I came to the practice of breathing relaxation out of desperation. It was 2008. A book had suggested that the constant abdominal pain and urinary problems I had been experiencing were due to chronically tense muscles in the pelvic floor. I needed to learn deep relaxation. The book gave instructions

Can sound really enhance office workers’ productivity? The Times thinks it can. The newspaper has installed the sound of old-fashioned typewriters in its newsroom, with the sound building to a crescendo at press deadline. Sound powerfully affects us in four ways, even though we’re generally not

The world’s lack of progress in building toilets and ending open defecation is having a “staggering” effect on the health, safety, education, prosperity and dignity of 2.5 billion people, the UN deputy secretary general, Jan Eliasson, has warned.Speaking as the UN prepares to debate a new set of

According to a recent Health and Social Care Information Centre report, we are seeing a return of diseases common in the Victorian era. The report highlights five conditions: gout, tuberculosis, measles, malnutrition and whooping cough. It has a longer listing of rarer conditions, which also

THE GOAL I have no goal. And that, apparently, is a problem. I started running last year, after eight years of doing no exercise other than drag small children round by their ears (good for the forearms, releases tension). I like running. I'm slow and don't run very far, but I enjoy my varying