William Defreitas, left, works out with trainer Craig Marks, who uses boxing techniques as therapy for people with Parkinson’s. Defreitas, who developed Parkinson’s six years ago says the workouts help him with strength and balance.

By Johnny Diaz

“Right uppercut! Harder, harder, harder!” At T3 Health and Fitness in Cooper City, Florida, physical therapist Craig Marks barks instructions as he spars with William Defreitas, who swings wildly and charges forward with more jabs.
There’s an invisible opponent here: Parkinson’s disease.
Marks mixes boxing techniques into his training sessions for people with Parkinson’s disease, the neurological brain disorder affecting about 1.5mn people in the United States. It’s a concept that has been catching on in recent years, with former boxers and gym trainers throughout the US launching programmes to help Parkinson’s patients looking to benefit from the pow-pow-pow, high-cardio regimen.
“Exercise at high levels can start to stimulate and produce low levels of dopamine, which is lost with Parkinson’s,” Marks said.
“I won’t hit them, but they might hit me,” added Marks, jokingly, as he continued blocking jabs during the recent morning session with Defreitas.
Parkinson’s patients, typically diagnosed at age 60 or 70, take various medications to slow the march of the disease, which occurs when brain cells that produce dopamine begin to die off. People then begin to lose co-ordination, balance and muscle control, leading to rigid muscles and tremors that can cause loss of independence and, sometimes, depression.
For Marks, the sparring sessions began as a personal journey. His late father, Harold Marks, struggled with Parkinson’s in his 60s.
“One day I went to see my dad and he was down, feeling sorry for himself. I went to my car and grabbed my (boxing) gear pads and a light bulb went off in my head. I told him, ‘Hit the gloves. Come on.’ I started insulting him,” Marks recalled.
“He got angry, stepped forward and started hitting me and running around the room. He was reacting. His adrenaline shot up.”
At the time, Marks thought his father’s physical therapy, which involved stacking multi-coloured cones, wasn’t working. So he began looking into how boxing might help.
Dr Carlos Singer, a neurologist, said any regular exercise, whether high or low impact, can help increase levels of substance in the bloodstream that has to do with nerve cell growth.
Although he hadn’t heard of boxing therapy, he noted that exercise — whether it’s walking, dancing or shadow boxing — can improve a Parkinson’s patient’s gait, stamina, energy level and overall quality of life.
“It’s a dose of exercise,” said Singer, director of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine’s Center for Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorder Center. “There are a number of studies that are showing that exercise improves functioning with Parkinson’s disease. We advise our patients to get involved with regular exercise.”
Of course, one wouldn’t want to be punched in the head like professional boxers, who have been known to suffer from Parkinson’s after years of the sport.
“If you can punch a bag, shadow box or spar, then it should be OK,” Singer added.
Marks trains one-on-one with his clients in a small warehouse-type setting inside an office park. His demeanour: friendly but tough.
Students say the sessions help with flexibility, improve hand-eye co-ordination and strength building and lift their self-confidence. The workouts also help patients release their frustrations and anger associated with the condition, which doesn’t have a cure and can make simple tasks such as buttoning a shirt or picking up a glass difficult.
Lisa McFarland, of Pembroke Pines, has been training with Marks for four years and said the intense workout helps her manage her tremors better.
When she’s boxing, “you’re having to multi-task in your head with everything that is going on. It’s a little harder than running on a treadmill or doing situps,” said McFarland, 53, who was diagnosed 11 years ago. “There are a lot of things that have to go on at the same time.
“With Craig, he will say, ‘Give me a left-right-left.’ And if you don’t duck, he is swinging. You are still trying to think of what the third punch is.”
To warm up, Marks has patients run up and down stairs or jog outside. They also use their abs to balance themselves as they move small platforms or risers from side to side. Defreitas was diagnosed with Parkinson’s six years ago at age 42. “At first I didn’t think I had Parkinson’s because of my age,” he said. “When I would read the newspaper, my left arm would shake.”
The pressure-cleaning business owner said the classes help loosen up his stiff muscles. The disease mostly affects his left side, causing him to drag his leg or walk slowly. He speaks in a low voice, another symptom of the condition.
After an hour of punching and kicking a bag, a sweaty Defreitas, who had arrived this morning moving cautiously, seemed invigorated.
“I feel great,” he said toward the end of his session, ready for another round. — Sun Sentinel/MCT




How to de-clutter
your living space …

By Alva Carpenter


I am always telling my children that you cannot be organised in life if you are not organised in your own personal space: which generally means, “Please tidy your room.”
We all have a wonderful opportunity to make a fresh start and renew our commitment to our priorities before the hot summer comes and we have less energy. But in order to move forward and get things done it is important to start from an organised and efficient base.
Studies show that de-cluttering is not only good for your home but it is also good for you on an emotional level.  
Too much paraphernalia can create confusion, and confusion leads to lack of decision. Keeping hold of old papers, magazines, electronics and old clothes you no longer need can hold you back from moving on to the future. Being disorganised means you are unready to take the opportunities that life offers: while being organised in your own personal space means you are ready for whatever the future holds.
It is all too easy to collect lots of possessions that take up time because they need organising, keeping clean and looking after. The more possessions you have the more time you spend tidying them up.

Quotes on possessions
All my possessions for a moment of time.
— Queen Elizabeth I
Less is more.
— Poet Robert Browning.

Clear you mind by clearing clutter
Too much clutter can make it difficult to be organised and if you are not organised in your personal space or home it probably means too that you are not organised in your mind. The best way to de-clutter is to start with your bedroom and bathroom and have a good clear out. This makes it so much easier to keep the home clean and tidy.
Possessions can be anchors to the past and too many can cause us to look back rather than forward: although I must admit to keeping a chest full of family mementoes from my childhood.  
If it is a family heirloom, keep it. It is an important memory to your family! Other things that don’t mean much to you, you could throw out. If you really have too much clutter in your house and you cannot part with it then think about putting some of it into storage.
Clutter is a recognised symptom and cause of stress and can be overwhelming.

Teaching the young to be organised
The world order is changing and where there was a time when we could spend, spend, spend and have everything new we now need to look at our spending habits. We also need to teach our children to think before they spend. “Do I really need this?” Teenagers feel pressure to consume and keep up with their friends; but as the world changes the young may not have the same spending power as their parents had.
Children do tend to spend a lot of time in their rooms and can feel overwhelmed by all the clutter; and it can all too easily end up in a mess. It is hard then to expect them to be organised and efficient in their studying if they are living in chaos.
Children and teens often need a hand to get it all organised and to de-clutter and find a space for everything. Teaching them how to get organised and stay organised is a habit which will help them when they live on their own.
Separate clothes into four piles: keep, mend, donate, and throw away.  It may be easier and quicker for them to keep clothes stored by outfit: For example, store shirts and blouses with matching trousers, blazers with skirts, rather than by type. It makes life quicker in the mornings as you do not have to think what goes with which.

Getting started
If you cannot find a place for everything then you have too much stuff. For myself I try to stick to a rule: one-outfit-in, one-outfit-out.  So change starts with you and it is such a lovely feeling when everything has a place.
Once your home and office is organised it is up to you to make a list of where you want to go from here.
 
Benefits of living clutter free
When everything is organised, you’ll feel relaxed.
You’ll have more time for yourself.
Less time looking for things means you make quicker decisions.
A clutter free home attracts less dust.  
You save money because you will know what you have before you buy.
You will achieve more because you will have fewer barriers to success.

Ask Alva
I am worried about my hair as it is very dry and I am losing hair every time I wash it. I am in good health and eat a healthy diet. Is my hair loss connected with the water?
There are many causes of hair loss:
l Desalinated water can damage your hair and cause it to break off.
l Climate – sun can make hair very dry and too much sun will injure hair.
l Stress can lead to unusual hair loss – eg following a major illness.
l Hair has a natural cycle – growing – resting.
l For a fact sheet on desalinated water e-mail me [email protected] or visit the website www.desalinatedwater.info.