For three quarters of my life, there was nothing to suggest I would ever get into shape. Then, bit by bit, I began to change. Here is how it happenedThere’s no getting away from it: I come across as smug. In March, kicking off what I hope will be a very long series of articles, I wrote that I was in “great shape” for a 60-year-old, with plans to make...

I’ve managed to conquer my fears and build great friendshipsOn the day I received an offer from my first-choice university, I expected to feel elation and excitement. I had spent years preparing for this moment, and yet when it came, I felt only dread at the thought of freshers’ week and all the social challenges this would inevitably involve.I had...

Training to be a champion swimmer, Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell spent her teenage years locked in a punishing world of long hours, body scrutiny, racism and bullying. So can the rewards of elite sport ever justify the sacrifices?There’s a version of her story that Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell has learned to tell. One that’s abridged, and feels safe...

As we know more about our bodies, from wearable tech to data feedback, so our health anxiety increases. So is it better not to know?One thing led to another and then I was topless on a couch and then a cardiologist, his nose wrinkled, was explaining that everything was fine, except my heart was a bit… weird? I can’t remember the exact words, but they...

A Midlands school outlines its flexible approach to running its daily club and reacts to Labour’s £365m free breakfast policy It is just gone 7.30am at The Priory primary school in Wednesbury, near Walsall, and already a dozen or so children – known as the “early birds” – have been dropped off so their parents can get to work. Some are jumping through...

From magical moonlit swims to midnight hikes and listening to owls, I have embraced my insomnia and discovered the joy of ‘night journeys’As I slip out of my clothes, my stomach pinches with fear. The beach – Pevensey Bay in East Sussex – is inky black and eerily empty. The sound of slurping seawater seems noisier than usual, the air smells brinier...