https://www.scmp.com/rss/508784/feed Hattie Rowan is a freelance journalist and photographer, addressing topics on wellbeing, sustainability and travel. Her work has appeared in Vogue and GoNOMAD, and regularly in Sustainable Fashion Week UK and The Boar. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com I have suffered from OCD – obsessive-compulsive disorder – for more than 15 of my 26 years. Here’s some insight as to what it is, how I experienced it, how to treat it and what to do for a loved one who suffers from it. Obsessions are unwanted, intrusive thoughts, images or urges that trigger intensely distressing feelings. They occur over and over again and feel outside a person’s control. Compulsions are behaviours in which one engages in an attempt to get rid of the obsessions and/or decrease... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3239826/ocd-symptoms-behaviour-examples-treatment-and-how-one-woman-has-dealt-obsessive-compulsive-disorder?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3239826/ocd-symptoms-behaviour-examples-treatment-and-how-one-woman-has-dealt-obsessive-compulsive-disorder?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Nov 2023 20:15:19 +0000 Horses sweat, men perspire, ladies merely glow … so goes the adage. But we all sweat. And sweating takes all manner of forms – different volumes, colours, places and smells. While for most people perspiration is normal and almost unnoticeable, for others, it can be so extreme that it affects their quality of life. Why do we sweat? The function helps regulate body temperature; sweat glands found all over the body secrete a salt-based fluid in response to changes in temperature. Dr Joyce Lai, a... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3152987/sweating-benefits-human-body-helping-keep-it-cool-if-you?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3152987/sweating-benefits-human-body-helping-keep-it-cool-if-you?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Oct 2021 10:45:16 +0000 As the running season gets going again in subtropical Asia after a pandemic-induced hiatus – the Hong Kong Standard Chartered Marathon and Moontrekker events are back in October, though with a smaller field for the first, and in a virtual format for the second – it’s time to resolve a common misconception: that pounding the roads and trails is bad for the knees. Of the 360 joints in the human body, the knee is the largest and the most complex. Our knees allow for efficient walking and enable us... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3151126/secret-pain-free-knees-running-season-avoid-high-impact?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3151126/secret-pain-free-knees-running-season-avoid-high-impact?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 04 Oct 2021 20:15:10 +0000 You might not give it a second thought – unless you’ve hurt it – but the elbow is one of our body’s major joints. It allows us to carry out several everyday actions, such as rotating the hand or lifting an object. Involving three major bones and many ligaments and tendons, the elbow is prone to injury. We consider how to care for the joint, whether it is only tennis players who suffer tennis elbow, why it’s called the funny bone and why we’re not supposed to put ours on the dinner table. The... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3148105/facts-about-elbow-how-avoid-tennis-elbow-why-its-called?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3148105/facts-about-elbow-how-avoid-tennis-elbow-why-its-called?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Sep 2021 16:00:15 +0000 China has long embraced the noon-nap-at-work culture. Now it seems the West is waking up to the practice, with corporate giants such as Google and Samsung, as well as US government space agency Nasa, integrating sleep pods into their offices. But does napping affect our health, and do we really benefit from it? We often feel sleepy in the afternoon because our circadian rhythm (our internal body clock) is slow to alert us into staying awake. While some might perceive afternoon sleepiness as... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3130095/are-naps-good-you-less-stress-better-mental-health-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3130095/are-naps-good-you-less-stress-better-mental-health-and?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 Apr 2021 16:15:12 +0000 The pandemic has seen a rise in mental health issues around the world. In Hong Kong, a 2020 study revealed that stress levels in the city rose by 28 per cent and anxiety symptoms by 42 per cent compared to data from 2016 and 2017. The media has become saturated with advice on how to keep anxiety and depression at bay. A new well-being activity has surfaced as a result: “calmtainment”, the combination of calm and entertainment, where major entertainment platforms launch content to help their... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health/article/3128336/how-meditate-and-relax-subject-netflix-hbo-max-shows-amid-wave?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health/article/3128336/how-meditate-and-relax-subject-netflix-hbo-max-shows-amid-wave?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Apr 2021 17:15:09 +0000 A woman’s “love tunnel”, which Chinese often refer to as the “jade gate” or “cinnabar cave” – is a mystery to many – including, often, its owner. Shrouded in taboo and misunderstanding, the truth about the vagina is often lost. Here, we sort fact from myth. Let’s start with the basics: what is the vagina? This seems a simple question, but a 2013 survey of college student sin the Midwestern United States revealed that only 38 per cent of women could correctly label its different parts (compared... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3120510/we-sort-fact-myth-about-vagina-and-learn-how-keep-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/article/3120510/we-sort-fact-myth-about-vagina-and-learn-how-keep-it?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Feb 2021 20:45:09 +0000