Table of contents for March 2023 in Readers Digest Australia

Renoir’s Guests As a child I was fascinated by the reproduction of Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party that hung in my grandparents’ lounge room. I was very envious of the young lady who was allowed to have her dog at the table. In 1987, as a teenager, I visited the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra for the Impressionists exhibition and saw the original in all its splendour. I knew that the boating party were friends of Renoir’s, but I didn’t know their connections to the artist until I read ‘Renoir’s Invitation To A Party’ (January). I am now keen to visit the Restaurant Fournaise when I next visit Paris. ANNE VICKERS Letting Go Last year was fraught with a difficult decision involving a friendship. It had been toxic, at…

KNOW THE SIGNS Caring can be very stressful, so be alert to the warning signs that it’s all getting too much. Anxiety or feeling unhappy most of the time, being angry or irritable, including with the person you’re looking after, exhaustion, eating too much or too little, resorting to alcohol to calm yourself and sleep problems should all ring alarm bells. There may be physical signs too, ranging from feeling dizzy or breathless to cramps and chest pains. TALK ABOUT IT Accept your feelings – you’re perfectly entitled to feel negative about your situation – and discuss them with family and friends. Have someone you can vent to. Consider joining a local carers’ group. As well as sharing experiences, you may also find it useful in getting information about ways…

Moments after three-and-a half-year-old Mio Vettenterä accidentally swallowed the button battery from his family’s selfie stick in 2016, he ran crying to his mother, Minttu, to tell her. Alarmed, Minttu brought him to their local emergency room in Riihimäki, a town in southern Finland. An X-ray showed that the battery had lodged in Mio’s oesophagus, but the hospital didn’t have the right tools to remove it. By the time doctors at a second hospital got the battery out, seven hours had passed, and it had severely damaged the boy’s oesophagus and burned a hole in his trachea. He required 20 reconstructive surgeries to his oesophagus – most of them in that first year – and for a few months had to be fed through a tube. Now age ten, Mio’s…

FOOD 9 foods nutritionists never order at fast food restaurants Fast foods may taste good but are often comprised of saturated fat, sugar and lack nutritional value. LIFESTYLE + HEALTH Everyday habits to improve your memory Fifteen ways to free up your brain and remember new and important information. PETS 14 PUPPIES THAT LOOK LIKE TEDDY BEARS These adorable pups look so much like stuffed animals, you’ll do a double-take to make sure they’re pets, not toys! ReadersDigestAustralia PLUS SIGN UP TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER FOR MORE HOT OFFERS, TOP STORIES AND PRIZES!…

THE APARTMENT MY SON, HUGO, and I moved into after my divorce was nice, but the feeling we had was of holding on to a raft amidst angry waters. We were about a 30-minute drive from Hugo’s dad’s new home. During the first week he stayed with me there, my eight-year-old son responded to the change in his life by trashing his room before finally letting tears come and allowing me to hug him. At that time, he also developed a new fear – the fear of death. “I can’t sleep. I am thinking about death,” he would say when I would catch him with his eyes wide open, in the darkness of his bedroom, his little body tightly surrounded by a cordon of beady-eyed soft toys. Hugo had always…

In recent years, the internet has become the venue for a general collapse in trust. Trolling, fake news and ‘doing your own research’ have become such a part of public discourse, it’s sometimes easy to imagine that the online revolution has only brought us new ways to be confused about the world. Social media has played a major role in the spread of disinformation. Malicious state enterprises such as the notorious Russian ‘troll farms’ are part of this, but there’s a more powerful mechanism: the way social media brings together people, whether flat earthers or anti-vaxxers, who might not meet like-minded folks in the real world. Today, if you’re convinced our planet isn’t round, you don’t have to stand on a street corner with a sign shouting at passersby. Instead,…

THE BONUS READ section of the magazine offers the chance to delve a bit deeper into extraordinary experiences of people. This month’s article, ‘Hit By A Truck’ (page 114) is a confronting read of the personal challenges a young woman faced after surviving the unthinkable trauma of being run over (twice!) by a truck. Her ability to articulate her ordeal, the support she received from her family and medical team and her honest portrayal of her relationship with pain and the medication that helped ease that pain, will leave a lasting impact on all who read it. Among the other stories in this month’s issue is a consumer piece about the dangers of button batteries (page 30), the fascinating story of how Nike helped boost the revival of Harris Tweed…

TURBOCHARGING THE FLU SHOT Vaccines tend to be less effective for older people, who often have a weaker immune response. In a recent Australian review published in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One, people who exercised near the time of a flu shot tended to show higher antibody responses. These effects were especially pronounced for participants who exercised the same arm that had received the jab. Strength training causes a helpful kind of muscle damage that heals back stronger while releasing molecules that may signal danger to the immune system, thus activating it and boosting the vaccine. AN EARLY RED FLAG FOR PARKINSON’S According to researchers from the University of Birmingham, older men who had nightmares at least once a week were twice as likely to develop Parkinson’s disease. This symptom…

SACHIN OZA always seemed to catch whatever cold and flu germs were flying around. Despite being only in his mid-30s, he felt out of shape and out of sorts. He realised that if he didn’t make some changes, his immune function would continue to worsen with age. “I have a family background of diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease,” says Oza. “I had to take action.” But Oza’s lifestyle stood in the way. He clocked long days working in finance, with little opportunity to be active or focus on his wellbeing. His commute from his home to the office was stressful and time-consuming, and he was spending far too many hours stuck behind his desk. Oza’s increasingly sedentary life-style had repercussions. In addition to catching bugs easily, he didn’t sleep well,…

If Iain Martin looked out the window of his shed on the Scottish island of Lewis and Harris, he would see his sheep lying on the grass outside with the sea and mountains in the background. It’s a radiantly beautiful morning, but he doesn’t have time for this scene of idyllic charm. Martin, 52, with short grey hair and wearing a woollen jumper, sits in his shed with his back to the window. Stoically, he steps on a pedal with his foot. Click clack. Click clack. Click clack. That’s what it sounds like when Martin is working on his loom. It is the sound that has radiated throughout the course of his life, reminding him of his childhood when it dominated the airways of the island. Click clack. Back then,…

All the beautiful sentiments in the world weigh less than a single lovely action.JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL, POET I RECOMMEND LIMITING ONE’S INVOLVEMENT IN OTHER PEOPLE’S LIVES TO A PLEASANTLY SCANT MINIMUM.QUENTIN CRISP, RACONTEUR I’ve been extremely lucky in that I’ve been able to play roles that are not defined by their ethnicity.JESSICA HENWICK, ACTRESS Art is a step from what is obvious and well-known towards what is arcane and concealed.KHALIL GIBRAN, PHILOSOPHER AND POET GRACE, RESPECT, RESERVE AND EMPATHETIC LISTENING ARE QUALITIES SORELY MISSING FROM THE PUBLIC DISCOURSE NOW.MERYL STREEP, ACTRESS To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.WINSTON CHURCHILL, STATESMAN…

During the summer of 2021, Beverly Wax had an experience that filled her with awe. It wasn’t a sunset, a sweeping mountain vista or the sound of waves gently lapping on a beach that got to her. It was the sight of her son, Justin, lugging a 36-kilogram portable air conditioner up three flights of stairs to her townhouse. Beverly’s central air conditioning had conked out the day before – in the middle of a 32˚C heat wave. Beverly, a writer and administrative assistant for a nonprofit that helps seniors, had mentioned to her son that she was having trouble finding someone to fix it quickly. He’d shown up with the new unit as a surprise. As she watched him sweat and struggle while hauling the unit up the stairs…

1. What condiment was in short supply last year across France, despite being named for a French city? 1 point 2. The UK’s Norland College is known for training elite providers of what service? 2 points  3. How many cells do bacteria have? 1 point 4. Volunteers receive anaesthesia when they donate which of the following: blood, bone marrow or plasma? 2 points  5. Who recently became the third person to earn a billion dollars by making movies? 2 points 6. Players in what professional sport perform signature celebratory moves as ‘Ice in My Veins’, ‘Night Night’ and ‘The Silencer’? 1 point 7. Which cetaceans recently began attacking small boats, sometimes sinking them? 2 points 8. Roughly 255 million years ago, India, Africa and Australia were all touching which continent?…

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Almost 30 years ago, his portrayal of Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List made Liam Neeson a Hollywood star. Since then, the Northern Ireland native has repeatedly taken on artistically demanding roles as well as action films. The now 70 year old will soon be appearing in a new film, Marlowe, where he plays the main character – a rough-hewn sleuth who is hired by a beautiful woman to find her missing lover. As the legendary detective Marlowe, in one action scene you say: “I’m too old for this c**p…” That was improvised. That line wasn’t in the script. Does that mean you feel too old to do strenuous shoots? No, not at all. My perception is that I’m still in my mid-30s. I also like to let off…

Whether you’re searching for spiritual solace or simply wish to leave modern life behind and connect with the great outdoors for a few days, following pilgrimage routes across the world is becoming increasingly popular among tourists and hikers. For thousands of years, travellers have visited specific destinations of religious significance, such as sacred shrines. Pilgrimages have long featured in world religions such as Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism and Shinto. Today, repurposed pilgrimages following time-worn paths are emerging in many destinations, including Scotland, India, Japan, England and Italy, as tourism authorities court more secular visitors. In 1985, around 1200 people walked the famous Camino De Santiago trail in northwest Spain. By 2019, before COVID-19 got in the way, it had leapt to almost 350,000. For modern-day wayfarers, who are interested…

1. valiant – A: royal. B: courageous. C: gentle. 2. crone – A: cruel old woman. B: enchanted frog. C: long-lost twin. 3. motif – A: series of riddles. B: hooded cloak. C: recurring theme. 4. talisman – A: suit of armour. B: lucky object. C: bad omen. 5. chalice – A: drinking vessel. B: lost child found in forests. C: troll’s weapon. 6. damsel – A: young woman. B: magic bean. C: golden goose. 7. betrothed – A: wealthy. B: covered in jewels. C: engaged. 8. kelpie – A: witch. B: water spirit. C: stepsister. 9. pastoral – A: rural. B: ancient. C: passed down. 10. knave – A: deceitful man. B: travelling musician. C: eldest son. 11. parable – A: tall tower. B: shepherd’s staff. C: story with…