Like most people, I’ve experienced some pretty challenging times in my life (reporting in the aftermath of natural disasters, live broadcasting, and jumping into an open ocean in front of a 30,000 kilogram whale immediately spring to mind) but by far the most difficult thing I’ve ever done is be a parent. It’s an unrelenting occupation involving sleepless nights, tantrums, childcare juggling, meal planning, sibling rivalry, constant vigilance, potty training, endless cleaning, and schedule management – all of which are things that occur multiple times a day, on a good day. It is, of course, all worth it, but in... Read full article »

This time last year I had an endless loop of names buzzing around in my head. Everyone from my husband and kids, to my parents and in-laws, to my siblings and their kids, to our extended family and friends, my son’s childcare teachers, neighbours, colleagues, employees, and even the cleaners. For each name on the list, I was wracking my mind trying to come up with a meaningful holiday gift.   I appreciated these people. I wanted to give them something to say “thanks for a great year,” “I hope you have a happy holiday,” and “I wish you well... Read full article »

If you’re anything like me, then you will be familiar with Monday-itis. It’s a terrible affliction, with symptoms usually presenting at the start of the working week. You feel tired and flat and you have to drag yourself out of bed. While you might think that motivation is the issue because you don’t want your weekend to be over, it turns out that you may actually be suffering from something called “social jet lag,” and it has a lot to do with your sleep. I recently spoke with Professor Till Roenneberg from Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich who is a sleep... Read full article »

My three-year-old son had been offered junk food for what seemed like the millionth time in just a few days, and was looking at me with pleading eyes as if to say “pleeeeease Mum!?” The person offering him the glossy-on-the-outside, but empty-on-the-inside snack was doing it because they thought they were being nice. They wanted to make their time together special and (probably unconsciously) thought that the way to go about it was to give him a “treat.” The problem is that it wasn’t special, or a treat. It was crap. The ingredients on the label read more like a... 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 »