Prima Health – Essential Guide to Wellbeing 2025

Summary

Prima's Essential Guide to Wellbeing — priced at £6.99 — tackles self-care across 10 chapters plus a bonus one-month planner, opening with Caroline Picard and Katherine Martinelli citing Mental Health UK's Burnout Report 2025: 91% of UK adults reported high or extreme levels of pressure or stress in the past year. The cover year 2025 is not printed on the magazine itself. Clinical health psychologist Helen L Coons and therapist Katie Krimer contribute expert commentary. The tagline reads "Happy healthy you! Break free from worry, find your joy and breathe."

Chapters progress from "What is self-care?" (p.10) through living in the now (p.20), emotional foundation (p.28), breathing right (p.34), gratitude practice (p.42), screen-time honesty (p.52), hobbies for mind and body (p.56), DIY spa essentials (p.66), growing through difficulty (p.76), relaxing in nature (p.82), and a bonus one-month self-care plan (p.90). Each chapter is structured as a standalone lesson with practical exercises.

Content Guide

▸ Chapters 1-5: The Foundations

p.10 · What Is Self-Care?
Caroline Picard and Katherine Martinelli define self-care as "deliberate actions to protect your physical and mental health." The chapter distinguishes self-care from indulgence: self-care restores capacity; indulgence depletes it. A self-care audit checklist includes 15 yes/no questions covering boundaries, sleep, hydration and social connection.

p.20 · Learn to Live in the Here and Now
Mindfulness fundamentals for beginners: the 3-3-3 technique (name 3 things you see, 3 sounds you hear, 3 body parts you can move) as a grounding tool. A 5-minute seated meditation script is included.

p.28 · Start With a Strong Emotional Foundation
Psychologist Helen L Coons explains emotional regulation as a trainable skill: identify the emotion, pause before reacting, choose a response. The chapter provides a feelings vocabulary list of 30 emotion words beyond "happy," "sad" and "angry."

p.34 · Breathe Right and Calm Your Mind
Four breathing techniques: box breathing (4-4-4-4), extended exhale (4-7-8), diaphragmatic breathing (hand on belly), and alternate nostril breathing. Each technique includes a specific use case — box breathing before a stressful meeting, 4-7-8 for falling asleep.

p.42 · How to Practise the Art of Gratitude
A 21-day gratitude challenge: write 3 things you are grateful for each day, vary the entries, and include at least one specific detail per entry. Research cited: a 2003 study by Emmons and McCullough found that gratitude journaling improved sleep and reduced physical symptoms after 21 days.

▸ Chapters 6-10: Application

p.52 · Straight Talk About Screen Time
The average UK adult spends 4+ hours per day on their phone. The article recommends 3 screen-free hours before bed and a 24-hour digital detox once per month. A phone-setting guide walks readers through turning off notifications for all apps except calls and messages.

p.56 · Hobbies for Your Mind and Body
10 hobbies ranked by mental and physical benefit: gardening (low physical, high mental), knitting (fine motor, meditative), running (high cardiovascular, high mental clarity), painting (creative, calming), swimming (full-body, meditative breath), reading (cognitive, empathetic), cooking (nutritional, creative), yoga (flexibility, breath), playing an instrument (cognitive, coordination), and volunteering (social, purposeful).

p.66 · Soothing DIY Spa Essentials
5 spa recipes: oatmeal and honey face mask, sugar and coconut oil body scrub, Epsom salt bath with lavender oil, rosewater and aloe vera facial mist, and a peppermint-shea butter foot cream. Total cost for all five DIY products: approximately £10.

p.76 · Grow Out of It
Reframing difficulty as growth: post-traumatic growth (PTG) research shows that 50-70% of people who experience a traumatic event report positive psychological change afterwards. The article includes 5 journaling prompts for processing hard experiences.

p.82 · Relax in Nature
Nature exposure as self-care: 120 minutes per week in green space is associated with better health and higher well-being (University of Exeter). The chapter suggests 3 "nature prescriptions": a 20-minute park lunch, a weekend forest walk, and a balcony garden for flat-dwellers.

▸ Bonus

p.90 · One-Month Self-Care Wellbeing Plan
A 30-day calendar with one self-care action per day: Day 1, drink 2 litres of water; Day 5, call a friend; Day 10, take a bath without your phone; Day 15, go for a walk in the park; Day 20, write a gratitude list; Day 25, cook a meal from scratch; Day 30, review the month and plan the next one. Each action takes 30 minutes or less.

Editor's Take

The Essential Guide to Wellbeing is Prima's most comprehensive self-care resource — 10 chapters plus a one-month planner at £6.99 is strong value. The Burnout Report 2025 citation gives the guide a timely anchor. The breathing techniques chapter is the best single section, with specific use cases for each pattern. Weakness: the hobby-ranking chapter is too subjective and lacks the evidence base that other chapters maintain. The screen-time advice is standard but still necessary. Best for self-care beginners who need a structured introduction rather than advanced practitioners.

Strengths
• 10-chapter structure provides comprehensive coverage
• Breathing techniques chapter includes specific use-case pairing
• One-month plan makes self-care actionable

Weaknesses
• Hobby-ranking chapter lacks evidence support
• Screen-time advice is competent but not novel

Verdict: Recommended — The best-value self-care guide in Prima's library; the monthly planner alone justifies the cover price for beginners.