The Guardian Health

Annie thought perimenopause symptoms were keeping her awake. Alcohol was playing a role too | Diane Young

Hot flushes, anxiety, poor sleep and mood swings are common during perimenopause. But the very thing Annie was using to manage her symptoms had become an even bigger problemThe modern mind is a column where experts discuss mental health issues they are seeing in their workWhen Annie* started pacing around her house at 3am and struggling to find words during work meetings, she put it down to stress and perimenopause. She wasn’t entirely wrong. But it wasn’t the whole story.At 43, she was juggling

health  Aug 2, 2026

The Guardian Health

A mystery virus started killing horses. Then humans. Was this the moment our coronavirus era began?

In the 1990s, scientists in Australia began searching for the origins of a new disease showing up in places hundreds of kilometres apart. They discovered the origin: bats. And found a way to reduce the risk of bat disease spilloversThe virus could have appeared in many places on the east coast, but it is a strange coincidence, in the light of later scientific discoveries, that it first became known in the Brisbane suburb of Hendra. The high school is named Aviation High, and the streets are bord

health  Aug 2, 2026

The Guardian Health

Could a couch-to-5k for books get you back into reading?

With smartphones stealing our attention, we’re picking up fewer books than ever. A novelist shares her eight-week scheme to get you back into the habitDo you feel that it’s harder to read than it used to be? Not harder to read emails, texts and social media posts, of course. We’re reading those all day long. Harder to sit down and lose yourself in a book? How long is it since you even sat down with a weekend newspaper and read it cover to cover? Do you feel that you used to have a life-sustainin

health  Aug 2, 2026

The Guardian Health

Ultra-processed food companies hindering health drives by suing countries, says WHO

Exclusive: Director general accuses corporations of obstructing efforts to tackle obesity crisis after investigation by Guardian and othersThe world’s biggest ultra-processed food corporations are hindering global efforts to tackle the obesity crisis by suing governments that try to promote healthier diets, the head of the World Health Organization has said.Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general, accused global food companies of obstructing the adoption of vital public health measu

health  Aug 1, 2026

The Guardian Health

Biohacker Bryan Johnson is keeping his girlfriend’s menstrual blood in his freezer | Arwa Mahdawi

The longevity influencer and his girlfriend, Kate Tolo, say they’re studying women’s health – a worthy goal, but perhaps some skepticism is in orderThe tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson has devoted his life to dodging death. The 48-year-old is obsessed with becoming the healthiest person in the world and is on a quixotic quest to reverse his biological age and live forever. As such, Johnson is disciplined about what he eats, takes dozens of supplements a day, and measures every single biomarker po

health  Aug 1, 2026

The Guardian Health

Brazil’s HIV advocates say they predicted USAID funding cuts: ‘We would see the trends’

At the Aids 2026 conference, Brazilian advocates said health systems need to be more independent from foreign fundingHIV advocates from Brazil, whose health system operates independently from foreign aid, say they predicted a dramatic reduction in donor funding for HIV and wish other countries had prioritized independence sooner.While the dissolution of USAID might “feel like a rupture”, it’s something advocates at the Brazilian HIV NGO Gestos have seen coming for a long time, Juliana Cesar, Ges

health  Aug 1, 2026

The Guardian Health

The great British switch-off: how floating retreats, mobile-free pubs and sauna book groups are freeing people from their smartphones

Sick of doomscrolling? From venues with smartphone swear jars to cabins with absolutely no signal, here are the fun and freeing ways to ditch your deviceThere’s a ritual at the start of every event hosted by the Offline Project. Run by Pelé Zachariah, the activities vary – it could be a group walk, a collage‑making class or a supper club – but each one begins in the same way, *with an invitation to hand over your phone. Devices go in a lockbox. Once they’re all in, Zachariah closes the door

health  Aug 1, 2026

The Guardian Health

‘I felt sick that he was near my mum’: a top amputation surgeon had his own legs removed due to a fetish. Were his patients safe?

Neil Hopper was celebrated for continuing to do his job despite the loss of his lower limbs. But what the people he was treating didn’t know was that his injuries were self-inflicted. Now they and their families are asking questionsWarning: this story contains graphic descriptions of bodily mutilation that some readers may find upsettingOf all the things that happened in the fraught days after 72-year-old Liz Spooner had her leg amputated at the Royal Cornwall hospital in Truro in 2022, one memo

health  Aug 1, 2026

The Guardian Health

Is the cyclosporiasis outbreak slowing? Test-makers are hopeful

Data by one test-maker shows a positivity drop, but rate could be influenced by number of people taking testSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter emailThe maker of a popular laboratory test said the cyclosporiasis outbreak in the US may be slowing. An outbreak of infections from the single-celled parasite has grown to more than 18,000 suspected and confirmed cases in late July, the nation’s largest on record.The midwest has been hit particularly hard in the outbreak, where public health of

health  Jul 31, 2026

The Guardian Health

HIV prevention drug could reduce number of cases globally but USAID cuts prevent access, say experts

Injectable PrEP drug holds promise but investment in HIV prevention has declined dramatically worldwideSign up for the Breaking News US newsletter email New innovations in HIV prevention could dramatically reduce the number of new HIV cases around the globe, but US foreign aid cuts will mean that those that most need the new medication will be unable to access it, according to experts at the Aids 2026 Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.One year ago, the World Health Organization recommended th

health  Jul 31, 2026

The Guardian Health

Hobbies can improve your health – here are four tips for choosing one

From sea swimming to painting, doctors are ‘prescribing’ hobbies – but you don’t need a doctor’s note to get startedIn 2020, the year Amanda lost her mother, husband, job and pre-pandemic normalcy, she was diagnosed with major depressive disorder. “My life was just spiraling down and down and down,” she says.To help with her symptoms, in addition to an antidepressant prescription, Amanda was given a “social prescription”: a referral to a non-medical, community-based activity, typically involving

health  Jul 31, 2026

The Guardian Health

The dead doctor and a dicey diet: how a ban made a hero of Egypt’s rogue medic

Diaa al-Awadi claimed insulin was a fraud, smoking was safe and chemotherapy useless. But despite losing his medical licence and dying at early age, his reach continues to grow It had been a struggle with conventional treatments. For Fatima Adel, a 50-year-old author living in Cairo’s upmarket Sheikh Zayed neighbourhood, the misdiagnoses and medical errors she had experienced had began to erode her confidence in doctors.But when the videos of Diaa al-Awadi began circulating – an Egyptian doctor

health  Jul 31, 2026

The Guardian Health

Medical colleges condemn scrapping of NHS placements for overseas doctors

Scheme brought in up to 500 foreign-trained doctors a year and was seen as example of British ‘soft power’The NHS has scrapped a longstanding scheme that let overseas doctors boost their skills in UK hospitals and was seen as an example of British “soft power”.Senior doctors have criticised NHS England’s decision to axe the Medical Training Initiative, under which 400 to 500 foreign-trained doctors were given placements in Britain every year. Continue reading...

health  Jul 31, 2026

The Guardian Health

The cost and burden of avoiding ‘forever chemicals’ should not fall on parents | Letter

Kendal Archer says it is the government’s responsibility to legislate and big agriculture’s responsibility not to cover our food in chemicalsI read your article (‘Forever chemicals’ linked to gut inflammation in children after early exposure, 24 July) on prenatal and early-life exposure to Pfas leading to higher levels of intestinal inflammation in children – and by extension colorectal cancer – with interest.I’m a mum of two. Since my first pregnancy, I have grappled with the endless advice and

health  Jul 30, 2026

The Guardian Health

‘So ... can I get this peptide?’: the loophole making way for the US’s ‘wild west’ of untested drugs

A century ago, compounding pharmacies helped people get bespoke drugs. Now under RFK Jr, these less-regulated businesses are fueling the peptide boomRobert F Kennedy Jr is sitting stiffly in Joe Rogan’s podcast studio, inside the influencer’s enormous Texas mansion. Atypically for Rogan’s guests, Kennedy still cloaks himself in the trappings of authority; in a blue suit and pink novelty tie featuring kayakers paddling upstream, he is a stark contrast from Rogan, who sports a biceps-hugging T-shi

health  Jul 30, 2026

The Guardian Health

The US public is fed up with RFK Jr. To really ‘make America healthy again’, it should look to Europe | Devi Sridhar

Americans are dying younger than Europeans, despite being the wealthiest people on the planet. Wellness fads won’t change thatI’m just back from my home country, the United States. I always enjoy visiting, but every time I go between the US and my adopted home of Europe, I’m keenly aware of disparity in health: Americans live much shorter lives and spend more of their lifetime in poor health. This is despite Americans earning some of the highest salaries per capita in the world and spending twic

health  Jul 30, 2026

The Guardian Health

I’ve spent years researching what it means to be alive. This is what I’ve learned | Melanie Challenger

To understand the experience of life, don’t look to the mind. Look to the bodyIn a 1982 article, the American feminist scholar Elizabeth Spelman coined the term “somatophobia” to describe the strange human delusion that we are minds rather than bodies.Forty years later, artificial intelligence is everywhere, offering the most powerful illusion yet that intelligence can exist without flesh. Two-thirds of people surveyed in a recent study believe that tools like ChatGPT possess some consciousness

health  Jul 30, 2026

The Guardian Health

Excess deaths caused by heatwaves in England ‘almost double’ so far this year

UKHSA estimates 2,877 heat-associated deaths during heatwaves in May and June, almost twice the number in summer 2025The number of excess deaths caused by heatwaves has almost doubled so far this year in England compared with 2025, the UK Health Security Agency, has said.There were 2,877 heat-associated deaths during the heatwaves in May and June this year, a report has estimated, almost double the figure reported from the UK heatwaves in June to August last year. Continue reading...

health  Jul 30, 2026

The Guardian Health

The body snatchers: how a young Nigerian man was lured to London in an organ-trafficking plot

David Nwamini was working at a market in Lagos when he was given the chance to start anew in the UK. He had no idea what was expected of him in return• The summer issue of the Long Read magazine is out now. Click here to orderDavid Nwamini arrived in Lagos for the first time in 2016. He had come from a village in Ebonyi, a state in southeastern Nigeria. He was 15 years old, the eldest of nine siblings and his parents were farmers. When he was a boy, his father became sick and David started worki

health  Jul 30, 2026

The Guardian Health

Battles loom over social care, but this fight must be won. At last, we have a PM who believes that | Polly Toynbee

Burnham seems ready to use his power and influence. He understands the depth of this crisis: the task is persuading all those still in denial“People pleaser!” That’s the insult Andy Burnham’s enemies sneer at him. And yes, he will need all his mightiest people-pleasing talents to win over voters to contribute to a new national care service. Choosing this forever failed policy (22 major reviews over three decades) as his first great challenge is a remarkable act of bravery. No mere people pleaser

health  Jul 29, 2026