5280 Health 2020

We know, we know: It’s never too early to start thinking about retirement. Honestly, though, besides a few dollars disappearing into our 401(k) accounts each payday, we saw leaving behind the 9-to-5 (“How To Retire Well In Colorado,” page 38) as a distant fantasy—some abstract destination. As thirty somethings, that made sense. Then our parents joined the ranks of the willingly unemployed. Society typically views retirement as “The End”—the culmination of one’s usefulness to the greater good. Thank you for your service. Please take this discounted movie ticket as a token of our appreciation. So we watched our folks approach this milestone with a certain amount of trepidation. They had spent decades building meaningful careers in offices and classrooms where they had been important, respected contributors. As such, they could…

DALIAH SINGER Denver journalist Daliah Singer thought she kept a healthy house—until she began writing “Detox Your Home” (page 32). “I went on a cleaning frenzy while reporting this story, throwing everything I could in the washing machine,” Singer says. She’s still working on a way to rid her home of its grossest resident: the kitchen sponge. MICHAEL BYERS Michael Byers strives to produce “fun, dynamic, and emotionally driven” work. So while his illustration for “How To Retire Well In Colorado” (page 38) is a seemingly straightforward collage of the activities older residents can experience here, Byers also used a bit of creative license. “For whimsy,” Byers says, “I added a bear waving hello.” HILARY MASELL OSWALD It’s difficult to be optimistic in the face of Colorado’s dejecting behavioral health…

When David Martin, an avid ultramarathoner facing an arduous recuperation from surgery, heard about laser therapy—aka photobiomodulation—he thought it sounded like “something out of Star Trek.” Martin isn’t the first to suggest that its supposed pain-relief properties are more science fiction than fact. But a growing body of evidence indicates that the low-wavelength light both stimulates tissue regeneration (read: recovery) and temporarily disables pain receptors. The latter finding has positioned photobiomodulation as a promising nonaddictive treatment for pain; earlier this year, the federal government issued a $2.7 million grant to encourage nurses in West Virginia to promote the therapy as an alternative to opioids. For his part, Martin says the laser eased his postsurgical discomfort, and in June, he and two partners opened a storefront called Light Lounge in Evergreen…

When it comes to pain and pregnancy, most believe labor is the apex of agony. But women who struggle with infertility might argue the real anguish occurs before they conceive. Erie’s Amy Beckley (pictured) is one of them. After two years of trying to get pregnant and several miscarriages, she and her husband turned to in vitro fertilization (IVF). Although it was costly and invasive, it worked—about a year and nine months after starting IVF, their first son was born. Beckley wanted a second child but knew she couldn’t endure the financial, physical, and emotional tolls of IVF again. In her search for other solutions, Beckley, who has a Ph.D. in pharmacology, wondered if her levels of progesterone, an obscure hormone released after ovulation that’s integral to reproduction, might be…

We all know American kids are spending too much time in front of screens—an average of six hours per day for eight- to 12-year-olds—but replacing smartphone games with outdoor experiences isn’t just about getting kids moving. “Risky play,” a type of physical activity youngsters crave (think: climbing trees, hide-and-seek), is a crucial part of physical and cognitive development. Enter Adventure Forest, a 500-foot-long aerial adventure course that opened at the Children’s Museum of Denver at Marsico Campus this past June and is designed to (safely) encourage this sort of free play. “It’s about doing things at height or speed where there’s perceived danger or feeling lost and having to find your way,” Adventure Forest coordinator Karyn Perdue says. Here, we outline the ways the course’s various features help make your…

As I found myself skidding face-first down a blue run this past March, I was thinking more about injuries to my pride than to my body. But days after my shame from showboating—and then crossing my skis—had faded, I still couldn’t move my left arm. My sports medicine doctor believed I had ripped the supraspinatus muscle in my rotator cuff and wanted an MRI done to confirm her diagnosis—the sooner, the better. If I needed surgery, the outcome would be greatly improved if we moved quickly. I scheduled an MRI for the following week, but the day before, the provider called to tell me the appointment had been canceled because my insurance company had deemed it unnecessary; it wanted a less expensive X-ray first. I called to arrange the X-ray…