Category: HEALTH NEWS

The 20-Minute, Heart-Pumping Bodyweight Workout

  • April 25, 2015
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When you want to really get your heart pumping, there’s nothing like a cardio workout. But even a few minutes on the treadmill or elliptical can leave us feeling like hamsters on a wheel, and ending a workout early certainly won’t accomplish the burn we desire. Thankfully, there are plenty of other cardio workouts that don’t require stepping on the dreadmill. Follow along as Jaime McFaden, a personal trainer at Grokker, leads this 20-minute cardio routine complete with jumping jacks, mountain climbers, and chair squats. It’s impossible to get bored because you’ll switch up the moves every minute. Once you complete one circuit, repeat it, then finish off with the cool-down. Ready to get sweaty? Just press play. Here’s the full recap: Perform each move for

Interview with WA Surfer Jerome Forrest

  • April 24, 2015
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Jerome Forest is a West Australian local talent and the winner of the first HIF Pro Am Series for 2015. We caught up with him recently to find out how a professional surfer can maintain a healthy morning ritual…

Overcoming the Fear of the Lion: A Courageous Film About Genetic Testing and Huntington’s Disease

  • April 21, 2015
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A new documentary, The Lion’s Mouth Opens, poignantly captures the precarious journey into genetic self-knowledge by Marianna Palka, a 33-year-old filmmaker-actress. She has decided to test for Huntington’s disease (HD), which has been referred to as the “devil of all diseases.” Watching a special preview of this Academy Award-shortlisted film at a meeting of leading HD scientists in February prompted me to relive my family’s struggles with HD, which destroys the brain. During the screening, I cried uncontrollably for a good while. I found consolation in a hug and encouraging words from Marianna. Directed by Lucy Walker, the film explores a harrowing predicament: Researchers have developed a test for HD, but have not yet found a way to halt the progression of

Dog found with muzzle taped shut

  • April 19, 2015
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It’s a heart breaking and painful condition for any animal to be in and it begs to ask the question: who would do this? Caitlyn, a 15-month old Chocolate Staffie mix, was found with black electrical tape wound around her muzzle in North Charleston, South Carolina. The tape was so tight that her tongue was caught between her teeth.

Inside Huntington’s

  • April 19, 2015
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My first year out of college, I worked as a lab technician in a neurobiology lab at Massachusetts General Hospital East researching drug addiction. I was 22 years old in February 1993 when the scientists down the hall began celebrating, puncturing the typically austere bubble of this neuroscience research floor with big emotion. I remember pausing, my pipette hovering ready in hand, waiting for the details of whatever this exciting news was to reach me. I could feel it coming like a wave. The news was monumental. These scientists down the hall had just isolated the genetic mutation that causes Huntington’s disease (HD). I remember the goosebumps on my arms, knowing I was witnessing a historic moment in all of neuroscience. This genetic mutation is the only thing that

Life With HD and a Dog Named Flo

  • April 17, 2015
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After noticing some unusual mental and physical behavior, appointments with and tests by a neurologist, we got the startling diagnosis of Huntington’s Disease (HD) in March 2010. It was an unwelcome surprise, as we were not aware that this genetic brain disease was in her father’s family. Mary’s reaction was, “I don’t want to know that…” but now, five years later, she’s resigned to her fate. I was glad to know what we were dealing with but had no idea that I would spend my retirement as a 24×7 caregiver. We’ve been married 54 years and had plans to continue the world travel that began in Japan after our marriage. But it was not to be. Our new adventure is learning about and managing the symptoms for this

Good Grief

  • April 16, 2015
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Grief is weight – something you bear, a heaviness you learn to carry. Grief is the weight of never. – Ron Marasco – Grief is something none of us can escape yet the topic is rarely discussed because there is no one way we all experience it. Knowing how difficult the subject is Ron Marasco, on the faculty of Loyola Marymount University, began teaching a course on grief and his book, Grief, grew out of his lectures and research. Due to nature of the topic many grieving people feel alone in their pain and there exist no magic pills for relief and even time, although it has an effect, does not eliminate grief, at best it just may put it in perspective after a while. As Ron states: Grief is