researchers found that people with more regular routines reported fewer depressive symptoms and less pain, even when sleep quality was taken into account.

And while nobody needs to start scheduling lunch to the minute, there could be something useful in giving the day a little shape. Skinner points out that "setting our schedule in advance can also help us establish our values and priorities, aligning our actions with things we feel to be meaningful for us." If getting enough sleep is one of those priorities, putting a rough framework around your day may simply make it easier to protect the time for it.

Are there any downsides to keeping a daily schedule?

As the saying goes, moderation is key. Skinner explains: "As with any wellbeing practice, performing it to an extent that feels restrictive or controlling could actually have a negative impact on our wellbeing or mental health." Instead, she advises experimenting with small changes, noticing what feels supportive and adapting anything that begins creating more pressure than it removes.

Ahmad also stresses that routines aren't treatment. "For people living with insomnia, persistent pain or low mood, routines can be supportive, but they are not a replacement for appropriate medical assessment and treatment." If sleep problems are persistent or affecting day-to-day life, the NHS also advises speaking to a GP.

I Kept a Daily Schedule for a Week to Improve My Sleep—My Honest Thoughts

Days one to three

I started exactly as you'd expect someone starting a new wellness experiment to start: extremely keen and absolutely convinced I was going to nail it. Knowing myself, however, I set a ten-minute timer to be safe. This was supposed to be messy, useful and beneficial - not another route into maximising my productivity and optimising every waking moment.

I've tried productivity journals that break the day down hour by hour before, and I find them oddly stressful. If a meeting moves, lunch runs late or, frankly, life happens, suddenly it looks as though you're behind on your own existence. So I deliberately kept mine vague: work, lunch, exercise, dinner, switch-off time and bed.

I struggled not to overcomplicate it at first, but by day three I'd got the hang of stopping when my timer went off. Sleep-wise? Nothing dramatic happened. I mostly felt a bit smug about keeping up my new habit, although I did notice that having the bones of my day on paper made everything feel slightly less chaotic.

Days four to seven

By the latter half of the week, I'd started looking forward to my ten-minute planning sessions. I still left enough space for plans to change, but one part of my schedule became unusually non-negotiable: a sharp 10 pm bedtime.

And this, I think, was where the experiment became useful. Skinner had told me that scheduling could help us "find a routine that feels sustainable and repeatable, rather than always getting to bed late, or not feeling as if we have enough time to wind down". Seeing bedtime written down meant I stopped treating sleep as whatever happened once I'd finished everything else.

By the end of the week, I was clocking close to nine hours on several nights. Obviously, one woman, one notebook and seven days do not constitute a scientific trial, and I can't say my schedule caused me to sleep longer. But it did reveal something about my habits: perhaps my problem wasn't always that I couldn't sleep. Sometimes, I simply wasn't protecting enough time to do it.

Counting Sheep? Shop MC-approved Sleep Essentials Below:

I'm going to caveat something right at the start: I am the least zen person, ever. I've never been what you'd describe as chill - something that, as I've got older and life has got more - well, complex, let's say - has only got worse.

Three kids, a dog and a job (albeit one that I love) combine to make my days not only wonderfully full but also ever so slightly chaotic, too. Let me tell you, family life (especially when it includes parenting teenagers) is not for the faint-hearted.

It's something I'm all too aware I need to work on. I'm not really one for tracking stats and metrics, but I have been wearing an Oura ring for a couple of years now, and if there's one thing it's great at, it's telling me when I'm stressed. Which seems to be all the time. Combine this with fluctuating hormones in perimenopause, and it's safe to say it's a recipe for nervous system disaster.

I know I'm not alone, but as a Health and Fitness Writer, I'm also painfully aware of the toll a dysregulated nervous system is having on my health, both mental and physical. And the science agrees: studies (like this one, published in the journal Future Science OA) show that long-term stress impacts brain health, immune function, sleep, gut health and can trigger inflammation. So far, so worrying - but it's not all bad news, as there are simple ways we can all work on regulating our nervous system to reduce overall stress.

But the fact is that I need simple, and I need quick. So, when I was asked to test out some five-minute nervous system resets every day for a week, it felt like the perfect challenge. Keep scrolling to find out how I got on, but in the meantime, you might be interested to read up on how our Health Writers got on when we tried swapping an evening scroll for a 20-minute wind-down ritual, stacking our week with low-stimulation moments and living more optimistically for a month, here.

Think 5-Minutes Isn’t Enough To Soothe Your Nervous System? I Tested It - Here's What Worked

What are 5-minute nervous system resets?

In a refreshing change from much of the wellness space, five-minute nervous system resets are exactly what you'd think they are: five minutes of intentional calming practices, designed to work as a kind of stress circuit breaker, if you will.

"Five-minute nervous system resets are short, intentional practices that help shift the body out of a stress response state and back into a calmer, more regulated mode," explains Dr Tom Maggs, chief medical officer at Healthwords. "They work by activating the parasympathetic nervous system, the branch responsible for rest, digestion, recovery and emotional balance. These resets are deliberately simple and low effort, making them easy to integrate into daily life.

"Breathwork, stepping outside for fresh air, walking without a phone, grounding exercises, gentle stretching, or even splashing cool water on the face can all act as quick interventions that interrupt the cycle of chronic stress many people experience throughout the day." Sounds good, right?

What are the benefits of 5-minute nervous system resets?

Most of us probably know that a calm and regulated nervous system is unequivocally a good thing, but it's not always easy to achieve - especially when we're being bombarded with wellness advice at every turn.

So, what exactly are the benefits of five-minute nervous system resets? Let's dive in.

1. They're an antidote to 'always on' culture

Finding modern life draining? Yep, us too. Productivity and hustle culture are very real, and we're all constantly bombarded with notifications, emails, messages and more - all day, every day. The solution? A few five-minute rests scattered throughout the day can make all the difference.

"Short breaks can help reduce the sense of being constantly 'on' and give you an opportunity to come down from that heightened state," shares Dr Tom MacLaren, consultant psychiatrist at Recognition Health. "Mentally, they can help with stress, irritability and feeling overwhelmed, while also giving you a chance to return to a task with a clearer head."

2. They calm our stress response

As you'd expect, short nervous system resets are quite literally designed to calm our stress response and help us move from a fight-or-flight state into our parasympathetic nervous system (a relaxed state).

“When we’re stressed, our bodies can enter a heightened state of alert, which can affect everything from our heart rate and breathing to our ability to concentrate," explains Yetunde Bankole, Head of Mental Health and Wellbeing at Vitality. "A short calming practice can help interrupt that immediate stress response, allowing us to slow our breathing, release some physical tension and feel more grounded."

3. They help us think more clearly

Struggling to focus? You're not alone.

"Mentally, even a brief pause can help create some distance from racing thoughts or feelings of overwhelm, which may make it easier to think clearly and respond to a situation rather than simply react to it," shares Bankole.

4. They boost resilience

If there's one metric I track consistently, it's resilience. But far from simply being a nice-to-have, resilience is crucial not only to help us deal with the stress and pressures of the here and now, but also to future-proof our bodies (and brains) to be able to handle life's curveballs when they arise, too.

And while they might not sound like much, short five-minute nervous system resets are a brilliant way to work on and improve our resilience.

"Five-minute nervous system resets activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which supports recovery, improves mood, and can make you more resilient to ongoing stress," shares Dr Mayoni Gooneratne, executive medical director of PHC Clinics.

5. They relax the body

The benefits of a five-minute nervous system reset extend way beyond the brain. Just as we can feel stress within our bodies, we can also experience the benefit of reducing it physically.

"There is a physical side to this too," agrees Dr MacLaren. "When we're stressed, we can hold tension in our muscles, breathe more shallowly and feel our heart rate increase. Slowing down and breathing more calmly can help the body move towards a more relaxed state."

The result? Improved sleep, mood, energy and focus. Tell us again why we don't have time for them...

The 5-minute nervous system resets I tried

Honestly, I'm not exaggerating when I say that one of the toughest parts of this trial was which resets to choose - there are a plethora of nervous system-boosting habits that I'm convinced I'd benefit from - so I asked the experts to help me narrow it down.

The one they all recommend? Breathwork. This can take a few different forms - a physiological sigh (a normal breath in followed by another, shorter one and a deep exhale), box breathing (inhaling, holding, exhaling and pausing for four seconds each) and slow, diaphragmatic breathing are all great options here.

Additionally, I opt for grounding, walking in nature, gentle movement, doing nothing (bliss!) and a five-minute brain dump - but really, it's all very subjective; the trick is to find what calms and relaxes you, and go with that.

When should we be using 5-minute nervous system resets?

Always one for the details, I want to know exactly how and when to perform these nervous system resets (that Type A personality can be a hurdle!) - but the experts do share a word of caution here.

"It's important not to overstate what five minutes can do," cautions Dr MacLaren. "These resets aren't a cure for anxiety, depression or chronic stress, but they are a very accessible way of supporting your mental wellbeing and managing everyday pressure."

Noted. And I also need to let that perfectionism slide, too. "The most effective resets are simple and repeatable," shares Dr Maggs. "Choosing something you can do anywhere makes it easier to build the habit. Repeating these practices regularly allows the benefits to compound over time. The aim is not perfection, but creating small moments where the body can shift out of 'fight or flight'."

Crucially - and this is something I'm totally guilty of - this is as much about practising these habits when you're not stressed and overwhelmed as it is remembering to utilise them when you are under pressure.

"We can use these techniques as many times as we wish," advises yoga teacher and wellness practitioner, Jack Bryant. "However, the nervous system learns through repetition. Consistency is better than doing one long session a week because it trains your brain to access a state of calm on demand.

"As with any practice, it needs to be sustainable. If every other day is sustainable for you, that’s perfect. If you have time for once, or even twice, a day, enjoy."

I tried 5-minute nervous system resets every day for a week - here's what really works

Days one to three: breathwork and gentle movement

To say I'm keen to get started is an understatement - my kids have just returned to school after what feels like the longest summer ever - and my nervous system is in shreds. So, I need to pull out the big guns for the first few days - hence why I plump for breathwork (the universally backed habit that the experts maintain really works) and gentle movement.

If I'm completely honest, breathwork is something I've always been a little apprehensive about. As an anxious person, my breathing is always one of the first things to go when I'm feeling under pressure, so I've previously shied away from focusing on it, more through fear than anything else.

However, breathwork and nervous system regulation expert Sam Adams reassures me I'm far from alone, here, and she gives me a few entry-level exercises to try out.

"Breathing at a slow, steady rhythm can help organise the interaction between our breathing, heart rhythm and the pressure-regulating reflexes of the cardiovascular system," she tells me. "It gives the nervous system a predictable pattern to follow, which may reduce some of the internal 'noise' we experience when we’re stressed or overloaded."

So, during one typically busy morning, I take myself off and sit quietly, preparing to focus solely on breathing in and out. Adams recommends a rhythmic breathing practice, where I allow my shoulders and jaw to soften and spend the first 30 seconds simply noticing my breathing without trying to change it.

Next, I breathe gently in through my nose for a count of five and gently out for a count of five, aiming to keep the breath smooth, quiet and comfortable.

"The important thing is not to take big, deep breaths," advises Adams. "Think rhythm rather than volume: the breath should feel light and unforced. If five seconds feels too long, shorten the count to four seconds in and four seconds out. If you feel lightheaded, strained or uncomfortable, return to your normal breathing."

Full disclosure: it takes me a little while to settle into it and to calm my racing mind, but before I know it, my shoulders have dropped, and I swear my heart rate has slowed. Overall, I've been tapped out of my real life for less than 10 minutes, and I'm already feeling calmer.

The tricky part, for me, is remembering to repeat the process a few times each day - I'm a one-and-done kind of person, so it's tempting to think I've ticked breathwork off once I've tried it - but I have the experts' comments about consistency ringing in my ears. I find setting a timer on my phone each hour helps, too.

Next up, some gentle movement. Despite owning a walking pad under my desk, I'm a sucker for sitting down while I'm working (I feel like I can focus better when my body is still), and I'm guilty of spending hours typing in the same position. I know from stiffness in my back and neck that I could absolutely do with taking more movement breaks, so I'm keen to see if these five-minute breaks will help.

Unlike breathwork, I find incorporating gentle movement way more intuitive - a few shoulder rolls force me into improved posture and encourage me to take more mini breaks generally - walking to the kettle to make a cuppa counts, right?

The key word here is gentle - this isn't a workout, and it's not supposed to be taxing. It's simply about stepping away from the chaos of the day for a few seconds - and I'm pleasantly surprised to discover that I feel more focused and productive for it, too.

Days four to seven: doing nothing, morning grounding and a 5-minute brain dump

So far, so successful: I'm really enjoying these micro-breaks in my day. I'm even making a bit of a ritual of simple things like lighting a candle mid-morning (the perfect mood boost on these gloomier autumnal days), and it's clear that almost anything can be a mindful nervous system reset when approached with an open mind.

Task number three could not be more exciting: doing nothing. That's right: absolutely nothing.

"I think there's something to be said for doing nothing at all," shares Dr MacLaren. "We have become incredibly used to filling every spare moment with our phones. Sitting with a coffee, looking out of the window or simply allowing yourself five minutes without stimulation can feel surprisingly restorative."

But while it sounds appealing, I actually find this one really challenging. My mind is going at a million miles an hour, and I can't stop thinking about my never-ending to-do list: sitting still and doing nothing feels almost punitive rather than restorative. So, after a couple of days trying, I park this one, on the advice of the experts.

"For some people, sitting still isn't relaxing at all, so gentle movement or stretching may work better," notes Dr MacLaren. "There really isn't one perfect reset. It's about finding what helps you feel calmer and more present."

Onwards and upwards - there's no failure here. Onto the next reset, and it's one I'm well acquainted with: morning grounding. Over the summer, when I knew my days were going to be filled with demands and busyness, I made myself go outside each morning and - as the kids say - touch grass, focusing on what all my senses were tuned into. Turns out, I was onto something.

"Grounding techniques can be really useful as a way to regulate the nervous system," notes Bankole. "Simply taking a moment to notice what you can see, hear and physically feel around you can bring your attention back to the present. This grounding technique is particularly useful because it is you telling your brain that there is nothing threatening in your immediate environment. You engage your senses to communicate that you're safe, in order to interrupt that stress response and invite calm."

Some experts suggest using a 5-4-3-2-1 method to tune into each sense in turn, but really, you can do whatever works for you. I found a few deep breaths with my eyes closed, breathing in nature and listening to the sounds, were incredibly soothing.

Last but not least, it was time for the five-minute brain dump.

"If your stress is being driven by mental overload, write down everything competing for your attention," advises GP, longevity expert and founder of HUM2N, Dr Mohammed Enayat. "Don't organise it initially - just get it out of your head. Then identify one thing you can deal with now and what can wait. Often the nervous system isn't responding to one enormous problem, but to the feeling that twenty unfinished things require your attention simultaneously."

Now this one I really could engage with - I feel like I was born making lists, so I'm firmly back in my comfort zone, and it ticks the box of me feeling vaguely productive at the same time, too.

And you know what? Writing everything down had the unexpected benefit of making my to-do list feel slightly more achievable - maybe those chores really do magnify in the mind.

My verdict

If it's not already patently clear from the above, I'd be more than happy if someone were to insist that I continue with all of these 5-minute nervous system resets, but, you know - life - so, if I have to choose, there's one clear winner.

Drumroll please: it's breathwork. For a myriad of reasons (including you can do it anywhere, anytime and without anyone batting an eyelid), focussing on my breath is absolutely one I'm adding to my daily essentials going forward.

Not only was it incredibly simple to do, but unlike some of the other resets, I found it immediately effective: even just a few short breaths and a deeper exhale forced me to drop my shoulders (it's almost impossible to have your shoulders by your ears when doing any kind of breathwork) and I felt instantly calmer - a win, by anyone's standards.

I'm sold - I'll absolutely be continuing to use this habit throughout my days, whether I'm stressed out, totally zen or somewhere in between. More than this, though, the whole week has shown me that five minutes really can work wonders, if you put your mind to it.

I can safely say this isn't just a trend: taking a few moments out of your day now and again can help restore perspective, improve focus and - most importantly - help you feel calmer. And couldn't we all benefit from that?

Shop MC UK's go-to essentials for a calm and balanced nervous system:

Think wellness is overcomplicated? Often, us too. Between supplements, sleep, nutrition, workouts and more (don't even get us started on the everything-maxxing trend), it's safe to say that the noise is getting ever louder - making it almost impossible to know what's really worth investing our time, money and energy into.

But one thing's for sure: our wellbeing absolutely deserves our time and attention. Far from being simply a nice-to-have, research shows that wellness permeates our entire lives, being an important predictor of physical health, longevity, and even how well we recover from illness and injury (not convinced? Take a look at this study, published in the journal Affective Science). And it's not jus tab out physical health, either, as further studies (like this one, from the journal Nature) reveal that wellbeing can even impact factors such as financial stability and resilience.

So, how can we prioritise wellbeing without being sucked into an expensive, all-consuming (and, arguably, self-sabotaging) vortex of money-making metrics? The solution, it appears, is simpler than you might fear: enter, low-effort wellness habits. That's right, we're talking wellbeing boosts that (ideally) take only a few minutes of your time - and, for the most part, are entirely free. And the best bit? Performed consistently, they can radically improve your energy, mood and focus.

Intrigued? Keep scrolling for the best expert-backed wellness habits to try today - you can thank us later. And if (like us) you're low-key obsessed with all things wellbeing-related, you might want to check out our guides to using friendship as a health tool, the warning signs your wellness habits are making you financially sick and everything you need to know about the soft hermitting trend - plus, find out how one Health Writer got on when she tried to be more optimistic for a month, here.

Low-Effort Wellness Habits Could Be the Key to Boosting Energy, Mood and Focus–Here Are 9 Expert-Backed Tricks To Try Today

What are low-effort wellness habits?

First up, let's take a look at exactly what we mean by low-effort wellness habits. You'll be pleased to hear that they're literally what they say on the tin: designed to be low-effort, yet high-reward.

“Low-effort wellness habits are small, achievable actions that support our mental or physical wellbeing without requiring lots of time, money or motivation," explains Yetunde Bankole, head of mental health and wellbeing at Vitality. "They could be as simple as stepping outside for a few minutes, drinking a glass of water, stretching between meetings or putting your phone away while you eat.

"The key is that they’re easy enough to realistically fit into everyday life. Looking after our wellbeing doesn’t always need to involve a complete lifestyle overhaul - small actions can help us feel better in the moment and, when repeated, become useful parts of our routine.”

What are the benefits of low-effort wellness habits?

We get it: you're wondering how a few simple moments can really make that much difference, right? Well, hear this: experts endorse just five minutes (count 'em!) spent stepping away from your everyday life for boosting overall wellbeing, resilience, mood, energy and more.

"I think wellness has tended to become really quite complex, and actually, at its best, it is probably incredibly simple," shares private GP and co-founder of Coyne Medical, Dr Lucy Hooper. "Some of the simplest things in the world are the things that get us feeling better the fastest: going outside, moving our bodies, reading our books, stroking a dog, or just spending time talking to the people we care about."

Let's dig in to the detail.

1. They're accessible

This is the big draw of the low-effort habit idea (let's not call it a trend - we're hoping it's far more than that!): it's eminently achievable for pretty much everyone.

"The biggest benefit is that they feel realistic," agrees registered nurse-turned-entrepreneur Cassandra Sonma Ukaoba (Cass Uk). "You don't need to completely change your life overnight. Small actions, repeated consistently, can help you become more aware of your energy, mood and stress levels. They can also help us move away from waiting until we are completely exhausted before taking care of ourselves. Prevention is always better than reaching the point where your body is forcing you to stop."

2. They encourage consistency

“Whatever you're prioritising in your wellness, whether it's walking or drinking more water, you'll achieve your goals faster if you're consistent, rather than boom or bust, boom or bust," shares Gemma Bray, aka The Organised Mum and author of The Organised Mum Method. "Motivation is really fleeting. I think of it like a little flame that ignites your will to do something, and it comes and goes, it doesn't stay around. It's momentum that helps you build a habit.”

3. They promote self-awareness

You know what they say: prevention is better than cure, and never more so than when it comes to wellness. A few daily habits allow us to check in with ourselves on a regular basis, and might help issues from building up.

"Low-effort wellness habits can help us become more aware of how we're feeling," agrees Madalaine McCarthy, women’s health and fertility acupuncturist and founder of Yin Space. "Rather than waiting until we're completely exhausted or overwhelmed, we can use small moments throughout the day to pause, check in with ourselves and respond to what we need. The idea of regular, gentle support is important. We don't necessarily need to wait until something feels significantly out of balance before taking care of ourselves."

4. They boost focus and productivity

Focus and productivity might not necessarily be terms you immediately associate with wellness, but think how good you feel when you manage to tick off those small wins first thing in the morning, and tell us that's not wellbeing.

"There are also practical benefits to low-effort wellness habits," agrees McCarthy. "A short walk can provide a change of environment, gentle movement and a break from screens. A few minutes of breathing can help us pause before moving on to the next task. Acupressure can provide a moment of physical focus and relaxation.

"This being said, it's important not to overstate what these habits can do. They are complementary wellness tools, not substitutes for medical care, adequate sleep, a balanced diet or professional support when it's needed. However, they can be useful additions to a broader approach to wellbeing."

Expert-backed low-effort wellness habits to try today

1. Walking in nature

Surely the simplest wellbeing win of them all, stepping outside is an instant mood-booster - even if it's just to your garden/terrace/front door step - and if you combine this with a walk (however brief), so much the better.

"Movement is the single most useful thing you can do for strength, mood and heart health, particularly in midlife, and it does not require planning," notes Dr Shashi Prasad, specialist in integrative women's health at The Marion Gluck Clinic. "Additionally, if you have the chance, combining movement with mindful time in green space lowers stress hormones, reduces blood pressure, and boosts immune function and it gives you a genuine break from the demands of the day."

2. Breathwork

When in doubt, the experts all agree: focus on the breath. A key principle in many wellbeing practices, simple breathwork really can shift your whole body (and mind) from stressed to soothed in a remarkably short space of time.

"Slow diaphragmatic breathing is one of the most wellness powerful tools available - even just a minute can reduce physiological stress markers," shares Dr Tom Maggs, chief medicial officer at Healthwords. "This is because focusing on the body through breath deliberately encourages the parasympathetic system to activate, as deep, controlled breaths stimulate the vagus nerve.

"Box breathing (inhaling, holding, exhaling and pausing for four seconds each) is an easy way to start, creating a predictable rhythm that calms the body quickly and reliably."

3. Connection

We've said it before, and it remains true: our friendships quite literally make us healthier.

"Social connection is so important for our brains," shares Dr Hooper. "A lack of connection has been shown to impact both mental and physical health, even increasing our risk of dementia. Spending time talking with friends or family, even just a five-minute conversation, is vital for our wellbeing."

Take this as permission to get that girl's night out of the group chat.

4. Grounding

"Grounding techniques can be so effective for boosting wellbeing," shares Bankole. "Simply taking a moment to notice what you can see, hear and physically feel around you can bring your attention back to the present.

"This grounding technique is particularly useful because it is you telling your brain that there is nothing threatening in your immediate environment. You engage your senses to communicate that you're safe, in order to interrupt that stress response and invite calm."

5. Progressive muscle relaxation

"When stress builds, simple evidence-based techniques can bring the body's immediate stress response down," explains Dr Glenn Mason, consultant counselling psychologist at Onebright. "Practice them when you are calm, so they are easy to reach when you are not.

"Progressive muscle relaxation targets the physical side of anxiety. Tense and release each muscle group in turn, starting with your shoulders, arms and hands before moving down to your legs and feet, holding the tension for a few seconds each time before letting go."

6. Reading

"I read every single day, and I think it is one of the most underrated things for relaxation," shares Dr Hooper. "You can read a book anywhere and, in a few minutes, be taken somewhere completely different in your mind. It can even create that little bit of holiday vibes in everyday life and give our brains a break from work and screens."

7. Spending time with pets

Animal lovers, listen up: hanging out with our pets is great for our mental health.

"Spending time with animals is very calming and has been linked to reducing stress, possibly via the release of oxytocin, our so-called love hormone," says Dr Hooper. "Stroking a cat or a dog also encourages us just to take a moment to stop, slow down and focus on something outside of ourselves, which is really therapeutic."

8. Single tasking

Forget everything you've been told about multi-tasking: it's really not the flex we've all been led to believe, when it comes to mental wellbeing. Whatever wellness habit you've plumped for - focus on that, and that alone.

"One of the biggest messages is actually just to focus on doing one of these things at a time," advises Dr Hooper. "So, if you are taking that walk through a park or by the river, try to do it without checking your social media or emails, because you might then lose the benefits of that mental break. Even if it’s just five minutes, giving your mind a break will pay dividends."

9. Gentle stretching

Perfect for those of us who spend much of the day sitting at a desk, building gentle movement into your routine has so many benefits.

"Gentle stretching is another super option for enhancing wellbeing, particularly if you’ve been sitting at a desk or holding physical tension in your shoulders, neck or jaw," says Bankole. "You're acknowledging without judgement what is going on physically for you, we can hold that stress tension in our bodies physically without noticing. By noticing it, we can support ourselves through that mind body connection and gentle stretching helps us to release that tension at least physically.”

Shop MC UK's go-to wellbeing essentials now:

Hands up if you've fallen in love with Pilates in the last few years, whether that be on your mat at home or in a studio? It's been the workout of the moment for a hot minute now, encouraging millions of people worldwide to embrace low-impact, muscle-boosting movement.

The stats do the talking, really: ClassPass Pilates bookings rose 66% from 2024 to 2025, cementing its spot as the platform's most-booked workout globally for the third consecutive year. In 2025, it surpassed 27 million global searches on the app, leading to industry reports (including this UK-specific 2026 industry report from APPI) describing the sweat session as moving into a “post-trend era."

Long story short: Pilates is here to stay and showing no signs of slowing down.

But if you've been practising for a while now and not noticing the many (read: core strength, improved posture, better flexibility and more) benefits it promises, that's where I come in. I'm Ashlea McKee, a classical Pilates instructor, MC UK Master and founder of Élan Wellbeing and the Pilates with Ashlea app. I've been learning and teaching Pilates for almost ten years now, with a current residency at London's The Newman Hotel.

Keep scrolling for the one Pilates essential that you may be overlooking in your practice (spoiler alert: it's really simple). And if you're keen to learn more about your practice while you're here, be sure to read our guides to the best Pilates exercises for beginners, best Pilates core moves, best core sculpting Pilates moves and the best Pilates bar exercises here.

Not Seeing Results From Pilates? Try This Simple Tweak

One of the most commonly overlooked elements in Pilates is the mind-body connection. If you feel like you’re not seeing results or experiencing all those amazing benefits of Pilates we hear so much about, this could be the missing piece.

When we talk about the mind-body connection, we’re talking about bringing mindfulness into every movement. This helps us connect to our breath, improve our form, and engage the correct muscles.

In Pilates, we often work from what we call the 'powerhouse' - the deep abdominal muscles and the muscles surrounding the trunk and pelvis. We initiate many of our movements from this strong centre to support and protect the spine, build stability, and help the rest of the body move more freely.

How important is proper form?

Proper form is so important in Pilates. It’s what helps to transform the body by using technique and alignment to get as much as possible out of every exercise. Simply moving the body is still great, but moving with intention is where the real magic happens. Understanding the purpose behind each movement helps us find proper form, engage the correct muscles, and unlock all those amazing benefits Pilates has to offer.

Good form can vary because there’s no such thing as perfect form or one exact way that every exercise should look. All of our bodies are unique and different in terms of their structure and the way they move.

When we talk about good form, we’re talking about moving correctly for your body, working in alignment, and recruiting the right muscles. This helps us avoid placing unnecessary pressure on the wrong areas or reinforcing unhelpful movement habits that could over time contribute to imbalances, discomfort, or even injury.

Often, you won’t know what needs adjusting unless you have someone there to guide and correct you, whether that’s in a group class or a 1:1 session. Make sure your instructor isn’t just telling you what to do, but also teaching you how to do it. That’s when you know you’re in a good Pilates class.

How does the mind-body connection affect the effectiveness of your workout?

Pilates is mindful movement, so it’s really important to tune into that connection. It isn’t always easy at first, especially if it’s something you’re not used to. Personally, my favourite thing about Pilates is how it takes you out of a busy mind and brings you into the present moment. You can focus on what you’re doing, how you’re doing it, and how your body feels. Through breathing and intentional movement, Pilates can leave you feeling amazing and energised from the inside out. Rather than moving aimlessly or feeling disconnected, you become completely connected and present in the room. This helps you progress, build strength, develop greater body awareness and, in turn, live a healthier and more balanced life.

There’s no quick fix for anything, but with consistency and drive, Pilates can definitely help you feel a difference. Moving with greater mindfulness and intention can transform not only how you move and progress in class, but how you feel in everyday life. You may begin to stand taller, feel stronger and more energised, experience a greater sense of calm, and find more mental clarity. These are just some of the amazing benefits that a consistent Pilates practice can help you build over time, and what I've noticed the difference in.

What should people be focusing on mentally during Pilates?

Pilates is an individual practice, and I think it’s important to start with the foundations and build from there. A big part of that (and one of the main principles of Pilates) is breath. One of the best ways to bring yourself into the space is to connect with your breath and then begin connecting your breath to your movement. This is a great way to kick-start that mind-body connection. As you become more in tune, listen closely to your instructor’s cues and ask yourself the following questions:

• Are you thinking about both how and why you’re moving?
• Are you observing which muscles or areas of the body are working?
• Are you lengthening, creating a two-way stretch, making a connection, or forming a particular shape?
• Are you thinking about the shape of the movement, the resistance within the body, and the control behind it?

I really recommend returning to the 6 commonly recognised principles of Pilates - breath, flow, precision, concentration, centring, and control. Try to bring these elements into every class, even if your teacher isn’t specifically cueing them. Coming back to these principles helps you maintain an intentional and authentic practice, so there is always purpose behind both the how and the why of every movement.

Any common exercises where people tend not to engage the right muscles?

It’s very common to use momentum rather than engaging the right muscles and moving with control. A great example of this is the Roll Up, a classical mat exercise that you might recognise from the classical Pilates repertoire. You begin lying on your back, then curl and peel yourself off the mat to come into a C shape, reaching over your toes before controlling the movement back down. As instructors, we often see the arms swing forward to lift the upper body. When that happens, the heels may also begin to lift, and we can lose that full-body connection. Although you’re getting yourself up, you’re not necessarily moving mindfully or using control.

Instead, try breaking the movement down. Breathe in to prepare, then breathe out as you slowly begin to lift. Think about the body moving in sections, using your breath to control every part of the movement. Visualisation and imagery can really help with this mind-body connection. As you roll back down, imagine melting your spine into the mat, one vertebra at a time, rather than flattening your body straight down. As you come up, rather than simply stretching forward and flattening the shape, think about lifting out of the hips to create a big C curve. Visualising that C can help you connect more deeply to your body while developing greater control and body awareness.

Could poor alignment explain why someone isn’t seeing physical changes?

Alignment and technique could definitely explain why an exercise feels harder than it should. You might be engaging the wrong muscles, compensating on one side, or relying on one side more than the other, which can leave you feeling unbalanced. If we’re not using our centre, everything can feel a little heavier and harder.

If we’re not connecting to our breath, it may be more difficult to sustain the movement, and without that mind-to-muscle connection, we can end up moving a little aimlessly, without much intention behind what we’re doing. But just because an exercise feels easy doesn’t mean you’re not progressing.

A foundational exercise can feel just as challenging as an advanced one when you perform it with real focus and intention. This also comes down to finding an instructor who knows how to challenge you. Even with something as simple as a shoulder bridge - lifting the hips and then rolling back down- there should be detailed cues that help you connect to every part of the movement, top to toe and feel yourself building strength, stability, and control.

What is one simple adjustment people can make?

One simple thing you can take into your next class and something you may not have heard before. It's the idea of oppositional stretch, or what we sometimes call a 'two-way' stretch. This helps connect the whole body and strengthen the mind-body connection, supporting better form and technique. For example, think about bird dog, where you’re in four-point kneeling and reaching one arm and the opposite leg away from your centre. You can also apply it to an abdominal exercise while lying on your back, reaching your arms and legs in opposite directions. Imagine your legs being pulled one way as your arms reach in the other, while staying strongly connected through your centre. Rather than forcing a greater range of motion, think about creating more active length through the body.

Often, we think we’ve reached as far as we can, but by connecting more deeply, using the breath, and engaging the deep core, we may find a little more length and strength within the movement. So, in your next class, think about where you can create that two-way stretch and find two opposing points of connection.

If someone feels like they’ve “plateaued” with Pilates, what would you recommend?

My biggest advice is don’t give up. Try a different class, a different instructor, or even a different style of Pilates. Pilates is a whole system, but the formats we see most commonly today are mat and reformer, as well as tower and other studio apparatus. If you’ve gone straight into reformer, I really recommend exploring the mat and learning the foundations.

You can do this at home through the Pilates with Ashlea app, where you’ll find more than 200 classes, including beginner guides, exercise tutorials, and full-length sessions. For me, mat work is where it’s at, while reformer can be a brilliant complement and may feel more dynamic depending on the teaching style. It’s also worth exploring different studios. You’ll find fitness-based, contemporary, and classical Pilates, and every space will have its own atmosphere, teaching approach, and style of cueing. Just because you’ve tried a few classes and haven’t loved them, it doesn’t mean Pilates isn’t for you. You may simply not have found the right fit yet.

If you’ve only practised on the mat, you might enjoy introducing apparatus or props such as the Magic Circle or Pilates ball. You could also explore reformer, tower, or a fully equipped Pilates studio. There are so many ways to experience and progress within the method. When you find a teacher, studio, and community that you really connect with, stick with them. Movement should feel amazing and be something you genuinely look forward to. Of course, we all feel tired sometimes, but your practice should ultimately leave you feeling fuelled with positivity.

If it’s within your budget, I’d also recommend booking a 1:1 session. Personalised guidance can help you understand what your body needs and give you specific tools to take into your group classes. That could be a single introductory session or a package that allows you to explore your practice more deeply.

And if you’re in London, you can join us for group mat classes at The Newman in Fitzrovia that are challenging, educational and just as fun.

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There’s a particular kind of anxiety that seems to arrive in your late twenties: suddenly, everyone becomes very interested in your ovaries. The phrase “biological clock” starts appearing everywhere - in conversations, social media, normally served alongside nuggets of unsolicited advice. Tick-tock. Your eggs are ageing. Your fertility is declining. And here’s the thing: some of it is true. But generations of women have been handed the same message: don’t wait too long. And that fear can be hard to shake.

​Yes, fertility changes with age. But knowing that doesn’t have to mean living your twenties in panic, feeling as though you’re racing against an invisible deadline. There is power in understanding your fertility, knowing what actually matters, and making decisions based on facts rather than fear. Your biological clock is information - not a countdown to your life expiring.

​The irony is that, despite being told to start thinking about my fertility journey at 20 (thank you, endometriosis), I know surprisingly little about it. I know the basics. But ovarian reserve? AMH? When fertility actually begins to decline, and by how much? I couldn’t confidently tell you.

​And as a women’s health journalist, that feels like a fairly glaring omission.

​So, consider this me staging a mini intervention with the phrase we’ve all come to share a universal shudder with. I’m not asking for false reassurance; I don’t think any of us are. What we want is to know what’s true, what’s exaggerated and what, frankly, we should have been told years ago. Because understanding our fertility won’t stop the clock ticking. But it might mean we’re finally the ones holding the stopwatch.

Here's what actually happens to fertility with age

Right, let’s get down to business. If, like me, you’ve been throwing the phrase around with enough confidence to convince yourself you know what you’re talking about, gather round. It’s time for a fertility 101.

​According to reproductive health expert and founder of Hertility, Professor Helen O’Neill, there isn’t actually one biological clock ticking away. There are two separate things happening at once: how many eggs you have, and how healthy those eggs are.

First, egg number. “You’re born with every egg you’ll ever have,” explains O’Neill, “and that number falls steadily from before birth onwards. By 30, around 12% remain; by 40, around 3%. Eventually, that supply runs out, and menopause occurs.”

Then there’s egg quality, which is less about how many eggs you have and more about whether an egg has the right number of chromosomes when it divides. O’Neill likens it to skin ageing: the process happens to everyone, but the pace varies from woman to woman. “Chromosomal errors become noticeably more common from the mid-thirties,” she explains, and crucially, it’s egg quality rather than egg number that matters the most for whether a pregnancy happens and continues.

So, what about the number 35 we’re so often served as a landmark number? Well, nothing dramatic happens on your 35th birthday. “It’s a gradual curve that steepens over time,” says O’Neill. Thirty-five is a medical convention, not a switch that flips on your birthday. In fact, one 2014 landmark study of six natural-fertility populations found that only around 12% of women had reached the end of their natural fertility by 35.

Time to take stock: society would have us believe it’s the clock we need to be watching. But what O’Neill is saying is: yes, age is a factor. A factor. Not the entire equation. Egg quality matters, too - which makes me realise I’ve spent an awful lot of time worrying about the countdown, and remarkably little time understanding what’s actually happening inside it.

What do we really know about egg quality, ovarian reserve and ovulation?

To women’s health specialist Dr Ravina Bhanot, there’s another misconception worth filing away: your periods aren’t a fertility report card. “Egg number starts declining before birth, while markers such as AMH, which reflect your ovarian reserve, tend to fall more steeply from the mid-to-late thirties. Egg quality becomes increasingly important from the mid-thirties, while ovulation and regular cycles are usually affected last.”

Feeling the fertility haze? No need. Put simply, you can have perfectly regular periods while your fertility has already begun to decline - and a low ovarian reserve marker doesn’t automatically mean you can’t conceive.

But what exactly is ovarian reserve? In short: an indication of how many eggs you have left. One of the main ways doctors assess it is through AMH, a hormone produced by the small follicles in your ovaries. Think of it as a rough indication of your egg supply.

And the more I learn about all of this, the less I’m beginning to see my fertility as a literal clock at all. There isn’t one number counting down towards some great reproductive deadline. Several things are happening at once, each on its own timeline - and even the tests we have to measure them come with caveats.

And as O’Neill points out, while we can measure ovarian reserve, “there’s currently no test that can directly tell us the quality of our eggs. Quality isn’t uniform: even in your twenties some eggs are abnormal, and even at 40 some are perfectly normal.” AMH doesn’t measure egg quality either, and a 2017 study of 750 women found that low AMH did not meaningfully reduce their chances of pregnancy within six or 12 cycles. “It’s not a fertility score,” says O’Neill, “and it can’t predict natural conception on its own.”

One more thing worth bringing into the conversation: fertility isn’t solely a female responsibility. “Sperm quality also declines with age, while lifestyle factors can affect male fertility,” says O’Neill. “A healthy pregnancy is a shared biological project, not simply a countdown on the woman’s side.” So, if we’re going to talk about reproductive timelines, perhaps we should stop acting as though there’s only one biological clock in the room.

So, what I’ll be taking from all of this - and perhaps you are too - is that AMH can be useful, particularly as a personal baseline tracked over time, but it’s only one piece of the picture. Age shifts the odds; it doesn’t sort women neatly into ‘fertile’ and ‘infertile’. Fertility is less a countdown and more a collection of moving parts.

So why has this become such an anxiety-inducing conversation?

As I’ve been in the depths of research, I keep coming back to one question: why is fertility so often treated as something we only need to think about when we’re ready for a baby, despite being part of our wider health? By the time we do start looking, we’re confronted with a confusing mix of statistics, success stories and, increasingly, social media advice.

There’s evidence that we’re not exactly being handed the tools to navigate it. A 2024 UCL study of 931 teenagers found that 45% were already worried about future parenthood, yet just 35% rated their sex education as good or very good. They also found that fertility was among the topics more likely to be learnt about outside school.

​I don’t think the answer is to tell women not to worry. Fertility really does change with age. Instead, we need to ask whether we’ve turned a genuine biological reality into a level of urgency that isn’t always proportionate.

​Joyce Harper, Professor of Reproductive Science at UCL, says conflicting messages are part of the problem. “Celebrity pregnancies and influencers talking about having children later in life can feel more relatable than population-level statistics, while the reality is that fertility does decline with age. Women today are juggling a lot,” she says - from careers and finances to housing and finding the right partner - so fertility decisions are rarely based on biology alone.

​The language around fertility can be as powerful as the biology itself. “Repeated messages that women are ‘running out of time’ can create anxiety, guilt and pressure,” says Harper. Some women may feel pushed into decisions before they’re ready; others may disengage because it all feels too overwhelming. “Neither outcome is helpful.”

​And honestly, that’s what I’ve wanted from this conversation all along. Knowing the facts shouldn’t leave women feeling like they’re running out of time. It should leave us feeling like we finally have some.

So, what does all this mean for women who aren’t ready yet?

Where does that leave those of us who aren’t ready for children yet (or might not ever be)? According to reproductive specialist Dr Lucky Sekhon, the most useful thing is to know all the information, rather than panic.

"If having biological children is important to you," she says, "it’s worth understanding how fertility changes with age and paying attention to your reproductive health. That means not ignoring very irregular periods, severe pelvic pain or other symptoms, and speaking to an OB/GYN or reproductive endocrinologist if you have concerns - particularly if you have endometriosis, previous ovarian surgery or a family history of early menopause."

“Egg freezing may be worth discussing for some women, too,” she mentions - particularly if you think you’re likely to build your family after 35 or have certain fertility risk factors. But importantly, it isn’t something everyone needs to rush into. Nor should an AMH result become another number to obsess over.

Sekhon's key piece of advice is this: “Know your reproductive health before you need it. Pay attention to your menstrual cycle, don’t ignore symptoms like very irregular periods or severe pelvic pain, and understand that fertility is part of your overall health.” And I’m taking that as permission to wrap myself in information, rather than letting my “biological clock” wrap itself around me.

Maybe the point isn’t to stop the clock

Here’s my truth: what if I leave it too late? still pops into my head at least once or twice a month.

I’m an anxious girl. I live by what-ifs: what if I want children one day, but not for another five years? What if I spend so long being certain I’m not ready that, by the time I am, my biology has other plans?

But this is precisely why this conversation matters: whether you desperately want children, aren’t sure, or know you don’t want them at all. You deserve to understand what’s happening in your body without feeling like every birthday is a deadline. And, actually, this is a conversation men need to be a part of, too - fertility is not a one-woman story.

Because fertility decline is real. But so is the anxiety we’ve built around it. The answer isn’t to pretend either one doesn’t exist, but to understand the difference.

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Oh, hormones. If there was ever a subject a woman could feel truly at peace with, this is not it.

We’re taught the basics at school, then more or less sent out into the world to figure out the rest on our own. And if the group chat - aka my FYP - is anything to go by, we’re all trying to navigate the minefield of “hormone balance”: what to eat, avoid, take, track and whether we’ve somehow been sleeping, exercising and drinking our coffee incorrectly. Somewhere between seed cycling, cortisol cocktails, cycle syncing and oestrogen detoxes, the saxophones of hormone health are getting louder, aren’t they?

I say this as someone who spends a lot of time writing about women’s health. I’ve saved the posts, read the studies, and lord knows my cupboards have seen every supplement on the market. I’ve even wondered whether a late dinner might somehow be sabotaging my endocrine system.

So, rather than adding to the noise, I wanted to do the opposite. I asked some of the best experts in women’s health to strip things right back: if you’re hormonally challenged, feeling depleted, and just outright lost in the sauce of it all, what should actually be on your list? Whether that means your period has gone rogue, your sleep is all over the place, or you simply want to look after your hormones as you get older.

Consider this your very own hormone-health checklist - micro-habit edition. The one to return to before you buy the powder, download the tracker or convince yourself you’ve been doing it all wrong. Twenty-five genuinely micro things, backed by the best in the business, that are worth knowing about - and, importantly, actually doable.

Right. Get your checklist out. And for once, let’s make this a list of things women are supposed to be doing a manageable one.

Your Hormone Health Edit Starts Here

Ladies, pull up a chair and get comfy, because I’ve done the homework for you: five experts, five categories, and the small shifts they’d prioritise if they were starting from scratch. Let's get into it.

Sleep: Let's Start With Your Body Clock

Our first guest, and our first category to conquer: sleep. And who better to kick things off than world-leading sleep scientist Wendy Troxel. She’s spent years studying the relationship between sleep, our body clocks and our wider health, so I asked her which small habits she’d prioritise if we wanted to give our hormones a helping hand. Here are the five she’d start with.

1. Wake up within the same one-hour window

You don’t need a military-grade bedtime. Wendy’s priority is simply keeping your wake-up time relatively consistent, aiming to get up within roughly the same one-hour window each day. It gives your body clock a reliable cue - and yes, that includes weekends.

Why it matters: Your wake-up time is one of the strongest cues for your circadian rhythm, which helps regulate the daily timing of your hormones, including cortisol and melatonin. Keeping that rhythm steady can support more consistent sleep and overall hormonal health.

2. Take your coffee outside

Your morning light exposure can be as simple as taking your coffee into the garden, onto the balcony or outside the front door. Even a few minutes of natural light soon after waking gives your body clock a useful signal that the day has begun.

Why it matters: Morning light helps set your body clock, which in turn helps coordinate the hormones that govern your sleep-wake cycle - so think of it as giving your hormones a useful little nudge in the right direction.

3. Charge your phone across the room

Keep your phone more than an arm’s reach away at night.

Why it matters: That tiny bit of friction can make late-night checking less automatic, reducing exposure to stimulating content when your brain should be winding down. Remember: better sleep matters > a more regulated system involving stress, appetite and metabolism. Evidence shows that - need evidence that supports

4. Dim one light before bed

There’s no need to transform your bedroom into a candlelit retreat. Simply switch off one bright overhead light or dim the lights a couple of hours before bed. If you’re using devices, turn down the brightness, too.

Why it matters: Evening light can suppress melatonin and shift your body clock later. Creating a darker environment helps reinforce the natural rise in melatonin that prepares your body for sleep, supporting the hormonal rhythms that keep your sleep-wake cycle on track.

5. Use two duvets

For those sharing their beds: consider the Scandinavian method: one bed, two separate duvets, so you can each control your own temperature without disturbing the other.

Why it matters: Hot flushes and night sweats can repeatedly interrupt sleep, while being too cold can make it harder to settle back down. Having control over your own bedding is a tiny practical change that can help you stay comfortable when your temperature decides to do its own thing.

Food: More, Not Less

Our second guest, and arguably the category with the most rules attached to it: food. Eleanor Hoath, registered nutritionist, is here to make a compelling case for doing something slightly different: instead of asking what we should cut out for the sake of our hormones, what could we simply add? From a spoonful of flax to being a little more intentional about breakfast - five tiny habits she’s recommended - no elimination diets welcome.

6. Add protein to your first bite

Whatever you were already planning to eat, add a source of protein. An egg, a spoonful of nut butter, a scoop of Greek yoghurt, or a handful of nuts. That’s it.

Why it matters: Protein can help keep blood sugar steadier after eating, which takes some pressure off insulin and cortisol - two hormones closely involved in the body’s wider hormonal and metabolic picture. And the best bit? It costs seconds.

7. Stir in a tablespoon of ground flaxseed

Once a day, stir one tablespoon of ground flaxseed into something you’re already eating. Porridge, Yoghurt, a smoothie, even soup. Buy it pre-ground and keep it in the fridge; whole seeds can pass through largely undigested.

Why it matters: Flax contains fibre and lignans that can help bind used oestrogen in the gut, supporting its removal from the body. Research, including trials in postmenopausal women, suggests flax can influence oestrogen metabolism - making this more than just another wellness rumour.

8. Add a handful of broccoli sprouts

Not broccoli - broccoli sprouts. Keep some in the fridge and add a small handful to something you’re eating: eggs, a sandwich, avocado toast, whatever’s happening.

Why it matters: Broccoli sprouts are rich in sulforaphane, supporting liver enzymes involved in processing oestrogen. Eleanor sees this as a useful partner to the flax habit: one helps with processing, the other with getting used oestrogen out of the body.

9. Give yourself 10 minutes without input

Less about what’s on your plate, more about what you’re putting into your head. For the first 10-15 minutes after waking, resist the urge to press play. No podcast, news, emails. Just get ready, make your tea, and let the morning happen in relative silence.

Why it matters: The idea here isn’t to suppress our cortisol, but to avoid immediately bombarding ourselves with information before our nervous system has had a moment to find its footing.

10. Don’t ignore the urge to poo

A very simple habit: when you need to go, go. Don’t routinely hold it because you’re mid-meeting, running late or otherwise pretending your bowel doesn’t exist.

Why it matters: The gut is one of the routes the body uses to remove used oestrogen. Certain gut bacteria can allow some of that oestrogen to be reabsorbed, so keeping things moving with regular bowel movements supports the body’s natural clearance process. The micro-habit is simply listening when your body says now.

Strength: Lift for the Long Game

11. Fit in a 15-minute “exercise snack”

Next up: your metabolic secret weapon - strength. And who better to make the case for getting stronger than Laura ‘Biceps’ Hoggins? An award-winning PT, she's keen to remind us that our hormones aren’t static - so there’s no one “best” workout for hormonal health. And the good news? You don’t need hours in the gym - Hoggins says even 15-minute "exercise snacks”, dotted throughout your week, can make a real difference. Here are the five she’d start with.

12. Aim for consistency

Aim for resistance training 2-3 times a week. Bodyweight exercises, weights, bands - it all counts. Resistance training builds lean muscle, supports bone density and can improve insulin sensitivity, making it a pretty useful tool for metabolic health.

13. Pick exercises that do more

During your strength work, choose compound movements that recruit several muscle groups at once - think squats, lunges, rows or presses.

14. Make those final reps count

Repeat after me: you don’t need to go max out every time. Instead, choose a weight resistance where the last few reps feel genuinely challenging, while still keeping your form. You can build strength and muscle across different rep ranges - it’s the effort that counts. And remember, recovery is part of the training, too.

15. Spread protein across the day

Short but sweet: adequate protein helps support muscle growth and repair and gives your body what it needs to recover from all that strength work. So, don't sleep on this part of your training.

16. Get stronger as oestrogen declines

As oestrogen declines with age, particularly through perimenopause and menopause, strength training becomes even more important. Start where you are, then progressively overload. You don’t need to start heavy - just keep giving your muscles a reason to get stronger. Progressive overload is the name of the game.

Nervous System Support: Give Your Body a Break

Next up: your nervous system. Contrary to popular belief, stress isn’t just about what happens when you have a terrible day - it’s also the cumulative effect of everything your body is processing, from caffeine and alcohol to constant stimulation and everyday chemical exposure. Kayla Barnes-Lentz, a longevity expert and advocate for nervous system health, focuses on creating small opportunities for the body to reset. Leaving all elaborate rituals at the door.

17. Have your coffee with breakfast

Have your caffeine alongside food rather than on an empty stomach. And make sure your last coffee is early enough that it’s well out of your system before bed - a conservative 10-hour cutoff.

Why it matters: Caffeine can raise cortisol and blood sugar, adding to the body’s stress response. Having it with food and cutting off your supply early gives your nervous system - and your sleep - a little less to contend with.

18. Make your next drink alcohol-free

You don’t need to make a dramatic declaration about your drinking. Swap your next alcoholic drink for something alcohol free when you can.

Why it matters: Alcohol can affect sleep, cortisol and oestrogen metabolism. Small reductions in exposure still count.

19. Take a Zone 2 walk

Walk at a pace where you can still hold a conversation, but wouldn’t exactly want to give a TED Talk. Aim for most days if you can.

Why it matters: Zone 2 builds mitochondrial health and supports fat oxidation, while being gentle enough not to add to your overall stress load. Think of it as a movement that gives back, rather than takes more out of you.

20. Swap one plastic container

Put the plastic Tupperware down - you don’t need to bin your entire kitchen. Start with the thing you use most. Move your daily water bottle, lunchbox or food container to glass or stainless steel.

Why it matters: Chemicals can migrate from plastic into food and, in recent laboratory testing, some of these migrants have been shown to interact with hormone-related receptors in the endocrine system. One small swap is an easy way to reduce everyday exposure.

21. Go fragrance-free with one daily product

Pick one product you use every day - perhaps your moisturiser, body wash or deodorant - and choose a fragrance-free version next time you replace it.

Why it matters: fragrance can contain multiple undisclosed ingredients, including chemicals with potential endocrine-disrupting effects. The goal isn’t perfection; it’s gradually reducing your everyday exposure, one product at a time.

Know Your Normal: Your Hormones Are Information

And finally, perhaps the most important one: knowing your normal. Because before we start blaming our hormones for everything from bad mood to a breakout - a natural default I’m sure we can all relate to - it helps to know what normal looks like for us. Dr Ravina Bhanot, women’s health GP, is here to give us tips on how to tune into what our bodies are telling us - before Google gets involved.

22. Keep a two-minute cycle diary

Jot down when your period starts, how heavy it is, and whether you spot anything that feels unusual. Two minutes, once a month.

Why it matters: Your cycle can offer useful clues about your wider health - especially if something suddenly changes.

23. Eat regularly

Three meals a day might sound wildly uncontroversial, but in a world obsessed with fasting windows and eating schedules, it’s worth saying: your hormones need fuel. You don’t need to follow a perfect eating schedule, but regularly skipping meals or chronically under-eating isn’t doing your body any favours. Aim for regularity.

Why it matters: Your body needs enough energy and nutrients to support healthy hormone production.

24. Know when to take a five-minute stress reset

Walk, stretch, move your body or simply step away from whatever is stressing you out. And yes, that may mean closing the laptop.

Why it matters: Short bursts of movement and recovery can help your body shift out of stress mode

25. Talk about your period

I think this may be my favourite of all the habits.

Tell your partner, friends, siblings - whoever you feel comfortable with. Let’s make periods less of a family secret.

Why it matters: Talking openly helps chip away at period stigma and makes reproductive health easier to discuss. Being open about our periods might also help someone recognise that something they’ve been experiencing isn’t something they have to put up with - or encourage them to get something checked. And sometimes, simply hearing someone talk honestly about their own experience can make someone else feel comfortable doing the same. That’s a huge thing.

26. Keep your health checks in check

Once a month: get familiar with your breasts. Keep up with STI testing when appropriate. And go when your cervical screening is due.

Why it matters: These tiny bits of health admin can help spot changes early - which is exactly what they’re there for.

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Last month, Marie Claire UK released our sixth annual Women in Sport issue, celebrating the many strides we've made on and off the field of play. I myself penned an article, documenting the myriad ways today’s female athletes influence society, not just through their performances, but in their contributions to broadcasting, activism, innovation, management and policymaking.

Coming away from that piece, you’d conclude that women are active, valued and respected members of sporting communities. And in many ways we are. This year the largest media rights deal in women’s sporting history was signed by the WNBA. In football, the women’s game is expected to have over 800 million fans by 2030, making it one of the world’s top five sports. And at the Paris 2024 Olympics, nearly 40% of commentators on Olympic broadcasting services were female—an uptick of more than 200% since Rio 2016.

This all only makes it more dystopian that, this month, I’m sitting down to unravel an online storm around the sexualisation of women’s bodies within sports marketing. In the blink of an eye, or in this case, the release of a 58-second Instagram advert by a sports betting platform, women’s entire right to exist safely within sport has been called into an algorithmically-driven question.

If you have social media and follow women’s sport, you’ll know exactly what I’m referring to. But we want to be clear here—this isn't an attack on the individual actor who fronts the campaign. There are enough reels scrutinising her on your For You Page for that.

Instead, I'm exploring the systemic and cultural issues which prompted an advert like this to be created, and what the reaction tells us about the current safety of women in sport.

Breaking Down the Sydney Sweeney Novig Ad—and What It Means for the Future of Advertising

Why is the ‘Just Sports’ ad problematic?

First of all, let’s be clear. The Just Sports advert doesn’t try to present Sydney Sweeney as a female athlete. That’s part of what makes it so uncomfortable. In the video, her body is sexualised and used to sell sports betting to men. Her role, adjacent to but not actively participating in sport, speaks to an archaic, but not unfamiliar, position for women.

“Historically, women were rendered accessories to the action,” explains sport sociologist Dr Bethan Taylor-Swaine. “We were ring girls, grid girls and cheerleaders, there only to provide the entertainment between the competitions.”

Even when we did break free from the sidelines (note: women didn’t compete in the full Olympic programme until London 2012), our position as entertainers for the male gaze has lingered in the systems, customs and regulations around sport. It’s why we saw the Norwegian handball team fined for wearing shorts instead of bikini bottoms at the 2021 European Championships and why in 2024, female athletes from team USA had to contest their Olympic kit for being too revealing.

It’s also why I, when I was a 13-year-old junior athlete, felt more preoccupied by the way I looked in my skimpy crop top and running briefs than in my on-track performances. It’s why, as a kid, content creator Mary McCarthy worried more about her post-race photos than about the races she’d won, and why 73% of girls say they don’t like others watching them exercise. This sense of being constantly observed from a young age is also part of the reason up to 45% of female athletes struggle with disordered eating. “Women are still making choices about the way their bodies should look and what they should do with them based on a patriarchal ideal that’s been set for centuries,” explains sports dietitian Renee McGregor.

This is why the Just Sports campaign has had such an impact. “The reaction is fundamentally about context, power and history,” explains Professor Philippa Velija, Professor of Sociology and Interim Dean of the School of Education at the University of Roehampton. “Female athletes are not necessarily objecting to sexuality itself; rather, they are responding to a cultural environment in which their athletic legitimacy is often overshadowed by a focus on appearance.”

“Women in all sports, including players and spectators, have had to fight for the right to be taken seriously,” echoes Professor Stacey Pope, Director of Research in Sport and Exercise Sciences at Durham University. “Adverts such as this touch a powerful nerve, because they show just how fragile the nature of women's progress in sport has been.”

For more evidence of this fragility, you don’t have to look far. Just weeks before Novig’s advert, an audio clip went viral online, in which a manosphere podcaster argues that women who participate in sport go against their essential role of femininity. And in July, the European Broadcasting Union produced a 23-page document containing new filming regulations for camera angles in track and field after it found that female athletes were being disproportionately targeted by low-angle and lingering body shots.

“We’re living in a time where politics is becoming more right-wing and beauty standards are shifting back towards an outdated thin ideal,” says Dr Taylor-Swaine, who points to a recent article published by The Telegraph with the headline, ‘Slim and beautiful women are back in fashion. Thank God for that.’ “These are tools used to reinforce patriarchal norms by preoccupying women with their cosmetic presentation.”

It’s a murky, and at times downright ugly, backdrop, one which contextualises the emotive response to Novig’s advert. That’s all before you even consider that this is a brand which sells gambling to men—an activity which research shows interacts with violence against women and girls, thanks to its connections to substance abuse, shame, stress and stigma.

But even with all this context, you still wonder why, when revenue from women’s sport is growing 4.5 times faster than men’s and athletes are reported to hold more influence over consumers than celebrities, would a brand choose to present such a backward depiction of women in sport?

What was the motivation behind the Just Sports advert?

While we’ll never know for certain what guided the creative direction of Novig’s campaign, the likelihood, according to Sinead Brennan, Head of Social at creative agency Hijinks, is rage bait.

Built to inflame and infuriate, rage bait content has grown at pace since the early 2020s, when algorithms began to consistently reward divisive content. “Rage bait becomes its own content generator,” explains Brennan. “You don’t need people to love, like or even know your brand in order to give them a strong reason to participate—all you need is to create a reaction strong enough that it makes them want to say something.”

For a relatively unknown brand like Novig, you can see why that tactic appeals. In the space of a single day, “They’ve gone from a brand most people wouldn’t have heard of to one that we recognise and talk about,” says Brennan. And, as she points out, they’ve done it while drawing little attention to the service they’re actually selling. “In most categories, this would be a bad thing,” says Brennan, “but given the negative connotations of gambling, the ability to build familiarity and cultural relevance around the brand before people register that it’s a betting product, is powerful.”

It’s an uncomfortable truth, one which gets even more uncomfortable when you consider Sweeney’s role in the saga. “I don't doubt that she [Sweeney] is a product of the system and that she, consciously or otherwise, has been exploited,” says Dr Taylor Swaine. “But, as an equity partner in the brand, she is also a beneficiary of the system that has, in this case, been engineered to ultimately benefit her.”

How should we respond to the Just Sports ad?

Of course, all this raises the question of whether the backlash to the advert has given Novig exactly what they wanted.

But on the other hand, the reaction from female athletes, creators and fans has felt overwhelmingly heartwarming; we shouldn't have to call ads like this out, but we aren't willing to ignore inequality in this sphere any longer. We've worked too hard for too long not to call it out. Marie Claire UK's Senior Health Editor Ally Head said as much to me this week. "From the negativity comes one undeniable positive; my entire feed is flooded with strong, active women sharing what working out looks like for them, and swapping personal stories and anecdotes. Conversations have been sparked worldwide about what being a woman in sport truly means, cementing how passionate people feel about levelling the playing field."

She goes on: "I doubt we'd have seen this response five or so years ago, which unequivocally proves how far we've come. Seeing people of all genders come together to collectively say no and stand up for women's rights is a beautiful thing."

To continue positive change, we need to encourage conversations around women’s role in sport long after this trend fades. “There has been a certain amount of jumping on the bandwagon around women’s safety and gender in sport in response to the advert,” explains Dr Taylor-Swaine. “While it’s well-intentioned, and we do want people to talk about these issues, we also need them to continue using their platforms to support work that’s been going on in this landscape for a long time, even once the opportunity for trending content dies down.”

Nicola Kemp, communications co-chair for the WACL, echoes this. “This is a great opportunity to showcase the importance of women and girls feeling like they belong in sport,” she says.

If you’re looking for ways to stay consistently involved in the conversation around women’s role and safety in sport, Dr Taylor-Swaine (whose own Instagram and Substack are a treasure trove of knowledge) has some recommendations. “On an individual basis, challenge misogynistic comments when you see or hear them, provided of course you feel safe and able to do so.”

On an educational level, she recommends following Our Streets Now, an organisation which works against public sexual harassment, and This Ends Now, a charity which challenges gender based oppression. Then there’s The Gist, a sports media brand which provides genuinely equal coverage of men’s and women’s sports. And of course, there’s the wealth of women’s health and fitness content right here at Marie Claire UK. We’ve got deep dives into the silence around endometriosis in sport, the barriers to exercise safety for women and why the rates of domestic abuse rise when England loses a football game.

As for a parting message, we’ll leave you with this from Dr Taylor-Swaine. “Speak out, challenge your own perceptions and those of people around you, read lots and crucially, watch women’s sport—not just the big games, but the ones played by your local team.”

If there’s one thing none of us seems to have enough of right now, we’d wager it’s energy. No matter how much sleep/holiday/downtime we get, it can still feel like we’re wading through treacle come 3 pm – and that’s just on the good days.

The science is compelling here, too: studies (such as this one, published in the journal Behavioural Science) show that we’re not imagining it – modern life has more so-called energy drains than ever, as we’re subjected to near-constant notifications, bombarded with headlines and permanently alerted to whatever your mates are up to every second of the day - and be this good news or bad, it takes its toll on our energy.

Here’s another newsflash for you (sorry): all this stimulation isn’t doing our brains – or our bodies – any good at all. If you’ve ever dealt with a high-stress day in the office only to lose your cool when you can’t open a jar at dinner (not just us, surely?), it’s a sure-fire sign that your capacity for dealing with life’s tiny frustrations has run out.

But there is good news. While it might seem like these things are out of our control (and apologies, we can’t help with your endless to-do list), there are actually a number of ways we can reclaim control of our energy reserves, from sorting life admin to just buying the new socks rather than spending ten minutes each day searching for a matching pair (guilty).

More on this below, but in the meantime, do check out our guides to the best five-minute meditations to boost energy, read about how one Team MC Health Writer fared when she switched her morning coffee for a high-protein breakfast and read all about everyday avoidable energy-draining habits - plus, find out how another Health Writer got on when she opted out of optimisation culture for a month, here.

Always Feeling Drained? These Tiny Life Admin Habits Could Be Secretly Sapping Your Energy

What are life admin habits that drain our energy?

So, what exactly do we mean when we talk about energy drains? It can be helpful to think about your energy as a finite, daily replenishing store; we only have so much to dip into, and pretty much everything we do depletes it – from the obvious (exercise, work, stress, general adulting) to the seemingly more innocuous (think that message from your mum last week you still haven’t replied to).

“Some of our biggest energy drains aren’t from the tasks that are physically demanding," shares psychotherapist and honorary lecturer at the University of Lancashire, Lowri Walsh. "They’re the small, unfinished tasks competing for our attention throughout the day. This can include unanswered emails, messages, forms, appointments, decisions we’ve been putting off, and reminders constantly circling in our minds.

But it's not just about the big things, either. Those tiny, everyday annoyances can build up, too - we're talking about constant clutter, struggling with the same micro-annoyances day after day - you get the gist.

"One of the biggest drains on mental energy is not necessarily the notifications, emails or everyday admin themselves, but our tendency to tolerate things that repeatedly cause us stress," agrees psychologist and wellbeing expert Audrey Tang. "We can become focused on wellness practices such as breathing exercises or meditation as a way of feeling better, without addressing the underlying issue. There is a difference between managing stress and avoiding it."

Let's take a look at those common energy drains.

1. Task switching

First up, one we think most of us can relate to: constantly switching from one (ultra-important, obviously) task to the next. When life gets busy, it's easy to feel overwhelmed with where or how to start - and that's when flitting from job to job kicks in.

"If you're constantly checking notifications, procrastinating over something you know you need to do, carrying a mental list of things you must remember, repeatedly checking unread emails, putting off booking an appointment or continually moving the same task from one day's to-do list to the next, individually these things might seem insignificant," explains Liz Howard, chartered psychologist, executive coach and founder of Up2eleven. "Collectively, however, they can create a sense of mental clutter and leave us feeling overwhelmed and depleted.

“One reason is that our working memory and attention have limited capacity. When lots of things are competing for that capacity, even relatively simple tasks can begin to feel harder.

“Constant switching is particularly relevant. Research into attention residue suggests that when we move from one task to another, particularly before we've properly finished the first, our attention doesn't always move with us completely. Part of our thinking can remain with what we were doing before. So checking a notification might only take 30 seconds, but the disruption to our concentration can last longer than the notification itself."

2. Endless notifications

Another one we are all exposed to every. Single. Minute. If you haven't silenced those notifications yet, consider this your sign.

"One of the biggest everyday drains on our energy is something many of us don’t recognise as a form of stress: constant cognitive stimulation," shares Dr Mihaela Gulyas, medical doctor and founder of SKNCode London. "From the moment we wake up, we’re exposed to notifications, emails, messages, social media, podcasts, phone calls and an endless list of small decisions. None of these things necessarily feels particularly stressful in isolation, but together they can leave the brain with very little genuine downtime."

"Every time a notification interrupts us, or we switch from one task to another, our attention has to disengage and refocus. Even after we put the phone down, part of our attention can remain with what we have just seen or read. Over the course of a day, this constant switching can contribute to the feeling of being mentally exhausted despite not necessarily having done anything physically demanding."

3. Procrastination

"Procrastinating on small tasks can create a similar drain on your energy to task switching and endless notifications," continues Dr Gulyas. "An email you know you need to answer, an appointment you haven’t booked, a bill you need to pay or something you’ve been meaning to order can continue occupying a small amount of mental space. When you have ten or twenty of these unfinished tasks simultaneously, the cumulative effect can feel surprisingly heavy. Often, it’s not the amount of work that’s exhausting us; it’s having too many things competing for our attention at once."

4. Constant stimulation

Closely linked to both task switching and notifications, but subtly different, consider this: when was the last time you weren't watching, reading or listening to something?

"Another modern habit I think we underestimate is our inability to tolerate moments without stimulation," agrees Dr Gulyas. "We stand in a queue and immediately check our phones. We walk while listening to a podcast. We exercise while watching something. We call somebody while travelling from one place to another. Even activities that historically gave the brain a natural opportunity to wander and decompress have become filled with information."

5. Unfinished goals

To-do lists as long as your arm? We hear you - but it's worth ticking off those tiny chores, for the sake of your emotional energy bank.

“There's a psychological cost associated with things we haven't dealt with," shares Howard. "Unfinished goals can remain mentally active and intrude on what we're doing. Interestingly, research suggests we don't necessarily have to complete everything to reduce that interference. Making a clear plan for when and how we're going to deal with something can help."

What is the impact of constant energy drains?

While individually, these micro-drains might seem insignificant, their cumulative effect on our nervous systems can be (at best) annoying and even debilitating.

“These habits can leave us in a state of hyper-vigilance, where the brain is continually scanning, remembering, switching and anticipating things," warns Walsh. "That makes it difficult to truly settle, even when we’re supposed to be resting. When we continually push ourselves to tolerate situations that feel unacceptable, the cumulative impact can become overwhelming.

“Over time, this can contribute to irritability, reduced concentration, anxiety, poor sleep and that persistent feeling of being ‘behind’. It can also make it harder to enjoy the things that genuinely restore us, such as hobbies, meaningful activities and time with friends and family.”

How can we reduce our daily energy drains?

The good news is that there are steps we can all take to reduce our leaky energy and reclaim control – but you have to start by identifying your own personal drains, as it’s all subjective.

“If something repeatedly causes us physical discomfort, we would usually take steps to fix it, so we should apply the same thinking to our mental wellbeing," shares Walsh. "A useful question to ask is, ‘How am I benefiting from not addressing this?’ Even recognising that we are choosing to tolerate something can restore a sense of control. Making a decision to change the situation can be surprisingly empowering.”

Not sure where to start? There are some fairly universal things we can all do to help - the experts advise trying the following:

• Externalise your mental to-do list. Write tasks down somewhere visible, rather than relying on your brain to keep track of them.
• Turn off non-essential notifications to reduce unnecessary interruptions.
• Try grouping similar tasks together and creating dedicated blocks of time for them. For example, an hour for emails, 30 minutes for a walk or an hour for focused work.
• Break down tasks you're avoiding into smaller, more manageable steps. Rather than trying to clear out an entire cupboard in one go, for example, tackle it for 20 minutes at a time.
• Don't respond to everything immediately. Setting realistic boundaries around response times can protect your attention and energy - you don’t have to be constantly available.
• Try the Eisenhower Matrix: do what is urgent and important, delegate what is urgent but less important, delay what is important but not urgent, and delete or mute what is neither.
• Create periods of downtime in the day, especially before bedtime. Reduce notifications, put your phone away and avoid unnecessary work to help establish a clearer distinction between daytime activity and recovery.

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Maybe there’s something in the air, or perhaps the algorithm knows me better than I’d like to admit, but my FYP has recently become a shrine to the art of imagining your dream life.

“Do these five things and manifest the life you want"; “How a little delulu led me to my dream life"; “The morning routine that changed everything." You get the picture.

I’m not entirely immune. I quite like the idea of imagining a better future. I’d even go so far as to call it soul food: a little hope, possibility, a reminder that the life you have isn’t necessarily the life you’re stuck with. But depending on the phase you catch me in (I daren’t say luteal), I might still squeeze out an eye roll at the word delusional.

Because here’s where you’ll find me: interested, but with questions.

So when I listened to a recent episode of the Mel Robbins Podcast, in which Dr Cassanda Vieten unpacked the science of imagination and creating change, it caught me rather differently. This wasn’t about asking the universe nicely for my dream life. It was about what happens when we imagine the future - and whether that imagination can actually change what we do in the present.

Vieten, who directs the Centre for Human Imagination at UC San Diego, sent me down a research rabbit hole. And what I found was far more interesting than manifestation: evidence that imagining the future can influence motivation, planning, decision-making and behaviour - particularly when we imagine not just the destination, but the journey there.

Which left me with a rather tempting question: what if I tried it properly? No manifestation, no wishful thinking, but the actual techniques researchers have been studying - and whether they could change anything beyond my mood.

For one month, I’d put the science to the test: imagining not just what I want my future to look like, but who I want to become, what might get in the way and how I might actually get there. And, guess what - you have front-row seats to what happened to my motivation, confidence, habits and goals when I started treating imagination less like an escape and more like rehearsal.

I Tried the Science-Backed Art of Imagining a Better Future

So, What Am I Actually Doing For A Month?

Before I start, let’s get one thing straight: this is not a month of visualising Birkins and my wildly successful future self while waiting for the universe to sort out the logistics. It turns out, there’s homework: a three-part approach rooted in future simulation, neuroscience and behavioural change.

First up: Best Possible Self.

“At the start of the month, I’d either do a guided practice of meeting your future self,” Vieten tells me, “or, if you are more of a storyteller, you can do this exercise by sitting down with a pen for twenty uninterrupted minutes and write about your life - three years from now: what you're doing, who you're with, how you spend your time and how you're showing up in the world."

Then, I'm to repeat this. "Each morning that month, spend five minutes a day with your eyes closed, going back into that scene by either sitting down again for a brief check-in with your future self and asking them a question or two," Vieten instructs.

This gives me my starting point: one longer exercise to construct the future on day one, followed by five-minute sessions each morning to return to it.

Specificity matters here. "Detail helps most on the parts you actually control,” Vieten explains. “Imagery and simulating future scenarios recruits emotion, while writing creates more coherence and discernment. The mental imagery you conjure connects more deeply to emotions, which in turn shapes motivation and behaviour. With writing, you’re more likely to discover what you really want – or whether you’ve simply absorbed expectations from your upbringing, societal messaging or habit.”

Then comes mental contrasting: imagining the future I want, identifying the obstacles that could get in the way and making a realistic plan. Vieten recommends Gabriele Oettingen’s WOOP method: Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan.

And crucially, I’m not just visualising the result. Vieten suggests imagining the process of getting there, “how will you face the situation, rather than simply seeing yourself succeeding.” Which, frankly, is much more my speed.

TLDR: construct the future, return to it regularly, confront what might get in the way and see whether any of it changes what I actually do. Assignment understood.

What Does The Science Say?

So, we have our three-pronged method. Tick. But what’s the science behind them?

“There is a strong neuroscience literature showing that imagining future events recruits some of the same systems involved in remembering and experiencing events,” psychologist Dr Sophie Mort tells me. “Your brain knows you aren’t doing the thing, but it is activating your brain in ways that are very useful.”

Vieten puts it even more plainly: “Imagination runs on much of the same machinery as actual sensory perception and behavioural action,” she explains. “Visualise something and your visual cortex engages; mentally rehearse a movement and motor areas engage; even imagining the smell of biscuits can activate the brain’s olfactory areas.”

“Imagination is a “neurological reality” that affects our brains and bodies,” notes Vieten. And importantly, “repeated practice does strengthen the neural pathways involved.”

But how does that get from inside my head to changing what I actually do?

This is where the technique matters. “Imagining the future in detail can make it more familiar before we actually get there,” Vieten tells me. “We can mentally rehearse how we want to behave, anticipate what might get in our way and think through possible responses. When the real situation arrives, we’re not encountering it entirely cold."

Perhaps this is why mental rehearsal has long been part of elite sport. Billie Jean King has spoken about imagining how she’d respond to a ball coming at her from every possible angle; Jack Nicklaus famously described running a “home movie” of every shot before taking it. In a 2004 study, people who repeatedly imagined muscle contractions alongside their physical training increased their finger strength by 35% and their elbow-flexion strength by 13.5%.

It’s a striking example of what mental rehearsal might actually do: not replace the physical work, but potentially make the work more effective.

Which got me wondering: if imagining a movement can influence something as measurable as muscle strength, what happens when the thing I’m rehearsing isn’t a tennis shot or a bicep curl, but the person I want to become?

Does Optimism Actually Change The Brain And Body?

If imagining a better future can make us more optimistic, does that optimism (no delusion in sight) change anything beyond how we feel?

“The evidence suggests yes, but it’s more complex than popular claims suggest,” Mort tells me. “Optimism does influence brain structure and function.” Research published in 2021 linked optimism with activity in parts of the prefrontal brain involved in how we think, make decisions and motivate ourselves. “An optimistic outlook affects how we perceive and attend to our surroundings,” Mort explains, with the research suggesting that what we expect to happen can influence what we actually notice, particularly when it comes to positive information.

Dare I say it, optimism might be doing more than making us feel a little more glass-half-full. It can subtly change what we pay attention to, how we interpret what’s happening around us, and ultimately how we respond to it.

So no, thinking positive thoughts doesn’t simply flood the brain with happy chemicals. It’s subtler than that. A more optimistic outlook can change what we pay attention to, how we interpret situations, and, ultimately, how our bodies respond to stress.

I Put Future Visualisation To The Test

Week One: I Met My Future Self

With the science in mind and the methodology in tow, week one started with Best Possible Self. I certainly wasn’t expecting to emerge as a new woman by week four, nor was I about to credit every random boost of productivity to the power of visualisation. But as I sat at my desk on day one, pen to paper, imagining what my future self might look like, I felt an unexpected sense of comfort.

It started to feel almost game-like. I was imagining what my future days would feel like: how I’d start each morning, where I’d sit with my coffee, what emails I’d be sending, what I’d be wearing, even what I’d have planned for that day. No detail was left unimagined – literally.

Now, ironically, as a writer, I thought I’d have no problem scripting who I imagined myself to be. Instead, I faced an unexpected bout of writer’s block. I couldn’t give myself free rein to write without judgement or control; I wanted the future I imagined to be…well, perfect. I was over-auditing, as per usual (another day in the life of a Type A)

So I revisited my interview notes from my time with Vieten. “Focus on what you can control,” she told me, and “write it properly once before keeping the daily practice short.” I did just that. I spent 20 minutes, as instructed, writing out this future version, then, for the next six days, returned to her for five minutes each morning. I found that once I’d got over myself, the exercise forced me to get specific about what I actually wanted - and what I could control. Imagining the future became less of a fantasy and more a set of choices.

Week Two: I Had To Face What Was Getting In The Way

This is where the exercise became considerably less comfortable. Once I’d got used to my Best Possible Self, I had to look at the gap between her life and mine. What was actually standing in the way? Time. Opportunity. Distractions. Saying yes to something I didn’t really want to do. The general tendency to have excellent intentions at 9 am and completely different priorities by 4:30 pm.

Mental contrasting made me confront what was actually making me feel restless about where I was. I’d mapped out my future self - and the choices I could control - in such granular detail that seeing the challenges that could crop up and derail me felt a little too real. For each goal written (a long list, let me tell you), I asked myself what was most likely to get in the way and what I could realistically do when it did.

Oddly, this didn’t dim my optimism. If anything, it made the goals feel more within reach. The Best Possible Self Exercise had given me the joy of imagining where I could go; mental contrasting made the route there feel approachable. I thought I’d feel pressure identifying challenges and how I’d overcome them; instead, I felt reassurance: acknowledging the trials and tribulations that would come with my future self, and carving out an ‘imaginary’ path so they’d feel a little less unfamiliar when they arrived. Me not spiralling at the idea of things going wrong - that’s what I call growth.

Week Three: I Stopped Imagining The Dream And Started Imagining The Work

It was here that I stopped visualising the finished product and started rehearsing the behaviour. Before sitting down to work, I imagined myself doing stuff I’d been putting off: opening the document, getting through the difficult bit, finishing the paragraph even when it wasn’t very good. If I wanted to be more than one thing, I’d imagine myself making time for the other things I wanted to pursue, too - not just imagining what it would feel like once I’d succeeded.

​I knew what I should be doing, but there was something different about mentally walking myself through it before I started. I wasn’t asking, How brilliant would it be if I achieved this? I was asking, What does the version of me who achieves this actually do when it gets difficult?

​By the end of the week, I couldn’t honestly say I was suddenly more disciplined. I still procrastinated. Gosh, there were days when the last thing I wanted to do was follow through. But I noticed a small shift in my confidence. It was less about believing I could be that person, and more about having evidence that I could practice behaving like her. And that seemed to be the point of process visualisation.

The Final Week: Did It Actually Change Anything?

By the final week, the novelty had definitely worn off. Which, I’d say, was the most useful part.

I wasn’t waking up every morning as my highest self. Some days, I forgot; some days I couldn't be bothered, and some days my future self and I were simply not on speaking terms.

But I had noticed something: my confidence in being able to act on what I wanted felt steadier. For a month, I’d rehearsed the behaviours I needed to get where I wanted to be. I’d preached on paper, and I’d practised each scenario.

I won’t pretend visualisation transformed my life in four weeks. It didn’t, and a one-person experiment certainly can’t prove that. But I did feel more motivated to act on my goals, clearer about what I wanted and, by imagining the woman I wanted to become, a little more like her.

Maybe that’s the real appeal of the science-backed art of imagination: not romanticising a life until it magically appears, but using legitimate methods to rehearse the person you need to become to build it.

MC's Essentials for Your Best Possible Self

If there's one conversation that could sum up 2026, it has to be the rise (and rise) of the GLP-1. In case you missed it, glucagon-like peptide-1 is a gut hormone that regulates appetite and signals to your body to make insulin.

The synthetic form was originally formulated as a treatment for diabetes - but fast forward a few years, and GLP-1s are being marketed as a weight-loss drug that's very much front and centre of the health and wellness space.

Interestingly, the narrative is shifting slightly away from the obvious impact on weight and appetite and toward the wider benefits they could potentially offer. One emerging conversation focuses on how useful the drugs might be in treating conditions from anxiety and depression to ADHD and perimenopause. They may even be impacting libido, too.

There's a lot we still don't know about the advantages or otherwise of these drugs. But whatever your opinion on the drug (and we can almost guarantee you're either pro or anti; there seems to be very little nuance in the narrative), there's no denying that the anecdotal evidence is fascinating.

Most of the research into the medicines (which you may know as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and so on) thus far has centred on their medical use, with studies (such as this one, published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine) showing advantages such as improved cardiovascular health, better kidney health and function, and some anti-inflammatory benefits. On the other end of the spectrum, the most well-established and documented downsides of GLP1's span gastrointestinal side effects, gallbladder problems, loss of lean muscle, and weight regain after stopping treatment.

As for any wider purported benefits or negatives, the jury still seems to be out - but it's safe to say that the experts are intrigued. So, if you're interested and open to learning more, keep scrolling for everything we know so far, as well as what we don't, too.

In the meantime, our GLP-1 coverage includes explainers on the Ozempic pill side effects, the potential anti-inflammatory heart benefits of GLP-1s and the cultural revolution of weight loss medication, too.

GLP-1s May Be Affecting Much More Than Appetite – Here’s What We Know So Far, and What’s Still Unclear

What are the potential impacts of GLP-1s beyond weight loss?

GLP-1 drugs have been dominating conversation both in the wellness space and beyond (try having a girls' dinner without someone bringing them up) for a few years now. Since becoming more readily available via private prescriptions and the newly introduced pill form, this shows no sign of waning.

As touched on above, it's clear that there are very real, quantifiable weight-loss benefits, alongside well-documented associated health improvements, too. But recently, the rhetoric has shifted towards a wider discussion about the drugs' advantages for overall health and wellbeing, especially women's health.

"It's important to remember that GLP-1 medicines can absolutely have effects beyond body weight," agrees Dr Sue Kenneally, obesity medicine specialist at Boots Online Doctor. "Depending on the specific medicine and the individual taking it, they can improve blood glucose control and provide cardiovascular and kidney benefits. There is also growing research into their potential role in conditions associated with obesity, including fatty liver disease, some cancers and sleep apnoea."

But what about impacts on things like ADHD, libido and brain function? Well, this is where the water muddies somewhat.

"The honest answer is that GLP-1 medicines, such as semaglutide and liraglutide, and the related dual GIP/GLP-1 medicine tirzepatide, appear to have effects that extend well beyond simply making people eat less and lose weight," notes Dr Suzanne Wylie, GP and medical adviser for IQdoctor. "Some of these effects are very well established, particularly improvements in blood glucose, blood pressure and cardiovascular risk in appropriate patients, whereas others, including changes in libido, reward, motivation and possible effects on conditions such as ADHD, are much more preliminary and should not currently be regarded as established therapeutic effects."

How do GLP-1s impact libido?

Let's take a look at libido first. It's no news that this is something that many women, particularly those in midlife, report declining as we age. In fact, studies show that almost half of women report sexual problems - and that's just the ones talking about it.

According to research conducted by the charity The Health Foundation, around 80% of UK GLP-1 users are women. So, could GLP-1s be having an effect here, too?

"In terms of libido, the picture is particularly interesting because GLP-1 medicines could plausibly push sexual desire in either direction," agrees Dr Wylie. "Some people report an increase in libido after losing weight, feeling more comfortable in their body, becoming more physically active and experiencing improvements in diabetes, cardiovascular health, mood and self-esteem."

"On the other hand, there are people who report a marked reduction in sexual desire after starting a GLP-1 medicine, sometimes describing a broader reduction in interest in things that previously felt rewarding. This is not yet considered a firmly established common adverse effect, but it is sufficiently plausible and sufficiently reported that I would take a patient seriously if they described it."

Why do GLP-1s impact libido?

The key point to note here is that these drugs don't simply work in the body - they affect our brains, too.

"The reason GLP-1s can impact things like sex drive and desire is that they're not simply hormones that operate in the gut," shares Dr Wylie. "GLP-1 receptors are involved in parts of the brain concerned with appetite, reward, motivation, satiety, mood and learning, and GLP-1 medicines appear to alter signalling in neural reward pathways, including pathways involving dopamine and serotonin."

Put simply, our desire to eat, have sex, take substances and more can be impacted by the medication, as the reward and pleasure attached to them is dulled, so to speak.

"Food is an obvious example, here," explains Dr Wylie. "Someone may find that the cake, takeaway or alcohol that previously produced a powerful sense of anticipation simply becomes less interesting. The theoretical concern is that this alteration in reward processing might sometimes extend beyond food, potentially affecting other pleasurable activities, including sex."

However, the experts advise that the evidence is very limited and remains inconsistent here.

GLP-1s and ADHD

The effect of GLP-1s on our brain chemistry and reward centre raises an interesting possibility around their potential use for managing neurodiverse conditions such as ADHD. Anecdotally, users have reported a lessening of symptoms such as food 'noise' and addictive tendencies such as alcoholism and drug use.

"The link between GLP-1 use and ADHD is an interesting area of emerging research, although it's important to be clear that GLP-1 medicines are not currently treatments for ADHD and we don't yet have enough clinical evidence to say that they directly affect ADHD symptoms," advises Dr Kenneally.

“Part of the interest comes from the fact that GLP-1 receptors are present in areas of the brain involved in appetite, reward and motivation. GLP-1 medicines can influence appetite and cravings, and some people taking them describe changes and a reduction in what is sometimes referred to as ‘food noise’."

“Because ADHD is also associated with differences in areas such as reward processing and impulse control, researchers are interested in understanding whether there may be any connection between these pathways. However, this is still an emerging field, and we need more research to understand what, if any, relationship exists.”

Dr Wylie agrees, but suggests exercising caution with these claims. "There is some genuine science behind the observation that GLP-1 medicines can influence the brain, but there is not yet sufficient science to say that they improve ADHD," she tells MC UK. "A large systematic review published in 2026 looking at neuropsychiatric outcomes found some potentially interesting associations involving conditions such as binge eating, substance use and neurodegenerative disease, but the certainty of much of the evidence was low."

"In other words, there is a biologically credible hypothesis here, but we are currently a long way from being able to prescribe a GLP-1 for ADHD."

GLP-1s and brain function

As touched on above, these drugs work as much on our brains as our bodies, and there is interesting, albeit limited, research pointing to the efficacy of GLP-1s in reducing the risk of certain brain-related conditions, too.

"There is considerable interest in possible effects of GLP-1s on cognition, neuroinflammation, depression, Parkinson's disease and dementia," shares Dr Wylie. "GLP-1 receptors occur in areas of the brain involved in learning and memory, and laboratory studies suggest effects on inflammation, neuronal survival and synaptic plasticity.

"Some observational research has produced intriguing associations with reduced risks of certain neurological conditions, but observational findings are particularly vulnerable to confounding, and clinical trials have not yet established that GLP-1 medicines prevent dementia or treat neurodegenerative disease. It is quite possible that some apparent neurological benefits will turn out to be secondary to improvements in metabolic health rather than a direct effect of the drug on the brain."

TLDR? Everyone responds differently to GLP-1 medication, and it's important to remember that as it currently stands, all of the above areas of interest are just that: areas of interest, and not proven scientific links. While the experts we spoke to for this piece observe that there is some indication of the links, none have been scientifically proven or observed for long enough to draw a conclusion.

One final note: GLP-1s are, at present, medically approved for people with diabetes or those who meet specific weight-management criteria. If you’re considering taking one and don't meet these guidelines, it’s worth speaking to a healthcare professional to ensure you make an informed decision about what’s right for you.

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Ah, September. A month of resets, routines and reminders that it’s almost the end of the year. The ninth month, forever synonymous with the back-to-school feeling, serves as a jolting reminder of just how fast time is passing. I mean, how many times have you said ‘where has this year gone?’ already this month?

Maybe it’s the fact that I’m getting older, but the speed at which time passes has been bothering me more than usual. I’ve realised that, in many ways, I live my life in fast-forward - so focused on achieving the next goal that I skip from one major scene to the next, missing the small plotlines that happen in between. It’s how I frequently find myself arriving on Saturday without any recollection of what happened on Tuesday, how I got to September unsure what I did all summer, and how, at the ripe age of 27, I still feel 13.

I know others will relate. We live in a culture that rewards optimisation and efficiency; that celebrates being able to do things faster and in more automated ways. And that approach, though it might be effective for profit margins, can at times feel more like a computer programme than real life.

It’s why I was so intrigued by the concept of an everyday delights journal when I read about it in one of my favourite wellness newsletters, Daily Rituals. The idea is that, by noting down the small sensory moments that scratched your brain throughout the day, you can extract more awe, delight and curiosity from everyday life. It got me thinking: could this be a way of slowing time down and feeling more present for the entire movie of our lives?

Ahead, with the help of psychologists and authors working in the field of happiness, I investigate these everyday delights to find out whether paying attention to them could really make a difference to our wellbeing.

For more mental wellbeing tips, check out our guides to friction-maxxing, dopamine menus and why your friendships are a powerful tool for health. Plus, what happened when one writer opted out of optimisation for a month.

What Happened When I Spent a Month Writing Down the Little Things That Made Me Happy

What is an everyday delight?

In his new book, The Small Stuff: How To Live a More Gratifying Life, author Ian Bogost makes a case for the importance of savouring the small, sensory moments. These everyday delights, he tells me, could be “any kind of momentary experience that happens right now in your senses.” That means the noise of popcorn popping or the click of a light switch, the feel of the bedsheets on your bare feet or the weight of your coffee cup in your palm. These are all examples of everyday delights.

“It happens right now, always,” says Bogost. “These are immediate sensory connections that you can’t save up.”

Ironically, he says, it’s their supposed mundanity that defines them. “Intellectually they feel unimportant,” he says. “They are things that feel as though you need to move through them, as if they aren’t relevant to your goals.”

What are the benefits of noticing everyday delights?

Ever since the Stanford Marshmallow Experiment of 1970, instant gratification has had a bad rep. The study, which monitored preschoolers' ability to resist temptation, concluded that those who displayed greater self-control and willpower were healthier and more successful in later life.

The study became evidence of a wider cultural perspective: that things that provide immediate pleasure are indulgences or distractions from more important goal-driven activities. “Anything associated with sensory life has been classed as a practice we need to suppress,” confirms Bogost. “It’s viewed as this all-encompassing thing that you must refuse in order to be efficient and successful.”

The reality, though, is that paying attention to small everyday delights can have genuine psychological benefits. “We call this savouring,” says Professor Bruce Hood, Developmental Psychologist at the University of Bristol, when I ask him whether my journaling is doing any permanent good. He explains that “all experiences, good and bad, can be amplified by attentional focus. If we choose to focus on an experience, we process it more deeply and, therefore, get more from it.”

Research consistently backs this up. Savouring has been found to aid stress regulation, enhancing positive emotions and alleviating negative ones, and has even been connected to relief from symptoms of chronic pain, depression and anxiety.

Are there any risks to everyday delights journaling?

On the whole, paying attention to the small sensory delights of your day has very little downside. They’re free and don’t require you to add anything new to your, likely already busy, schedule. “You don’t have to change anything about your goal-driven, ambitious life in order to add gratification in,” explains Bogost. “The gratifying experiences are right in front of you. On the way to doing all the things you’re already doing, just notice them as they happen.”

Of course, if we indulge in the everyday delights at the expense of the things we have to do - like our jobs, caring for family members, or cleaning the house - the balance will be off. “You don’t need to gratification-max,” says Bogost. “It’s just spending a second longer in a sensory experience.”

I Kept an Everyday Delights Journal Every Day for a Month—And Can’t Believe How Much More Grounded I Feel

Weeks one and two

Before we dive in: some context about me. I’m notoriously Type A - a perfectionist, ambitious to a fault, organised (read: controlling) and a little anxious. Things often feel urgent when they aren’t, making me a prime candidate for an everyday delights journal. I regularly miss the small sensory moments of my day because I’m doing five things at once - replying to emails as I eat my breakfast, texting while on my morning walk or listening to a podcast whilst cooking. I’ll do anything to tick the to-do list off faster and get to the next major milestone.

It’s why the journal worked well for me from the start. If you’re naturally prone to noticing the small sensory pleasures around you, you might not need to write them down. But for me, the accountability of journaling made me pay more attention to what I like about these little moments in the day. In the first week alone, I racked up quite a list - some of which I’ll share with you here.

• Turning the pages of a paperback book
• The scent of nice perfume as someone walks past
• Hearing the pop of a newly unsealed jar
• Putting my bare feet in cold sheets
• Stroking my nails down my arm
• Spinning my rings round my finger

Sometimes, I could describe what I liked about these sensory interactions and other times, I couldn’t put my finger on it. They were just, somehow, delightful. What I do know is that spending a few seconds longer thinking about them as they happened, and later reflecting on them at the end of the day, made them feel even more delicious.

Weeks three and four

By week three, I was well into the groove of noticing the delights of my day. I didn’t always write them down - this wasn’t a strict journaling habit - and instead tended to just note them down when they really stuck out to me. I keep my journal and pen in my handbag, so rather than making it a nightly thing, I started jotting them down throughout the day.

The best part of all? Reading them to my friends. When you make these sensory habits social, they become even more fun. It’s a great conversation starter. Tell your friend what you love so much about the satisfying way a knife slices through a cake, and you’ll probably find they come back with something equally odd, sparking hours of conversation.

As I’ve discovered, the sensory delights of the world are endless, and noticing them takes nothing away from your day. I’m just as efficient, productive and ambitious as I was a month ago, but my life is peppered with more mini, random moments of happiness. It’s not life-changing, but it is life-enhancing.

Instead of living my life in giant, busy blocks of time, I now feel that it moves more like stepping stones, punctuated by pauses where I’m truly connected to myself and the world around me.

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When ‘Instagram vs Reality’ first gained traction back in 2014, it served as a reminder not to believe everything we see on social media. Back then, we were looking out for heavy face tuning and Paris filters, overly smoothed skin and artificially slimmed thighs.

But in 2026, the phrase has taken on an entirely new dimension. Now, instead of deciphering whether a creator has tweaked their appearance, we have to question whether they’re human at all.

It seems almost dystopian, but it’s true. The AI-generated influencer market is now worth over $11 billion, with virtual personas earning up to 40x more than the average human creator.

That in itself seems bizarre. But there’s also a darker side to this booming industry. Because, as an investigation by the New York Times revealed in July, hundreds of these hyperrealistic AI-generated personas are being used to tout misleading health information online. It’s a frightening reality, especially given that one in four of us rely on social media and AI as a source of health information.

As if that wasn’t enough, there’s another layer, too - one that The Times didn’t address. Because as these AI-generated influencers proliferate, genuinely credible women’s health creators and brands are having their content hidden and removed by social media platforms right here in the UK. In fact, 95% of women’s health brands who responded to a survey by CensHERship in 2025 reported experiencing digital suppression.

Ahead, we investigate what the rise of virtual influencers really means for an already murky online wellness landscape. With the help of lawyers, scam researchers and women’s health experts, we ask who these AI-generated personas really are, how we can spot them, and what their presence on our feeds really means for our wellbeing.

Whilst you’re here, you can find more investigations into the modern state of wellness, including the chronic issue of PMDD misdiagnosis, the debate around the new Ozempic add-on pill, and what the launch of ChatGPT Health means for women, over on the MC UK health section.

Meet the AI "Wellness Experts" Sharing Dangerous Advice

What is an AI-generated wellness influencer?

Early adopters and tech wizards, forgive me, but before we go any further, I think it’s important to define what an AI-generated influencer actually is.

For that, I turn to Kelly Allison, founder of KVA digital communications agency and host of the Health Applied podcast, who specialises in the humanisation of AI. “An AI influencer is an avatar or an artificial persona, often created by a brand to represent them,” she explains. “Usually, these personas aren’t based on real people - they’re created from scratch in order to give the brand full control of their appearance and narrative.”

Occasionally, though, AI influencers do represent real people. “Some influencers have created digital twins of themselves,” says Allison. “It’s less common because they can erode trust with an audience built over years, but it does allow the influencer to take on more work.”

One thing to note: an AI influencer is different to a deepfake. “Deepfakes are digital twins of a celebrity, influencer or someone in the public eye, created unethically and without their permission,” says Allison.

As for where these AI influencers live, often it’s on a brand’s channel where they’re used for individual promotional videos. At the same time, though, there has been a rise in entirely new profiles being built around virtual influencers. “Many of these profiles are bot-managed,” says Allison. “They can respond to comments, follow back and can grow very quickly.”

She points out that Meta has some regulations and auto-detect tools to mitigate against the creation of these bot-managed profiles, but says that not all are picked up. “The result is people following someone who they think is a real-life influencer, and yet behind the content there is no substance, no empathy or emotions.”

Why are wellness brands using AI influencers instead of human creators?

Unless you work in marketing, you might be wondering why a brand would create an entirely new persona instead of working with an actual human creator. As with most things, the answer comes down, in large part, to money.

“It’s not just avoiding having to pay the influencer themselves,” says Allison. “Brands using AI-generated influencers can also make savings against translations, editing, briefing and rights to share across multiple platforms.”

It’s what makes them so popular amongst wellness brands. “If you’re trying to show someone how to inject or apply a product at home, using an avatar is a quick, accurate and cost-effective way to do that,” says Allison. “There’s less need for human trust because the video is instructional.”

There’s also an element of control at play. “With a human influencer, brands are relying on an influencer’s individual style and way of presenting a narrative,” Allison explains. “In contrast, an AI influencer can be engineered to speak specifically to a brand’s audience across different platforms.”

What’s the problem with AI-generated wellness influencers?

It’s the complete control brands have over the narrative that presents a potential danger for consumers. The influencer industry is built on trust - the principle that someone on your feed has tried a product and influenced you to buy it based on their first-hand experience. Over the years, we’ve watched that trust erode even in the human sphere, as influencers have marketed products that feel misaligned with their values.

When you remove the human entirely, that opportunity for deception grows. “An AI influencer has zero values, and yet they can be programmed to use the most emotionally persuasive, warm, kind, caring, empathetic language,” explains Allison.

The result is an influencer model that relies entirely on a brand’s moral compass to share credible information. And that, unsurprisingly, has opened up an industry of scams, known as PharmaFraud. “Last year alone our software stopped over one million attempts to send people to fake pharmacy sites from social media,” says Leyla Bilge, global head of scam research at Norton. “These sites are dressed up to look exactly like a real online chemist but are selling medication that either doesn’t exist or isn’t what it claims to be.”

Bilge says that mid-life women are the demographic most frequently targeted by these faux-pharmacies, which primarily market medication relating to weight-loss, sexual health, hormone health and antibiotics. “This content works on emotion, and it follows trends fast,” says Bilge. “AI can build websites and personas very quickly, so they can follow the health story people are searching for.”

To add insult to injury, all of this is happening at the same time as medically accurate women’s health content is being censored. “Automated moderation treats an anatomical word such as ‘vagina’, ‘breast’, ‘cervix’ or ‘menstruation’ as an indicator of sexual content and restricts it, regardless of whether the post is providing legitimate health education,” explains Kate Prince, head of public affairs at health and hygiene corporation, Essity.

It’s an issue which Dr Helen O’Neill, Professor in Reproductive and Molecular Genetics and co-founder of Hertility, has experienced first-hand. “Meta actively removes Hertility content,” she tells me, referencing a promotional video the brand used of a real woman discussing her experience of endometriosis and secondary infertility. Meta removed the video for being too political. “There is an obvious gender bias in what platforms deem acceptable when it comes to health,” Dr O’Neill explains. “More than 600 women’s health companies have reported experiencing censorship or restrictions of their content.”

As the experts point out, suppressing credible information doesn’t stop women looking for answers - it simply creates a vacuum for misinformation to fill at the exact moment that AI-influencers are rising. “Our research found that three-quarters of 18- to 34-year-olds turn to social media to educate themselves about male and female health, and 47% of social-media users regard it as important for health education,” says Prince.

It’s this interaction between AI-generated misinformation and the suppression of medically accurate women’s health information that creates the issue. “If users cannot distinguish between a real clinician, a commercial avatar and a fabricated testimonial, they cannot properly assess the credibility or motivation of the advice,” says Prince, who points out the myriad of potential consequences.

“People might delay professional advice, make inappropriate treatment decisions, spend money on ineffective products or become unnecessarily frightened about normal symptoms.”

Are AI-generated wellness influencers always untrustworthy?

Before we consider how we separate a credible AI-influencer from a scam, it’s important to point out that a brand simply using them in their content isn’t a red flag. “AI influencers could be useful if they are designed around transparency, evidence and human accountability,” says Prince. “They could translate trusted health information from sources like the NHS website into accessible language, communicate in different languages and formats, reach underserved audiences and signpost people towards appropriate services.”

It’s the lack of regulation that makes trusting them a challenge, particularly as the technology rapidly becomes more convincing. “The UK has no standalone laws for AI influencers or AI marketing, relying instead on existing consumer laws and advertising codes to regulate generative media,” says Stacey Gray, Commercial Senior Associate at Square One Law. She explains that, although brands have a legal responsibility not to share misinformation or misleading content, there is currently no blanket requirement to disclose an AI’s identity in organic social media posts.

For Prince, that’s a sign we need tighter restrictions, such as a verification tool for qualified health professionals on social media. “That would help users recognise reliable sources and help platforms protect clinically accurate education from wrongful suppression,” she says.

How to spot an AI-generated influencer scam:

While we wait for the platforms to clamp down on AI influencer credibility, how can we protect ourselves online?

1. Look for a digital footprint

According to Bilge, it’s no longer enough to look for video glitches like funky hands or unrealistic-looking hair. “That advice is dating fast as the sophistication of AI evolves,” she says. Instead, she recommends we look at the influencer’s digital footprint.

“If it’s a digital twin of a real celebrity, check if they have talked about that product on their own verified account,” says Bilge, whilst Allison points out that with AI, often there is no footprint at all. “This is because the persona has been created for one particular purpose,” she explains. “In these cases, it’s crucial that a brand has labelled their content as AI, and that they have data to back up the claims being made.”

2. Check for licenses and qualifications

In the UK, all registered pharmacies are listed by the General Pharmaceutical Council. These providers won’t offer you a medication without a prescription - something Bilge says is a clear red flag in unlicensed providers. “Avoid anything that will sell you a medical product without a prescription, or who will offer you a prescription without meaningful consultation,” she says.

If it’s an individual rather than a brand, Dr O’Neill reminds us to look up their qualifications. “Look at who is actually behind the claim. What are their qualifications? Are they a regulated healthcare entity or professional, and are they qualified in the area they’re talking about?” She says.

3. Watch out for bold claims and pressurising statements

Bold, sweeping statements from any online wellness creator, whether they’re human or AI-generated, are things to watch out for.

“Incredibly simple solutions to complicated biology, particularly claims about ‘balancing hormones’, reversing conditions or fixing fertility, are important to be wary of,” says Dr O’Neill.

Bilge agrees, adding that “if everything around the order process feels generic and rushed, that’s usually a sign that something isn’t right.”

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Earlier this year, I came across a headline: ‘Put on a happy face! Being optimistic lowers dementia risk by 15%’. The article, reporting on a newly published study linking higher optimism with slower cognitive decline in more than 9000 people, seemed to equate a sunny attitude with a longer life.

For a good while afterwards, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. While the sentiment of the article, and the study behind it, was undeniably positive, I couldn’t help but feel there was something off about the headline’s delivery. Looking on the bright side, finding the silver linings and keeping your cup half full are all nice in theory, but do they risk dismissing difficult, yet important, emotions? Do these worldviews require a certain amount of privilege? And does relentless optimism leave any room for admitting when something is actually just really hard?

As it turns out, I was wrong on all three counts. As psychologist and optimism expert Dr Deepika Chopra and health and social psychologist Professor Fuschia Sirios explained to me, optimism isn’t about denying life’s hardships. It’s far more about whether we see positive and negative experiences as temporary and external, or as permanent reflections of who we are.

And that means we all have the capacity to shift the way we think about the world, regardless of the circumstances we’re facing. It doesn’t mean ignoring challenges, but it can offer a different, and potentially more manageable, way of moving through them.

Ahead, I followed Dr Chopra’s seven tips for building real optimism to see how much they could actually shift my worldview. A month later, I’ve been impressed by the results.

If your mind is searching for a bit of TLC right now, I’d also recommend checking out these daily habits a neuroscientist uses to boost brain function, as well as these 10 simple ways to tailor your nutrition. We also have expert advice on training your brain to enjoy exercise and the mental reframe that soothed one writer’s overthinking brain.

What I Learnt Trying An Optimist Expert's Attitude Adjustment Tips For A Month

What is optimism?

Optimism is a funny thing. Though we all recognise it when we see it, actually being able to define and separate it from other positive mindsets such as hope and gratitude is surprisingly difficult.

“We tend to equate optimism with positive thinking,” says health psychologist and optimism doctor Dr Deepika Chopra, “but that’s not what optimism means. Real optimism is the belief that even when things are difficult or uncertain, possibilities still exist. It’s the belief that our actions can influence what happens next and that whatever we are met with, we are capable of responding to it.”

Professor Fuschia Sirois, a social and health psychologist at Durham University, agrees with Dr Chopra. “Optimists don’t just sit there waiting for it all to work out,” she says. “They put a lot of energy and effort into achieving the outcome they want. They’re persistent precisely because they believe they can achieve a positive result.”

What are the benefits of being optimistic?

Most of us can probably guess that optimism is linked with feeling better psychologically. But what you may not realise is that research has actually linked it with a far wider range of positive health outcomes, from better cardiovascular health, stronger social relationships and even improved longevity.

“One of the most useful ways to understand why optimism matters is through behaviour,” says Dr Chopra. “If I believe my actions might make a difference, I’m more likely to act. I’m more likely to problem-solve, seek support, persist after a setback, make the doctor’s appointment, move my body, have the difficult conversation or try again.”

It’s this resilience that makes an optimistic outlook so beneficial. “Optimism doesn’t magically create a good outcome, but it does change how we act in the space between uncertainty and outcome,” says Dr Chopra. “Over a lifetime, that makes a difference.”

But just like optimism doesn’t guarantee we’ll achieve our goals, pessimism doesn’t automatically mean we’ll fail at them. The difference is how we experience the process of working towards them. “Pessimists may still achieve their goals,” confirms Professor Sirois. “But they have a far less positive journey towards them than an optimist.”

Can we learn to be more optimistic?

Ok, so things seem fairly simple so far. But if optimism is so beneficial to our health and wellbeing, why does it seem to come less naturally to some than others? And if we feel we’re lacking in the optimism department, is there anything we can do to change it?

To make sense of this, we need to first understand where optimism comes from. “Research suggests that up to 50% of personality traits are biological,” says Professor Sirois. That might sound like a lot, but as she points out, “that also means that 50% is determined by our environment.”

It’s why she says surrounding yourself with optimistic people is so important. “Optimism is infectious that way,” she says. “Surrounding yourself with people who think in a certain way makes it easier for you to do the same.”

On the flipside, we can’t ignore that certain environments and circumstances make optimism somewhat harder to build. “Context matters enormously,” says Dr Chopra. “Your history, your current circumstances, any chronic stress and the amount of control you actually have over your environment all matter. It’s why someone experiencing grief, financial insecurity, discrimination, illness or repeated adversity shouldn’t be told they simply need a better mindset.”

Instead, she prefers to focus on something she calls real optimism. “This is about acknowledging reality before we try to reframe it,” she says. “It recognises that two people won’t begin from the same starting point.”

Once we have taken stock of our starting point, Dr Chopra recommends asking yourself these three questions.

• What remains possible?
• What do I have influence over?
• What is my next move?

The answers to these questions help you to start assessing how you can reasonably move towards achieving your goals. One thing Dr Chopra is very clear on is this. “You may have a natural optimism set point, but you are not sentenced to it. An optimistic explanatory style is trainable.”

I lived by these 7 optimism tips for a month - my mind felt infinitely better for it

When I first discovered Dr Chopra’s optimism checklist via Kourtney Kardashian’s wellness platform, Poosh, I was struck by how manageable her tips seemed. Where I expected to find vague, sweeping statements about thinking positively, instead I was met with small, practical activities which Dr Chopra said would, over time and with consistency, start to shift my way of thinking. There were no promises of things magically falling into place; just that the process of existing day to day might begin to feel that bit more enjoyable.

So, without further ado, the seven daily attitude adjustments which, after a month, have genuinely changed how I show up in the world.

The tips

• Savour something you have to look forward to
• Check in with your body before reacting
• Imagine the ‘other-case scenarios’
• Swap resistance for curiosity
• Attach optimism to existing habits
• Question your thoughts
• Build tolerance for discomfort

Tips one to three

Dr Chopra’s optimism checklist begins from the moment you wake up. Before you check your phone in the morning, she encourages us to think about something we’re looking forward to that day. It could be your morning coffee, your lunchtime walk, a phone call with a friend, or the twenty minutes you’ll spend reading a book that night.

When I ask her why it matters that I do this before I check my phone, she’s quick to explain. “We want to give your brain a future of your own to anticipate before someone else’s priorities get your attention,” she says. “Before the news, emails and social media get to tell your brain what matters, ask yourself what you are looking forward to.”

It sounds simple, but this tiny moment completely changes the trajectory of my day. I’m naturally quite anxious, so I tend to wake up with the weight of the world on my shoulders, flooded with a mental to-do list built of things people need from me. Taking a short pause to think about something small and positive that’s just for me - often something tasty I’ll make for dinner, a friend I’m seeing, or my daily swim - noticeably dislodges the dread that’s building inside me, and I find that it makes it easier to get up without so much procrastination.

Her second tip comes into play once that first stressful moment of the day hits. Whether it’s a blunt email, a difficult conversation or a missed meeting, Dr Chopra asks us to check in with how tension shows up in our body.

I’ll be honest; this is something I’ve already been practising in my own therapy, so I have a head start. But for those new to somatics, it stems from the idea that experiences don’t just get processed in our minds; they’re processed by our bodies, too. When we’re stressed, scared, angry or anxious, we might clench our fists, tighten our jaw, and our hearts might race. These reactions are all designed to protect us, but they can cloud our judgement and attention. Simply noticing what’s happening in our bodies can create that pause between situation and response, giving us the opportunity to choose what happens next.

It’s not easy, and I still don’t do it consistently. Sometimes the moment gets the best of me, the panic sets in, and my mind spirals towards disaster. But when I am able to notice what’s happening in my body, I do notice how much emotional distance I’m able to put between me and the situation.

Which brings me nicely to tip three. Instead of imagining the worst-case scenario every time, Dr Chopra encourages us to also consider various neutral-case and best-case scenarios that could come from a particular situation.

What I loved so much about this tip was that it didn’t demand that I imagine a perfect world every time, nor that I had to deny any negative thoughts. To me, this often seems unrealistic when things are imploding. In contrast, just imagining a slightly better, alternative scenario than the one my mind has automatically run to felt like a gentler stepping stone to a more optimistic outlook.

Tips four to seven

Tip four is all about asking yourself how a situation is asking you to adapt.

Change, even if you’re someone who enjoys it, often comes tinged with fear. I know for me at least, I often end up hanging onto the past instead of looking ahead to what’s next.

“You don’t have to like what’s happening,” Dr Chopra previously told Poosh. “It means staying open enough to grow because of it.”

Thankfully, this month, I haven’t had any major u-turns show up in my life, but even small plan changes, such as work trips being cancelled and rearranged, have given me the chance to try this little reframe. Instead of looking at them as losses, I’ve tried to think about the opportunities they’ve created, such as giving me more time to work on other projects or catch up with friends.

Then there’s habit stacking. This tip isn’t so much a practice itself, but is the idea that by attaching our new optimistic behaviours to existing daily cues, we increase the likelihood we’ll stick to them. Instead of creating whole new routines, I practised saying the thing I was looking forward to whilst drinking my morning coffee, and imagined alternative case scenarios to things that were worrying me before bed. Anchoring my optimism to these things I already do (and enjoy) undoubtedly contributed to my consistency this month.

And just as she encourages us to check in with our body before reacting, Dr Chopra also suggests that we question our thoughts before taking them as gospel. That’s because our thoughts, of which we have hundreds, if not thousands, every day, aren’t always facts. Instead, they’re often predictions designed to keep us safe.

When I was younger, I had a real tendency to catastrophise and, though I’ve got better at managing it, I can still slip into panic when I think about the future. I’ve found the process of asking myself whether something is fact or assumption to be helpful for a couple of reasons. First, it’s given me more compassion for my (sometimes borderline unhinged) thinking, and second, it’s given me the time to distance myself from acting on it.

Finally, my favourite of Dr Chopra’s reminders. “Optimism doesn’t always feel good,” she tells me.

It’s this which I’ve always got wrong, and which tends to make me feel I’m failing at optimism. I’ve assumed I’m supposed to feel unwaveringly positive; when I don’t, I think I must be a pessimist. But in fact, according to Dr Chopra, a real optimist has to tolerate discomfort. “If your version of optimism requires you to immediately transform every painful feeling into something positive, that’s not optimism - that’s avoidance,” she says. “Sometimes the healthiest response is simply: This hurts. I’m disappointed. I’m scared. I don’t know how this ends.”

To me, this is the most reassuring of all her advice. I have a tendency to run away from negative emotions, to push them down and ignore them. To tell everyone I’m fine when really, I’m not. And that makes the negative feelings linger a lot longer than they need to. What’s changed this month is that, instead of pretending things don’t hurt, I’ve allowed them to exist without making them permanent. I feel them whilst knowing they aren’t where things end. I consider them bad moments, bad days, even bad weeks, without them making me a bad person with a bad life.

None of this is easy, nor does it shift overnight. I’m practising every day, some more successfully than others. But I’ve noticed within just four weeks that I’m feeling more hopeful, more able to be honest about my emotions, and more confident to make decisions knowing that I’m capable of adapting to what happens next.

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If you have PMOS, you’ll know it doesn’t exactly do neat boxes. Or predictable symptoms. Or, frankly, much else by the book.

One diagnosis can come with a million ways to experience it. One woman might be dealing with unpredictable periods and fertility difficulties; another with acne and unwanted hair growth; someone else might be quietly navigating insulin resistance or changes in weight. And yes, you can have several of these going on at once.

It’s also part of what makes PMOS so frustrating to diagnose and treat. There isn’t one neat symptom checklist, one magical blood test or one universal treatment that works for everyone. What helps one woman can leave another wondering what all the fuss was about.

But new research could be about to change the way we think about the condition altogether.

A team at Shandong University in China, alongside an international group of researchers, has identified four distinct biological ‘subtypes’ of PMOS - each with its own pattern of hormonal and metabolic characteristics.

The important bit? Researchers aren’t suggesting there are suddenly four new diagnoses to add to your medical records. What they are suggesting is that PMOS may never have been one singular condition in the first place. Ladies, we know that matters. Because when your symptoms have felt confusing, inconsistent or even dismissed, having an actual biological explanation for why your experience looks different from someone else’s could be hugely validating.

Dare I say it, but it could also mark the beginning of something women with PMOS have been waiting a long time for: treatment that recognises the individual, rather than simply treating the diagnosis on your chart. Knowing the subtype you’re dealing with could help make sense of why your body is behaving the way it is - and, in time, could change how those symptoms are treated, too.

So, perhaps the future of PMOS isn’t about finding one answer for millions of women. It’s about finally recognising that there was never supposed to be just one.

For more, keep scrolling - and don't miss our guides to the science-backed PMOS treatments, nutritionist-approved PMOS supplements, and why PCOS has changed its name to PMOS, here.

PMOS Isn’t Just One Condition - and That Could Explain Why Diagnosis Is So Complicated

The Different Types of PMOS

If you’ve ever looked at another woman with PMOS and thought, Hang on, how can we possibly have the same condition? Rest assured, your version of PMOS is no less real.

​That’s something Dr Emily Jackman, a GP who also has PMOS herself, understands both personally and professionally. “One of the biggest challenges with PMOS, formerly known as PCOS, is that it can look incredibly different from one woman to another,” she explains. “Someone might predominantly experience irregular periods or fertility difficulties, while someone else may struggle with acne, excess hair growth or metabolic issues such as insulin resistance, and there can be considerable overlap between these features.”

And that variation can make diagnosis feel like something of a postcode lottery. There’s no single symptom, blood test or presentation that neatly announces this is PMOS. Instead, women can arrive with completely different combinations of symptoms - some of which can overlap with other conditions, while others may be dismissed altogether.

For Jackman, that isn’t just something she sees in the consulting room. “I have PMOS myself and, when I initially sought help, I didn’t necessarily fit what was perceived to be the ‘typical’ picture, so my concerns were initially dismissed.”

If we’ve spent years squeezing women with PMOS to fit one “typical” picture, perhaps the problem is the picture. “The recent change in name from Polycystic Ovary Syndrome to Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome reflects our evolving view of this as much more than an ovarian condition. This research feels like another important step in that direction, recognising the huge variation within PMOS rather than expecting everybody with the diagnosis to look the same.

The Four PMOS Patterns: What Type Do You Have?

There was no deciding upfront what the four PMOS patterns should look like - the data got to do the talking. Researchers analysed nine clinical characteristics in 11,908 women, using a statistical technique called “unsupervised clustering” to see which patterns naturally emerged.

And, interestingly, four did.

Dr Giuseppe Aragona, GP and medical adviser, helps break down what actually sets these four patterns apart - and could one help make sense of your PMOS?

1. The androgen-heavy patterns

Think: acne, excess hair and hair thinning.

“This was the group where androgens - including testosterone and DHEA-S - were the loudest signal,” says Aragona, "it most closely reflects the PMOS many people instinctively picture: acne, excess facial or body hair and scalp hair thinning."

2. The Metabolic pattern

Think: weight, insulin and blood sugar.

“Here, weight, insulin and blood sugar were the giveaway. Women had higher BMI, fasting glucose and insulin, alongside the highest rates of type 2 diabetes, dyslipidaemia and hypertension,” says Aragona.

However, he stresses that this doesn’t mean obesity causes PMOS - or that lean women can’t have insulin resistance. It means these metabolic problems are clustered together in this group.

3. The quieter hormonal pattern

Think: a leaner profile and fewer metabolic red flags.

“Women in this group had higher SHBG - a protein that affects how much testosterone is available in the body - alongside lower BMI and testosterone levels. They also had the lowest rates of diabetes and high blood pressure, with generally more favourable reproductive outcomes.”

TDLR: “Quieter” doesn’t mean symptom-free, just a different overall pattern.

4. The fertility-focused pattern

Think: hormones involved in ovulation and ovarian function (your ovaries holding on for dear life)

This pattern was strongly linked to ovarian and reproductive hormones. “Women in this group had higher LH and AMH - hormones involved in ovulation and ovarian activity - as well as higher FSH.”

And that hormonal picture seemed to matter when fertility treatment entered the picture. As Aragona notes, this group had the highest risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) and the lowest rate of PMOS remission.

What This Could Mean for Your Symptoms - and Your Treatment

I hear you: what does this actually mean if you have PMOS?

For starters, it could help explain why your experience looks so different from someone else’s. “One woman might have significant acne, excess hair growth or thinning, while another with the same diagnosis struggles mainly with insulin resistance, weight or fertility. The research suggests those differences may reflect underlying biological patterns - rather than PMOS simply being one condition that happens to look different from person to person,” says Aragona.

But the bigger question is: could this eventually change how we treat it?

And that, ultimately, is where Aragona sees the real promise: “Excitingly, I see this research potentially paving the way towards more personalised care rather than changing what we do in the consulting room immediately.”

As we speak, treatment is already guided by what you actually need - whether that’s managing irregular periods, trying to conceive, tackling acne or unwanted hair, or reducing metabolic or cardiovascular risk. However, Aragona hopes that, with this research, your symptoms could be combined with a handful of blood tests and other health markers to build a much more precise picture of your PMOS.

That could mean knowing which risks to watch more closely, which treatments are more likely to help, and potentially even how fertility treatment should be tailored to you.

There is one important reality check, though - and Aragona is keen to make it. “We’re still firmly in the research phase. This isn’t a new NHS test or treatment pathway just yet. But it could be an intriguing first step towards something more personalised.”

My take: I’d argue that one of the most important takeaways is that PMOS may be far more individual than diagnosis suggests. The next step is finding out whether understanding those differences can actually help treat women better.

The More We Know, The More We Can Ask For

If there’s one thing diving into this research has reinforced for me, it’s this: the more we understand our own bodies, the more powerful we become in advocating for them. Living with a chronic condition can sometimes feel like handing over the expert status to everyone else - the GP, the consultant, the blood test, the diagnosis. But understanding what’s happening inside your body gives you the confidence to ask better questions, push back when something doesn’t feel right and have a more informed say in your care.

Knowledge won’t magically fix PMOS. But it can give us something important: agency. And if this research ultimately helps move us towards care that recognises just how different our experiences can be, then perhaps understanding our bodies won’t just help us live with PMOS - it’ll help us demand better from the system treating it.

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If your social feeds look anything like mine, Pilates basics are having a serious renaissance. Forget complicated Reformer sequences or moves that require the flexibility of a professional dancer – right now, it’s the classics that everyone seems to be talking about.

And honestly, I'm here for it. Pilates has been one of the biggest fitness success stories of recent years, and our collective obsession shows no sign of disappearing anytime soon. But with so many moves being hailed online as the one you need to be doing, I started wondering what someone who's actually qualified to teach Pilates makes of the exercises we see on repeat.

So I asked Georgia Weibel, founder of Pilates with Georgia, to rate six of the most popular basic Pilates moves – including which muscles they actually work, and whether they're genuinely worth adding to your routine. Consider this your expert-approved guide to the Pilates essentials.

Cut Through the Noise With the 5 Best Basic Pilates Moves to Try

What are the benefits of basic Pilates moves?

Before we get into the six basic Pilates moves and what Weibel actually thinks of them, it's good to know why we should bother practising them in the first place.

Slow, controlled Pilates exercises can challenge everything from your core and legs to your balance, mobility and coordination. Better still, mastering the fundamentals gives you a solid base from which to progress onto harder variations – rather than rushing straight towards whatever impressive-looking move happens to be trending.

There's research to back up Pilates in its most basic format, too. One study following middle-aged women through a 12-week mat Pilates programme found improvements in core and lower-body strength, flexibility, agility and balance. That's quite the return from a workout method which, lest we forget, often involves little more than your bodyweight and a mat.

Pilates is also seriously good for our balance, which we all know is important to keep in check as we age. A systematic review of Pilates programmes in older adults found positive effects on both static and dynamic balance, adding to the evidence that those small, controlled movements can have practical benefits beyond simply feeling stronger during class.

1. The Hundred (2/5)

What? One of the most recognisable Pilates exercises, the Hundred involves lying on your back with the head and shoulders lifted. The legs are extended or held in tabletop while the arms pulse alongside the body.

Why? "This might be controversial, but I personally think The Hundred is overrated!," Weibel says. "It challenges the abdominals and requires you to maintain trunk stability while coordinating the arms and breath, but if my goal was to really strengthen the core, there are other Pilates exercises I would choose first. I also find that people can become so focused on completing the 100 arm pulses that the quality and control of the movement can get lost."

How long? Traditionally, it's performed for 100 arm pulses, using 10 breathing cycles of five counts in and five counts out.

2. Single Leg Stretch (4/5)

What? From a curled-up position, one knee draws towards the chest while the opposite leg extends away. Alternate the legs with control.

Why? "I much prefer this for challenging the core because the abdominals have to stabilise the trunk and pelvis while the legs are continually moving," Weibel explains. "It also brings in coordination and really encourages that mind-to-muscle connection Pilates is known for."

How long? Six to ten reps per leg.

3. Side Bend (5/5)

What? A side-supporting exercise where you lift the hips away from the mat, creating a long line through the body before lowering with control.

Why? Weibel loves this one because so much of the body has to work together. "It challenges the obliques and lateral core, but you’re also asking a lot from the shoulders, glutes and hips to stabilise the body. It’s a great example of how Pilates can create full-body strength without needing lots of equipment."

How long? Three to five reps per leg.

4. Roll Up (4/5)

What? Starting lying down, use the abdominals to slowly roll the body up to sitting before reversing the movement and lowering back down with control.

Why? "Doing a Roll Up without using momentum requires a lot of abdominal control," Weibel explains. "I also love the spinal articulation involved. Rather than thinking about simply getting yourself from lying to sitting, you’re concentrating on moving through the spine with control, which makes the movement much more intentional."

How long? Three to five reps.

5. Teaser 5/5

What? One of the most iconic Pilates exercises where you balance on your sit bones with the torso and legs lifted into a V shape, maintaining control through the centre of the body.

Why? "For me, this is Pilates in one exercise. You need core strength, hip flexor strength, balance, coordination and a huge amount of control. There’s also nowhere to hide in a Teaser. If you rush it or rely on momentum, you immediately lose the quality of the movement."

How long? Three to five reps.

6. Scissors (4/5)

What? Lying on your back with the upper body curled up, the legs alternate in a scissoring action, with one reaching towards you as the other extends away.

Why? "Scissors combines core strength and stability with mobility through the hips and hamstrings," Weibel says. "The challenge is not just moving the legs, but keeping the trunk and pelvis controlled while they move independently. That focus on stability alongside movement is one of the reasons I think simple Pilates exercises can be so effective."

How long? Six to ten reps per leg.

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I used to be such a good sleeper. As a kid, I was out like a light as soon as my head hit the pillow. But after a short stint in the loudest halls at my university, where I regularly slept for less than three hours a night, my relationship with bedtime has become pretty bumpy.

Since then, I’ve had bouts of full-blown insomnia, usually triggered by stress. Whether it’s tension with friends, a mounting to-do list or money worries, there can be months where I lie awake night after night, plagued by a racing mind.

I know I’m far from the only one. According to the NHS, one in three people experience symptoms of insomnia, which range from struggling to fall or stay asleep to waking up early and feeling tired and irritable during the day.

I also know how frustrating it is when people try to offer you advice.

Have you tried journaling?

What about herbal teas, or leaving your phone outside your bedroom?

Tick, tick, tick. If you’ve ever struggled with sleeplessness, the chances are you’ve left none of these stones unturned.

Sometimes, at least in my case, they do work. But in other, particularly stressful, periods, they don’t even touch the sides. I’ll feel my heart racing, my legs restless and my mind alive and kicking with thoughts, pressures and anxieties, no matter how diligently I’ve tried to wind down.

It’s why my latest tactic - an evening swim and sauna ritual - has excited me so much. After a particularly bad period of poor sleep, it’s done consistent wonders for my nighttime relaxation over the past two months. To discover why, and how you can create your own swim and sauna ritual, read on.

We’ve also got guides to the benefits of saunas, the most common ice bath FAQ’s and the six Scandinavian wellness principles we can learn from. It’s also worth reading how Health Editor Ally Head fared when she went to the sauna weekly for six months.

An Evening Swim and Sauna Has Revolutionised My Sleep - Here's How

How does combining a swim with a sauna benefit your nervous system?

The swim

I stumbled across swimming almost by accident. After joining my local leisure centre, which has a pool, I pulled out my old swimsuit just to mix up my usual exercise routine. It was only then that I was reminded just how calming having my head in the water for thirty minutes could be. Without music blaring in my ears or sweat dripping down my face, it felt meditative, but I couldn’t explain why.

For that, I turned to psychotherapist and nervous system specialist, David Cornwell. “Swimming improves our breathing rhythm, which is foundational to nervous system regulation,” he explains. “The gentle holding of the breath as we move through the water begins to improve both the biochemistry and the biomechanics of our breathing. This directly stimulates and tones the vagus nerve, and supports autonomic nervous system regulation.”

Then, he says, there’s the stimulation of the diving reflex, which is an automatic body response that helps us to survive underwater by slowing our heart rate and redirecting blood flow to our major organs. Research has suggested that this reflex, which activates our parasympathetic nervous system (aka rest and digest), can be used to treat symptoms of panic and anxiety.

Finally, Cornwell says there’s the sensation of water to consider. “As we swim, there is a gentle stimulation of the skin all over our body, which has a similar effect to a gentle massage,” he explains.

The sauna

And that’s all before we’ve even discussed the sauna. “Passive heat raises our core temperature, and when we come out and cool down, that drop stimulates our body's natural temperature decline, which can help release melatonin,” explains Cornwell.

Waldo Ramsay, co-founder of REBASE recovery studio, echoes this. “The heat of the sauna mimics the effect of mild exercise, causing your body to enter a sympathetic state. When you exit, you quickly return to rest and digest. This is where the benefits for sleep can be harnessed.”

Cornwell adds that the environment around the sauna has further relaxation benefits. “The sauna provides a quiet, screen-free environment to settle us towards sleep,” he says. “But there’s also an important component around co-regulation. Humans don’t do well on our own - we’re better in community. Sharing a communal sauna cultivates a sense of belonging and connection, which moves us into a tend-and-befriend, parasympathetic state. It helps us feel safe and connected, which is exactly what we need to fall asleep.”

How much time should you spend in the pool and sauna to see results?

Across every expert I spoke to, the key message was to find a routine that balances discipline with enjoyment. Of course, accountability and consistency are important, but if a healthy nervous system is what we’re after, it’s also crucial not to constantly be pushing ourselves.

“We often have a tendency, especially when the nervous system is dysregulated, to impose more and more on the body,” says Cornwell. “But what really matters is listening and feeling what we need, rather than forcing more onto ourselves.”

Chess Ridgard, open water swimmer and coach at Sea Lanes Canary Wharf, agrees. “Even if you get in the water for 20 minutes, you’ve given yourself that moment away from technology and from anything that’s going on in your life. That 20 minutes of breathwork and relaxation can be as powerful as any 90-minute session working on technique.”

At REBASE, Ramsay recommends three 15-minute sauna sessions a week. “Finnish studies have suggested that 60 minutes a week, spread across two to three sessions, is the sweet spot for harnessing the cardiovascular benefits,” he explains. But he emphasises that everyone is different, and like Ridgard and Cornwell, he recommends tuning into your own body for guidance. “If you’re new to sauna, or are feeling under the weather, it’s particularly important to adjust slowly and not overdo it,” he says.

How can I support my nervous system in the pool and sauna?

Swimming is one of the most mindful and relaxing forms of exercise, but only if you feel strong and comfortable in the pool. When you don’t, it can be stressful, which is the exact opposite of the feeling we’re trying to create.

According to Ridgard, most of that stress comes from not knowing how to control your breathing. “Your breath will unlock everything you do in the water,” she explains. “It’s the thing that will switch you from sympathetic to parasympathetic nervous system.”

Thankfully, she has some tips to help us relax in the pool. “When your body is in water, you have a need to take air in,” Ridgard explains. “But the more you take in, the less you’re breathing your waste gas - the CO2 - out.”

Instead of taking a big gasp, she encourages us to focus on allowing the air in naturally. “When you push off the wall, take a big sigh out,” she says. “That will set you off for a nice relaxed swim from the very start.”

When it comes to the sauna, Cornwell also has some advice to maximise relaxation. "Wear a sauna hat or put a towel over your head," he says. "“This helps you stay in the sauna longer without feeling like you're overheating."

He also reminds us to drink plenty of water with electrolytes. “In cold countries, we don't drink enough water, simply because it is so cold that I don't feel like it. The sauna encourages us to drink, and that’s great for replenishing our bodies.”

An evening swim and sauna has become my new wind down routine - now I sleep better than ever

Month one

The first time I combined my swim and sauna routine was back in July when I went to try out the new Sea Lanes Canary Wharf - an open-water swimming venue in central London. I’d just started swimming at my local leisure centre (which unfortunately doesn’t have a sauna), and was already feeling the benefits.

But after combining the two practices for the first time, I noticed that the calmness I’d experienced after my swim was multiplied by rounding out the evening with a sauna. After replenishing with plenty of water and a fairly light dinner, I had the best night’s sleep I’d had in months.

From then on, my curiosity was piqued, and I set out to make the combination of swimming and sauna a habit. I visited various lidos and leisure centres, as well as a lucky trip to the luxury health club Third Space Islington, where I went as a guest with a friend.

And time and again, the same thing happened. I’d arrive at the pool a little frazzled, my mind flitting between 100 different places, only for things to go almost immediately quiet from the first push off the wall. In the water, everything seemed to move slower; my thoughts clearer and the to-do list less urgent.

The 15-minutes I spent in the sauna afterwards became even more sacred. Rather than rushing back to the changing rooms, scrubbing my hair as fast as I could and checking my phone whilst still in my towel, taking that time - either in silence or chatting to a friend - made me feel rooted in the present. It was an opportunity to mull over my worries in a place where I was relatively unreachable, free from notifications and requests.

Month two

By month two, I was utterly convinced of my new routine. I didn’t go every day, but on the days I didn’t, I really missed it. Usually, I go two or three times a week, swimming for around 30 minutes and spending a further 15 minutes in the sauna. I make sure not to rush the process of showering and getting dressed afterwards either, keen to extend this slower pace right into the evening.

Whilst for me, the movement element of swimming is a core part of the relaxation process, one night I do try contrast therapy at REBASE - a wellness and recovery studio in central London. Instead of swimming, I combine a few minutes in a cold plunge with time in their infrared sauna. There are undeniably similar effects, and if swimming isn’t your thing, it’s a great option. My preference, though, is to go for a swim first and then head to a studio like REBASE for recovery.

A key part of improving my sleep has been putting distance between my phone and I. Before I arrive at the pool, I set it to ‘do not disturb’, and it stays that way until the next morning. I cherish the time to fully switch off and unwind, and I know that logging back onto my emails and social media would undo all that good work.

I’ve fallen head over heels for my new evening routine. Of course, everyone is different and what helps me sleep might not be the same for you, but if you’re feeling a little stuck on high alert, I’d highly recommend giving it a go.

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The advice around going on our phones before bed is pretty clear: don't do it. And yet, somehow, there I am at 10 pm almost every night, checking one thing that inevitably turns into another, then another, and so it goes...

It’s not even that I particularly enjoy the habit – more that, after a long day, reaching for my phone has become the path of least resistance. The problem is, phone time – and more specifically, doomscrolling – before bed isn't a particularly healthy habit.

"It means more blue light exposure, algorithm-driven social media and increased mental stimulation,” explains Dr Amanda Mwale, clinical psychologist at The Good Sleep Clinic. “But to fall asleep, our nervous systems should be shifting into ‘rest and digest’ mode, rather than becoming more stimulated.” Research backs her up, too: one randomised trial found that people who avoided their phones for 30 minutes before bed fell asleep faster and reported better sleep quality and mood.

But rather than simply banning my phone and leaving a 20-minute void I’d inevitably resent, I wanted to replace the habit with something that actually felt appealing. Enter my new bedtime wind-down ritual: ten minutes of gentle stretching followed by ten minutes of journalling – two things I already know make me feel calmer, but I rarely prioritise at the end of the day.

For two weeks, I committed to making the swap every night, curious to see whether it would change more than the time it took me to nod off. Would I feel less wired before bed? Calmer during the day? More energised in the mornings? And, perhaps most importantly, could a deliberate 20-minute ritual finally make my evenings feel like an actual transition into rest rather than one last extension of the day?

I Swapped My Evening Scroll for a 20-Minute Wind-Down Ritual—It’s Been a Game-Changer

What is a bedtime wind-down ritual?

A bedtime wind-down ritual is exactly what it sounds like – a handful of familiar habits that help you move from doing to resting. As James Wilson, aka The Sleep Geek, explains: “A wind-down ritual is simply a bridge between the busyness of the day and sleep. It is not a magic routine that makes you sleep. The aim is to reduce physical and emotional alertness so you feel relaxed and secure enough to let sleep happen.”

Interestingly, Wilson points out that there’s no universal formula here – and yes, your phone could technically form part of a routine if it genuinely helps you relax. For me, though, scrolling tends to do the opposite: I come away feeling more mentally switched on, and sometimes more anxious, too.

What are the benefits of having a bedtime wind-down ritual?

So, how could curating a relaxing wind-down ritual help me exactly? At its simplest, it creates a buffer between the doing part of the day and the bit where we expect our brains to suddenly switch off. Rather than going straight from emails, chores or scrolling to lights out, those few quieter minutes give the body and mind a chance to come down a gear.

That’s a big part of why I chose journalling and stretching for my new wind-down ritual. Both force me to slow down and pay attention to the present moment, rather than ricocheting between thoughts and tasks. “Many of the people I have worked with clinically have found journalling extremely helpful for ‘putting their worries to bed’, but also for recognising their achievements and things that they feel grateful for,” says Dr Mwale.

There's some pretty interesting science around this: a 2018 sleep-lab study found that people who spent five minutes writing a specific to-do list before bed fell asleep faster than those who wrote about tasks they had already completed.

Stretching serves a slightly different purpose for me – getting me out of my head and back into my body. Dr Mwale says gentle stretching can help release some of the physical tension accumulated throughout the day and encourage the nervous system towards a state more conducive to sleep. And a 2024 review of stretching interventions found a positive trend in sleep quality improvement, although the researchers noted that the evidence is still mixed.

Importantly, neither activity is a magic sleep hack. As Wilson puts it, journalling can become “another task” for some people, while stretching isn’t a sleep treatment in itself. His advice? Pay attention to whether your chosen ritual leaves you calmer or more alert. If it's the latter, it doesn't matter how many studies or online articles suggest that it's good for sleep – it's got to work for you.

Swapping doom scrolling for a wind-down ritual: my review

Week one

The first thing I noticed was just how automatic reaching for my phone had become. More than once, I found myself picking it up without consciously deciding to – that familiar urge to just "check" something was surprisingly persistent.

For the journalling portion of my ritual, I initially took inspiration from the research and tried writing a to-do list for the following day. Unfortunately, this had pretty much the opposite of a calming effect on me. Instead of putting those tasks to bed, I climbed into mine still mentally running through everything I'd written down. Useful for organisation? Absolutely. Relaxing? Not so much.

So, I switched tack and tried gratitude journalling instead – and this was a game-changer. Spending a few minutes focusing on what had gone well that day left me just feeling better. Pairing it with gentle stretching worked brilliantly, too. Getting off the couch and onto the floor brought me back into my body, and even though I only stretched for ten minutes, I felt noticeably calmer when getting into bed.

Week two

By the second week, reaching for my phone felt less instinctive, and the ritual itself started to feel like a signal that the day was winding down. I wouldn't say I suddenly became the world's best sleeper – and I certainly wasn't springing out of bed brimming with energy every morning – but I did notice subtle shifts. I felt a little less groggy on waking some days, and generally calmer heading into the evening. I was starting to look forward to my wind-down ritual, which is key.

More importantly, the experiment changed how I think about winding down. I don't think the magic lies in exactly what you do for those 20 minutes. For me, the biggest benefit came from consciously choosing how I wanted to spend them, rather than automatically reaching for my phone and disappearing down a scrolling rabbit hole.

Am I swearing off my phone before bed forever? Probably not. But I do want to be much more intentional about how I use it. I've already got my eye on some of Headspace's wind-down meditations, which feels like a more mindful use of screen time than scrolling.

Two weeks later, that's probably my biggest takeaway: a bedtime routine doesn't need to be perfect or elaborate – it just needs to help you draw a line under the day and give yourself permission to slow down. I'll definitely be sticking to mine.

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I'll level with you: I've always been a bit of a manifestation sceptic. But recently, I've been seeing more and more content around how transformative the practice can be, and I'll bite: I was intrigued.

In case you missed it, manifestation is the idea that we can influence our lives in various ways through the power of thought, attracting greater success and fulfilment via a proactively positive mindset.

If this sounds too good to be true (and trust me when I say that I get it!), you might be interested to learn that, in fact, the technique does have some scientific weight behind it. Studies reveal that people who manifest perceive themselves to be more successful and have stronger aspirations and belief in their success (check out this study from the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin) - and it's also endorsed by the experts.

"Reframing and self-belief definitely have some strong psychological backing," notes psychotherapist Eloise Skinner. "There are fields of therapy that address these behaviours specifically - cognitive reframing, for example, is used across many fields of psychotherapy, while gratitude practices have quite a bit of research behind them, indicating that a consistent gratitude practice can help us feel more positive and intentional."

I'll be honest: a combination of life stressors and hormones has been playing havoc with my brain lately, and I could do with a little purpose and direction, so when I was asked to try out Roxie Nafousi's manifestation mindset technique, it felt serendipitous. Could a month of manifesting clarify my goals and boost my motivation? I couldn't wait to find out.

Keep scrolling to find out how I got on, but in the meantime, you might be interested in our guides to common manifesting mistakes, five steps to manifesting the life of your dreams and quiet magic morning routines here - plus, find out how one Health Writer got on when she tried Dr Tara Swart's four-step manifestation method, too.

I Tried Roxie Nafousi’s Manifestation Mindset Technique To Boost Calm and Restore Balance

What is Roxie Nafousi's manifestation mindset technique?

Firstly, let's dig a little deeper into what manifestation actually looks like - and how it works.

For this, I went straight to the expert herself: Roxie Nafousi is a self-development coach, motivational speaker and bestselling author of the best-selling manifestation bible Manifest: 7 Steps to Living Your Best Life, and it's her seven-step method taken from this book that I'll be trialling.

"For the Manifest Mindset series, I took the same seven manifestation steps from my book, which were inspired by my own journey of changing my life, and created a short class for each," she tells MC UK. "In each class, I break down the concept behind each step and then guide you through an actionable workshop where you can put it into practice."

Put simply, the technique is a simple, follow-along guided manifestation series for those who need a little extra help along the way - perfect for this manifestation newbie.

So, how does it work? "I created the 7-step method to be an entry point, so if you've never manifested a day in your life and think it all sounds like a bit much, this is for you," shares Nafousi. "But it's just as useful if you've read my book already and want a more guided, practical way to work through the steps. It's for anyone who's in a season of wanting change but doesn't know where to start."

The main tenets are visualisation, gratitude and reframing - tenets that are all psychologically backed, as we'll go into more detail below.

What are the benefits of the manifestation mindset technique?

Manifestation has plenty of purported benefits, provided you're willing to also put in the work: this isn't as simple as making an aesthetically pleasing vision board and gazing at it each morning (although, if that helps, you do you!). The techniques you use are grounded in strong neuroscientific principles - centrally, the idea of neuroplasticity. If you've never heard of it, prepare to have your mind blown.

Put simply, our brains aren't fixed - how we think can, quite literally, change them. The more often you have a specific thought, the deeper those neural pathways become, meaning you're then more likely to continue thinking in that particular way. Fascinating, right?

But beyond this, Nafousi's method has benefits of its own, too.

1. Visualisation focuses the brain

"Visualisation can be incredibly powerful in several ways," shares career coach Hannah Salton. "Firstly, it forces you to focus on what specifically you want. It sounds simple, but often when we’re not satisfied, we think quite vaguely. Visualisation encourages people to say exactly what they want, write it down, and picture it.

"This focuses the brain and triggers something called the reticular activating system – the part of the brain that filters information and starts drawing your attention to things relevant to what you're focused on. That’s why, for example, if you decide you want to buy a blue car, you suddenly start seeing blue cars everywhere."

2. Gratitude promotes a more positive outlook

"Gratitude works in a similar way to visualisation," continues Salton. "When we focus on what we already have, it makes us feel grateful, or lucky. Once we feel that way, our mindset shifts – and a more positive mindset makes us more open to possibilities and more likely to spot and act on opportunities we might otherwise have missed.

"Self-belief is something that grows over time – it's not something you can click your fingers and make magic. But by reminding yourself of what you already have and what exactly you want, you are more likely to develop self-belief. Other things that help with self-belief are focusing on your strengths – what you are naturally good at – and reminding yourself of what you have achieved so far."

3. Reframing helps shift our perspective

Manifestation isn't just about picturing your best life. While that's one aspect of it, it also forces us to challenge our habitual thought processes - some of which might not be altogether helpful. Working on reframing thoughts and situations is a key manifestation skill - and one that can have benefits way beyond the technique itself.

"Reframing can be an incredibly powerful tool, and involves deciding to view a situation differently," notes Salton. "For example, many of my career coaching clients experience rejection when job searching, and it’s easy to tell yourself it's because you're not good enough. In reality, there are so many reasons why you might not get a job offer – for example, the challenging job market, competition from other candidates, roles being paused."

"Reframing your perceived failure as being part of a broader, more complex situation can remind you that your worth isn’t defined by one outcome."

4. It's simple and accessible

Nafousi's method draws on all the techniques referenced above, but in an easy and accessible way.

"Using small, repeatable steps like in my 7-step method helps to build momentum," shares Nafousi. "I believe you don’t need to wait for a big breakthrough in your life, but stacking small wins helps start to shift how you see yourself and what you think is possible. Over time, you’ll start to notice more opportunities and show up as a more confident version of yourself."

Who is manifestation best for?

The experts are clear: manifestation can be useful for anyone and everyone - with an important caveat: you have to put in the work.

"Anyone and everyone can use these techniques; we all have this incredible superpower that we can use," agrees holistic life coach Nichola Henderson. "We can unlock our personal potential to achieve what we’re capable of by removing our own self-imposed limitations.

"There are many examples of incredible people who have achieved amazing things by unlocking their own potential. Take Olympian Eileen Gu, for example, who recently spoke so eloquently and openly about using some of these techniques to help her become who she wanted to be. She described how she spends a lot of time in her mind, breaking down her thought processes and controlling what she thinks using an analytical lens; this is the power of metacognition to move towards whatever your goal may be.

"This doesn’t mean we can all become Olympic athletes, but it does mean we can experiment with what we are capable of. If we are brave enough to treat ourselves like a beautiful artwork, we can experiment, mould ourselves over time, knowing that it’s OK to do it just for ourselves; then we get to consider what might be possible.

"Generally, these techniques can be especially useful for people going through change or transition, rebuilding confidence after a setback, developing a new habit, or anyone feeling stuck or lacking clarity."

I tried Roxie Nafousi's manifestation mindest technique for a month - here are my honest thoughts

Steps one to three

Full disclosure: I've never manifested before. I'm notoriously poor even at basic mindfulness skills like journalling, so it's safe to say I'm slightly apprehensive about getting started.

Added to this, we're deep into school summer holidays, meaning that there's little to no time for me to get stuck in - but I don't have the luxury of choosing a perfect time, so there's nothing for it but to start. And, to my relief, the first step is all about learning all about the process - nothing too scary here.

Step one is where things begin to ramp up a little, but honestly - it's totally achievable - the longest class is only just over twelve minutes, so even time-poor parents like me can manage to squeeze it in. PSA, though - listening to the instructions and attempting to lock in on a busy commuter train is not the one!

This being said, it's interesting to take some time to think about things I haven't really considered recently - if ever - such as asking myself what I really want from my life. In fact, it's pretty confronting - and when it comes to making a vision board, I'm well and truly stumped. But then my newfound reframing skills come into play, and I consider that maybe this is the perfect task for me.

Steps two and three involve removing fear and doubt and aligning behaviour, and I'll be honest, it takes me a few days to settle into it - but Nafousi is clear that this is all part of the process. "Start with step one and don't rush it," she advises. "Being clear on your vision is the part people want to skip, but it's the foundation for everything that comes after. Sit with the meditation, do the vision boarding exercise, and put it somewhere where you’ll see it every day. From there, go at your own pace and move through the steps one at a time.

"Some will take you ten minutes, while others may take you a few days to sit with, and that's fine. The workshops are created to help get you in the habit, and you can revisit any of the classes whenever you need a reminder."

Maybe I can work on my impatience at the same time...

Steps four to seven

Steps four to seven feel a little more intense; I won't lie. Step four is overcoming tests from the universe; it's all about the reframing skill- how to overcome those things that don't quite go our way: the tough times, rejections and failures.

Parenting three children in the summer holidays is essentially one long series of failures and rejections, so it feels like this has come at exactly the right time. I'm surprised to find out that actually, I'm already pretty resilient, and able to bounce back from setbacks - I'm taking this as a win.

Moving on to step five - embracing gratitude - feels relatively simple. I try and apporach life with a gratitude mindset always, and this task builds on the skills I know I already have. Likewise, step six (turning envy into inspiration) feels straightforward to me. I've long used feelings of jealousy as a driver for what I need to go after in my own life, transforming one of life's least constructive emotions into a powerful goal-setting message.

After a few weeks of deep work, it's time for the final step: trusting in the universe. Nafousi is clear that this isn't a passive step; it's not about sitting back and doing nothing; rather, it's about trusting the process and relinquishing control. Put simply, the art of letting go. As I'm about to go on my summer holiday, I'm more excited than ever to have a week off - and allow the universe to do its thing.

And I'll admit - I really do feel calmer than I have for months. Somehow, allowing myself to really let go of things helps me feel calmer and - confusingly - more in control than before. I'll have to report back on whether the universe delivers what I want - but for now, this sceptic is firmly on board.

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You know the question: if you could have anyone, living or dead, round for dinner, who would you invite? My table would be less dream dinner party, more women's health dream team - some of the world’s leading experts, with Madonna and Emily Brontë sandwiched somewhere in between. And there’s one thing I’d ask them: in a world that is constantly telling us to invest in this, buy that, track everything and optimise ourselves into oblivion, what do you actually spend your own time and money on?

If we’re all honest, the wellness industry has given us all a few trust issues. A product promises to transform your hormones? Sure. A wearable claims it can decode your sleep? Stunning. A supplement that claims it’ll help you live longer? Naturally, our interest is piqued.

Strip away the noise, the trends and the increasingly expensive business of “wellness”; what genuinely makes a difference? I asked the women who know best. So, park yourself up - consider this your ultimate wellness shopping list, curated by the experts leading the conversation - from the habits they swear by to the appointments, treatments, tests and products they believe are actually worth your time, money, and, crucially, attention - the good stuff, in other words, with the wellness-world nonsense left at the door.

Keen to read more expert-backed advice? Scroll our features on the best healthy ageing habits, the blue zone habits to try, and the simplest ways to improve your health here.

5 Best Health Investments of All Time, According to Top Experts

The women who know what’s worth investing in

So, who made the guest list? Five experts; five very different health investments. Around the virtual round-table we have: a sleep specialist, a cardiovascular expert, a menopause doctor, a longevity specialist, a women’s health GP, and a fitness expert - all revealing the health investments they genuinely rate.

The answers range from the things you can buy to the things you absolutely can’t - and, perhaps unsurprisingly, there’s a lot less biohacking and a lot more of the basics than you might expect.

1. The Sleep Investment That Pays You Back Every Day

If there’s one thing Dr Wendy Troxel, clinical psychologist and sleep scientist, would like us to stop doing, it’s looking for a pill to “switch us off.” She’s sceptical of the booming market of sleep supplements and “hacks” promising the perfect sleep. “There are effective strategies to improve sleep quality across all stages of a woman’s life, and they don’t come in a pill,” she says.

"For chronic insomnia, the gold-standard investment is cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), while the everyday basics matter too: a consistent wake-up time, plenty of light and movement during the day, a proper wind-down routine and resisting the late-night doomscroll."

And for her own investment? Start with the place where you spend a third of your life. “What other piece of furniture do you spend eight hours a day in?” She has a point: research using wearable data suggests adults spend around 7.5 hours a day actually sleeping, while estimates that include the time we spend awake in bed put that figure closer to nine hours.

So, creating a comfortable sleep environment, for Troxel, is one of the wisest investments you can make for your sleep.”It’s not a case of spending £3,000 on the latest sleep-enhancing mattress; comfort is personal, and your sleep set-up should change as you do. Your mattress may need to change with you too.”

Her more unexpected investment is an eye mask with Bluetooth speakers. “If I wake, I’ll listen to a short story rather than lie there trying to force myself back to sleep. The harder we try to make sleep happen, the more elusive it can become - the best thing you can do for your sleep is stop trying so hard.”

2. The Heart Check You Shouldn’t Wait For

For Dr Nabila Laskar, consultant cardiologist and cardiac imaging specialist, the smartest health investment she made was understanding a good route into prevention. "I prioritise knowing my own cardiovascular risk rather than assuming that because I feel well, everything must be fine. I keep an eye on things such as my blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar." As a cardiologist, she sees how easily those risks can develop silently, which is why she favours prevention and knowing her numbers over spending money on the latest wellness product.

​But cardiovascular health isn’t just about numbers. Laskar wants women to remember three things: "First, your pregnancy history is part of your heart history. Conditions such as pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes can be important markers of future cardiovascular risk, even years after the pregnancy itself."

​Menopause is another opportunity to take stock. “It’s not simply about hot flushes, sleep and hormones; changes in cholesterol, blood pressure, body composition and metabolic health can also affect cardiovascular risk."

​The third point is not to normalise a change in what your body can do. “If a woman who has always been able to walk up two flights of stairs comfortably suddenly finds herself unusually breathless,” Laskar says, “don’t automatically blame age, menopause or stress."

This isn't about becoming obsessed with your health. It's about recognising that prevention can give you something far more valuable than another monetary "wellness" hack: time to act before a risk becomes a problem.

3. Forget Biohacking: This Is What Actually Helps You Live Well for Longer

If anyone is qualified to tell us what’s worth spending money on in the pursuit of longevity, it’s Kayla Barnes-Lentz. Having invested more than $1 million in her own health optimisation - and personally trialled everything from hyperbaric chambers and red-light therapy to PEMF, cold plunges and brain photobiomodulation - she has a surprisingly simple conclusion: “The basics absolutely must be prioritised. Not only are they most backed by science, but they’re also where I’ve seen the most measurable shifts in my biomarkers.”

That doesn’t mean Barnes-Lentz has abandoned optimisation altogether. One area she invests in significantly is her everyday environment. “We know environmental toxins like BPA, parabens and phthalates have a detrimental impact on our health,” she says, pointing to air and water filtration as two of her priorities. She also monitors the air quality in her home. “We breathe more than we do anything else,” she says, whilst also arguing that a high-quality water filter is worth the investment.

And of all the advanced interventions she’s tried, her standout is decidedly old-school: the sauna. “Out of all my ‘tools’, the sauna has the best data,” she says, personally using one four or more times a week. Regular sauna use has been linked with lower blood pressure and better vascular function, essentially giving your cardiovascular system a workout while you sit still. For a longevity investment, it’s hard to argue with something that asks you to do very little beyond sit, sweat and relax.

4. The Exercise Investment That Makes the Biggest Difference

For fitness coach Laura Hoggins, the best investment she’s made in her physical health wasn’t a piece of equipment - it was joining a great gym or being coached in her formative years. She’s quick to acknowledge that having the financial freedom to do so is a privilege, but says the experience was game-changing. “The small yet mighty community gave me a sense of belonging, accountability and a shared goal to be our best selves inside and outside of the gym,” she says.

And there's evidence that this sense of community can make a huge difference. A 2025 systematic review spanning 68 studies found that social support and accountability were among the factors that helped people maintain physical activity over the long term.

But the good news? “You don’t need an expensive membership to get stronger. If I had £100 to spend on fitness for the year, I’d buy a good pair of durable, supportive trainers.”

When it comes to women's health, Laura is less interested in the latest wellness promise and more interested in getting the fundamentals right. Which is why there's one category she wouldn't spend her money on: "Supplements promising to balance your hormones. Let’s start with the basics and ensure your lifestyle choices, nutrition and stress management are in shape first. This will be the biggest contributor to your ability to manage hormonal changes."

5. The Health Appointment You Should Stop Putting Off

For women’s health expert and GP, Dr Raj Arora, the smartest health investment isn’t money. It’s time - time to understand your body, stay ahead of prevention and notice when something changes. “Invest in understanding your own health and your own body,” she says. Know your normal, know your numbers and don’t wait until something feels wrong to start paying attention.”

It’s a particularly important message for women, who Aurora says can become “incredibly good at putting their own health at the bottom of the list”. And she’s not wrong. Raise your hand if you’ve ever thought I don't have the time when it comes to booking that appointment, chasing that referral or getting that check-up. In shame, I’ll go first.

Her advice? Make your health an appointment in the diary, rather than something you’ll get around to eventually. Cervical screening is a key preventative check, alongside breast awareness and regular blood pressure checks. “You don’t need to become anxious about every symptom,” Aurora says. “But you do deserve to take your own health seriously.”

So, What’s Actually Worth Spending Your Money On?

Five women at the forefront of women’s health. Thousands of pounds’ worth of expertise. And the verdict? You probably don’t need to buy that much stuff.

Here’s the expert-approved wellness shopping list: what’s worth it, what’s nice to have, and what you can safely leave in the basket.

Worth the investment

• A good bed: Let those 9 hours be comfortable.
• The right health checks: Know your metrics; stay on top of cervical screening and understand yours and your family’s history. Prevention may not be sexy, but neither is finding out you should have checked something five years ago.
• Strength Training: You don’t need a boutique gym or PT. Your muscles don’t care whether your weights come from a luxury fitness studio or Argos.
• Good Trainers: Spend the money here rather than on a designed water bottle. Laura Hoggins has spoken.
• Therapy or evidence-based treatment when you need it: Particularly for something like chronic insomnia, where CBT-1 beats hoping the latest sleep gummy will do the job

Nice to have

• A sauna.
• An eye mask with Bluetooth speakers.
• A decent gym membership if you genuinely enjoy going.
• Air and water filtration if it’s within your means.

The experts aren’t anti-wellness - they’re just much more interested in what actually earns its place.

Where to save

• The biggest (and cheapest): time. Time to sleep. Time to move. Time to notice when something has changed. Time to make an appointment. Time to look after yourself before your body forces you to.

As a woman who loves a little treat in the name of “wellness”, it pains me to say this, but it turns out you can’t really buy your way to better health. But you can spend your money and your time - a little more wisely.

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Has a wellness trend ever sounded less appealing than a cup of morning bone broth? The idea of starting your day with a mug of meaty liquid is, to me at least, borderline madness, especially when something as good as coffee exists.

But the oddity of the mixture itself has actually been the least of my concerns about bone broth. Having now amassed more than 734 thousand posts on Instagram, it has increasingly become synonymous with ‘what I eat in a day’ videos that involve, well, not eating very much at all.

For a while, I steered clear. Yet I couldn’t ignore the scientific research pointing to the benefits of bone broth, from reducing inflammation and supporting immunity to protecting the gut lining. As someone who, like many women, struggles with uncomfortable bloating and digestion, it seemed remiss not to at least give this increasingly viral drink a go.

So, for a month, I began every morning with a cup of bone broth. With the help of leading nutritionists specialising in female health, I delved into the science behind bone broth, when to drink it, what to look for, and how it can become part of a nourishing rather than restrictive routine.

If you're after expert-led takes on viral trends, I recommend reading our guides to supplement stacking, circadian fasting, and the Mediterranean anti-inflammatory diet. Plus, these 11 recipes from nutrition scientist Dr Emily Prpa are worth bookmarking for later.

I Joined The Internet in Drinking Bone Broth Every —A Month On, I’m Converted

What is bone broth?

“Bone broth is a nourishing stock made by slowly simmering bones, herbs and vegetables over several hours,” says naturopathic nutritionist Jessica Shand. In fact, she affectionately refers to it as liquid gold because of its rich combination of collagen, gelatin and amino acids.

You can make your own or buy pre-prepared broths. Either way, the slow simmering is key. “The prolonged cooking helps break down collagen and connective tissue into gelatin and releases the amino acids and minerals into the liquid,” explains nutritionist Hannah Cartwright.

What are the benefits of bone broth?

Where the internet tends to go wrong is in the sweeping nature of its claims. Often things are made to appear like magic cures or nutritional necessities when, in fact, they’re neither.

According to the experts, that’s largely what’s happened with bone broth. “The wellness industry gets carried away in presenting bone broth as something that can ‘heal your gut’, dramatically improve your skin, detox your body or replace a meal,” says Cartwright.

But that doesn’t mean that bone broth isn’t good for us, and in fact, both Shand and Cartwright are fans. Below, they share the benefits of regularly drinking broth.

1. It’s hydrating

If you move in wellness circles, you’ll know that electrolytes are hot right now. You’ll also probably know that most of us don’t need to be drinking them every day, despite what many marketing claims will tell you. And that’s because, unless we’re sweating heavily, most of us can replenish our electrolyte stores through food alone.

“The sodium in the broth can contribute electrolytes,” says Cartwright, who adds that broth is a great way to top up your hydration because it’s made up of “predominantly water.”

2. It supports digestion

My interest in bone broth was initially piqued by its purported gut health benefits. Research has suggested that drinking regular broth can alleviate inflammation in the intestinal barrier and increase nutrient absorption.

When I put the question to Shand, she's measured in her response. “Gelatin and amino acids in bone broth provide the building blocks to maintain the integrity of the gut. I wouldn’t call it a miracle gut healer, but it can be a lovely food to include when your digestion feels sensitive,” she says.

3. It aids collagen production

The potential of bone broth to improve our skin, strengthen our hair and protect our joints is perhaps its most discussed benefit online.

And Shand says there is some truth to it. “Bone broth is naturally rich in collagen-derived compounds. During cooking, collagen breaks down into gelatin and smaller peptides, providing amino acids the body can use for its own collagen production, making it a useful addition for skin, joints, bones and connective tissue health.”

Cartwright agrees, but says we shouldn’t rely on bone broth alone to protect our bones and joints. “We don't currently have strong evidence that drinking bone broth itself prevents joint problems or strengthens bones,” she explains. “As a nutritionist, I'd be wary of claims suggesting it is a treatment, especially for conditions like arthritis or osteoporosis.”

Are there any risks to drinking bone broth?

Whilst bone broth itself is fairly harmless (save for its potential to overdo our salt consumption), the way it’s currently being marketed is where most of the danger lies.

“Bone broth is sometimes positioned as a way to skip meals or suppress appetite,” explains Shand. “That completely misses the point - we want to add nourishment, not use it as a tool for restriction.”

The repercussions of using bone broth to restrict are significant. “Under-eating can place stress on the body and impact blood sugar, thyroid function, ovulation, menstrual health and fertility,” explains Shand, who reiterates that bone broth should be an addition to your meals, rather than a replacement.

A Cup of Daily Bone Broth Became My New Favourite Wellness Habit-But It’s Not a Miracle Worker

Weeks one and two:

To look in my fridge on day one of my bone broth experiment would have been quite the sight. Two whole shelves were dedicated to sachets of chicken broth. Arguably, I’d have been better off making my own in a big saucepan, but in this scenario convenience won out. I opted for a shop-bought option from Borough Broth, which ticked the experts’ checklist of low sodium, minimal additives and a simple ingredient list. In this case, the back of the packet reads: “spring Water, chicken bones, carrots, onions, apple cider vinegar, black peppercorns, pink Himalayan salt, thyme, and bay leaves.”

I emptied a sachet into a mug, heated it in the microwave for three minutes and took it back to bed with me, sipping it whilst I answered the first emails of the day.

Immediately, I became a fan. The broth was cosy and soothing, without being overwhelmingly rich (the thought of anything too meaty-tasting at 8 am is, to me, pretty off-putting). I’d expected to have to force it down, but actually, I really loved the taste.

Over the next week, I did notice that it delayed both my hunger and my craving for coffee. Of course, I never skipped either one, but my new broth habit did give me time to get through my urgent tasks, shower and get ready for the day without my stomach growling at me.

When I did make my usual breakfast (coffee and a yoghurt bowl for those wondering), I also found that they sat more comfortably in my stomach. Typically, I struggle to digest my breakfast, and can feel pretty uncomfortable for the hour or so after eating. I wouldn’t say that completely disappeared, but I was less aware of my stomach working over time whilst I tried to concentrate on writing. I made a note to keep track of it over the next few weeks.

One of the most striking things about those first two weeks was how easy it was to stick to the routine. I’m normally terrible at keeping up with supplements, whether powders or pills, so I was surprised by how quickly I fell into a bone broth morning routine. Ultimately, it came down to the fact that I liked the taste and even began to look forward to it as a daily ritual.

Weeks three and four:

By the time the latter half of the month rolls around, I’m still going strong with my bone broth habit. I haven’t missed a day and, even when overnight stays have prevented me from drinking it in the morning, I reach for it once I’m home later in the afternoon.

Whether it’s placebo or not, I do think my digestion has improved. I’m sure I’m less bloated day to day, and my hunger and fullness cues don’t seem to spike as acutely. It could also be that my new hot drink has replaced one of my daily coffees – caffeine can aggravate some people’s gut symptoms, so perhaps this reduction is part of the explanation.

As for bone broth’s other purported benefits for skin, hair and joint health, I can’t say I’ve noticed any visible difference. Perhaps it’s too early to say, but what I do know is that bone broth has easily slipped into my routine. It hasn’t been a miracle worker, but I enjoy drinking it, and I feel that it’s been a positive addition to my mornings.

For me, it’s something I’ll keep as a regular fixture. If you enjoy something warm in the morning and are looking for an alternative to another coffee, it could be worth a try. Just don’t expect it to transform your gut health overnight.

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You probably don’t need me to tell you that the UK’s wellness economy is booming. In 2022, it was valued at £165 billion, having grown by almost 20% a year since before the pandemic.

In many ways, that’s positive news. The rise of wellness has coincided with a reduction in alcohol consumption, which in 2025 hit its lowest level since records began. Physical activity is also on the up, with 30 million adults now meeting recommended activity levels. And women’s health is attracting more (much-needed) investment, too: the number of femtech companies has increased by 864% since 2015, with a record £177.1 million invested in the sector in 2024.

And yet, as a health writer, I can’t ignore the other side of our growing appetite for self-improvement. As wellness has become increasingly commercialised, so too has the pressure to keep up with it, with women, in particular, spending more money in the process. A survey of 2000 adults commissioned by Pukka Herbs at the end of 2025 found that British women are spending an astonishing average of £554 a month on wellness - a number which was £100 more than men.

It’s easy to see how this happens. I’ve watched my own wellness spending creep up over the last two years. My £1 Always pads have been replaced by organic alternatives from Yoni and Daye; my skincare and supplements drawer has ballooned with products promising to tackle everything from sun damage to iron deficiency; and I’ve spent hundreds on Pilates classes and healthy fast-food lunches. Just when I think I’ve got my routine covered, another potential threat appears on my social media feed – most recently, it was a podcast about hair ageing and how to prevent premature greys.

None of this spending feels frivolous. It comes from a genuine desire to protect my future self. But I’ve also noticed the financial stress that can come with trying to keep up with all these new healthy habits.

Financial advisor Hannah Mayfield sums up the issue. “The problem is that wellness so often feels like an ‘essential’ because it is linked to our health, mental health or quality of life,” she explains. “It makes it a harder category to cut back on because you worry your quality of life might be impacted in a way that you wouldn’t for clothes or make-up.”

Given the well-researched connection between financial wellbeing and mental health, and the significant impact chronic stress has on cellular ageing and inflammation, it raises the question: at what point does spending to optimise our health start to become counterproductive?

To find out, I asked Mayfield to explain what financial wellbeing actually looks like, the signs that our wellness habits might be putting it under strain, and how we can redress the balance without abandoning the things that genuinely make us feel good.

If you’re here looking for more affordable ways to feel well, check out our guides to the simple Blue Zones habits linked to greater longevity, the rituals experts say matter more than biohacking and the surprising impact that journaling can have on the brain. Plus, we’ve got tons of home workout suggestions, from the best home Pilates exercises to 6 energising yoga flows and a PT’s favourite living room strength session.

How To Wellness Budget, According to a Financial Advisor

What is financial wellbeing?

In simple terms, “financial health and wellbeing is having a knowledge of your finances, making sure you are looking after your future self financially as much as possible and aren't suffering from financial stress,” says Mayfield.

Whilst we don’t often think of it as part of a wellness routine, Mayfield says the state of our finances can have a real bearing on how good we feel. “Financial wellbeing is more likely to lead to other types of wellbeing because it provides a safety buffer,” she says. “When you have money set aside, you can save yourself a lot of stress when life throws you curveballs.”

How could our wellness habits put our financial wellbeing at risk?

“The biggest risk is that our wellness habits cause us to neglect other important aspects of our finances,” explains Mayfield. “These things, like our pension contributions, often feel quite hidden and easy to ignore until they’re too late.”

Tara Massoudi, General Manager of Premium Products at Revolut, echoed Mayfield’s concerns when I spoke to her at the end of last year. “The real risk comes when people lack the skills or language to manage and talk about money. Without that confidence, financial pressure can tip into anxiety, judgement, or a sense of being left behind and cancelling out the very benefits wellness is supposed to bring.”

What are the signs my wellness habits are compromising my financial health?

A healthy wellness budget will look different for everyone, depending on your income, priorities and other expenses. That said, Mayfield has some red flags to look out for that could indicate your wellness spending is doing more harm than good.

1. You’re in debt or an overdraft

“If you’re in your overdraft or credit card debt but still spending a lot on wellness, this is something to think about,” says Mayfield. “You're allowed to enjoy things even while you're paying off debt, but it’s important to be honest with yourself about whether cutting back on some expenses to get there faster would actually make you feel better.”

2. You can’t afford to contribute to your financial goals

“If the amount you’re spending on wellness is compromising your ability to save for long-term financial goals that matter to you, that’s a sign to reevaluate," says Mayfield, who makes clear that these goals will be individual to you. “It could be setting money aside for an emergency fund or saving for a house deposit - if wellness spending is preventing you from making progress towards them, that’s something to consider.”

3. Your wellness spending is a large proportion of your income

“Rigid budgeting rules don't apply to everyone,” caveats Mayfield, “but it can be helpful to use the 50/30/20 rule as a guideline.”

She explains that the 50/30/20 rule refers to splitting your income. “50% should be going on essentials such as bills, housing and transport, 30% goes towards your ‘wants’, such as meals out and subscriptions, and 20% is reserved for financial goals like debt payoff, savings, investments, etc. If your wellness spending is much beyond 20- 25%, it's probably too high.”

4. You feel worried, anxious or out of control with your finances

“If you’re ignoring your finances so you can keep spending on wellness, if it’s causing you to worry or you find it hard to keep track of everything you’re buying, these are all signs it’s getting out of hand,” says Mayfield.

A Financial Advisor’s top 3 tips to improve financial wellbeing:

If you recognised yourself in any of the above signs, you might be wondering what you can do about it. Fortunately, Mayfield has some handy tips you can use to get working on your financial wellbeing today.

1. Get clear on your wellness priorities

Mayfield is clear that getting a handle on your wellness spending isn’t about cutting everything out. “Decide which of your habits are having the biggest positive impact on your life, and which things feel like a nice-to-have,” she suggests. “That will help you choose which to keep and which to cut.”

2. Treat your new budgets as temporary

“If you're finding it hard to give things up, try reframing it as a trial,” says Mayfield. “For example, you could skip Reformer Pilates classes in favour of home mat workouts for a month. At the end of the trial, you can see how much you missed it and make a decision on whether to re-introduce it.”

3. Connect it to a goal

“Psychologically you need to figure out how to get some kind of satisfaction from practicing financial wellness,” explains Mayfield. “Otherwise, it starts to feel like you’re giving something up and not getting anything in return.”

She recommends connecting your daily savings to a bigger goal. “Focusing on the big picture vision of where you want to be financially, and continuing to hype yourself up along the way will help you to stay motivated,” she says.

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