Leonardo da Vinci’s legendary struggles to complete projects suggest he may have had attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a British researcher says.

That’s the latest in a series of attempts to understand the genius and work habits of an inventor and artist often considered the most creative person ever known.

Exceptional achievements

The fascination with da Vinci dovetails with the 500th anniversary of his death earlier this month.

In the latest theory, Marco Catani of King’s College London said ADHD may have been a factor in da Vinci’s chronic procrastination as well as his exceptional achievements. Catani’s theory is based on historical accounts of da Vinci’s work habits and behaviour.

“While impossible to make a post-mortem diagnosis for someone who lived 500 years ago, I am confident that ADHD is the most convincing and scientifically plausible hypothesis to explain Leonardo’s difficulty in finishing his works,” said Catani, a professor of forensic and neurodevelopmental science.

“Historical records show Leonardo spent excessive time planning projects but lacked perseverance. ADHD could explain aspects of Leonardo’s temperament and his strange mercurial genius,” Catani explained in a college news release.

Da Vinci was likely dyslexic

The inability to complete tasks was seen in da Vinci from childhood.

The artist was always on the go, often switching from project to project, and he worked around the clock by taking short naps, according to Catani, who specialises in treatment of conditions such as ADHD and autism.

Along with being left-handed, da Vinci was likely dyslexic and to have a dominance for language on the right side of his brain, Catani said. All are common in people with ADHD.

“There is a prevailing misconception that ADHD is typical of misbehaving children with low intelligence, destined for a troubled life,” Catani said. “On the contrary, most of the adults I see in my clinic report having been bright, intuitive children but develop symptoms of anxiety and depression later in life for having failed to achieve their potential.”

Catani said da Vinci considered himself a failure.

Dyslexia does not affect intelligence

“I hope that the case of Leonardo shows that ADHD is not linked to low IQ or lack of creativity but rather the difficulty of capitalising on natural talents,” he said. “I hope that Leonardo’s legacy can help us to change some of the stigma around ADHD.”

The study was outlined in a paper published in the journal Brain.

Earlier this month, Dr Salvatore Mangione, of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, said dyslexia was probably behind da Vinci’s genius. Like ADHD, dyslexia does not affect intelligence, and research suggests people with the condition may be highly creative.

In an article in The American Journal of Medicine, Mangione noted da Vinci was an atrocious speller – a sure sign of dyslexia.

Other recent research suggests da Vinci may have had an eye problem called strabismus, which makes 3D vision impossible. Having 2D vision is associated with dyslexia and skill in visual art, Mangione said.

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It’s a reminder we all could use.

Alison Cameron had a successful nerve stimulation implant after injections and operations failed.

When Cheryl Green’s father-in-law committed suicide a couple of years ago, she fell into depression. This dark space came with many obstacles and Cheryl turned to binge eating as a coping mechanism. “I used to lock myself up in the ladies’ room at work and eat – that was my safe haven and no one could see me there,” she admits. Within 15 months she was 25kg heavier.

On the verge of an emotional breakdown, Cheryl realised that she could either give up entirely – or choose life. Here’s what she did…

Cheryl Green

Age: 38

City: Table View, Cape Town

Occupation: Senior admin clerk

Height: 1.74m

Weight before: 107.1kg

Weight after: 82.8kg

Time taken to lose weight: 9 months

Secret weight-loss weapon: Determination and consistency

The gain

“I used to play sport at school,” Cheryl begins. In high school, she was part of the netball first team and regularly received the Player of the Year Award. But after school Cheryl gave up sport. “I always had excuses not to be active and told myself I don’t have time.” In reality, it was just bad time management.

After the death of Cheryl’s father-in-law, depression sank in its nasty claws. The slight weight issues she’d been struggling with became more of a problem. “As soon as I reached the 95kg mark, I just didn’t care anymore and ate whatever I could get my hands on,” she admits. Her diet consisted mainly of junk food. “I lived on white bread, pasta, potatoes and deep-fried food.”

She’d do anything to avoid exercise. The local supermarket was just 200m from her house, but Cheryl would drive there instead of walking. By July 2016, she was at her wit’s end. Something had to give. “I had two options: end my life or change it for the better.”

READ MORE: “Weight Training Totally Transformed My Body And Mind”

The Change

“In January 2017, my journey to a new healthier me started,” Cheryl says. “I chose not to just live, but to live healthily.” In October, she got back into running. “I dusted off my trainers for the first time in 20 years and went running around the block,” she continues.

But things didn’t go as planned… “I ended up on crutches due to the weight on my knees. I was diagnosed with arthritis and low bone density. The specialist told me if I didn’t start living a healthy lifestyle, I’d be facing a wheelchair by 40.” It was this shock to the system that launched the real lifestyle change.

“I forced myself to join a gym,” Cheryl says, a place she’d never been inside before. She began training five times a week, focusing on cardio. “I had to adjust my eating habits and started concentrating on calorie intake,” she continues.

From binging at night and skipping breakfast, she forced herself to sit down in the morning and eat a healthy meal. “I had to cut bread out of my diet, which was like a death sentence. And from never drinking water, I was forced to drink at least eight glasses a day!” It wasn’t easy, but two months later, the same people who had laughed at her in the gym were asking what her secret was…

READ MORE: “This Is How Running Helped Me Lose Over 30 Kilos”

The lifestyle

Cheryl runs three times a week at her running club under the supervision of a coach. Alongside this, she trains twice a week at the gym: 45 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of weight training.

“Most weekends I run a race, between 10 and 21km,” she says. Getting back into running was a gradual process that started with treadmill walking. As her confidence grew, she moved outdoors. “Every week I gradually increased my running distance and minimised my walking distance.” Cheryl has completed 32 races to date, and two have been marathons!

“Once a week I allow myself a cheat meal, especially after a running event,” she says. “[But] counting calories has become part of my daily routine,” she adds. “I eat at least five times a day – small healthy meals – and I don’t eat later than 6pm.”

READ MORE: “This Was My Secret Weapon For Losing Over 115 Kilos”

The rewards

“The biggest reward was winning my life back,” Cheryl says. “I started to fall in love with myself again.” Cheryl has dropped four dress sizes and become an optimist, which has affected so many aspects of her life, including her relationship with her husband and kids. And she’s building new memories: “I can do activities with my children which I never thought were possible, like jumping on a trampoline with my daughter and crossing a finish line with my son.”

Cheryl’s tips

Always believe in yourself. “Start off with transforming your mind and your body will follow.”

Set yourself a goal. “Start off with one small goal, and once you’ve reached it, make another one, this time a bit bigger. Continue until you reach your ultimate goal.”

Do what you like. “Don’t force yourself to start off with an exercise you hate. If you like walking along the beach, so be it. If you like swimming, then start there. Exercise must be fun at the end of the day, not a punishment.”

^{This article was originally published on www.womenshealthsa.co.za}

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Cally Silberbauer

Until a Tampax commercial in 1985, the word “period” had never been uttered on television.

Menstrual hygiene needs were often left unaddressed in the past, but a lot of progress has been made in recent times – to the extent that it was recently labelled an urgent Human Rights issue.

In her TEDx Talk, social entrepreneur and activist Nadya Okamoto spoke about the taboo surrounding the topic of menstruation as “hindering global development”. There needs to be less discomfort around this “hush topic”, so that women around the world can feel free to demand that their natural needs be addressed.

On the positive side, modern technology has made dealing with the inconvenience of periods a lot easier. Tampons might be an irritation, but they’re much more convenient than the following five products, which we’re so glad are a thing of the past.

Medieval menstruation: Moss

Sphagnum cymbifolium, a common type of bog moss, was typically found throughout medieval England and is highly absorbent. Although primarily used as first aid for men on the battlefield, it also came in handy to disguise Aunt Flo’s arrival. Women would stuff these plants in their underwear. After all, it was practical and free – but not exactly sanitary. 

1850s: Sanitary aprons

These were rubber shields that covered women’s behinds, supported by shoulder straps. The main aim of this invention was the prevention of period staining, but strangely enough, they weren’t absorbent. They were advertised in catalogues as giving people who wore it “comfort”, “satisfaction” and “the perfect fit”. Associate professor of History at Purdue University, Sharra Vostral, told Women’s Health: “They were heavy and stinky. It could not have been comfortable.”

1800s: From rags to pads

The very first disposable sanitary napkin was invented in America during the 1800s, but because the topic was highly stigmatised, most people never got to hear of it. Many women resorted to homemade cloth pads made out of flannel or woven cloth – essentially “rags”. These cloths were washed over and over, didn’t prevent stains on clothing, and often led to infections. 

Early 20th century: Cellucotton

Fast forward to the First World War, nurses discovered a material called cellucotton. Initially created to absorb blood from wounded soldiers, cellucotton was more effective than cloth pads, but with no adhesive strips, it still tended to be messy. This material became the inspiration behind Kotex’s first successful disposable pad. 

Late 1920s: Sanitary belts

Before the stick-on pad was invented in the 1970s, an elastic belt around the waist was used to hold pads in place. It was, however, quite painful – it dug between the butt cheeks, caused irritation and chafed the skin raw, as someone on a Yahoo! answer thread recalls. 

Here are some tips by Kotex’s Health Expert Dr Nokukhanya Khanyile on menstrual hygiene:

• Stick to clean and hygienic menstrual management products that are highly absorbent or collect menstrual blood, such as pads, tampons and the menstrual cup.
• Avoid vaginal douching, which is washing the vagina with a chemical mixture, but do clean “down under” with water.
• Ensure you have the privacy to change your period product when necessary. Wearing it too long can result in overgrowth of bacteria or fungi, leading to smelly discharges, not to mention discomfort and soiled clothing.

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Jeff and Melanie Baldwin were hanging a picture in the dining room of their Las Vegas home when Melanie collapsed.

Jeff grabbed his phone and dialled 911. Preparing for the ambulance to arrive, he closed the bedroom doors to keep their four cats in, unlocked the front door and talked to the dispatcher while giving Melanie CPR that he had learned as a safety manager.

Multiple serious problems

“If he’d been upstairs, it would have been all over,” she said.

Melanie is no stranger to heart trouble. At the time of her cardiac arrest in 2013, she’d had five open-heart surgeries.

“I’m kind of an overachiever,” she said.

As an infant, Melanie looked like a blue-and-pink checkerboard. Doctors knew something was wrong with her heart. They operated when she was three and discovered multiple serious problems.

Melanie was born with a condition called aortic stenosis. Her aortic valve had two flaps, not the normal three, and instead of being thin and flexible, they were so thick and stiff that she had only a pinhole for blood to flow through. Her heart had to work harder, leading to an enlarged heart. She had another operation at seven.

“I never played sports. I never ran, never did anything strenuous as a child,” she said.

A pig valve

Melanie was 19 when doctors replaced her aortic valve with a mechanical one. When she got pregnant at 25, she developed a blood clot despite being on blood thinners. She had to have open-heart surgery while 26 weeks pregnant.

“I thought they both might die,” said her mother, Carol Payne.

Surgeons removed Melanie’s mechanical valve and replaced it with a pig valve, which meant no more blood thinners. Three months later, she gave birth to her daughter, Kate.

A decade later, surgeons replaced Melanie’s pig valve with a titanium valve that is good for 60 years. They also inserted a pacemaker to help her heart pump more efficiently.

“The minute they put it in, I felt so much better,” she said.

Doctors suspect Melanie’s cardiac arrest on Father’s Day weekend in 2013 was caused by an abscessed tooth, which may have led to a heart infection.

Melanie’s rescue proved to be quite dramatic. She was defibrillated eight times before her heart got to a sustainable rhythm. It took 45 minutes, long enough that doctors in the emergency room were prepared to declare a time of death.

Implantable cardioverter defibrillator

Melanie spent 10 days in the hospital, part of the time with her body chilled to reduce possible brain damage and a breathing tube inserted down her throat.

“Immediately when they took the tube out, she became conscious and you could tell she was going to be fine,” Carol said.

A short time later, Melanie received an implantable cardioverter defibrillator. The device can shock her heart back into rhythm if needed. One afternoon in 2016, it saved her life.

Melanie’s sense of humour is one of the things that helped her persevere.

“It’s the only thing I’ve got that they can’t take away from me,” she said. “My main point of view in this is the only thing you can control is your attitude.”

It is a message the 54-year-old delivers when sharing her story as a volunteer for the American Heart Association.

“It’s my little way of giving back,” she said.

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Julia Hartley-Brewer’s invitation to speak at a conference was rescinded after doctors complained.

As reported by The Guardian, professor of behavioral science Paul Dolan said on Saturday that while “married people are happier than other population subgroups,” that only applies to “when their spouse is in the room when they’re asked how happy they are.”

“When the spouse is not present: f—ing miserable,” added Dolan, who teaches at the London School of Economics, adding, “The healthiest and happiest population subgroup are women who never married or had children.”

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RELATED: Penélope Cruz: “We’re All Superwomen — Those of Us Who Have Children and Those of Us Who Don’t”

Dolan’s comments come shortly after the release of his book Happy Ever After: Escaping the Myths of the Perfect Life which, according to The Guardian, reflects on data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS) that polled different types of people — single, married, separates, divorced and widowed — to compare happiness levels.

Interestingly, the opposite was true for men — meaning they seemed to get more of a benefit from marriage than women because, as Dolan explained, they “calmed down” after tying the knot.

“You take less risks, you earn more money at work and you live a little longer,” he said. “She, on the other hand, has to put up with that, and dies sooner than if she never married.”

RELATED VIDEO: Oprah Winfrey Reveals Why She Didn’t Want Children

“We do have some good longitudinal data following the same people over time, but I am going to do a massive disservice to that science and just say: If you’re a man, you should probably get married; if you’re a woman, don’t bother,” Dolan added.

Middle-aged women who were married also saw an uptick in potential mental and physical ailments, he said, according to The Guardian.

And Dolan is championing the results: “You see a single woman of 40, who has never had children — ‘Bless, that’s a shame, isn’t it? Maybe one day you’ll meet the right guy and that’ll change.’ “

“No, maybe she’ll meet the wrong guy and that’ll change,” he added. “Maybe she’ll meet a guy who makes her less happy and healthy, and die sooner.”

This article originally appeared on People

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Another day, another smoking hot J.Lo ab photo. The 49-year-old mom of two shared a sexy shot of her washboard abs on Instagram earlier this week, and the internet is totally obsessed. “Getting it in right before rehearsals. Almost tour time,” she wrote, adding a purple heart emoji that perfectly matched her purple leggings. 

Her selfie received over two million likes and thousands of comments—including a tongue-out emoji from Khloe Kardashian. 

RELATED: I Tried the Maelys Booty Mask That Khloe Kardashian Swears By for a Toned Butt

Her sizzling selfie comes nearly a month after her appearance at the Met Gala, when she stunned in a glimmering white Versace gown alongside her fiance Alex Rodriguez. Despite her busy career, Lopez has always made her fitness route a priority. In October 2018, Lopez shared a shot of her impressive biceps, revealing that she is in “the best shape of my life.”

Lopez is known for sharing incredible shots of her body on the regular. In late March, the actress shared a shot of her toned body while wearing a hot pink bikini from the set of her upcoming movie, Hustlers. 

RELATED: J. Lo Says This Is the Most Difficult Part of Her 10-Day No Sugar Challenge

Luckily, Health has all the juicy details of how to attain those washboard abs. You can find a guide to her ab workout from her trainer here. Needless to say, we are ALWAYS here for J.Lo’s abs. 

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