LIFESTYLE Q&A:Brendan Courtney, TV presenter
Do you think you have a healthy lifestyle?
Yes I do. When I was in college I trained as a fitness instructor to earn extra money. I was quite a lazy teenager – I hated PE – but when I got to 18 I got into fitness. I taught step and dance classes in Dublin for eight years.
How often do you exercise?
I train four days a week; I do cardio, the evil stair climber. I try to do weights but I find it incredibly boring. All I want is to keep trim so that my clothes fit and I’m healthy. I discovered when I was 19 that after a fitness class I felt full of energy and really positive, my mood was lifted . . . It gets me down if I can’t train.
Do you get your five a day?
I’d try, but no. I do watch what I eat. I live alone; it’s really expensive to cook for one so it’s much cheaper to eat out. I’d have coffee and brown bread in the morning, tuna salad for lunch and for dinner I’d always go for chicken or fish.
Do you worry?
I was a dreadful worrier in my early 20s until I discovered meditation. I actually developed obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) in my 20s. Therapy sorted it out pretty quickly. My brain is hyperactive and I found it difficult to slow it down and I started to find sleep difficult, so the meditation completely counteracts that.
What do you do to relax?
My favourite thing to do is hang out with my friends, go for dinners and socialise. My favourite, favourite thing to do to relax is to lie on a beach.
What’s your unhealthiest habit?
Alcohol. I probably don’t drink as much as I did but I’m very fond of a glass of good red wine. I don’t binge drink any more to be honest and I’ve given up alcohol twice, once for four months over Christmas. I can give it up if I want to, I just don’t want to.
Brendan is MC at Blossom Hill Lady’s Day at the Dublin Horse Show on Thursday, August 16th.
In conversation with
JOANNE HUNT
