South China Morning Post - Health & Beauty

This is the 96th instalment in a series on dementia, including the research into its causes and treatment, advice for carers, and stories of hope. A quiet heartbreak is unfolding behind the closed doors of dementia care, one that few carers dare to speak about openly: the ebb of physical intimacy. A tentative question posted to an online dementia carer support group sparked a fl...

Oat, soy, almond – look in anyone’s fridge or head to a cafe and you might find a slew of plant-based drinks. We hear multiple claims about health and the environment, but are these drinks actually – as is so often claimed – better than cow’s milk, better for the climate or better for those of us with allergies? Some of these claims are true, some are not. Our fact-checkers asse...

My friend Sunita* did not see it coming. Her messages went ignored, and calls were dismissed. The truth hit when her daughter blocked her completely. Sunita could not fathom why: she had always encouraged open communication with her children. The child who had once loved and admired her now called her “toxic” and severed ties. Sunita slipped into depression, unable to sleep or d...

People often hold many different roles throughout their lives. For Dr Francis Chan Ka-leung, those include professor, researcher, entrepreneur and collector. “I’ve been a restless person since I was a kid,” says the professor of medicine and therapeutics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). “I tend to follow my heart at different times, including practising medicine, t...

At 66, Canny Chan laced up her first pair of ballet shoes, chasing a childhood dream to dance like a prima ballerina. Two years later, the Hong Kong retiree can effortlessly glide through basic routines and move gracefully to music – a proud physical feat in itself. But what most surprised her was not her improved flexibility; it was the sudden sharpness of her mind. She never i...