Lifestyle

IF THE ROAD to hell is paved with good intentions, the road back to fitness this summer after a long hiatus from our gym routines is a traffic-clogged freeway through perdition. Some trainers say strains, sprains and inflammation are all more likely as we undertake the business of getting fit again. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTSHow have you recovered from workout injuries? Join the conversation below. Luckily, just as we’re tempted to overdo it at the gym, pro-level gadgets that help us recover and prevent painful pulls or tears are increasingly hitting the market at prices that amateur exercise junkies can afford. “Post-workout recovery…not only helps your body reset faster, but also sets you up for a pain-free next session,” said Nike Master Trainer Kirsty Godso. Whether you harbor triathlon...

Menopause changes women’s brains—but many of the changes are temporary, and the brain eventually compensates for some of them, according to new research.In one of the first studies to take an in-depth look at brain changes in healthy women before and after menopause, researchers from Weill Cornell and the University of Arizona found that the menopause transition changes the brain’s structure, energy consumption and connectivity. The volume of the brain’s gray matter—which consists of nerve cells—decreases, as does its white matter, which contains the fibers that connect nerve cells. Brain regions associated with memory and perception also showed declining glucose levels, the study found. But the findings contained some good news: Women’s brains at least partly compensate for these declines...

Nick Clement, 78, spent the last 10 years caring for his wife, Lucy, who had a progressive dementia called Lewy body as well as Alzheimer’s.As her condition worsened, his two daughters worried about the toll it was taking on their dad and wanted him to get more in-home help and consider long-term care.“It was a very delicate house of cards,” says his daughter, Jennifer Lowe, 55. But Nick wanted to take care of Lucy himself. “I feel that is my obligation. You take those marriage vows seriously. For better or for worse. In sickness and in health.” The family learned much along their decade-long caregiving journey, about setting up trusts, getting help in the home and respecting each other’s decisions. They think about a few things they would have done differently. And they found that caregiv...

Sarah Vanunu started a new job three weeks ago at MyHeritage, an online genealogy platform based in Or Yehuda, Israel, and thanks to Israel’s speedy vaccine rollout, she has been eligible for in-person work since she began. But she only goes in on Mondays and Wednesdays and leaves nothing on her assigned desk in between, since different people work there the other days of the week.“It’s so funny to start a new job and not meet everyone up front,” she says. “I still don’t know half of my colleagues.” MyHeritage, which employs about 400 people in Israel, is still operating at reduced capacity due to Covid restrictions. Ms. Vanunu, who directs the company’s public relations, comes to work with just a laptop and mouse. There’s a completely clean desk waiting for her there, with nothing on it b...

When Jateria Pittman took her first international trip for a study-abroad program seven years ago, she was on a path to a corporate career in the mortgage industry.Then a marketing major in her senior year at Appalachian State University, Ms. Pittman, the first person in her family to attend college, qualified for a six-month study-abroad program in Johannesburg. Initially, she wasn’t sure she should go, telling herself to “just sit down and be grateful” for making it into college. But ultimately, Ms. Pittman decided to go to Johannesburg, rationalizing that it would be an important part of her college education. The experience was life-changing. Ms. Pittman, in Dubai in 2018, says she expects her business to grow as travel resumes following Covid lockdowns. Photo: Jateria Pitt...

I’ve got a new buddy.She’s a banyan tree.I met her while walking my dog. She has two enormous limbs that reach out like welcoming arms. And there’s a small bench next to her. One day I sat down. I was worried that afternoon about an ill family member, and as I stared at her gnarled trunk, I thought of all this tree has survived. I watched the light filter through her canopy and listened to a squirrel chatter on a branch. And I felt better. Now I visit her often. Sometimes, I compliment her—“Looking good, baby!”—pat her trunk or share my water. But occasionally, on hard days, I sit down on the ground next to her, put a hand on one of her massive roots and soak in her strength. We could all use a steady, strong friend right now. We’re emotionally rocky crawling out of the pandemic—gripped b...

Marc Vernon, 57, of Naperville, Ill., creator and host of the Car Guys Report podcast, on his 1980 Saab 96 Jubileum, as told to A.J. Baime. I got into Saabs when I was in high school. I just loved the shape of the Saab 96. Some people say that the 96 is the car that put Saab on the map internationally. It debuted in 1960, and was the first Saab imported into the U.S. in any numbers. It also built Saab a reputation for rally racing victories. Built in Sweden, the 96 first caught on in the U.S. because it was great in the snow—front-wheel drive, good heater. Saab was small and never had any huge budget, so the company kept building the 96 for 20 years. I bought my first 96 after my freshman year in college, and up to about 2014 I had owned 10 Saabs. Still, I had not owned a 96 since the 198...

New York One enters Cooper Hewitt’s exhibition “Willi Smith: Street Couture” through a small triangular space painted white. On the wall to the left is a timeline that begins in 1948, when Willi Smith, an African-American, is born in Philadelphia. He arrives in New York in 1965, to study at the Parsons School of Design, and works for various brands from 1968 to 1976—the year he and Laurie Mallet form WilliWear. By 1982, Smith has hit his stride. The creative and collaborative achievements of every consecutive year grow richer and more financially successful, until 1987, when it’s all cut short with the words “Smith dies at Mount Sinai Hospital on April 17 from AIDS-related complications.” He was 39 years old.

Some families stayed in touch during the pandemic with Zoom happy hours. Theresa Schubert connected with her five children and extended family through a 12-week virtual fitness challenge. “We live across the country but would post our daily workouts on a thread for motivation and accountability,” says Ms. Schubert, a 49-year-old high-school student-activities coordinator in Honolulu. Some of her children, who range between ages 15 and 26, live with her, while others are farther away. Ms. Schubert was inspired to see her three eldest girls carving out time for fitness. Her twenty-six-year-old twin daughters, Mahina Choy-Ellis and Taimane Kini, were running businesses; Ms. Kini also was raising a family. And Tenielle Ellis, 20, was taking college classes virtually in New York. “I told mysel...