Alexandra Dudley, food writer and host of the Come For Supper podcast, has shared her five ‘minimal effort’ tips for hosting the perfect special occasion dinner as autumn kicks in

Famous for playing Lady Mary in Downton Abbey, Michelle Dockery’s London Home revealed a secret obsession of the actress.

His Majesty King Charles III is striving to make the royal households as eco as possible and he’s not leaving 955-year-old Windsor Castle behind – discover the changes and see inside

The Princess of Wales paid tribute to the last photograph of Queen Elizabeth II through a beautiful outfit that she wore out on a royal engagement earlier this week

The Duchess of Sussex resides in Montecito with her husband, Prince Harry, and their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet – discover her rule-breaking kitchen

Metro journalists select and curate the products that feature on our site. If you make a purchase via links on this page we will earn commission – learn more

Whether you’re heading to a class at your local studio, or finding your flow at home, wearing the right activewear can make a real difference to your pilates practice.

Trust me — I made the mistake of showing up to my first proper class in a flowy top, and quickly discovered during downward dog that I’d definitely made the wrong call.

The best pilates activewear is fitting and stretchy to allow for unrestricted movement and a clear view of your form — but it should stay firmly in place as you transition through different movements.

The pieces you pick should also be made with soft and breathable fabrics, and not have any uncomfortable zips or bra strap adjusters. And thankfully, the brand new Pilates Edit by H&M Move ticks all these key boxes.

With prices starting at just £12.99, this carefully curated collection is filled with summer-ready pieces that’ll sculpt and support you through every single movement. Powered by the brand’s famous SoftMove™ fabric — which has a weightless second-skin look and feel — this edit will have you looking and feeling your most confident on the mat or reformer.

From sculpting strappy tops and cycling shorts, to pretty twist-detail tops and sports bras, these are just a few of my favourites for any fellow pilates princesses keen to avoid premium prices.

Integral Bra Sports Strappy Top With SoftMove™

A seriously functional strappy cami, this top has been expertly engineered with second-skin SoftMove™, Lycra® Sport technology for added stretch, and sweat-wicking DryMove™ – which helps pull moisture away from your skin. It’s got an integral sports bra, a sculpting slim fit, and comes in this soft lime green colour that feels so spot-on for summer.

BUY NOW FOR £19.99

Sports Cycling Shorts with SoftMove™ Lycra®

With their high and wide waistband panel that won’t roll down, these gorgeous greige cycling shorts are perfect for a pilates session. Sculpting, stretchy, and surprisingly moisture-wicking, they also come in the collection’s hero light green colour, as well as classic black.

BUY NOW FOR £19.99

Medium Support Yoga Bra with SoftMove™ Lycra®

Pretty yet practical, the twisted detail at the front of this sports bra makes it feel a little more fancy – but it won’t stick out uncomfortably when you’re lying on your front. With its v-shaped neckline, and lined cups with removable inserts, it offers a lovely light level of support.

BUY NOW FOR £19.99

Sports Hotpants With SoftMove™

A skimpier fit than your typical cycling shorts, these yoga hotpants are a must for hot and sweaty holiday workouts. As well as comfortably contouring SoftMove™, they’re also engineered with DryMove™ to help pull moisture away from the skin – and they’ve been beautifully finished off with a delicate scalloped trim.

BUY NOW FOR £19.99

Twist Detail Pilates Top

This cropped and sleeveless twist-front top is a really lovely piece to layer over your sports bra – particularly if you’re grabbing a coffee or breakfast after your class. It comes in black or white, and is made from a buttery-soft and breathable modal and elastane blend.

BUY NOW FOR £12.99

Sports Unitard With SoftMove™

With its seriously chic scooped back, and super summery soft green fabric, there’s so much to love about this unitard. It’s crafted with SoftMove™ to ensure ultimate softness, comfort, and sculpting – while the adjustable shoulder straps and integral sports bra will ensure you’re properly supported. I’m genuinely obsessed.

BUY NOW FOR £27.99

We’re ready to bend, and snap!

MORE: From Anthropologie candles to printed blouses – this is everything a shopping expert is buying this weekend

MORE: Start the new year strong with these sports bras designed to support your 2025 fitness journey

MORE: Lovall’s Winter Leggings prove to be a sell-out success as over 1,000 pairs were sold every day in 2023

Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow’s 21-year-old daughter Apple Martin has landed a major ‘nepo’ modelling gig just two years after making her fashion debut at Paris Fashion Week for Chanel.

Harriet Sperling, the fiancée of Princess Anne’s son Peter Phillips and an NHS paediatric nurse, grew up in a gorgeous £1.5 million six-bedroom Edwardian home in a village in Gloucestershire, not far from Cheltenham.

Dr Mohammed Enayat was working as a GP when he started looking into longevity.

Day in, day out, for 15 years he saw patients struggling with chronic issues, spending their 50s, 60s on a cocktail of medication for issues that, with the right treatment or lifestyle changes, may have been preventable.

He tells Metro: ‘Our environment – be it through what we eat, what we see, what we hear, and what we breathe – all has effect in our biology. And we’re now at a point where we’re starting to see deleterious effects, with diseases on the rise and life expectancy decreasing, because we’re not biologically adapted fast enough to the rate of change of our environment.’

So after further study in regenerative and functional medicine, Dr Enayat founded HUM2N, a pioneering longevity clinic based in London.

You’ve probably heard of this concept because of entrepreneur Bryan Johnson, who recently hit headlines for trying to biohack his system with a militant ‘Don’t Die’ regimen of raw food, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and blood transfusions from his teenage son.

However, Dr Enayat’s outlook isn’t as extreme; he focuses less on defying nature and more on helping people ‘have the best quality of life for as long as possible.’

‘Good longevity medicine is really for everyone,’ he tells Metro. ‘How we live now will dictate how we will live in the future. And what that basically means is the cumulative effect of the lifestyle choices that we’re making on a day to day basis have an effect on our system.’

The fact is, none of us can cheat death, but if you follow Dr Enayat’s simple daily tips, you can potentially add years to your life — or at the very least, improve the way you look and feel in the meantime.

1. Start your day barefoot in nature

According to Dr Enayat, being in daylight right after waking up and standing barefoot on natural surfaces like grass (ideally while doing breathwork or mindfulness exercises) helps regulate the body’s circadian rhythm — aka ‘the natural body clock’ -which has a range of wider benefits.

‘We’re generally too much in the fight or flight response or the sympathetic nervous system, so everything that we can do to help improve our parasympathetic nervous system, which is our healing response, is going to help us for the long term,’ he explains.

‘Too much of the stress response causes that causes metabolic issues, diabetes, obesity, inflammation, cardiovascular disease and can even increase cancer risk as well.’

Studies have also shown that the practice of ‘grounding’ can improve mood, with Dr Enayat adding: ‘This is more about state management, learning how to empty the mind when the mind is so cluttered and stimulated by external stimuli.’

2. Skip breakfast — but do it strategically

You’ve probably been told breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but Dr Enayat recommends intermittent fasting of around 12 to 14 hours, which may mean skipping that early morning cereal or slice of toast.

Ideally, he says you should have your last meal of the day two to three hours before bed, as this gives your body time to digest the food while you’re awake and focus on sleep later on. 

Then, try to hold off on breakfast until at least 12 hours after dinner the previous evening, allowing your system to go into the fasting state which promote cellular repair, improve metabolic flexibility, and support better energy regulation throughout the day.

‘If you can even go further to 16 hours or so, breaking your fast at around lunchtime, that can be really good,’ Dr Enayat adds. ‘However, if you find that you’re fatiguing then you might be deficient in nutrients and it might not be the right time for you to do intuitive fasting.’

3. Try cold water exposure

There’s another way to work on metabolic flexibility, which is ‘your ability to create energy from your energy sources more easily’ that you’ve probably seen touted by longevity influencers. But cold water exposure is more than a fad.

Dr Enayat explains: ‘Metabolic flexibility prevents diabetes, and some of those kind of sedentary lifestyle problems and diseases that we have. This is why ice baths can be quite good.’

Effectively, cold water drops the temperature of the skin, forcing the body to work harder to create heat by using up stored energy — pretty much biohacking the system.

Don’t worry if you’re not quite ready for ice baths either, as cold showers have a similar effect.

4. Take these essential supplements

While Dr Enayat is a big believer in tailored supplements (which we’ll get into shortly), there are three that form what he calls a ‘base stack’ for those focused on longevity and performance.

• B-complex with methylated folate – to reduce inflammation
• Magnesium bisglycinate – for muscle recovery, calmness, and sleep
• Omega-3 fatty acids – for heart, brain, and joint health

Magnesium is one you’ll notice the effects of straight away, with Dr Enayat advising that it’s best taken in the evenings.

Others may take longer to have a noticeable effect, but give it at least a month and assess the changes — even if they aren’t super obvious, your body will likely show subtle signs of improvement.

5. Get regular checkups

Topping up your vitamins and minerals with over the counter supplements is unlikely to do you any harm, but if you’ve been feeling run down and don’t know why, testing – preferably annual blood panels (up to 120 biomarkers) – is best to find the root cause of your issues.

Then, once you’ve covered the basics, these results will allow you to step up your efforts, potentially including advanced techniques like peptides to target specific needs.

‘Working with good data and an expert that is looking at the data in a good, holistic way, alongside good nutrition and lifestyle choices, that is what it will extend lives,’ says Dr Enayat.

But he also highlights the importance of ‘engaging with the traditional medical system’ through the likes of routine NHS blood tests, faecal and urine screenings, cervical smear tests, breast screening and the 40-year-old checkup.

6. Train in different heart rate zones

When it comes to exercise, Dr Enayat says ‘variety is the spice of life.’

He recommends structuring workouts by heart-rate zones to maintain lean muscle and metabolic resilience as we age:

• Zone 4 (high-intensity) for mitochondrial health once or twice weekly
• Zone 1–2 (light to moderate) activities like brisk walking most days
• Strength training two or three times per week focusing on compound lifts

Dr Enayat explains: ‘You need to be training your muscles, the core muscles in particular with exercises like squats and deadlifts, to prevent joint and spinal issues.

‘And two, you want to be training the bones, jumping off a certain height or skipping; things that will load the long bones of the joint to improve bone density and prevent bone bone loss.

‘But then also, you need to be looking at the engine – your heart, your lungs and your breathing apparatus… because if you don’t use it, you lose it.’

The final part of this three-pronged approach doesn’t need to take ages or be done in a gym. Just make sure you’re breaking a sweat a couple of times a week, and consider getting a fitness tracker to measure your heart rate variability.

‘The aim is to increase your heart rate variability through these types of exercises,’ Dr Enayat adds. ‘That’s a marker that you’re you’re adding years to your life.’

7. Lower cortisol before bed and optimise sleep

In Dr Enayat’s opinion, managing cortisol levels is one of the most overlooked keys to long-term health and brain function. And it all starts with sleep.

Get into an evening routine where you’re meditating or doing breathing exercises, avoiding screens at least an hour before bed, and keeping your room cool and dark.

But the surprising thing that could protect your rest is kegel exercises.

‘The pelvic floor muscles are really important for holding your urine in,’ Dr Enayat explains. ‘As we get older, as the pelvic floor muscle weakens, the bladder doesn’t have as much support, and you need to wake up to pass urine at night. So by maintaining the strength of the pelvic floor muscles, you will prevent the need to wake up and disrupt your sleep to pass urine.’

Highlighting the importance of a proper night’s kip, he adds: ‘Deep sleep is very important because that’s when a lot of the regeneration healing takes place. Your immune system resets. You fight cancer, cell changes, you produce stem cells. All good stuff happens in the deep phase of sleep, and the REM phase of sleep helps with memory and thought consolidation.’

Do you have a story to share?

Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.

Prince William and Princess Kate are embarking on a big house move later this year, and their new home comes with an exciting feature they will be keen to use for family days