https://www.scmp.com/rss/324122/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com We’ve been spending a lot more time at home, but it’s unlikely to result in a coronavirus baby boom. As concerns about employment and the economy grow, couples are delaying expanding their families and as a result, many are exploring their contraceptive options. According to a 2017 Family Planning Association of Hong Kong survey, the male condom remains the most used contraceptive in Hong Kong by a wide margin. Almost 80 per cent of married or cohabiting women report their partners using it. The... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3086908/best-birth-control-iuds-implants-or-condoms-hong-kong-80?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3086908/best-birth-control-iuds-implants-or-condoms-hong-kong-80?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Jun 2020 09:40:15 +0000 Agnes Ng has always had pets in her life. Growing up in Hong Kong, her family had goldfish, turtles, hamsters, rabbits, budgies, a cat and a dog. When she set up her own home and started a family she made sure it included pets. “I think all children should be brought up with animals,” she says. When the coronavirus pandemic hit early this year and she was spending more time at home, she decided to add to her already busy household of three young boys, two cats and a dog. Rather than adopting,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3083499/pet-foster-care-win-win-good-mindfulness-and-loneliness?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3083499/pet-foster-care-win-win-good-mindfulness-and-loneliness?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 May 2020 09:45:10 +0000 Three times a week 86-year-old Chai Suet-chun goes grocery shopping, folds laundry and orders dim sum. It might sound like a busy schedule for someone her age, but Chai doesn’t need to expend much physical energy to complete the tasks. It’s her brain, not her body, that does the work. Since 2016, Chai has been a regular player of a series of brain-training games developed by the Hong Kong Society for the Aged. Designed to help slow the process of cognitive decline among older adults, the games... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3035872/brain-training-games-elderly-aim-slow-cognitive-decline?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3035872/brain-training-games-elderly-aim-slow-cognitive-decline?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Nov 2019 09:00:05 +0000 Women often wonder what is the ideal amount of time to wait after giving birth before getting pregnant again. There are practical considerations, such as the desired age gap between siblings, and physiological ones, such as maternal age. Lisa Cheng became pregnant with her second child when her eldest was 12 months old. The 38-year-old Hongkonger had hoped to wait about 18 months after the birth of her first child before conceiving again, but “it just happened by accident that we got pregnant... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3035474/how-long-pregnancy-gap-should-be-birth-spacing-advice-mum?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3035474/how-long-pregnancy-gap-should-be-birth-spacing-advice-mum?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Oct 2019 15:00:05 +0000 Nutrition labels are designed to help us make healthier choices at the supermarket. They’re affixed to most pre-packaged foods and include information about the product’s nutritional value, including its protein, fat, salt and carbohydrate content. But as anyone who’s ever used nutrition labels to compare foods knows, making sense of the numbers is a tricky business. How do you know if a food is high in fat, sugar or salt? Which is a better measure: the per 100g or per serve column? And why are... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3031803/food-nutrition-labels-how-know-foods-high-fat-sugar-or?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3031803/food-nutrition-labels-how-know-foods-high-fat-sugar-or?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 07 Oct 2019 12:25:31 +0000