There is a perfect time to shower – and it’s not when you think

In the data-driven, optimisation-obsessed corner of the internet, everything has its optimal moment, and washing is no exception, writes Arwa Mahdawi

‘We are all unwell’: a scholar’s radical approach to health

Mimi Khúc discusses the concept of unwellness and how it is shaped by the structures around us in a new book dear elia

‘My child was drowning’: life and death on an English maternity ward

Norah Bassett was hours old when she died in 2019, after multiple failings in her care. What can be learned from her heartbreaking loss?

The Guardian view on the Princess of Wales: she has the right to heal privately

Editorial: Curiosity about Catherine’s condition was inevitable. Now we know she is being treated for cancer, her family must be left alone

Life after a traumatic brain injury: ‘It took me over a year to find out I had an accident’

Caroline Laner Breure always wanted to be perfect. Then an accident left her in a coma. As she pieced her brain and body back together, her idea of perfection was transformed

‘Is this how I die?’ John Crace on his terrifying heart attack

The Guardian’s sketchwriter spent four days in hospital this month fearing for his life. He writes about his pain and terror – and the people who put him back together

My year of wellness is not going well – from accidental laxatives to heatstroke in a sauna

The attempt to boost my immune system hasn’t had the desired effects. I have been half-naked in public, and misunderstood Taylor Swift’s advice with catastrophic results. But one change has worked, writes Arwa Mahdawi

The one question we all need to ask ourselves – and how to tune in to the answer

Your inner voice can open up huge possibilities for change and growth, but it can be strangely hard to hear it. In the first of a new series, we look at how to really listen

Ignore the rightwing moaners. We don’t have 9m shirkers – they just want better work

A wild west labour market and millions of people on NHS waiting lists are responsible for the ballooning benefits bill, not idleness

Live to 120? I’d rather go for quality not quantity of life …

Staying alive longer is only worth it if the quality of life itself is valuable