We probably all know this instinctively, but exposure to sunlight in the morning is the very best way to ease yourself into the day. According to Dr. Soph Mort, author of A Manual for Being Human, ‘When light streams into your eyes in the morning, your brain stops producing the sleep hormone, melatonin, and increases the production of serotonin (one of your feel-good energising chemicals). It eases you into wakefulness with a spring in your step. Without natural light we feel sluggish, hence why so many of us feel exhausted in winter. Maybe sleep with curtains open if you need to wake early, or put your desk next to a window in your office and notice how the sunlight peps you up during your after-lunch slump.’

Even if you don’t swim in autumn/winter, you can still reap the benefits of ‘the pink noise effect’ at the seaside – in other words, the sounds of waves or the soft hissing of pebbles being moved by the tides. ‘Pink noise’ is similar to white noise, which is an ongoing, nondescript background sound that combines all the sound frequencies that a human ear can hear. Studies have discovered that pink noise can help us sleep better, because it reduces brain wave activity. 

From Victoria Beckham: ‘My skin secret is that I dry-brush all over before a bath or shower. It acts as a lymphatic drainage treatment as it super-exfoliates, so that my body oil absorbs better after the shower.’

We are big fans of wild swimming, and will be keeping this up for as long as we can (till mid-January, generally) – but this is sound advice for open water swimming from the book Hidden Beaches, by Daniel Start… Never swim alone and keep a constant watch on weak swimmers… If caught in an offshore rip, don’t swim against it; swim parallel, then return to the beach on the surf… Never use inflatables on the sea – they can drift on currents and wind. Swim within the shelter of coves and bays (or in Jo’s case, the Hastings Harbour Arm), unless you understand the streams that operate at headlands and in the open sea… Wear a wetsuit if you know you’ll be in the water for more than 15-20 minutes. Cold water limits swimming ability and hypothermia can kill. 

Penelope Cruz’s beauty secret: ‘My jade face roller – it de puffs skin around the eyes and helps skincare penetrate more deeply. I keep mine in my mini skincare fridge so the cold of the stone is refreshing and gives an extra circulation boost.’ (Mini-skincare fridge. Just sayin’.)

Don’t just reserve fragrance for your skin. Use it to scent your life. Spritz something that calms you, on your pillow. (It doesn’t have to be a ‘pillow mist’, per se.) Spray your bookmark. The inside of your handbag. Your clothes, of course (having first done the colour-safety test, by spraying a tissue to ensure it doesn’t mark.) Spray eau de toilette or Cologne on your ironing board before you iron your clothes. Mist your cushions. Why not? If you love fragrance, enjoy it everywhere – though if you live with others, might want to make sure they love whatever you’re zooshing on the cushions.) We love the little ‘olfactory nudges’ of fragrant encounters with inanimate objects.

Don’t waste too much time watching YouTube tutorials and becoming befuddled by words such as ‘luminous’, high definition’ and ‘flawless’. Get out your kit, get out your mirror and just have a dabble.

If you’re working out, always shower thoroughly afterwards. Tight, damp clothing that causes chafing and sweating is linked with fungal infections. If you can’t quite get dry because the gym changing room is humid, try a dusting of non-talc body powder.

Love this quote from our make-up artist friend Mary Greenwell: ‘Don’t bother keeping old make-up. It’s not like keeping a nice leather coat. Lipsticks go rancid. Mascaras dry out. Foundations separate. It’s unhygienic. And even though the colour might be great three, four or five years on, the texture will be all wrong. All the newness in make-up comes in the textures. And nowadays, textures are changing very, very fast and getting better and better.’

Beware of using light-reflective concealers on eye bags. (Though they’re great on shadows.) They will draw attention to the puffiness, making it more rather than less obvious.

Choosing a new hairbrush? The reason hairstylists like boar brushes is that they deliver more shine than synthetic bristles.

Stress can have a huge impact on skin ageing by causing a free radiacal-inducing inflammatory response in the body that can add years to your skin, over time. The easiest counter-attack is yoga: even a few inverted postures a day – forward bends or legs-up-the-wall – stimulate circulation and oxygenation and reduce stress.

One of the worst feelings in a spa is feeling claustrophobic. Some treatments – herbal or mud wraps, for instance – are worse than others, for that feeling of being confined. Jo finds that keeping her arms outside the wrap really works. You can always ask the therapist to loosen the area around your chest and feet, too. Alternatively, focus on a pleasant memory if you start to panic – and if the treatment room has music, let it distract you.

A tip from our Bake Off hero Dame Prue Leith: ‘To stop my hands – which are always in the sink or the garden soil – from chapping, a make-up artist taught me to rub them with oil before going to bed, and then to put on latex gloves. Next morning the rough bits are really soft.’

To guard against falls, stand on one leg every day to practise balance. Be sensible: to start with, do this with your eyes open, but aim to build up to standing on one leg for 30 seconds with your eyes closed. It’s never too late to strengthen pathways that improve our balance, and this exercise will translate into better ability to keep yourself upright.

Advice from celebrity haircolourist Zoë Irwin: when you apply a hair mask (and for most of us, that’s really needed right now), do it twice. ‘Hair can only take in so much in one dose – so do a double-hit of a five-minute mask.’ Apply once a week or fortnightly, minimum.

From the author of the brilliant book The Art of Rest: How to find Respite in the Modern Age, something to ponder if you feel guilty watching TV: ‘We should actively guard against feeling guilty when we reach for that remote. Whether it’s BBC1, Al Jazeera, Netflix or YouTube, television provides an escape from ourselves. And from the demands of dealing with other people, even if they’re with us: those who watch TV with others do so without any pressure to keep up a conversation, yet you share the activity and the emotions. It’s restful companionship.’

From our friend Trinny (of Trinny London): ‘I’m on a mission to tell women not to cover up their whole face with make-up, and to just put products where they need it. Your tinted moisturiser, for instance, should give your skin enough cover. Then just use a tinted colour on your lips and cheeks, plus some mascara.’

Wisdom from (as ever) Helena Christensen: ‘We don’t need to look beautiful for anyone else; it’s just to make ourselves feel good. That’s what it really is like now. I don’t care if I look beautiful to anyone else, and it’s not even about looking beautiful per se, it’s about just feeling and looking healthy. And being and having an inner contentment and confidence.’

Feeling stressed or overwhelmed? Breathe in for a count of seven and out for a count of 11. That will always calm down a panicked state in the body.