Typecast

We all know that sleeping well is essential; sleeping affects both your mental and physical health, and in turn affects the quality of your life. Research has shown that  disrupted sleep may be associated with a higher risk of early signs of Alzheimer’s disease .    A good night’s sleep can offer an energetic, productive, and positive day ahead, whereas a bad night’s sleep can have a very opposite effect.  It can also help  Here are some general tips on how you can improve your sleep, leading to a good night’s sleep much more often than not. Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash Stick to a schedule Ensuring that you try and go to sleep and wake up at the same time each day will help in setting your body’s internal clock. Regulating your internal body clock is much more important than you may believe – and yes, this applies at weekends too! The easiest way to start sticking to a schedule is to begin by starting an evening routine.  This will i...

I was writing monthly running updates for a while and have been documenting this year's attempt at 1000k-in-a-year on Instagram but things started to fall apart at the seams and I was struggling to find the words (other than an Instagram caption) to share positive updates. I've recently hit a new low with my arthritic knees but I'm on the way back up again so here's a quick recap and a look forward.  Racing We all know that I use the word "race" loosely but it's what the organisers call it so we go with the flow.  It might be easier if I bullet point the next bit because there's been a few... (click the links to see my Instagram update and extra images) Stanley Park 10k (25th February): a difficult race because I struggled all the way through with my breathing plus it was unusually HOT for February.  Rowena really encouraged me round the course, made me stick with the 65min pacer and I pushed on to the finish line for a PB of 1h4m21s....

It's been a while since I published a Soundtrack To My Life but this is the perfect opportunity for me to introduce you to an author I have just discovered - David Richards. Here's a bit of the backstory... Just before I went on a recent trip abroad, I followed a book recommendation from my running pal, Karen. I duly download three books written by a friend of hers because they were on offer at 99p each to my Kindle and immersed myself in them on holiday. They. Were. Brilliant! So I passed on the recommendation to my followers (an off-the-wall, slightly bonkers, Northern humour style of writing), tagged the author and he was kind enough to send me a copy of his latest book with a very lovely handwritten note on the dedication page.  Fast forward a couple of days and I asked David if he'd like to guest post for me at some point but then I remembered my much-loved Soundtrack To My Life series, blew the dust off the instructions and got David to play along. ...