As a young adult, I taught multiple fitness classes and played recreational soccer.  At that time in my life that much physical activity was not only desired, it was a great way to expend my abundant energy.  As I’ve aged, I’ve noticed shifts in my physical activity levels and preferences. You may have noticed that, […]

Poetry is so much more than a pastime; poetry is a necessary force–one of immense capability, a valuable emotional resource and vital political tool in this world. National Poetry Month is not just for poets and avid poet readers, but for all to recognize the beauty and importance of this art. Here are a few […]

Our great literary lights are very often, shall we say, “lacking in superfluous vigor”? So many have been indoorsy, reclusive navel-gazers, with biceps as thin as their pencils and a severe tendency to dwell in their fevered imaginations. Nobody would mistake Charles Dickens for an outdoorsman or Herman Melville for a great party guest. Stephen […]

On its face, nostalgia isn’t always a bad thing. It can be comforting, the dwelling on people, events, and things in the past, a mental bubble bath that we can slip into with a content smile. Some researchers even believe in the powerful psychological benefits of nostalgia. Hell, the foundation of the Trump campaign and […]

I’ve always loved looking at paintings and wondering what was going on in the artist’s mind. What kind of message they wanted to convey. Sometimes it’s simple. A park, some trees, lovely day. But when you get into abstract art, it gets a little trickier. It’s definitely an acquired taste. I personally enjoy the room […]

There’s a very strong connection between cardiovascular health—the health of your heart and circulatory system—and the health of your brain, so it makes sense that a longitudinal study of women indicated that those with the highest levels of cardiovascular fitness had an 88% lower risk for dementia. About 5.4 million people in the United States […]

Like sipping a cold microbrew in the cheap seats at Coors Field, I can still taste the success of last year’s Colorado Rockies.  With a 87-75 record and our first playoff game in almost ten years, Spring couldn’t come soon enough.  I doubted the Monfort family, I didn’t want to “trust the process”, but the […]

Serendipity strikes when you least expect it. I haven’t talked much about my “muggle” job in these columns because it’s far less interesting than my “unicorn” life. I do laboratory diagnostics for an acute care hospital. It’s a critically important job, it’s more complicated than you might think, and it has the potential to be […]

I’m writing this on Saturday, March 24. A day earlier, President Donald Trump signed a $1.3 trillion spending package into law. He almost didn’t sign it, and as usual, a bunch of drama started with a tweet. After serious negotiations between Republicans and Democrats to avoid the third government shutdown this year, an omnibus spending […]

If you have ever been injured, you probably heard that you should employ RICE – rest, ice, compression and elevation—to speed recovery.  You may have taken ibuprofen or another anti-inflammatory medication to relieve pain and speed healing. New research suggests we shouldn’t be using ice or NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) to recover from many injuries. […]