Lonely people are more likely to get heart disease, strokes, anxiety, depression, dementia … Add it all up, and they’re 26% more likely to die early. How do you avoid joining the unhappy millions?I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about a lonely old age. Closing in on my 61st birthday, eight years into a very happy marriage, I’ve got a wife, two teenage...

Three-quarters said going back to working five days a week in an office would damage their wellbeingHybrid working makes employees happier, healthier and more productive, according to research among UK staff who divide their working week between home and the office.Three-quarters of those who work flexibly found they felt less burnout than when they...

Scottish Highlands campaign has raised two-thirds of £300,000 target for footpaths on An Teallach. But more is needed to protect people and environmentOne of Scotland’s most impressive and recognisable mountains will have its walking paths restored after hillwalkers and charities clubbed together to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds.Mountaineering...

Hitting the ground running has some very painful lessonsOne second I was running, a proud and gentle kind of lope, the next I was staring up at sunlight shivering through the leaves, my mouth somehow full of blood, and then everything was black. It was a warm morning as I set off, that bank holiday at the beginning of half-term, which meant my children...

You may be too much in the parent role, forcing him into the child roleThe question My son is 26 and intelligent and lives on his own. But he can’t hold down a job and spends his time playing video games and living on takeaways. He has inherited some money, which is about to run out.The problems began when he started smoking cannabis at 16. It quickly...

Wild Cat Island had always held a special place in the imagination of our son, so after his funeral we chose to try and send him on one last journeyFamously, Windermere is the setting of the children’s adventure story Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome, and it’s also one of our son Torin’s favourite books. It appealed to his own love of adventure,...