The New Zealand Herald is bringing back some of the best premium stories of 2021. Today we take a look at some of the best health and lifestyle stories.
The truth about weight loss surgery in NZ
From the outside, weight loss surgery appears to be a cure-all for obesity and related diseases - the easy way to drop a lot of weight and keep it off for good. But what's it really like?
Rebecca Blithe speaks tofour Kiwi women about the varying successes of this purported marvel of modern medicine.
Weight loss surgery isn't the easy option many imagine. Photo / Getty Images
The secret life of calories
In a culture that is increasingly telling people the food they love is "clean" or "dirty", or that they should face moral condemnation when they eat too much of it, obesity expert Dr Giles Yeo is fighting back against "food shaming" by using science to prove that eating is deeply human – and so, too, is struggling to stop.
New Zealand is one of the fattest nations on Earth and Yeo says we should recognise not all calories are created equal. So what should we be eating?
The best way to avoid a hangover this summer is to practice moderation - and drink responsibly. Photo / 123RF
Why going to sleep during the 'golden hour' could save your life
The quality and quantity of our slumber plays an incredibly important part in every aspect of our health.
A new study published has pinpointed a "golden hour" between 10pm and 11pm as the sweet spot for going to sleep.
It found that found that those who dozed off between 10pm and 10.59pm had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke than those who dozed off earlier or later, but why should that be so?
If we go to sleep much later - or earlier - than we are used to it messes up our internal body clock or circadian rhythm. Photo / 123RF
Beaten by the heat? Here's how to sleep
With summer's hot nights comes the seasonal battle for enough shut-eye. What can we do to beat the heat? Jamie Morton puts three questions to leading Massey University sleep researcher, Dr Karyn O'Keeffe.
