The warm glow is real but misleading: alcohol widens the blood vessels in your skin, which fill with warm blood. As a result, your body loses heat faster and your core temperature drops. Alcohol also dampens shivering and your sense of cold, raising the risk of hypothermia. That's why official cold-weather advice says to avoid alcohol. The hiker's warming nip is a false friend.
Chlorine on its own is fairly gentle. But when it combines with urine, sweat and other grime from swimmers, it forms chloramines, which cause stinging eyes and that classic 'chlorine smell'. A well-kept pool barely smells at all. Shower before you swim and never pee in the water.
Muscle mass slowly shrinks with age, putting independence at risk. But in 1990, a study had nursing home residents aged 86 to 96 train their legs for eight weeks: their strength more than doubled. Muscle responds to training at any age. Getting up from a chair without using your hands is already an exercise.