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ISSUE 291
Boost
your
memory
5 easy ways to stay sharp
and prevent dementia
23 pages of
expert advice
✓ Shift stubborn stains
✓ Stop cold callers
✓ Face masks on test
✓ Create a seasonal
hanging basket
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Inside
this fortnight...
COVER PIC: CAMERA PRESS/NICKY JOHNSTON
Real life
9 Animal Magic
12 ‘I’m a stem cell courier’
16 Dunkirk: ‘We had to save
this iconic boat’
18 The woodland warriors
20 Surgery changed our lives
22 ‘Reunited after almost
70 years’
26 Inside the dog café!
Star chat
10 COVER Penelope Wilton
14 Lesley Manville
24 90 years of Oscar bloopers
28 Gloria Hunniford
146 COVER Victoria Yeates
Your best life now!
32 COVER Face masks on test
34 COVER Update your look from £4
37 COVER Boost your brain power
41 Get a handle on headaches
45 Feed your bones
Good to know
64 COVER How to banish anxiety
66 Yours Retirement Services
67 COVER Save £100s on energy bills
69 COVER Cleaning products on test
73 Your questions answered
75 Watching the pennies
Nostalgia
52 Hippies, mods and rockers
55 ‘Candles, coal and a bus to
Bolton…’
Leisure time
83 COVER Nutritious and tasty
everyday meals
87 Winter warmers
91 COVER Gardening special
95 Make an origami vase!
97 A knitted handbag
99 COVER Travel special PART 2:
the best weekends abroad
109 Yours Travel Club
Your favourites
47 Meeting Place
58 Roy Hudd
79 Friends of Yours
112 COVER Free scarf
for every reader
115 Carers in touch
123 COVER Puzzles to test you
& prizes to win
137 PART 2 of our new short story!
145 Horoscopes
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32
The best
face masks!
95
Clever
craft ideas
112
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It’s tempting to make light of those little ‘senior
moments’ and assume that forgetfulness is an
inevitable part of ageing, but that’s not the case.
In part four of our 15 Minutes to Better Health
campaign we’ve asked experts for simple ways you
can boost your memory and stay sharp for longer.
Turn to page 37 now.
There’s plenty of other advice in this issue too –
everything from saving on your fuel bills (p67)
and stopping cold callers (p73) to banishing anxiety
(p64) and shifting stains (p69). Plus we’ve got a stepby-step
guide to planting pretty seasonal hanging
baskets (p91).
And, if it’s inspiration you’re looking for, turn to
page 99 for our eight-page travel special.
We’ve collected together a month-bymonth
guide to the best easy-to-reach
weekend breaks.
See you next issue
Keep in touch...
We want to hear your news and views
Write to
Yours magazine,
Media House,
Peterborough Business Park,
Peterborough
PE2 6EA
Email
yours@bauermedia.co.uk
WEBSITE
Find us at
yours.co.uk
Welcome ...
26
The dogfriendly
café!
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Editor
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Feed your
Bolster your bone strength by filling
your plate with these five essentials
By Rebecca Speechley
Green leafy vegetables
Dark leafy green vegetables such as kale, bok choy,
and broccoli all contain a good amount of calcium as
well as Vitamin K another bone-building nutrient. Some
studies suggest that having enough Vitamin K in your
diet could help to protect your bones from fractures. Try
to get one 80g (3½oz) portion every day.
Sweet potatoes
Bake a sweet potato once a
week and you’ll be topping
up your magnesium and
potassium levels. A huge 60 per
cent of your body’s magnesium
is stored in your bones, it has
lots of important roles to play
including helping your body
to use Vitamin D to keep
you and your bones healthy.
Potassium helps neutralise acid
that could cause calcium to
be leached from your bones.
Tinned fish
Mackerel, salmon,
sardines – all brilliant
for your bones. A good
source of omega-3 fatty
acids which help to
reduce inflammation
in your bones, Vitamin
D to encourage
calcium absorption
and because tiny
bones often get
included in the
canning process
a hefty dose of
calcium, too. Eat
them twice a week.
Women
need 700mg
of calcium
every day for
healthy bones
health advice
Did you know?
Your bones are a storage facility
for minerals, such as calcium,
phosphorous and magnesium, that
your body uses every single day for
jobs like making your muscles move,
releasing hormones and carrying
messages to your brain. If your diet
doesn’t contain enough of these
essential nutrients your body will draw
on the stores in your bones to make
up the short fall. Over time this could
weaken your bones and raise your
risk of osteoporosis, which is why it’s
so important that you make sure you
include plenty of these bone-boosting
foods in your diet every day.
Milk
Along with cheese,
yogurt, cream and other dairy
foods, milk is great for your bones.
It’s still one of the best ways to reach
your calcium quota (you’d need to eat 275g
(9½oz) of broccoli to get the same amount of
calcium that you’d find in half a glass of milk),
and it’s a great source of protein, magnesium
and phosphorous too.
Blueberries
Packed with iron,
phosphorous, calcium,
magnesium, zinc and
Vitamin K, blueberries are a
great food for your bones.
They help to maintain
bone strength and improve
elasticity in your bones
and joints to help
prevent factures.
Scatter a handful
over your
breakfast.
Current guidelines
suggest we should get
three portions of
dairy foods
a day.
That’s a
small pot of
yogurt, a
matchboxsized
piece
of cheese
and a third
of a pint
of milk.
YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT
45
pics: shutterstock

news nostalgia
With a very special
anniversary
just around the
corner, we take a
look back at the
award ceremony
moments the stars
would probably
love to forget!
90 years of
Oscar
bloopers!
We all felt for
poor Jennifer
Lawrence, who
tripped over
the skirt of her
beautiful Oscars
dress in 2013
Above stars gathered on stage at the 1959
Oscars. Host Jerry Lewis had to ad-lib for 20
minutes when the show finished too early
John Travolta fluffed the name of one
recipient Idina Menzel at the 2014 Oscars…
By Katharine Wootton
The Oscars are meant to
celebrate the drama that
takes place on the screen,
but over the years the
awards themselves have
also experienced their fair share of
tragedy, comedy and sometimes farce.
Since the first gold gong was
handed over in 1929, there have
been unforgettable speeches (for the
right and wrong reasons), plenty of
laughable bloopers and a generous
smattering of spats
and scandals.
Last year’s
ceremony of course
hit the headlines
when presenters
Fay Dunaway and
Warren Beatty were
handed the wrong
What’s changed since last year’s incident?
The two accountants responsible for accidentally mixing up the
envelopes that saw La La Land wrongly announced as the winner
of Best Picture no longer work on the Oscars, but the company
they worked for, PwC – which has been working with the Oscars
since 1934 – is once again involved in this year’s ceremony.
Officials, however, have announced new measures are in place to
ensure no repeat of last year’s howler, including rehearsals for the
accountants, a third person who will sit in the control room and
flag any mistakes and all envelope holders will be forced to hand
over their phones before the show to prevent any distractions.
Faye Dunaway
and Warren
Beatty (wrongly)
announcing that La
La Land had won
Best Picture at the
2017 ceremony
envelopes for the Best Picture award –
announcing the wrong winner.
But even this mix-up wasn’t quite as
cringe-inducing as one of the earliestever
Oscars incidents. In 1934, Will
Rogers announced the winner for
Best Director by saying “it couldn’t
have happened to a nicer guy. Come
up and get it, Frank.” What he failed
to remember, however, was that there
were two Franks up for nomination
in this category. So while Frank Capra
proudly walked towards the podium
thinking he’d won his first Oscar,
it was actually the other Frank
– Frank Lloyd – who’d won. As
realisation hit and Capra slowly
returned to his seat, Rogers later
said that he wished “he could
have crawled under the rug.”
Saying the correct name can
be quite a challenge, as John
Travolta discovered when
he accidentally mangled the name
of Broadway star and Frozen voice
actress Idina Menzel, announcing her
as ‘Adele Dazeem’. She nevertheless got
her own back later when she jokingly
announced him as ‘Glom Gazingo’.
At least John didn’t trip over with
the world watching as happened to
poor Jennifer Lawrence who fell over
her Dior dress while walking up the
stairs to accept her Best Actress Oscar
in 2013. When she got a standing
ovation, she said, “You guys are just
standing up because you feel bad that I
fell and that’s really embarrassing.”
Long or short, moving or blunt,
Oscars speeches are a funny animal
everyone treats differently.
But the one rule is you have to
stick to 45 seconds. That’s thanks to a
measure brought in after Greer Garson
gave a painful five-minute speech in
1943. At a time when winners usually
gave no speech at all or very short
remarks, her monologue given at one
o’clock in the morning – she was the
last winner of the night – didn’t go
down at all well.
One of the few breaches of the
45-second ruling, however, was in 2001
when an emotional Julia Roberts ignored
protocol that when the orchestra starts
up a winner must cut their speech short.
Instead, she ordered the conductor –
whose name she got wrong – to stop
playing so she could carry on.
Brevity wasn’t a problem, however,
for Alfred Hitchcock who coldly blurted
a two-word acceptance speech of
‘thank you’ for his 1968 Oscar – much to
the raised eyebrows of the audience.
Marlon Brando, however, has to
claim the most awkward ever Oscars
speech – and he wasn’t even present!
When he won Best Actor for The
Godfather in 1973, not only did he
turn the Oscar down, he sent Native
American activist Sacheen Littlefeather
to give his rejection speech for him,
DID YOU KNOW? The Oscars
were initially called – and
are often still referred to
as – the Academy Awards.
It’s thought the nickname
‘Oscar’ started when the
academy’s executive
director said the award
statue resembled her
uncle Oscar
where she explained he could not
accept his award because of “the
treatment of American Indians by the
cinema industry.”
But if Brando gave the chilliest
rejection of an Oscar, the award for
the most exuberant acceptance has
to go to Italian filmmaker Roberto
Benigni in 1999. The moment presenter
Sophia Loren announced his name
as winner of Best Foreign Language
Film he excitedly clambered onto the
back of the seats in front of him and
started waving and shaking hands with
people in pure joy before getting to the
podium to say “this is the moment of
joy and I want to kiss everybody.”
An equally happy moment was
when Charlie Chaplin received a
12-minute standing ovation for his 1972
Honorary Oscar.
It’s a shame such time-filling
cheering couldn’t have happened
in the 1959 Oscars when the show
ended 20 minutes early, leaving host
Jerry Lewis forced to ad-lib until the
end. There were excruciatingly long
rounds of audience sing-alongs, a
spontaneous dance contest with Clark
Gable and Ann Sheridan and a few
mindless chats with the orchestra
to fill in what must have seemed to
Lewis like an eternity.
n Buy the latest issue of Yours Retro for a
look back at Oscar frocks that have dazzled
over the years. This year’s Oscars take place
on Sunday, March 4.
Charlie Chaplin
accepts his
gong in 1972
PICs: getty images, REX/SHUTTERSTOCK, ALAMY STOCK PHOTO
24 YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT
YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT 25

PICs: getty images; shutterstock
skin saviours
Marvellous
face masks
They’re an affordable pampering
treat and with so many face
msks to choose from – skinboosting
sheet masks, to
purifying peel-off ones, there’s
something to suit every
skin type and budget.
Here’s everything you
need to know about
this latest beauty trend,
plus our reader-tested
must buys!
By Beauty Editor,
Michelle Nightingale
Find your perfect mask
You want to
banish
wrinkles…
Face masks can target the
skin with potent anti-ageing
ingredients and used
regularly can improve tone
and condition. Sheets masks
are great for delivering
concentrated
ingredients.
For wrinklebusting
results
look out for
those with
collagen,
elastin, Vitamin
A and antioxidants.
Always
do a patch
test before
using a new
mask
You want to
detox…
Clay-based masks are great
for detoxing and
removing
excess oil, but
be careful as
this type of
mask can be
drying. Perfect
for combination and
greasy skin, look out
for Kaolin clay, gentle
enough for sensitive
skin. Use masks that
promise to detox, or
are rich in skin-boosting
ingredients, just once
a week.
You want to
hydrate…
Choose cream-based masks
with moisturising ingredients
and masks that wipe away,
rather than rinse off, to
ensure those
hydrating
ingredients stay on
the skin. Look out
for hyaluronic
acid, shea and
cocoa butter as
well as coconut oil.
Most hydrating
masks are fine to
use daily, although
2-3 times a week is
usually enough.
You want to
soothe…
If you have sensitive
skin you need a
mask that won’t
irritate, but will
help reduce
redness and
inflammation. Look
out for masks with
cucumber, aloe vera
and chamomile.
Some masks are specifically
formulated for use before bed,
but others work just as well in
the morning. Many are good for
giving your skin an instant boost,
perfect before a special event.
What’s all the fuss about...
Sheet masks?
The latest beauty craze, these odd-looking
masks can be really beneficial for dry and
mature skin types. Unlike regular clay or
peel-off masks, they won’t clean the skin or
draw out impurities, but instead they allow
you to soak your skin in concentrated skinboosting
ingredients.
Stockists: B. available from Superdrug 0345 671 0709;
L’Oréal and Nip + Fab available from Boots 0845 070
8090; Skin Republic available from Superdrug;
7th Heaven available from Boots
To get the most from your mask, your skin needs to
be freshly cleansed and free from other products. This
means your skin will be better able to absorb and make
the most of all those skin-boosting ingredients.
Face masks on test
Product They say... Our tester said...
Anti-ageing
L’Oréal Age Perfect
Rosy Glow Mask,
£14.99/50ml
Skinsmoothing
7th Heaven
Manuka
Honey Peel-Off
Mask, £1/one
application
Glow-boosting
B. Glowing Clay Face
Mask, £7.49/ 50ml
Hydrating
Skin Republic
Youthfoil Face
Mask Sheet,
£8.99/one
application
Exfoliating
Nip + Fab
Glycolic
Instant
Fix Mask,
£12.95/50ml
Specially formulated
for mature skin,
star this refreshing
buy! gel-mask works
to help restore the
skins radiance and
youthful density.
Containing manuka
honey, a natural
cleanser, along
with aloe vera
and jasmine, this
gentle peel-off
mask purifies and
smoothes the skin.
Finely ground apricot
granules gently remove
dead skin cells for
brighter and softer skin.
A hydrating sheet mask,
each treatment
gives a double dose
of hyaluronic acid,
as well as collagen,
elastin and Vitamins
C and E.
A high-potency gel-mask
that exfoliates and
smooths away the
appearance of lines
and wrinkles.
“I love this lightweight mask! It
doesn’t feel sticky, has a subtle
fragrance and leaves my skin
feeling soft and nourished. My
skin also looks plumper and
the lines around my eyes and
mouth seem less pronounced.”
Kathryn Marriott (55), Derby
“I was amazed how good this
mask is for the price! Really
easy to apply and peel off
and left my skin feeling soft
and very smooth.”
Sally Carlson (62), Inverness
‘My super-sensitive skin felt a
little tingly when I first applied
this mask, but felt soothed as
the clay dried. It left my skin
clean and refreshed and after
a few uses it definitely feels
smoother and looks brighter.”
Wendy Fox (71) Wiltshire
“This mask is easy to apply
and surprisingly does stay put,
though I looked like an extra
from Star Wars while wearing
it! My skin’s sensitive, and it
did leave it feeling a little tight,
but definitely smoother.”
Rosa Read (61), Peterborough
“This mask leaves my skin
smooth and looking brighter.
It does tingle, so I wash it off
sooner than recommended.
Not one for people with very
sensitive skin. I use it at night
as it made my skin red at first.”
Rita Barnes (58), France
32 YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT
YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT 33

The
pawfect
café!
‘A puppuccino please!’
From pupcakes to pawsecco, it’s
the four-legged customers who are
top dogs at this café in Southport
Our photographer’s
dog Rocket makes
himself at home
By Carole Richardson
It’s hound heaven for
canine customers at a
new café where dogs
are treated as well as
humans.
Comfy armchairs and
beds reserved for pooches
are the order of the day,
alongside treats such as
pawsecco, pupcakes and
puppuccinos.
But for one obedient
canine, rescue Labradorcross
Rocket, at first it was
all a bit confusing...
His owner, Yours
photographer Patrick
Boyd, decided to take his
faithful friend with him
to work as a treat as soon
as he heard he was going
to The Wagging Tail café.
But as soon as Rocket’s
paws crossed the threshold
of the café, opened by
Damien and Elizabeth
Kerr in Churchtown, near
Southport, he turned
suddenly shy.
“At home he’s not
allowed to jump on the
furniture or go upstairs, so I
think it was a bit of a culture
shock for him!” explained
Patrick.
Happily, ten-year-old
Rocket soon got used to
the café ‘where dogs take
their servants’ and put
his paws up in a comfy
armchair. “He soon came
round and settled in!” added
Patrick. That he soon felt at
home is hardly surprising.
Nothing but the best is
good enough for dogs at
this establishment, which
serves a host of luxury dog
food and drink products as
well as gifts such as quirky
collars and leads.
If it’s your dog’s birthday,
you can even host a
‘barkday pawty’ there,
complete with ice-cream,
popcorn and a personalised
cake. All edible products
use human grade food that’s
gluten free. Cakes have
Café visitors Rocket and little
Noddy make friends!
been independently tested
in government- approved
laboratories, as required by
the Animal and Plant Health
Agency. And of course the
pawsecco and dog beer are
alcohol free!
But there’s a menu for
owners, too, with human
treats from bacon butties
and lasagne to afternoon
tea with home-made cakes.
And as for cleanliness, the
local council has awarded
the café a five-star hygiene
rating.
The idea for the café
sprung from 41-year-old
Elizabeth’s first-hand
experience with Josh,
her assistance dog, after
becoming chronically ill.
Without realising it at first,
the former lecturer had
contracted Lyme disease
during a family holiday to
South Africa as a teenager.
Gradually her health
deteriorated, but it wasn’t
until she was in her early
30s that she was diagnosed
with the disease, which
is spread by bites from
infected ticks.
Devastated by the
effects of the painful
condition, which caused
her to suffer extreme
fatigue and muscle
weakness, she was forced
to retire. “I became very,
very ill,” she recalls. During
her worst period, she spent
two years only able to lie
on the floor of a dark room
with no light and no noise.
Thanks to Josh the
springer spaniel, Elizabeth
just about coped.
“I couldn’t have managed
without him. He’d fetch
my phone or a blanket or
whatever I needed and
empty and fill the washer,”
she recalls.
Recovering slowly
– though still not fully
– after finding a private
doctor specialising in her
condition, she met Damien,
an accountant, on a dating
website in 2010. Once he got
over the shock of realising
Josh slept inside Elizabeth’s
house, the pair hit it off.
“Damien comes from
farming stock in Ireland,
where dogs sleep outside,”
she explains.
Curtly informing him that
he’d be sleeping in a wooden
hut in her garden before
Josh would, he accepted the
score and they married two
years later! With Damien
working long hours on top
of lengthy commutes,
Elizabeth realised that
local dog-friendly
cafes were few and far
between and so an
idea was formed…
“I just thought it
would be good to take
your dog – especially
if it’s a nervous dog
– to a place where you could
both relax and not feel like
they had to lie down and be
quiet in the corner.”
Damien agreed to a
change of lifestyle and they
began looking for suitable
premises. When the lease
came up on a café, they
applied for it and got it.
After roping in friends
and family to help them
decorate, The Wagging Tail
– named as a tribute to Josh
who has since died – was
opened in August 2016.
Today, although she’s
‘Because the
owners are relaxed,
the dogs become
relaxed and it has a
knock-on effect’
still registered disabled,
Elizabeth deals with the
creative and marketing side
of the business mainly from
home. Damien, along with
five part-time staff, runs
the café and handles the
accounts. So far, they’ve
never looked back – and
neither have the regulars
who bring their dogs.
Retired teacher Ruth
Cleworth has been taking her
two Tibetan terriers, Sasha
and Poppy, to the café almost
since it opened and says, “It’s
a real asset to the community.
The dogs love the peanut and
real life
From far left:
Menu choices
for humans and
canines too; café
visitor Noddy the
Daschund-cross
enjoys a treat;
customers and
their pets relaxing
together in one of
three rooms that
provide plenty
of space and café
owners Elizabeth
and Damien, who
set up the café
together in 2016
banana bones and I can have
a cup of coffee.”
Retired support worker
Wendy Steele and her
Yorkshire terrier, Susie, were
there with friend Debbie
Whittingham who was trying
to socialise her miniature
Dachshund, Nelly.
Wendy adds, “It seems to
be working because Susie
had a biscuit bone but she
didn’t really like it so Nelly
ate it all!”
Holidaymakers Sarah
Longworth and Patrick
Wragg from Leeds found the
café online while looking
for dog-friendly places
to take their 14-week-old
Dachshund-cross, Noddy,
who quickly became
best friends with Rocket
– irrespective of their size
difference. Sarah says: “We
absolutely love it here.
It’s just become my
n To find
favourite café!”
out more about
Elizabeth says
the café visit www.
they haven’t
thewaggingtail.
experienced any
co.uk
problems between
dogs, adding, “A lot
of people come in with
nervous dogs and they don’t
know how they’ll react. But
they can’t believe it when
they settle down so quickly.
Because the owners are
relaxed, the dogs become
relaxed and it has a knockon
effect.”
26 YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT
YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT 27
PICs: patrick boyd photography

Banish
anxiety
Today!
If worry or stress is interfering
with your everyday life,
it’s time to take action.
Try these easy tips to combat
anxious feelings and live life
to the fullest By Gabrielle Albert
Anxiety is the anticipation of misfortune
or adversity,” says Gill Hasson, author,
trainer and life coach (www.gillhasson.
co.uk). “It can affect both your mind
and body typically leaving you feeling
irritable, distracted and on edge. Sometimes these
feelings are accompanied with muscle tension,
nausea, stomach cramps and/or insomnia, to
name but a few.”
It’s believed that one in four people will suffer
from an anxiety disorder at some point in their life.
If feelings persist and intensify, you should seek
help from your GP. However, if it hasn’t reached
that stage, you needn’t suffer in silence until it gets
worse. There are lots of coping tools you can use to
self-manage your way to a happier headspace.
I
Whether you experience
anxiety on a daily basis,
or just occasionally,
the calming power of
essential oils can help
Ten ways to cope with anxiety
1Take
time
out
“Think about what sort of activities
you can turn to when you want to
switch off from worrying,” says Gill.
“It could be something you can dip
into for ten minutes, or immerse
yourself in for an hour, when
necessary.”
Doing something as simple as
listening to music, reading a novel,
watching a film or completing a
crossword can help fade those
nagging negative thoughts.
Ten
minutes
Homemade cures
Soothing face mist
Fill a spray bottle about half or three quarters full
with water and add as many drops of lavender
oil and rose oil as you like. Fill up the rest of the
bottle with aloe vera extract and shake. Keep in
your handbag for use in times of need.
2Plan ahead
Making a good
plan can make a big
difference in calming
anxious thoughts.
Try to identify what it is
you’re actually worried
about and think through
the possible solutions or
the options you have to
minimise or manage the
worst-case scenario.
4
Stop comparing
We’re all different. “Don’t
judge yourself against
impossible standards,” says Pablo.
Everything is relative and your
feelings and experiences are
still valid, regardless of others’
expectations. Focus on the
things you’re good at, not on
the things you don’t do so well in.
8Be kind to yourself
When anxiety strikes,
practise the love,
compassion and patience
that you would to your best
friend, on yourself.
3
Practise self-care
5Establish
a support
network
Talking to a
friend or relative about
what’s making you
anxious can help. They
might have a different
perspective on how to
handle tricky situations
and their advice may
make you feel more
reassured.
Relaxing bath soak
Combine 15 drops of
lavender, geranium,
lemongrass and jojoba oils in
a bottle. Add one tbsp of this
to bath water, stir and soak
for 15 minutes. Relax and feel
your muscles unwind!
good to know
Calming linen spray
In a small bowl, mix 16 drops of lavender oil, ten drops
of chamomile oil and 15ml of vodka together (the
alcohol works as an emulsifier, allowing the
oil and water to mix evenly). Pour the mix
into a small spray bottle, fill with water and
shake. Perfect to spray on your pillow if
you suffer from night-time anxiety.
64 YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT
YOURS n EVERY FORTNIGHT 65
I
“Try to eat well, keep active, watch your alcohol intake
and get enough sleep,” advises Pablo Vandenabeele,
Clinical Director for Mental Health at Bupa UK (www.
bupa.co.uk). “Each of these practices can have a profound effect
on our mental health and general wellbeing.”
Sleep is especially important, since almost every system
of the body is affected by the quality and quantity of sleep a
person gets, especially the brain. Omega-3 fatty acids in foods
can lift your mood by lowering levels of stress chemicals, while
exercise releases endorphins, which trigger a positive feeling.
9
6
Take small steps
If you’d like to try something
new, but the thought of it
makes you feel sick with worry, note
down a list of small steps you can take
towards achieving your goal. Once you
break it down into manageable chunks
you may find it a lot less overwhelming.
Take a deep breath
“Breathing more slowly
calms the mind and
body, especially when you
feel a panic attack coming on,”
says Dr Jeremy Howick, Oxford
philosopher
and medical
researcher
(www.jeremy
howick.com).
give
these
a go
7
Get
moving
Exercise is a great stressreliever.
“Taking a brisk
walk, going on a bike ride, or even
doing a spot of housework can use
up the adrenalin produced by worry
and anxiety and provide a positive
distraction and help your thoughts
to become clearer and more
rational,” says Gill.
Instead of dwelling on negative outcomes and possibilities
that could occur, try to focus your thoughts on things that
will move you forward in the right direction. “They are as easy
as expressing gratitude, practicing kindness, setting small
personal goals and counting your blessings,” says Jeremy.
10Practise positivity
pics: shutterstock, getty images