I was a running addict – but pushing myself to the limit led to two knee replacements

Beware what the fitness gurus tell you: the body has its limits. Perhaps that’s why orthopaedic waiting lists are so long, says journalist Rod Gilchrist

Read me a story: why reading out loud is a joy for adults as well as kids

Sarah Manavis and her partner have a guilty secret. What they love to do most of all in private is… read out loud to each other. And, as she’s discovered, it has many surprising benefits

Cold review – theatrically evocative folk-tale treatment of the pain of miscarriage

A man spins a story in a doctor’s waiting room, sparking a fairy tale of loss and desperation

‘There are so many benefits’: why more and more Britons are building a home sauna

What was once a niche product is being embraced by more people. We examine the options at a range of prices

‘I don’t even dream about sex … I don’t miss it at all’: readers on why they chose celibacy

Inner peace, clarity of mind and for some, better orgasms. Readers share their experiences of swearing off sex, whether temporarily or long term

UK tenants should have ‘right to garden’, leading horticulturist says

Jason Williams, known as the cloud gardener, is campaigning for green spaces in new builds and rights for tenants to grow plants

Experts condemn US tobacco firm’s sponsorship of doctor training as ‘grotesque’

Philip Morris International has supported non-smoking programmes around the world ‘to advance its own interests’, say health professionals

How do you describe the view to someone who can’t see? I couldn’t even do justice to a canal towpath

A day with some blind and partially sighted walkers has shown me how much I barely notice – and how hard it is to find the right words, writes Adrian Chiles

I spent 22 years as a problem drinker. Here are 10 things I’ve learned since I quit

Having turned my back on the partying, hangovers and self-destruction, I’ve slowly worked out what was behind them – and how to replace them with something better

Healthy lifestyle may offset genetics by 60% and add five years to life, study says

Genetics alone can mean a 21% greater risk of early death, research finds, but people can improve their chances