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Well, actually

Living a good life in a complex world

Well Actually

  • mushrooms in red light

    The clinic for psychedelic difficulties: where people go when the trip never really ends

  • a side-by-side image of a teenage girl holding a skincare product and a farmer taking a sample of raw milk

    The biggest wellness trends of 2024 (so far)

    Do you need to take magnesium? Are you boysober? What’s underconsumption core? We’re here to help
  • An illustration of a person wearing a green shirt and jeans lying on a couch

    The invisible toll of life with polycystic ovary syndrome

    The overlooked emotional and psychological effects of PCOS are creating a silent mental health crisis
  • illustration with a green bottle with words 'feel free', a big eye, and silhouettes of people

    The wellness drink for sober people that some say they can’t stop drinking

  • a silhouetted mother sitting with her face down in her knees and her child looking at her in a hallway

    Parenting stress is a health issue – US surgeon general’s advisory report

  • A painted illustration of a lonely pink flamingo pool float washed up on the shore of a beach with pink sand, blue mountains, and a pink-and-blue speckled sky

    Summer is slipping away. Why am I panicking?

  • A hand holding a needle presses its tip into a full, orange balloon on a teal background.

    How bad is it to pop a pimple, really?

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Reclaim your brain

The toolkit

  • A sunscreen’s SPF, or sun protection factor, indicates how much protection a product offers.

    Sun season
    What is SPF and how much sunscreen do you really need? Experts answer

  • a person smokes cannabis

    California sober
    What does it mean and is it good for you?

  • Colourful flat lay view of different types of sliced fruits and vegetables on a pink background.

    The 30-plant challenge
    Experts say we need to eat 30 plants a week. This is how I fared

  • Black cup of coffee on the black and brown table among spilled roasted coffee beans.

    Coffee
    How much coffee is OK for me to drink in a day? I asked the experts

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Columns

  • illustration of woman shouting at toes

    Ask Ugly
    I hate my big, ugly feet. How can I come to terms with them?

  • illustration of woman holding two tubs of beauty product

    Halfway there: a column about midlife
    Menopause tests and anti-ageing face oils: welcome to midlife consumerism

  • illustration of a woman sitting at a table writing a letter

    Why am I like this?
    I want closure – but do I have a hope of ever getting it?

  • Illustration of a woman holding a scalpel to her face

    Ask Ugly
    My mother is pressuring me to get plastic surgery. How do I deal with imperfection?

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Health & wellbeing

  • Emma Beddington

    All these health scares are making me ill. I need someone to tell me croissants are good for you

    Emma Beddington
  • Illustration of people eating, with shopping trolley

    The experts: dietitians on 20 ways to cut down on UPFs while still eating what you love

    • Illustration showing man holding a cordless vacuum cleaner with organised tool belt, sparkling and organised drawers and files, with a dog proferring a pair of socks.

      Sort out your life! 100 tiny tricks to help with everything from digital overwhelm to lumpy sugar and unpaid bills

    • Illustration of a man's bare legs standing on the floor with a little pile of hair clippings in between

      ‘They handled me like a carcass!’: why are so many men now ‘manscaping’?

    • Fiona Winser-Ramm, whose daughter Aliona died 27 minutes after being born in January 2020

      ‘Women feel like failures if they haven’t had a “normal” birth’: how the NCT has shaped childbirth in the UK

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Relationships

  • Image of deep-sea anglerfish

    Do you dream of becoming one with your partner? The deep-sea anglerfish shows how badly that can end

  • Eva Wiseman

    It’s so tempting for columnists to give a little too much away

    Eva Wiseman
  • A man and woman pose for a photo in Sri Lanka

    The moment I knew: he helped me try on a motorbike helmet – and I cried because he showed such tenderness

  • Cartoon of naked man lying on telephoe

    This is how we do it: ‘We have phone sex once a month – and it feels primal’

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Food

  • Rukmini Iyer’s wild mushroom orzotto.

    Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy recipe for mushroom, spinach and hazelnut orzotto

  • Rachel Roddy's tomato crumble 1280

    Rachel Roddy’s recipe for tomato crumble

  • OM Nigel Mograbia Shallots

    Nigel Slater’s recipes for roast shallots with couscous, and lemon cakes

  • Meera Sodha's cabbage peanut butter and gochujang noodles.

    Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for white cabbage, peanut butter and gochujang noodles

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Puzzles

  • The Soup Dragon with Peter Firmin and Mother Clanger

    Crossword blog
    Crossword roundup: a flurry of Keir Starmer solutions – and some dragons

  • Cryptic crosswords
    Cryptic crossword No 29,484

    • Quick crosswords
      Quick crossword No 16,957

    • Sudoku
      Sudoku 6,615 medium

    • Prize crosswords
      Prize crossword No 29,482

    • Killer sudoku
      Observer killer sudoku

    • Thomas Eaton
      Which island is named from the Old Norse for puffin? The Saturday quiz

    • Alex Bellos's Monday puzzle
      Did you solve it? An object that defies common sense

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