‘It’s been called a vitality meter!’ What your grip says about your health – and how you can improve it

Strong hands help with everything from opening jars to swinging a racket. And weak ones? They can warn of trouble far beyond the kitchen or tennis court

The best way to improve your relationship? Bond over your bad behaviour

Yes, you could go for a run together, but it will only bring out self-righteousness and impatience. Loafing and comfort eating will unite you in imperfect harmony, writes Zoe Williams

A new start after 60: I dreamt of paragliding for 30 years. When I took to the skies at 80 I felt completely free

Year after year, on holiday in Switzerland with her late husband, Margaret Thompson watched the paragliders and imagined joining them. When she did, it was heavenly

Gareth Thomas: ‘I will be a voice for people with HIV. I won’t be derailed’

He was one of Wales’s greatest rugby stars – and the game’s first professional player to come out as gay. But it’s the truth about HIV that Gareth Thomas is set on tackling now

‘A huge loss’: readers on how UK leisure centre closures have affected them

From Nottingham to the Isle of Wight, people lament losing sense of community as well as facilities

England has lost almost 400 swimming pools since 2010

Analysis shows parts of country with greatest health-related deprivation have lost out the most

Walking just 11 minutes a day could stop 10% of early deaths, researchers find

Weekly 75 minutes of moderate-intensity activity is half the amount recommended by the NHS

The pickleball revolution: how a game for all ages became one of the world’s fastest-growing sports

A gentle cross between tennis, badminton and ping pong, pickleball is an easy game to pick up. Sam Wollaston has a little dink

How golf got its swing back: ignore the stereotypes, anyone can enjoy the sport

Golf is all too often seen as attracting a certain sort of player. But when I started to learn, I was soon welcomed into the club, says Genelle Aldred

Cutting edge: wood chopping trend takes off online

Now lumberjills are joining lumberjacks in a timbersports boom driven by social media