A recent study revealed that living in a cold home can increase the risk of poor mental health. We take a look at why this is and share some tips for staying warm for less this winter

Energy prices have caused a stir for years but none more so than during the current cost of living crisis. We know that living in colder temperatures can affect our physical health as it lowers our immune response, but new research from The Conversation suggests it poses a significant risk to our mental health, too.

As Britain sits in the temperature climate zone, we don’t typically experience extreme changes in the weather and our temperatures remain fairly mild throughout the year. Despite this, the UK has higher deaths associated with colder weather than many other colder countries which is thought to be the result of poor quality housing, poverty, and the increasing costs of heating our homes.

How does the cold affect our mental health?

In recent months, we’ve seen the impact that the cost of living crisis is having on our energy bills. As we head towards winter, our heating bills will likely exacerbate feelings of stress and financial worries. In 2018, the average cost of heating a UK home was £453.24 which has since risen significantly.

Not only can this financial uncertainty create anxiety, but also feelings of being out of control of our own environment. People might avoid socialising to climb into bed early to keep warm or may simply be exhausted from draining their body’s energy for warmth. This can contribute to feelings of loneliness and isolation.

Sadly, for those who may already be experiencing poor mental health, the risks are often more severe and this does not consider the impact across the wider population - those who are unemployed or on lower incomes are more likely to live in a colder home, as well as single parents and those who rent.

For those currently working from home, the choice between heading back into the office or staying put offers little comfort as commuting also comes with its fair share of costs.

How can we heat our homes for less?

In light of the current energy crisis, here are some tips for keeping warm for little to no cost.

1. Make use of curtains

During the day, make sure you open curtains or blinds to let as much natural sunlight into your home as possible. This is a great way to heat your home for free. When it starts to get dark, draw your curtains and this will trap the heat as well as provide an extra layer of insulation.

2. Rejig your furniture

Take a look around your home and note any furniture that could be blocking radiators. If possible, try moving your furniture away from the heat source to allow the warm air to flow more freely around your room.

3. Locate and block out draughts

If you’ve noticed a chill from your front door, around your windows, or coming from a crack in the floor, now is the best time to draught-proof your home before winter firmly sets in. You can Read more

Our hormones are responsible for a whole range of body functions – from your heart rate to the quality of your sleep. But did you know they can also impact your skin? Jenna Farmer chats to the experts to uncover the connection…

While the hormones whizzing around our bodies can have some pretty powerful effects (whether that’s progesterone keeping your menstrual cycle in check, or adrenaline giving you a surge of energy in a ‘fight-or-flight’ situation), they don’t just impact what’s happening on the inside. Our skin, the body’s largest organ, can be affected too. Whether that’s due to stress making your skin look dull, or being more prone to blemishes at certain points in your cycle. Let’s take a look at some of the most common hormones that could impact your skin health.

Stress hormones

These can be particularly detrimental to our skin health, with studies showing more than 10 different kinds of conditions (such as acne or psoriasis) are closely linked to psychological problems. But why is this? Well, part of it is down to how we manage our stress.

Consultant dermatologist and founder of klira.skin, Dr Emma Craythorne explains: “Poor stress management can have a poor impact on the skin, because sometimes patients might scratch or pick at their skin or pull their hair out. They might over-focus on acne lesions and picking them can lead to scars or worsening of acne.”

Other conditions are more directly linked to stress hormones – when we release large amounts of cortisol (due to being super stressed for a long time), our skin can sometimes become much more oily than usual, which can trigger an eczema outbreak.

“Stress has multiple and wide-ranging physiological and clinical impacts on skin disease. There are skin conditions that are known to flare due to stress, such as eczema and psoriasis, and in these situations increased stress levels can make the disease much more severe,” adds Emma.

Menstrual cycle hormones

As well as stress hormones, the hormones responsible for your menstrual cycle – such as oestrogen and progesterone – can also impact your skin. However, it’s not all bad news. Nutritional therapist Aneequa Godart, explains: “Oestrogen, which is more prominent in the first half of your cycle, helps to stimulate collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid production in the skin, so you may notice that it is looking plump, hydrated, and clearer during the first 10–16 days.”

However, once we’ve ovulated, we may start to notice more skin issues. “Our levels of progesterone start to increase in the second half of our cycle, which can become more problematic for the skin as sebum production is stimulated so it becomes oilier, which can lead to blocked pores and breakouts,” adds Aneequa.

What’s more, when our female hormones are a bit off kilter (which may be a temporary blip or due to conditions such as PCOS; a common gynaecological condition that causes irregular periods) it can result in more long-term skin problems. For example, just under half of women wi

From a heart-warming comedy to an autumnal tradition, and a podcast about modern dating, try something new with our enriching suggestions

1. Page-turners

The Sun, the Sea and the Stars: Ancient Wisdom as a Healing Journey by Iulia Bochis

Renowned on Instagram for her powerful illustrations about mental health and wellbeing, creative illustrator Iulia Bochis has now created a beautiful book that narrates a story of personal growth and healing, and is packed with illustrations and words of wisdom to inspire us on our own quest for self-discovery.

(Out now, Ebury Publishing, £14.99)

2. Out and about

Pumpkin picking

It’s that time of the year where farmers open their gates to the wonderful, autumnal tradition of pumpkin picking. Head to your nearest pumpkin patch and embrace the nostalgia of the festivities, while connecting with the outdoors. You might even find yourself on a tractor ride, or rambling through maze trails while you’re there…

(Search for pumpkin picking in your local area)

3. Act of kindness

Donate a buddy bag

It can be scary and confusing for any child to leave their home, especially following trauma. By donating to the ‘Buddy Bag’, scheme, you’ll help fund a bag of essential items including toiletries, underwear, pyjamas, and a teddy/book to a child in emergency care. And, importantly, you’ll be helping to provide a sense of security during a difficult period of a child’s life.

(Head to buddybagfoundation.co.uk)

4. Lend us your ears

‘This is Dating’

Has curiosity ever got the better of you when you see people on a first date in a restaurant? Let your curiosity prevail with this podcast, and home-in on a series of first dates. Radically fresh and truly captivating, you may also learn a thing or two about modern dating – if that helps to justify your eavesdropping.

(Available on all platforms)

5. Plugged-In

Lucy Sparrow

If the name rings a bell, that’s because Lucy Sparrow is renowned for being the artist that created a cornershop installation in London, entirely out of felt! She continues to take the crafting world by storm with her felt masterpieces. From cereal boxes to cakes, she brings colour and crafting inspiration to our feeds.

(Follow @sewyoursoul for more)

Read more

Looking for a quick motivation boost? We share five quick ways to improve your motivation and start seeing progress fast

Motivation can be a tricky thing. Whether you’re thinking about working towards a healthier lifestyle, want to change your career, or get started with a new creative hobby, once the initial excitement has worn off, the actual work needed to put in before you start seeing significant progress can be daunting.

Procrastination, burnout, low mood overwhelm – there are so many different reasons why our motivation can falter. But low motivation doesn’t mean our progress needs to stop. Here are five quick ways to kickstart your motivation and get back on track.

1. Make a fresh start

You don’t have to wait until the new year to make resolutions. Setting new goals, making commitments, and giving yourself the chance for a fresh start can happen at any time. This can help you to feel energised and reinvigorated, giving you a much-needed boost to get started.

If you’ve been feeling weighed down by big, daunting tasks or unclear pathways towards what you should do next, giving yourself a fresh start creates the opportunity to re-evaluate what you want to achieve, figure out how you want to do that, and let go of any negativity that may have been holding you back.

2. Simplify your goals (and your to-do list)

In order to achieve more, sometimes we need to aim for less. That doesn’t mean we want to achieve less – just that we want to focus on fewer big, complicated goals, allowing for a more simplified to-do list.

The more we try to put onto our to-do list, the more likely we are to feel overwhelmed. Cutting back on activities that don’t motivate or excite you can help you to avoid procrastinating. When our to-do list feels cluttered, it can be confusing. Where do you get started? What’s the real priority? Why are you doing this again?

Keep things simple. You can always expand on your goals later on, once you’ve started seeing progress.

3. Try the five-minute rule

Typically used for procrastinating, the five-minute rule can help you to feel more productive and, in turn, more motivated as you start to see real progress.

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What can the imperfections found in nature teach us about our own lives?

On the expansive grounds of Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, there stands a very unusual tree. The cedar was first planted when Capability Brown re-modelled the landscaped gardens between 1763 and 1774, and it’s still there today, overlooking the lakes and the palace beyond.

The tree attracts a lot of attention because it appears to be a fluke of nature. It’s held up by cables attached to nearby trees, its branches crooked and serpentine, and the 20ft diameter trunk is almost entirely hollow. It’s odd, and imperfect, yet visitors flock to it, season after season, because there’s something beautiful about it.

The Japanese have a phrase for the feeling this evokes: wabi-sabi. A world-view that learns from the imperfect beauty of nature, appreciates the passage of time, and accepts all things in their incomplete and impermanent forms.

Wabi-sabi has its origins in Taoism, between 960–1279, and then was adopted by Zen Buddhism. ‘Wabi’ roughly translates to ‘the elegant beauty of humble simplicity’, and ‘sabi’ means ‘the passing of time and subsequent deterioration’. Explained this way, there’s an undeniably melancholic feeling at the heart of wabi-sabi, just like the hollow tree at Blenheim, but the acceptance and appreciation of transience and imperfection can be empowering, especially in 2022.

“Perfection is an unattainable goal, and its pursuit can lead to feelings of inferiority and shame as we effectively never ‘measure up’,” says life coach Louise Bradshaw. “The stress caused by not achieving perfection, or pushing ourselves to our absolute limits, can lead to burnout, low self-esteem, depression, and anxiety.”

We see this kind of thing presented to us constantly, on TV, social media, and in adverts trying to convince us that we can buy our way to a perfect life. But, for many, the pursuit of perfection starts much earlier.

“The roots of perfectionism can be traced back to childhood – beliefs about ourselves and our worth are developed in those formative years,” Louise explains. “If the message that we receive is that we are ‘less than’ in some way, then we may well develop perfectionism as a means to prove our worth. Equally, if we experience unrealistic expectations growing up, or are subjected to excessive praise, we may feel the need to achieve perfection in order to maintain these conditions.”

These days, many of us are trying our best to be conscious about our impact on the Earth – one key part of that being to reuse and recycle things, to repair what has become worn or broken before swapping it for a newer model. When it comes to nature, we can observe how things weather over time, how living things grow, bloom, and wilt, how they respond to sustenance, and how each example is entirely unique. So, if we can be so forgiving and accepting of the world around us, isn’t it about time we did the same for ourselves?

“In order to unlearn perfectionism, we must first understand the feeling or core belief about ourselves that we are trying to avoid,” Louise says. &#x