Health & Wellbeing

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The internet is obsessed with ‘self-healing’, but what does the latest wellness buzzword really mean?

If you believe in social media trends, we should all be in our ‘healing era’.

Secrets to happiness revealed – switch off your phone and have more sex

From mindfulness to drinking beetroot juice, people are in constant search of happiness, well-being and good health.

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Calmness is a superpower – here’s how to attain it

Calmness is a superpower. A serene state of mind and body is not just beneficial for those around you, but could also literally save your life. The opposite of calmness is anxiety, and if you or a loved one has suffered from it you will know just how physically debilitating a condition it is.

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Movember: ‘I couldn’t empty my bladder fully but I put it down to age. It was prostate cancer and it had spread’

Diagnosing male cancers early is one of the aims of Movember.

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‘I was given the diagnosis of drama queen mother – every time I raised an issue they told me to stop looking for problems’

Aneta Safiak’s oldest child Jonatan was born in October 2009. For the first year of his life, she recalls, there was nothing to raise the alarm, but as time went on, Jonathan began to get respiratory infections regularly. Not a red flag, their doctor told them: children get sick all the time. “My gut feeling wasn’t alerted at that time, because it was my first baby,” Aneta, 45, says now.

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Why everyday life is making you mentally – and physically – unwell

Gabor Mate’s latest book is a 502-page breezeblock that posits a simple idea: the chronic illnesses, both mental and physical, that are rife in wealthy Western societies are not down to the bad fortune of individual patients but are a widespread response to how we live. That what we have been conditioned to accept and embrace as ‘normal’ is, in fact, resoundingly abnormal — stress, pressure, competition, relentless productivity, consumerism — and that it is this ‘normal’ which is making us all ill.

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‘I got an unmerciful headache one morning while driving my kids to school – it was a stroke’

One in five people will have a stroke at some point in their lifetime — but while most stroke victims are over the age of 65, it can and does affect people at any age. Sinead Hamill is proof of this, as 10 years ago she underwent some medical examinations for no reason other than they were offered to her at the time. She wasn’t expecting any bad news — however, it was discovered that she had some heart issues, and after being put on medication, she got on with her life.

Ask the doctor: I have reduced my drinking from seven nights a week to three – and lost 4kg in a month

Question: I am a man who just turned 50 and I recently started medication for atrial fibrillation. I have lost a lot of weight since I started the medication — like 4kg in around a month, and I was wondering if this is connected to the medication. I also reduced my drinking to three nights a week from seven, so maybe this would result in weight loss? My appetite has not diminished at all so I am not eating less. I had a beer belly so I did have weight to lose. What do you think?

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Ask Allison: My elderly father-in-law is a terrible driver and a danger on the roads. Should I report him?

Question: My father-in-law is in his late 70s and still drives everywhere, regularly travelling the motorway. He is a terrible driver and his reaction time is very slow. He also has one or two drinks regularly and thinks nothing of getting in the car.

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Long read: Do you know what you really want in life? Psychologist Charlotte Fox Weber can help you decode desire

Psychotherapist Charlotte Fox Weber grew up in America, married an Irish man and now lives in Cork. Recently, she published What We Want, a book that explores 12 universal wants and desires, in an attempt to understand the fundamental principle that animates so much of what we do.

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‘Wild swimming is the grand leveller. It’s accessible to anyone’

An elderly woman in a swimsuit is captured on video slowly crossing a smartphone screen and Anna Deacon can’t wait to show me. It’s not hard to see why — it proves her point emphatically. The lady in the video is using a walking frame, and as she makes her way slowly toward the sea at Seapoint in Dublin — Deacon points out that this is the exact reason why she is so enthusiastic about wild swimming. “I saw this lady today and filmed her respectfully from a distance because I just thought, ‘Wow, that’s awesome.’ She can’t go running, or cycling, or mountain climbing, but she can do this, and isn’t that fantastic?”

Lung cancer: ‘Don’t ignore your body, early detection can make all the difference’

Lung cancer, which affects men and women usually over the age of 50, is the fifth most common cancer in Ireland, with almost 2,700 people being diagnosed each year. This is L ung C ancer A wareness month when people are urged to seek advice if they have any concerns, even if cancer is the last thing they are expecting.

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Fionnán Sheahan Opinion Becoming a father in your forties is a game changer — and I’ve never felt better

Coming to this late, but how on earth has Peppa Pig not been struck by cancel culture yet? The list of out-of-date triggers is endless: the continual fat-shaming of Daddy Pig, the predictable archetyping of Mummy Pig — not to mention the subtle gaslighting of Peppa for being a bossy chatterbox.

Seven habits we should practise to protect our eyesight

As a major conference on eye health is about to get under way in Dublin what good eye habits should we practise? And what are the routines we should avoid? Almost 272,000 children and adults in Ireland are blind or visually impaired and too many of us take good eyesight for granted.

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I’m a proud MAMIL (middle-aged man in Lycra) – and here’s why you should be too

Despite the well-established fact it’s important for men’s physical and mental health to exercise in middle age, a certain stigma exists around taking sport seriously in our 40s and 50s. Martin Gatenby, a 56-year-old Yorkshire man and keen cycling enthusiast, is used to hearing the acronym Mamil (middle-aged man in Lycra) bandied around, and it’s a term he embraces.

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Fionnán Sheahan: ‘Becoming a father in your 40s is a game-changer – and I've never felt better’

Coming to this late, but how on earth has Peppa Pig not been struck by cancel culture yet? The list of out-of-date triggers is endless: the continual fat-shaming of Daddy Pig, the predictable archetyping of Mummy Pig — not to mention the subtle gaslighting of Peppa for being a bossy chatterbox.

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‘You hear women saying that if men needed HRT access would be better. That's not the reality – men wouldn’t go to the doctor’

Like a lot of men, Don O’Sullivan (51) from Roscarberry in Co Cork had always felt he was “invincible.” Despite a storied family history of heart trouble — cardiac issues had claimed the lives of both of his parents, as well as several members of his extended family — the Cork man thought that somehow he would have a different fate. “I had this thing inside my head that I was different and that it wasn’t going to happen to me.”

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Erectile dysfunction: We talk about ‘performance’ as though the penis is a show pony – and regard sex as dependent on penetration

When we think of erectile dysfunction — and for those who have not yet experienced it, don’t worry, it’s only a matter of time — we tend to think of it in mechanical terms. That is, the penis not doing what it is supposed to do, and how to fix it via Viagra or vacuum pumps, depending on the physical health of the person attached to the penis.

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The exercise formula that can help you live a fitter, healthier and longer life

We can’t stop ageing, but we can do our best to age well. Online health and fat loss coach Larry Doyle gives his top tips on how to improve your longevity with exercise — all of which you could incorporate into your day-to-day routine.

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A widower’s diary: ‘There are fewer cheesy pop songs but we still have musical moments — and precious silence’

My wife and I used burst into song. It was a running joke to turn everyday conversation into catchy choruses. We were like chanting monks doing some sort of call and response — but with cheesy pop songs or rap music. Any phrase could trigger a song.

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Ask Allison: My in-laws don’t help and I’m estranged from my own parents – I’ve no support and I’m resentful of those that do

Question: I feel like we are the only family on earth that doesn’t have a support system. I am non-contact with my parents for over a decade as they were both toxic alcoholics, and my partner’s parents have no interest in helping out. They are happy to visit and be waited on, or for us to visit for short periods — but they hate the noise and upheaval of having our three sons at their house, and have said from the get-go that they wouldn’t babysit. I have many friends with kids but none of them want to do anything around Easter, Halloween or Christmas, as they all spend them with extended family. It has got to the stage where I’m feeling bitter about this and am visibly annoyed when plans are cancelled by other mums in favour of their parents or in-laws. How can I make my peace with this and stop showing myself up?

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Top five health conditions men in their 40s and 50s need to be aware of

1. Cardiovascular conditions

Venetia Quick on the loss of her husband: ‘The most important thing you have in life, apart from love, is time’

I did my first two marathons virtually in 2020 and 2021. I had to do the first one within a 5km limit of home, so I ran out to Seapoint and back f our-and-a-half-times.

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Ask Allison: My husband’s relentless negativity is affecting our entire family. How can I talk to him about this?

Question: I am married with two small children and I find my husband’s negativity incredibly demoralising. I never noticed this about him before, but now I find nothing is good enough for him. For example, the kids and I bought him a few presents for his birthday and as he was opening them, he criticised them — asking if one thing was available in another colour etc. My daughter was devastated and afterwards mentioned that she didn’t think we should get him presents anymore as he never likes them. When I book any events or things for us to do, he is never excited, even when I do things that are more to his taste than mine.

Ask the doctor: I’ve been experiencing vertigo, mild panic and strange sensations in my ear — what is it?

Question: In the past few months I have noticed a weird whooshing feeling in one ear, followed by a mild vertigo feeling and panic. My hearing in that ear also goes for a period. It goes away after a short while — it is almost like when your ears pop on a plane. What could this be?

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Baby loss: ‘We will always talk openly to our son about his big brother Everett’

Sinead and Paddy Lord always knew they wanted a family.

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A widower’s diary: ‘Creating a home was supposed to be a joint effort. Now it’s a solo run’

We moved house a few months before the first Covid-19 lockdown. We had a small old house that we loved. But two growing boys and the arrival of twins meant it was getting cramped. Cramped is being kind. It was getting destroyed.

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Why men’s friendships drift after marriage – and how they can reconnect

Before Max Dickins, a British writer and actor, asked his partner to marry him, he realised he didn’t have a best man.

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Zoe Holohan’s diary: ‘I’m 50 – and finally looking at the ageing process from a different perspective’

I can’t believe I’m actually typing these words, admitting the dreadful truth to all and sundry, or at least the sundry that read this column. Coming from a long list of female deniers, the women from my maternal lineage would rather gnaw their tongues off than admit to their actual age (slight exaggeration), avoiding this uncomfortable topic was something ingrained in me from the get-go.

‘I did not want to be alive,’ says comedian PJ Gallagher. ‘Thank God I got some help’

Comic and radio host PJ Gallagher has told of his struggles with mental health issues and how he spent almost three months in hospital receiving treatment.