NOW that we're well and truly into January, the health police among us are telling us it's officially time to haul ourselves off the couch and into the gym in an effort to burn off all those extra Christmas calories . . . a pretty unappealing thought to many. For a more novel way to get some exercise, why not take advantage of the last week of ice-skating at the RDS? The clever folks there have worked out that you can skate as much as four kilometres in one session, burning up 600 calories . . .approximately the equivalent of two-and-a-half mince pies. Tickets are available from www.7upchristmasonice. ie or by phoning 0818 717 200. Until 15 January.

Stay poor. . . and happy

PLANNING to try and get rich in 2006 in the hopes that it will bring you greater life satisfaction? You might want to think again, as a new study shows there's truth in the old chestnut that money can't buy you happiness. People in Mexico, Ghana, Sweden, the USA and the UK have been found to have similar levels of life satisfaction in spite of having vastly different levels of wealth. In countries where incomes have increased dramatically over the last 50 years, furthermore, there has almost no accompanying rise in satisfaction levels.

Researcher Dr Tony Delamothe of the British Medical Journal noted that as soon as we achieve one set of aspirations, we almost immediately create another set for ourselves.

Bone up on your greens

THINK bone health and most people think of calcium, and of all the dairy products we should be eating, such as milk and cheese, to keep our bones strong. It now appears, however, that green vegetables may be just as important in preserving bone density, due to their high levels of magnesium . . . but that most people eat well below the recommended daily amount of magnesium. To try and boost your levels, pile up spinach, peas, cauliflower and cabbage on your plate . . . and if you ate a lot of Brussels sprouts over Christmas, you can congratulate yourself on getting a good magnesium boost. Magnesium is also found in bananas, raisins and many nuts such as almonds, cashews, peanuts and Brazil nuts.