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282 results
  • Article
  • Article

Yoga gets physical

| Lalita Kaplish

Modern yoga owes a debt to the physical culture movement that created a world obsessed with health and fitness.

  • Article
  • Article

The healing power of the physic garden

| Iona Glen

Having experienced the healing power of plants and gardens, Iona Glen goes in search of present-day “physic gardens” and their origins in history.

  • Article
  • Article

When depression is worse than physical illness

| Elly Aylwin-FosterJohn Miers

Chronic physical illnesses can be accompanied by troubling depressive symptoms. Elly Aylwin-Foster urges doctors to treat every aspect of her condition with the same care.

  • Article
  • Article

Rebuilding my identity after a brain injury

| Chris MillerThomas S G Farnetti

Chris Miller talks about how a brain injury forced him to reassess his place in the world – physically, personally and socially.

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  • Article

The female fight to reclaim our space in the mosque

| Salma El-Wardany

Salma El-Wardany tells of the fight to reclaim spaces for women in the mosque and further afield.

  • Article
  • Article

Remote romance and the common cold

| Elena CarterThomas S G Farnetti

Getting creatively romantic due to a virus sounds all too contemporary, but our archives show what socially distanced seduction looked like seven decades ago.

  • Article
  • Article

Losing touch

| Agnese ReginaldoAisha Young

In these pandemic times, when touch has become taboo, Agnese Reginaldo explores the importance of physical contact to our wellbeing.

  • Article
  • Article

Dying at home and the doctor’s role

| The Secret GP

Our anonymous GP talks about the bittersweet rewards of supporting a patient when he chose to die at home.

  • Article
  • Article

Drawing the human animal

| Allison C Meier

We might try to deny our animal instincts, but this series of extraordinary 17th-century drawings suggests they are only too apparent.

  • Article
  • Article

The art of soundproof design

| Kristin Hohenadel

Too much noise is more than annoying – it has serious negative effects on health and cognitive ability. Find out how designers and architects are mitigating the downsides of sound.

  • Book extract
  • Book extract

You know the drill

| Richard Barnett

Richard Barnett opens wide the true meaning of a healthy mouth.

  • Article
  • Article

Sick of being lonely

| Thom James

When his relationship ended, Thom James first withdrew from the world, then began to suffer from illnesses with no apparent physical cause.

  • Article
  • Article

The intermediate life of spirits

| Courttia Newland

Courttia Newland explores the events and his feelings surrounding the death of his mother-in-law, Tara Chauhan.

  • Article
  • Article

How architecture builds a profession of stress

| Kristin Hohenadel

Architects might produce buildings that enhance our health, but at what cost? Kristin Hohenadel explores architecture’s pressurised and stressful culture.

  • Article
  • Article

Talent, tech and visual art

| Jamie HaleKirsten Irving

Jamie Hale finds a combination of talent and technology are crucial when it comes to creating great visual art, but how do you keep working when your circumstances are in constant flux?

  • Article
  • Article

Rethinking the placebo effect

| Anjuli SharmaSteven Pocock

The placebo effect has long been harnessed for both legitimate and fraudulent use, but we’re only just discovering how and why our bodies respond positively to dummy drugs, as Anjuli Sharma reveals.

  • Book extract
  • Book extract

How to stay together while keeping apart

| Vivek H MurthyKathleen Arundell

Vivek Murthy explores how we can keep physically distant while staying emotionally connected.

  • Article
  • Article

Believe yourself better

| A R Hopwood

There’s more to recovery than medication. In future, our unconscious minds could be recruited to put a positive spin on our health problems, helping us feel better faster.

  • Article
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Confession as therapy in the Middle Ages

| Katherine Harvey

The line between confession and counselling has been blurred for centuries.

  • In pictures
  • In pictures

Still ill: Corona diary

| Monique Jackson

In vivid words and pictures, artist Monique Jackson depicts her experience of becoming ill with Covid-19 last year.

  • Article
  • Article

Disability, education and prejudice

| Ruth BlueHollie Chastain

In the 1960s and 1970s, thalidomide survivors had to fight for a proper education. If they weren’t brought up in institutions, they were often viewed as objects of curiosity, encountering verbal and sometimes physical abuse, both at school and in the world beyond.

  • Article
  • Article

Keeping death close

| Lauren EntwistleShay Azzari

Scattering her father’s ashes, Lauren Entwistle found herself longing for something physical that proved he once was a living, breathing person. Here she reflects on the objects that help us to grieve and remember.

  • Article
  • Article

How shame makes us sick

| Lucia Osborne-CrowleyEduardo Rubio

The fight-or-flight response can have long-term consequences for our bodies if left unchecked. Lucia Osborne-Crowley investigates how shame and trauma are connected, and how both can lead to chronic ill health.

  • Article
  • Article

The side effects of lithium mining

| Laura Grace SimpkinsMatjaž Krivic

Laura Grace Simpkins attempts to untangle some uncomfortable truths about the social and environmental costs of making her medication.

  • Article
  • Article

Yoga adapts to time and place

| Lalita Kaplish

A yoga teacher in 1930s India inspired today’s transnational practice with his spectacular fusion of tradition and innovation.