Hayley Matthews: I've turned the New Year's resolution on its head

January! New Year's resolutions '“ less alcohol, less sugar, blah blah blah! Every year I put myself under pressure to put in less, so for a change I've resolved to put more in, but only simple, natural and good things.

Hayley has turned to inhaling salt for health benefits. Picture: Ian Rutherford

I’m the kind of person that when someone tells me I can’t have something, I want it more, so a strict January diet would make me as miserable as Gemma Collins in the jungle. I’m just not doing it, life is too short and I reckon if I focus on putting in good, I’ll naturally forget about having less of the naughty stuff.

Disclosure: wine is not on the naughty list, and never will be! Well, not as long as I’m living with a bearded, wine-loving Highlander.

What am I adding? Well, supplements, salt and sleep. I’m like an old woman when I get up because I creak, moan and stagger until assuming full standing position. I’m tired all the time, my knees, ankles and hips ache and I’m sick of it.

A joint transplant is impossible so I’ve jumped on the supplement bandwagon to see what all the fuss is about. I’m hoping by June my Kansha Good Hair, Potion London Hyaluronic Complex and Pure Elixir Sleep supplements will all have kicked in and I’ll be leaping down the road on the school run, bursting with energy, feeling like I have the joints of 19-year-old gymnast and the hair of Jennifer Aniston.

My theme tune will be Katrina and the Waves – Walking on Sunshine! They’re all high strength, so I’m hoping for the energy I had in the early 90s.

I really do think we’re a bit too harsh in January and tend to cut out, instead of looking at what we need to put in to get us through the months of sparse vitamin D. The salt thing is something I’m excited about too as a friend was telling me recently about the health benefits of salt. Apparently, 19th century findings discovered Polish salt miners had fewer pulmonary problems than other people and seemed much healthier.

I’d always thought too much salt was bad for us as we’re always told don’t put too much salt in our food. Apparently though our bodies need a certain amount of good salt, and it seems to have benefits when inhaled. I’d read about the Salt Cave, especially for those with asthma and skin conditions (me!) as it claims to work by clearing the airways of mucus and reducing inflammation triggered by allergies to dust, pollen or pollution and, along with being antibacterial and anti-inflammatory, it is a very relaxing experience.

I’ve fallen asleep and groaned (apparently) every time I’ve been into the Salt Cave, which is tucked behind the old derelict Meadowbank stadium. There must be something to it because in Poland there are 200 clinics. Yet in Scotland, we have just two. One woman in my session told me she’d got the train up from York, and does so once a month! Who knew that salt could be so good? Not lathering it on your chips or snorting it, that won’t do much good.

My horrific winter cough has gone and my friends and family are ­convinced I’ve had a secret lung transplant (I haven’t btw). So, now I’ve ­discovered the natural stuff, I’ll be bathing in Dr Teal’s Pink Himalayan salts, scrubbing away until I feel 19 again.

Gosh, I sound like an extra from Cocoon! Ask your parents kids, it’s a movie about rejuvenated old folks.