HEALTH AND WELLNESS

By Julianna Patricia Varga 📸 Ekogram Salt has been a kitchen staple worldwide for thousands of years. It enhances flavor, preserves food, and most importantly, helps the body function properly. Yet despite its essential role, salt often gets a bad reputation. So how much do we actually need, and when does it become a problem? Table salt is made up of sodium and chloride. Sodium is an essential mineral that helps regulate fluid balance, nerve signaling and muscle contraction

By Freida Dario-Santiago With the rainy season upon us, be vigilant about dengue prevention. Dengue fever is a viral infection transmitted by female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which thrive in tropical climates and breed in stagnant water. Cases typically rise during the rainy months, when frequent rainfall creates more breeding sites around homes and communities. There is still no specific antiviral cure for dengue, so early consultation, proper hydration, and close monitoring

Should the Philippines set a legal age for social media and AI before technology shapes our children more than we do? By Pauline Reitzer 📸 CookCenter.org When Austria announced plans to ban social media for children under 14 in March 2026, it joined a growing number of countries trying to better protect young people online. Australia had already made headlines by becoming the first country to ban social media for children under 16. France now requires parental consent for ch

By Freida Dario-Santiago 📸 Marta Lebek/Stocksy Suicide Prevention Month and World Suicide Prevention Day (September 10) serve as important reminders that not all struggles are visible. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) multi-year theme, “Changing the Narrative,” is a call to action to shift from a culture of silence, shame and misunderstanding to one of open discussion, empathy and support. It aims to inspire communities, governments, and individuals to challenge stigma

By Gene Loves Acosta There’s a specific kind of panic that hits when you zoom into a beach selfie under the sun and spot a line that wasn’t there last season. For years, the assumed fix was a plane ticket away, in some glossy Makati clinic. Dr. Marion Salaver-Bassig wants you to know that's no longer true. She's an ENT facial plastic surgeon and the medical director of Salaver Clinics in Boracay, which means she looks beyond the skin to the underlying facial structure. Ask h

Healthy habits for adults 50 and above By Freida Dario-Santiago Photo-Illustration by TIME (Source image Alex Tihonov, Getty Images) Growing older doesn't mean slowing down. In fact, many find that their later years bring greater perspective and freedom to enjoy life. In many ways, it can be the most rewarding stage of life. The key is maintaining habits that help you stay active and support physical and mental well-being. Whether you’re in your 50s, 60s, 70s, or beyond, thes

By Pauline Reitzer Boracay has long been known for its powdery white beaches, water sports and active outdoor lifestyle. Now, another sport is quickly finding its place on the island: pickleball. News anchor and TV host Cheryl Cosim and movie director Avel Sunpongco joined the author (leftmost) for a fun but intense morning in Masey. 📸 Abegail Clarino Combining elements of tennis, badminton and table tennis, pickleball has become one of the fastest-growing sports in the worl

Nutrition & lifestyle tips for the entire family By Julianna Patricia Varga As the school year begins, routines shift quickly for both children and parents. Between early mornings, packed schedules and after-school activities, maintaining balanced nutrition and a healthy rhythm can feel overwhelming. However, with a few simple strategies, you can create a sustainable routine around food that supports your child’s energy, focus and overall well-being. Build balanced meals with

By Jaz Mara Can overall fitness be improved just by walking? Absolutely! Staying healthy doesn’t always require complicated workouts or costly memberships. Walking is so natural that it is often overlooked as an effective physical activity. A daily 30-minute walk improves heart health by lowering blood pressure and cholesterol. This low-impact movement also strengthens muscles, lubricates joints, and enhances flexibility. Furthermore, walking boosts the immune system, reduce

by Rica Velasco Following the inauguration of its new emergency wing on March 13, 2026, Ciriaco S. Tirol Hospital (CSTH) continues to enhance its role as Boracay’s only public healthcare facility. Medical Director Dr. Karl Lachica led us on a private tour of the hospital, offering a closer look at how this Level 1 facility is expanding its services within its current limits. A graduate of West Visayas State University, Dr. Lachica brought a wealth of experience to CSTH in 202

The good, bad and ugly (deadly) side of life’s sweet treat By Julianna Patricia Varga 📸 CSR Journal Sugar is everywhere. It sweetens our coffee, hides in our salad dressings and fuels. But beyond its pleasant taste lies a complex story that involves chemistry, health, and at times, serious risk. What is sugar? Sugar is a simple carbohydrate. The most common is glucose, the body’s primary energy source, while fructose occurs naturally in fruit, lactose in dairy, and sucrose i

Boracay is both a tourism hub and a permanent community, hosting millions of visitors who engage in land and water activities daily. This reality demands a healthcare system that can respond quickly and competently to emergencies. The Municipal Health Office (MHO) has outlined a medical emergency referral protocol for Boracay and has shared that plans are underway to improve facilities and services. These are encouraging signals. What residents and visitors need is confiden

by Amanda Virrey Every New Year is an opportunity to start fresh, to reinvent ourselves, reconcile conflicts, walk a more enlightened path, and generally become the best version of ourselves. Significantly, the Year of the Fire Horse in Chinese astrology is characterized as energetic, free-spirited, taking giant leaps, having an incessant will for movement and originality, and marked by strong individual will. You may feel compelled to finally carry out major plans you have b

While most people would agree that love is the most vital of all human conditions, it still remains the least understood.

The last eight months of staying at home during the enforced lockdowns has really made me think about what I do in my spare time. Doing noth

Boracay Sun’s Lifestyle page on Facebook has recently featured some really great videos courtesy of our Island Yoga guru Robyn Wilder. The r

One thing the Covid scare has done to me is to make me more conscious of my ever expanding waistline. My daily walks along Boracay’s beautif

Do you know what to do in case of health emergencies. As everyone says, you never know when disaster might strike. It could take place at wo

Being brought up as a young child in Caticlan gave me many pleasures and a good basic outlook on life as a whole. I wasn’t one of those city

During the last seven months of lockdowns I’ve been separated from my previous boyfriend, which led to us not communicating very often. Many