But while Simple Flying reports the airline’s busiest bases include London Stansted, Dublin, Milan Bergamo, Brussels Charleroi, and Barcelona, none of the new routes are in those airports.
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Instead, the 15 new routes, which were launched on 1 and 2 June respectively, include destinations like Poland’s Gdańsk and Albania’s Tirana.
The UK’s Manchester airport will get a brand-new Ryanair link to Spain’s Castellón, too.
Full list of 15 new Ryanair routes for summer 2026
Manchester fliers have a new route to an underrated Spanish destination
These changes mean passengers from Manchester Airport now have a direct Ryanair flight to Spain’s Castellón.
Lonely Planet wrote that while “you don’t hear a great deal about the province of Castellón, to the north of the Valencia region,” the region’s airport, which saw its first commercial flight in 2015, years after officially opening, made it more viable for visitors.
Ryanair was the first airline to fly to what was then dubbed a “ghost” airport, The Guardian reported in 2015.
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Over a decade on, the carrier has added Manchester and Bologna connections to its existing routes at the Valencian base. They added an Essex route to the destination in April, too.
Airports aside, Castellón has often been lauded as a quieter Spanish location with fewer tourists but tonnes of local charm.
“Castellon de la Plana’s sleepy city streets hide many treasures for the discerning tourist. If you’re hunting for a holiday off the beaten track, away from the hustle and bustle of Barcelona or Madrid but still bursting with unique Spanish charm, there is nowhere better than Castellon de la Plana,” they wrote.
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“It’s great for families too with loads of local attractions including nearby beaches, escape rooms and hot springs.”
On 1 June, the official start of summer, the Met Office released its three-month outlook for the UK.
The meteorological service explained on its site that this outlook is not an exact prediction or a guarantee of what will happen in the season. Instead, they say, it’s about broader trends; you can’t say for sure whether something like a heatwave will happen based on this information.
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Nonetheless, they added, the most “notable” part of their most recent outlook is the expected hotter-than-usual UK summer temperatures.
“It follows that there is an increased chance of heatwave conditions developing at times,” they said.
We have already had an unusually hot start to the year, with temperatures reaching a record-breaking 35.1°C in Kew Gardens this May.
This outlook doesn’t aim to calculate exact dates, nor does it say there definitely will be heatwaves.
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But it did mention that higher pressure, linked to hotter weather, is expected in the middle of June after a rainy start to the month.
“Towards the end of June, low pressure may begin to have more of an influence, especially across the south, where heavy showers and thunderstorms become more probable. It may also become hot in parts of the south,” the Met Office shared.
Why has this year been so hot?
Even for the UK, 2026′s weather has been especially volatile. We went from record-breaking heatwaves to floods in a matter of days.
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The Met Office’s Dr Emily Carlisle previously said this is part of a broader warming trend.
“This spring highlights both the natural variability of the UK’s weather and the longer-term warming we are observing. While conditions varied through the season, all three months of meteorological spring recorded mean temperatures within the UK’s top ten warmest on record,” she stated.
“While we expect fluctuations from year to year, this spring shows some of the changes we’re seeing in our weather patterns, with more extreme conditions becoming more frequent. The fact that nine of the ten warmest springs in England have occurred since 2007 illustrates this ongoing shift in the UK’s climate.”
That means most of us should focus on getting enough fibre to begin with. But dietitians say that eating it early on in the day can not only help us to achieve that goal, but might confer greater benefits too.
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“If you start your day [of eating fibre] in the morning, you get a big advantage,” registered dietitian Lisa Young told TODAY.
And the Mayo Clinic said we should try to choose a breakfast with at least 5g of fibre.
Why should I eat fibre in the morning?
Part of it has to do with motivation. If you begin your day with more fibre, you don’t have to make up for any gaps later on in the day when you’re more tired.
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One study found that people who ate higher-fibre breakfasts went on to eat healthier, more fibre-rich fare throughout the day.
That might mean that your body has more of a chance to process and enjoy the satiating benefits of fibre if you consume it first thing.
“For some people, especially those with bloating, reflux, or slower digestion, a super fibre-heavy meal right before bed can feel like it just kind of sits there,” registered dietitian Alyssa Simpson told EatingWell.
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How can I eat more fibre in the morning?
Another good reason to eat fibre at breakfast? A lot of breakfast foods, including cereals like bran flakes, porridge, wholemeal bread, and fruit, are naturally high in fibre, making it easier to sneak more of the nutrient into your diet.
″[Two] slices of wholemeal toast with peanut butter followed by a medium-size orange should give you around 8.3g of fibre” at breakfast, for instance, the NHS said. That equates to almost a third of your daily goal.
Add more fruits to your breakfast, choose bran or wholegrain versions of your food, or add wheat bran to lower-fibre versions, the Mayo Clinic added.
No – eating it in the morning might have extra benefits, but the most important thing is to meet your fibre goal in the first place.
Eating too much fibre in one go can sometimes cause digestive issues, too, registered dietitian Brea Lofton from Lumen shared previously.
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“I usually find that spreading it out across the day is better tolerated than having one giant fibre-heavy meal, especially for people with bloating or sensitive digestion”, Simpson said.
As a reminder, most adults should aim for 30g of fibre a day.
But a new review published in Science suggested that one thing might link multiple dementia risk factors: how well our brain is able to clear waste while we’re sleeping.
What part of sleep may affect dementia risk factors?
Researcher and neuroscientist Professor Maiken Nedergaard from the University of Rochester Medicine (URM) tried to look at sleep in terms of brain chemicals such as norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine.
These “neuromodulators” affect our mood, attention, how awake we feel, and even how well we learn.
Her research noted that “neuromodulators” behave differently during sleep. They run in slow cycles that turn roughly every minute in a manner believed to affect everything from breathing to brain activity.
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These sleep changes are also linked to changes in blood vessels called vasomotion, which works independently of our hearts’ pumping motion. One effect of this process is pushing fluid through the brain, helping to clear waste products such as amyloid-beta and tau proteins.
Amyloid plaques come from the buildup of abnormal protein fragments, while tau can turn into stringy proteins that lead to tau tangles. Amyloid plaques and tau tangles have been compared to the “trigger and bullet” of dementia progression.
This paper argued that changes to vasomotion, which happen when we age, face stress, experience some heart conditions, experience poor sleep, or take certain medications, might connect various dementia risk factors.
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“Many disorders that increase dementia risk also disrupt the brain’s sleep rhythms”, Prof Nedergaard told URM.
“Our work suggests these may not be separate phenomena. They may be connected through the brain’s ability to clear waste during sleep”.
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The researchers hope this will lead to earlier dementia detection
The study authors hope that tracking this might serve as a non-invasive way to monitor the brain’s waste-clearing systems, potentially helping to spot dementia risk earlier.
“Sleep is not a quiet or inactive state,” Prof Nedergaard said.
“During sleep, the brain shifts into a coordinated rhythm that appears to support one of its most important housekeeping functions.”
And even though no hosepipe bans have been announced in the UK, a peek at Google Trends shows that searches are significantly up from last week. It looks like gardeners are prepping, or at least checking, for sanctions.
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But are those fears reasonable, and how can we get our gardens ready now for possible bans later on?
Will we have a hosepipe ban in 2026?
We can’t say for sure yet.
Speaking to HuffPost UK, the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)′ Chief Horticulturist, Guy Barter, said: “Although we had a wet winter which filled reservoirs and aquifers and there is no indication of temporary use restrictions (as hosepipe bans are officially called), supply and demand problems in the intense recent heat have been reported in the press”.
Professor Emeritus of Geophysical and Climate Hazards at University College London, Prof Bill McGuire, previously told HuffPost UK that this extreme weather event could have “a huge impact on global weather, bringing drought, floods and other extreme weather right across the planet”.
How can I start to prepare now for possible hosepipe bans?
Barter told us that “Episodes like this [recent heatwave] remind gardeners why it is wise to have water butts for tiding the garden over dry periods. With luck, they will be refilled by summer rainstorms.”
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Water butts divert rainfall from places like your gutter into a large barrel, which often has a tap on the bottom, so it’s smart to place it on a stand.
In that case, try mulching to keep whatever rain has fallen on your soil. Additionally, putting saucers under plants allows rain to collect in helpful puddles underneath pots.
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During water shortages, the RHS added, “grey water” from e.g. your shower or washing-up bowl will do the job for a while.
“Waste water from the kitchen, bathroom basins, baths and showers can also be used in summer gardening. Plants seldom resent this and it ekes out mains water supplies,” Barter said.
Smart planting matters, too.
“Gardeners who have planted drought-tolerant borders and gardens have been rewarded by lovely flowers and plants with no need to water. Where watering has been needed, consider planting more drought-tolerant plants in autumn for next year,” the expert said.
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“It is a bit late for planting now, but any containers or baskets that need restocking can be planted with angelonia, pelargoniums and salvia, all of which can get by with less water than most plants.”
But according to psychologist Dr Bijal Chheda of Nos Curare, not feeling particularly motivated can be caused by a range of issues and conditions.
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She said that demotivation is “one of the brain’s early responses to ongoing stress,” explaining, “As stress builds, the brain shifts into energy-saving mode, making focus and initiating tasks feel difficult, which can drain motivation.”
This can be common among those with ADHD, for instance, she added.
While many of us may try to will ourselves out of these periods, the psychologist said this is a mistake.
What should I do if I feel demotivated?
Sometimes, Dr Chheda said, the stress and self-blame you feel about not being productive can, ironically, take a lot of energy. “Overwhelm and perfectionism” are common culprits.
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But believing you’re a failure when you don’t give everything 100% – and thinking you can will yourself back into an A-star performance – is a trap that can sap your motivation, she continued.
“If this sounds familiar, it can help to stop relying on willpower and instead lower the barrier to entry. Start with a messy first version, giving yourself permission to do it badly just to get it moving.”
I’ve seen success with half-assed workouts, which helped to keep me way more consistent than all-or-nothing exercise regimens I inevitably dropped out of. Science says that tiny shifts in our eating, sleep, and exercise routines – we’re talking two minutes more movement and grams more vegetables a day – can help you to live longer, too.
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Actively deciding it’s OK to do a less-than-optimal version of whatever task you’re hoping to achieve “makes it easier to re-engage with the task, without feeling pressure to succeed the first time round,” the expert said.
Speak to an expert if demotivation lasts a long time
As we’ve mentioned before, feeling demotivated for a long time can be related to anhedonia or dysthymia.
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“If you feel this is a consistent pattern, it may be worth exploring whether ADHD could be a factor with a qualified mental health professional,” Dr Chheda added.
The NHS says that low mood, which can include not enjoying things you used to, not being able to concentrate, and feeling helpless, can be signs of depression, for which you should consider speaking to a professional.
GP Dr Dawn Harper previously told HuffPost UK that she’s sceptical of “superfoods” – “there is no one single silver bullet that will enhance your chances of living a long and healthy life,” she said.
You might think that Dr Jennifer Di Noia, an Associate Professor of Sociology at William Paterson University, whose 2014 paper sought to find the best fruits and veg to reduce our disease risk, was more fond of terms like these.
But she had her own concerns. “Efforts to define… powerhouse fruits and vegetables (PFV), foods most strongly associated with reduced chronic disease risk… are lacking,” she wrote at the time.
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So, the researcher set out research-backed terms.
What counts as “powerhouse fruits and vegetables” or PFVs?
In her study, “powerhouse” fruits and vegetables had to offer at least 10% more of 17 nutrients per 100 calories than other foods.
These nutrients the study looked at were:
potassium,
fibre,
protein,
calcium,
iron,
thiamin,
riboflavin,
niacin,
folate,
zinc,
vitamin A,
vitamin B,
vitamin B,
vitamin C,
vitamin D,
vitamin E, and
vitamin K.
These nutrients had been deemed of public health importance by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations and Institute of Medicine, the paper read.
The more of these a plant packed per calorie, the higher the PFV’s nutrient density score was.
However, the paper stressed that these aren’t the only potentially health-boosting components of food; therefore, these metrics could miss some produce that’s great for us.
41 fruits and vegetables, ranked by disease-fighting potential
Of the 47 foods the study author looked at, 41 met her criteria for “PFV”. (The six that missed the mark were raspberries, tangerines, cranberries, garlic, onion, and blueberries).
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In order, their nutrient density scores were:
Watercress – 100.00
Napa cabbage – 91.99
Chard – 89.27
Beetroot greens – 87.08
Spinach – 86.43
Chicory – 73.36
Leaf lettuce – 70.73
Parsley – 65.59
Romaine lettuce – 63.48
Collard greens – 62.49
Turnip greens – 62.12
Mustard leaves – 61.39
Endive – 60.44
Chive – 54.80
Kale – 49.07
Dandelion leaves – 46.34
Red pepper – 41.26
Rocket – 37.65
Broccoli – 34.89
Pumpkin – 33.82
Brussels sprouts – 32.23
Spring onion – 27.35
Kohlrabi – 25.92
Cauliflower – 25.13
Cabbage – 24.51
Carrot – 22.60
Tomato – 20.37
Lemon – 18.72
Iceberg lettuce – 18.28
Strawberry – 17.59
Radish – 16.91
Winter squash (all varieties) – 13.89
Orange – 12.91
Lime – 12.23
Grapefruit (pink and red) – 11.64
Swede – 11.58
Turnip – 11.43
Blackberries – 11.39
Leeks – 10.69
Sweet potato – 10.51
Grapefruit (white) – 10.47.
With that said, the best approach for a healthy diet is eating a balance of healthy foods. Diets rich in fruits and vegetables of all different kinds is liked to better heart health, the British Heart Foundation has said.
The UK just saw its hottest May day on record, and we’ve had some unusually hot “tropical nights” (over 20C) too.
That can ruin your sleep. One paper found that heatwaves are especially ruinous, causing us to lose crucial minutes of shut-eye.
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But if you’ve been sleeping in the nip for a cooler night, Natalie Pennicotte-Collier, a resident sleep expert at MattressNextDay, says you might want to reconsider.
You might think that water wicks away faster when we’re naked. But the sleep expert said that’s not always true,
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The move “feels logical, but without breathable natural fibre bedding to wick sweat away, moisture simply sits on the skin and creates a clammy humid ‘microclimate’ that is more likely to wake you up in the middle of the night.” Pennicotte-Collier explained.
The same logic applies to your bedsheets – we “should replace [our duvet] with a lightweight breathable layer instead of sleeping completely uncovered,” she said.
Research has her (pyjamaed) back. One paper from the University of Birmingham found that linen bedding was linked to fewer wake-ups among younger participants in hot weather.
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How can I get to sleep in a heatwave?
Sleeping on a lower level in your home might help, the Red Cross said, as heat rises.
And paradoxical as it might sound, taking a warm shower might help, too.
Speaking to HuffPost UK previously, Dr Seeta Shah from PANDA London said: “Many take a cold shower before bed in hot weather, but a shockingly cold shower can actually raise core body temperature as your body works to counteract the sudden cold.
“A lukewarm to slightly cool shower is better. It gently reduces body temperature and triggers the parasympathetic nervous system, helping your body wind down and enter a sleep-conducive state.”
If you’re like most people, you probably rely on filler words like “um” and “uh” when speaking, whether you’re presenting at work or talking to old friends over coffee.
Use of filler words can be very, very normal, but new research found that in some cases, you may want to pay closer attention to your speech patterns for the sake of your cognitive health and dementia risk.
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The research, which was led by experts from the Baycrest Corporate Centre for Geriatric Care, the University of Toronto and York University, found that certain speech patterns can be indicative of cognitive decline and a higher risk for dementia.
Folks who participated in the study were tasked with verbally describing what they saw in different detailed images and were recorded while explaining what they were looking at.
Researchers then used AI to analyse the speech patterns in the recordings, such as the use of filler words like “um” and “uh,” pauses in conversation and trouble with word-finding.
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Participants also completed cognitive tests; how someone performed on the speech analysis predicted how well, or not well, someone did on their cognitive tests.
“We know that language is one of the domains of cognition that can be really affected by dementia, and certain types of dementia more than others, but in all types of dementia, difficulty finding common words is a feature that we look for, and that we know occurs,” said Dr. Heather Whitson, a distinguished professor in neuroscience at Duke School of Medicine in North Carolina. Whitson is not affiliated with the study.
This does not mean that every forgotten word or instance of calling a restaurant by the wrong name is cause for concern, experts told HuffPost.
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Cavan Images via Getty Images
New research found that certain speech patterns could be signs of cognitive decline.
“All of us, probably starting around our 20s or 30s, start doing a little bit worse over time on many formal cognitive tests, and that does not mean that we’re on the way to dementia. It’s what we often refer to as healthy aging,” said Dr. Carolyn Fredericks, an assistant professor of neurology at Yale School of Medicine in Connecticut. Fredericks is not affiliated with the study.
“And some of the things that they were looking at in this study are things where everybody gets a little worse on these measures over time, but they’re picking up a signature where [in] some people, it’s just that much more so, and those are the ones who are vulnerable,” said Fredericks.
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Again, difficulty finding words can be a normal part of aging, stressed Whitson.
“Usually it starts with proper nouns, so the person who’s saying, ‘I can remember everything about that actor, but I can’t think of their name right now,’” added Whitson.
There are also limitations to this study. “Speech patterns are very dependent on culture and even families,” said Whitson, and this study doesn’t address the aspect of speech differences.
For example, it’s common for folks in the south to speak slower and with more pauses than those in the north, and that is not a sign of cognitive decline.
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More, this data was all “drawn from one time point,” Whitson said. So, there is nothing to compare someone’s speech patterns to. Meaning, someone’s use of the word “uh” may be normal and something they picked up in childhood, not a sign of cognitive decline.
Not all cognitive changes are worrisome, but there are some warning signs of dementia you should know
Again, not every “um” or pause in conversation is cause for concern, but there are some red flags that should warrant a visit to your doctor.
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“The kinds of things I would worry about, number one … having a lot of difficulty expressing oneself, particularly with ordinary dictionary words, not just struggling to come up with the name of someone or the title of a book or movie,” Whitson said.
Short-term memory lapses are also concerning, Whitson noted. “That usually presents with either repeating one’s questions in a very short time span,” added Whitson.
“Other things is getting lost in familiar places, or repeatedly forgetting important appointments,” she said. Misplacing items and having no idea how the item got there in the first place is also a red flag, added Whitson.
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Since cognitive decline is a part of healthy ageing, it can be hard to tell what is normal and what is not so normal. “Often it’s helpful to compare yourself to your peers,” said Fredericks.
For instance, if your peers are also occasionally forgetting the name of the new dentist in town, you’re likely in good company. But, if you find yourself misplacing items frequently, and don’t see that in others you age, it’s a good idea to talk to a doctor.
There are some lifestyle adjustments that can help lower your dementia risk
There are some modifiable lifestyle behaviours that can lower your risk of dementia. These are “the most actionable things that people can do in their 20s and beyond,” said Whitson.
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Controlling high blood pressure is an important way to lower your dementia risk, Whitson said. “There’s even evidence that strict control of blood pressure down to a top number of 120 or less is associated with reduced dementia risk,” she added.
“Physical activity is one of the things that is most associated with lowering dementia risk, as well as almost every other kind of health risk,” Whitson said. “So, I always tell people, if they’re going to change one thing about their lifestyle, increasing physical activity would be the thing to do.”
It’s also important to get good quality sleep and follow a nutritious diet. Fredericks recommends the Mediterranean diet or other heart-healthy diets.
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“Making sure that people’s vision and hearing are optimised is associated with lowering our dementia risk, which kind of makes sense because our ears and our eyes are what feeds most information and activation to our brain,” added Whitson.
So, if you need glasses or hearing aids, it’s a good idea to see a doctor and get a prescription.
Protecting yourself from head injury by wearing a helmet when biking, for example, or during contact sports is another way to lower risk, Whitson said, in addition to not smoking.
Having regular social and intellectual stimulation is also recommended, noted Fredericks. This can impact your cognition and help your brain stay challenged and alert, Fredericks added.
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This AI tool these researchers used to analyse the data is “very promising,” Whitson said. A tool that can pick up patterns in speech and reveal something about our brain function and cognition has great promise, Whitson noted.
But, don’t panic if you find yourself using “um” a lot or pausing in conversation. Instead, do what you can to lower your dementia risk and look out for other dementia red flags – and talk to a doctor if you are concerned.
In 2012, Pew Research found that while the typical Facebook user had 245 Facebook friends, the average *friend* someone has on Facebook had 359.
That sounds completely illogical at first. But it’s explained by the “friendship paradox,” a term resulting from sociologist Professor Scott Feld’s 1991 paper.
But what exactly is this “friendship paradox”, and what does it actually mean for our social lives?
What is the friendship paradox?
In a Purdue University video, Prof Feld said he was “surprised” to find “that it’s always true in social networks that friends in general have more friends on average than people do”.
If that sounds a bit like a head-scratcher, well, it is (hence the “paradox” part).
“People assume that if there’s a pair of friends, one must have more friends and the other must have [fewer] friends, so you would expect that half the people would have fewer friends than their friends,” he continued.
But instead, he said, some people have loads of friends, and naturally, those people are likelier to be friends with lots of people who have fewer friends than them.
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And the other people who have fewer friends are less likely to be our mates.
In other words, it’s not so much that most people hover around an average amount of friends, with some having slightly more than others. Instead, very extroverted people throw the balance off a lot (a bit like counting billionaires when calculating people’s net worth).
“Each of us seems to be thinking that our friends have more friends than we do, which they, in fact, do, because our friends are the people who are friends with everybody,” said Prof Feld.
Later analysis found that the mathematical premise of the “friendship paradox” seems to bear out in real life.
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So… what does that mean?
Well, Professor Feld said, one takeaway could be to remember that comparing yourself to your mates isn’t really a great indicator of your true standing: we should try to remember that this sample is “biased”.
Secondly, on a broader level, it means some people could spread more of anything – from ideas to disease and misinformation – than the average person might, meaning more of us are influenced than influencing.
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“So if you want to stop the spread of a pandemic,” Prof Feld continued, “you really would like to vaccinate people’s friends more than you’d want to vaccinate random people.”
The same goes for switching people onto a certain product. Basically, whatever spread you want to create, track, or predict, you’re better off looking at other people’s mates’ habits than their own.
