Your body weight set point is the number on the weighing scale your weight normally hovers around, give or take a few pounds. The way your set point weight is established involves many factors and is highly individual. Experts believe your environment, genetics and preferences all play a part. To some extent, the set point is simply what weight your body has gotten used to and feels safe at.

Across Europe, 59% of adults are overweight or obese as well as 8% of children under five and one in three children of school age. Obesity prevalence in Europe is higher than in any other part of the world except the Americas, according to the report presented at the European Congress on Obesity.

Physical activity is key to helping manage blood sugar levels whilst living with diabetes. It also helps maintain or improve good sleep patterns and keep stress levels under control. But that doesn’t mean you have to make the effort to join a gym. Here are five ways to get exercise without a pricey gym membership.

How much exercise do you think you need – and how much do you actually do? Despite extreme exercise trends that include ultra-marathons and spending ­thousands of pounds on expensive home gym equipment, the buoyant findings from researchers is that just 10 minutes a day can add almost two years to our lives.

When you have diabetes, regularly checking your blood sugar is essential. Managing diabetes isn’t as simple as just eating right and exercising. Many factors impact our blood sugars, and we might not even know it. Here are some that may surprise you.

Summertime can bring extra challenges for people with diabetes. Research suggests that hot weather can lead to health issues for people with diabetes, making you more sensitive to high temperatures and humidity. You may find it harder to keep your blood sugar levels under control, and you may be at increased risk for developing heat exhaustion.

Diabetes that’s not well managed can cause serious health complications. These complications can potentially lower your quality of life. However, you can take steps to manage diabetes and lessen your risk of complications. The first step is to become aware to potential signs and symptoms that can develop over time.

If you’ve been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, it’s important to remember that it’s a progressive condition. This means that your cells may stop responding to insulin over time or your pancreas may stop producing insulin altogether. As diabetes progresses, you may need to change your treatment plan.

Diabetes is a complex condition, where several factors must come together for you to develop type 2 diabetes. For example, environmental factors such as having obesity or a sedentary lifestyle can play a role. Genetics can also influence whether you’ll get this disease.

If you’re living with type 2 diabetes, you’re managing a challenging and chronic condition that can cause serious complications. Stigma around type 2 diabetes can cause you to feel judged, ashamed, or guilty about having the condition. This can impact your mental health and may discourage you from taking the steps needed to manage the condition. Finding ways to overcome stigma can help improve your mental health and your diabetes care.

Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Each day presents a new opportunity to grow and become a better person. Still, old habits die hard, and the journey of making big changes doesn’t happen overnight. Setting small goals give us a better chance of making lasting positive change.

Caring for your mental well-being is always important, but especially so right now, when anxiety levels are high. Long-term stress and anxiety can be detrimental for both your physical and mental health.

Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Omega-3 fatty acids are incredibly important. They have many powerful health benefits for your body and brain. In fact, few nutrients have been studied as thoroughly as omega-3 fatty acids. However, not all omega-3s are created equal.

Nowadays, convenience foods, snacks and even home cooking have a high macronutrient content, meaning a high concentration of carbohydrates, proteins and saturated fatty acids. Often, these foods do not contain sufficient micronutrients – vitamins, minerals and trace elements – or our bodies are no longer able to absorb the nutrients they receive as well as they used to. The root cause may be a one-sided or unhealthy diet, or constant stress from excessive burdens in daily life.

Sleeping with the light on might scare away monsters under the bed, but it could be linked to an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, research suggests. Light is an important signal by which the body’s internal clock, which governs a host of biological processes from temperature to hormone release, is synchronised to the external cycle of day and night.

Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Over ten different examples of practical ways to overcome obstacles that prevent us from living a health and happy life.