Those nine months of pregnancy are obviously fraught times for women. But there are many activities you can indulge in, in order to make the experience pleasant, and more importantly, as healthy as possible. After all, as well as your own wellbeing, your primary concern will be that your baby is given the best possible start.

Deciding what to eat during this period is one of the most crucial decisions to take. The good news is that just because you happen to be pregnant is no reason why making diet choices should be too onerous. Even if you find out you are to be the mother of twins or triplets, you can still choose from a variety of foods in order that you (and your unborn) get access to a full range of delicious nutrients.

A common question asked by expectant mothers is what foods are safest for me to eat? Fruit and vegetables are a great choice. As well as being relatively inexpensive, these are packed full of minerals, fibre and vitamins. You should aim to be eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables on a daily basis, during the pregnancy. The best aspect of eating these is the fact there are now so many to choose from, all of which can be easily prepared in various ways.

You should also be considering eating a variety of starchy foods. This includes rice, pasta, potatoes and bread. Foodstuffs such as these are excellent sources of vitamins, fibre and energy. In order to maintain a healthy balanced diet during the nine months, it is important to inject your daily intake with these, along with the fruit and vegetables mentioned. When eating bread it is preferable that you choose the wholegrain varieties where possible. Brown rice or pasta is also much higher in fibre.

Your diet should also include a range of protein sources. The best examples of this are eggs, beans, fresh fish, tinned fish, and meat. In the case of the latter, always opt for lean meat. When it comes to preparing these dishes, it is important to ensure that chicken, pork, or even burgers or sausages, are thoroughly cooked through.

The old adage that states everything in moderation is acceptable certainly applies to pregnancy eating. It is only natural that you will feel like supplementing your diet of fruit, vegetables, starchy food and proteins with a rationed amount of drinks or foods that are relatively high in their content of fat and sugar. The key aspect of this, of course, is rationing. While there is no need to be completely abstinent, and it is still okay to enjoy the occasional sugary fizzy drink, crisps, or biscuits, it is important not to over-indulge.

Many women develop all manner of cravings during this period, but what should always be lurking at the back of your mind is the fact that eating too much sugary food can lead to you putting on too much weight. While this is not ideal at the best of times, during pregnancy it can have adverse effects on your health by increasing your blood pressure. Where your baby's health is concerned this should obviously be avoided. 

Of all the hairstyle variations, it often seems that possessing naturally wavy or curly hair can pose more than its fair share of problems. As well as being incredibly uncooperative, when the hair is also thick it becomes even more of a nightmare to deal with. So, if you're fed up with friends joking that you look as if you've just jammed your finger into an electric plug point, what can be done about it?!

The good news it is a relatively straightforward process to alter those annoyingly frizzy curls or unkempt kinks into a style that will bring you nothing but complements. All it takes is some careful hair preparation.

The very first thing that you should do is find yourself a good hairstylist. A great way to get introduced to one is through personal recommendation. Even if you don't have the benefit of firsthand experience, most high-street hairdressers will be able to offer excellent service – otherwise they wouldn't be able to stay in business! Naturally the best friends or colleagues to approach are those with curly hair, as they may well have found a particularly excellent exponent.

Ask your stylist if they are familiar with the technique known as ‘twist cutting'. This is particularly effective for curly or wavy hair. While paying a visit to a salon specializing in this particular form of cutting may be slightly more expensive than a normal cut, the old adage that you get what you pay for has never been more appropriate.

When it comes to looking after your own curly hair between visits to the twist cutting stylist, it is important to pay attention to the fact you do not have to shampoo every single day. However, it would be sensible to condition your hair every time you happen to shower. In choosing a combination of conditioner and shampoo, it is important to choose products that leave your hair feeling good to yourself. At the end of the day you do not wish to have hair that, once it has washed, still feels as if there is product left in it; or worse still, feels dry even when it shouldn't be.

A potent weapon in the arsenal of caring for wavy hair is one of the most simple commodities anyone has around the house. Cold water. By washing your wavy hair in cold water it will end up looking shinier. In addition, moisture will be locked in and perhaps most importantly of all, the unseemly ‘frizz effect' will be considerably reduced.

One of the commonest causes of hair turning ‘frizzy' is when it is brushed out while dry. So unless you happen to be drying your hair with a blast from the hairdryer to try and get it straight, you should be using your fingers like a comb to run through the dry hair.

Another consideration with wavy or curly hair is never to use too much hair product. All you need is a minimal amount of styling gel or mousse. Apply a small ‘coin-sized' blob to your palm, rub your palms together, then knead through your hair, distributing thus evenly. Use this the moment you come out of your shower when you hear it's still wet. This will ensure that moisture gets trapped and that the end result is lustrous, moisture-rich curls.

There are many foodstuffs on the market that are highly recommended by specialists for their abilities to help maintain healthy teeth. Some are perhaps fairly obvious; others less so.

Dairy products

Believe it or not, cheese actually contains some natural cavity-fighting agents. It also contains a range of vitamins that will help to preserve the integrity of the enamel, keeping your teeth strong. Cheese possesses phosphate and calcium, two substances that balance your mouth's natural pH. It also not only preserves but also rebuilds damaged tooth enamel. Because it produces a lot of saliva, it assists in the way your mouth combats bacterial infection- killing the very bacteria that cause gum disease, tooth decay and cavities to form.

Dairy foodstuffs like yoghurt and milk are excellent for your dental hygiene because of their low acidity. This means that wearing of the teeth is kept to a minimum. There is also little in the way of decay-promoting sugar present.

Milk is one of the best sources of calcium there is; and this element is the main component of your bones and teeth.

Herbal tea

Overall, tea is generally regarded as being unsuitable for cleaning teeth, as it possesses chemicals like tannin that will have an adverse affect on tooth colour. But there are many natural teas where the opposite is the effect. Herbal teas, which are infused, are actually a terrific way to keep your teeth in tip-top condition. Green tea has, amongst other ingredients, polyphenol antioxidant plant compounds. These come with a powerful set of cleaning resources. They will help to reduce plaque, as well as combating gum disease and reducing cavities.

Fruit and vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are often, by their very nature, excellent for keeping our teeth cleaned. The obvious ones are apples, but as long as the natural consistency of these products is relatively strong, then they are always recommended for keeping your teeth well-maintained. Eating something like raw carrots, or indeed any fruit or vegetable where are really have to crunch into the flesh, will provide a naturally abrasive action. The friction from this will keep your teeth scrubbed.

These foodstuffs are also a tremendous source of vitamins. Kiwi fruits, apples and strawberries all possess Vitamin C. In chemical terms, this is the element that binds cells together. When Vitamin C is neglected, you're gum cells can break down, rendering them susceptible to disease. Vitamin A is to be found ina diverse range of foods, notably carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli and pumpkins. This vitamin is vital for the formation of tooth enamel.

The key point is that any vegetable tat is crunchy and requires a certain degree of effort to actually chew in order to break it down will help clean your gums. For this reason, raw vegetables are always much better for keeping your teeth and gums clean. As well as having a solid consistency that actually feels better when biting down into the flesh, their natural flavours remain sealed in. Once vegetables begin to get cooked there is always the very real danger of them being overcooked, when they will not only lose their teeth-protecting qualities, they'll also taste a lot worse!

In the modern age, with so much technology surrounding us, from computers to fodable 5G smart phones to widescreen 8K televisions, our eyes are constantly under attack. It is hardly any surprise that the number of people reporting to their local opticians complaining of eye-strain or diminished sight is on the increase. Looking after your eyes has never been so important. So what are the practical steps that we can take to look after ourselves?

If you happen to work in an office where you are constantly staring into a screen, then it practically goes without saying that you have to take certain steps to ensure you do not do permanent damage to your vision. The recommended time allowance to be hunched over your machine working on documents, or surfing the net, or even reading tips such as these, is around 20 minutes. Thereafter you should physically move your eyes away from screen for a period of rest time.

Science has yet to prove that workers whose job involves staring at computer screens are likely to suffer permanent eye damage. But research does indicate the increased likelihood of dry eyes, or eye-strain. Computer screens all emanate background glare. This can cause muscle fatigue within the eyes, especially since the settings are rarely at the optimum condition for each individual user. If you work in an environment where you share IT equipment, then someone might find a screen too dark; the next user might complain about it being far too bright.

Even if you are using a device on your own at home, many of us prefer the convenience of simply firing up the machine and getting down to our usual tasks at whatever factory setting it arrived with. Altering screen resolutions and brightness levels involves going into control panels that can seem tiresome.

When you are concentrating at a computer screen, it is only natural not to blink. Although it will probably seem unnatural at first, if you can try to make the effort to blink - perhaps twice a minute as you look at documents - then this will help to counter dry eyes.

There are tell-tale signs that will inform you if your eyes are undergoing any particular levels of strain. If your eyes feel sore or tired, or even tearful, then it's probably time to take a break. The one good thing about surfing the net and looking at any number of different websites is that the very nature of this activity precludes excessive eye-strain.

Web developers are consciously aware of the need to create legible web pages. For this reason, websites these days tend to be designed to a certain is aesthetic. You will rarely find great slabs of unbroken text. On the contrary, information is imparted to a much better extent if it is broken down into easily digestible paragraphs, with important points emphasized in bold text, or arranged into bullet-pointed lists. There will also be a plethora of photographs or images that will guide the viewer's eye fluently down the page.