Britain’s pandemic response was among the worst and the NHS had been ‘seriously weakened’, says leading surgeonThree reports lay bare scale of NHS malaise, but will Reeves fund a remedy?Britain was hit far harder by the Covid-19 pandemic than other developed countries because the NHS had been “seriously weakened” by disastrous government policies over the preceding decade, a wide-ranging report will conclude this week.An assessment of the NHS by the world-renowned surgeon Prof Ara Darzi, commissioned in July by the health secretary, Wes Streeting, will find that the health service reduced its “routine healthcare activity by a far greater percentage than other health systems” in many key areas during the Covid crisis. Continue reading…

Wouldn’t it be great to have full information on your health with just a click on your wrist? Well, this is possible with the best smartwatches in India. With increasing health hazards and the rising advancements in technology, it has become essential to have a smartwatch that can do more than just show time. The … Continue reading “Amazon Sale: Save up to 60% off on best smartwatches to track your health”

Readers share the difficulties they had with breastfeeding in response to an article by Niamh CampbellReading Niamh Campbell’s article on breastfeeding brought back painful memories for me (‘Like a cheese grater raking across my nipple’: why I kept trying to breastfeed for so long, 3 September). Nearly 43 years ago, I too found breastfeeding agonisingly painful. Unlike her, I never had access to a lactation consultant, and the only advice I was offered by health professionals was to wear a nipple shield, grit my teeth and persevere. I lasted four months before switching to formula, and from then on started to bond with my baby. All these years later, there’s still a slight feeling of shame that I “failed”.Barbara ThompsonSheffield• I can absolutely relate to Niamh Campbell’s experience. I gave up breastfeeding when my daughter was 20 weeks old. I had the same issues, which nothing prepares you for. I was in agony, with cracked, bleeding nipples, and had to supplement with formula. I envied mothers who had milk flowing like wine and contented infants. There were no lactation consultants then in my neck of the woods, and even had there been, I doubt they’d have been able to help.Siobhan McGovernEdinburgh Continue reading…

While burning calories and losing belly fat may seem tough, it is not impossible when you practice waist exercises regularly. Waist exercises are a great way to tone your midsection while shedding those extra inches. Moves like bicycle crunches, side planks, and Russian twists engage your core muscles, tightening and strengthening your waist. However, you … Continue reading “10 best waist exercises to get rid of fat and burn calories”

Learn the difference between self-pity, which leads us to feel resentful and helpless, and self-compassion, which promotes resilience and self-awarenessThe question I feel as though, over the years, I’ve allowed setbacks to knock down all my pillars of happiness and now feel I just live among the ruins.When I was young, I read books where naive anti-heroes had funny experiences and I thought if I was open-minded, funny things would happen to me, too. I now realise it’s probably not how people experience life.Twenty years ago, I ended up on an art MA, but the main tutor hated me and refused to let me on to the second year. I’d been doing fun stuff that lots of people liked, but she managed to annihilate all my enthusiasm for art.Then one of my best friends just stopped talking to me and never told me why. It shook my feeling that friendship was a strong bond and since then people can be in my life, but I don’t hold on to them very well for long.A relationship ended after a lengthy court case and, since then, more than a decade ago, I have struggled to enjoy anything. Then I accepted a job where I was given minimal training, but was constantly berated for getting stuff wrong and after six months had a breakdown.I know there’s a thing about not allowing people to have power over you, but it’s felt like a series of knockout blows. I want more out of life and I thought if I waited something would grow, like weeds do after you clear some ground, but nothing really has. How do I find my way to enjoyment? Continue reading…

There is no one approach to weight loss. Sometimes, you have to mix and match your way to fitness. While exercise is important, a combination of cardio and strength training can help you lose weight. Including dips in your weight loss routine can help you get fit. It is a great upper body exercise that … Continue reading “Dips for weight loss: Do these exercises help shed the extra kilos?”

Walking in the morning or evening is a good way to stay fit. Make it more effective by adding weight on your back, especially if weight loss is on your mind. Rucking is a fitness trend that involves walking with a weighted rucksack or a backpack. This exercise has roots in the military, but it … Continue reading “Rucking for weight loss: How walking with a weighted backpack can help”