‘Gloom is good’: after my wife died I found solace in poetry and music

You can’t fight death, sickness, ageing and life’s various indignities, but you can play very loud rock’n’roll

How We Break by Vincent Deary review – look after yourself

A psychologist offers practical advice for dealing with life’s ups and downs

Doctors complain to BBC over Dragons’ Den contestant’s claim ‘to have cured ME’

Entrepreneurs on TV show’s panel all offered to invest in business selling ear seeds as part of treatment for chronic illness

‘A shop can be your castle’: the surprising rewards of retail work

Working in retail can be dispiriting, but when the author Madeleine Gray took a job in a bookshop in her native Australia, she learned more about human kindness than she ever thought possible

‘There is joy, and there is rage’: the new generation of novelists writing about motherhood

From the shock and awe of labour to domestic isolation, a wave of recent novels captures the transformative nature of being a mother

Blood by Jen Gunter review – busting myths about menstruation

The gynaecologist known for criticising Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop is back with an empowering guide to periods

Wooden sauna from 1948 London Olympics gets Grade II listing

Historic wooden building wins protection after campaign involving Finland, which originally installed it

Marina Abramović selling moisturiser? I don’t know whether to laugh or cry

The pioneering performance artist is taking on Goop and flogging wellness potions concocted by her doctor. Let’s hope it’s an elaborate put-on

The big idea: is couples therapy a waste of time?

Should we all be taking a leaf out of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s book?

How We Break: Navigating the Wear and Tear of Living by Vincent Deary review – the ways in which we’re undone

The psychologist and researcher’s persuasive inquiry into how life’s struggles take their toll is full of hard-won wisdom