I remember the first time I saw someone working at a stand-up desk. It was 2009 and a colleague had rearranged the furniture in her office and needed some help reconnecting her printer. I noticed that her office makeover involved putting her computer on top of a stack of boxes so that she could work standing up. To be honest, I thought she was a little peculiar. It seemed rather impractical, perhaps even a little silly. I now realise, given that I was spending hours and hours each day sitting in edit suites and at computers, that I was the... Read full article »

Regular readers of this blog will know that although I’m a health journalist, and am really really excited by finding new ways to find balance and stay healthy in this crazy-busy age of information overload, I’m not the gym-junkie, bikini-body, abs-of-steel type. In fact, as I wrote about on my blog a short time ago, I’ve always found getting into a regular exercise habit exceedingly hard. Sure, I’ve been on health kicks, and done a bunch of different exercise “challenges.” Sometimes I’ve even had a good time and noticed good results. But the whole weight-loss, big-biceps, toned-tummy thing has just... Read full article »

I wish I had a time machine so I could go back 11 years ago when I was first diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. I wish I could bump into that 24-year-old version of me who was leaving a rheumatologists office in tears, having just been told she “probably has lupus,” that her immune system was attacking her own body, that there was no known cause and no known cure, that she had bad genes, and that she may end up in a wheelchair, with organ failure, or infertility. I wish I could tell her about this moment right now,... Read full article »