Home, sweet home

Home: whether it is an apartment for one, a share house, living with the parents or even a caravan, it is where we should feel safe. A place to lay our head, put our feet up and leave the world behind. In the winter edition of Positive Living we explore the current options available to people living with HIV (PLHIV), including some hair-raising anecdotes of flophouses, crooked landlords and unhinged residents. It reinforces how physical and mental health can be enhanced and prolonged by secure and stable accommodation.

We also look at how to boost your body and your immune system for winter, with advice on flu jabs, healthy eating, and even a recipe for a magic concoction to keep the bugs at bay.

A ‘superfood’ recipe for a salmon and ginger broth will also help to keep you toasty warm throughout the colder months.

A good night’s sleep is as important as diet and exercise for a healthy, happy life. We all know how frustrating and debilitating insomnia can be, or waking in the wee small hours with your head churning. We offer tips on good sleep hygiene; how to prepare your sleeping space and your body for sleep. This includes: avoiding electromagnetic radiation (EMR) emitted by digital radio alarm clocks, some mobiles, TVs and computers; changing your light globes and dimming them progressively over the evening; and also a simple candle meditation.

Meditation can seem daunting and esoteric. However, by following the easy, gentle meditation in Living in the Present (a practice you can do literally anywhere) you can learn to stop trying to rewrite the past or control the future and just enjoy heaven on earth, right now.

News on the cure is frequently in the media. But how close are we to it really? And what form it might take?

Adrian Ogier is the editor of Positive Living, NAPWHA’s health, treatments and research magazine out next Friday in the Star Observer