Â鶹ԼÅÄ

Hugh and Steph are up in the Wirral to meet a group of workers at a local garden centre who struggle with daily aches and pains. Like many of us, they see the first sign of a twinge as a cue to pop an over-the-counter painkiller. Brits take four billion paracetamol a year, but long-term use of pills such as ibuprofen have been linked to higher rates of heart attack, stomach bleeding and liver failure. While these conditions are rare, these workers want to find other ways to manage pain.

Hugh and Steph want to trial two contrasting methods to see if they can not only lower their discomfort but also cut down their use of painkillers. The remedy Hugh wants his group to try is 'open label placebos', where he’s asking them to pop dummy pills twice a day. Steph’s group is being prescribed 15 minutes of daily group singing, which has also been proven to reduce pain.

But as they are cajoling others to live well, Hugh and Steph feel it’s only fair that they walk the walk themselves. Having recently becoming pregnant, Steph is slightly apprehensive about exercising, so Dr Zoe Williams recommends that she try belly dancing – an exercise known by the Bedouin Arabs to ease labour and strengthen pelvic floor muscles. And, now into his fifties, Hugh is increasingly worried that he’s starting losing his mental sharpness. So Zoe recommends something known to improve memory and neuroplasticity - knitting. Hugh’s goal at the end of the eight-week experiment is to be able to stitch something for Steph’s baby.