Health scan lifestyle QA

Doireann Ní Bhriain, broadcaster and voice of the luas

Do you think you have a healthy lifestyle?

Yes, the days of overindulgence are gone and I don’t miss them. I eat lots of fish and vegetables, not so much red meat. My body clock has turned around completely and I’m now an early riser.

How often do you exercise?

I swim a few times a week, I walk for half an hour most days and I do Feldenkrais – awareness through movement – classes, which I love. With a driven personality like mine, you have to have strategies to counteract it. I use the bike to get around, but the Luas if it’s raining. I’ve got used to hearing my voice on the Luas – though I don’t like myself giving myself instructions about getting my ticket.

Do you get your five a day?

I usually do. I have fresh fruit with my muesli in the morning, salad with my lunchtime sandwich and I’d always have fresh vegetables with my dinner.

Do you worry?

I’m a natural worrier, but I’ve become less so as I get older. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, and that breeds anxiety. When she was 17, my eldest daughter went to the Peruvian Amazon for a year, so I had to learn not to worry. This year she travelled alone from Patagonia to New York and I hardly worried at all.

What do you do to relax?

I sing with the Culwick Choral Society. I turn up to my weekly rehearsal exhausted, but by the end of it all of us find that the tension just disappears.When I hear the opening notes of the Messiah, it really does send shivers down my spine.

What’s your unhealthiest habit?

Taking on too much, but I’m getting much better at saying no. My second unhealthiest habit is too many cups of tea. Life without proper tea would be very hard.

The Culwick Choral Society performs Handel’s Messiah in aid of One Family, to support one-parent families, on November 23rd and 24th at St Patrick’s Cathedral. See onefamily.ie