As a lifestyle writer, I cover research on things like the best time to drink coffee and how many steps we should actually take a day.
But I’ll confess that knowing better doesn’t always translate to actually living by my own advice.
For instance, washing your hair once or twice a week could actually harm its health if your hair type gets greasier sooner. Yet here I sit with slightly limp tresses, because frankly, I’m a bit lazy.
Still, some stories had such an impact on me that they actually changed my established routine for good.
These are:
1) Strength training
I’ve been running for years, which we know is great for cardiovascular health. But it doesn’t build much muscle – so when I first learned about sarcopenia while covering its possible link to dementia, I realised I needed to add more resistance training into my routine.
Sarcopenia, or age-related muscle loss, can leave us frail and at greater risk of falls. Muscle mass begins to wane as early as 30.
Thankfully, strength training has been linked to up to four years of extra life. It could also slow down bone loss (and even build bone), and reduce your risk of injury.
And the Mayo Clinic said strength training “could slow and, in many cases, reverse the changes in muscle fibres associated with ageing”.
Now, I aim for three strength training sessions a week (incidentally, that’s been great for my runs too).