You don't have to be on the go

TV presenter and self-confessed workaholic Alison Hammond speaks to SARA KEENAN about slowing down, how to combat loneliness in winter and the importance of helping others

- SARA KEENAN

TV presenter and media personality Alison Hammond reveals she has a tendency to work too much.

“I’m a bit of a workaholic. Sometimes we need to stop. You don’t have to be on the go all the time. You can stop,” says the 50-year-old, best known for shows including ITV’s This Morning, alongside Dermot O’Leary, and Channel 4’s The Great British Bake Off, with Noel Fielding.

“That is a lesson I’ve noticed in the last year. I don’t have to keep going,” although she adds that she “loves” her job.

When it comes to looking after her own wellbeing, alongside working, “lots of vitamin tablets, getting lots of love from the family, lots of massages, lots of exercise and eating really good food” are also important.

Alison says that she has always had a “positive attitude in life” but adds she “is human as well” and still as up and down days.

“This way of life has been inbred in me from my mum who used to say to me, every time I wake up, I should say thank you, purely for the fact that I am breathing air and breathing life.

“From those times, my mum was a very positive, lovely, religious woman and I suppose I’ve taken quite a lot of her lessons in life.