Word: stressful
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...throwing things, there is always the potential for skinned knees and maybe a broken bone or two. Over the past few years, however, orthopedic surgeons have begun reporting a disturbing new trend in sports injuries. More and more, they say, they are treating young patients for strains, sprains and stress fractures that arise from overuse of still-developing muscles, bones, tendons and ligaments. In some cases, the damage is permanent, increasing the risk that the kids--some of them as young as 9--will suffer crippling arthritis or require extensive surgery as they get older...
Fitness at such a level takes a significant toll on the body. Physical activity, after all, is a form of stress, and extreme, unrelenting physical stress for days on end can cause permanent damage. That may include structural damage to joints, bones and muscles, as well as less visible but more insidious changes to critical body functions. "It's not a physiologically healthy sport," says trainer and former adventure racer Terri Schneider...
...toll. "There's a disconnect there somewhere," Bunn says, tapping his head. "My highs are real high and my lows are real low. It's like a light switch, my mind." Hoping that other soldiers will seek help, he's open about taking Paxil, an antidepressant, for posttraumatic stress disorder. Loud noises-even test runs of the town's tornado siren-unnerve him. He has deactivated all the alarms in his home and even the seat-belt warnings in his cars. "Get into my car and there's no ding-ding," he says...
...probably said some things I shouldn't have," Bunn says now. He blames his off-kilter speech on a second drug he's taking for his posttraumatic stress disorder, which, he says with a laugh, makes him "a slobbering idiot." Says Bunn: "There was no more hard-core Republican than me until I went to Iraq. I'm against abortion and gay rights, and don't mess with my guns, but I have grown up a lot. When you have spent a year in hell and you have seen the waste of money I have seen ..." He lets the thought...
...eight years ago, when she weighed an even more prodigious 350 lbs. She credits her workouts there not only with getting her weight down but also with some other impressive numbers. Her total cholesterol has dropped from 220 to 180, her blood pressure is good, and a recent cardiac-stress test showed that her heart is healthy. She now takes four or five fitness classes a week and teaches two or three herself. "Before I started exercising, I couldn't walk 10 yards without huffing and puffing," she says. "My mother's 80-year-old friends with bad knees were...