Everyday Body
Immunity, and what can and cannot be boosted
The immune system is not a dial, and the interventions that genuinely affect it are unglamorous and free or nearly so.
Wellness 69 — Grown-up answers, plainly given
Everyday Body
Going to the doctor with something embarrassing
The delay caused by embarrassment does more harm than any of the conditions people are embarrassed about.
Latest
Browse everything →
Everyday Body
Eyes, screens and what actually damages them
Screens cause genuine symptoms and not the damage attributed to them, while the things that do cause harm get less attention.
Everyday Body
Back pain, and what the evidence changed
Almost everything people believe about back pain — rest, scans, posture, discs — has been revised, and the advice is now close to the opposite.
Hormones
Blood tests people order for themselves
Direct-to-consumer testing has expanded rapidly, and the harms it produces are subtle and predictable.
Stress & Mood
The mental health of men, specifically
Presentation differs, help-seeking is lower, and the suicide statistics are the clearest evidence that something is not working.
Sleep
Getting to sleep when your mind will not stop
The techniques that work operate by occupying cognitive resources rather than by relaxing you, which is a useful distinction.
Sexual Health
All sexual health →
Sexual Health
Sexual health for people in long relationships
The assumption that testing and prevention stop being relevant is common and is not always correct.
Sexual Health
Sexual health for people who are not straight
Risks differ by practice rather than by identity, and a great deal of standard advice assumes a configuration that does not apply.
Sexual Health
Condoms, and why they fail
Almost all failures are use failures, and the specific errors are well documented and easily corrected.
Intimacy & Desire
All intimacy & desire →
Intimacy & Desire
Touch, outside of sex
Non-sexual physical contact has measurable physiological effects and is the first thing to disappear when a relationship becomes strained.
Intimacy & Desire
When one partner wants to open the relationship
The conversation goes better when it is separated from the decision, and most of the difficulty is in the agreements rather than the sex.
Intimacy & Desire
Fantasy, and what it does and does not mean
Fantasies are close to universal, are poorly correlated with what people want to happen, and cause a great deal of unnecessary shame.
Sleep
All sleep →Sleep
Getting to sleep when your mind will not stop
The techniques that work operate by occupying cognitive resources rather than by relaxing you, which is a useful distinction.
Sleep
Sleep and the working week
Most sleep loss in adults is scheduled rather than pathological, and the fixes are structural rather than medical.
Sleep
Waking at three in the morning
Middle-of-the-night waking has specific causes and a specific set of unhelpful responses, most of which people do automatically.
Stress & Mood
All stress & mood →Stress & Mood
The mental health of men, specifically
Presentation differs, help-seeking is lower, and the suicide statistics are the clearest evidence that something is not working.
Stress & Mood
Grief, and what nobody tells you
The stages model was never meant to describe bereavement, and the reality is less orderly and more physical.
Stress & Mood
What exercise does for the mind
The mental health evidence is stronger than the popular version and more specific about what and how much.
Hormones
All hormones →Hormones
Blood tests people order for themselves
Direct-to-consumer testing has expanded rapidly, and the harms it produces are subtle and predictable.
Hormones
Vitamin D, and the supplement question generally
One supplement has genuine population-level justification and most of the rest are answers to questions nobody asked.
Hormones
Fertility, and when to get it checked
The timelines for seeking help are shorter than most people assume, and about half of the problem lies with men.
Everyday Body
All everyday body →
Everyday Body
Going to the doctor with something embarrassing
The delay caused by embarrassment does more harm than any of the conditions people are embarrassed about.
Everyday Body
Immunity, and what can and cannot be boosted
The immune system is not a dial, and the interventions that genuinely affect it are unglamorous and free or nearly so.
Everyday Body
Eyes, screens and what actually damages them
Screens cause genuine symptoms and not the damage attributed to them, while the things that do cause harm get less attention.
About Wellness 69
Sleep, stress, sexual health, hormones and the everyday wellbeing questions adults are least comfortable asking — answered with the evidence stated. We publish explanatory articles rather than news, which means an article here is written to still be useful a year from now. Every piece is bylined, sourced and read by an editor before it appears — the full process is set out in our editorial policy.