Healthy Lifestyle

Rachael James is TT’s very own super woman. Born with Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome (MVPS, a heart condition) and emphysema (a progressive lung disease), Rachael has defied the odds. A fitness instructor at a corporate firm, she has found heart and strength through a life of health and fitness. Her first experience with her MVPS occurred in her early 20s, when she had severe heart palpitations, which often led to blackouts brought on by stress and anxiety. “I’ve also endured episodes of my heart rate dropping to a mere 32 beats per minute during my sleep causing loss of oxygen throughout my body, and waking up out of breath and traumatised,” she shares. Her symptoms ranged from blurred vision, chest pains, headaches, and nausea. “When I was first diagnosed with emphysema, my lungs were as aged as an 84-year-olds,” she adds. She says it is her positive mindset and determination despite these health challenges that has given her the strength to live a healthy lifestyle, as w...

End of Dubai Fitness Challenge heralds a new beginning / People exercise on the last day of the Dubai Fitness Challenge, at Festival City. - KT photo by Dhes Handumon Sheikh Hamdan wishes to see Dubai become the most physically active place in the world Let's not stop here but keep the momentum going on: This is the resolution thousands of residents, who turned up for the closing ceremony of the 30x30 Dubai Fitness Challenge, now keep so dear to their heart. When Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, made a challenge before the residents (who were considered not-so-enthusiastic about a routine workout) very few expected it will galvanise the Dubai residents at this proportion. For 30 days, residents have sweated it out for 30 minutes every day, not as a challenge the Dubai Crown Prince has thrown to them, but their duty to adopt fitness as a lifestyle. The Crown Prince's challenge ended on Saturday, but the jour...