Unlike some group fitness classes where you can daydream while you work out, the classes at the new Sandbox Fitness in the Beverly Grove neighborhood of L.A. require your full attention. That's because in most cases you exercise while balancing on a wobbling, elevated surfboard in an indoor sandbox....
After Ronald Reagan became America's most recognizable Alzheimer's patient, well-meaning friends, relatives and even strangers would routinely stop his daughter, Patti Davis, to ask: "How is he doing?" Only occasionally would someone ask, "And how are you doing?" It's understandable, of course,...
Love that cup of joe? It's OK to indulge — new science shows that black coffee has excellent benefits, including: 1. Lowering your disease risk. A Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health study published in the American Heart Assn. journal Circulation found that drinking as many as four cups of...
He's a celebrity fitness trainer to Kate Upton, and Jennifer Lopez wrote the foreword to his new book, "Ultimate Family Wellness: The No-Excuses Program For Diet, Fitness and Lifelong Health." And David Kirsch is also a single parent of twin 6 1/2-year-old girls. His book doesn't just speak to...
For Julie Hadduck, a smartphone app that could diagnose cancer seemed like a miracle. Her husband died of skin cancer in 2010. She worried that her three children could also be at risk, so she took them to a dermatologist twice a year. When Hadduck photographed one of her daughter's moles, the...
Is it Pilates? Yoga? Martial arts, meditation? In-Trinity, the latest creation of Spinning inventor Jonathan "Johnny G" Goldberg, is a unique blend of all-body stretching, strengthening and balancing exercises that you do while seated, lying, leaning and standing on an hourglass-shaped slant board....
Scottish lads in the 18th century were, by necessity, strong and fit. But they didn't look like modern-day bodybuilders. Sam Heughan does, and "Outlander" fans don't seem to mind. The star spends plenty of screen time shirtless as the Highlands warrior Jamie Fraser on the Starz show, which starts...
We Angelenos are led to believe that we don't walk much. Perhaps the exceptions prove that rule, and there we were, our group of comfy-shoe-clad, sun-hat-wearing, day-pack-carrying pedestrians. ¶ No matter, we were about to take off and walk the entire length of Wilshire Boulevard. The Sierra Club...
Why would a middle-aged man run as fast as he can and fling himself headfirst across a grassy field with an arm outstretched like Superman trying to intercept a flying object — knowing full well that he'll feel the repercussions of the ensuing crash landing for the next week? It's obvious: Because...
From 1924 to 1936, tens of thousands of fans filled the stands at New Ascot Speedway near Ascot Hills Park, just minutes outside downtown Los Angeles. Now the 93 acres of hillside above the long-gone El Sereno racetrack are a quiet refuge for walkers and their dogs. Start this walk in the first...
Let's say you're trying to avoid sugar. And you're at work one morning, when someone puts out that irresistible pink box of doughnuts. (Or a bowl of chips, or whatever your weakness may be.) It's a common scenario — and likely pitfall — for anyone who is trying to eat healthier. Here's an uncommon...
Los Angeles is filled with B12 devotees who swear by injections (or lozenges, sprays or vitamins) of the vitamin. We asked experts whether B12 supplements live up to the hype: Who needs it? "B12 is essential for everyone," says Dr. Zhaoping Li, director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the...
This is how busy and harried we are at work, home and all places in between: A new boutique studio in Los Angeles offers busy Angelenos a place to do nothing but … meditate. Like so many entrepreneurs, Tal Rabinowitz was emboldened by the fact that she couldn't find what she needed — and went ahead...
Meditating can take some getting used to: the stillness, learning how to breathe, keeping all those extraneous thoughts at bay … These products might make the practice easier and more enjoyable, while helping to enhance its known benefits. Focusing on a mantra, chant or even a single word can be...
You know Tiffani Thiessen from "Saved by the Bell," "Beverly Hills, 90210" and "White Collar." These days, she is hanging out in a new locale: the set for her Cooking Channel show. Now in its second season, "Dinner at Tiffani's" finds Thiessen, 42, wearing an apron and preparing food with family,...
You exercise, don't overeat, maybe you've even tried going gluten-, flour-, sugar- or meat-free — but you still can't drop the extra pounds. A study published earlier this year in the journal Sleep joins mounting research suggesting that the reason for the extra weight might be a lack of sleep....
Fall asleep easier, wake up refreshed. That's the idea behind the pricey Aura Connected Alarm Clock ($190, www.withings.com), a touch-sensitive bedside lamp that also functions as a radio/alarm clock. Its maker says it offers science, not magic, to facilitate a better night's sleep. The secret?...
Your cellphone is mostly your enemy when it comes to sleep. But that clever little device can also hold apps designed to send you into dreamland — or at least let you know just how much good sleep you're getting. And many of us can use some help. The National Sleep Foundation found that 43% of...
If you have a teenage child, you know that he or she usually has no trouble sleeping. The challenge is waking your teen up. He or she might benefit from the Amplifyze TCL Pulse, a wireless bed shaker and timer that connects an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad via Bluetooth to the Pulse device, which...
When fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad walks into the stadium for the opening ceremonies of the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, people will take notice. Ibtihaj, an observant Muslim, will be the first U.S. athlete to compete while adhering to hijab, the Koranic principle of modesty. Until recently,...
Hiking the Grand Canyon was not on my bucket list. A marathon, yes. Bike 200 miles in a day, yes. Ironman triathlon, absolutely. But for some reason, a mere day hike, even in one of the world's most spectacular natural wonders, was never on my radar. I'd been to the Grand Canyon several times as...
In the age of Snapchat, Tinder and texting, it shouldn't be surprising that permanence isn't a strong suit for many of us. "Throwaway culture can include relationships," says Omri Gillath, an associate professor in the University of Kansas' psychology department. Gillath and Lucas Keefer of the...
An alert popped up on Dr. Sam Kim's smartphone: a 7-year-old with a cough. Would you be comfortable seeing this patient? Kim clicked yes and hopped in his car on a recent Saturday morning. Black bag in hand, white coat donned, he knocked on the door of a home on a tree-lined street in La Canada...
It's just about 100 days until the official start of summer. That means if you start dieting now and you lose a modest 2 pounds a week, you can hit the sand about 30 pounds lighter. Or maybe your goals have nothing to do with weight loss but instead achieving peak performance so you can crush your...
Some of the world's most influential architects have designed homes for Pasadena residents. Charles and Henry Greene created the Gamble House for David and Mary Gamble in 1908, and Frank Lloyd Wright designed his first textile concrete block house, La Miniatura, for Alice Willard in 1923. But what...
Grab your hoops: Hoopurbia — billed as the world's first ever urban hula hooping festival — is coming to Los Angeles. The weeklong event starts March 14 at locations including Echo Park, downtown Los Angeles and Venice: It's designed for people who want to dive into the hot hula hooping trend,...
Wake up, sleepyhead! This weekend is the beginning of daylight saving time, you know, the first part in "spring forward, fall back." So that means we lose an hour of dreamy weekend slumber when clocks are set to jump forward an hour early Sunday morning. And that can be problematic for many. "Some...
A regular on both the red carpet and magazine covers, Kate Hudson, 36, is a fashion icon and fitness role model who believes that looking good and feeling good should go hand in hand. So, when she is asked, "What do you eat?" or "How do you work out?," she steers clear of quick fixes such as diets...
Come in for a coffee or wheatgrass shot, walk out with an organic body scrub, lavender sleep aid or the latest diet book. Artisanal coffeehouses, juice bars and "conscious" restaurants are increasingly morphing into mini emporiums of all things healthful and wholesome, be they T-shirts made from...
What used to be rather grimly called "sensory deprivation" or "isolation" therapy has resurfaced as the far more appealing "flotation therapy": Those in need of some de-stressing and mental relaxation can bob about, alone, in an enclosed tub filled with enough salt water to keep them gently suspended...
Jessica Alba is a one busy woman. The Golden Globe-nominated actress is co-founder of the Honest Co., a billion-dollar personal care and home goods business. She recently launched Honest Beauty, a collection of skin care and beauty products. We're more than a little curious about how she juggles...
It's that time of year again — the time for sore throats and sniffles, body aches and fevers. It's also the time for throat lozenges, hot tea with lemon, chicken soup and long naps. But what about sweating it out? What's a fitness fanatic to do when the gym emits its siren call? Will some perspiration...
Are you a screen zombie? Are you fighting with your significant other, your teenager, your parents, your best friend — even with yourself — about how much time your digital device is distracting you from real, as opposed to virtual, life? Or maybe you're so buried in your screen that you don't...
For years scientists have warned that climate change will cause melting ice caps, rising sea levels and severe droughts and floods. But global warming's effects can also be far more personal, seriously harming human health. Most recently, the mosquitoes that can transmit the Zika virus, once found...
The Oscars are here, and that means celebs have long been prepping for the red carpet and all of the head-to-toe, 360-degree scrutiny that comes with it. How do they do it? Here are some of the workouts favored by people who must look good for a living: HULA HOOPING Celebs who've tried it: Oscar...
Lithe bodies reaching toward the heavens doing sun salutations on a helipad overlooking the Hollywood sign as the morning sun streams over the Capitol Records building. Chiseled bodies "visualizing" success and calling out affirmations in a spin class overlooking picturesque palm trees and the...
This San Dimas stroll will be too far afield for some folks, but Bonelli Park is a great place to take a long, flat walk by a large body of water that isn't the ocean. 1. Find your way to the back side of Brackett Field Airport, at the large parking lot at 1615 McKinley Ave. After admiring quaint...
Country music star Clay Walker hails from Texas, a state that loves its football. As a kid, when he wasn't playing quarterback he was on the basketball court or exploring the outdoors with his cousins. Always into fitness, he was shooting hoops back in 1996 when he discovered something was terribly...
Under a law expected to go into effect by April, women in California will be able to stop by their neighborhood pharmacy and buy birth control pills without a prescription. Proponents argue that easing women's access to birth control will reduce unintended pregnancies, which make up as many as...
You might remember Julie Weiss from the last time we wrote about her, in 2013, when she was celebrating running her 52nd marathon … in 52 weeks. Well, since we left her, she's kept on running. And now, Weiss, 45, of Santa Monica, is about to mark the running of her 100th marathon at Sunday's Los...
For the typical Californian, the idea of running in Alaska during winter seems ludicrous. Add to that the challenge of traveling 100 miles on foot while pulling a sled full of gear with a 48-hour time limit and you've crossed the line into straitjacket and padded cell territory. In many ways, 36-year-old...
Splurging on a massage is awesome. But so is giving one — at home. Here are six pro tips for getting it right: 1. Go slow. "Most couples rush intimacy in their day-to-day lives," says L.A.-based clinical psychologist and certified sex therapist Shannon Chavez. "Setting time aside to give one another...
Feeling uninspired by the gift-a-box-of-chocolates, send-a-dozen-roses, make-a-pricey-dinner-reservation Valentine's Day ritual? If so, a couple's massage may be an optimal choice. Most couples are touch-deprived, says L.A.-based clinical psychologist and certified sex therapist Shannon Chavez....
Want to rev up passion and romance with your date? Whether you're newly matched or you've been married for years, adrenaline-boosting adventures can ignite or rekindle your relationship. You see this strategy on reality TV shows like the "The Bachelor" and "The Bachelorette" — couples go bungee...
According to one survey, nearly 85% of respondents said having sex was an important part of Valentine's Day. That's a lot of pressure. "We live in a country where sex ruts are epidemic," says licensed psychotherapist and sexuality counselor Ian Kerner. "Some estimate that nearly 40 million Americans...
There's no need to break the bank on Valentine's Day. Here are 12 ways to celebrate that are free (or pretty close to it), as recommended by noted couples therapist Lonnie Barbach and her new app, happycoupleapp.com. "Valentine's Day falls on a Sunday this year, so there is the possibility for...
We’ve all heard it before: Too many Americans, more than one out of three, are obese, making them more likely to suffer from diabetes, stroke and heart disease. But what can be done about a problem that’s so deeply ingrained in our culture? What people eat comes down to a complicated mix of preferences,...