On a stinking hot summer Sydney afternoon I lay in a room with 15 other people, eyes closed, attempting to focus on the present by paying attention to my sensations, thoughts, emotions, and breath. The person next to me was snoring peacefully but I was far from feeling blissed out and “one with the moment.” I was feeling hot, fidgety and frustrated and I kept thinking, “Shit, I’m supposed to endure this every day, for the next eight weeks. Why didn’t I sign up to a cooking class instead?”Far from developing my culinary expertise, I had in fact signed up... Read full article »

On Saturday I’ll be joining thousands of others in a march through the streets of Sydney. Around the world, we’ll be joined by millions more. We won’t be marching to celebrate a sporting achievement or in protest of a war. We won’t be advocating a change in marriage laws or in support of refugees. We’ll be marching to bolster the case for science. The fact that I, of all people, am marching for science will come as some surprise to people who knew me in my youth. I was a teenager who’s room was adorned in candles, lava lamps and... Read full article »

It is the birthright of every Australian child to join a sport team as soon as they can pay attention long enough to kick or throw a ball into an opposing team’s goal. So when it became apparent that my four-year-old son had absorbed his father’s love for soccer, it was clear that I had to take action. After due diligence I found an under fives local team but when I learned that they played at 10:15 on Sunday mornings I hit a wall. I was having trouble coming to terms with the fact that signing him up to soccer... Read full article »

In the last five years, in my work as a health journalist, I estimate that I’ve read at least 2000 scientific studies. In all that time, with all that reading, there is one study that has left me utterly gobsmacked. The study involved more than 3000 people and looked at how they used their smartphones. It found that if partipcants didn’t have a wrist watch or an alarm clock, they had significantly less time in their lives to spend on non-smartphone leisure activities. In the study, people who reported using both a wristwatch and an alarm clock had an average... Read full article »

Hello, my name is Shannon and I’m addicted to my phone.For years I have deluded myself into thinking that I was using the device solely for efficiency, productivity and connectivity, but the realisation that my phone is in charge of me and not the other way around dawned one recent Saturday morning.It was six in the morning and my four-year-son, who usually wakes early and repeatedly calls out to my husband and I until one of us is persuaded out of bed, instead, quietly crept into our room for a snuggle. As I slowly transitioned from deep sleep into wakefulness,... Read full article »

One of my favourite writers, A.J Jacobs once confessed to having a weakness for dried mangos. He was worried that his daily habit of eating the delicious delicacies was injecting the equivalent of 15 teaspoons of white sugar into his system. In his efforts to dedicate a year of his life to getting healthy, he knew he needed to ditch the sweet treats. He tried several strategies to kick the habit including hiding them, repacking them into individual bags, and staring at a digitally aged picture of himself to make him stop and think, “Should I do this to him?” But... Read full article »