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Is it wrong to be envious of a three-year-old, especially when the child in question is your own? Maybe it is, and yet sometimes I can’t help feeling a little jealous watching my daughter – my spitting image in both looks and personality – tear around the house, with her blonde hair flowing behind her and a gleeful smile pasted across her face. From the moment she wakes up at 6am until we put her to bed each evening, she lives at full throttle, a Tasmanian devil-like ball of energy that will bulldoze anything, or anyone, that gets in her way. This constant energy (which makes long car journeys an experience, believe me) is something I don’t have, but desperately want, so I can’t help envying my daughter for the fact that she doesn’t give it a second thought.
Like hangover tolerance and the desire to make spontaneous social plans, energy seems to diminish more with each passing year – which, when you feel like you’re ticking most of the healthy living boxes, can be a real downer. Happily, we’ve crammed this Energy Issue with plenty of content created to help you out in that department, from mastering a great night’s sleep to tweaking your diet to harness more from every meal and how to call time on emotional exhaustion. We’ve even thrown in a supplement of tasty breakfast recipes from Alice Liveing to kick-start your day.
And not before time, because – I’m calling it – it’s starting to feel like summer. A season change that, providing it’s filled with elaborate salads and Aperol spritzes, is always my favourite thanks to sunshine’s natural ability to cheer and invigorate.
It’s obviously rubbing off on me, as last week I went on my first run in a year. A long-standing injury has meant that running has become one of the few forms of exercise I avoid, convinced that pounding the pavements again will aggravate an existing imbalance in my hips. But then I was invited to Tokyo by Asics for the launch of their Metaride trainers and asked to join around 25 other runners from the global media on a jog through the streets of the Japanese capital. It was a slow 6km, but I completed it injury-free. So, this summer, I’m going to reignite my love for running. My PB for a 10k is around 43 minutes – and, if my hips hold out, I’m planning to try to beat that by the end of 2019.
A lot of my motivation to move is fuelled by the desire to be the most energised mum I can be for my kids and this was reinforced when I recently met Lisa O’keefe. As head of insight at Sport England, she’s the brains behind the brilliant This Girl Can campaign, and she told me research has shown that children who grow up in a household where the mother exercises regularly are more likely to take part in sport themselves, both as children and adults. So not only am I benefitting my own health, I’m hopefully helping to future-proof that of my kids, too.
This month’s cover star, actress Gabrielle Union, knows all about the responsibility of creating a future for her children. A stepmother to two, her journey to have her own biological child was agonising; after repeated miscarriages, she and her partner made the decision to have a child by surrogate and now have a beautiful daughter. The 46-year-old shares how she’s keeping her energy levels up while caring for a newborn on page 28.
Just before I go and let you dive into this month’s issue, I need to check: have you got your hands on a ticket for Women’s Health Live this May? Spots in the incredible array of fitness classes, celebrity talks and expert-led discussions are filling up fast, so head to page 132 for full details. Remember to come and say hello if you’re there – I look forward to meeting you in person.
Until next month…