HEALTHY LIVING

Here’s your prescription for good health: get enough sleep, eat properly, exercise, don’t smoke. But sometimes, it seems, the odd vice won’t kill you.

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HEAD SPACE

We loved the slideshow HuffPo put together, in an effort to ditch the stigma that often shadows mental illness. It features a series of celebs commenting on the importance of taking care of your mental health. Our favourites? ‘Like anything, until the minute you talk about something it feels as if you are a balloon that’s been blown up and you have too much air in you. You just need somebody to let a little out.’ – Sarah Jessica Parker ‘Whoever you’ve been and wherever you’ve been, it never leaves you. I always picture it as a car. All your selves are in it. And a new self can get in, but the old selves can’t ever get out. The important thing is, who’s got their hands on the wheel at any given moment?’ – Bruce Springsteen

HOW MANY TIMES DID YOU HIT SNOOZE THIS MORNING?

Unless you’re always up with the larks, we’re guessing it could have been a good half hour’s worth, at least. And was it worth it? Robert S. Rosenberg, medical director of the Sleep Disorders Center of Prescott Valley, Arizona, in the US, explains why those extra minutes don’t help: that fragmented sleep is of poor quality, and you start a new sleep cycle that you don’t finish. This slows down your ability to make decisions and messes with memory. Over time, sleep deprivation increases your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke and diabetes. Rosenberg suggests going to bed half an hour earlier than you have been, and when the alarm goes off, don’t hit snooze.

BUTT HEADING SOUTH?

Exercise is the answer (to this and your general wellbeing), and the muscles to target are the glutes. Strengthen them, and the effects go beyond aesthetics. When you sit all day, the glute muscles weaken and the hip flexors (the inner hip muscles) tighten, which ups your risk of injury. But if you strengthen your glutes you’ll stabilise your pelvis – and that prevents back and knee pain. Do the likes of squats and lunges a few times a week, and you’ll soon see the difference. But the one we’d rather kick off with is the bridge. Make no mistake, though, it does b-u-r-n! Lie down on your exercise mat. Bend your knees, with feet flat, hip-distance apart, and arms at your sides. Breathe in, then, as you breathe out, slowly lift your hips, squeezing your butt muscles as you go. Stop when your body forms a straight line from shoulders to knees. You’re in the bridge! Stay there; take a couple of breaths. Breathe in again, then lower your butt s-l-o-w-l-y. Do this several times. Go on, perk up!

THE QUEEN, 91, HAS 4 DRINKS A DAY

Reports vary, but if this is true she’s overshooting the recommendation of no more than two units of alcohol a day for women. (The tally for these is six!) PRE-LUNCH DRINK: gin and Dubonnet with ice and a slice of lemon. AT LUNCH: a glass of wine IN THE EVENING: a dry gin martini. LAST THING AT NIGHT: a glass of champers What can we say? Let’s try not to keep up with her. Long live the Queen!