ArcaMax

Everything about walking is good for your well-being -- unless you're doing it with a bag of Oreos. It builds strength, reduces your risk of heart disease, juices up your joints, calms your mind and helps you and your cocker spaniel live longer, happier lives.

Some scoff at walking, dismissing it as exercise lite, not cool, maybe even a waste ...Read more

OK, it's just a theory -- like relativity -- but I consider it true: The place where you work out makes a difference. The space, the clutter, the number of windows all have an impact.

Stick yourself in a tiny space, with bad air, negative colors, fluorescent lights and bad things happen. Your workout won't be as pleasant or as effective as ...Read more

As I've mentioned before, breast cancer doesn't just run in my family, it gallops. My grandmother, my mother, my sister, my niece and way too many women I know and love have all been diagnosed, so when I tell you I keep abreast of this subject, you'll know I'm not just punning you.

And here's what I've discovered about the war on breast cancer ...Read more

It can happen in the best of homes. You think you've done everything right as a parent -- good schools, restricted screen time, all-cotton underwear -- and then one day at dinner, your world explodes.

Your kid goes veggie. She stops eating meat. "I've decided on a plant-based diet," little Lindsey explains, turning her nose, knife and fork up ...Read more

Running is still leading the pack as one of the best ways to work out, burn calories, calm your mind and strengthen your heart and lungs.

"It's been my meditation," says my friend Kate, a longtime long-distance runner with reoccurring knee pain. "But I'm hurting in places that never hurt before. I used to go for an hour and a half, but now I'm ...Read more

I opened an email the other day that whipped me right back to the '70s, when New Games were first introduced. Nowadays, New Games are sedentary and small-screen, with names like Dark Souls II and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft. But back in the day of the Human Potential Movement, New Games had playful names like Trust Fall and Human Knot, all ...Read more

Of all the things America worships -- the luxury car, the happy family, the high-paying job -- the flat stomach is one of the hardest to achieve. We know it's possible because look at all those magnificent Olympians -- super-strong, terrifically tight and belly fat-free.

Michael Phelps! Misty May-Treanor! The adorably named Destinee Hooker! ...Read more

These days, most of us have a vague sense that, yes, our bodies and minds are somehow connected. Difficult day? Crushing headache? Reach for the Tylenol.

But when Dr. Candace Pert, a molecular biologist and pharmacologist studying and mapping brain peptides, worked as a research scientist in the early '70s -- the mind-body connection was, well,...Read more

Getting kids to eat their fruits and veggies wasn't a problem when that was all there was to eat. Whatever the family grew outside the cave came to the table, along with the entire family. No child stayed in his room with his headphones, listening to the Naked Brothers Band, and wild celery roots were relished by teens as a reward for good ...Read more

Sleep is the new black. It's trending up, and if you haven't woken up to how essential it is -- for your physical and mental well-being -- that's probably because you're not getting enough of it.

And what is enough? Aim for 8 hours or more a night. WHAT? It was easier before, when humans just naturally rose with the sun and bedded down with the...Read more

This is the time of year I get to kayak on a small wilderness lake in the North Woods of Wisconsin. Think loons, eagles, otters, herons, brats and fried cheese curds.

I love paddling Walter, my well-worn 17-foot Solstice, and not just because it's an inspiring upper body workout. In less than a minute, kayaking transports me into the silence, ...Read more

Vacations make us happy, but when we get back home, the ho-hum takes over. One week, we're bicycling in France, free as a breeze, and the following Tuesday, we're back to carpool and a messy kitchen. Were we ever away? That feeling of fun is buried under loads of emails and a to-do list as long as a barbecue fork.

Do you wish you could prolong ...Read more