Body Mind Spirit Gate

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_column _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default” type=”4_4″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.7.7″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″] Alternative flours website…

My wife and I don’t have sex, and I have secretly been buying women’s clothes

Until you test the boundaries of your desires, you’ll be perpetually dissatisfied, says Mariella Frostrup

The dilemma I am a man in my late 50s. I am youthful and go to concerts, festivals and art exhibitions. I have been married for 34 years. My wife and I get along quite well. We share a sense of humour, talk often and holidaytogether. But there has been no sex between us for 15 years. I have…

Anna Wintour may settle for less, but I've grown out of bad coffee | Hannah Jane Parkinson

I used to drink copious amounts of Starbucks, but that was when I drank lattes, or, as my friend calls them, giant cups of milk

Saturday Guardian fans (my favourite people) may have read the brilliant interview with Anna Wintourin The Fashion supplement a few weekends ago. I am afraid I was disappointed by a certain reveal (and I use the word “reveal” loosely, as I was widely mocked by friends…

I have been having sexual dreams about my father and my brothers

They are so vivid that they seem almost real, and I desperately want them to stop

Let me just get right into it. I have had a couple of recurring dreams about my father, and even one with my brothers. They are sex-related, and in them no one seems to mind. I wake up feeling quite disturbed and disgusted with myself that I even had these dreams. My dreams are quite vivid and I often believe they…

Seven ways to help someone through a panic attack

More than 13% of people are susceptible to panic attacks, which can be very intense and distressing. So what are the symptoms and how best can you respond?

According to the Mental Health Foundation(MHF), 13.2% of people have experienced a panic attack. If you know someone who suffers from them frequently, it can be helpful to better understand what they are. Attacks can last between five and 30…

Moving the body, boosting the mind: running your way to better mental health

As little as 10 minutes of regular exercise can help alleviate depression. But even professionals don’t always make the link between mental and physical health. One convert explains how it helped her

I once lived a life almost ruled by anxiety, intrusive thoughts and paralysing fear. I spent years looking for the thing that would release me, and when I finally found it, it wasn’t medication or…

Fit in my 40s: boxing on Nintendo Switch – it's like getting fit playing Super Mario | Zoe Williams

See target, punch, listen to pop: what better way to work out without leaving the house?

Fitness tips: boxing for beginners

The human brain is a fascinating thing. So easily distracted, so easily excited. Yes, I have a new home fitness wheeze; a boxing game on a Nintendo Switch. If I had burned a calorie for every moment I spent procrastinating setting it up, because I’m intimidated by wires, I’d…

Why it pays to cut yourself some slack | Oliver Burkeman

If you don’t have enough of something – money, say, or time – fixating on it could make the problem worse

When you next find yourself waiting in a horrendously long queue, you could kill time by contemplating this surprising finding from “queueing theory”, a sub-branch of mathematics which is exactly as it sounds. This particular example comes from the mathematician John Cook; I found it via kott…

Pillowy bellies and engorged breasts: Mothercare’s ad and the pleasure of post-birth bodies

The company’s new campaign features realistic, joyful images of women. Does this mark the fightback against the casual body-shaming of mothers?

Coming in at No 6 on the list of “Shocking things about having a baby that no *$&*%er ever told you beforehand” (after “You will bleed for up to six weeks”, but before “You will become public property”) is: “Having a baby will fundamentally change your…

Seven ways to declutter your life and clear your mind

Clear up the ‘floordrobe’, throw away your conference freebies – and dump any clothes you wouldn’t want your ex to see you in

Imagine the point in the future when you have just died, and your relatives arrive to clean out your house. What will they want and what will they give away, bin or recycle? You can make their task easier by dealing with your possessions now, instead of foisting it on to…

My boyfriend likes ‘skinny’ and ‘teen’ porn – it is destroying my confidence

My reaction is as if he had been cheating. I can’t sleep at night. I can become skinny, but I can’t become a teen

I recently used my boyfriend’s phone and a porn video was open. His 45 searches were limited to “teen” and “skinny”, and my confidence came crashing down. He has one very specific taste, and I am not skinny, nor a teen. I can’t comprehend that I am not sufficiently attractive to my…

Fitness tips: three of the best moves to try with a TRX

Master these to improve core strength, balance and posture, says the founder of London’s Body Machine fitness studio

Adjust TRX straps to hang with handles at knee height, foot cradles at mid-calf. Get on all fours, placing both feet in straps, keeping hands and knees on the floor. Lift body to plank position, arms and legs straight. Keep body aligned – shoulders down and back, lower back not…

Neat pubic hair? Pregnant women should never be pressured to get a brazilian

Having a baby is the world’s single most courageous feat. So why would a textbook publisher illustrate it with a picture of a woman with trimmed pubic hair?

“Make yourself at home,” the midwife said, as I hove into the birthing room like a galleon in full sail. Immediately, I ripped off my shirt, dropped my trousers, stepped out of my knickers and lay, utterly naked, across the…

Want to live longer? Now ask yourself why | Oliver Burkeman

For most of us the main effect of boosting energy or focus is to become a better cog in the corporate machine

Dave Asprey, who describes himself as the “world’s first professional biohacker”, is best known as the inventor of Bulletproof coffee, which involves putting butter in your coffee in order to enhance your energy and focus, so you won’t get distracted or exhausted by people constantly…

A lifetime of sleep, from birth to menopause and beyond

Babies wake at any hour, teenagers refuse to get out of bed, older adults find a good night’s rest harder to achieve. Why do our sleep patterns shift with age?

Between dozing off and the alarm shrieking, our bodies and brains undergo quite a few changes. Sleep researchers call the first stage of sleep N1. It is light, and if woken from it we might not realise we had drifted off in the first…