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The Guardian - Back to homeThe Guardian

Well, actually

Living a good life in a complex world

Well Actually

  • Illustration of a person lying on their back with a ball between their knees

    Halfway there: a column about midlife
    First my left knee, then my right: my middle-aged body’s betrayal

  • A pen lies beside a notepad on which is written: 'Don't date a bartender'

    The memo: could one missed message have saved me a lifetime of regret?

    It is the one essential piece of advice you wish you had known when you were younger. I started asking women for their memos – and the results were revealing
  • Experts agree that the microbiome is important to human health. But many are skeptical about how useful these kits are.'

    Are at-home gut microbiome testing kits a scam?

    Gut health has become something of a wellness buzzword – so we asked experts what the gut microbiome is and how it affects our health
  • A white woman with long brown hair and a button-up blue shirt with no pants sits on the edge of a bed, while a white man wearing jeans with no shirt lies with his back to her.

    Feel sad, anxious or ‘homesick’ after sex? You might have post-coital dysphoria

  • illustration of person wearing blue top sits at green chair and looks to the left

    Why am I like this?
    Why do I feel like I’m stuck in a ‘waiting room’, hoping for my life to get started?

  • Two young women standing with guitars.

    Friendship
    ‘She is my soulmate. I’d do anything for her’: readers on their best friends

  • An illustrated graphic of a woman laying down in a chair crying while another woman behind her looks at a long receipt

    Personal finance
    Anxious about money? Five financial therapists share their advice

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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

  • A graphic illustration in sepia tones of a light-skinned woman with long, dark hair, kneeling in a sexually suggestive manner wearing a bathing suit.

    Ask Ugly
    The state of the bush – how should I be styling my pubic hair?

  • Graphic illustration of naked woman with one pant leg on, in shades of red, peach, light blue and olive.

    Halfway there: a column about midlife
    No sex drive and a ‘tanking libido’: how I redefined intimacy in midlife

  • illustration of a woman holding a tablet with posts in the air around her saying things like 'ur cancelled'

    Why am I like this?
    Everyone’s so intolerant online. Am I right to stay silent?

  • ‘Take a fraction of what you’d spend on Le Labo Rose 31 and buy yourself a bouquet; meditate on your own impermanence as it wilts.’

    Ask Ugly
    Signature scents are deeply appealing – but how else can I express ‘the self’?

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Health & wellbeing

  • Illustration of woman running past people waiting at a bus stop that is in front of big letters saying 5am

    The cult of 5am: is rising at dawn the secret of health and happiness?

  • friends in casual summer wear lying in circle on the colourful rug in the park having fun and making a group selfie

    Head lice are everywhere. Are selfies to blame?

    • Phil Daoust, holding an ice-cream cone, reclines in a deckchair in the park in the sunshine

      Do be a quitter! How I broke my exercise streak – and smashed my fitness goals

    • Emma Beddington

      I am sober curious – but a little alcohol is still valuable to me

      Emma Beddington
    • No to physical exfoliation

      The happy microbiome: how to nourish all of yours - from mouth to gut to vagina

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Relationships

  • Eva Wiseman

    Polyamory? Celibacy? Today’s sexual politics reveals much about the way we live

    Eva Wiseman
  • Simon Tedeschi and Loribelle Spirovski

    The moment I knew: we could barely make eye contact because of the chemistry radiating between us

  • A cartoon of a giant sheep, with two little naked people held between its teeth.

    This is how we do it: ‘The sheep on our farm hinder our sex life more than the kids’

  • Nima and Maxim.

    Blind date: ‘We both grimaced as we gulped down oysters and pretended to enjoy them’

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Food

  • The lesser-spotted Rachel Roddy flatbread.

    Rachel Roddy’s recipe for flatbreads with yoghurt

  • OM Nigel Slow Baked Chicken

    Nigel Slater’s recipes for roast chicken with pepper and olives, and marinated strawberries

  • Sour note: A jar of lemons about to be preserved.

    Ask Ottolenghi: what’s going wrong with my preserved lemons?

  • Tom Hunt's tinned fish oil dressing with potato, caper and red onion salad.

    Don’t throw away that tinned fish oil! Use it in this tasty dressing – recipe

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Puzzles

  • Yvette Cooper, Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner in a supermarket in April

    Crossword blog
    Crossword roundup: which cabinet members will crosswords favour?

  • Cryptic crosswords
    Cryptic crossword No 29,429

    • Quick crosswords
      Quick crossword No 16,902

    • Sudoku
      Sudoku 6,542 easy

    • Prize crosswords
      Prize crossword No 29,428

    • Killer sudoku
      Observer killer sudoku

    • Thomas Eaton
      What links Ana de Armas with Gloria Estefan? The Saturday quiz

    • Alex Bellos's Monday puzzle
      Did you solve it? Simple puzzles almost everybody gets wrong

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